Page 9 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

I blinked.

“My grandma.” He flushed a bit, and I almost grinned. The bit of embarrassed color in his cheeks took him from being this huge, handsome, intimidating man and turned him into someone human. “I didn’t want you to think she was just a secretary. I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with being a secretary, it’s just… well, she helped design the international space station, so…” he shrugged, the movement bringing me even tighter against his chest.

“Oh. Okay.” I didn’t know what to say to that. “She sounds like a badass.”

He grinned, and I swear my heart lurched in my chest at the sight of a smile on that gorgeous face. “Total badass,” he agreed.

I realized we weren’t moving. “The elevator…” I started.

“Oh, yeah.” He moved to the front, still holding me tightly in his arms, and punched the button to the top floor. “We’ll be up there in a minute.”

I nodded. “Listen, I’m really sorry. I’ll just change into that T-shirt you talked about and head back to Dinardo’s to get you a new lunch.”

He shook his head. “Don’t even worry about it. Seriously.”

The doors opened, and he carried me into thelobby of the executive suite. There were only two people inside, a tiny, dark-haired woman, and a tall, handsome Black man in a suit. They both stared at the two of us, mouths gaping open.

“We need help,” Jack Lancaster said.

“My God. What happened?” The woman I assumed was his grandma, though she didn’t really look like a grandma, jumped up from the desk where she was sitting and hurried over. “Have you both been attacked? Stabbed?” Tears were swimming in her eyes.

Eyes, I thought, that were the exact color of Jack’s.

She turned to the man in the suit. “Tallon, call the police.”

The handsome Black man, who must be Tallon, almost dropped his phone in his rush to do as she said.

“No, no, no,” Jack said quickly. “It’s my soup. The tomato soup.”

Tallon stopped dialing and looked up. He stared at Jack. “Soup,” he said, eyes roving over the two of us.

The tiny woman put her hands on her hips, and stared up at her grandson, her eyes flashing. “What the hell, Jack? You can’t come in here covered in tomato soup, that looks a lot like dried fucking blood, and expect us to act normal and calm.”

“Grandma,” he choked out, shocked. “You cussed.”

“Oh, get over it,” she waved a hand in the air. “Studies have shown smart people cuss more than normal.”

“But… you always said…”

“Are we really going to stand here while the two of you are covered in tomato soup and talk about my use of curse words?”

“No,” he said. “No, of course not.” He looked down at me. “She needs a fresh shirt. The one she’s wearing is ruined.”

I noticed he was looking at it a lot, and I knew he was checking out my breasts because his cheeks were still a little pink.

“Of course.” Jack’s grandma hurried down a hall and disappeared.

Tallon was also staring at my shirt. “What’s your name?” he asked, a flirty smile on his handsome face.

Before I could answer, Jack tightened his grip on me andnarrowed his eyes at the man. “Quit staring at her, man.”

Tallon’s eyes widened, then he got a big grin on his face. “Why, Jack?”

Jack ignored him. “What’s your name?” he whispered down at me.

“Daisy,” I said. “Daisy Tiller.”

“Daisy,” he repeated to himself quietly. “That’s perfect.”