“Sure.” Simon smiled and held out his hand. “It’s all for a good cause, remember?”
Something flickered in her eyes before she moved over to stand beside him, her hands clasped tight in front of her. Tyler stepped over to join them, standing by her side.
“Snuggle up.” The photographer clicked off a couple of shots. “That’s it. One more.” He leaned in closer and Simon took the opportunity to slip his arm around her waist, inhaling the familiar floral perfume. Having her close was sending him all the right signals. She still brought out the same feelings in him. Probably more so considering he felt the overwhelming urge to make things up to her despite knowing what she’d say.
“Perfect.” The photographer hurried away toward another group of people.
She brushed his hand away. “Don’t touch me again. Understand?”
Simon shared a glance over her head with Tyler. He’d never seen her so determined before. But Ruby had no idea how much Simon was hell bent on winning her back. Just figuring out the right way to win her over could take some planning but he was prepared to prove to her that he wasn’t the mercenary man she thought he was.
Chapter 3
“Did you know about this?” Ruby stood with her hands on her hips staring at Carly over the desk between them.
Carly kept her gaze on the paperwork in front of her. “Um, yes and no, kinda. I knew Simon and Tyler would be here but I didn’t handle the auction items. I left that to Wes to deal with. He said he’d do a better job at drawing in prizes than I ever could and he was right. I was blown away by some of the items people donated. He has all the contacts and some of those prizes were amazing. He was right so I don’t know what you’re complaining about. I didn’t know he was going to throw in a date with you but look how much money it raised.”
Ruby couldn’t find fault in that. Wes had plenty of friends who ran businesses who had donated to their cause tonight purely because he’d asked them but she didn’t know she was going to be on that list. “Have you been speaking to Simon all this time?”
Carly sighed, putting down her pen to look up at Ruby. “Look, he’s still a friend, okay? Of course I’m going to speak to him now and then but I didn’t know he was going to do that. I mean, I knew he was coming tonight because I invited him and Tyler.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“Yes, I did and decided not to because I could just imagine your reaction. We needed the money and he was good for a decent donation. I wasn’t about to let you jeopardize that no matter how cross you’d get at me. I invited a lot of San Francisco’s finest and for a very good reason. I made a list of people with money to burn, checked out which ones donated regularly to local events and they got an invitation. I don’t get why you’re so annoyed, Ruby. You wanted people with money here tonight and we got exactly that. Look at how much has been pledged and I haven’t even started on adding up the auction figures yet.” She handed over a sheet of paper and Ruby glanced at it.
“Holy crap!”
“Exactly, so pull that anger back in, girlfriend, and be grateful people care enough about your cause to open their purses. You can be pissed at me later.” She shook her head and opened another envelope from the stack on her desk, glancing at the check inside before picking up her pen and adding it to the list.
Ruby sank into the chair. “I’m sorry. You’re right, of course. The animals are the most important things here. If I have to go out with Simon for seven nights, so what? I can deal with it.” Even saying it made her stomach lurch. She just wasn’t sure if it was in anticipation or fear. After all, he’d hurt her immeasurably but what if she still had feelings for him?
“I should think so. That was almost enough money for us to buy our own place.”
“Not around here, it’s not.” She kicked off her shoes and rubbed her feet together. “But it will help a heap. Pay our lease for a few years at least.”
Carly winced and screwed up her face. “Yeah, about that.” She put down her ballpoint pen and folded her arms. “I didn’t want to tell you before the big night but here’s the deal. Our rent is going to double. At least that’s what the landlord is hinting at. He hasn’t exactly put it in writing.” She stopped when Ruby gasped. “I know. That’s ridiculous but we’re on prime land in a very niche area. Developers would give their eye teeth for what we have and I think our landlord is being swayed by that.” She leaned back in her chair, hands clasped over her belly. “With the way the city is growing, what used to be outside of town is now smack bang in the middle of it. Ideally, he’d like to develop the site and I think if we can get another year out of the place, we’d be extremely lucky. He’s yet to make up his mind if we can stay or not.”
“Move again? I don’t believe this. Why do we have such rotten luck with property?”
Carly rocked in her chair. “Because of where we are. It’s that simple really. But don’t stress over it too much yet. Let me see how much money we have coming in. I’ll have a chat to the owner and see what we can do with the lease and go from there. No point panicking before we have all the facts. You pay me to take care of the business side of things so let
