Bidding Wars (Love Strikes)(7)

He followed her in. Molly took a seat on the couch, and he followed suit.

“How’s Sammy?”

“Much better. And you were right; it was just a bug. I just dropped him off with his mom. She doesn’t live far from here, actually.”

“What a coincidence.” Her voice was full of sarcasm. “So…talk.”

She stared at him, trying to figure out what he wanted and what was left to discuss when it came to the house. Maybe he was here to gloat or ask her to withdraw her offer.

As she waited for him to speak, she studied him a little more carefully, but all she could see was a very attractive man who was gazing at her with kindness. He looked nervous, but his eyes were speaking to her as though they were trying to look through her own eyes and deep into her soul.

A fluttery feeling started in her stomach, and her heart rate sped up. She wasn’t sure what had come over her, but she was seeing Luke in a new way. That way Theresa had wanted her to look at him. And she wasn’t sure why.

“What did you want to talk about?” She glanced away from him.

“Did you want to eat while we talk?” He motioned toward her food.

“I don’t want to be rude and eat in front of you.”

“I see two pairs of chop sticks. I could join you.”

Eating dinner with him would be too personal. She didn’t want to get on that kind of a level with him. He was her enemy. She had to remember that. But the way he was looking at her, she wasn’t so sure he was feeling the same about her. In fact, she couldn’t quite pinpoint why he was staring at her the way he was. God knew she looked a wreck. Her hair was in messy bun, and she’d had these pajamas for years.

“I can wait.” But after she said it, her stomach rumbled, betraying her once again.

Luke leaned forward and took out the first box and handed it to her. “Eat. I don’t think you’re being rude. I actually ate with Sammy before I took him back to his mother.”

She took the food from him, and her hand lingered a moment too long. He had a spark in his eyes. Crap, that’s what she was worried about. He was attracted to her. But why? Maybe he’d come over here to seduce her and make her fall in love with him, and in return he was going to steal her house.

She shook her head. She was being crazy.

“So why are you here?” She took a bite of her food.

“You’ve been on my mind since I met you.”

“Well, we have something in common we both want.”

“If things were different and I asked you on a date, would you go?”

She dropped her chopstick into the takeout dish, not expecting him to ask her such a question. “I don’t know you.” She tried her best to focus on picking up her chopsticks with shaking fingers and not on the man in front of her.

“Would you want to know me?”

Yes! She took another bite and shrugged her shoulders.

“I want to know you.” He leaned toward her a bit and panic set in.

“Stop right there. Don’t get any closer.” She brandished a chopstick.

He didn’t say anything, instead he added the distance she needed back between them as he rested in to the couch cushion. She wasn’t ready for this. A man hadn’t come on to her in years. Her ex-husband was the first and only man she’d ever dated or been with. This was a new territory for her. She had to get in control of this situation.

“I’m sorry.” He spoke softly.

“I don’t understand where this is coming from. I thought you were here to talk about the house, not to come onto me. If I let out some vibe that I was easy, I apologize. I’m not looking for any hanky-panky or a relationship.”

“I can’t get you out of my mind. And I wanted to know if things were different, would you give me a chance. That’s why I came here today.” Luke moved farther away from her, giving her the space she desperately needed.

“Things aren’t different, so I can’t answer that.” Molly set the food down and stood up to put more distance between them. She couldn’t breathe being so close to him.

“What if I walk away from the house? Take away my offer. Would you give me a chance?”

Did she just hear him right? Had he said he’d withdraw his offer if she gave him a chance? She bit her lip. If she said yes, she would get her dream home and the bidding war would be over. But was that what she truly wanted?





Chapter Six





Luke watched the wheels turning in Molly’s head. He didn’t know what she would say, but if she said yes, he was prepared to walk away from the house. The whole situation was crazy, but it was only a house. There was something about the woman in front of him that made his heart speed up and cause him to not think straight. He felt things for her he had never felt before. And what the hell it was, he didn’t know. He’d never even touched her.

He knew though, that if he kissed her, his world would stop.

“I don’t know what kind of game you’re trying to play, but you’re insane.” She crossed her arms. “You just show up here and now you want to date me. I think you should leave.”

“You didn’t answer me. If the house wasn’t part of this, could we have something together?” He put his hand on his pocket, poised to retrieve his cell phone. “I’ll call my realtor right now, if that’s what it’ll take.”

She shook her head with anger, and he knew rejection was coming.

“I have no idea. You can’t just throw this on someone like that. You don’t know me. And if I wanted to, I could tell you yes to your silly question just to get the house. But I’m not. We both love that house, but it’s only meant for one of us. I don’t know which one of us it is, but we wouldn’t be in this position otherwise.”

She had a point. One of them was meant to have the house. He knew nothing about her and her life. What she did aside from being a nurse. He glanced around her living room. There weren’t pictures anywhere. Nothing to tell him a thing about her. The place was hardly decorated. All she had was furniture. It was a place she existed in, not a place she lived and loved in.

“How long have you lived here?”

“A year. Why?”

“I was noticing you have nothing here that makes this place yours. Nothing that shows me anything about you.”

“So sorry. I’ll get right on decorating this place for you.” Her tone was laced with sarcasm. “I asked you to leave. You’re making me uncomfortable.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“I am a little thrown off about why you’re here and what you want. I’m hungry and I have a full week ahead of me. Can we cut this talk short?”

Probably a good idea, since she’d asked him to leave twice already. This visit did not go the way he’d planned. On the drive over, he had envisioned her being so happy he would give the house up, that she’d throw herself in his arms and they’d spend the evening getting to know one another. Maybe she was right—he was insane.

He stood and walked past her. Her arms were crossed, and her stance was cold. She wasn’t interested, and the rejection hurt. At her door, he turned to her. “I meant what I said. I’d like to get to know you.”

He opened her door and left. As he walked down her front pathway, he hoped she’d come out and call to him. Anything to give him hope she might be somewhat interested, but as he climbed in his truck, that didn’t happen.

She was full of pain—that was one thing he knew. He didn’t know what the pain was or who had caused it, but whatever it was, she was having a hard time moving away from it. Whoever had caused her that pain he’d like to find and lock away. All he wanted to do was take it away and make her feel better. He wanted to see happiness shine from those big brown eyes, not the sad eyes she always carried.

Picking up his phone, he dialed Leslie to check on Sammy. As usual, Sammy hadn’t wanted to go back to his mother’s, and that broke his heart. He didn’t know how much of it was his son playing him to see if he could stay with him longer or if he truly didn’t like living with his mother. Either way, something had to change.



* * *





“I’m really confused.” Sandy helped Molly stock the patient rooms for the day.

“You’re not the only one.” Molly stuffed some cotton balls in a glass container.

“If you agreed to go on a date with him, then he’d back out of his offer?”

She shrugged. “Something like that.”

“And you didn’t agree for the hell of it?”

She shook her head. “That wouldn’t have been right.”

“Who cares? It was his choice to lay out that offer.”

“I know. But he has a son and—”