Rescuing the Bad Boy (Second Chance #2)(27)

Then what, he had no idea.





CHAPTER SEVEN




Maybe I should have called him first,” Sofie mumbled as she checked her rearview mirror. “Not that I have his phone number.”

She could have gotten Donny’s number from Scott, she supposed. But she didn’t want to call Scott and ask for it since they’d sort of gone on a date.

That would be awkward.

Behind her, Ruby Voss followed in a candy-apple red Audi convertible.

“Hey, Donny is the one who gave you a key to his house,” Faith said from the passenger seat. “If he didn’t want you to show up, he shouldn’t have given it to you.”

“I know, but I don’t think he expected me to bring the director of Open Arms over to see the house before it was done.”

Ruby Voss called this morning asking a million questions about the ballroom, the overall setup, and the grounds, which, thanks to Donovan’s muttered “fine,” they were now able to use for the kids’ campout. When Ruby asked to make a site visit, Sofie, flustered, said, “No problem!”

There was a problem, however—Pate Mansion had a lot of acreage. Connor was one man. She hoped he had enough time to get the backyard ready.

When she’d expressed her concern, Ruby had replied, “Sofie, dear, you’re talking to a woman who realizes things are not perfect. Often, things are downright abysmal.”

Point taken.

Sofie parked in the driveway, watching Ruby do the same.

“Hey, how was your day date with Scott?” Faith unbuckled her belt. “You never mentioned it.”

Sofie twisted her lips. What she wanted to say was “nothing special” but that wasn’t exactly fair considering they spent all of twenty minutes over coffee at Cup of Jo’s. So, she answered, “Fine.”

She could feel her friend’s dubious expression without looking.

“Wow, don’t overwhelm me with your enthusiasm.”

“What am I supposed to say?”

“Did he ask you out again?”

Immediately. They had a halfway decent conversation in the short time they spent together, one he concluded with, “Have dinner with me.” She said yes, and told Faith as much.

Faith gave her a playful slap on the arm. “You and your secrets! I can’t believe you didn’t tell me you have a date tonight! Moving on is good.”

She didn’t know if Faith was talking about herself and moving on from Michael, or if she was talking about Sofie moving forward with a second date. With a lawyer.

A successful lawyer. It was fairly exciting, she supposed.

“Just be careful,” Faith said, her voice going hard. “They don’t always seem like the cheating kind at first. That comes later.”

Said experience.

She thought of her sister’s first fiancé. Sometimes, though, they showed their true colors right away.

“Sorry, sweetheart.” Sofie sent her friend a small smile.

Faith shrugged, stoic.

“I guess we should go in.” She had a key, permission to do whatever she needed, and Donovan never said she couldn’t bring guests.

The mansion looked gorgeous today basking in the full sun blazing overhead. She thanked the Big Guy Upstairs for the weather. Connor deserved thanks, too. He had been busy. Fresh mulch lined the flowerbeds, new trees poked out of the dirt, and happy, pink flowers blew in the breeze. With the sun lighting the mansion’s glittering quartz stones, the trees swaying, and the turrets and their golden points shining regally beneath a blue sky, Pate Mansion looked like a fairy tale come to life.

What better venue for a charity dinner for children whose lives had been less than fairy-tale perfect?

Sofie felt herself smile as she stepped out of her car into the perfectly pleasant spring air.

Ruby walked up a moment later, tucking a large leather planner under her arm and tipping her head back to take in the structure. “Incredible.”

“Welcome to Pate Mansion,” Sofie told her.

Ruby’s eagle eyes left the building and scoured the landscaping. Her mouth pinched and head stopped swiveling when she reached the far side of the building. Sofie prayed her eyes hadn’t landed on a scowling, frowning Donovan Pate come to run them off his property with a shotgun.

She turned her head to find it wasn’t Donovan who had captured Ruby’s eye or, as she noted from her friend’s slacken jaw, Faith’s. It was Connor.

He bent, jeans curving over his—very nice, if she said so herself—backside, shoveled some mulch, and tossed it around the base of one of the trees he’d been wriggling into a hole when she’d been here earlier this week. Shirtless, a fine sheen of sweat coated his broad shoulders, big arms, and bumps of muscle in between. Military did a body good.

He turned, noticed the three of them standing in the driveway staring shamelessly, and grinned.

“Hey, Sofe,” he called out.

Faith raised a thin, blond brow, her expression saying everything, but she spoke anyway.

“You know that golden god?”

“So do you,” Sofie said on a chuckle.

Faith’s expression begged to differ.

“He worked at the Wharf for, like, a minute,” Sofie told her friend, then lifted a hand to wave. “Hey, Connor!”