Page 34 of Lucky Baller
“Hi.” I hold my hand out to him. “I’m Tessa.”
“Tony.” He nods toward Autumn. “But you already know that.” He laughs and claps his hands together. Hisverylarge hands.
I take a minute to take him in. He’s tall. If I had to guess, about six feet, so shorter than Landon. He has blond hair and dark brown eyes. He’s Landon’s complete opposite, but still sexy in his own surfer kind of way. Gah! I need to stop comparing him to Landon. Maybe Tony is the exact distraction I need today.
“Where do you want me?” He smiles and runs his fingers through his curly blond locks.
“Grab a pitchfork. You can help me with the stall.” I point to the wall where two more pitchforks are hanging.
“How about I take this one?” He tugs the pitchfork from my hand. “You can start on what you need to do next.”
“All right, I’ll be outside if you need me. Once this is done, we need to spray it out, and then I can bring him back in.”
“Him?” He raises his eyebrows.
“Oh.” I laugh. “Buckwheat the horse.” I point over my shoulder toward the outside round pen.
“Got ya. I’ll come find you when I’m ready.”
“Thanks, Tony.”
“Anytime.” He winks.
I make my way outside and busy myself with brushing Buckwheat. It’s not really a necessity, but it’s a luxury he doesn’t get often, as we’re usually short on staff. I’m going to take some time today to pamper him, just like his previous owner would if she were able to still care for him.
About fifteen minutes later, Tony appears beside me. His shirt is off and tucked into his back pocket, and his chest is glistening with sweat. I make a mental note to thank Autumn for giving me the hottie for the day. “What’s next, boss?” he asks.
I can’t hide my amusement. “Well, we can leave this guy outside a little longer and let him enjoy the sunshine. Let’s go see what the others are working on.”
“Sounds good,” he says, falling in step beside me. “You worked here long?” he asks.
“A little over two years.”
“Cool.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what brings you in to volunteer today?”
“Do you want the honest answer or the one I practiced?” He grins.
“Honest. Always honest.”
He shrugs. “I was hoping to get to meet Jeremy Baldwin. I’m a huge soccer fan.”
“You do know Jeremy is a coach for the Cougars now, right?”
“Yeah, but I also know his wife runs the place, so I was hoping to run into him.”
“Huh. Well, he’s at practice today. Sometimes he drops in after. I guess you’re just going to have to stick around to find out.”
“Now that I’m here, I might have another motive.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s that?” I ask, not bothering to turn to look at him.
“A date.”
I stop and turn to face him. “A date?”
He nods. “I didn’t expect my boss or mentor or advisor or whatever I’m supposed to call you, would be hot. Maybe I can get a dateandan autograph.”
