Page 3 of The Celebrity Bidder

My brain conjures up a flash of my ex-fiancé: perfect smile, expensive cologne, and the very cliché secretary he’d been “working late” with for months. That discovery had come with all the subtlety of a dumpster fire.

Screw him.

“Okay,” I say, surprising even myself. “I’ll do it.”

Stacy squeals so loudly I have to pull the phone away from my ear.

“You’re thebest! I’m going to text you details. And don't be mad, but I already put your name on the promo poster just in case.”

I laugh. “Of course you did.”

As we hang up, I glance down at Bluebell.

“Well,” I say, bending to scratch her floppy ears, “guess I’m officially a bachelorette now.”

She snorts and rolls onto her back, entirely unimpressed.

I sigh. “Hopefully, the men in the audience will be easier to impress than you are, because we could really use the money.”

Chapter 3

Wylie

Scouttakesoffaheadof me, a brindle blur against the copper-colored leaves blanketing the trail. His tail wags like he’s the king of the world.

And out here, he kind of is.

I pick up my pace to keep up, breath puffing out in clouds as we push deeper into the woods. The trail dips, winding through a dense patch of maples and oaks whose branches knit together overhead like a fortress. Gold and red leaves flutter down with every step, some catching in my hair, some sticking to Scout’s back as he bounds through the underbrush.

No photographers. No drones.

No one but us.

I bought this land for the silence. For the privacy. For the guarantee that no one could follow me out here with a camera lens. The canopy’s too thick for aerial shots, and the only road in is one I paid to have gated.

When I’m here, I’m not Wylie Cole, movie star, celebrity heartthrob, People’s Sexiest Something-Or-Other.

I’m just a man and his dog.

Scout darts off the trail, nose to the ground, tail twitching. He circles a tree, then barks once—sharp, excited—and I jog over to see what’s caught his attention.

A squirrel.Of course.

“Easy, buddy,” I say, giving him a pat as the squirrel scampers up the trunk and disappears into the leaves. “That one got away.”

He huffs but trots back to the trail with no further protest.

It still blows my mind how fast I fell for this dog. Thank goodness for Fielding Rescue & Rehab.

My jaw tightens as Bella Fielding’s face flashes through my memory. The messy bun. The soft smile. The playful banter. I hadn’t expected her to knock the breath out of me just by opening a door.

For a moment there, I thought I’d just met my soulmate. But then… the glint of the diamond ring ruined everything.

I shake my head, trying to let the thought go. It’s been almost a year since that night. More than long enough to forget how gorgeous she looked in the glow of that porch light.But I haven’t.

Scout stops and looks back at me, tongue lolling out like he’s waiting for me to stop moping and catch up.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming,” I mutter, pushing into a jog again.

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