Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 64

“Hold still, I’ll be done in a sec.”

James’s eyes lingered on the curve of her neck, drifting down to her collarbone. He swallowed, hard, trying to play it cool.

“All set.”

Emmy snatched the ointment from his hand. “I can handle my arms and legs on my own.”

James didn’t say a word. He just spun around, stalked over to a vending machine, and grabbed a bottle of ice water. He twisted off the cap and chugged it like his life depended on it.

As Emmy smeared more ointment on her skin, she caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye. Her heart stuttered.

Dean used to look at her like that, wild and hungry, almost animal. He’d grit his teeth and say, “Emmy, do you even know how dangerous you are? One look at you and I’d die happy in your bed.”

Crude, but not exactly a lie. She knew she had that effect on men.

And honestly, it scared her—to lose control, to let another man go too far, to let things spiral again.

“The ointment’s on. These mosquitoes are insane. I’m heading back.” Emmy barely got the words out before practically bolting.

James watched her hurry away, took another long pull from the water, but the cold didn’t even put a dent in the heat burning through him.

He ended up running laps in the park for over an hour, sweat dripping down his back, pushing himself until he’d finally worn out the restlessness.

Two days later.

Emmy finally led her team through the last details of the bid. This was it—Forward Technology’s whole future was riding on the Vista Home project.

She and her assistant rushed to Vista Corporation, only to get turned away before they got past the front desk.

“Ms. Lincoln, I’m sorry, but your bid was a last-minute addition. You’re not in our original budget.” The woman smiled, but her eyes were ice. “Unless Mr. Johnson personally agrees, even the best proposal won’t matter.”

But Mr. Johnson wasn’t in the office. He’d taken his wife to the Lumière Gallery for an exclusive auction.

The Lumière Gallery—one of those ultra-private auctions, just twice a month, every item rare and impossible to find anywhere else.

Emmy didn’t hesitate. She turned to her assistant. “Let’s go. We’re heading to the Lumière Gallery.”

Inside, the place was dripping with old money and that kind of hush that promises something big.

By pure luck, Emmy spotted Dean and Evelina in the crowd right away.

Across the room, Evelina’s eyes sparkled as she leaned into Dean. “Dean, I love it. Please?”

Dean looked like a storm cloud.

Starlight Eternity.

He’d given Emmy that necklace for her eighteenth birthday.

She’d just started her internship at Starlight Corporation, and he’d named it Starlight Eternity just for her.

Why was it here? Did she lose it? Did someone steal it and sell it off?

The auctioneer’s voice rang out, sharp and clear. “Bidding for Starlight Eternity starts at fifty thousand.”

The words had barely left his mouth when a low, lazy male voice echoed from a private box on the second floor.

“Five hundred thousand.”

Everyone in the room sucked in a breath and turned to stare at the second floor.