To Win a Rebel

Chapter Two

Molly was not panicking. The auction, so far, had gone well. Several of the most eligible bachelors had been won and gone for a good price as well, but she knew they could have done better.

All the women in the crowd looked hungry for one man, and he was up next.

She took a deep breath. She hated being the center of attention, but seeing as this was her idea, she had to see it through to the end. They had raised plenty of money for the school, and she was very happy.

She knew she couldn’t be selfish tonight. Those kids deserved the best, so she forced a smile to her lips, hoping people were broke.

Molly didn’t know how she was going to be able to get through a whole date with Nate. They were like chalk and cheese. He was outgoing, and she much preferred being in her pretend world, where it felt safer. She knew if her parents were alive still, they would be telling her to stop being such a fusspot.

Staring out into the crowd, she saw a lot of hungry faces, and she’d purposefully left Nate until last. The only problem was she had raised more than enough money for the school and the library. Every cent and dollar counted, and even though this was the last thing she wanted to do, she knew she had to do it.

“So, ladies and gentleman, last, but certainly not least—” she stopped as the crowd went a little wild. She happened to notice that all women, even married ones, were going a little crazy, even to the annoyance of their husbands.

She attempted to stifle a smile, but she couldn’t help it. There was nothing wrong with putting Nate up for auction. It certainly didn’t mean anything.

“Settle down, settle down, I know we’re all looking forward to who is next,” Molly said, hoping to play along.

She had been giving introductions to the men, and the few women that had entered, and still wished to be put up for auction. Again, the school board said offering women up was tacky. She had to get consent forms, and the women were insistent in still competing. They wanted to help in whatever way they could to raise money. Molly didn’t see an issue, and she felt tonight had gone well so far.

“This man doesn’t really need an introduction. He’s the rebel, the mechanic, the guy who loves to take the last slice of pecan pie. Please give some applause for Nate Sinclair.”

It was an old rumor that if there was any kind of pecan pie, Nate would take it. The man had a sweet tooth. Again, she didn’t know this personally.

The crowd went crazy as Nate stepped onto the stage, and she rolled her eyes, because of course he’d taken off his shirt. His muscles were well known by a lot of women.

While the crowd lapped him up, and Molly had no problem with them attempting to raise the money, she had a feeling they were going to struggle with him. She gave it another few minutes, but then realized she was stalling, so she waved her arms.

“Quiet down, quiet down, I am going to start the bidding at fifty, do I hear fifty?”

And the crowd went crazy.

Fifty suddenly went to a hundred. She expected it to go up in increments of twenty, but nope. This got taken right out of her hand. One hundred went to two, then four, then six. There was no order in the bidding. All too soon they were at a thousand, and had already gone over the highest bid. Nate was on top.

Then, in a very masculine voic e— and this is what she should have suspecte d— Randy Jacobs stepped forward and declared a bid of five thousand dollars. The room went silent. Completely and totally silent.

Still reeling from the fact she was going to have to go on a date with him, it took her a few seconds to realize this was her time to bring an end to this.

“Sold to Randy Jacobs, for five thousand dollars,” Molly said.

She didn’t have to go far before there was a sudden kiss on her cheek. She gasped and spun around to see Nate there. He’d stolen a kiss, but she was taken aback.

“See you tomorrow night, Embers,” he said, referring to her last name.

“You cheated.”

“Technically, I didn’t cheat. You see, you didn’t specify who could buy me. Besides, you think I didn’t see you holding out with me until the end?” he asked.

“I thought it would be good business,” she said, not quite meeting his eye.

“Yeah, right, and pigs might fly. We both know you put me last so there would be a chance the target money wouldn’t be met. I know your game, Molly, and consider it matched. I do believe we’d be in a form of checkmate right now.”

“I don’t play chess,” she said.

“Good, because I won, and that means tomorrow your ass is mine. For the rest of the night, I’m going to go and play with my buddy, and maybe let his wife paw at me.” He went to walk away, but spun back around toward her. “In case you don’t know, it means his kids are going to walk all over me while they go and make out. Trust me, I will be earning every cent of five thousand dollars.”

Randy had already presented the check, and glancing down, Molly saw it was made by Nate Sinclair.

He paid five thousand dollars for himself.

Why? Did he want to go on an actual date with her, and this guaranteed it?

This made no sense.

Molly knew she was not the kind of woman men went chasing after. Not in a million years, and certainly not for five thousand dollars.

