Wild Open Hearts (Bluewater Billionaires) - Kathryn Nolan Page 0,76

cheeseburger.

Jasmine was furious with me.

And I hadn’t missed the many, tiny ways in which she was trying to manipulate my image.

She’d called me seven times in the last hour, even though I’d informed my staff that I would be here all night. I was even contemplating playing hooky tomorrow. Which I’d never done. Ever. Not even from the varied waitressing jobs I’d held throughout high school and college.

Except Beck Mason was standing right next to me, holding a Yorkie so tiny it fit in the palm of his giant hand. Stroking its fur with a gentleness that never ceased to astonish me. And the thought of whisking that man away for a day of unbridled freedom was too tempting to ignore.

“What?” he asked, when he caught me staring.

“Nothing,” I said, smiling. “You look handsome for the camera.”

He looked down at his usual uniform of white undershirt and jeans. “I guess.”

“Go sit over there.” I pointed toward the chairs and Jimmy and Beck deposited themselves into them—even though their combined bulk made the chairs look comically small. “We’ll be filming this live. If you mess up, just go with it. No one will know. We want people to see what an adoption day looks like at Lucky Dog, so be yourselves. Casual.”

They both nodded—stoic.

“The chemistry between you two is electric,” I said with a smile. “What’s that on your lap by the way?”

“My questions,” Beck said. “I don’t want to forget them.”

I gave him the thumbs-up and Jem the go-ahead. “Ready in thirty seconds?”

“Wait.” The edge in Beck’s voice caught my attention. He crooked his finger at me. I walked over, crouched next to him. Jimmy seemed distracted by his two adorable dogs. “You’re not going to be in this with me?” Beck whispered.

I bit my lip. “I want this to be for you, Beck. Not for me. This is bigger than rebuilding my reputation. This is making sure that moments like this”—I looked over at Jimmy—“continue to happen. It has to come from you.”

That blinding vision I’d experienced this morning hadn’t abated. And the first step was making sure I was truly propping up Lucky Dog—and not only my ego or reputation.

Beck looked away, cleared his throat. “Okay.”

I placed a hand on his knee, squeezing until he looked back at me. “I’ll be right here, beaming at you.”

A flicker of a smile. “I’ll need it.”

“You’re a leader, Beck Mason. No one can take that away from you.” I swished back over to Jem and said, “Let’s start.”

For a second, Beck and Jimmy were frozen in place, probably entranced with that red, blinking light I knew could cause a rush of stage fright. I did as promised—giving Beck as much of a brilliant smile as I could, until I felt him exhale in response.

I winked—and he barely concealed a grin.

“Thank you, everyone, for watching,” Beck said. “My name is Beck Mason and I’m the executive director of Lucky Dog.”

Behind me, Elián was standing, leaning against the wall of the trailer. Jem sat next to me, Wes off to the side. We were all staring at Beck.

“For the past three weeks, Luna da Rosa has been working and volunteering here. She has done a lot for us here and we can’t thank her enough.” Beck looked toward me and I could feel a deep flush in my cheeks. I was trying to push the spotlight off myself, but there was no way I could deny what those words meant to me. “We have been struggling to raise money and when Luna met us, we were at risk of closing our doors in thirty days if the funds didn’t come. Luna has made that happen. And that is why we’re here today. To show what donations make happen at Lucky Dog.” Beck looked at Jimmy, who waved into the camera. In his lap, the Yorkies sat patiently, looking like dogs in a dog food commercial.

I caught Jem’s eye. Perfect, I mouthed.

“Jimmy is adopting two dogs today, a bonded pair named Betty and Veronica. We rescued them from a hoarding situation, where they were being kept with forty-seven other dogs on a large property outside of Miami. They were starving when we found them.”

Jimmy’s jaw clenched.

Beck looked at his piece of paper. “What does this mean to you, Jimmy?”

The other man blew out a breath. “I mean, I’ll be honest, if that’s okay?”

Beck nodded.

Jimmy touched a tattoo on his arm. “Things are changing for me. I need to live a life that’s more…” he