What If It's Love?: A Contemporary Romance Set in Paris (Bistro La Bohème Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

small for today’s male beauty standards.
He had a goatee, beautiful obsidian eyes, and a charming accent. He flirted
desperately with every fair-haired girl who passed through the café, even
though the girls didn’t flirt back with him.
    Once Lena heard him ask three German girls having beers next to her
table, “What are your names, lovelies?”
    “Brunhilde,” one of them said with a sweet smile.
    “Irmtraud,” the second said with an even sweeter smile.
    “Hildegard,” the third said, her smile so big Lena worried the corners of
her mouth would tear.
    Pepe looked from one girl to the next, lips moving as he tried to
memorize their unlikely names. This sent the girls into a prolonged fit of the
giggles that finally drove him away.
    Pepe didn’t attempt to flirt with Lena, who was exceedingly grateful this
particular gentleman preferred blondes.
    * * *

“Having trouble with the writing?”
    Lena looked up. Pepe the Matador stood by her table, shaking his head in
sympathy. “What if your nails don’t grow back?”
    “Oh,” she said, jerking her hand from her mouth. “How observant of
you—Pepe, right?”
    “Yes, and you are?” Pepe replaced Lena’s empty cup with a steaming frothy
blend.
    “Lena. I live in this building, as it happens.”
    “I figured as much. Are you a friend of Rob’s? I see him chatting with
you whenever he has a spare moment.” Pepe smiled innocently and gave her a
suggestive wink.
    As Lena marveled at how he could accomplish such a paradoxical combo, her
brain registered that Rob was Adonis.
    “No, I am not a friend of Rob’s. In fact, I have no clue why he stops to
chat with me.”
    “Don’t you?” Pepe gave her an are-you-dumb look. “Let’s see. If I were
you, I’d assume he liked me. But what do I know?” He shrugged and headed
to the kitchen.
    Lena’s thoughts scattered like beads from a torn necklace. Could Rob
really like her? He did chat with her a lot, almost every time he had a spare
moment. But what did he find in her? With his looks and charisma he could have
any girl—any gorgeous girl. Could he have found out she was an
heiress? But then, he wasn’t the kind of guy to pursue a girl for her
money . . .
    She blew out her cheeks. This was ridiculous. For one, she had no idea
what kind of guy he was. She tried her best to concentrate on her work. But as
if on cue, Rob walked into La Bohème . He wore a basic white T-shirt and
faded jeans. Hidden in her corner, Lena ogled him in a most shameless way. Her
gaze feasted on his narrow hips and flat stomach, then traveled up his
well-muscled arms to his broad shoulders, caressed his firm jawline, and drank
in his intelligent hazel eyes.
    Rob sauntered to the counter, his every movement infused with easy
masculine grace. When she finally lost sight of him as he disappeared behind
the door marked STAFF ONLY, she could feel her heart racing and her cheeks
burning. How stupid! She should know better than to drool over the first
handsome stranger she met in this town.
    He’s just a pretty boy, offered the familiar sensible voice in her
head.
    Boy, he is pretty, retorted a voice she’d never heard
before.
    In the face of such blatant sauciness, her sensible self kicked below the
belt. A pretty boy who will break your heart, given the chance.
    Bingo. Lena blinked as her pulse slowed down and color drained from her
cheeks. A broken heart was a messy business . Was the pretty boy really worth it?
    Nope. Especially not now. She was finally over Gerhard, really over him.
Her soul was filled with a sense of freedom she was beginning to seriously
appreciate. She’d nearly forgotten how it felt to jump at every phone call, and
to spend hours debating if she should make a move, or if her boyfriend was
still into her. Gerhard had never been given to excesses, but a few months ago
Lena started to suspect he cared more for his Labrador than for her. In March
she began to wish he’d just dump her and put her out of her