The Innocents

by Cara North

  A TEASE PUBLISHING VALENTINES DAY SHORT

  The Innocents

  CARA NORTH

  TEASE PUBLISHING

  www.teasepublishingllc.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  A Tease Publishing Book/E book

  The Innocents

  Copyright© 2008 Cara North

  ISBN: 978-1-60767-032-2

  Cover Artist: Stella Price

  Interior text design: Stacee Sierra

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  Tease Publishing LLC

  www.teasepublishingllc.com

  PO BOX 234

  Swansboro, North Carolina 28584-0234

  Tease and the T logo is © Tease Publishing LLC. All rights reserved.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 1

  It was two weeks after her nineteenth birthday and Stephanie Young had finished her second year in art school with a specialization in clothing design, with honors. Ethan, her cousin, had let her manage his art gallery for the summer and she still worked there as her school schedule permitted. Now that Ethan was a newlywed he wanted to spend most of his time with his wife Grace.

  She stepped to the mirror and took in the outfit. She had handmade the black top, distressed the hip hugging jeans and added a little embellishment on the pockets. Her favorite pair of black strappy heels and sequined handbag topped the outfit off.

  Stephanie had her long blonde hair pulled up in a twist. She wore the silver hoop earrings her brother Joshua bought her as a birthday present, and the watch that her mother gave her. Looking down at her wrist she winced; she would be late and miss the auction. She had saved three thousand dollars and was going to donate it to the fire department, but she was also going to bid on a man.

  One man in particular.

  This was the best idea anyone had come out with in a long time. The stations were competing to see who could raise the most money for the Muscular Distrophy Association this year. The fire chief’s wife decided to auction off the firemen, and a few willing bachelors, for Valentine’s Day. A handful of couples would be placed in a drawing and receive a vacation at one of three destinations.

  The auction made such a buzz that all the society women had nominated every eligible bachelor that would fetch a fine donation. How could the men say no to the kids who counted on them? Most hadn’t. This was her older brother Joshua’s last summer in New York, so Chase and Megan had suckered him into participating. Women were always after the men in her family. Who could blame them? They were tall and brooding. Not so for Stephanie, her brother effectively chased away any man that dared look at his little sister.

  But not tonight.

  Tonight he would be preoccupied and wouldn’t even know she was there.

  Once she arrived at the destination donated to the event, Stephanie paid the taxi driver and made special effort to hold her head high and her shoulders back.

  There was no turning around now.

  * * *

  Inside the auditorium Chase Young waited for his cousin. Stephanie was here to buy a man, and he intended to make sure she got a decent guy. Only one man on that stage had the kind of character he would let near his cousin, much less the kind of courage to stand up to her brother.

  “Hey!” Chase hugged his favorite cousin and took a good look at her. She was five-nine and nothing short of gorgeous. That gave the three men of her family a lot of chasing and warning to do. They had about a million female cousins, but Stephanie was the only one who lived in New York. She was also the only female cousin on their fathers’ side. That made her special. “Happy birthday. Sorry I couldn’t make the party.”

  “No worries. Do I look all right?” Stephanie was always nervous about her looks. Her mother, Amelia Young, was constantly reminding her of eating habits and etiquette, and how she would never marry a doctor or lawyer if she didn’t watch her weight. Since Joshua had rebelled at every opportunity Stephanie became the focus. Thank God her father was a kind and gentle man. He wouldn’t divorce their mother, though no one was sure why not.

  “Of course you do. You’re beautiful.” Chase smiled. His aunt was such a bitch. His mother had told him and Ethan to always compliment Stephanie, even when she was gangly and scrawny and awkward as a little girl. She sure grew into those limbs. Now the compliments were real. Ethan and Chase looked over her like she was their little sister too.

  “You guys always say that.” Stephanie was so used to hearing her brother and cousins pump up her ego that she didn’t really believe them. They had been telling her she was beautiful since she was born it seemed, but especially when she had braces, her ears were too big and her face was a mess. It wasn’t until high school that she finally settled into her body. She graduated early, like her brother, at their mother’s insistence.

  “It’s always true.” Chase laughed. “Your brother is up there grousing and grumbling of course. I told him I would set Megan on him if he didn’t behave. Of course Joshua also refuses to go away for the weekend with anyone other than a red-head.”

  “He has a type.” Stephanie laughed. “I wonder what my type is?”

  “Clean cut. Nice. Respectful.” Chase answered seriously for her.

  “You guys chase any guy I like away. I have to resort to buying one and taking him away for a weekend just to have a private date.” Stephanie rolled her eyes.

  “It was just a coincidence, Megan and I happened to be at the movie theatre.” Chase lied.

  “And a coincidence that Ethan was eating at the restaurant, or worse that Joshua was waiting that one time in his uniform!” Stephanie knew Joshua couldn’t always be there, but Ethan and Chase made sure they covered whatever date he couldn’t. She loved Grace and Megan, they tried to block their husbands’ attempts to interfere, but the three big dogs had been staking her out since she hit puberty.

  “It’s a small town.” Chase shrugged.

