kept her gaze on her phone as Mrs. Parker chatted with Rashad. She could hear snippets of their conversation, and it seemed Mrs. Parker was also there for the piano. Lina sighed under her breath. Just how many people would she be competing against to get the damn piano, anyway?
The room began to fill with people as the start of the auction drew nearer. As seats around her began to fill, Lina set her phone to vibrate and tucked it away. Looking around the room, she took in the faces of the other bidders. She had no way of knowing how many of them would also be going after the piano.
The sound of Rashad’s humming invaded her thoughts. Hearing that throaty sound reminded her of how well he could sing. Truth be told, the brother could blow. He had a killer tenor that reminded her of a cross between Luther Vandross and Miguel—the kind of voice that made a woman’s panties just fall off. She could clearly recall the late nights he’d serenaded her as she lay in his strong arms.
She glanced over at him, and he flashed one of his unforgettable megawatt grins in her direction.
She sank down into her chair.
It was going to be a long night.
* * *
Rashad glanced across the aisle at Lina, who looked as if she wanted to disappear. She seemed uncomfortable with running into him; he, on the other hand, was thrilled to see her. He’d been all set to come here tonight and put all his focus on winning the bid for the piano. Having her here simply meant he could accomplish two goals at the same time.
She was gorgeous in the figure-hugging sleeveless dress she wore. The slit up the side was parted now, allowing him a full view of her long, beautiful bronze legs. She sat demurely, legs crossed like any good belle would do. Her short-cropped hair was carefully coiffed and curled into the edgy style that framed her lovely angular face so perfectly. She wore very little makeup, and as always, his eyes were drawn to the shiny, plum-colored lip gloss she favored.
He could clearly recall the slightly sweet flavor of that lip gloss from the last time he’d kissed her. That had been months ago. Far too long for his tastes. The longer he looked at her, the more his groin tightened with desire. There was something about the way she carried herself that drove him mad with wanting. Now that she was here, sharing the same space with him, he wanted her just as badly as he wanted Monk’s piano.
What if he could have them both, make them both his in one night? Wouldn’t that be something?
In his mind’s eye, he saw himself sitting on the bench, in front of the grand piano, his hands poised above the keys. On top of the polished lacquer surface of the piano’s top, he saw Lina. Dressed in a teal sequined dress that barely grazed the tops of her shapely thighs, she lay on her stomach, facing him. The swell of her breasts threatening to spill out of the dress, she fixed him with a come-hither stare that set his blood on fire. Her round hips and shapely long legs, capped by a pair of sexy heels, drew his appreciative gaze. She was seduction personified. A woman so fiery and passionate that she put all others to shame.
The auctioneer appeared behind the oak podium, and banged a gavel. The loud thumping pulled Rashad out of his fantasyland and back into the present. Shaking off the remnants of his daydream, he grabbed his paddle from the empty seat next to him and turned his attention to the front of the room.
It soon became obvious that Monk’s piano would not be the first item to be sold. Rashad sat through the bidding on various paintings, furniture pieces and antiques, wondering when they would finally get around to it. Mrs. Parker placed and won a few bids, but he found he couldn’t muster any excitement for any of the other pieces. All the while, he stole glances at Lina, who seemed just as disinterested in the other items as he was.
“Now, we’d like to offer this embellished baby grand piano, played by the great musician Thelonious Monk early on in his career. The piano comes to us from the estate of a personal friend of Mr. Monk’s. We’re told Henry Minton gave it as a birthday gift to Mr. Monk. Henry owned Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem, where Monk developed his signature style as a member of the house band in the 1940s. The piano is gold embellished and was imported from Italy. It is in top condition, and is a rare find. We’ll open the bidding at ten thousand dollars.”
Rashad raised his paddle, and saw several others in the room go up, including those of Lina and Mrs. Parker.
“Do I hear ten thousand five hundred?”
More of the same.
“Eleven? Eleven thousand, five hundred? Twelve thousand...”
Rashad kept up with the lightning pace of the bidding, raising his paddle at every bid. As the dollar amount rose, the number of bidders began to drop off. By the time the auctioneer reached fifteen thousand, the only three paddles remained raised were Lina’s, Mrs. Parker’s and his own.
The three of them continued the bidding at a breakneck pace, passing seventeen thousand, then eighteen thousand, and then nineteen thousand dollars.
Before Rashad could raise his paddle to bid twenty-one thousand, however, Mrs. Parker grabbed the handle of her cane and got to her feet.
Her brown eyes flashing, the older woman called out a bid. “Twenty-five thousand.”
On the other side of the aisle, Lina countered. “Twenty-seven thousand, five hundred.”
Rashad stood. “Thirty thousand.”
A short, narrow man in a blue suit stepped up onto the stage, holding a piece of paper in his hand. He passed the paper to the auctioneer, who then said into the microphone, “Excuse me a moment.”
Rashad waited in silence with the others as the auctioneer read the note.
The auctioneer spoke again. “We have a call-in bid of forty thousand dollars on the table from an anonymous bidder.”
Mrs. Parker raised her paddle as if she meant to make another offer, but the auctioneer stopped her.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ve gone well over the time allotted for this item, and we have many others to get to. We’ll verify the call-in bid, and if it can’t be secured, we’ll resume bidding on the piano tomorrow evening.”
Rashad dropped into his seat, groaning. Either he’d just lost the piano, or he’d have to do this all over again tomorrow night. Whatever the case, things had not gone as he’d wanted them to.
He looked across to Lina, and saw her gathering her purse. While he might not have gotten Monk’s piano, there was nothing stopping him from talking to her before she left.
He watched her walk down the center aisle and out the door in the back of the room, then followed her.
In the hallway, she turned her head and saw him, but didn’t stop walking.
He didn’t stop, either, and he followed her out the door of the auction house and into the muggy evening air.
The sun was hanging low, but had not yet set. She stopped by the driver’s side door of her car and turned to him. “Rashad, why are you following me?”
He smiled in response to the pointed question. “I think the answer to that is pretty obvious, baby.”
She rolled her eyes and opened the car door. Flinging her wrap off and tossing it into the passenger seat, she snapped
