Page 12 of Taking the Pitch
“You okay?” he asks, staring down at me. At 5’ 3”, I’m an average-ish height for a woman, but the fact that I have to tilt my head up as far as I do says something.
Abig, tall, hotsomething.
Bruno’s cold, wet nose bumps against my hand, knocking me out of my trance. Giving myself a mental shake, I tear my gaze away from his and walk through the door. Needing to create some distance.
Get a hold of yourself Millie, he’s just a man.
A veryattractiveman.
I can feel his gaze on my back as we make our way to the desk that’s in the middle of the open room, where Gladys and Irene are prepping for the weekly reading session. Reaching the desk, I set the peach pastry bag down between the two women.
Gladys’ eyes light up. “Is that what I think it is?” she asks, reaching for the bag and peering inside.
“Two apple cider donuts made fresh this morning,” I announce, reaching down and unclipping Bruno’s leash so he can wander about.
“You are a godsend,” Irene says, peering over her sister’s shoulder.
Gladys and Irene have been running the children’s section of our town’s library for the last six years. Both women are in their 60s and decided that they didn’t want to retire and do nothing. So, when the library was threatening to close the children’s part of the library due to the lack of funds and interest, Gladys and Irene stepped in and contacted me, hoping as a local and successful author, I’d help drum up interest. Which it did. The children’s section became even more popular after I founded RUFF, Reading with Furry Friends. Don’t ask what the ‘U’ stands for, it just sounds better with it.
A throat clears from behind me and both women look up from the pastry bag, eyebrows shooting up.
Judd comes around from behind me and offers his hand to the women. “I’m Judd Davis. Charlie arranged for me to come and help out here.”
I suppress a groan. The funding for my program has been less than normal. Donations are down and one of the major grants we rely on just went to a different program. It’s not cheap to take dogs from the shelter and put them through a training program so they can come read with kids. There are several factors that go into it, and while it makes them more adoptable, the shelter can’t afford the training without our program.
So unfortunately, the ridiculously attractive man standing beside me is a necessary evil. When I confided in Charlie about my program not only unexpectedly losing funds, but my hesitation to continue with expanding said program, I never expected her to do something about it. I was coming to her as my best friend, not Charlie the PR goddess. So when she texted me a couple of weeks ago saying she had a solution that will not only hopefully solve my problem, but hers as well… I jumped on it, no questions asked.
I should have asked questions.
“Well, hello there,” Gladys says, taking Judd’s hand and giving it a shake. “I’m Gladys; this is my sister Irene. We run the children’s part of the library and Millie’s program.”
Blushing, Irene moves up and takes Judd’s hand after Gladys finally lets go. “Thank you so much for doing this, Mr. Davis. When Millie told us she might have a solution, we never thought it would be you.”
That makes three of us, Irene.
“Please call me Judd,” He says, releasing Irene’s hand. Turning to me, he gives me a devilish grin. “Millie, huh?”
“Myfriendscall me Millie. You can call me Amelia, or better yet, Ms. Morgan.”
His grin grows wider, and I don’t like what it’s doing to my insides.
“Now Millie, I know you’re stressed about this, but that doesn’t mean you need to be rude to Mr., uh, Judd. He’s here to help us,” Gladys chastises me.
Knowing Gladys is right, I take a deep breath and let it out. “You’re right,” I tell her.
Plastering a smile on my face, I look up at Judd. “I’m sorry. That was rude of me. Let’s try this again.” I hold out my hand to him. Still looking amused, he takes it, and a tingle shoots up my arm and through my body.
Whoa.
A surprised look appears on his face, and I imagine it mirrors the one I’m currently sporting. Mentally giving myself a shake, I continue, “Hi, I’m Amelia. You can call me Millie. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help us save RUFF.”
I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice for that last part. I know he’s in his off season and probably has nothing going on. But Gladys is right, we do need him and his “celebrity status” if we’re going to save RUFF. This program is too important to me to let my snarkiness get in the way.
Still holding my hand, Judd replies, “Pleasure to meet you,Millie.” Amusement twinkles in his stupidly beautiful eyes. “I really hope I can help bring some attention to your program.” Even though he’s a smart ass, I also know he’s serious about helping the program.
An unspoken truce has been called between us, and he finally lets go of my hand when Irene clears her throat. “Now that we have all the…pleasantries out of the way. Shall we go over things before the kids and dogs get here?”
After going over the brief history of the program, and answering all Judd’s surprisingly thoughtful questions, there’s about ten minutes left before the dogs are scheduled to arrive. When we first started, the kids and dogs arrived at the same time and it took both groups so long to settle down, it cut into their actual reading time.