  “It’s New York City!” Stephanie laughed and gave up. This was the only way to have privacy. “My only hope is that I get a package that is far from Joshua.”

  “There’s a package that is already set aside for you. Megan arranged it that way. And no, none of us are going with you.” Megan and Chase had chosen the Disney World package specifically because it was not romantic. Since Stephanie had always wanted to go she would spend her time in the parks and not in the hotel room. Brilliant plan if he ever had one.

  “Really?” Stephanie jumped with excitement.

  “Yes. Oh, here he comes.” Chase stood next to his cousin to ensure she won this man. He had known Malcolm a while now and he was the only person he trusted to be with his cousin and not pressure her. Grace was in place to bid if Stephanie ran out of money. Everyone but Joshua was in on it. Grace had mentioned that Stephanie had noticed Malcolm at the wedding a month ago. Everyone was in agreement he would do just fine.

  * * *

  Malcolm was so tired of the two men behind him he wanted to scream. “Will you two quit it? I can’t believe a woman would pay five bucks to spend an hour with either of you. Certainly not if she heard the way you were talking.”

  “Oh grow a pair.” Harry whacked the kid on the back. Malcolm was a good friend and a smart kid. But he was way too wholesome for the fire house.

  “I can’t wait to see what poor unsuspecting woman ends up with you.” Edgar joined in the teasi
ng. “She will think she’s getting a big bad fireman and instead she’s getting Mister Sensitive.”

  “There is nothing wrong with respecting women. My mother is a woman, my sister is a woman. If two men were up here debating so blatantly about the positions they would put either of them in I would just loose it. What if your sister was out there right now? Huh? Some guy up here talking about what he was going to do with her…”

  “I would snap his neck in three places.” Joshua interrupted the group of firemen. He didn’t mind the locker room banter but when the kid stood up for all woman kind he had to help him out. “But she isn’t out there.”

  “Where’s Chase?” Malcolm was anxious and he didn’t like being put on display. Worse than that, he didn’t like being bought by one of these women. Who knew what they were expecting. Hearing that Joshua’s sister Stephanie wouldn’t be out there was like a kick in the gut. He knew it was ridiculous, but he had hoped she would be.

  “Good question.” Joshua looked down the row of men.

  “Hey you’re up there Casanova.” Harry nudged Malcolm.

  “Assholes.” Malcolm knew they were like most of the men in the world, but he wasn’t. He grew up in a strict family with values and morals enforced. His father was a preacher, his grandfather was a preacher. He was the first man in a long line of ministers to take a different path.

  Joshua laughed. Malcolm was a real piece of work. He admired the kid. He had guts, and he stuck to his principles. The other two firemen began arguing over who would fetch the most money as Joshua resigned to leaning on the wall again. He really couldn’t wait for school to start. He would be in North Carolina by this time next month. His only worry was his little sister. He didn’t want to leave Stephanie behind. He couldn’t protect her from society if he wasn’t around. His cousins promised to keep up with her but they were both newlyweds and both of their wives were expecting. That didn’t leave a lot of room for chasing Stephanie and making sure she stayed out of trouble and away from guys like them!

  * * *

  Stephanie waited anxiously as the man she had come to bid for stepped out. No one knew she wanted Malcolm, she wouldn’t dare tell anyone other than Megan.

  “Malcolm Murphy ladies, he is one of our firefighters, six foot even, one hundred fifty pounds of raw muscle. Malcolm spends his nights at the firehouse, his days in college and his vacations at the Muscular Dystrophy camp itself.” Megan couldn’t do justice to his resume even if she tried. He needed a halo and wings on that stage, not a t-shirt and pair of jeans. Unlike the other firemen who made a great display of wearing the uniform, or pieces of it to show parts of the body off, Malcolm came out dressed like a regular guy. Anyone who spent more than ten minutes talking to him knew he was anything but. “I won’t even start this bid below one thousand.”

  “One thousand.” A woman shouted out.

  “Fifteen hundred.” Called another.

  Before Stephanie had a chance to bid he was already at twenty-five hundred. “Three thousand.”

  “Four.” The persistent woman up front shouted.

  “Shit.” Stephanie covered her mouth after she said it and felt her face heat.

  “It’s okay.” Chase smiled then motioned to Grace. They only needed to see who she had come to bid on to know they had made the right decision.

  “Ten thousand!” Grace stood up. Megan looked at the woman in the front row and shook her head no. The woman crossed her arms and raised a brow.

  “Going once, twice…”

  “Fifteen.” The woman popped up.

  Stephanie’s eyes were as big as saucers. The woman in the business suit was damn determined to buy Malcolm though she was old enough to be his mother.

  “Twenty.” Grace giggled. This was a lot of fun for her, before meeting Ethan she wouldn’t have known what twenty thousand dollars looked like in a bank account much less be offering it up so easily. Ethan was a millionaire steadily increasing his way toward billions though, so if it took a million bucks, Malcolm was going to Disneyworld with Stephanie!

  “What is Grace doing?” Stephanie looked at Chase who shrugged. “Chase?”

