All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) (15 page)

She lifted her head. Matt gazed down at her with intensity in his green eyes, and her heart leapt against her chest, beating wildly as anticipation built within her.

"Kiss me already," she whispered.

He smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."

She put her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers.

Every time her mouth met his, she felt her heart swell with emotion. Kissing Matt was starting to feel like going home or going to that perfect happy place, that incredible moment where everything was right with the world. She didn't want the connection to end. She wanted to stay like this forever.

But she couldn't do that. It had to end at some point, didn't it?

She hated when the voice of reason was able to battle past her emotional and physical response to Matt, but there it was again. She couldn't seem to turn off her finely tuned sense of caution.

She broke the kiss and pulled away. "I should go. I have to get to work early tomorrow."

"It's getting harder to say goodnight to you, Julie."

Her pulse jumped again at his words. She had a feeling that most women would have been in bed with Matt by now.

The image of them in bed together only made her more tense.

She licked her lips, not sure what to say.

Matt jumped into the breach. "Can we get together tomorrow night?"

She really, really wanted to. "I can't."

"Why not?" he demanded.

"I have a work commitment. And we just spent the evening together. This is moving a little too fast, Matt."

"I want to spend as much time as possible with you before I leave for spring training."

She was both touched and troubled by his words. She wanted to spend time with him, too. But she was starting to like him too much. How was she going to feel when he left? She'd been guarding her heart for a very long time, and that voice in her head was screaming at her to be careful because Matt could really hurt her—if she let him.

He put his hands on her shoulders, his fingers kneading the tight muscles. "Relax, Julie. You don't have to make any big decisions now. We're just getting to know each other. I'll meet you tomorrow after your work thing."

"It will be late," she said, his hands feeling a little too good, his smile way too irresistible.

"I don't care how late it is."

"Well, if you really want to spend time with me tomorrow, then you can help me with my work project."

"What does that involve?"

"Why don't I surprise you?" she said. "In fact, consider it a collection of your debt."

His smile broadened. "All right, it's a deal."

"Come by my office at six."

"I'll be there."

He gave her a quick kiss and then opened her car door.

She got inside and started the engine. As she drove home, his headlights followed her all the way back to her apartment. She could still invite him in…

But as she turned into her driveway, Matt waved goodbye and sped off into the night.

One less decision to make.

* * *

Matt didn't know what he was getting into when he arrived at Julie's office Thursday evening, but as long as he was spending time with her, he didn't really care. He couldn't seem to get her out of his head, and he was beginning to worry about that. But he wasn't going to think about the future right this second. He just wanted to spend time with her, see where things went…

When he entered her office, he heard voices and laughter and followed the noise to a large, brightly lit conference room where Julie and a half-dozen teenagers were surrounded by what he could only describe as a lot of crap: colorful bags, ribbons, t-shirts, hats, buttons and other stuff.

Julie looked up and saw him standing in the doorway. He liked the way she immediately smiled at him, the way her lips parted so invitingly as if she couldn't wait to kiss him again.

"Matt," she said, giving him a wave. "Come on in. I want you to meet everyone."

All eyes in the room turned on him, some gazes filling with instant recognition. There were four girls and three boys, all of whom appeared to be between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. They were a mixed group of Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian and African American.

"This is Matt Kingsley, the All-Star Shortstop for the Cougars," she said. "Meet Maya, Kevin, Latasha, Kristina, Ben, Luka and Hannah. They're the swag crew for the Celebrity Cook-Off."

"Swag, of course," he said, beginning to understand what he'd volunteered for.

"We're putting bags together for each one of the two-hundred and fifty guests."

"Great," he muttered, thinking that meeting Julie for a drink later would have been a much better idea.

She smiled. "I thought you'd enjoy it."

"What can I do?"

"We were just discussing the most efficient way to do this," Julie answered. "Ben suggested an assembly line."

"Or two," the girl named Maya put in. "We can do each side of the table."

"Good idea," Julie said. "Why don't you guys start setting it up? We'll put the bags first and then some of the bigger, more solid items next, followed by the smaller gifts." After delivering that instruction, she walked around the table to Matt and gave him a pointed look. "Last chance to bail."

He could see the challenge in her eyes. She kind of wanted him to bail, but he wasn't going to give her the satisfaction. "Are you kidding? I'm excited to lend a hand."

"Okay, then let's get started. Hopefully, with all hands on deck, this shouldn't take too long."

"Who can I help?" Matt asked.

All of the kids answered at once. "Why don't I start with the bags?" he suggested. "I'm not that good at making anything look pretty." He took a position next to Maya, who seemed to be the natural leader of the group.

"I will be right back," Julie said. "I have to get a few things from my office."

As Julie left, Maya started giving orders, the first one to him. "If you want to just get the bags out of the boxes and then pass them to me, I'll take it from there."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I saw you play last year," Ben interjected, as he began the same operation on the other side of the table. "You made three double plays in one game. It was cool."

"That must have been against the Cubs," he said. "One of my best games."

"I'm going to play shortstop and second base this year on my school team," Kevin put in. "Maybe you could give me some tips."

