My heels click softly against the hay-scattered wooden floor. At least it has a floor, though, underneath all this hay that can be cleaned up. I glance around, studying the space and trying so hard to imagine it as a fundraising gala. Right now it looks like it’s on a list of old buildings to be torn down. “This needs work.”
"Work like what?" Caleb asks, crossing those muscular SWAT certified forearms. “It’s got plenty of space. Two hundred people could fit in here easily, and like you said—good lighting…”
I shoot him a look. “Good lighting doesn’t cover up the ugly old barn-ness of it.”
“Hey now, it’s not ugly.” He glances around, brows furrowed as if he’s seeing this place for the first time when he’s likely known it his entire life. “Okay. Well. You wanted a theme, right? What if we make the theme rustic…and antique…and old…”
“And ugly?” I say with a smirk. “Those are all wonderful, money-making gala themes. Great job. Rich people love opening their wallets inside ugly places.”
His forehead creases. “What does it cost to have one of those big outdoor tent things set up? We could have the gala in there instead.”
I shake my head, pulling on my years of event planning expertise and mentally hyping myself up. Why did Jenny givethis job to me? Does she hate me? “We’re going to use this barn. And I’ll make it beautiful. Drapes in the doorways, proper seating, decorations in the right locations… it’ll be rustic but it’ll be nice. I’ll figure this out.”
“You sure?” he asks. Suddenly his over-confident demeanor has a little glitch in it. “I really need this to go well. This isn’t some lazy excuse of a nonprofit. This is my whole career now. I’m going to make something of this and save as many retired working dogs as possible. I won’t fail. That’s why I hired a professional company. I need you.”
“Wow.” I swallow. “That felt genuine.”
“Of course it’s genuine,” he says, giving me the first serious look I’ve seen on him. “Rex was almost euthanized twice. I saved him, and he won’t be the last dog saved here. All we need is funding.”
“Why was he almost euthanized?” I ask. “Because he’s freaking terrifying?”
Caleb’s smile turns into a smirk. “Come with me.”
I take a step back. “I don’t want to see that scary dog.”
“Aww, come on. He’s in a kennel. He can’t hurt you.”
I shake my head. “No thanks.”
“How can you thoroughly plan an event if you don’t even know who you’re helping to raise money for?”
“You can’t psych me out like that,” I say, gripping my clipboard tighter. “I don’t like dogs.”
His hand grips his chest. “Oh my gosh, that’s painful to hear. A beautiful woman who doesn’t like dogs? It can’t be possible.”
I roll my eyes. “I have a massive event to plan and you’re wasting my time.”
“Tell you what,” he says, pushing the barn door back open after it had slowly rolled closed in the last few minutes. “Come meet Rex so he can apologize for almost running you over, and I’ll keep all dogs away from you from then on.”
“I have a better idea,” I say, wondering why I am even trying to bargain when I am straight up freaking terrified of all dogs of all sizes, but especially giant huge former police dogs like the one who almost attacked me earlier. I should race back to work and tell Jenny to get someone else to do this job or cancel it entirely. I rub the jagged scar on my wrist—the ugly reminder of how vicious dogs can be. “I’ll go see Rex, but then you have to stop flirting with me.”
“Ooh, Charlotte, that’s asking a lot of me,” he says with an annoying little smirk that probably makes women fall over him constantly, “but I can respect professional boundaries. Sure. No problem. You got it. No more flirting.”
“You don’t sound too confident in that,” I say. And, dammit, I’m grinning. WHY am I grinning? If it were three years ago, I’d no doubt be tripping over this man, too. But I’m older now. Wiser. I know better than to trip over any man.
His lip curls under his teeth, like he wants to say something. A beat passes. Then he blinks and the feeling is gone. “Let’s go see the dog.”
chapter four
Caleb
I walk out of the barn with more worries than I had walking into it. I never thought about it before, but the placeiskind of shabby, and I’m not sure what I was thinking by hosting the gala here. I should have rented a big facility somewhere nice, but that costs a lot of money and the goal here is to raise money, not spend it. When I quit my job at Lawson Police Department, I got paid out for the eight months of paid leave I’d accrued over my time working there since I never took any time off. That added to my strong savings has allowed me the ability to work here for at least three years until I need to pay myself a salary. It helps living rent free in the home I own and split bills five ways with my brothers, that’s for sure. And unlike the rest of them, I won’t ever settle down and need to move out and start a family. I’m not the “get married” type. This facility is my home, forever.
That doesn’t mean I’ve got unlimited funds for throwing a fancy gala, so the barn has to work. Charlotte seems more than capable. I need to help her get over her fear of dogs, though. If she doesn’t see the mission as important, this will just be another gig to her. I need her to care about it. Maybe I just needthe validation that what I’m doing here is a good idea. That’s what my cousin Poppy would say. She was the first to come on board with my idea of starting a nonprofit and she’s the first to assure me that this will all work out. Too bad she’s out of town this month.
“It’s back here,” I say, leading her around the back of the new administration building. We have two kennel houses set up back here, with space for several more. Each one has space for two dogs, but Rex is currently our only tenant.
“Wow, these are cool,” Charlotte says. “These are dog kennels?”
