Page 12 of Valentine’s Billionaire Auction

What a mess. How did I always manage to get myself into such disasters? I wasn’t just physically clumsy. I was a disaster. Some people were born with poise and grace; I was born with the uncanny ability to stumble into the most complicated situations possible.

“I don’t think we were supposed to leave,” I said quietly.

“Supposed to?” he asked. “I don’t need anyone’s permission.”

“Right, but I was working.”

He didn’t say anything.

“I laid out the schedule.”

“And we’re mostly following it,” he said.

I took a deep breath. “I didn’t even tell my boss I was leaving.”

“Do you want me to call someone?”

The way he said it had me clenching my teeth. He truly was insufferable. He didn’t see me. I was an escape hatch. That was it. He didn’t really want to do the auction. I was his way out of an obligation he signed up for.

“Did you know her?” I asked.

“Who?”

“Feather Lady.”

“Yes.”

I nodded. “Did you two… you know?”

He paused whatever he was doing on his phone and turned to look at me. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

I shrugged. “You seemed very averse to going to dinner with her. I got the feeling there was some history. Maybe you ruffled her feathers once.”

He put his phone down, a hint of amusement behind his irritated expression. “I have not had sex with her. She’s nearly twenty years older than I am.”

“She didn’t look that old.”

He shook his head. “Wait, do you think I’m her age?”

“I don’t know. Men tend to hide their years better.”

“I’m thirty-three, Kaira. Damn. And Mrs. Wilson is a friend’s mom. Plenty of people have called me a motherfucker but never literally.”

I burst into laughter. “Oh.”

“How old did you think I was?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Thirty? Thirty-five.”

“Yeah, right. You’re a terrible liar.”

“She doesn’t look fifty,” I said. “Not really.”

“Thanks to the fine hands of her skilled surgeon,” he muttered.

“I guess I don’t know how to spot the same things you do. In my world, we age the way we age. We don’t get to spend thousands of dollars on surgery. We’re lucky to buy a drug store cream to stop the wrinkles.”

I could feel him studying me. It was very disconcerting. “How old are you?”