Chapter 2

CHAPTER

TWO

FOX

Alida Kingston will be the fucking death of me.

I’ve survived two combat tours, three bullets, and a Humvee rollover in enemy territory. I’ve had more brushes with death than I can count. And yet, this woman makes all of those experiences seem like child’s play.

One task.

One fucking task.

Keep my sisters safe if anything happens to me.

Brett warned me the oldest of his two sisters was hot headed and stubborn, but his words can’t hold a candle to the fire within the actual woman.

“I don’t need your help,” Alida snaps. “I’ve never needed your help.”

I scrub a hand over my beard, buying myself a couple of seconds to calm the fuck down. This woman makes me fucking crazy. “What the hell are you doing out here?” I demand, though I already know the answer. When I caught wind that Alida had signed herself up for this auction, I nearly lost my shit. She’s far from innocent, but that doesn’t mean she belongs in a place like that. A place where the richest of the rich come to play with women like they’re toys.

“What are you doing out here?” she fires back, a sparkle of victory in those baby blues. As though she’s somehow caught me.

Did I get an invite to the annual Naughty List Christmas Auction? Yeah, I fucking did. And, if it wasn’t for Alida, this would be the third year in a row I’d be declining an invitation that used to go to my asshole father. But I couldn’t stand the thought of one of those elite assholes buying Alida like she’s some sex slave. I’ve kept my distance like Alida asked, but this crossed a fucking line.

“Let’s stop pretending like we’re not both headed to the same place, sweetheart. The road only leads to one destination.”

Her parted lips hang open, but whatever she was about to say is lost to the momentary expression of surprise. Maybe that’ll shut her up long enough for me to assess the damage to her car. But before I can ask her to pop the hood, she asks, “How did you get an invite?”

I fold both arms over my chest, as though we have all damn day to do this. And unless she allows me to pull her car out of the ditch, we probably do. “That so hard to believe?”

“If you had millions, I think I’d probably know about it.”

“Hard to know a guy when your only interaction with him was to tell him to go fuck himself.”

“I believe I told you to go hell, actually.” She rubs her hands together, and I spot the bright pink color of her fingertips. Because I’d been following her out here, I know Alida hasn’t been stranded long. But with the way the temperatures are plummeting, frostbite is still a valid concern.

“Why don’t you go sit in my truck?” I offer.

“Why would I do that?”

“To stay warm while I see if I can save this death trap.” I should be gentler with my words, but something about this woman has always driven me a little bat shit. Maybe I’ll go to hell just for thinking it, but Alida’s fucking sexy when she’s riled up. Especially when I’m the one who’s done the riling.

“Fine.”

There’s something suspicious about how quickly she agrees to my offer, but I don’t have time to question it. As much as I wish I could just drive her home and send a tow after her car, there are consequences for missing the auction I don’t want her to deal with. If it was just money, I’d pay it in a heartbeat.

I could drop her off at the mansion and come back for her car, but I can’t let her out of my sight for a fucking minute once she steps inside that place. I’ve heard rumors about side deals being made outside the auction, and I don’t want her caught in a trap she can’t escape.

Within a few minutes, I’ve assessed that the radiator’s shot, her fuel pump is on its last leg, and if she’d had a spare tire, it wouldn’t have mattered much because the tie rod snapped when she slid into the ditch. She’s fucking lucky she didn’t wrap herself around a tree.

“Were you going to tell me about the spare tire?” I ask, tossing her bag into the backseat of my truck.

“You didn’t ask.”

I wait until I’m behind the wheel and driving before I say, “Have you considered replacing that death trap?”

“After tonight, maybe I will.”

Every muscle tenses at those arrogant words. As if she has any fucking idea what she’s signed up for. If I have it my way, she’ll never have to know the horrors of that place. Even if she hates me for interfering. I take a deep, calming breath, counting backward from ten to ensure my words are gentler before I say, “If you need a car?—”

“Don’t!” She points a finger at me like she intends to curse me. “I don’t need your fucking charity, Fox. I thought I made that clear.”

“You did.”

“So, knock it the fuck off.”

There are men attending tonight’s auction who’d pay double just to have her talk that way to them behind closed doors. They’d be turned on by her feisty spirit. The very thought of another man laying a hand on Alida makes my blood boil.

I’ve wanted this frustrating, fierce woman since the moment I first laid eyes on her three years ago. But no matter how badly I want to take her to heights she’s never experienced, to make her cry out my name in ecstasy when she comes over and over again, I won’t touch her. I’ve got enough problems without giving Brett a reason to haunt my ass.

I’ll take my dirty secret to the grave.

Even after I make the winning bid.