All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids)
Read All Your Loving (Bachelors & Bridesmaids) Online
Authors: Barbara Freethy
Tags: #Contemporary Romance
ALL YOUR LOVING
BACHELORS & BRIDESMAIDS (#3)
BARBARA FREETHY
Also Available
In the Bachelors and Bridesmaids series
Kiss Me Forever
(#1)
Steal My Heart
(#2)
All Your Loving
(#3)
ALL YOUR LOVING
With the purchase of her third bridesmaid's dress in a year, Julie Michaels is beginning to wonder when she'll find her Mr. Right but so far everyone she meets is Mr. Wrong.
In between planning bridal showers and bachelorette parties, Julie needs to find a celebrity for her charity's fundraising cook off! Matt Kingsley, the ace hitter for the San Francisco Cougars would be perfect. He's rich, sexy and single... If only she didn't have a good reason to hate professional baseball players.
Julie is determined to keep Matt at arm's length, but Matt has never backed away from a challenge. And the beautiful woman who hates him makes him want to do just about anything to change her mind.
All Your Loving
© Copyright 2014 Barbara Freethy
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED (v3)
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
"I need a man," Melanie Hall announced, opening the door to Julie Michaels' office late Tuesday afternoon. "Handsome, rich, talented and famous, and you're going to get him for me."
Julie smiled. "Sure I am. Right after I find one for myself." She pushed a stack of brochures and envelopes across her small, cluttered desk. "Why don't you make yourself useful and help me stuff some envelopes?"
Melanie pushed the offending pile away. "We can do those later. Right now we have a bigger problem."
"Finding you a man?"
"Not me, the Foundation. Kevin Markham just dropped out of the Celebrity Cook-Off."
"No," she said in disappointed surprise. Kevin Markham, an A-List actor was their big draw for the upcoming fundraiser and to lose him now was a huge blow. "What happened?"
"He got a DUI last night and has already gone into rehab. His publicist just called me. He won't be available for our events or any appearances for at least a month."
"Damn. That's bad news."
"It is." Melanie sat down in the chair in front of Julie's desk. "I've been racking my brain for a replacement. We need someone with wow factor—a bigger than life hero, who will help us sell out the rest of the event and do some press for us."
By the gleam in Melanie's eyes, Julie could tell she had someone in mind. "Who are you talking about?"
"Matt Kingsley."
Her stomach knotted at the mention of the star hitter for the San Francisco Cougars.
"Any chance you could get to him?"
"No," she said immediately.
"You don’t have any connections from when your dad was playing?"
She shook her head, her stomach tightening at the mention of her father. "My dad left me with nothing and that includes connections."
"We're desperate," Melanie said quietly. "You know how important this fundraiser is for the Foundation. It's the backbone of our budget, and expenses have been much higher than we expected this year. If we don't pull in a significant amount of funds at the cook-off, we may have to shut down some of our programs. We have to replace Markham with someone big."
Julie leaned back against her chair with a sigh. Melanie's words were not news. She was very aware of the shoestring nature of their budget. "But why Matt Kingsley?"
"Because we've already asked everyone else we know," Melanie said practically. "Unless your friend Michael Stafford can come up with anymore football players to help out."
"I already signed up three of his friends for the telethon next month. I can't tap that well again so soon."
"Exactly. That's why we need Matt Kingsley. He hit over .500 in the playoffs last year and practically won the division title single-handedly. He's a legend in the making. He's also sexy as hell. The press loves him. The fans love him. Heck, I even love him. And I'm sure you would, too, if you didn't have a hang-up about baseball players."
Julie stood up, walked over to the window and gazed blankly out at the colorful crowds strolling along Fisherman's Wharf. She had had enough of baseball legends to last a lifetime. Her father, Jack Michaels, had been one of the greatest pitchers in the National League. But as a man, a father and a husband, he had not come close to being a hero.
She turned back to face Melanie. "If you want Kingsley, go for it. You don't need me."
"I do need you. I've called his agent numerous times with no response, and I can't get past the reception in the Cougars' front office. I need you to work your magic, Julie. You're the best at signing reluctant celebrities."
She was pretty good at wrangling volunteers, but not when it came to baseball players. She hadn't been to a baseball stadium since her father had destroyed her family.
"I told you, I don't have any connections," she said.
"You have your last name," Robert Hudson interjected.
Julie looked up as the executive director entered her office. Robert was her boss and a friend, but he could also be ruthless when it came to the Foundation. He had started the organization with his brother who had lost a child to cancer. For Robert, their work wasn't just charity, it was personal.
"My last name isn't going to matter to the Cougars," she protested, even though she knew deep down she probably did have a better chance of getting to Matt Kingsley because of her last name. Dale Howard, one of her father's best friends, was still the general manager of the Cougars. But she didn't want to talk to Dale anymore than she wanted to talk to anyone else on the team.
