Romantic Acquisition

Elizabeth Lennox - The Attracelli Family #6 - Romantic Acquisition

Romantic Acquisition (The Attracelli Family #6)
Elizabeth Lennox

romance/billionaire

Chapter 1

“You must be the enemy everyone is talking about,” Katherine Avril smiled warmly as she approached the three men in business suits standing in the lobby area. She extended her hand in greeting to the tall, handsome man in the center who was waiting in the lobby. There were two other stern looking men behind the serious man but she assumed that this tall man was the one in charge. There was just an aura of authority surrounding him.

The center man took her hand in his warm one but stood there for a long time just staring at her. As soon as their hands touched, Kate was transfixed. The heat transferring from this man’s hand warmed her cold, nervous one. She had been trying to hide her trepidation ever since the announcement this morning but holding this man’s hand, looking into his eyes, the rest of the world disappeared. She couldn’t feel the silver bracelets clanging against each other whenever she moved, or the painful pinching of her toes in her high heeled shoes. Everything faded away as she looked into his dark, intense eyes.

“I’m Carlo Attracelli,” he finally said. “I represent ATI, Incorporated, if that’s what you mean.”

Katherine liked his deep voice. It seemed to ring with authority and confidence. “Pleased to me you,” she said with as much confidence as she could muster. She shook his hand, pretending she wasn’t intimidated or overwhelmed by his simple presence. She hoped he didn’t notice that her hand shook. “You’ll have to excuse our lack of planning. We just heard that ATI was going to acquire Jamison’s Department Stores this morning. We’re all in shock.”

He raised an eyebrow at her explanation, but didn’t respond. The man turned to his team members who were standing behind him. “This is Jeff McKenzie and Peter Ashton. They’re going to be helping with the due diligence process.”

“Pleased to meet both of you as well,” she said and smiled at the two shorter, but still impressive men to Carlo’s left and right.

The gorgeous, intimidating man continued to stare at her and she had the impression that he could see through her clothes and know what color and style of underwear she was wearing. It was very disconcerting, especially since she was interested in what he had underneath his perfectly tailored suit. She pictured him in silk boxers with muscular legs and stomach, not a lot of hair on his chest….Clearing her mind of those treasonous thoughts, she quickly thought of something to say. “As I said, I’m Katherine Avril, Director of Purchasing,” she explained. “You can call me Kate. If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you around the offices. Mr. Jamison asked me to help you in any way while you’re working here. I’ve reserved the conference room for the next two months for your exclusive use.” With that, she turned to usher them down the hallway.

Carlo Attracelli had been watching her face, and liked the twinkle in her eye which took the sting away from her words. He kept his face impassive as he took in the stunning, if slightly outrageous female now walking away from them. He heard one of his team members chuckle behind him but he didn’t take his eyes off the petite brunette with hair that curled softly all the way down to her tiny waist.

Carlo was amazed as much by her outfit as he was by the woman. She was dressed in a short, flounced, black skirt with a tight red shirt tucked into the waist. Her neck was draped in about ten different sets of necklaces and, Carlo wasn’t positive, but he suspected that he’d seen a white petticoat peak out from underneath her short skirt.

Even though he had kept his eyes on her face while she was introducing herself, he knew her long, sexy legs were encased in black stockings, ending in black patent-leather pumps with three inch heels. The phrase, “legs that never ended” applied to this tiny woman. Even so, her head was only about an inch above his shoulders with those shoes which meant she was about a foot shorter than he was without shoes.

Carlo watched her turn, giving her a few feet lead so he could see her legs again. Sure enough, as she turned, her skirt bounced up slightly and a white, lace petticoat peaked out from underneath her black skirt.

“You’re awfully handsome,” she said as she walked