Page 105 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“After what happened with Connors. Did I cost you your job?”

“Still employed,” she said with a grin.

I exhaled. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been dreading the answer. I wasn’t sure how I was going to fix that problem because there was no way she would have let me, even if it was my fault.

“Connors complained,” she continued. “He called Betty and made a big stink. Betty told him she was sorry to hear he didn’t want to be a part of our gala but there would be other donors.”

“I still want to donate,” I said.

She met my eyes. “You don’t need to. Turns out, nobody likes Jeff Connors. Not even the people who do business with him. Betty made a few calls after he complained. The general consensus was that attaching his sponsorship to the gala would have kept a lot of donors away. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.” She shrugged one shoulder. “That doesn’t mean you can barge in on my meetings in the future.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Not just for making a scene and scaring off a sponsor. For what it made you feel. I am so sorry.”

“I know,” she said. “I get it. I understand it came from the right place, but the execution sucked.”

“I can’t promise I’ll always get it right,” I said. “I’m going to be honest with you about that. But I can promise I’ll try. And I can promise I won’t show up uninvited to any more of your lunch meetings. Unless you ask.”

“I appreciate that.” She laughed. “If you’re a very good boy, maybe next time you’ll be worth more than a dollar.”

“I’ll take that as a challenge.”

“You should.” She clinked her glass against mine. “You’ve got a lot of ground to make up.”

“I have two days before the grand opening,” I said. “I’ll start tomorrow.”

She looked past me at the runway, where three more guests had climbed up and were attempting to coordinate a group strut with varying degrees of success. “You should probably go make sure nobody breaks an ankle on your runway.”

“Our runway,” I said. “And look. Bernadette is on it. She’s not going to let the Blackwell name be associated with any accidents ever.”

Bernadette waddled over to give the women a safety lecture, with Sebastian at her side.

“Our runway?” she repeated.

“I think you’ve probably figured out my family has adopted you.”

“I love your family. But they aren’t great for the self-esteem. You’re all so damn pretty.”

“Woman, you are prettier than any one of us.”

She winked. “Keep saying things like that and you might just get lucky.”

I kissed her. “Just getting to hold you makes me feel lucky.”

“Smooth talker.” She giggled.

“Come on, we better rejoin the party and keep these people from destroying all our hard work. We’ve got a cleanup crew coming in tomorrow and then we have to set up the store for real.”

I took her hand, and together, we waded back into the celebration.

38

VICTORIA

The crowd had thinned considerably by the time I finally let myself breathe. The servers were collecting empty glasses and the caterers were beginning to quietly dismantle the food stations. The runway was still lit.

It had been worth it. All of it. All the stress had been worth it to be standing here in this beautiful space with the auction numbers still glowing on the screens and Callum’s hand warm in mine.

I leaned into him slightly. He glanced down at me.