Romantic Acquisition Page 0,4

shoulders. The man looked like a body builder!

Kate snapped her mouth closed and forced herself to stop staring at the man.

He was talking on a cell phone but she didn’t understand anything he was saying. He wasn’t talking in a foreign language, but the numbers and references were so foreign to her, she couldn’t decipher his words.

Who was she kidding? She couldn’t understand him because her blood was humming in her ears after he’d gotten so close to her. And she’d seen those magnificent shoulders. “Wow”, she thought again.

Looking up, she noticed all three men were staring at her again. She’d done it again! “E-mail message,” she said quickly as an explanation for her outburst. Obviously she had spoken her thoughts out loud once more. She really needed to stop doing that. The man wasn’t that gorgeous, she told herself but she didn’t look up at him again to confirm that opinion, knowing he was still looking at her after her previous outburst.

Kate forced him out of her mind. Peter was asking her a question about how to read some receiving reports and she concentrated on explaining the procedures and how the items were checked into the various stores. She pulled up the posting application and compared the various lines on the report to the numbers on the screen and explained the checks and balances the store had instituted years ago to guard against employee theft.

The day went by quickly and Kate spent almost all her time answering questions. She knew a great deal but when she didn’t, she knew who to call to get the information. By seven o’clock that evening, Jeff and Peter were pulling on their jackets and thanking her for her help that day.

As soon as they left, Kate looked down at the other end of the conference table. “Are you going to continue working?” she asked Carlo. She had been exhausted but after Peter and Jeff left, her body had become wide awake, knowing that she was alone with Carlo and his extra broad shoulders.

“Yes, but you don’t need to stay. You’re kids probably needed you home a long time ago,” he said, not even looking up from his reports.

“Oh, don’t worry. I don’t have any kids.”

Carlo looked up and stared at her intently. “What about your husband?”

“Nope,” she said and shrugged her shoulders. She prayed he wouldn’t ask if she had a significant other. She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t dating anyone. He probably had several women waiting at his beck and call.

“Well, thanks for your help. Will you still be available tomorrow?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said and smiled as she stood up, stretching her arms and yawning. “How much longer are you going to work?” she asked, unplugging her computer but noting where the various plugs went in so she could replicate the process tomorrow.

“I’m wrapping things up,” he said but kept his eyes on the papers.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you in the morning,” she said and closed down her computer.

Kate walked out, feeling his eyes on her back the entire time. She was self-conscious for some reason.

Carlo watched her leave, liking the way her hips swayed gently, giving him teasing glimpses of her petticoat with each step. She was a fascinating combination of a sassy and outrageous, brilliant and intuitive. The knowledge that she was not married was going to make the next two months difficult. As soon as the due diligence was over, he knew he was going to ask her out for dinner.

It was going to be a long two months, he thought as she disappeared into an office a few doors down the hallway.

The next morning was about the same as the day before except that Kate didn’t have to escort the three men to the conference room. They were already there when she walked in at seven thirty that morning. She was a little disappointed since she had been hoping to get a few other things done prior to meeting with them. She wasn’t usually in this early in the morning.

But since the three of them were already hunkering down in their files, she slipped into her seat and started her computer, proud that she remembered where the plugs went today.

Kate sighed as she logged into her e-mail. She had over one hundred messages.

“Excuse me,” Peter said, looking at Kate. “Can you explain how this report takes in the data?”

Kate smiled and hopped up without hesitation, coming around the conference table to look at the report