“Yes,” I said because it seemed like the only answer available.
He whistled, and I blushed.
Why did he make me feel so uncertain? I’d known him since I was just a little girl. I shouldn’t be this flustered.
“I’ve been doing some research,” he said smoothly. “I’ve seen the impact your organization has made on the community. Not to mention the good will some local companies have garnered from working with you. You have an impressive reputation here. I suppose I expected to walk in and find you barking orders at people in blue T-shirts with yellow ball caps that said ‘Good Fellow’s’ on them.”
The hint of something lingered in the corner of his lips. A smile perhaps?
You’re not that lucky.
“I like to keep my overhead low,” I said. I waved one arm around the office in a sweeping gesture. “Hence the nonexistent staff and small office in one of the lowest-rent districts in the city.” I laughed nervously and kept some other things to myself. Like the fact that my salary was also budget conscious and I only made enough to scrape by. Every dollar available went to the people I worked my ass off to help.
Lukas nodded at the chair in front of my desk. It was a faded old thing made of wood that really belonged in a woodsy backyard or something, not a professional woman’s office. “Do you mind if I sit?”
“Please do.” I wished I’d invited him to sit before he’d had to ask. Stupid mistake, Kayla. Stupid. I sat down as well and watched the man before me. His eyes continued to scan the office, lingering briefly on my collection of books stacked haphazardly on top of my paint-chipped filing cabinet.
He looked conflicted.
Was he going to fire me before even giving me a chance to prove how good I was at my job? Had he decided not to go forward with Lisa’s plan? Did he truly not care about the people in this city who desperately needed help from people like him?
I chewed the inside of my cheek until it was raw and my mouth tasted like copper. “What can I do for you, Lukas?”
His dark blue gaze landed on me and I wished I could disappear. He did not smile. “I wanted to talk.”
I licked my lips. “Okay.”
“About my terms.”
“Terms?”
He nodded, and I lost his attention again as he continued to inspect every nook and cranny of my office. For the first time in my career, I felt insecure about the old ceiling tiles, the chipped and missing baseboards, and the dull clinic-blue walls.
Chapter 9
Lukas
I didn’t know what I’d been expecting when I decided to drive down to Good Fellow’s Headquarters, but it certainly wasn’t the one-woman show I’d walked into.
Kayla was singlehandedly running an entire non-profit, and she was doing it all from this little office.
“Office” was a general word. This room didn’t feel like an office to me. It felt like a mashup between a financially struggling travel agency and a teenager’s bedroom. Paperwork was scattered all over the place. There were holes in the pale blue drywall. The baseboards were chipped, broken off, or missing altogether. There was absolutely no artwork to be found and the only decor I could lay eyes on were mismatched personal items that I could only assume had been picked at random off the shelves of a thrift store.
It wasn’t inviting, and it wasn’t a suitable place to run such a huge operation out of.
This place didn’t align with my expectations of Good Fellow’s because of all the research I’d done. I’d found nothing but praise about Kayla’s organization. Everyone in Seattle pretty much considered her an angel but there was nothing angelic about this place.
It was a hellish, low-budget nightmare. And it smelled like cardboard and stale tea. I spied the half-drunk cup of tea on the desk and chalked that mystery under the solved category.
Kayla watched me with apprehension. Her unease was written all over her face.
She’d been in my thoughts since she showed up in my office building the other day. She was nothing like the skinny girl who followed me around like a lost puppy when we were younger. Nothing at all. Now she was all woman. She had a strong gaze, pinched lips, and expressive eyebrows. She’d never been good at hiding her thoughts or feelings and those sharp brows of hers were the culprit. She was dressed plainly today in jeans and a white T-shirt but her beauty could not be played down.
Seattle was right. She was certainly angelic.
Not only was she physically attractive, but her big heart and generosity were appealing. How early did she come to work in this dive of an office? How many hours did she put in before she concluded she’d done a hard day of work and could go home to rest? What did rest look like for Kayla?
Was she the kind of woman who liked to run a bubble bath so she could sink up to her chin in the water with a good book and a glass of red wine?
Based on the state of this office, I assumed not.
“So are you going to tell me these terms of yours or not?” Kayla prodded.
I clasped my hands together. There were things I needed to get out in the open. Like, for example, how annoyed I was that both Lisa and Kayla had railroaded me. I leaned forward. “Did you help my sister come up with her little plan with the journalist?”
Her eyebrows lifted. The corners of her lips twitched. She broke eye contact. She gave herself away without having to say a word.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said.
“Lisa already had the plan in mind when she brought me in on the project. I swear. She ran
