by Unknown
He nodded.
She was quiet for some time before asking, “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you send word or let me know in some way?”
Leandro didn’t answer, knowing that there was no way he could defend his actions – or the lack of it. The sound of her laugh made him glance at her sharply, and he sucked his breath in at the look of pained knowledge in her brilliant green eyes.
Damn. He had forgotten that aside from being the snarkiest woman he had ever had the misfortune to meet, Roberta Granger – according to Derek – also happened to be the smartest girl in school.
“You didn’t want to tell me.” She said the words factually because it was, indeed, a fact.
“Bobby---”
She shook her head. “Let me make this easy for you. I really thought about this thoroughly the whole time you’ve been…gone.” The way she hesitated over the word made Leandro flinch. He knew that she had been about to say something else, something painfully closer to the truth. Had Bobby thought of the days he had been away as the days that he had simply abandoned her?
The thought had his chest constricting, a strange sensation that made it difficult for Leandro to breathe without understanding why. His chest tightened with every second that passed. All he could think of then was how to make Bobby understand.
He rasped out, “Bobby---”
The urgent tone in his voice made Bobby shake her head almost wildly. No, no, darn it, no! She was not going to let him seduce her into doing what he wanted again.
“It’s okay,” she told him without meeting his gaze. “I totally get it now. You see, I researched all about you. Aunt Samantha told me that you race bikes, but it really wasn’t clear to me how much of a hotshot biker you are until I saw all those clippings of your victories.”
“Let me explain---”
“And I know about how your father had been against you joining those underground races. And when he learned that you had an accident, it gave him a heart attack, which you blamed yourself for.”
He said tightly after that, “I am to blame.”
“No.” Her voice was very gentle. “You’re not, and I think deep down inside you know that no one in your family blames you for it either. If I had to guess, I think it was a combination of things like old age, stress over the elections, and sure, your racing was a factor too, but it wasn’t the only factor.”
“I don’t want to talk about my father.”
“And we won’t talk about him any more after this. Or anything else for that matter.”
His head jerked up at that. “Bobby, dammit, if you could just let me---”
“Let you what? Change my mind? Because we both know you could, but I’m asking you not to. You see, I've had a lot of time to think about this, and here’s what I came up with. You were so guilty about your father’s illness that you exiled yourself here, hoping to start anew. But you got bored and you saw me as a challenge.”
“It’s not like that.”
“It is exactly like that, and Leandro---” Her voice caught, having realized that it was her very first time to call him by his name.
The way he was looking at her told Bobby he was just as aware of the fact, and that he, too, found it significant.
The knowledge made her swallow and square her shoulders simultaneously. She had no doubts that Leandro Christopoulos was fiercely intelligent, and she knew it would only be a matter of time before he figured out why the fact that she had called him by his name was very telling.
Well, she did not want to be there when it happened and he realized what a big fake she was.
She said gruffly, “All I’m saying is that I don’t want you to see me as a challenge because I don’t need that kind of complication in my life. You had your fun. Good for you. But can we please leave it at that? I don’t think it’s a good idea we’re in each other’s lives.”
Chapter Seven
“You should have asked me for advice, you know,” Priscilla Strathmore said sagely as she fed herself another forkful of organic salad. She considered Leandro Christopoulos’ tense profile thoughtfully. Her dear second cousin was normally as fun loving as she was, but she supposed one changed after witnessing a parent battle with death.
The thought had her nearly shuddering. She prayed no such drama would occur in her life. She just wasn’t cut out for stuff like that. She preferred her life to be as easy as possible and wasn’t shy at all about admitting it.
Leandro didn’t talk, but she expected that. Like the other children in the clan, Priscilla had spent her childhood summers in Greece and even in those days, Leandro had been very moody. One moment he would be friendly and then something would happen to make him aloof, almost offensively so.
Maybe, she mused idly, it was because he was adopted. His real parentage was no secret. It was pretty hard to keep something like that a secret since Elena had been well past child-bearing age when he had joined the family.
“Are you listening to me?” she asked finally when he still hadn’t said a word. In fact, he had barely said a word the whole time they were in the restaurant.
Leandro made himself look at Priscilla. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“I said,” Priscilla repeated patiently, “you should have come to me to ask for advice.”
This time, his lips quirked. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
He said truthfully, “Because you’re a twit – a lovable twit, mind you, but still a twit.”
She giggled.
