Page 100 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

I felt much more at home there. It was where I’d been sleeping ever since the auction. Contrary to what Carmen wanted, Daisy and I hadn’t slept away from each other even once since the night I’d ‘won’ her.

“Sure,” she said, but the look on her face was disappointed. I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back. I just have to grab an external hard drive.” I took the stairs two at a time as I hurried to get back to her. I looked down at her, catching a last glimpse before I turned a corner, and almost stopped when I saw how unsure she looked.

She was standing alone in the foyer in her beautiful gown, but she had her arms crossed over her chest, almost like she was hugging herself for comfort. She looked lost—small and vulnerable in the huge space.

I started to go back to her, to swoop her up in my arms and carry her up the stairs so she’d be with me the whole time we were here.

But then I told myself I was being silly. We could stand to be apart for a few minutes. I didn’t want to smother her.

Besides, I’d clear up any doubts she had about us once we got back to the condo.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Daisy

I watched him disappear around the corner, and I was relieved to be left alone with my thoughts. I didn’t have to fix a smile on my face and pretend everything was okay. Because what the hell?

How could Jack spring something like that on me in front of a huge crowd of people? How could he make his new character, the one I’d suggested, look like my exact replica and not expect me to be… a little disturbed by it?

Shouldn’t he have asked me first?

Because my first thought when I saw images of myself decked out as aCaveSpherewarrior? I wondered if Jack was my stalker.

It was the first time it had occurred to me, so I immediately felt disloyal and tried to push the thoughts aside. But then when I’d talked to Nia and Jelly they’d been afraid of the exact same thing. Especially when I confessed he hadn’t even warned me that he’d used my likeness for his new character.

Now I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. It made too much sense. I bit my lip as I thought about him approaching Nico Salazar and telling him the only way he’d join the gentleman’s club was if he got private time with me. Originally, I’d been flattered. But that was kind of creepy when I thought about it.

What if it had been him leaving me notes? It seemed impossible that someone as gorgeous and successful as Jack Lancaster would be a stalker, but what if he was? I’d worked at Dinardo’s Deli for years now. He could’ve seen me and becomefixated.

The tomato soup incident could have just kicked everything into high gear.

I looked around his house, noticing how new and unlived in it looked. I frowned. How long had he even had this house? I walked around the room and down an adjoining hall. There were no pictures on the walls in the hallway. I peeked in the door of what looked to be a bedroom. It was empty. No furniture at all.

That was… strange. I spun around, hurrying to the next door and peeking in. Same. It was smaller, as if it could be a study or something. But it was also empty.

Looking in two more rooms produced the same result.

It was as if he’d just moved in and hadn’t had time to furnish the house. But that day back in August when he’d dropped me at Cinnamon House, he’d said he lived here. Had he been lying? Did he run out and buy a house in this neighborhoodafterhe told me that?

I chuckled a little to myself. That was too ridiculous to even consider. I was probably just tired and way overthinking this. Still, I was suspicious.

I stepped back into the hall and poked around a bit, looking for evidence. I was hoping not to find any. There was no way someone like Jack Lancaster, if he was a stalker, would have noticed me out of all the women he could have stalked.

Except he had. And then he’d arranged the auction and contract to suit him, to make sure he would win, and he’d ignored Carmen’s instructions to give me alone time. He’d done whatever he’d wanted to do.

My heart was beating faster. I was being silly. I was more than halfway in love with Jack. I’d fallen hard for him. He couldn’t be my stalker. He would never do anything to scare me or hurt me. I knew that deep in my bones.

Yet I couldn’t stop myself from going into one more room when I noticed a slightly open door and a glow coming from within. It was clear there wassomethingin there. It wasn’tempty like the rest, I thought, as I looked over my shoulder guiltily. It felt wrong spying on him. But… I just couldn’t help myself.

I pushed the door open. The glow seemed to come from an LED keyboard that was lit up in a soothing blue color. It was part of a set-up that looked to be a home office for his game designs. At first, I saw little beyond the huge computer desk with several monitors on it. Typical Jack, I smiled.

But as I started to turn back around and leave, I saw a large blue folder with the Salazar Real Estate logo on it. It was pushed to one side of the desk. Curious, I walked over and flipped it open.

And sucked in a breath.

It was the deed to Jack’s house. And I almost wished I hadn’t looked at it. Because now I knew the date he’d purchased the home in which I was currently standing.