Page 99 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Stalker

And that was a can of worms I never wanted to open.

“Are you okay?” I asked again.

The smile she gave me was forced and didn’t reach her eyes, but she nodded. “Yes. I’m just not feeling that well. I might go on home if you don’t mind.”

We’d been there for a couple of hours already and the announcement had been made. “I’ll go with you. Just let me say a few goodbyes.” I looked around for a member of the catering staff and raised a hand subtly in their direction. I grabbed two glasses of champagne from his tray, handed one to Daisy and walked in the direction I’d last seen my sister. “Will you be alright?”

She nodded, and I left her standing in the alcove, glass in her hand.

I was so pleased with the audience’s reception of Flora. Their gasps of surprise and excitement hadn’t been faked… even I could tell that with my subpar social skills. It took me much longer than I’d anticipated to reach Grandma and Laura. People stopped me every few steps I took to try to talk with me.

I was as polite as I could be until I couldn’t take the small talk anymore and practically ran from a half dozen others who had wanted to talk to me.

“My God,” I said as I finally reached Laura and Grandma. “I thought I’d never reach you.” I pulled at the uncomfortable bowtie of my tux until I finally untied the damn thing and left it hanging like that around my neck. I unbuttoned the top couple of buttons on my shirt, too, and finally felt a bit more like myself.

I mean, not like I had on my favorite jeans and T-shirt, but there was only so far I could go to get comfortable at the party.

“What did y’all think? Pretty great response, huh?” I grinned at them. Laura looked happy, but Grandma shook her head.

“You didn’t tell her. Jack, we told you to warn her about thecharacter…”

“I know,” I sighed, looking back to where I’d left Daisy. She wasn’t there. I frowned and looked around for a bit until I saw her standing and talking to Nadine and Reynolds. “I just didn’t want to. I wanted Flora to look like Daisy. SheisFlora to me.”

The looks on their faces softened when I said that. “Just be careful. She didn’t exactly look happy, little brother. You’re going to need to make it up to her in a big way.”

“How? I’ve taken the thing I love most in the world besides my family and put her in it. That’s the biggest declaration of my feelings for her I can imagine.”

“Did you tell her that?” Grandma asked.

“Well, no. Do I have to? I thought it was pretty obvious.”

“For all she knows you just think she’s hot and wanted the character to look like her,” Laura chided. “Tell her what it meant to you to put her in the game.”

Huh. That made sense. “I get it,” I nodded. “Look, I really came by to say goodnight. Daisy and I are headed back to the condo. I wanted to say thank you for everything,” I said, leaning in and giving my sister a quick hug.

She looked at me like I was the creature who popped out of someone’s chest in theAlienmovie. “Wow. I don’t know that you’ve ever thanked me before. And an unprompted hug? Daisy is fantastic for you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Come on. I’m not that bad.”

“Yes, you are,” Grandma and Laura said together.

I laughed. “Whatever. I will agree, though, that Daisy is good for me.” I looked around until I spotted her again. “And I’m going to go tell her so.”

They both beamed at me, and I hurried to get to my girlfriend.

We said our goodbyes and left from a private exit Nico Salazar directed me towards. He called for our limo, and we were on our way after I helped her inside.

“Hey,” I said, once we got going, “I shouldn’t have sprung Flora on you like that. I need to tell you something…”

A wild buzzing in my pocket cut me off, and I fished myphone out. “Ah, shit. Laura needs something I left at my house.” I leaned forward and directed the driver to stop by my place at Estates at South before we headed back to the condo.

My phone rang right after that, and I spent the rest of the short trip to the house reassuring Laura I’d get what it was she needed to her as soon as I could.

By the time we’d pulled up, it no longer seemed like a great time to tell her I loved her.

“What were you going to say?” she prompted as we walked through the foyer and into the airy, open family room.

I started to tell her, but as I looked around, I felt like this rather impersonal space wasn’t the place to do it. I still hadn’t added any personal touches or decorations to the Estates at South house. “Can I tell you when we get to the condo?”