Heat crawled up the back of his neck. “I asked you not to—”
“Oh please, you practically dared me to.” She waved an airy hand in his direction, and he bit back the unwelcome urge to laugh at her sass. “Besides, who’s around to hear it?”
“That’s not the point…” A noise at the entrance pulled his attention away from the gleam of her white-blond hair.
“What is it?” She twisted to peer behind her, where George Percival Voit III was slowly working his way across the deck, loudly greeting every person he knew as he made his circuit. When the CEO of Digham Corp. clapped eyes on Leo, he stopped midstride and made a beeline to their table.
Oh hell. This was happening. Leo rapped sharply on the table to get Faith’s attention. “Whatever I say, I’m going to need you to agree with me, okay?” he said in a low tone.
She scoffed. “When have I ever done that?”
Holy Mary, Mother of God, grant him patience.
“Do you want the grant money or not?” Voit’s rotund figure was getting ever closer, and Leo was starting to sweat.
Her eyes narrowed. “How much are we talking?”
“Twice what you applied for.”
Faith sucked in a soft breath. “Baby, I’ll agree to anything you want for that kind of money.”
His pulse jumped at her breathy tone, and he barely pulled himself together by the time his boss’s boss’s boss appeared at their table.
“Mr. Morales! And Miss Fox!” Voit beamed at them, looking from him to Faith, then back again. “Mind if I join you?”
What could he say but yes? “Please.” Leo gestured at the empty chair to his left, and Voit settled into it with a comfortable sigh. The CEO’s bald pink head barely cleared five foot five, but he dominated every room he entered with his basso voice and rafter-shaking laugh. This after-work bar was no exception.
Voit lifted a hand to beckon their waitress. “Miss Fox, I don’t think I’ve seen you since your high school graduation party. How are your parents?”
His new boss had been at that goddamn party? Leo’s stomach lurched at the memory, and Faith was rattled too, given the tightness at the corners of her eyes. Nobody else at the bar would’ve noticed, but he’d memorized every one of her expressions years ago. Yet her voice was light and friendly when she said, “They’re well. They’re leaving Friday for two weeks in Napa.”
“Napa’s wonderful this time of year,” Voit said. “But not as wonderful as this new partnership, eh?”
Faith shot a glance Leo’s way, and he swallowed a string of curses. He now had the head of an S&P 500 company observing him as he convinced Faith to move her nonprofit in a completely new direction. Yes, that was just fucking wonderful.
“It was fortunate,” Leo began carefully, “that Faith had also applied for the environmental grant after the advisory board didn’t select BUILD for the community grant.”
Faith didn’t even hesitate. She lifted her glass and said, “Here’s to my good fortune.”
When she knocked back a healthy sip, Leo followed suit. It couldn’t make things worse at that point. The sun was disappearing behind the buildings on the horizon, taking Leo’s hopes for a smooth meeting with it. Their waitress dropped off Voit’s Malbec in time for him to raise his glass as well.
“Hear, hear! I didn’t see it at first, but BUILD’s the perfect choice for this new camping program.”
“The… camping program. From the environmental grant. For my tutoring center.” Slowly, ever so slowly, Faith turned her head in his direction, her blue eyes electric.
“Exactly.” Voit paused to sip his wine. “Mr. Morales made such a compelling argument for why you should be picked as the first-ever recipient of the grant to fund the Dig Greener initiative.”
Sweat prickled in Leo’s hairline, and after another swallow of his bourbon, he launched into the explanation he’d been hoping to give Faith in a slightly more private setting.
“It was the last bullet point on your mission statement that sold me,” he said, sending every bit of telepathy he didn’t possess to urge her to act like she’d been on board all along.
Faith set her glass down and blotted her mouth with a napkin. “Promoting recreation and healthy lifestyles?”
Leo was momentarily distracted by the fact that her red lipstick was still perfect, but he pushed his wandering thoughts aside to focus on her puzzled expression. He couldn’t blame her; the connection between BUILD and Dig Greener wasn’t obvious. But he nodded encouragingly, willing her to play along. If she rejected this idea outright in front of Voit, God only knew what would happen.
“Exactly,” he said. “And now you’ll be connecting kids with environment-based educational programs with an emphasis on green initiatives that will make for a more sustainable Beaucoeur, like we agreed.”
“Just like the last bullet point,” she said faintly. “Just like we agreed.” Thank God, she was catching on.
