Page 79 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“It’s going to be a success,” Dash added. “I know it.”

We all meandered back into the main floor area. Dash was taking pictures of the space and sending them to Adrian. I had been sending them all regular updates, but it had never been this close to ready before.

Krista settled onto one of the velvet couches near the window and was looking around the room. She had her hands resting on her stomach in the way that pregnant women did without even noticing they were doing it.

Dash looked up from his phone and slid it back into his pocket. “Where’s Victoria?”

“Catching up on work,” I said. “She had a deadline she’d been putting off. Needed a day to get caught up on some things.”

“Putting off because of a certain someone?” Drew asked, not even trying to hide the grin.

“Because she’s busy,” I said.

“Uh huh.”

Dash dropped onto the couch beside Krista and stretched his arms along the back of it like he owned the place, which he kind of did. “And how are things going with you two? Generally speaking.”

“Generally speaking, things are good.” I wasn’t prepared for an interrogation. “Really good, actually. Once this opening is behind us and I can breathe again, things are going to be a lot better. For both of us.”

“You think life settles down after the grand opening?” Dash asked.

“Right now everything is stacked up at once,” I said. “The build-out, the runway show, the auction component, the charity tie-in. It’s a lot of moving pieces. Once the doors open and the event is behind us, yes, my life will absolutely calm down.”

Dash looked at Krista and then they both laughed.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing,” Krista said with a knowing smile.

“Say it.”

“I just think you might be building up this idea of normal in your head. Like once the opening happens, some switch flips and suddenly life slows down and falls into a rhythm.” She paused. “It doesn’t really work that way. Not in this family and I’m new to it. You should know better than I do.”

“She’s not wrong,” Dash said.

“It was never normal,” Drew said from the other end of the couch. “Even before all of this. You were always managing something.” He looked at me. “This is just a new version of the same thing. You’ll be picking up something else as soon as this is cleared from your plate.”

I didn’t argue because there wasn’t much to argue with. It was true. I did normally do that.

“I’m not saying I expect it to be boring,” I said. “I’m saying I expect it to be less chaotic than the last three months.”

“For a little while,” Dash agreed. “And then something else comes up. It always does.” He looked at Krista. “When we launched the swimwear line, I told myself the same thing. Once the show is done, once the press cycle settles, I can actually breathe. And we did get a very short window.” He glanced at Krista. “Then we found out about the baby and moving and then Adrian called about a new direction for the fall collection and suddenly I was back in it.”

“The window is real,” Krista said. “It’s just shorter than you’re expecting.”

“So what are you telling me?” I asked. “That I’ll never have a chance to have a relationship.”

“Not if you can’t find a way to balance your work life with your real life.” Dash paused and once again looked at his girl. “The women in this family are remarkable people. Every single one of them. They deserve to be treated like queens. So, you can work hard, but you damn well better love them harder.”

Krista smiled at me. “You’ll figure it out. I believe in you.”

28

VICTORIA

Betty was at her desk when I knocked, reading glasses on, a stack of papers in front of her that she was working through with a red pen. She looked up and waved me in without putting the pen down. The woman’s desk was never going to be cleaned off.

“Door opened or closed?” I asked.