Page 147 of Grand Love

“Next up, we have the gorgeous Nina. She’s a fiery one, boys, so only bid if you think you can handle her bite.”

Mason’s eyes grow tighter at Megan’s challenge.

My heart starts to pound as the bidding starts, but my eyes don’t leave his.

“How about we start at—”

“Five hundred!” John shouts again, making everyone laugh.

“Five thousand!” Vinny yells, and my heart swells.

“Ten!” Charlie calls out.

“Twenty-five thousand.” My eyes snap to the bidder, realising it’s the man Mason was talking to when I arrived. Hemmings, he said his name was.

I flick my eyes back to Mason and instantly get lost in him again, his stare catching me on fire. He isn’t concerned with Hemmings, Vinny or John, he is honed in on me. Nothing else. Me.

His eyes seem to pinch tighter together, and I frown as something passes between us.

He won’t bid on me.

He won’t buy me.

“Twenty-eight!” Lance grounds out.

“Twenty-eight thousand! Wow, guys! Going once…”

“Thirty!” Hemmings outbids Lance, earning a collective gasp from the crowd and myself.

Mason’s lip curls and I worry I will lose his eyes, but he doesn’t look away from me, his knuckles only grow tighter against the marble top, as if he is restraining himself from going after Hemmings. His head dips slightly, and the reassurance he gives me in that one look is the only thing keeping me on the stage.

“Uh.” Megan seems to have lost her voice, and I look to her, praying she doesn’t wrap things up yet.

She shrugs. “Going once… twice…”

My eyes fly to Mason’s.

“Sold!” Megan fans herself, shaking her head helplessly at me when I look at her in horror.

My gaze goes back to Mason, and I find him striding towards the stage. He looks lethal, his smirk promising and measured. I learn all too quickly that he wasn’t restraining himself from getting to Hemmings. He was restraining himself from coming to me.

“Oh.” Megan taps the microphone. “Do we have a last-minute bidder?” She grins.

“Mase,” I warn as he nears.

He doesn’t slow, not stopping until his shoulder is at my hip, and I’m being thrown over his shoulder.

“Oh my god! Mase!”

“Hey! You can’t steal the prizes, Mr Lowell!” Megan laughs.

I don’t dare look up, placing my hands on his lower back as he strolls through the cheering crowd. Mason carries me from the tent and through the grounds until we are at the back doors of the terrace that leads off of the kitchen. He slides me down his body putting us mere inches from one another.

“What was that?”

His eyes dart all over my face. “You belong to me, Pix.”

“You didn’t bid on me.” My lips twist up into a smile.

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