Page 83 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“You’re tense,” I said quietly. “Go back to sleep.”

“Hard to sleep when someone is doing that.”

“Good hard or bad hard?”

She laughed. “Good. Very good. The best.”

I worked my way up the side of her neck and she exhaled slowly, her body relaxing beneath mine. I leaned down and pressed my lips to the curve where her neck met her shoulder.

“I don’t think I’ve told you how much I appreciate what you’ve been doing with the auction. I know it’s a lot of work. I should be paying you. You took something I barely had an idea for and turned it into something real.”

“It’s not a big deal,” she murmured. “And it’s charity, don’t pay me.”

I pressed my lips against the back of her neck. “It’s a big deal and you’re amazing and I need you to know how much it means to me.”

She turned her head slightly, flashing me a smile. “You’re just saying that because you want something.”

“I’m saying it because it’s true.” I moved my thumb along the ridge of her shoulder blade. She groaned again. “And also because I want something. Rather, someone.”

She laughed again. I kissed her neck and pulled the shirt to expose her shoulder, which I kissed as well. She shivered. “Callum.”

“Mm.”

I kissed her neck again, running my tongue across her flesh. I trailed my lips up to the curve of her ear and felt her hand come up to rest on my forearm, fingers curling in. Not pushing me away. Pulling me closer.

I pressed another kiss to her jaw. Her cheek. She rolled onto her back. I stretched out over the top of her.

“There was definitely an ulterior motive to that shoulder rub,” she murmured.

“Maybe. I could just go to sleep.”

“No way. Not after you started all that,” she said and jumped my bones.

The next morning, Victoria was already moving around the bedroom when I opened my eyes. I lay there watching her with absolutely no shame about it. She had a change of clothes that she had left a couple days ago. I liked watching her move around my room.

I could watch her do that for the rest of my life.

She picked up her phone from the nightstand. Whatever she saw, she didn’t like. Her posture changed. That tension I worked out of her shoulders was back.

“Hey.” She sat on the edge of the bed. “I just want to give you a heads-up about something so you don’t hear about it later and wonder why I didn’t mention it.”

I sat up, instantly more awake. “Okay.”

“I have a lunch meeting today.” She set the phone face down on her knee. “Jeff Connors. Betty confirmed it just now. He’s considering a significant sponsorship for the charity gala that’s coming up for us. She asked me to meet with him.”

I did my best not to react. Jeff Connors. The guy was a slimeball. An absolute prick. And she was going to have a meal with him.

“Okay,” I said.

“You’re pissed.”

“No.”

“Callum.”

I exhaled. “He’s not my favorite person.”

“I don’t think he’s anyone’s favorite person, which is probably why he wants to buy some goodwill. Betty is sending me because I know the material and I can handle a pitch conversation. And because I’ve been dealing with men like Jeff Connors my entire life. I know exactly how they operate.”