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Beaming, Ginny bowed her head. “Thank you,” she repeated, then took a sip of her drink. “Any of you bidding on the animals tonight?”
“I’m going to use my friend card and show up for cuddles one day instead,” Everleigh said. “Because have you seen the numbers these folks are putting down?”
“Seriously?” Ginny glanced around the room.
“One of the dogs had a ten thousand dollar bid and that just totally blew my mind.”
Whistling, Ginny shook her head. She knew that Gavin had plans once he got all the money, but he hadn’t disclosed any of that yet. Plus, she knew that if someone was willing to bid that much money on a dog, they would end up adopting them too. Or at least, shehopedthey would.
“So, what’s it been like…working with Gavin?”
Ginny looked between the three women watching her curiously and she realized that they all knew a lot more than she expected them to. Wincing dramatically, she took another sip of her drink and brushed her hair behind her ear.
“Professional,” she said. It’s what she told everyone, and herself, when it came to unwrapping everything that was going on. She would never tell anybody that she’d kissedandfucked him, because that wasn’t their business. But she could tell that these three wanted more than justfine. “Your men seriously don’t know how to keep things to themselves, huh?”
“Best friends curse,” Frankie countered, arching an eyebrow and Ginny groaned.
“Jesus, fine.” The four of them chuckled and she blew out a breath before speaking. “It’s beenfine, for the most part. Just a lot of tension and bickering. There’s been some yelling. And I know—” Ginny said, looking at Frankie pointedly “—we don’t yell at ourclients, but he knows how to push all my buttons and I justreact.”
“Which buttons has he been pushing?”
Narrowing her eyes at Frankie, Ginny finished her drink. “But the important thing is that despite all of the button pushing and yelling, I managed to pull it off.”
“And you did a damn good job too. You know we’ll get more of these kinds of events now, right?”
Ginny nodded, eyes doing another sweep of the room. “I hope so. Doing something for a good cause is always rewarding for the soul.”
“Looks like someone’s trying to get your attention,” Everleigh said and Ginny turned in the direction the redhead was pointing to find Bronte waving her over.
“All right, duty calls. Thank you all for coming, I’m sure Gavin appreciates it too.” Frankie shot her a grin and a wink, which Ginny waved off with a laugh as she hurried over to where Bronte was standing. “Everything okay?”
“Yup, the boss is apparently ready for his speech.”
Ginny nodded when the curtains parted and Gavin stepped onto stage. A loud cheer went up and Ginny smiled, knowing instantly that it came from his brothers and friends. Gavin chuckled, nodding at them and her heart lurched. How this man could go from nervous to sexy to infuriating to the dirtiest talker she’d met still blew her away. Licking her lips, she held herself steady and focused on him as Gavin stepped up to the microphone.
“In case you showed up to this event without knowing why you’re here, I’m Gavin Rhodes. I own the Rhodes Pet Shelter, the reason we’re all gathered tonight,” he started, getting a few chuckles in response and Ginny smiled. “I come from a family of animal lovers and growing up, I decided that I wanted to be a veterinarian like my dad and older brothers. But I discovered pretty early on that I couldn’t handle seeing animals in distress and blood is not my friend.” Some hummed in acknowledgement and Ginny nodded at how confidently Gavin held himself, despite how nervous he’d been minutes ago.
“I dropped out of medical school, took a year off to go wild and do stupid things, then studied business management and after graduation, opened the shelter. At first, it felt like a silly dream to try and save animals, give them a temporary home before they found their permanent ones. But the more animals that showed up, the more I realized I was doing something good for them. Everybody deserves just one person to show up for them and I was doing that for those dogs. Over the years, we’ve sheltered dogs, cats, ferrets, hamsters and even a snake or two. We don’t discriminate. If an animal is in distress, we show up, we do the best we can and we either find them a new home or we provide them a home until the end of their lives.”
She could feel Bronte fidget beside her as Gavin paused to swallow, the action so evident because she was watching him so intently.
“Over the years, people have come through our doors to take home the puppies and kittens, overlooking the older ones. And trust me, I get it. You can train the young ones to be the pet you want. But what I always tell people is that older dogs are already trained and ready to be the best friend you never knew you needed. My parents taught me that,” he said softly, looking around the room until he found Juniper and Elijah, and his face split into a wide grin.
Ginny knew how deeply the Rhodes men loved animals, but it was only while working with Gavin that Ginny realized how important this was to him. He wasn’t doing it because he could play with animals or make lots of money, he genuinely wanted to help them find forever homes. Just like he did with her and Copper. Just like he probably did with tons of other people in that room.
“While I can’tforceyou to adopt our animals—” he chuckled, making everyone else also laugh “—we’re offering you a chance to spend some time with these animals and get to know them, and then maybegentlyconvince you that they’re your forever friend.” The crowd hooted and clapped, making Gavin smile. “Some of you have already placed your bids on some of our furry friends and you can find all the information on the easels placed around the ballroom. Please walk around, get to know these animals and if you’re so inclined, give them your time. All the money raised tonight will be split between the Rhodes Pet Shelter and two other shelters we work with.”
More clapping ensued and Ginny’s eyes widened, because she didn’t realize that he wasn’t using all the money for himself. He was going to make sure that other shelters also benefited from something like this. How did this man keep surprising her?
“I won’t bore you anymore, but I’d like to just thank a few people before I step off stage. My parents, Juniper and Elijah, for instilling this love of animals in me and my brothers, for teaching us to always think of others before ourselves. My brothers, obviously, for teaching me how to care for animals from a young age. Bronte Laurie for kicking my butt every day and making sure this event happened. And Ginny Thomas, for spending her time and effort to put this whole thing together.” He paused at each name to look at the person he was talking about and when he focused on her, Ginny’s heart stuttered and then struggled to restart. “All right, I’m done. Enjoy the bar and the incredible spread of food. Thank you all for being here.”
Gavin stepped off stage to a loud round of applause and Ginny blew out a shaky breath as she watched him stop to shake hands with guests.
“Might wanna wipe that drool away,” Bronte whispered, making Ginny jump. Shaking her head, Ginny brushed hair out of her face and then pretended to look at her checklist, like there was actually anything there to do.
“Your secret is safe with me,” the blonde added and then walked away with a wide grin, leaving Ginny’s lips and fingers tingling as her eyes found Gavin in the crowd again.
I am so very fucked.