Robert gave her a steely look that told her he didn't think much of her defense. "We need you, Julie. This is for the kids."
"You don't have to remind me," she said with a sigh.
"Then put your personal feelings aside and get us Matt Kingsley," he said.
If it wasn't for the kids, she wouldn't even consider what they were asking, but both Robert and Melanie were right. They needed a superstar to replace Markham and sell out the event, and if Matt Kingsley participated, it would probably be standing room only.
"Okay," she said with a sigh. "I'll give it a shot. But I'd have a backup plan ready to go in case I strike out."
Melanie smiled. "See, you're already thinking in baseball terms."
"But don't think about striking out," Robert told her. "We need a home run."
* * *
Two days later Julie drove into the San Francisco stadium parking lot determined to make good on her promise to Melanie and Robert. She'd called Matt Kingsley's agent a dozen times with no return call. She'd also checked in with the Cougars' front office and had been just as stymied. She'd even tried to reach her father's old friend Dale Howard, but he was out of town. She was out of options and quickly running out of time. She needed to get to the man himself, so she was going to do what she'd never in a million years thought she'd do—she was going to stalk a baseball player.
Spring training would be starting in three weeks, but until then, the Cougars were holding informal light practices for the players who lived in the Bay Area, and she'd seen on a recent sports report that Kingsley was still in town. The timing was actually good. If Matt was in town now, there was no reason that he wouldn't be here a week from Saturday when the cook-off was to be held. He shouldn't have to leave for Arizona until a week after that.
A car horn blared in her ear, and she instinctively hit the brakes as a carload of three teenage girls hurtled past her. Apparently, she wasn't the only one trying to catch up with a ballplayer today.
After parking the car, she walked through the lot, seeing the massive stadium rising up in front of her. The queasiness in her stomach grew as memories flooded her mind. The stands were empty, but in her mind she could hear the cheers and applause of game day. She could smell the hot dogs and onions and feel the damp windiness of the walkways. As a kid, she'd spent a lot of days and nights at ballparks around the country, and she could still remember the long cold nights when the game went into extra innings or the stunningly hot doubleheaders on the weekends. She'd filled herself with hot dogs and peanuts and kept track of every play so she could talk to her dad about the game later. Not that they'd actually talked much, but in her head she'd always hoped they would, and she'd always wanted to be ready, to prove she was
his girl
. Unfortunately, whatever happy memories she'd had of those days had been ripped out of her head by all the pain and anger that followed her father's betrayal.
When she saw the crowd of adoring women waiting in front of the players' entrance, she wanted to flee. It was so familiar it was frightening. She could see herself as a young girl following proudly behind her dad as he made his way through the crush of fans.
He had been her hero then. He used to put her on his shoulders so she could see among the throng of people. She'd felt so special, so important…
She forced the old images out of her head and paused at the edge of the crowd. She hadn't expected to find so many girls waiting, but she should have. The Cougars had been in the World Series last year. They had a lot of fans. She tried to squeeze past some teens in front of her, but was unsuccessful.
"Hey, wait your turn," a young girl snapped. She then pushed her aside, driving an elbow into her rib cage, and as Julie winced in pain, two more girls pushed their way past her. She was buried in the middle of the crowd.
She had to stand on tiptoe to see over the people in front of her, and she began to realize the foolishness of her mission. Matt Kingsley wasn't going to stop and chat with her, not with this mass of women waiting outside the entrance. She needed to find another way.
She was just turning to leave when the door opened and two young men walked out.
The freshness of their smiles as they looked at the women was enough to tell her that neither was the infamous Matt Kingsley. They were too caught up in the excitement to be the veteran ace hitter for the ball club.
They stopped to sign a few autographs, reveling in the attention. One of the young girls went so far as to climb over the barricade in an attempt to steal a kiss. A guard immediately came to the player's aid, but no one seemed to be in a hurry to break the embrace.
Julie turned away with a sigh. This approach was definitely not going to work. She had seen her father dodge enough wild fans to know that Matt Kingsley wasn't going to just waltz through this pack of wolves.
She walked slowly back toward the parking lot. It was then that she spotted a very tall, well-built man striding toward a bright red Ferrari parked well away from the other cars. She knew instantly that she had found her man. Everything about him—from the stylishly cut brown hair, to the tan, to the tight jeans—spelled superstar.
In that split second, she didn't stop to think about his reaction, she just plunged forward, anxious to get the job done before she lost her nerve. She reached him just as he got to the door of his car. Breathlessly, she grabbed his arm. "Mr. Kingsley. Wait, please. I need to talk to you."
