Romantic Acquisition Page 0,34
liked the sound of that. “Hmm…free clothes, anything I want? What more could a woman ask for?” she said, her eyes alight with anticipation.
Carlo chuckled at her expression. “Perhaps a man in your bed at night to warm you up?” he suggested.
“No, too complicated,” she said but her hand shook as she brought another bite of chicken to her mouth. She had trouble swallowing, her mind too focused on the heat his suggestion generated inside her.
The next nine days were the most grueling she’d ever endured. By the following Saturday afternoon, she had figured out in her mind that Carlo wasn’t a statue, wasn’t really human. He was simply a machine. He could go without meals and sleep and seemed to thrive on work. The more pressure and the more meetings, the better he looked and the more he seemed to accomplish. Kate was astonished at his ability to absorb all the information people discussed with him without taking any notes.
They went through the San Antonio store then flew off to Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco then flew back across the country to the New York City, Hartford, Connecticut and finally the Miami, Florida store.
Initially, she would just grab a simple outfit from each of the stores, complete with underwear and accessories and shoes. But it wasn’t as fun as she’d initially thought it would be. She didn’t have time to find something that was fun and interesting. So she settled for professional and left it at that.
The days followed the same pattern. Carlo started working around six o’clock in the morning and didn’t stop until approximately seven or eight that night, sometimes later if there were things that needed to be resolved, or questions that hadn’t been answered and needed more research. Some nights, they were working until midnight.
The twelve to eighteen hour days were brutal for Kate. On the third day, when she was told by Carlo that they would be moving across the country to the other stores, Kate took several hours to shop for more clothes, but that was her only time off and, unfortunately for her peace of mind, her only time away from Carlo.
They ate all their meals together, talked about the various stores and their individual problems and how they could be fixed or improved. Sometimes they argued, but most of the time, Carlo listened carefully to Kate’s opinion, adding his own thoughts to her ideas.
By the end of the tenth day, the private plane dropped them off at the airport in Washington, D.C. in the early evening. Kate pulled her new luggage out of the plane, not bothering to wait for someone to load it into her car. She was feeling extremely depressed but couldn’t figure out why. She was exhausted, hungry and wanted nothing more than to curl up into her own bed for the night.
Why did she feel like crying then?
She looked back at the airplane and saw Carlo talking with the pilot and she knew her answer.
She wouldn’t be with Carlo tonight or tomorrow since it was Saturday. She was addicted to him, she realized. She had been with him for so long she was now used to his hell for nothing work pace and complete concentration on whatever task he was working through in his mind. She felt more alive with him than she ever had in her life, more challenged professionally and even personally since they argued about politics and personal issues during some of the meals. He made her laugh at the drop of a hat with his quick wit and dry humor. He could also drive her to anger or frustration faster than any man she’d ever known. She hadn’t known she was so opinionated until she’d spent time talking through issues with him for the past week and a half.
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?