Page 80 of Have To Be Mine

There was a pause. “Oh no. Oh, Dash, I’m so sorry. I got distracted after spending all day with my accounting team going through the donation funds for the charities. The numbers just blur together after a while and I completely lost track of time zones.”

“It’s okay.”

“Are you getting enough sleep? You sound tired.”

I almost laughed. I’d been dead asleep after the best sex of my life with a woman who’d somehow become the center of my entire world, and now I was talking to my mother instead of cuddling back up with Krista.

“I’m fine, Mom. I promise.”

“I love you, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few days. And remember—front row, center. I’m counting on you.”

“Love you too.”

I hung up and sighed. Callum was coming. This was my thing. My chance to prove myself, and naturally someone had to come in. Someone else to see if I could keep my shit together. If I was going to spectacularly fail.

I’d worked my ass off. Krista and I both had. We’d dealt with fires and drunk influencers and a hundred other crises. We’d made it work. And now Callum was going to waltz in at the finish line and take notes like I was some kind of training manual.

Talk about annoying. This was mine. This runway show, this success? It belonged to me and Krista. We’d earned it. And I wasn’t going to let anyone, not even family, diminish that.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I’d deal with it later. Right now, I had a beautiful woman sleeping in a very comfortable bed that I wanted to be in too. I turned to head back inside and nearly jumped out of my skin. Krista was standing in the doorway, wrapped in her robe, with her wild, wavy hair creating a sexy halo of sorts around her.

“Everything okay?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. Just my mom calling about seating for the show.”

She stepped out onto the deck and came to stand beside me at the railing. She didn’t touch me. Just stood next to me. “At three in the morning?”

“She forgot how drastic the time difference is.”

Krista nodded slowly. “She only called about seats?”

I should have known I couldn’t hide it from her. She read people too well, read me too well.

“My cousin Callum is coming to the show,” I said. “To observe how we do runway shows. For his wedding line.”

“And that bothers you?”

“It bothers me that everyone acts like this is some kind of learning opportunity instead of my fucking accomplishment. I know they’re all waiting to see what I fuck up so they don’t make the same mistakes.”

“So prove them wrong,” she said simply. “Don’t give them the chance to learn from your mistakes. Give them a masterclass.”

“I can’t guarantee perfection. You know things like this are never perfect.”

“Make it so flawless that when Callum walks away, all he’ll have learned is that he’s got a hell of a lot to live up to.” She tilted her head. “You’ve been working your ass off. Don’t let him in your head now. Don’t let anyone in your head. You know what needs to happen next, right?”

I did. I knew exactly what needed to happen next. “Yeah.”

“Then do that. One thing at a time. The rest is just noise.” She made it sound so simple.

“You’re probably right,” I said.

“Probably?” She smiled and reached for my hand. “Now come back to bed. We need sleep.”

Together, we lay down on the plush mattress. Krista laid her head on my chest. “You’re going to kill it in Santorini,” she said into the dark. “I know you will.”

I pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “We’re going to kill it.”

I woke up and was initially a little confused by the gentle rocking. It wouldn’t be the first time I woke up with the world moving, but usually it was due to a hangover. Not this time. The yacht was quiet except for the gentle lap of water. Krista was still asleep beside me. Once again, I found myself awestruck by her natural beauty.