Page 9 of Under Control
“That’s a generous offer,” Ella said. “If you’re sure...”
“I am.” Olivia had already spoken to Kelsey and Brynn about it. While they’d be paid the same whether they were working on something for McGovern Consulting or Village Hearts, she wouldn’t throw a new twist in their workflow without asking them first.
“I’ll touch base with you later in the week about the accounting and tax docs related to that,” Jess said.
Olivia nodded. “And we’ll need to give Brynn, my marketing manager, admin access to the organization’s Facebook page.”
“I’d be the contact person for that,” Ella told her. “If you give her my contact info, we’ll get her added.”
“Perfect,” George said. “Let’s go over the list of items we have so far, so we can see how much more we need to drum up.”
Olivia turned to a fresh page and wrote in a header so she could take notes to pass on to Brynn. The items they’d be auctioning off would impact the marketing, so the more information she had up front, the better.
But as she tried to focus on George, she caught Derek watching her again, and this time she glanced over. He didn’t look away. He just gave her a warm smile that made his eyes crinkle at the corners, and she smiled back.
* * *
Derek was trying like hell to focus on the meeting, especially since Amber would expect a full report, but Olivia from the elevator was sitting across the table from him and she had a habit of tapping the end of her pen against her bottom lip when she was thinking.
Her mouth was a hell of a lot more interesting to him than whatever George was talking about.
It’s a good thing he hadn’t already taken a bite of the cookie in his hand before he turned and saw her or he probably would have choked on it. He’d known somebody new was showing up, but he hadn’t bothered to ask for a name, assuming they’d be introduced at the meeting. And even if he had known, he hadn’t gotten Olivia’s last name in the elevator and he would have told himself it was a coincidence. That there was more than one Olivia in Boston.
But it was her—the woman from the elevator who’d been in his mind constantly since then—and he was on his way to talk to her when George, with the worst timing ever, chose that moment to start the meeting. Not getting a way to contact her had been a colossal mistake, but he was going to remedy that before they left tonight. He hoped.
For now, he forced his attention away from Olivia and back to the business at hand because he handled a lot of the business of the auction items. When it came to divvying up the work, he preferred that to being involved with the dinner or dancing plans.
“I’ve been promised four tickets to a Patriots game, but we haven’t nailed down which game yet.” George paused, looking at Olivia. “That’s usually one of our biggest ticket items.”
“I’ll make a note of that. The Patriots...that’s football, right?” When all heads turned her way at once she blushed. “My parents didn’t watch sports and I haven’t really paid attention except for seeing news clips and overhearing conversations.”
“How can you be from Boston and not know who the Patriots are?” George asked and her blush deepened.
“Shedidknow,” Derek said. “They play football, just like she said, and we have four tickets to auction off. I’ve also got gift certificates to some local restaurants and a weekend stay at an inn on the South Shore.”
“Oh?” Ella perked up.
Derek shrugged. “It’s not a wicked-expensive inn, but it would be a good weekend getaway for a working couple. It’s really nice, but in an affordable area for dining out and stuff like that.”
“Sounds good,” George said, but Derek’s attention had already shifted back to Olivia, who was taking what appeared to be very diligent notes. He wondered if she knew she was cute as hell when she was concentrating.
“That sounds great, but I think we also need to get more donations that will appeal specifically to the people we want to bring in,” Jess said. “We need items that will give the white-collar people with expendable income an excuse to relax. A deep-sea fishing charter for a group of four. A day at one of the more exclusive spas. Gift certificates from restaurants wheretheylive. We have a great assortment of affordable, practical things for our core community, but we need to reach out for donations outside of that circle if we want to maximize Olivia’s marketing plan.”
“I agree,” Derek said, and they all nodded. “At this point, I think everybody needs to email me your lists of donations to date. I’ll make a master list and then we can figure out where we have gaps.”
“A master list would help in planning the marketing, too,” Olivia added.
“We can touch base on that,” he said, looking directly at her.
She didn’t look away. “Definitely.”
Yes.Now he had a valid reason for contacting her.
After quick updates on the catering company handling the dinner and making a decision on the DJ for the dance, George decided to call it a night.
Usually Derek would take his time leaving, chatting and scoping out any leftover snacks, but he was betting Olivia was the kind of person who’d say a brisk goodbye and rush off to whatever was next on her agenda. Hanging around scavenging cookies probably didn’t jive with her productivity gig, and he wanted to talk to her. He wasn’t sure about what, but he’d spent the last week and a half or so regretting not having a way to contact her. Her showing up to volunteer for Village Hearts was some kind of a sign and he wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.
He’d been right about her making a quick exit and after he gave Jess a quick wave—which got him a knowing look—he followed Olivia out of the boardroom. Once he was past the glass windows, he had to do almost a half-jog to get close enough to call her name without raising his voice.
