Romantic Acquisition (15 page)

And now things would be back to normal, back to boring, she thought
to herself sadly
.

Sighing, she hefted her suitcase into her tiny trunk.  It landed half in and half out.  The half that was in landed on her finger and she yelped, putting her finger into her mouth and trying desperately to hold back the tears until she could get herself alone.  She would not embarrass herself in front of Carlo. 

Unfortunately for her pride,
he heard her yelp and walked quickly over to her car.  He lifted
her
heavy suitcase and got it easily into her trunk.  Then turned back to her and took her hand in his.  “Are you okay?  Why didn’t you wait for someone else to do that for you?”

“I’m a grown woman, I can do it on my own,” she said, her voice wobbling. 

When he heard the tears just below the surface, he turned her so she was facing him fully. 
“What’s wrong, Kate,” he asked softly.

“Nothing,” she said and turned her face away as the last of her control died.  A single tear fell over her lashes onto her cheek. 

He wouldn’t let her turn away.  “
Talk to me.  What’s wrong?”

“Please, I’m just tired
,” she said wishing she could get better control of her emotions. 

He sighed but wouldn’t release her hand.  “I don’t want you to go.  Will you have dinner with me tonight?”

She desperately wanted to say yes.  The idea of spending another evening with him created butterflies in her stomach and her heart instantly lifted.  But
Kate shook her head.  If she was going to get over her need for his company, it had to start immediately.

“Why not?”

“Because I need to do laundry,” she said, coming up with the only thing that popped into her mind.

Carlo laughed.  “Okay, so you need a break from me.  I understand.  I’ve been pushing through the stores for the past few days pretty hard, huh?”

Kate nodded.  She had a lump in her throat the size of a baseball.  She wanted to change her mind and ease back into normal life.  She wanted to spend the evening with him, not talking about work or anything related to retail.  She just wanted to curl up with him on a sofa, drink a glass of wine and fall asleep on his shoulder. 

But he probably didn’t do things like that. 

“I’ll see you on Monday,” she said and pulled her hand away.

“Okay.  Call me if you need anything,” he said and let her get into her car.

Kate drove away
from the airport, watching him in
her rear view mirror.  She smothered the rest of her depression and drove home quickly.  Once in her cozy little house, she threw in a load of laundry, opened a bottle of Merlot, then sat down on her favorite chair and
tried to
read a book.  She read the same paragraph four times before finally giving up and tossing the book onto the coffee table. 

She soaked in her large tub but the depression wouldn’t go away.  She final
ly gave up and climbed into
bed, wondering what Carlo had done that night.

The weekend moved along in slow motion.  Saturday, she resisted the urge to pick up the phone and call Carlo.  Instead, she cleaned her whole house, getting rid of the dust that had formed on everything over the past six weeks.  She hadn’t been in her house for twelve days but even before that, she had been working long hours so she hadn’t been able to do much cleaning.  If this pace kept up, she’d have to hire a cleaning service.  She immediately dismissed that idea, thinking that surely one person did not need a cleaning service.  That was just too much pampering, even for her. 

She was intensely relieved when Monday morning arrived.  Her alarm went off at her normal hour of
six o’clock
, but by that time, she was already up and halfway dressed.  She knew it was because Carlo had her on a new schedule.  She snapped her alarm off as she passed, pulling on a pink cashmere sweater that went over a pair of pink, wool slacks.  She slipped her feet into a pair of pink, high heeled shoes and
added several strands of pearls around her neck and tiny pearls at her ears. 

Arriving at her office, she almost skipped into the conference room.  Kate was disappointed when she saw Jeff and Peter already at work, but the seat Carlo
usually occupied
was empty. 

“Good morning,” she said, trying to maintain her cheerfulness.  “How were things while I was gone?” she asked. 

Jeff smiled and leaned back in his chair.  “Everyone has been very helpful.  Sarah took over in your absence and has been able to provide us with anything we’ve asked for.” 

Kate was pleased.  Her assistant deserved to move up.  Kate had been pushing David to let her progress professionally but so far, he had refused, assuming that a secretary should remain a secretary, despite her college degree. 

Kate spent the rest of the day either answering questions for Jeff or Peter, going through the e-mails she’d received while she was touring the other stores with Carlo or staring out the window, wondering where he was and what he was doing.  Why hadn’t he called her, she thought about
four o’clock
that afternoon.  She accepted that she was hurt by his lack of communication.  She knew he didn’t report to her but they’d spent so much time together, even before they’d left for Houston and he’d always told her where he was going and when he’d be back. 

Sarah walked into the conference room
during one of her staring periods
and handed a large
, bulky
envelope to Kate.  “How is the rest of the country doing?” she asked, leaning against the conference room table.  Kate immediately noticed a glow to the young woman’s appearance.  Apparently, romance was good for her. 

