Page 116 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

A man I hadn’t noticed walked up, staring at Jelly, the look in his light brown eyes intense. “You don’t like being tied down, Ray Ann?” He had just enough of an accent to make it plain he was of Italian descent. I wondered if he’d been born in America or moved here at some point.

Jelly turned pink and looked away from the handsome man. I knew he was her boss at the hospital where she worked and that his name was Paolo, but Jelly didn’t share much else about him. I recognized him as having been one of Reynolds’ groomsmen at his wedding to Nadine. He’d danced with Jelly there, and I knew he always requested her to be his hostess at Sugar when he was there. Which was a lot.

The man leaned against the booth. The straps of his tux tie hung loosely from under his collar, which was unbuttoned. He had a glass of whiskey in his hand, and he took a sip every now and then. He was probably trying to look casual, but it didn’t work. He looked predatory, and his prey was Jelly.

He leaned in close to her and whispered in her ear, but we could all hear him.

“I know you’ll like it whenItie you down. You just have to say when and where, and I’m there, dolcezza.” He winked at her, stood up straight, and walked over to stand next to Reynolds. But every now and then those amber eyes of his landed on Jelly like she was the last piece of pie on the dessert table.

Nia fanned herself. “Whew. He’s hot, honey. And that accent—damn. How long have you been fucking him?”

Jelly’s eyes darted over to Carmen, who looked very interested. “I’m not fucking him. He’s just been after me for months. He’s my boss by day, and by night… well, he wants to be something else entirely.”

Carmen tapped the side of her head. “I’m filing that information away, Ray Ann. You’re going to be the featured cinnamon girl soon in the auction. He seems like the type to do whatever it takes to win you.”

“He can’t win me,” Jelly was upset. “I don’t want to be that girl. You know, the nurse fucking the handsome surgeon until he gets tired of her and moves on to the next one? I’m not looking to be his next conquest. And I don’t want to be with anyone I work with.”

Carmen frowned. “I don’t think Paolo’s like that. I doubt he’s ever fucked anyone he works with. He’s too professional for that.”

“Well, I love my job. So, if he’s going to fire me if he wins me in the auction, that’s not going to work out well.”

Carmen rolled her eyes. “You can get another job. Plus, he’s loaded, and it seems he’s willing to pay whatever it takes to get you.” She leaned closer to Jelly. “I’ve seen how he looks at you at Sugar. No matter what’s going on between you two during the day, he’s desperate for you at night.”

Suddenly, the sheriff, Tate Richards, walked in. He looked out of place in his uniform, but he also looked hot as hell. His dark hair and eyes, and kind of ‘rough’ look reminded me of the guy who’d played Angel onBuffy the Vampire Slayer.

Carmen frowned. “I wonder what he’s doing here.”

Almost as if he’d heard her, his eyes roamedover our table until they stopped on Nia. She sucked in a breath as he stared at her. He watched her so long, it bordered on becoming awkward. Finally, he winked at her and grinned, before his face turned serious and he strode over to Reynolds and Jack.

“Hmm,” Carmen said, watching him. “Maybe you should work at Sugar after all, Nia. I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sheriff looking possessive. He’s a love them and leave them kind of guy.”

“I think he’s amazing,” Nia whispered, and we all turned to look at her. “What? He was so nice to me during the whole horrible fiasco of finding you at Ivan’s mother’s creepy murder house.”

“No one has proved that he’s the guy who’s been murdering people…”

Carmen cut me off. “He is. There’s no way a guy could have a set-up that bizarre and not be using it. There are probably dead bodies buried all over that corn field.”

“They’ve had excavators out there and haven’t found anything,” I reminded her.

“Yes, but…”

Nia made a strangled noise in her throat. “My God. Let’s talk about something else. Please.”

Carmen nodded. “I’m just trying to say that you weren’t his first rodeo, Daisy. I’d be willing to bet he killed poor Candace Keys.”

We were all quiet for a moment, thinking about the sweet stripper who’d worked at Sugar and had been murdered over a year ago. Her killer had never been caught, but police were working to connect the dots so they could charge Ivan with her murder.

I watched Jack’s body language as he listened to whatever it was the sheriff had to tell Reynolds. In his job as the Mayor of West Bay, he was always on duty.

“Something’s wrong,” I said as I watched Jack go stiff. His eyes flicked to mine, and then he started talking to the sheriff in earnest.

Carmen’s face looked grim. “I’ll go find out what’s going on.” She got up and sashayed over to the table, hooking her arm through Nadine’s to give her a hug as she got there.

Jack was suddenly in motion. He hurried over to me and practically yanked me out of my seat. “We have to leave.”

“Why?” I was shocked. “What in the world is wrong?”

“You know how the sheriff thought you had two stalkers?”