Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Autumn was on the verge of snatching the corsage shaped button from her chest and tossing it to the floor. This was stupid . Not the charity itself. Raising funds to help veterans re-integrate into society was a very worthy cause. In her opinion, not enough was being done for them. So, their ultimate goal was admirable, but this auction was archaic. However, who could tell that to the Ladies' Auxiliary of Lone Star Ridge? Apparently, not Autumn Daley.

"Our next lovely bachelorette is a hometown girl who moved to the big city of sin in Nevada. But, she's back here with us, for a little while at least. Miss Autumn Daley."

Initially, Autumn startled upon hearing her name. Recovering quickly, she pasted a smile on her face, accepted the hand of the usher helping everyone onto the stage, and strode to the spot on the floor where they'd been directed to stand. Unlike the women who went before her, she didn't treat the stage like a runway.

There was no way she was going to turn around and show anyone her ass, no matter how spectacular it looked. She had to admit, the way her dress gently hugged her curves showcased her posterior to perfection. Autumn still refused to play the show to that extent. They'd sold this event by saying it was to spend time with the bachelorettes. Spending time with her didn't include her body.

Besides, Roth was going to bid on her. Enticing other bidders would defeat the purpose of her securing his promise. Autumn had tuned out Mrs. Stephens' listing of her accomplishments and accolades, only paying attention when she opened the bidding.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen. We'll start the bidding at ten."

Immediately, the hand Autumn didn't want to see shot up. She had to give it to Cartwright, his reflexes were still sharp. Autumn's attempt not to frantically search for Roth wasn't a complete failure, but she couldn't categorize it as a success either.

"We have ten from Mr. Cartwright, do I hear eleven?"

It was well established that any number mentioned had an unspoken thousand behind it. So, Mrs. Stephens didn't do something as uncouth as speaking the entire amount.

"Eleven."

Without her consent, Autumn's head swung to her left. The voice didn't belong to Roth. Who the hell was that guy? And what the hell was taking Roth so long to weigh in? While she tried not to freak out, the unknown man and Mr. Cartwright entered a bidding war. Autumn was very nearly losing hope when the deep, gruff voice she'd been waiting for entered the fray.

"One hundred."

A collective gasp swept through the crowd and all heads turned toward Roth. Striding up the aisle as if he were strolling through a field of high grass, he approached the stage.

"Well!" Mrs. Stephens sounded flustered and momentarily forgot her role as auctioneer. It was completely understandable as the mystery man and Cartwright were inching their way toward thirty thousand before Roth interrupted with his bid. Clearing her throat, his mother collected herself to continue.

"We have a bid for one hundred. Do I hear any others?" After a brief pause, she repeated the question two more times.

"Going once, twice. The winning bid goes to Rothschild Stephens. Thank you, Mr. Stephens for your generous contribution. Please come and collect your beautiful date."

Autumn was positive the smile she'd glued onto her face looked as phony as it felt. She had to call upon all the years of training from her mother and the skills she'd perfected practicing law to keep from showing the depth of her emotions at the moment. When she'd asked Roth to bid on her, she hadn't meant for him to shell out enough money to fund a program for a year. What the hell was he thinking?

Even before his mother had proclaimed his bid as the winner, he was already approaching the stage. When he reached the edge, Autumn lost the ability to look anywhere but at him. Once he extended his hand, she didn't have to tell her feet to move. They took her to him.

The callouses on his palm felt rough against hers, but she liked it. The warmth of his grasp travelled up her arm before radiating to the rest of her body.

"Let's go, Sugar."

Roth's touch was already wreaking havoc. Then, the man had to go and open his mouth. Why didn't he just stay quiet? Autumn's new focus became concentrating on not melting into a puddle before she made it to the bottom of the stage and away from the prying eyes of the people in the room.

With her hand completely engulfed in his, Autumn studiously avoided eye contact with everyone until she and Roth came to a stop in front of a long rectangular table. Seated behind it were two women with laptops. Only when one of them spoke, did Autumn dare to focus on anything else.

"Hey there, Roth. Autumn."

"Ellen Sue." Roth and Autumn spoke in unison, acknowledging the woman who was unashamedly Lone Star Ridge's most prolific gossip.

"Is this where I pay my pledge?"

"It sure is. You can settle up with me or Charity Ann. We're both set up to take cash, check, or mobile transfer."

Charity's face flushed, but she neither confirmed nor denied Ellen Sue's statement. The way she ducked her head and stared at the computer screen told Autumn the crush she'd had on Roth was still very much alive.

Autumn didn't blame her. Growing up, there were very few girls who didn't have a crush on at least one of the Stephens boys. Sometimes it was all three. They were all tall and thickly built with dark hair. The only major difference between them was their eye color. Ryker's was the same azure blue of their mother's, while Roth had his father's honey-colored eyes and Rhinehart was an interesting mixture of the two.

"I'll do the electronic transfer."

Autumn fought off the sensation of abandonment when Roth released her hand to pull out his cellphone.

"Right on here is the QR code and other stuff we've set up to make things easier for y'all."

