Recipe for Desire by Cheris Hodges Read Free Book Online Page B

man. Again, she wondered why she cared what Devon Harris thought about her. She’d never met the man. Marie dialed his number and waited for him to answer.
     
     
    Devon looked down at his cell phone, trying to see if he knew who the number belonged to since a name didn’t pop up with it. Shrugging his chef’s jacket off, he answered the call.
    “Devon Harris.”
    “Mr. Harris, this is Marie Charles, returning your call,” the woman cooed.
    Marie Charles, he thought. Right, the chick on probation. “Miss Charles, yes. Thank you for calling me back.”
    “Just call me Marie. So, you said we should get together and talk about the community service project,” she said. As Devon listened to her, he had to admit, she had a hell of a sexy voice.
    “We do need to go over your schedule, because I want to get you started with us at My Sister’s Keeper as soon as possible. We’re in the middle of a fund-raiser and I know you have a background in public relations, so ...”
    “You expect me to work for free?” Marie shot back. “I will peel potatoes in the soup kitchen, but there is no way in hell ...”
    “Hold up,” Devon said. “You have to calm down. From what I understand, you have five hundred hours of community service to fill, and there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and you really don’t have a choice as to what you’re asked to do.”
    “So, you’re going to take advantage of me because I have to perform community service? You do know who I am, don’t you?”
    Devon fought back his caustic comment. “Look, Miss Charles,” he said. “You have to fulfill your community service hours, I don’t care who you are. But if you think you’re going to dictate how this works, then you’re wrong.”
    He heard her suck her teeth and imagined her head wagging back and forth as she talked. “This is getting off on the wrong foot,” Marie said. “I’m a little tired; it’s been a long day.”
    “OK, then we can talk about your schedule now. I want you to get started tomorrow morning,” Devon said.
    She sighed into the phone. “Can we meet somewhere Uptown. Maybe the bar at the Westin?”
    “Are you sure you want to go to a bar?” Devon asked snidely.
    Marie mumbled under her breath before saying, “What would you suggest, Mr. Harris?”
    “The Westin is fine. I can meet you there in fifteen minutes,” he said. Before Devon could say another word, he heard Marie’s phone click off. He glanced at his phone, shaking his head. “This is going to be a long night,” he mumbled.
    “Talking to yourself?” Alicia asked as she passed him in the hall. “Not a good sign.”
    Devon looked at her and grinned. “Where are you off to?”
    “Why?” she asked when she stopped and looked at him. “You need a ride somewhere?”
    “I drove today,” he said. “You’re dressed up, though. Hot date?”
    Alicia shrugged. “I wish. Just a boring business meeting. Why were you having a conversation with yourself earlier?”
    “Marie Charles.”
    “Who? Wait. The party girl?”
    Devon nodded. “One in the same. It seems as if she’s going to have to do her community service at My Sister’s Keeper, and I can tell already it’s going to be nothing but a headache. She had the nerve to tell me what she wants to do. She’s the one under a court order.”
    Alicia shook her head. “Wow. Better you than me.”
    “We’re meeting at the Westin to get her schedule together,” Devon said, then groaned.
    “Before you go, I do have some good news about the fund-raiser for My Sister’s Keeper,” Alicia said. “Concrete Jazz has agreed to play the dinner for free.”
    “Yes!” Devon exclaimed with a fist pump. “Shay is going to be happy about that. She had been talking to their manager about them performing here.”
    “She is a hell of a negotiator,” Alicia said. “I spoke with Nathan, their manager, and he wasn’t trying to do anything for free.”
    Devon nodded, then looked down at his watch.