Romantic Acquisition Page 0,57

the dynamic man and wondering where he had been all morning. She pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on Ed who was talking about his latest girlfriend.

Their sandwiches arrived and they changed the subject. They were laughing about mutual friends and their latest escapades. Kate had a very relaxing lunch and left feeling refreshed. Heading back to the office, she had a smile on her face and wasn’t moving very quickly.

“Nice lunch?” Carlo asked, stepping in front of her as she passed the conference room.

She jumped and took a step back. “Carlo! Where have you been all morning?”

“Answer my question first,” he demanded. “Did you have a nice lunch?”

Kate sensed a great deal of anger but wasn’t sure why. Was he angry because she left the building for lunch? “Yes, it was very nice.”

“We have work to do,” he snapped and turned back to the conference room. The four of them worked hard, and Kate was pulling reports, recalculating information and reconciling data all afternoon. She’d thought Carlo was a machine before. Now she thought he was a monster.

She was pulling a file out of a cabinet when she stopped for a moment, trying to figure out why he seemed so angry. What happened to the tender lover who had left her with a kiss this morning?

By ten o’clock that night, she was exhausted and angry. Both Jeff and Peter had left hours ago but Carlo had ordered her to stay and finish up some information with him. He’d been snapping orders all afternoon and evening and hadn’t taken a moment to even say please or thank you.

When he asked for another report, she shook her head. “No. I’m leaving,” she said and turned to walk out of the conference room, her frustration with his attitude was too much for her to bear.

“No, you’re not,” he stated, not bothering to even look up from the reports he was reviewing.

“Yes, I am,” she said and turned to leave. She walked into her office and pulled her coat down off the hook from behind her door. When she walked out from behind her door, Carlo was standing there, looking furious. “You’re not going anywhere,” he said and turned to walk out of her office. “Get me the purchase orders for last May and meet me in the conference room.”

Kate fought back the tears that sprung to her eyes. She was just overly tired and she’d missed him all day only to return from a nice lunch with a friend to a monster. She didn’t even bother to respond. She grabbed her purse and pulled on her coat. She wished there was a way to avoid it, but she had to walk past the conference room to reach the elevators. She walked by with her head held high, not even glancing inside.

She made it all the way to the elevators and was just about to press the down button when her wrist was clamped into a vice-like grip. “I told you to get me the reports,” Carlo said with a quiet voice.

She spun around to face him, no longer willing to overlook his rude attitude and obnoxious demands. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you treating me like this? You’re gone all morning without telling me where you were, and then you come back and order me around like I’m some sort of enemy. I’m not taking it anymore. If you need something, go find it yourself. I’m going home.”

“Why are you rushing out? Meeting your old boyfriend again?”

Kate’s mouth dropped open. She was speechless for a long moment but her eyes searched his face and she finally understood his anger. Her whole body relaxed and she took a step closer to him. “Carlo, you didn’t happen to see me and Ed eating lunch a few blocks away this afternoon, did you?”

“Of course I did. If you want to see other people, that’s fine with me but don’t let it interfere with what I have to accomplish,” he said and dropped her hand as if it burned him. He walked quickly away from her and disappeared into the conference room.

He was jealous. Once her initial shock wore off, she followed him. Standing next to him, she put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to get him to look at her. He flinched but didn’t look up.

“Carlo, Ed and I are just friends. I had a nice, relaxing lunch with him but he doesn’t stir anything within me except laughter.”

Carlo stopped writing