Ellen Sue moved a small pop-up banner closer to Roth showing him the information he'd need to complete the electronic transfer of funds.

Autumn wasn't trying to snoop, but his nearness and the way he held the phone made it impossible for her to miss him casually following the prompts on the screen to complete his donation. Not having access to her trust fund yet, meant she'd have to move a little something from an investment account to drop that kind of money on anything.

Leave it to her maternal grandfather to make the archaic stipulation that she could only access the trust before the age of forty, if she got married. Thinking of her trust took her mind to her close call with marrying the philandering Russell. Even after she called things off, she ended up having to block him on everything to get him to go away.

After seeing his face in a few pictures on social media, she didn't dare tell Nick about his attempts to contact her. Although he and Roth had returned to their post, she didn't doubt one of them had the connections to reach out and touch Russell from thousands of miles away.

"Okay! It looks like you're all set!"

Ellen Sue's chipper delivery almost matched the glee on her face. Her gaze pinged between the two of them lingering on their hands. Once he'd completed the transaction, Roth had recaptured her hand, folding it into his larger one. When Ellen Sue looked up at her face again, Autumn couldn't resist lifting a single questioning eyebrow.

She already knew Ellen Sue was going to jump into her favorite town group chat and start the rumors. Because, even though Roth and Nick had been the best of friends since childhood, Autumn and Roth had never been hand-holding close. He watched over her as fiercely as Nick and was likely part of the reason the boys her age were afraid to ask her out until her senior year of high school.

Because who wanted to date the girl who had two extra-large, overzealous body guards hovering? By the time they accepted their commissions in the army, she was almost ready for college and could keep the undesirables away without them standing behind her mean-mugging any male within a thirty-foot radius.

With a curt goodbye and head tilt to the two women, Roth gave Autumn a gentle tug, getting her feet moving. After a few steps, she realized they were heading toward the exit.

"Roth, I can't just leave."

Slowing to a stop, Roth peered down at her.

"Why not? I told you I was planning to go before the bidding started. I only stayed as long as I did because you asked me to help you. I helped. I'm done here. I figured you wouldn't want to stay here for any of the questions."

Autumn glanced around to be certain no one was in earshot before speaking.

"I don't want to stay for questions, but I have one of my own. Why in the world would you bid that kind of money on me?"

One muscular shoulder lifted and lowered, causing his tuxedo to stretch and relax to contain the bulge.

"I wasn't about to spend another ten minutes countering those two with pennies. So, I bid high enough to shut ‘em up."

"Okay, but—" Autumn looked around again and lowered her voice. "But, 100K? Seriously, Roth? That's excessive."

"Says you." Roth released a heaving sigh as he looked at the doorway a scant twenty feet away.

"Look, are you staying or leaving with me? I have about three more minutes left in me before I start biting people's heads off. Since I promised my mama I wouldn't embarrass her, I need to hightail it."

"Well, I—" Autumn's reply was cut off by an excited Virginia Stephens.

"There you two are!"

Roth's groan was audible and his thick beard wasn't any help camouflaging his grimace.

"Hey, Mama. Aren't you shirking your duties? Weren't you just on stage?"

Roth's questions couldn't have been more transparent. Autumn ducked her head to avoid laughing aloud. Mrs. Stephens brushed him off with a light swat to his shoulder.

"You don't worry about me and my duties. The ladies and I have a system. I stopped at the table and Ellen Sue said you'd already come by to make good on your bid."

The smile on her face reached her eyes, making them sparkle with delight.

"I'm certain your bid will be the highest of the night. Did you two plan this?" Mrs. Stephens looked between them. "I know it took some arm twisting for me to get this one here, and when I talked to Carla, she said it wasn't much easier wrangling you, Missy."

Autumn shook her head. "Ma'am, I can honestly say I had no intention of Roth bidding such a large amount of money on me."

It was then that Mrs. Stephen's gaze darted to their joined hands. Her smile went to megawatt levels.

"Oh... Oh! Well, okay then. I just wanted to thank you both for being such good sports and being so generous." Reaching up, she cupped the side of Roth's face, delivering two gentle taps before dropping her hand. "I'm so proud of you."

She seemed to not expect a response from him because she immediately turned her attention to Autumn. "I won't hold you kids up any longer. I can tell my son is chomping at the bit to get out of here. You two have a great evening. Autumn, I'll let your parents know Roth is seeing you home."

With her declaration, she walked away. She hadn't made it more than a step before Roth was on the move again, pulling Autumn behind him. After a close call with her heel in a crack on the sidewalk outside the building, she jerked on his hand. Hard.

"Roth!"

Stopping immediately, he looked at her. There was a strange look in his eyes before he wiped it away.

"What's wrong?"

"Your legs are much longer than mine, and I'm wearing six-inch heels. That's what's wrong."

"Do you need me to carry you?"

As glorious as his suggestion sounded, Autumn shook her head. "No. I just need you to slow down. And where are we going? We passed the valet stand."

"I didn't valet. I parked myself."