Around me, the crowd cheers wildly while Laura grins and ushers me up onto the stage with her. I eagerly jog up the steps and move over to stand beside her.
“Kali reached out to me a few months ago, saying that she wanted to help spread awareness for Fostering Tomorrow and she’s been instrumental in helping us organize this event ever since,” Laura continued. “Her Glammers have already donated over ten thousand dollars this month alone, of which Glossed & Glammed is going to match every penny from their own pockets. Whatever we earn today, these lovely ladies are going to triple! Please put a hand together for Glossed & Glammed, everyone!”
As the crowd cheers again, a smiling Laura gestures toward the microphone and I step closer.
Hesitating just for a moment, I take a deep breath even though my knees are trembling. I’m used to being in front of the camera, where I can carefully pick and choose my words, but speaking live to a crowd still makes me nervous no matter how many people tune in to our YouTube channel every day. Even when we do live sessions on social media, there’s still a camera between us and our audience. Here, I can feel every pair of eyes directed my way.
“Hi, everyone!” I start slowly. My voice shakes a little and I clear my throat before continuing. “I’ve enjoyed every moment of working with Fostering Tomorrow because it’s a cause near and dear to my own heart. As a foster child myself, I often found myself wondering where my future would lead. I got lucky with my scholarship, but Fostering Tomorrow is going to open so many more doors for so many more young people. I can’t wait to get to know you all and meet every one of you, so let’s jump right into these games!”
As the crowd claps, several staff members immediately start herding the crowd of kids in different directions. Sutton and Liv wave at me from across the stadium, where they’ve been posted at the raffle table. I wave back just as Laura puts a hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve found your partner for the water balloon toss,” Laura whispers in my ear.
I turn around to smile and greet whoever it is I’m paired up with—only to stare. My partner is none other than Grayson Hill.
His expression is unreadable, but he seems as stunned as I am. The second our gazes collide, I swear my heart drops from my chest to my feet. I blink, expecting him to vanish like a mirage, but that hunky lawyer isn’t going anywhere.
I don’t know if I’m relieved he’s really standing here in front of me or not.
“Kali, this is Grayson Hill,” Laura says, introducing us. “He’s an attorney who’s been doing some pro bono legal work for us. Something tells me the two of you will be great together.”
Oh, Laura. If only you knew how wrong you are about that.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Children’s laughter fills the stadium as Grayson and I stand awkwardly at the front of the water balloon toss station.
So far, we haven’t said more than an awkward hello.
He busies himself with finishing filling some of the balloons while I make small talk with the kiddos eagerly waiting to start the game.
The last thing I’d expected today was to see the man who’d been haunting my dreams practically every night for the past four weeks, much less be buddied up with him. I’d tried to nonchalantly suggest to Laura that maybe she could give me a new partner, but she’d apologetically said she couldn’t shuffle staff members around so close to the games starting.
Being this close to Grayson now brought back a surge of memories and emotions that I wasn’t prepared to deal with. The scent of his cologne, the sound of his voice, the sight of him in jeans and the lime green tee that fit his wide shoulders and broad chest so perfectly was almost too much to bear. The worst part is that Sutton and Liv are trapped over by the raffle table and can’t come to my rescue. When I texted them and told them Grayson was my partner for today’s festivities, they were both shocked and sympathetic. Since then, they’d been sending horrified looks my way, but that was all they could do to support me at the moment.
I’m on my own.
Taking a deep breath, I put on my best smile.
“Who’s ready for a water balloon toss?” I ask loudly, clapping my hands to get the kids’ attention. They jump up and down and cheer and I point them toward the gigantic buckets of balloons we have set out. “Partner up and let’s start tossing! Each team only gets one balloon so be gentle with it. You don’t want it to pop.”
The kids quickly and excitedly grab their balloons and I direct them to take their places at the middle of the station where a line of duct tape is placed on the floor. The kids stand on either side of it across from their teammate and begin carefully tossing their balloons back and forth while slowly creeping backward after every five tosses.
I try to pretend to focus only on how the game is going instead of the feeling of Grayson standing next to me, but after another tense few moments go by, he gently puts his hand on my bare arm. His hand is warm on my skin and I bite my lip hard, wincing as every inch of my body starts to vibrate in response to his touch. My throat is tight and my tongue is heavy behind my lips.
How can he still get this kind of a reaction from me? It isn’t fair.
“Kali…” he says quietly, so the kids won’t overhear us. I can’t help but notice that he stumbles over my name a little bit. Like it’s almost too painful for him to say. “I had no idea that you would be a part of this fundraiser. Fostering Tomorrow never mentioned you or your friends by name. They just kept saying G&G whenever we talked. To be honest, I thought it was some kind of punk rock band that I’d never heard of—”
I take a step to the side, needing to put a little space between us as I gently tug away from his grasp.
“It’s not that big of a deal. Right?” I try to smile, but can’t quite manage it. “I mean, we can be professional about this, can’t we?”
“Of course,” he murmurs.
A wayward water balloon suddenly bursts against the wall above our heads. I have to step closer to him or otherwise I’ll get doused. Some of the water splashes down on us, but luckily, we avoided most of it.
“That was close,” I say.
