The Auction House Deal: Bought by A Billionaire

Chapter 156: Illusion: Hannah

We awoke the next morning at our usual time, and as we had been doing for a couple weeks then, headed down to the gym. Some people must have found routines boring or crushing, but to me, it was comforting. Our early morning and nighttime routines are the ways we were able to spend time with one another, and I hoped that it never got old.

It was that morning that I finally managed to get my mile run down into just under ten minutes. When I stepped off the treadmill, I was out of breath, but smiling ear to ear. Roman held a hand up and I slapped it for a high five.

"Look at you, already making progress," Roman complimented. "I think it took me like three months to even shave a minute off my time. You shaved off two in just a couple weeks."

"I think I was just that out of shape," I laughed through the heavy breathing.

I made a mental note to myself that I should do a bit of shopping if I had some downtime that day, to get some more workout clothes. I had been getting ads for some of the boutiques in town, and I was a sucker for it.

"What are your plans for the day?" Roman asked as we took turns at a bench press. I had managed to work up to actually lifting the barbell for the exercise, whereas before I had to use dumbbells, and I was super proud of that.

"Go to the place, get my car, and go do some more shopping for the office. Make some calls to line up interviews for counselors. I don’t even know where to begin with that," I sighed.

"Call my office and ask Rachel for the number for the staffing agency we use from time to time," Roman suggested. "They have licensed professionals, and I’m sure they could get you a list of people to weed through."

"Thank you," I said as I stood up from the bench. I leaned over the bar to kiss him. "What would I do without you?"

He tilted his head side to side before smirking. "Girl boss your way to the top regardless?"

"Girl boss?" I echoed, laughing heartily.

"Haven’t you heard? It’s the hip new trend," he chuckled, taking his turn on the bench.

"Oh really," I laughed. "Pretty sure it’s been the hip new thing since the suffrage movement."

"You’ve got me there," he chuckled.

"What about you? Do you have a busy day?" I asked.

"Sadly," he sighed. "We are closing on the real estate acquisition today. I’m hoping it doesn’t take too long, but knowing my luck, I’ll be there until late."

"Good thing you have a wife who could bring you some dinner at the office," I replied.

He smiled and corked a brow at me. "What exactly are you going to bring?" he asked, bringing me close by the hips. His hands brushed against my hip bones in a suggestive way.

My mind flooded with memories of the hot morning we had in his office. A light blush came over my cheeks, but I did my best to mask it by shooting him a challenging glance. "Are you requesting something in particular?"

He made a clicking sound with his tongue and made an obvious glance down at my body. "I can think of a couple things, but I’m an open-minded guy."

"Oh really," I giggled. "Well, maybe I can bring you things to choose from."

"I can’t wait," he purred. My body felt electrified by the pending interaction. My mind reeled with all the possibilities of what we could get up to in his office, and I was dying to find out.

We finished our workout and headed up to the kitchen. Geoffrey had prepared poached eggs, bacon, and toast for breakfast.

We took our time eating, shooting flirty looks to one another. I had never been a morning person before in my life, but sharing those moments with him were something that now that I had them, I never wanted to miss them.

All too quickly, we were showered, dressed, groomed, and ready to go. We got into his car and started the typical journey into downtown. "Nick will meet us at the charity," Roman informed me after glancing at his phone as he drove.

"Eyes on the road, mister," I teased.

I still felt unsure of Nick, but he was decent enough. He hadn’t done anything for me to mention anything to Roman past my initial concerns. Maybe it was just a matter of getting used to one another.

I didn’t know, though. There was something about him that made me not as comfortable as I had been with the other bodyguards. But, like before, I didn’t want to risk someone losing their job and not even know why. Until he gave me a reason, I would continue giving him a shot.

We pulled up to the charity and we arrived there before Nick. Roman and I got out of the car and unlocked the door. I tugged him close to me by the jacket. "Maybe once things are up and running with the charity, we can take off on another vacation," I suggested, a sly look on my face.

"Oh? Missing the Bahamas already?" he replied, smirking.

"Just miss you," I responded with a cheeky expression. "Things are going to get crazy in the coming weeks, and I have a feeling that moments like these are the only ones we are gonna have. Wasn’t it you that said we should always be planning one to have something to look forward to?"

"You got me there," Roman chuckled. "Very well. Start thinking of where you would like to go. I’ll make sure it happens."

"Oh really?" I grinned. "What if I wanted to go somewhere like..." I dug into my mind, trying to think of somewhere completely obscure. "Macon, Georgia?"

"Macon?" he chuckled, his brow furrowing at her. "What exactly is in Macon?"

"I don’t know. That’s the point isn’t it?" I giggled.

He stroked my hair and tilted my chin toward his face. "I would follow you anywhere. Wherever you want to go, I’ll follow gladly."

"I’ll keep that in mind," I replied before he closed the distance and kissed me sweetly.

Roman pulled back slowly and glanced at his watch. "Nick is really late," he sighed.

"Traffic might be bad," I shrugged.

It was only a matter of minutes before another car was finally pulling into the parking lot. "There he is," Roman sighed. He turned back to me and gave me another kiss. "I’ll see you at dinner time."

"Love you," I said.

"Love you too," he responded.

As he moved to his car, a black car that had been street parked on the corner suddenly revved its’ engine and took off so quickly that the tires squealed.

I blinked rapidly, my pulse quickening. Did that really just happen? Was that possibly the same car I had been seeing?

My eyes jumped to Roman, who didn’t even seem to notice all the commotion as he climbed into his car.

Then I looked to Nick, who was parking and waving at me as he approached. I guess it was me. I was just paranoid. A frustration started building in my stomach, toward myself. I was getting so fed up with my own emotions. Why was I still being paranoid? It had been months! Kristen wasn’t walking around, nervous of every car she saw, now did she?

I tried to shove it down and didn’t even bother to ask Nick about it. I headed into the office with him and made a mental note that maybe finding counselors should be more of a priority for the day, and maybe I should make an appointment for myself.

Just the thought made me feel foolish. What would I even say to a counselor? Hi, I’m Hannah and I was very briefly kept at an Auction House against my will before being sold to my husband, who turned out to be a wonderful person who I fell more and more in love with as time went on?

Sounded really traumatic. I rolled my eyes at myself mentally.

After just a glance around the office, I headed back out the door. "We’re going shopping," I announced. Nick quickened his pace and got into the driver seat of my car. I would shove all the weird feelings and conflicting thoughts down and bury it in my job. I had a charity to get off the ground and help women who were really in need.

Still, I did need to set up a day for interviews. Chewing on the side of my cheek, I dialed the number for Romans’ office and went through the menu until I reached Rachel’s desk. "Hey Rachel, Roman said you would have a number for a staffing agency for licensed professionals? Do you think I could get that?"