Bought: Highest Bidder by Lauren Landish & Willow Winters

Author:Lauren Landish & Willow Winters [Landish, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

There’s a knock at the door, interrupting the conference. I ignore it.

Knock knock, it comes harder this time.

Crenshaw and Jenkins continue to debate on whether or not their shipping methods are reliable and I look up to the door as I say, “Come in.” Linda knows my schedule and she should know better than to interrupt me, especially when the head of my development department is telling me my timeline may be fucked because of this change.

I glance at the door when it opens, and I have to do a double take.

“Dahlia?” I look up past the monitor and ignore the conference. Their voices pour from the speakers, but it’s white noise. Dahlia’s in my doorway, with Linda right behind her.

“Mr. Stone,” Linda says with an uneasiness as she looks between the two of us. “I wasn’t-” she starts to explain herself, but I wave her away.

“Leave us.”

Dahlia looks unsteady. She seems lost with what to do with herself. I wait for her to tell me what’s going on. Or to come over to me, but she just stands in the middle of my office, twisting her hands around the strap of her purse. With doubt in her eyes and uncertainty clear on her face.

My forehead pinches with confusion. What the hell is she doing here? It looks like she’s been crying. The realization snaps something inside of me.

I stand abruptly from my desk, and it’s only then that I hear the voices coming through. It was all white noise before.

“Mr. Stone,” several men call out. Fuck. I look back at the monitor gritting my teeth, but the moment I do, Dahlia turns to leave.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“Stay.” I give her the command, and she freezes. Her breathing is coming in harsher than before.

I walk past her to the office door, ignoring the questions coming through the speakers, and lock it before moving to the blinds and closing them all. I can feel Dahlia’s eyes on me, but I don’t turn to face her gaze until we have privacy.

“When Mr. Stone...” a voice rings through the speakers and I quickly walk over to the other side of the desk and lean forward, hitting mute and exiting out of the conference without a word. I don’t owe them an explanation, and they still need to have this sorted by tomorrow at the latest. I pay them well, and I expect no less from them.

“Lucian, I-” Dahlia finally says as I walk toward her. I take her small hands in mine and bring her closer to me.

“What’s wrong?” I ask her.

“I shouldn’t have-” she looks down at the grey carpet and shakes her head, the doubt and regret spreading through her.

I hook my finger under her chin and tilt her up so her soft hazel eyes are forced to look back at me. “What’s wrong?”

“I…” She’s so hesitant. Last night was hard on us, and I failed her. Again. This is my fault. “I feel like,” she chokes on her words, looking past me and out of the window.

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