Can't Buy Me Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

attractive enough that he’d been willing to overlook her lack
of ambition, and he’d been the one to ask her to dance. She hadn’t started
asking him for things yet – no hints about jewelry or expensive trips. But it
was likely only a matter of time. Chase was sure that she was no different from
the others, and her lack of interest in anything relevant to real life was
appalling. It really was past time to break things off with her. He doubted she
was at all interested in him, and he certainly wasn’t interested in her.
    But
as he’d explained to Jared, she was an easy date for him right now. No strings,
no expectations, and she fit into his world very well, which meant that he
didn’t need to start looking around for another woman to accompany him to
events. So why rock the boat?
    But
wasn’t that what he was doing now? Rocking the boat? Because he sure wasn’t
sticking to safe and known territory. This weekend was going to be different
and unusual – a calculated risk on his part. And Chase was looking forward to
it in a way that he never looked forward to his usual weekends, which were
often filled with work, exercise, and some sort of social event. He felt more
optimistic than normal. He was shaking things up a bit. And maybe, just maybe,
he’d start to feel more like he was back in control of his world.
    His
weekend planned, Chase closed his web browser and opened up his Dropbox. His
secretary had placed a lot of documents into the folder on Friday evening
before she had gone home for the weekend, and Chase was determined to get
through most of them before Monday morning. It was going to be a late night,
but it didn’t bother him tonight. For some reason, he was feeling a bit more
optimistic and energetic this evening. Maybe that’s what rocking the boat did
to a man.
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Four
     
    “Lena!”
    After
three exhausting days of report-writing, Lena was fully focused on filling in a
pile of financial forms associated with the quarterly reports that one of their
major donors required. It wasn’t until Frank appeared in her doorway and practically
shouted her name that his voice actually registered. And when it did, it scared
the living daylights out of her. Jumping nearly a foot out of her seat, she
whacked her head on the arm of the lamp next to her chair and nearly knocked
the light over. Reaching out, she steadied the shade, using her other hand to
catch a pile of papers before they fell.
    Finally,
she looked up into the grinning face of her weekend manager.
    “What ?”
she finally managed to ask, her irritation tempered by the fact that she really
loved this man to pieces.
    “I’ve
got a new volunteer out front,” Frank informed her as he leaned against her
doorframe, his grey hair worn short in a military style, and an army-green t-shirt
tucked into the waist of his worn blue jeans. His face was weathered, but his
eyes were keen and intelligent, and right now, they looked at Lena with a
combination of fondness and concern.
    “Well
hooray for you,” Lena said dryly, straightening the lampshade and sitting back
down in her chair. “I’ll take you out for a beer later to celebrate.”
    Her
response just made Frank grin even wider. “I think this guy might be someone
you can use,” he told her.
    “Use
how?” Lena narrowed her eyes, wondering where her co-worker was going with this.
    “He
seems like he’s got a brain that knows about finances and bookkeeping. I could
put him to work serving dinner, but I think you might want to talk to him at
some point to see if he could help out in the office.”
    Lena
sighed. This could be very good news, but she was stressed at the moment. The
report was due on Monday, and she kept getting interrupted. She hated working
in the office on weekends – if she came by the shelter on Saturday or Sunday, she
wanted to be helping out with dinner or child care. But this weekend was
different – she needed to be in her office, focused on the