“See?”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I may be sillier than most, but I’m far from being stupid. I have Christopoulos blood running in my veins too, you know.” She wagged her finger at him. “If you really like Roberta Granger---”
Leandro frowned. “Back up a second there. Why are you talking about Bobby?”
“Because I’m going to give you valuable advice about her?”
“I thought you were going to give me advice about Greek politics.”
She was just as incredulous as he was. “Why would I when I don’t even know what position Uncle Orion is running for?”
He grimaced. “Good point.” It was just another sign that he was clearly losing it. Five days. It had been five days since he had last seen Bobby, and here he was, acting like he was a lovesick fool. Wake up, you piece of ass, he told himself furiously. He had wasted enough time thinking about what he could have had with Bobby – and didn’t. He needed to find a woman to replace her and resume his plans for getting back in the good graces of the public.
Priscilla snapped her fingers in her cousin’s face. “Leandro! Pay attention. I’m trying to tell you something important here!”
He flushed. “I’m sorry. I really just have too many things on my mind---”
“If you’re thinking about your Bobby, then you have all the more reason to listen to me. I know her, okay? We’re not like BFFs or anything, but we’re friends.”
“And?” He didn’t see where this was going. After all, Priscilla was friends with everyone. She was one of those rare women who didn’t possess a mean bone in her body, choosing to deliberately let insults intended to hurt her fly over her head instead.
“I know how you can win her.”
He rolled his eyes.
“I’m serious,” she insisted. “We were doing yoga together once---”
“Now I know you’re joking. Bobby’s not the kind to do yoga.”
“She is when she found out that yoga could help deaf kids with anger management issues.”
He considered that and said gruffly, “Go on.”
“And we got to talking about boys.”
He wasn’t so sure now that he wanted to listen to his cousin.
“And she told me shyly that the kind of guy she wanted was someone plain, someone ordinary like her who’d spend lots of time with her, make her feel pretty and sexy even if she clearly wasn’t, and…” she paused, trying to recall the rest
that Bobby had to say after that. “Oh, and she wants someone smart. The kind she could talk to about books.”
He asked skeptically, “She told you all that?”
Priscilla rolled her eyes. “I’m a twit, remember? Of course she’s going to tell me everything. Twits don’t backstab.”
A moment passed before Leandro’s lips formed a reluctant smile. “That was indeed helpful.”
“You don’t really look her type, though.”
The words stung. “Well, type or not, she never fails to succumb to my kisses.”
“Oh, that’s nothing! Kisses won’t steal her heart, and that’s what you want to do, right?” She looked at him with uncommon shrewdness. “And it’s because of Uncle Orion, isn’t it?”
He nodded reluctantly.
She considered his answer and continued thoughtfully. “I do see it happening. Even though she’s terribly brazen, she’s just as old-fashioned in most other ways as girls normally are in Greece. She’ll definitely win the public and especially since she’s so active with charities. Yes, I can definitely see it. But first…two things.”
Leandro raised a brow. “What is it?”
“First. You need to wear glasses.”
“My eyes are fine.”
“Then wear non-prescription ones. The point here is to make you more human, less billionaire, and more like an accidentally hot kind of nerd.”
He choked out, “Accidentally hot?”
Priscilla took another forkful of salad, feeling like she needed to increase her intake so her brain would work more effectively.
She had cleared half of her plate already when Leandro demanded, “The second thing then? What is it?” A part of him couldn’t believe he was seriously asking Priscilla for advice. She was a lovely girl, but there was no denying she was also as smart as a board.
“Tell Bobby that you’re in love with her,” she said finally. “She told me that she’d never go to bed with someone she’s not in love with, and since I doubt you can survive being her boyfriend without having sex, well, that’s what you have to do.”
Pretend that he loved Bobby?
It felt like a terrifyingly easy thing to do, and that was what made Leandro uneasy.
Chapter Eight
Leandro did his best to ignore all the looks that were directed his way as he entered the library wearing his new pair of fake eyeglasses. It was a Saturday morning, and the place was empty except for a few students and the library staff. All of them were looking at him, making Leandro feel ridiculously self-conscious. It was damn ironic, the way he had nerves of steel when it came to underground races, and yet the prospect of Bobby seeing him like this gave him a sense of trepidation.
He adjusted his glasses as he started walking in between shelves, his gaze absently roaming the stacks of books lining each layer. He still had a hard time believing that he had indeed taken Priscilla up on her suggestion and went ahead with buying himself glasses.
