A Moment on the Lips - By Kate Hardy Page 0,18

market stall—these were seriously posh flowers. The kind you ordered from a florist.

He shrugged. ‘It’s usual to bring your hostess a gift when you’re invited to dinner.’

Mmm, and he wouldn’t be bringing wine, for obvious reasons. Which was probably why he’d gone so over the top with the flowers.

And she loved them.

‘It’s a business meeting,’ she said. Just so he knew she didn’t think this was a date.

He wasn’t a shark in a suit, tonight. He wasn’t dressed as a bad boy, either. He was something in between: black jeans, and a black cashmere sweater that made her itch to stroke it. Except that would lead to stroking his skin, and that would lead to kissing, and that would lead to …

Oh, she really had to stop letting her thoughts run away with her. ‘Come on up,’ she said, and ushered him up to her flat.

At the top of the stairs, she kicked off her shoes. ‘I’ll just put these gorgeous flowers in water.’

He followed her into the kitchen. ‘So how was your homework, Princess?’

So he was back to calling her that again, was he? And she had a pretty good idea why. ‘You’re right, doing all the jobs gave me more of an idea what my staff have to do.’ She gave him a level stare. ‘And, yes, I did clean the toilets.’

He laughed. ‘Good. So you’re not afraid of hard work.’

‘I told you I wasn’t.’ She contented herself with a brief glower at him, and arranged the flowers in a vase. ‘I’ll just put these in the living room. Stay here—we’re eating in here and my notes are in here.’

He looked faintly amused by her attempt at bossing him around, but he sat down at her kitchen table.

‘Coffee?’ she asked when she came back in.

‘It depends if you’re planning to spill it on me.’

She felt her skin heat. ‘Trust you to bring that up. It was an accident. I was nervous.’

‘And you’re not now?’

‘No.’ After what they’d shared together, she wasn’t nervous of him. There were times when he completely flummoxed her, but she wasn’t nervous. He intrigued her. And she wanted to learn from him—as well as take him straight to her bed.

‘Thank you, but I’ll pass on the coffee. So, homework. You know your customers?’

She nodded. ‘They’re mainly families. The most popular flavours are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, in that order—which is pretty much the same as it is in the rest of Europe. And vanilla’s top in the States, too.’ Just so he’d know she was looking at the big picture and was capable of doing her own research. ‘And in my shops, they’re closely followed by hazelnut, coffee, lemon and stracciatella.’

‘I’m impressed. You know your product and you know your customers. So now you need to decide how you grow the business. Either you need to sell more things to your current customer base, or you need to increase your customer base.’

She frowned. ‘Who buys ice cream, apart from families?’

He coughed. ‘I thought I was supposed to be the one who asks the questions? Think about it.’ He shrugged. ‘Or think about where families buy ice cream.’

‘From a gelateria, a stall or a kiosk …’ She thought about it. ‘Actually, one of my friends in London was a wedding planner. She did a summer wedding once with an ice cream cart for the guests, and apparently the kids absolutely loved it.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘London’s a bit far to ship ice cream from Naples.’

‘Very funny. I meant maybe I could offer something to local wedding planners. Maybe we could produce tubs to the bride and groom’s specifications, with their name on it and the date of the wedding or something.’

‘That’s a good thought. Where else do you buy ice cream?’

He pushed her until she’d come up with a list including supermarkets, cinemas, hotels and restaurants. And although he was asking questions, he wasn’t leading her—the ideas were all hers. He knew it, too, because he actually looked pleased. ‘You’re a quick learner and you can think on your feet. That’s going to be good for Tonielli’s.’

His praise warmed her. ‘I’ll research the openings, see where I can do some deals. The local deli, the cinemas …’

She paused. ‘Or a restaurant chain. How about yours? Do you offer ice cream as a dessert?’

‘I do.’

‘Tonielli’s?’

‘Not at the moment.’

‘But that’s what you were planning.’

‘What I planned is irrelevant, because you’re running the business now.’

‘So would you stock my ice cream in your restaurants?’

‘That depends what you offer