  “I’ll be right back okay, wait here.” Chase headed down the center aisle toward the woman who cut Grace an evil glare.

  “Twenty five.” The woman was now bidding at Grace.

  “Thirty.” Grace shrugged.

  Stephanie looked at the man on the stage who now stared at her.

  To her way of thinking he should have been looking at the women who were dropping insane amounts of money over him, but he looked at her. She blushed again.

  Chase made his way toward Malcolm’s mother. If she didn’t quit Ethan would drop a fortune on the kid and Malcolm’s father would strangle his wife for emptying their vacation account on him. Once he explained that Grace was Ethan’s wife and they were sending him to Disney for the weekend with his cousin Stephanie she sat down.

  Chase motioned for Stephanie to come forward.

  Stephanie had made it to the end of the aisle where the lights were insanely bright for the press that had front row seats to the event when Malcolm pulled his shirt over his head in a flash and jumped off the stage. She stood frozen as he ran toward her.

  * * *

  Malcolm was happily surprised to see Stephanie Young in the audience. She wasn’t seated like the other women. She was standing at the back of the rows with Chase. The bidding began and he could barely keep up, but Stephanie raised her paddle and bid for him. Then his mother out bid her. Then Grace started. Then it was out of control and all he could do was regret that Stephanie hadn’t won. He didn’t want to go away for a weekend with his mother, this was supposed to be a romantic getaway, married women weren’t even supposed to be there but they were, and Grace had started bidding. She had only been married to Ethan a hot minute, so what she was doing besides spending too much money was beyond him.

  But she won.

  Stephanie started down the aisle and as soon as the light hit her he got an eyeful.

  Her black top was transparent in the press lights and he wasn’t the only one to notice. He stripped off his t-shirt and jumped off the stage pushing it over her head and blocking the reporter before he could reload his camera and shoot the photo.

  Stephanie felt the shirt push over her head and pull down over her shoulders to her waist. Her arms were locked at her sides and Malcolm was ushering her toward the back of the auditorium. She followed his lead because she was in shock. He marched straight out the back doors and onto the sidewalk. The sun stroked over his bare shoulders. She wouldn’t let that image keep her sidetracked. Finally regaining her composure she pushed her arms through the sleeves of his t-shirt and shrugged loose from him. “What are you doing?”

  “You can see right through your shirt!” He was furious. He felt protective and possessive and mad that she would wear such a thing all at once.

  “What?” Stephanie’s face heated and her heart thumped faster. She tested it against her bedroom light. It wasn’t transparent there.

  “You’re not wearing a bra.” He put his hands on his hips and looked down at her.

  She was only a couple of inches shorter than him, but he looked very imposing at the moment. His blue eyes were intense. “I… I uh.”

  “Why would you wear a thing like that?” Malcolm didn’t want to start out talking to her like this. He had spoken only pleasantries at Chase and Megan’s wedding.

  “I made it.” Stephanie frowned and tears welled in her eyes.

  “You made a see through shirt?” Malcolm was biting back anger and trying to get control. The thought of her perky breasts on the cover of a newspaper was still burning him. Luckily only one reporter had taken his eye away from the stage to reload his camera. As soon as he saw Stephanie he smiled. That action alone made Malcolm want to rip the guy into a million pieces.

  “No. I made this shirt.” Stephanie felt the tears falling. “I’m so humiliated.”

  She turned to run but she
was in heels so he caught her in a couple steps. “I’m so sorry. I just… I just freaked out is all.”

  “Let me go.” It was a weak protest. He drew her in closer.

  “Stephanie I swear I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. I thought you looked amazing until you stepped into that light, and the reporter saw, and…”

  “Oh my God! Someone took a picture…”

  “No. I got to you before he could reload.” Malcolm let out a long breath. “Hey.”

  He tipped up her chin and pouted his own lip. “You’re killing me here.”

  “Sorry.” Stephanie wiped at her cheeks and hoped that the mascara truly was waterproof. “Here.”

  Stephanie pulled at his t-shirt. His hands clamped around hers and he shook his head. “Hang on to it.”

  “Thanks.”

  “I wonder what Grace was doing here bidding.” He no sooner got the words out than Grace was there.

  “Buying a birthday gift.” Grace smiled as they turned to face her. She handed Malcolm a t-shirt she had fished from his bag the moment she got her hands on it. The poor guy had caused an uprising inside the auditorium. If Megan hadn’t called off the bidding he would have hit that million dollar mark. Apparently taking off his shirt and leaping off the stage was worthy of more. Grace had already called Ethan on her cell phone. It was time to get them out of there before Joshua found out what was going on. “Here ya go. All things considered I thought you may just want to head on out.”

  “Uh?” Malcolm took the t-shirt and pulled it on. He then accepted the envelope and grabbed the handle of his suitcase she so graciously wheeled behind her. The men were all instructed to bring their bag so they could head out after the celebration. They were supposed to have cake and take pictures.

  “Steph your bag is in the limo. I thought you may want to get out of here before Joshua finds out.” Grace winked a conspiratorial wink and waved as her husband Ethan got out of the limo that just pulled up. “Have fun.”