Inconveniently Tempted Read online

  He smiled, leaning back in his chair. “It sounds fascinating. So, why are you here?”

  This was always the most difficult part. Goodness, she hated asking for money! She hated feeling like a beggar! Taking a deep breath, her muscles tensed and she looked at his nose. She’d found that looking at a person’s nose while being rejected was easier than looking into their eyes. “We’re looking for money to build the raised beds and the composting bins.” Too late, she glanced at his eyes!

  His eyebrows went up. She smiled back at him, thinking about if she could shave off those eyebrows. He wouldn’t be raising them then, now would he?!

  Completely off topic, she reminded herself.

  He flipped through the pages of her presentation, obviously playing for time. When he looked up, his eyes gave nothing away. “You talk about greenhouses and experimenting with temperature and condensation.”

  That stopped her cold. “How did you…?’

  He lifted the presentation slightly. “I read through the pages, Ms. Larsden. It’s all in here.”

  She glanced down at the folder, stunned. “You…read it? While we were sitting here? But…” she trailed off, looking into his eyes and those damnable eyebrows lifted as he waited for her to finish. “You only skimmed the text, Mr. Hughes,” she declared.

  He laughed again. “I read through every scintillating detail, Ms. Larsden. The raised beds will be built by the parents in the summer, before school starts. The composting bins will be right next to the raised beds. The plan is to plant one hundred tomato plants in April or May, depending on the weather. But over the winter, the students will start to compost, using the leaves from the fall as the base, and adding in the leftover food from the cafeteria.”

  “How did you…?”

  He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What if you had greenhouses earlier? You could start the tomato plants as soon as the students start school in September. They could begin documenting the growth over the winter months, comparing the growth rates to those in the spring after the composted soil is created and the plants are out in the air. There’s also the issue of hardening for the plants. That’s another science project for the kids and could be connected to psychology and real life.”

  She stared for a long moment, frozen. Greenhouses now? Comparison later? And adding in a psychology component? It was genius! But then reality came flooding back. Reality was such a downer, she thought. “We won’t have the money for the greenhouses by the beginning of the school year. We’re just…”

  “You will if I donate the money,” he interrupted.

  Her jaw practically hit her lap. He was going to buy the kids a greenhouse? “Umm…well, we don’t…”

  He listed on his fingers. “You need two hundred dollars for the materials to build the raised beds. More for the soil. The composting bins are five hundred dollars each and you need two of them. Right there, that’s about two thousand dollars.”

  “Yes, but…” she had only collected three hundred dollars in donations thus far and school was scheduled to start in four weeks. They couldn’t raise that much money by then.

  “I’ll donate the money for all of it, plus the greenhouses. In addition, I’ll add in the cost of the worms and even start a mentoring program with my company. I can encourage my employees to donate their time and expertise to the project. Will that help?”

  “Yes! Yes, that would be wonderful!” she gasped. Her boss, the principal of the elementary school was fully on board with the project, as long as Melanie could find companies to donate the funding. And she couldn’t go to the parents for donations, because most couldn’t afford additional school costs. The school wasn’t located in one of the more affluent neighborhoods. “That’s incredibly generous of you.”

  He leaned forward. “I want something in return though.”

  Her heart plummeted. There was always a catch.

  He smiled and Melanie knew that she wasn’t going to like whatever he said next. “I want you to have dinner with me tonight.”

  Melanie swallowed. “Dinner?”

  “Just dinner. No expectations beyond a meal. I’m not expecting sex. Just the pleasure of your company.”

  Could she believe him?

  Pulling herself together, she sat back, straightening her spine. “Mr. Hughes, I’m a fifth grade elementary school teacher.”

  He smiled faintly before he asked, “Elementary school teachers don’t eat?”

  A chuckle snuck up on her, but she looked away for a moment to school her expression before looking him directly in the eye. “I’m not for sale.”

  He smiled and it was the first sincere smile she’d seen from him. It wasn’t mocking or teasing. It was a nice, genuine smile. And was there a bit of admiration mixed in with the sincerity?

  “I respect that. I’d really like to take you to dinner and get to know you a little better.” He gestured with the folder in his hand. “In fact, to make it easier for you to decide, I’ll donate the money for the project simply because it’s a brilliant idea. The money isn’t contingent on you having dinner with me. Does that make my invitation more palatable?”

  His assurance really did make her feel better. “Yes,” she finally replied.

  “Yes, the invitation is better? Or yes, you’ll have dinner with me?”

  She laughed, feeling her shoulders relax. “Yes, I would love to have dinner with you. And also, yes, I’ll take whatever donation you’d like to make towards the project. The kids at my school will appreciate every penny. Thank you.”

  “Excellent!” he said and stood up. “I’ll pick you up at six.”

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