"First tip is always watch the ball," he said. "It doesn't matter whether you're fielding or hitting, your eye has to be on that ball, and you have to want that ball to come to you. If you don't, you'll always be a split second behind."

"What's another tip?" Ben asked.

"Don't overthink," he said. "Baseball can be pretty simple, but when you get into your head it gets more difficult. You can't let what happened at the last at bat affect the next one. You're always starting over."

"I think baseball is boring," Hannah declared. "But the players are cute." She gave him a teenaged smile that he was sure would break a million hearts over the next few years.

"So do you guys all go to school together?" he asked.

"Some of us do," Latasha said. "But we all see each other at Baycrest. It's an afterschool program for kids that don't have anywhere else to go."

"The Foundation gives Baycrest money," Maya said. "Otherwise, they'd have to shut down."

"And we wouldn't be able to use their computers or get help on our homework or just have a safe place to go," Kristina said, speaking for the first time.

"It sounds like a good place," he said, making a mental note to see what else he could do to help their program.

"How's it going?" Julie asked, returning to the room.

"Good," he said.

She nodded approvingly. "Then I'm going to leave you all to do this while I finish up some other work."

"Hey, I thought we were spending time together," he said quietly as she moved past him.

"We will, but work comes first. Surely, you understand that better than anyone."

He nodded. "I do. I'll see you later then."

For the next hour and a half, he and the kids packed the bags of swag and set them into large boxes on the floor that would later be transported to the cook-off. Matt was actually impressed with the willingness of the teens to work so hard. For the most part, they stayed pretty focused, although they did have a lot of questions for him, especially the boys. But he didn't mind. Talking to them made the time pass that much faster.

As he caught a glimpse at just how much work went into the fundraisers from behind the scenes, he became more impressed with Julie's job. He was always the one on the stage or at the podium or giving a press interview. But these kids and Julie were the ones making everything really work. And he'd certainly never take a bag of swag for granted again.

After an hour, he asked the kids if they were hungry. His question was met with a unanimous yes, and he ordered Chinese food from his favorite restaurant. It arrived just as they were finishing the last bag.

Julie brought out plates and napkins, and they sat around the conference room for another thirty minutes sharing food and joking around with each other.

At nine, a driver arrived to take the kids home, and he was finally alone with Julie.

She sat in the chair next to his and swiveled it around to face him. "You did good, Matt."

"I just followed orders. Maya is a manager in the making."

"She can be a little bossy, but she's good at taking charge. The other kids complain, but they usually look to her for her opinion, except for Hannah. They often seem to have a power struggle going on. Maya has the brains and Hannah has the looks, but they need to figure out how to use all of themselves and not just the one thing they know is true."

"That's a good point," he said, impressed with her insight. "They like you, Julie. You treat them with respect."

"I try. They don't always get respect in their personal living situations. Some of them are in foster care. Others are growing up with single parents. They all need to feel like they have a place in the world, and the program at Baycrest gives them that. Thanks to you and your participation in the cook-off, it's a program we'll be able to keep going for a while."

"I want to make a donation, too," he said. "Tell me what you need."

"You don’t have to do that. I didn't bring you here to ask for money."

"I know. You brought me here so that I'd have to work to spend time with you," he said with a grin. "But I liked the kids and I liked what I heard about Baycrest, so we're going to talk about a donation—later."

She stiffened a little at his words and a nervous gleam flickered through her eyes. "Why wait until later?"

"Because I have something else I want to talk about now." He rolled his chair forward so his knees were touching hers, and then he leaned forward. "First, I have to kiss you, because it's been way too long." He pressed his lips to hers, feeling a surge of desire at the taste of her mouth.

He wanted to do a lot more than kiss her, but Julie spooked easily, and he forced himself to leave it at just a kiss.

Her eyes were burning bright when he met her gaze.

"I don't know what I'm going to do about you," she murmured. "I feel like I'm playing with fire."

"There are certainly a lot of sparks between us," he agreed. "I have an idea."

"Am I going to like it?"

"I hope so. I want to take you out tomorrow night. No dinner with friends—yours or mine, no work, just you and me."

"I'm so busy. The cook-off is Saturday night."

"You can't get away for a couple of hours? You just put in a twelve-hour workday, didn't you?"

"True, but that's the way this job goes."

"Come on, Julie. Meet me halfway."

"I've met you more than halfway, Matt. I don't know why you keep trying so hard. You could get any woman you want to go out with you tomorrow."

"But I want you." As he said the words, he realized just how true they were. What had started out as a challenge had turned into something that was a lot deeper and way more complicated than he'd ever imagined.

Julie stared back at him. "You don't quit, do you?"

He smiled. "I wouldn't be much of a ballplayer if I let a bad at bat keep me from trying again. You know that baseball is more about failure than success. A good .300 average means you're getting out 70% of the time. So, no, I don't quit, not when I really want to succeed. So what do you say?"

"Okay, I'll go out with you tomorrow night."

"Good." He was about to kiss her again when he heard a man's voice down the hall.

"That's my boss," Julie said as she got to her feet.

Matt rose as a middle-aged man with dark graying hair walked into the conference room. Surprise flashed in his eyes when he saw Matt.

"Matt Kingsley?" he asked.