Page 87 of Auctioned To Be Mine

“Oh, come on,” he said. “Jeff can’t be trusted.”

“I told you I didn’t love his energy. I did not ask you to show up and make a scene.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice because I didn’t want to make more of a scene. “I told him exactly where the boundaries were before we even ordered. I had it handled. He was behaving himself. He apologized the second he touched my arm. It was a reflexive social gesture. He knew immediately it was wrong and he backed off.” I shook my head. “And then you came in like some kind of territorial wildebeest.”

“I’m not going to apologize for looking out for you.”

“I didn’t ask you to look out for me!” I threw my hands up. “Callum, I’m a grown woman who has been navigating men like Jeff Connors since I was old enough to attend my parents’ dinner parties. I know exactly how they operate. I went in there prepared. I had an exit strategy.” I glowered at him. “And you know all of that. Which means this wasn’t about protecting me.”

He had the good sense to look apologetic. Briefly.

“Was this about him?” I asked. “Was this jealousy?”

“Hell no.”

“Callum.”

“It wasn’t jealousy. I just didn’t want him trying anything.” He looked away from me, down the street, jaw working.

I was still furious. I was also aware that no one had ever done anything like this for me before. Not once. Never had a man cared enough about my comfort to follow me to a restaurant just in case. That didn’t make it okay but it was making it very difficult to stay as angry as I needed to be.

“I have to go back to my office,” I said. “I have to explain this to Betty before she hears about it from someone else. And then I have to pray that Jeff Connors will still be willing to sponsor the event.”

“Victoria, I won’t apologize for looking out for you.”

“We’ll talk later.” I didn’t wait for him to answer. I walked to my car with my heart and logical side at war.

I was furious. I was also a little flattered.

That infuriating, gorgeous, thoughtful, completely unhinged man was under my skin and I knew he would have beat the shit out of Jeff for me, if the situation had called for it. That was terrifying and sweet. I drove back to the office with the radio off. I needed the quiet to think.

I had to decide what I was going to do about Callum. Was that his true self? Would he be a jealous man? I had to meet with men all the time in my work. Was I going to have to worry about him punching out innocent men for looking at me? That was not something I could deal with.

I knew he wasn’t going to apologize for being there. Maybe that was my fault. I had told him I didn’t like the guy. He was just doing what he thought was right. And I could agree it would have been right if things had gone badly. I had said I would call him if I needed him.

I returned to the office, practically tiptoeing in. Betty wasn’t super social media savvy, and I had not dared to check my own feeds. No one gave a shit about me, but I had been standing between two of the richest men in the country. Those men would attract some attention. It would be on TMZ by the end of the day.

And I was going to have to explain to Betty I lost another one.

It wasn’t like we had wealthy donors beating down the door. We needed every single dollar and I kept pushing them away.

31

CALLUM

The treadmill wasn’t doing it tonight.

I’d been down here for forty minutes and I hadn’t worked through the frustration. Normally, I could just very literally run from the problems of the day. But it wasn’t working. The harder I ran, the faster my thoughts swirled in my head.

I checked my phone, sweat dripping down my nose. There was still nothing from Victoria. Her last message had said: I need some time to cool off before we talk. Please give me that.

How long? I didn’t know how long I was supposed to give her. A day? A week? What happened during that time? Did she dump me? I cranked the speed up. The restaurant scene was on a constant loop in my head. The belt screamed.

Was I sorry? I kept trying to locate the remorse and coming up short. I knew what I’d done was wrong on a practical level. I understood why she was furious. I had made a scene. I had potentially tanked a sponsorship she needed. But what if she had needed me and I wasn’t there? I wanted to be safe rather than sorry.

“Hey.”

I hit the emergency stop and grabbed the railing. Dash was standing in the doorway of the gym with two bottles of water. I almost forgot they were in the house. He and Krista had gone out to dinner. They had invited me but I declined. I was not in any condition to be a good dinner companion.

“You look terrible,” he said.