Free Delectable Desire by Farrah Rochon

hyperaware of anything she could read into his personality.
    “For one thing, it’s a car with personality, and I’m sure it’s fast. I can picture you burning rubber along a country road, testing the horsepower.”
    They were at a stoplight. He revved the engine, just because.
    Lorraine laughed. “It’s also a very fine-looking automobile.”
    “Fine-looking, huh? If I’m not mistaken, I’d say that you’re flirting with me.”
    Carter glanced over and caught the reddish hue blossoming on her cheeks. Making her blush was terribly easy, and way more enjoyable than Carter could possibly have imagined.
    He also noticed that she’d checked the rearview mirror three times already.
    “You think we’re being followed?” he asked her.
    “Excuse me?” She turned to him, then laughed softly. “I’m still a bit on edge about what happened last night. I’d rather not deal with any paparazzi again this week.”
    “I have to warn you,” he hedged. “There will be media where we’re going tonight, but hopefully there will be too much other stuff grabbing their attention than who my date is.”
    “Where are we going?” Lorraine asked. Carter turned onto North Cannon Drive and pointed straight ahead. “Lincoln Park Zoo? Is the zoo open this time of evening?”
    “There’s an event to benefit Comer Children’s Hospital being held here tonight,” he answered. “Lillian’s donated the desserts, including four specialty cakes. I deployed a team of six to man the event, but I want to make sure everything is going according to plan. Are you okay with this?” he asked her.
    She turned to him. “Of course.”
    “Are you sure?” Carter asked, finding her swift acquiescence unconvincing. “You understand that this means we’re having hot dogs from the concession stand for dinner, don’t you?”
    Her blithe laughter resonated around the car. “Carter, this is perfect. I mean it,” she stressed. “As long as we don’t have a repeat of what happened last night cutting our date short, it is perfect.”
    Perfect. That was what Carter was beginning to think about her.
    * * *
    As they meandered among the crowd, Lorraine couldn’t help being charmed by the sights and sounds around her. Even though she lived only a couple of miles away, she had not visited this zoo since she was a little girl, back before she and Trina had been carted off to boarding school in upstate New York. She marveled at the improvements that had been made to the landmark zoo, one of the country’s oldest.
    “Do you know what that structure is over there?” she asked Carter, pointing to an arched building in the distance.
    “Amazing, isn’t it? That’s the South Pond Pavilion. We’ll wind up there eventually. It’s where they’ve set up the cakes.”
    They forayed farther into the zoo, stopping at various booths that had been set up along the numerous walkways. Carter was continually waylaid by event-goers who had already seen the cakes donated by Lillian’s and wanted to remark on their magnificence. He introduced Lorraine to everyone who greeted them, but she’d met a number of the patrons before. Many were members of various boards her father sat on, or politicians who had been on the Chicago social scene for years.
    Carter spoke to them all with admirable aplomb and grace, from the highest dignitaries to the average joes. He had a way about him that seemed to put people at ease. But it was the way Carter interacted with the children that had been brought in from the hospital that had a lump forming in Lorraine’s throat.
    “I know hospital food isn’t always the best,” he announced to the small crowd gathered around him. “So I brought something extra special just for you guys and girls. Because all of you are extra special.”
    Carter signaled to one of the workers wearing a pink-and-brown Lillian’s T-shirt. The girl brought over a covered tray, and the children gathered even closer around him. Carter lifted the lid to