“Leandro?”
He looked up, unable to believe what he was hearing.
It was her.
Goddammit, it was her and he was wearing his glasses.
He almost whipped them off but stopped himself from doing so by digging his hands into his pockets.
Bobby was staring at him.
It was his first time to see her in more than a week, and his eyes devoured every inch of her hungrily. Bobby had on her usual combination of large shirt and jeans, and looking at her, all he could think about was tearing her shirt away and getting his hands on her bountiful breasts.
When she still didn’t speak, his tension grew, and he wondered if it was because she was trying to find the nicest way to tell him that he looked like shit.
She opened her mouth and he stiffened, telling himself that he would not snap at Bobby if she ended up insulting him in the face.
“Have you been wearing glasses for long?”
That was what she was going to ask? Just that?
As Bobby waited for Leandro’s answer, she couldn’t help greedily taking her fill of him. He was so beautiful it just wasn’t funny, the way he made her feel so dreadfully ordinary next to him. Like her, he was no fashion plate. Except for the night of the party, he seemed to like dressing himself casually in shirts and jeans, something she secretly found really sexy about him.
Most men tried to boost their confidences with stylish clothes, to the point that they ended up looking like overgrown peacocks. But Leandro Christopoulos was different. Even when dressed simply, there was no hiding the aura of danger that surrounded him. It was so powerful it felt like a part of Leandro, something he would never get rid of even if…even if he was, like now, wearing glasses.
When Leandro didn’t answer her question, she asked awkwardly, “I didn’t know you wore glasses.”
He deliberately stayed silent, seeing that Bobby was more prone to talk and maybe even reveal more of herself if he didn’t speak.
Bobby clasped and unclasped her hands, needing something to concentrate on so she wouldn’t end up giving in to her instincts and that was to…well, to throw herself at Leandro and tell him how much she had missed him.
She colored at the thought.
Looking back at Leandro, she could see the wariness in his gaze and her heart softened as she realized one thing. “You’re embarrassed about your glasses, aren’t you?”
Leandro just shrugged. She knew she had guessed right…and that meant she had misjudged him in many ways. It touched her, the way Leandro was so sensitive to criticism like her that he had decided to hide behind a disguise. Sarcasm had been her defense while his had been arrogance. Someone this sensitive couldn’t have possibly seen her only as a challenge and meant to play with her just to while the time away. Right?
When Leandro adjusted his glasses the third time in the past five minutes, Bobby’s heart skipped a beat. That was a sign of unease, of nervousness – emotions that made one vulnerable, and which she would never have thought applicable to Leandro Christopoulos.
Bu apparently, she was wrong about him over a lot of things.
She said stiltedly, “I’m sorry. I just realized I misjudged you and never really let you explain.”
The words stunned Leandro. Never had he dreamt she would apologize to him so suddenly!
He said carefully, “I don’t blame you for thinking the same things others would have probably thought.”
“Don’t.” Bobby felt even more miserable at Leandro’s nice words. “I know when I’m the one who messed up, and this time I did mess up so I’m sorry. I was wrong to assume so many things – like how you only saw me as a challenge and that you didn’t really care about how I felt while you were gone. I thought you deliberately kept me in the dark because you were subconsciously teaching me who’s the boss between us.”
Had he? Leandro tried to think about it objectively. He had not wanted her to know because he did not want to risk her thinking she had enslaved him…and feel duty-bound to return his feelings, the way his parents might also feel the same towards their adopted son.
Slowly, heart beating madly, Bobby made herself offer her hand to him. “I know I don’t deserve this after acting like such a stuck-up bitch with you, but I want to be honest. I want you to know that I want to be your…friend. So…friends?”
Leandro was trying his best to hold his tongue. All of this – just because he wore a stupid pair of glasses?
He took her hand slowly. “Only on one condition.”
His touch was heat magnified a thousand times, and she did her best to keep herself from trembling. But it was no use. And by the way his grip tightened around hers, Bobby knew that Leandro was completely aware of how his touch affected her.
Friends? Ha! Who was she kidding? Friends didn’t tremble just because they were shaking hands.
When it took so long for him to answer, pride came to Bobby’s rescue. She started to tell him it was no biggie – that she could deal with him not wanting to be “friends” with her like a bi
g girl – when he smiled.
The smile had her silently gasping, her 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.
