Romantic Acquisition Page 0,35
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 finally 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