Heart Racer by Marian Tee Read Free Book Online Page A

eyes widening as that tiny sexy smile transformed his face into something mesmerizing and hypnotic, and those glasses of his only added to his appeal. “You must allow me to take you out.”  

Chapter Nine
     
    The “date” was supposed to take place in a fancy restaurant with both of them dressed up, serenaded by great music as he wined and dined Bobby and, if possible, feast on her wonderfully curvy body as his dessert.
    But instead, he found himself at the front door of a red-brick building asking for Bobby.
    “Are you Leandro Chris-Cross?”
    Leandro nearly choked at the way the older harried-looking woman butchered his family’s name, which was one of the oldest and most illustrious in Greece. “I am Leandro Christopoulos, yes.”
    “Good. She’s expecting you. She’s in her office – just go straight down the hallway and it’s the last door on your left.”
    He was about to thank her when the woman slammed the door on his face.
    Leandro blinked.
    The door opened again a second later. “Sorry. I forgot you were supposed to come in.”
    She had forgotten he was supposed to come in? What else was he supposed to do when he was here to visit Bobby?
    “Close the door for me, will you? I need to get back to the kids.” She hurried away and disappeared around the corner. There was a lot of wailing and Leandro winced at the sound, knowing that whatever had caused Bobby to take a rain check on their date, it was surely of critical proportions.
    Walking down the hallway, he stopped on the last door to his left and knocked.
    “Come in.”  
    Bobby also sounded distracted, and when he entered her office, she looked up with a frustrated face that Leandro found surprisingly… cute.  
    “I’m sorry again about our…”  
    “Date?” He kept his voice bland, but his eyes laughed at her.
    She grimaced. “That.”
    Sensing how nervous she was, he casually took out his fake glasses from his pocket and put it on, taking his time to adjust them on his nose. When he looked back at Bobby, Leandro knew that he had been right to put on his disguise.  
    She was smiling now, obviously more relaxed. “You look so different when you have glasses,” she told him.
    “Different in what way?”
    Bobby seriously mulled it over. “Well, I guess it makes you more… human? Imperfect?”
    “And that’s a good thing?”
    “It makes me less self-conscious around you,” she explained. “That’s all.” She gave him a sweet smile – something Leandro doubted Bobby would do if he didn’t have his glasses on. “I’m really sorry about this. We took in several new charges just yesterday and all of them fell sick within a few hours. The doctor told us it was chicken pox.” She let out a big sigh. “Unfortunately, we’re also understaffed right now, with one of the caregivers on leave and another down with the flu.”
    “So you need to be here just in case they need an extra hand?”
    She nodded, adding, “And to keep things calm and make them think they have a leader here.”
    He told her bluntly, “You are their leader and from what I can see, you’re doing more than well, championing this foundation’s cause.”
    She flushed with pleasure at his words. “Thank you for saying that. It’s…high praise, coming from you.” She bit her lip, wishing she could say all the other things she wanted to say to him but felt so stupidly shy to do so.  
    “Shall we, umm, have dinner then?” Bobby gestured towards the mini dining room in her office. It basically served as her studio apartment since the office also had a mini kitchen and a sofa bed.  
    “I’d love to.”
    He followed her to the table, taking a seat at her request. He offered to help her prepare the food but she waved the suggestion away, telling him that guests were never to be made to serve.
    She served them pasta and salad, Mediterranean style, she had told him proudly. When he took a bite, he grimaced and slowly reached for his glass of water. Someone