Read Club Prive Book 2 (Volume 2) for Free Online Page A

main ballroom, and I forgot to wonder how much pull Gavin had.
    It was like something out of a dream, or a fairy tale. High vaulted ceilings. Expensive tapestries and ornamentation. And a chandelier. Not one of those little things pretentious people use to try to show how rich they are. This was a full-sized, falling at the end of Phantom’s first act, chandelier. I was standing in what I imagined Cinderella’s ballroom must have looked like.
    “The auction is first,” Gavin said.
    I nodded, barely understanding the words. An auction. Right. I let Gavin guide me to where seats had been set up at the front of the room, all facing a platform. He and I took a seat near the back, for which I was grateful. If we’d been in the front, I’d have been even more self-conscious than I was now.
    “In a few minutes, the auction will begin.” Gavin unhooked our arms, but took my hand again. I caught one of the passing women giving me a thinly disguised dirty look. Not that I could blame her. I might’ve been a bit partial, but I thought Gavin was the best-looking guy at the event.
    “What’s being auctioned off?” I asked, keeping my voice low. I didn’t want to seem as ignorant as I felt. Auburn, Alabama, was light-years away from this.
    “Art,” Gavin said. “Some very exquisite pieces have been donated. All of the proceeds from the auction go to Feed a Child.”
    The name sounded familiar. “Isn’t that the charity for poor and starving children in the US?”
    Gavin nodded, looking pleased that I knew of it. “Howard is the spokesperson for Feed a Child. He actually donated quite a few pieces for the auction.”
    I filed away that bit of information for Howard’s case. If his wife brought up all of the women he’d been seen with, it would be good to have something as positive as Feed a Child to counter with.
    I turned my attention to the stage as the auctioneer walked to the podium. The first painting was brought out and the bidding began. I watched as hands twitched and gestured faster than I could follow. When the auctioneer declared the painting sold for twenty-five thousand dollars, I couldn’t believe how quickly it had happened.
    “This next one is one of my favorites,” Gavin whispered in my ear. He leaned close so that our arms were pressed together.
    I didn’t turn towards him, afraid I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from kissing him. Instead, I let him talk, narrating what I was seeing.
    “Gerard Thomas isn’t a very well-known artist, but his work is simply beautiful. Look at the lines, the color. I think in another twenty years, his paintings will be in as much demand as some of the greats.”
    I had to admit, the windmill among a field of flowers was quite lovely.
    “He did this particular work three years ago, shortly after his wife died,” Gavin continued. “When asked why he’d named a painting of a windmill and flowers after his wife, he’d simply said that it was the closest he could ever come to capturing what had made her unique.”
    Wow. I squeezed Gavin’s hand to let him know that I’d appreciated the story. Each subsequent painting brought a small anecdote, but none was as personal as the one for the painting titled Callie Rose . Near the end of the auction, another of Howard’s donations was brought out. The bidding for this one was fierce. Gavin told me that it was an abstract from nineteen ninety-one, a work by Michael Payton entitled Soul Searching.
    As the bids climbed past forty thousand dollars, I stared at the painting, trying to see what everyone else saw. I couldn’t though. All I saw was something that looked like a three year-old had done it with finger paints.
    I didn’t say that out loud, of course, not even when it sold for seventy-five thousand dollars.
    At least it was all going to charity.

Chapter 7
     
    Once the auction ended, we were directed to the tables set up behind the auctioneer’s platform. Gavin explained as we walked that two hundred people