Yours for Christmas. Susan Mallery
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former indigenous tribe of the area. They had been a matriarchal society, so the FWM was for girls from age six to maybe ten. They progressed from Acorns in year one to Sprouts and so on until their final year when they were Mighty Oaks. The girls were in “groves” and there was a Grove Keeper.
Taryn, one of his business partners, was a co-leader of a grove with her husband, Angel. Chloe, Bailey’s daughter, was in their grove. Kenny had helped her and one of her friends learn knots this past spring.
“You know the Sprouts?” the mayor asked.
“Taryn’s grove? Sure.” He looked at Bailey, but she seemed as puzzled as he was.
“Is there a problem with the Sprouts?” she asked her boss. “Chloe hasn’t said anything.”
“All is well,” the mayor assured her. “However, there is a slight logistical problem. Each grove has a service project for the year. The Sprouts want to have a toy drive for the holidays. An admirable and ambitious project to be sure. But with Taryn and Angel traveling for the next month, they have no leader.”
“Taryn’s not traveling,” Kenny said. She would have said something to him and his partners. He’d just seen her yesterday at their staff meeting.
“She and Angel are going to Fiji for a month,” Mayor Marsha told him. “So the Sprouts will need someone to temporarily take over the grove. I immediately thought of you two.”
Kenny felt the walls closing in. No way. Not him. He couldn’t be responsible for a bunch of little girls. Even if he had the time, which he probably did, he didn’t want to get involved that way. It was too close. Too personal. Plus the mayor had said him and Bailey. He couldn’t work with her. Not up close. She was too sexy and desirable.
“I’d love to,” Bailey said quickly. She smiled at Kenny, then turned back to the mayor. “It’s a great idea. This is only Chloe’s second Christmas without her father. Last year was so hard on her. I was worried how she would handle the holidays. I think focusing on collecting toys for needy children will help her see the joy in the season.”
Kenny swore silently. Totally tempting and nice to boot. Wasn’t that his luck? How was he supposed to say no now? He would look like a jerk. Plus, he liked Chloe. He didn’t want her sad over Christmas. He believed in self-preservation but not in being a jerk.
“Excellent.” The mayor handed them each a folder. “Here are the approved collection sites. The girls will each need to decorate a bin and then the bins will need to be emptied regularly. The toy drive will start the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That gives you time to organize the decorating and placing of the bins. The toys will be delivered to Sacramento on the nineteenth of December. They’ll be distributed that weekend.”
She gave a few more instructions, then thanked them both for agreeing to help. It was only when Kenny found himself outside the office that he realized he’d never agreed at all. Not that he was going to mention that now.
He sat in the visitor’s chair at Bailey’s desk and opened his folder. The neatly printed sheets detailed everything that had to be done.
“I know where we can get a cargo trailer,” Bailey was saying. “Mayor Marsha had me make sure it was available but I didn’t know why until now.”
He was having trouble taking it all in, and sitting this close to Bailey didn’t help. Once again he could inhale the scent of something a little floral, a little girlie, and it didn’t make thinking any easier.
“A cargo trailer will take a lot of toys,” he said.
“The town will come through,” Bailey said confidently. “Okay, so I see where we pick up the empty bins. We’ll need to arrange to decorate them. If the drive starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we should decorate the Saturday before. Does that work for you?”
She looked up at him and he found himself getting lost in her big green eyes.
“I never said yes,” he told her, knowing he sounded like an idiot.
Her mouth twitched. “Don’t let that worry you. Mayor Marsha does that to people. Unless you want to go tell her no.”
“Not really.”
“I didn’t think so.” She lightly put her hand on his forearm. “It’ll be fun.”
Her fingers were long and slender and he could feel the heat through his shirt. There were a lot of words for spending the next month or so working with Bailey on the toy drive, but he wasn’t sure fun was going to be one of them. Torture was more likely.
“I, ah, have a big SUV,” he said after clearing his throat. “I can use it to empty the bins.”
“Great.” She pulled her arm back. “We’ll get a schedule together. Discuss it with the girls at the FWM meeting. They can sign up their parents to help with that, too.”
“There’s a meeting?” he asked.
She nodded. “We’re both going to have to be there. I know most of the girls because of Chloe, but they’ll have to meet you and we’ll discuss supplies for decorating.” Her glossy lips curved into another smile. “I can’t wait.”
“Me, either,” he lied, thinking it would have been so much easier to take on the flying monkeys.
* * *
KENNY WALKED INTO Taryn’s office and stalked over to her desk. “You have a lot to answer for,” he announced, doing his best to look intimidating.
Unfortunately for him, Taryn had spent the past few years dealing with three former NFL players and not much got to her. Instead of looking nervous or even guilty, she simply raised her eyebrows and waited.
“You and Angel are bailing,” he told her, his tone accusing. “On your Sprouts. There’s a toy drive and I got hauled in to the whole thing.”
“What are you talking about? How did you know about our trip? We just decided a couple of days ago to spend a month in Fiji. We haven’t told anyone yet.”
“Someone told Mayor Marsha. I just got back from a meeting with her. I’m going to be working with Bailey Voss on the toy drive. It’s not like I could say no.”
Taryn’s mouth twitched, but it wasn’t nearly as sexy as it had been on Bailey. Because he knew Taryn was laughing at him rather than with him.
“It’s not funny,” he grumbled.
“It kind of is.” She rose and walked around her desk toward him.
As usual she wore some fancy designer-suit thing and was barefoot. Because she wore stupid shoes that were too high to walk in all day. She put her hands on his chest and stared into his eyes.
“Thank you for helping my Sprouts with the toy drive.”
“You owe me.”
“I do. I don’t know how Mayor Marsha found out, but she did and you’re a really good guy for stepping in.”
He made a growling sound in his throat. No way she could mollify him with a few compliments. He was tougher than that.
She smiled. “Seriously. It means a lot to me. Those are my girls and I want them to have a good holiday.”
He shook off her touch and glowered. “I said I’d do it, okay? You don’t have to convince me.”
“No, but I would like it if you’d at least pretend it might be fun. Unless...” The humor fled her violet eyes and worry replaced it. “Oh, Kenny, I didn’t think. Is this going to be too hard for you? I can ask Jack or Sam.”
Kenny was sure their other two partners would agree. And while that would free up his time, he wasn’t one to walk away from something he’d already said he would do.
“I’m fine,” he told her. “Bailey has the details figured out. It’s the holidays, right?