Page 82 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“I had to chase him around Greece,” Krista went on. “And now I’m having his baby.”

“She’s leaving out the part about me charming her,” Dash said. “And how she tried taking over my job with the company.”

Krista raised her water. “Tried and succeeded.”

Cleo clinked her bottle against Krista’s glass. “Girl boss.”

“I left that position willingly,” Dash said with a shake of his head. “It’s more fun being creative.”

I laughed. “It sounds like there’s a lot more to that story.”

“Steaks are done,” Drew called out.

Callum got up and went into the kitchen. He brought out a container of coleslaw and baked potatoes in a foil pan. “The potatoes, I baked, but the coleslaw, I ordered. I know nothing about slaw making, cole or otherwise.”

We sat around the outdoor patio table, quiet as we ate the steaks that were perfectly cooked.

“Am I remembering correctly that Adrian and Elizabeth also got together because she was hired to watch him?” I asked after we’d made it through most of the meal.

“You might be thinking of Sebastian and Bernadette, although she wasn’t hired to watch him,” Dash said. “Bernadette worked for the insurance company covering the shoot, and she was there to make sure the whole production followed safety protocols.”

“Adrian hired Elizabeth to be his fake fiancée,” Drew said.

I frowned. “Oh. Uh. Okay.”

“It was a PR thing,” Dash said. “Public image matters a lot when you’re in the spotlight like we are. You’ll get used to it.”

I hoped the fading daylight would hide the flush in my cheeks. The casual way Dash just assumed I would be sticking around awoke that heat in me. All of Callum’s family that I’d met seemed on board with us being together.

After stuffing our faces and drinking enough beer to get us a nice buzz, Cleo and Drew shared an Uber to go home. Dash and Krista were staying in one of the guest rooms at the opposite side of the house.

“Tired?” Callum asked as he led me to his bedroom.

“Exhausted. Full. And buzzed.”

“That sounds like a good way to be,” he said.

“It is.”

We went through our usual routine, brushing our teeth and I wiped off my makeup. I had some basic toiletries in the house. I didn’t want to think about what that meant. It was one of those things that just kind of happened.

Every day, we got closer, and I couldn’t be happier.

29

CALLUM

She was out almost before her head hit the pillow. My poor girl had been working her ass off and I was to blame for that. I lay there in the dark with her tucked against my side, one arm around her shoulders, and stared at the ceiling. The house was quiet. Dash and Krista had gone to bed an hour ago. I liked having people in the house. Mostly, I liked Victoria in my house.

Victoria shifted slightly, her cheek pressing against my chest. I tightened my arm around her without thinking about it. Reflex. I did that throughout the night whenever she stirred. It always calmed her.

The best part of my day was when Victoria was in it.

She rolled her shoulders in her sleep. She was tense. She’d been carrying a lot. I carefully rolled her onto her belly. And then I straddled her without putting my weight on her. I slowly worked her shoulders like I had the other night. She stirred, letting out a soft moan.

I kept going, slow and easy, working my way across her shoulders. So many knots. How did she carry around this kind of stress all day and still smile? Under my steady pressure, each of the knots slowly loosened.

“Mm.” She was awake now. “What are you doing?”