Page 112 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“Let’s go upstairs,” I said. “We’ll still be on site but not in the middle of this chaos.”

I led her to the stairs leading to the second floor, where the office was. This floor wasn’t open to the public yet, but that was something for someone else to figure out.

The quiet took over. I pulled her into my arms. We swayed back and forth. “I love you,” I said.

“I love you.”

She tilted her face up to mine. I kissed her slowly. Her hands pressed against my chest as she leaned into me. I forgot all about the people browsing through the floor below us.

I walked her backward a step until her shoulders met the wall. She made a soft sound against my mouth that I felt everywhere. I hadn’t thought about anything but a little peace when I brought her up here, but I was thinking of a lot more now. I pulled back just enough to look at her. Her eyes were still closed for half a second before they opened and found mine.

“Damn, I want you,” I said.

“No way. There are way too many people around.”

“Probably,” I agreed, and kissed her again anyway.

She laughed into my mouth.

“Okay, we clearly had the same idea,” I heard someone say.

I pulled back. Victoria’s eyes went wide.

Dash was standing in the room with Krista beside him. Krista had her hand pressed over her mouth. Her shoulders were shaking with laughter.

“Unbelievable,” I said.

“We were just looking for somewhere quiet,” Dash said.

“I’m sorry,” Krista said. “We didn’t realize the space was occupied. Should we take a number?”

Dash was grinning like a damn fool. I rolled my eyes.

“Give us a second,” I said.

“You don’t have to,” Victoria said. “We were just headed back down.”

“Sure you were,” Dash teased.

I took Victoria’s hand and led her to the stairs. I shot Dash a dirty look. “Not cool and I will remember this.”

They both laughed as I led Victoria downstairs and back into the crowd. It was probably for the best. If Dash and Krista had walked up two minutes later, they would have seen way more than me kissing Victoria.

EPILOGUE

VICTORIA- SIX MONTHS LATER

Drew’s yacht cut through the calm water. It was a warm day without being too hot. I was stretched out on the upper deck in a white sundress with a glass of iced tea in my hand. Six months ago I couldn’t have imagined any of this.

“You’re going to get a sunburn,” Cleo said, dropping into the chair beside me without any preamble. She had on enormous sunglasses and a blue and white striped top. She looked like she’d been born on a yacht.

“I put on sunscreen,” I said.

Below us on the main deck, the lunch spread was being set out by a crew Drew had hired for this little excursion. I could hear the sounds of the family assembling, which was its own kind of chaos. Max Blackwell’s laugh cut through all of it. Tiana’s voice was soft but also clear as a bell. The rest was a hum of conversation you got when my family got together.

Callum appeared at the top of the stairs, two fresh glasses in hand. He’d dressed up for the day on the boat. He was wearing a pale blue polo and khakis. His hair was slightly wind-tossed.

He looked like mine.