“It was interesting to see all the other stores.  Usually I go through them in a different patter
n
.  Seeing the stores with Carlo was an eye opening experience,” she said.  Kate looked down at the envelope.  “What’s this for?” she asked.

“I had a message this morning from Carlo’s secretary at
ATI
.  She asked that we pull those documents together and deliver them today.  The address is on the paper,” Sara explained and pointed to the piece of paper taped to the envelope. 

Kate picked up her purse, tamping down the excitement that instantly flared up at the idea of seeing Carlo again.  “Well, then, I guess I better head out.  If you two are okay with Sarah continuing in my stead, I’ll see you in about an hour,” Kate said. 

Both Jeff and Peter nodded their heads and Sara smiled, obviously eager to help. 

Kate went back down to the parking lot and got back into her car.  She looked at the piece of paper and read the directions.  “I’ve never heard of this place,” she said and re-read the directions, not sure if she understood them completely. 

She shrugged and turned on the engine and backed out of the parking lot.  The instructions were very easy to follow, giving her specific distances to track before turning one way or another. 

She followed the directions as precisely as possible.  When she got to the final line,
Kate looked down at the address written on the paper, then back up again to the parking lot.  The numbers were the same but this couldn’t possibly be the place she was supposed to drop off the documents.  This was a pier. 

She looked around, wondering if she’d made a wrong turn but the directions were very simple and direct.

Pulling out her cell phone, she called
Sarah
.  “Are you sure you gave me the correct address?” she asked her secretary.

Sarah
confirmed the address from the e-mai
l
. 
Kate
was in the right place.

“Okay, thanks.  I’ll look around for the number twelve,” she said and hung up.

Kate found a parking space and got out of her car.  Scanning the docks, she realized that each of the docks were numbered.  All the way to twelve.  The boat at the end of dock
,
number twelve
,
would
never be considered a boat.  It was a ship, she thought to herself. 

Sighing, she walked down the pier and stood beside dock number twelve.  As soon as she approached, a seaman descended the stairwell and greeted her.  “Ms. Avril?” he asked politely.

Kate hid her shock.  “Yes.  Is this where Mr. Attracelli is?”

“He’s currently in the forward library,” the crewman said.

“Oh,” was her only response to that.  “Well, could you deliver these
papers
to Mr. Attracelli?
He’s expecting them,” she asked, handing the documents to the man
and hiding her depression that she wouldn’t be able to see Carlo
.

The seaman didn’t even glance at the papers but bowed slightly as he said,
“I was asked to escort you to Mr. Attracelli.”

“
Oh,
I don’t
think I
need to deliver
these in person,” she explained
, looking up at the imposing yacht and all it’s darkened windows.  It looked very intimidating to her
. 
“But I understand he needs them
immediately,” she said, still trying to hand them to the man.

“Right this way,” he said
and stood back so she could prece
d
e
him onto the ship.

Kate gave up.  She realized that the man had his instructions.  Besides, she’d like to see the interior of the ship.  She’d never been on a genuine yacht before.  So she walked up the stairway and followed his directions to the ‘forward library’ as he’d put it.

Kate opened a door and was delighted by the soft green and cream interior.  This was a genuine library
with books of all sizes
inside glass enclosed shelves.  The dark wood was glossy and polished.  She saw Carlo and a few other men at the other end of the room which was incredibly large for a ship.  She walked forward, not wanting to intrude on their good time.  The three men were laughing and enjoying beers, one of them was smoking a cigar that smelled nice. 

As soon as Carlo saw her he stood up and met her in the middle of the room.  “Thanks for bringing these.  Want to have a drink?” he offered, taking the heavy documents and putting them on a table beside a
luxurious
looking sofa. 

“No, thank you.  I don’t want to interrupt.  I’ll just drop off
your papers
a
nd I’ll head back to the office,
”
she said and started backing away. 

Carlos stopped her by taking her hand in his.  He then wrapped his arm around her waist in an intimately casual way that threw her mind into confusion. 
“Don’t you want a tour?” he asked and led her through another door, raising a hand to the other two men who just
wave
d back and went back to their discussion.

Kate liked his arm around her too much.  She tried to slip out of his embrace but he wouldn’t let her. 
“Carlo, really.  I need to head back.  Matthew is having another fit and
Sara
is
has taken on all the responsibility of helping out Jeff and Peter which isn’t fair to her,” she explained, hoping he would understand how much she needed to get back.  But the excuses sounded lame even to her ears. 

“They can handle themselves for a while.  Come on, I’ll show you around the ship.  It’s
a really nice boat.  I like your hair down, by the way.  I like feeling it against my arm like this,” he said, the arm around her waist moved slightly for emphasis.  “It’s very soft.  Why don’t you wear it down like this more often?”

“It doesn’t look professional,” she said absently, immediately curious about the rooms they were passing.  Her neck craned to see what was through each of the doors, her curiosity overcoming her nervousness.