Page 51 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

“What will you tell them?”

“Just let me handle that, okay? This isn’t my first rodeo.”

I nodded, but bit my lip.

She looked back over my form one more time and frowned.

“Shit. How did I miss this?” She pointed to the only other box I’d checked. “Is this set in stone for you?”

I nodded. I had checked off that I wanted the arrangement to be exclusive. I wouldn’t be cheating, which was one of the rules anyway, and I didn’t want him cheating, either. I didn’t want someone who was married, had a girlfriend, or who planned to fuck around on me while we were together.

“Daisy, that’s a deal breaker for over half of our members.” Her eyes were worried. “That takes out so many of the guys who would bid big money for you.”

I shrugged, even though I was nervous about it. “I know what’s it like to be cheated on,” I said. “I won’t do that to some other woman. It’s devastating. And if I’m giving myself over to this man for months, I need to know that he’s not with other people. I just can’t go through that again. I’m not built that way.”

I knew some girls could look the other way, or say they could, but not me. I’d watched as my friend Nadine’s heart had gotten ripped apart when she’d thought Reynolds was cheating on her. I didn’t want to go through what she had.

And I never wanted to feel the way I’d felt after Myers made me feel like a fool, either. Him carrying on with half my friends while he’d been with me? And me being the last person to figure it out? That had been soul crushing. And it had broken my self-esteem for a while. And then Jack Lancaster with that woman at Bahia Del Sol…

I looked Carmen in the eyes. “It’s non-negotiable.”

She gave me a tight smile. “Okay, honey. I’ll see what I can do.”

I nodded. “Are we finished?”

“Yes,” she looked at the time. “Oh, Jesus. Go get ready. I didn’t realize how long I was keeping you.”

I smiled, thanked her, and walked out of her office. I hoped I wasn’t making a mistake. I would hate to do this whole auction thing only to not be bid on by anyone, or to get someone barely willing to pay off my student loans, much less put my sisters through college.

I winced. I hoped checking that box didn’t mean I’d end up the first of Carmen’s featured cinnamon girls to not get chosen at auction.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Daisy

“He requested you. Is there something you want to tell me?” Nico didn’t look pissed, exactly, just intense.

But it still made me uncomfortable.

“Jack Lancaster requested me?” I couldn’t help the zing of excitement that ran through me at those words.

“Yeah. Now tell me what’s going on.” His blue eyes were locked on me. I was sitting with him at the premier table in Sugar, before the doors opened for the night. I wasn’t even ready yet. My hair needed straightening after the humidity made it double in size on my bike ride over, I had on zero makeup, and I was still wearing the shorts and Dinardo’s Deli shirt I wore to work my second job every day.

He was in a suit, looking perfect, ready for the evening to begin.

So, I told him everything while he listened silently, barely moving a muscle. When I was finished, he stared at me, as if assessing me. I was barely able to keep myself from squirming in my seat under his scrutiny, but I did it.

“You’re telling me that Jack fucking Lancaster, billionaire game designer and playboy, asked you out twice, and you turned him down?” He looked both scandalized and intrigued.

“I mean, I said yes the first time…”

“Then you saw him out with another woman and overheard his family talking about how much he fucks around, and you ghosted him?”

“Kinda. Yeah.”

“You made an excuse to get away from him and quit deliveringhis lunches.” He was staring at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.

“Yes. Is that a problem? Like, are you going to fire me or something?” I was getting worried. I wasn’t sure why he was making such a big deal about this.