Romantic Acquisition Page 0,61

isn’t all that bad. I just had a hard time getting rid of the headache from yesterday. I’m going to try and sleep it off. I’ll be better later today.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“I’m sure. Thanks for checking on me,” she said and hung up the phone.

She wanted to go to him, ask him point blank why he didn’t want to have children. But she knew that some men just didn’t want the hassle. She had to adapt to that.

Kate went back to sleep and didn’t wake up until six o’clock that evening. It was knocking on her door that woke her up and she dragged herself out of bed to answer it.

“You didn’t come into the office,” Carlo said, his voice sounding angry.

“Carlo!” she said, pulling her sweatshirt down lower over her legs. She was only wearing underwear, thick white socks and a sweatshirt, not bothering with anything else, not caring what she looked like.

“You look like hell. Tell me what’s wrong,” he demanded and walked past her into her family room. He dumped a bag of medicine on her coffee table. It included everything from aspirin to diarrhea medicine. He’d even brought a pint of chocolate ice cream.

Kate laughed at his assortment of elixirs. “You came prepared, didn’t you?” warmed beyond words by his concern.

“I like to know I can fix whatever is wrong,” he said and put his hands on her waist. “Talk to me. Tell me what is wrong…please,” he said, asking instead of demanding this time.

“Nothing anymore. I feel much better. I think I just needed some sleep,” she said and stood on tiptoe to kiss his chin, the only thing she could reach because of his height.

He bent down and kissed her properly. “Am I intruding?”

“Only if you take the chocolate chip ice cream away,” she said and slipped out of his arms to get two spoons.

“Have you had anything else to eat?”

Kate thought back. “Not since yesterday’s lunch.”

“How about Chinese?” he asked.

“Sure thing,” she replied, crossing her legs on the sofa as she dove into the chocolate ice cream.

Carlo chuckled at her expression of ecstasy. “I’m glad you’re easy to please. You had me worried for a while last night.”

Kate just smiled broadly at him and took another spoonful of ice cream.

Carlo picked up the phone and ordered Chinese, already knowing what she liked since they’d ordered it a few times when they were at his house. They ate ice cream and Chinese, made love then held each other again that night.

Chapter 6

Kate smiled as Carlo left the next morning. She stretched and wriggled deeper under the covers. She felt wonderful. She hadn’t been this happy ever in her life. She ignored the small voice in the back of her head that reminded her that things were not perfect. She didn’t care that they weren’t perfect. They were better than they had ever been, that was better than most people get.

Kate walked into a coffee shop a few hours later. She’d overslept after Carlo had left so she hadn’t been able to make a pot of coffee. She knew she should just settle for the office coffee, but she wanted to splurge and get a gourmet cup of coffee with lots of cream and sugar.

Kate stood patiently in line, listening to the conversations of the other people around her. There was a teenager with her mom in front of her who was complaining about the recent punishment imposed upon her for a tardy night’s arrival. Kate smiled, remembering when her mother had grounded her for staying out too late. It was one of the worst weeks of her life. She hadn’t been able to shop for seven whole days and, at that time, it had just about destroyed her.

There were two ladies behind her who were talking about their stock portfolio. Kate wasn’t really interested in that conversation but as they talked, something caught her attention.

“Yeah, the guy I had drinks with last night told me I should look at investing in Jamison’s,” one lady said. “He was pretty cute in a yuppie kind of way. I hope he calls me again. I think we really hit it off.”

“Isn’t that the department store chain just a few blocks away?” the second one asked.

“Yeah, according to this guy, there’s something happening with their stock that will be good long term.”

“I didn’t think they were doing well. Hasn’t their stock been going downhill over the past few years? Did he say what was happening that