Page 33 of Bidding For Her Curves

To walk around in the world with her on my arm, doing anything, as long as it’s together.

She screws up her face and snuggles deeper into me, drawing up the covers over us both.

I hadn’t even noticed our nakedness, or if we were hot or cold.

Everything, when I’m this close to Jules, is just perfect the way it is, however it happens to be.

But looking around her room, the apartment beyond, I know she deserves better.

Much better.

“You couldn’t live in a place like this, could you?” she asks, not meaning to sound the slightest bit hurt.

“If it was with you? I dunno,” I tell her, thinking it over. “I’m pretty set in my ways. Could you live at my place?” I ask her, more of an invitation than a question.

She sighs quietly and buries her face in my chest again.

“I should call back Florence,” she says finally. “Would she know what’s happening yet? With all that donation money, I mean,” she asks earnestly.

I shrug, not really knowing myself. “I’ll know more tomorrow myself. These executive types, they scatter like dry leaves on the weekends, I think Nicholas is having a hard time mustering them for a meeting tomorrow.”

I don’t want to think about it, a big part of me is doing the math, wondering how quickly I could just dissolve everything. How much I’d have and how many lifetimes it could last me and Jules…

Our own family.

I’m way ahead of her though and smile. “We can stop by there if you want,” figuring she might want to be the one to break some good news to Florence for a change.

Jules stays still and quiet. I get lost in her breathing and we both just lie still for a long time.

“You really did all that for me though?” she finally asks, and I can tell she’s been thinking the whole time I’ve been lying here listening to her breathing.

“All what?” I ask, knowing full well what she means, laughing when she punches my chest softly.

“Millions of dollars for some soup kitchen, breaking up a huge deal from your own company,” she tells me, spelling it out in a way that sounds a lot simpler than it probably really is.

But I guess it really is that simple.

“I did. I will,” I tell her without hesitating. “And, I’ll do more than that. Whatever it takes.”

She looks worried, a cloud passing over her sweet face.

“I just don’t want you thinking I’m trying to buy you, Jules. I bid for you at that auction, sure. But that was when I knew what those other clowns had planned.”

“So you wouldn’t have bid that much for me otherwise?” she says, pouting, teasing me now.

I tickle her under her arms, making her squeal.

“I’d give it all up, right this second if it meant I could have you. To make sure you’d always be mine,” I tell her truthfully.

“Well, don’t go doing anything like that,” she urges me. “I’m all yours, and you’re mine. I’m not letting you go either, Mason Thorne,” she says, hugging me.

“It’ll all still be there tomorrow,” I muse aloud, the sound of my stomach rumbling making us both chuckle.

“You do need to eat a lot, don’t you?” she asks me, and I raise my brows in agreement.

“I do, I like to eat and there’s a lot of me to feed.”

“We could order in,” she says, and I know she’s half-serious, half-teasing me again.

“What do you really want to do?” I ask her, deciding I actually don’t mind either way.

I could lie with her on top of me forever at this point.

“As long as it’s with you,” she starts, and I realize one of us is gonna have to make a decision, or else we will be in bed all day.

“Do you wanna stay here? I mean, do you want to keep living here?” I ask her, changing the subject suddenly but suddenly not able to picture life at home without her there from now on.

“Give me some time, Mason… about that anyway. A lot’s changed in just twenty-four hours,” she says thoughtfully, and I have to agree, even though in my own mind it’s pretty simple.

“Sorry, must be low blood sugar, making me insecure,” I joke, knowing there’s no way we could raise a family in a one bedroom apartment like this.

I’d like to tell her that, but when I look at her, I can tell she’s already thinking the same thing.

“C’mon then,” I suggest. “Let’s get outta here, grab a bite, and do some shopping.”

Her eyes widen in a question.

“You’re gonna need some fancy clothes if you’re sitting in on that meeting tomorrow with me. Those guys are brutal. Gotta dress to kill.”

She looks startled, then worried.

“I’m not going anywhere without you, Jules. It’s you and me now, remember?” I inform her, pecking her lips, which she turns into a proper kiss, grabbing my hair and holding me tight. Threatening to take up the rest of the day doing what I know I want to.

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