I Accidentally Got Auctioned for a Date… My Best Friend Bid $5,000 to Win Me
Chapter 2
Mia couldn’t decide which part of Noah’s confession was more shocking.
The fact that he had spent five thousand dollars.
Or the fact that he had apparently been waiting years to tell her how he felt.
She followed him away from the ballroom.
Neither spoke until they reached a quiet hallway overlooking the hotel courtyard.
Mia crossed her arms.
“So…”
“So.”
“You like me?”
Noah looked at her.
“That’s what you heard?”
“You just spent five thousand dollars to stop another man from taking me on a date.”
“Technically, I donated five thousand dollars to charity.”
“You bought me.”
“No.”
“You literally won an auction.”
“For charity.”
Mia stared at him.
Noah smiled.
“You’re impossible.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then the laughter faded.
“How long?”
Noah knew exactly what she meant.
“A while.”
“How long is a while?”
He looked down.
“Since college.”
Mia’s eyes widened.
“College?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve liked me since college?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you were dating Michael.”
She remembered.
Michael had been her boyfriend during their final year.
The relationship had ended badly.
Noah had been there afterward.
He had never once said anything.
Not even when Mia cried in his apartment.
Not even when she called him at two in the morning.
Not even when she complained that every man she dated eventually disappointed her.
Mia sat down on a bench.
“You knew.”
“I knew what?”
“That I was looking for the wrong person.”
Noah sat beside her.
“I didn’t want to take advantage of that.”
Mia looked at him.
“Why now?”
He hesitated.
“Because tonight I watched you stand on that stage while strangers bid on you.”
Mia smiled.
“That bothered you?”
“More than I expected.”
She looked at him carefully.
“And if there hadn’t been an auction?”
“I probably would’ve kept pretending.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my best friend.”
Mia’s expression softened.
“You’re afraid of losing me.”
“Terrified.”
She looked down at her hands.
She had always thought Noah was the safest person in her life.
The one person who would never leave.
The one man she could trust without hesitation.
And now she was wondering whether that safety had been something else all along.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked.
Noah smiled.
“Apparently, we have a date.”
Mia laughed.
“A five-thousand-dollar date.”
“Technically.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Tomorrow night?”
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
“Tomorrow night.”
Noah smiled.
For the first time since they met, there was something different between them.
Something neither could pretend not to feel.
But neither of them knew that someone else had been watching the entire conversation.
Across the courtyard, a man stood beside the window.
His name was Lucas Reed.
And he had once been Mia’s fiancé.
