Page 25 of Auctioned to the Mountain Man

She’s the one.

It took incredible restraint not to tell her I love her during the many times we came together. But the last thing I want to do is scare her off when she’s finally letting her guard down. We still need to talk about what happens when we leave.

Sure, the whole thing was fake to start. And although neither of us can deny what it’s become, I doubt Alida Kingston is going to make it easy on me when I declare that I want to be to be a permanent fixture in her life.

She’ll need to trust that I’m not trying to take away an ounce of her independence. That feat will be challenging enough. Butthe biggest hurdle ahead of us will be her allowing someone to put her first.

I’m zipping up my jeans when I hear her phone ring.

I glance at the screen and see Kayleigh’s name and picture appear. I reach for it, expecting Alida’s just about finished with her shower. She might miss the initial Christmas Day FaceTime call, but at least she can call her right back.

But as I knock on the bathroom door, I fumble the phone. The water cuts as my thumb swipes across the screen before it falls to the floor.

“Hello? Alida?”

Shit.

“Um, hey,” I say, picking up the phone.

“Fox?”

“Hey, Kayleigh. Merry Christmas.”

“What are you doing with my sister’s phone?” The bathroom door flies open. “Where’s your shirt?”

Alida’s eyes grow three times their normal size before they narrow into fire-tipped daggers.

“Alida, what’s going on? Are you with Fox? Are younaked?”

She yanks the phone from my hands, promises to call Kayleigh right back, and ends the call.

“What. The. Fuck?”

“It was an accid?—”

“We had adeal.”

“Alida, calm down.”

Her eyes narrow. “What did you say to me?”

Okay, that was stupid of me to say out loud. “It’s not what?—”

“How thehelldo you think I’m going to explain this to my sister, Fox?”

“I’m sorry?—”

“No, I don’t think you are.”

“What?” I’m so fucking confused right now. “What are you saying?”

“You wanted her to find out about this so you had a reason to stick around. You wanted to force my hand. Like some type of insurance policy once you can no longer hold the money over my head.”

“Insurance policy?”

“This fake relationship endsnow,” she snaps, the anger burning brightly in her eyes. “I don’t care what fucking rating you give me. I want to go home.Now.”

This is fucking ridiculous. “What about my family?”

---