Page 45 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

It was crazy around campus right now. The fall semester had just started back up, the football team was set to have its season opener in a couple of weeks, and I looked around somewhat fondly at my old stomping grounds. I’d gone to college so early, so young, that I didn’t have the typical college memories. By the time I graduated, I’d finally been old enough to mess around with girls, which had been great. But other than that, Tallon and I had just gone to classes, excelled in school, and worked onCaveSphere. There had been little time for fun. I shook the memories off, started up the car, and pulled out into traffic.

I saw her biking along but knew better than to stop and offer her a ride. I couldn’t have her knowing I was stalking her. Besides, stalking was too strong a term for what I was doing. I was just following her around, buying a house near hers, and trying to find out anything I could about her.

Hmm. That sounded exactly like stalking if I was being honest with myself.

Now I knew where she lived, I knew where and when all her classes were, I knew she was a business marketing major in her last semester of school, and I knew she’d had a bad breakup with a shitty ex who’d cheated on her.

And I knew she worked nights at one of the Salazar clubs. One of the private ones. That thought kind of made me want to go all caveman and drag her home with me to keep her away from any and all men. I almost hooted with laughter at that. Sexual jealousy had never been my thing. In fact, Tallon and I had spent many a night back at my condo. He’d fuck his date in one of the big bedrooms while I’d fuck my date in a different one. Then we’d switch. It hadn’t been a big deal. Neither of us had minded a bit, nor had the women, obviously or we wouldn’t have done it.

But imagining doing that with Daisy? Yeah. Not going to happen. I wondered which club she worked at. I already knew so much about her, but I had to know this bit of intel. It might be one of the most important pieces of information. And I had to know more about the clubs themselves.

I shoved a hand through my hair, as I pulled into the parking garage under the Lancaster building. Time to go to work.

It was the first time in my life I’d been reluctant to work, I thought as I got in the elevator and rode to the top floor of the building that bore my name. I just wanted to spend the time finding out more about Daisy.

This was ridiculous. I had to get this under control. I sucked in a deep breath and then blew it out slowly. I needed to focus all of my energy onCaveSphere 4for the rest of the day.I could do it.

Hours later, I was still at it. I’d only come out of my office for a brief time when the new delivery girl brought my lunch in from Dinardo’s. I’d hung around awkwardly while she’d chatted easily with Grandma and Tallon.

We spoke little beyond saying hello to each other. But I noticed she kept casting glances my way. It gave me hope Daisy had been talking about me.

Hopefully not in a bad way.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Jack

The next morning I stood at the end of my driveway and waited, looking at my watch. It was still dark outside. Now that the season was crawling slowly towards fall, it was staying dark longer in the morning. And it was slightly cooler.

Slightly.

This wasn’t how I liked to jog. I was more than happy to do it in the comfort of my air-conditioned home gym, on my state-of-the-art treadmill, while watching an action movie on the huge TV I’d had installed.

But if this is how I could get to Daisy, so be it.

I waited until my watch hit five thirty on the nose, and I took off at a slow pace down the tree-lined sidewalk. I had to admit it was pleasant, even if it was way earlier than I wanted to be doing something like this. The wrought-iron fencing with ivy trailing over it, the gas lights flickering and lighting the path in front of me, and the Spanish moss drifting lazily in the breeze in the trees above me—it all provided a hell of a lot more atmosphere than my home gym. Maybe I should think about switching up my routine permanently, not just for Daisy.

I laughed softly to myself. Switch up my routine. As if that was something I ever did. That’s why this whole ‘thing’ with Daisy was so odd. My need to see her outweighed my need for perfect order in my life. Wanting to be around her took the place of wanting to follow my normal daily schedule.

If I’d known falling in love—or whatever this was—would be what it took to shake me up a little, I might’ve tried it yearsago. But I knew way down deep that I hadn’t chosen to fall for Daisy. It happened to me. It was nothing I could’ve predicted or prevented. No, on some molecular level, my body and brain knew that I belonged to her.

And she belonged to me.

As I jogged by her house, I glanced over in an attempt to look casual. I knew she wouldn’t be there. I wanted to ‘run into her by chance’ further away from her house. That way she’d have to stop and talk to me.

Movement along the side of her house caught my eye. I frowned and slowed down. Was I seeing things? I thought I saw the figure of a man standing on the brick half-wall that bordered the tall hedges separating Daisy’s house from her neighbors’.

What the actual fuck?

I turned and jogged up her driveway, trying to be quiet. The man seemed totally comfortable. It was as if he’d done this before and didn’t expect to be caught. I stopped and hid behind a large, perfectly trimmed bush to watch him. He was standing outside the window I thought was Daisy’s room. I’d followed her home a couple of evenings and seen that light go on shortly after she entered the house.

He was staring inside. Watching. Waiting. He knew she wasn’t in there yet. I could tell by looking at his relaxed posture. He knew her routine as well as I did.

He and I both knew she was out for her morning run.

I had learned that Daisy was almost as strict with her daily schedule as I was. It made it easy to follow her, to learn her routines.

To stalk her.