McDonald_TWT_GENVers_Feb2014 Read Free

Perhaps the woman who pays for your company will be a nice person. Perhaps she will even be your Ke Aloha .”
    “That would be miraculous,” Koka said stiffly, but then instantly regretted having taken too sharp a tone over her teasing. “I have some fish soup I could warm for you if you’re hungry.”
    “No thank you. Just tea, Ko`u Aloha . Just tea tonight,” she said. “I need to go pray to the goddess. I will ask her to send someone to whom you can give what you don’t want to sell on Saturday.”
    His grandmother meant well with her teasing. She meant to put him at ease. Koka knew that—he did. But thinking of an audience full of screaming women bidding on him, he rolled his eyes to the ceiling making sure his grandmother did not see.

Chapter 2
    “I had to work late to handle an emergency for a client, but I’m here now. The auction is just getting started. Breathe, Joe. I’m sure I haven’t missed him.”
    Sabine held her cell phone tightly to her heaving chest, blocking Joe from hearing just in case she needed to lie to him.
    “What bachelor are they on?” she asked, whispering the question to the woman filling out her paperwork.
    “Number two I think,” the woman replied equally quietly.
    Sabine automatically took the auction-bidding fan that now had her name printed in giant letters on it. Sighing to see Martin’s name next to hers again, she ignored it and relayed the woman’s answer into the phone. “They’re just on bachelor number two. I’m sure I haven’t missed your Todd yet.”
    “He’s number five,” the woman said, her tone perking up. “Wow, I wish I could bid on him. He’s incredibly good-looking, even if he never smiles.”
    Sabine’s eyebrows raised at the detailed praise of the man. “You’re in luck, Joe. They just told me he’s coming up soon. So relax and drive safely. If I win Todd before you get here, I’ll call you.”
    Before Joe could protest further, Sabine clicked the phone off and dropped it into her purse. “God, I really hate doing this.”
    The woman laughed and smiled at her. “If you win, I’ll gladly take your date with Todd,” she said.
    Sabine thought of how flustered Joe would get and how badly she wanted revenge for the hell he’d put her through today.
    “Don’t tempt me,” she said with a grin, making the woman laugh. “That’s the best offer I’ve had all day. I traded money for going to the spa for this.”
    Shouldering her favorite large purse, Sabine bravely headed into the bidding area where a crowd of restless women were actively bidding on some great-looking guy standing on stage.
    The poor guy looked almost ill, but the screaming women didn’t seem to notice, or at least they didn’t seem to care. Looking around Sabine shook her head, unsure whether she should feel most sorry for the desperate women, the uncomfortable men, or herself for being stupid enough to do this for Joe.
    She plopped down in a vacant chair near the back. Counting seats to have something to do, she came up with just a little over a hundred thirty potential competitors. Hopefully not all of them had auction fans, so maybe she could shave another twenty or so from that. Then she factored in Joe’s comment about Todd being a diamond in the rough and thought maybe another fifty might not like him enough to bid. If her estimates were right, it meant the actual number of women bidding against her might be no more than sixty or seventy.
    Maybe she could do this—even if she hated every crazy second of it.
    Sabine jumped in her seat when the woman next to her threw up her fan and screamed out a number. Her attention was snagged seconds later by the auctioneer yelling loud enough to be heard above the commotion.
    “We have four hundred fifty. Do I hear five hundred? Do I hear four seventy-five? Four fifty-five? Going once. Going twice. Ladies, we have another winner. The winning bid for bachelor number four is four hundred fifty dollars.”
    Sabine made a face