****

Part of Nate’s plan did backfire.

He attempted to stifle a yawn as he walked through the garden up to Molly’s front porch. Randy and Bethany had taken full advantage of helping him out last night by forcing him to babysit. These kids were not human. There, he’d said it. He truly believed they had been possessed by the Devil, or some kind of evil. They had way too much energy, and he never for a second believed he had that kind of willpower when he was younger. No way.

Their kids were nightmares, and he got no sleep, as he spent most of the night chasing after them, attempting to put them to sleep.

Of course, this morning, his two best friends looked positively happy while he was too tired to even complain. They were of course thankful he had helped them out, and he didn’t have a problem doing that either. He didn’t like being too tired tonight, but he knew he would completely snap out of it.

With a bouquet of roses in his hand, he reached out to knock but Molly was already there, opening the door for him. For a second, he could do nothing but look at her resplendent beauty. She completely took his breath away.

She wore one of her signature floral dresses that looked absolutely stunning on her. It curved in all the right places, highlighting her full tits and rounded hips, but it hid her thighs.

Nate tried to scramble his brain to recall if she had ever worn jeans, and he didn’t think she did. She was always in dresses or skirts, never pants or jeans. In the wintertime, she did add tights, though.

“Hi,” she said. “If you’re having second thoughts, I don’t mind. We can just say this deal was silly and childish and neither of us has to continue.”

He smiled. “I was going to tell you that you look beautiful.”

“Oh.” She glanced down at herself, and he saw, even through the thin layer of makeup she wore, that she was indeed blushing. “Thank you. You look … handsome.”

And the blush deepened.

He held out the roses. “These are for you.”

The smile, if it was even possible, grew bigger. “Uh, wow, thank you so much. Would you give me a minute so I can put these in some water?” she asked.

He nodded and stayed at her door.

Within minutes she returned, pushing some of her hair out of her face. Tonight, she had let it down, and there were natural curls in the long brown length.

“Shall we?” he asked, holding out his arm for her to take. She looked dubious and he was tempted to promise her that she wouldn’t catch anything from touching him. They were not schoolchildren anymore.

“Of course. Where are we going?” she asked.

“Well, that is for me to know and for you to find out.” He winked at her, and he loved hearing her light laughter.

He’d spent most of the day setting up a small picnic in the park. Nate knew how much she loved to walk as it helped to clear her hea d— again, what he’d overheard in snippets of conversation with her.

“It’s a lovely night,” Molly said.

“Yes, it is. Did you manage to raise all the money you wanted?” he asked, knowing for a fact she had.

“Yes, you wouldn’t believe the struggle I had with that auction. The board was not happy with the prospect of women being put up for auction.” She blew out a breath. “They were totally fine with the men.” She let out a chuckle. “Thank you for … you know, helping me.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Why didn’t you allow any of the other women to buy you?” she asked. “I mean, you must have spoken to Randy before the auction?”

“I spoke to him within minutes of making that deal with you. Randy was already hanging around.”

“Oh,” she said. “I had no idea. So, what was so awful about the idea of being sold to a woman willing to pay for you?”

“Would you like men bidding on you?”

“Men wouldn’t bid on me, but I guess I see your point.”

“You don’t think men would bid on you.”

She shrugged. “I’m not searching for compliments, I just know I’m not the kind of woman men seem to lust after. It’s just a fact.”

She was so very wrong, it wasn’t even funny.

Nate had always liked Molly. She had been out of his league, but he was done with all that bullshit. He hadn’t lived like a saint, but he’d decided he was done watching Molly from the sidelines. She was going to belong to him, and he knew he was going to have her.

“So, what is your reason?” she asked.

“Simple, I don’t want to be at the mercy of some of the women. You saw what they were like, and they think because they spent money it gives them a license. Not happening, besides, I already asked the woman out that I wanted to bid on me.”

Molly stopped and he looked at her. “You really wanted me to bid on you?” she asked.

“Yeah, which is why we’re on this date.” And then he took a chance, like many of the heroes within her books. They didn’t wait for permission, nor take their time getting to know their heroine. There were a couple of books that were different, but most of the men took what they wanted when they finally realized what that was.

He cupped her cheeks, pushing her hair out of the way, and tilting her head back so he could look her in the eyes. She had such pretty green eyes. He felt like he could fall into them.

Closing the distance between them, he pressed his lips to hers and kissed her, claiming the kiss he’d been wanting, and he relished the moan that escaped her lips.