Romantic Acquisition (5 page)

Carlo nodded his understanding and let that subject drop.  He was interested in a statement she made a few minutes ago and the fact that she had avoided answering his question about her father’s
current status in her life
. 
“What about your father?  You didn’t answer my question earlier.”

Kate shrugged her shoulders
and took a sip of her martini, looking off at the other guests in the restaurant.  “I don’t remember him,
”
was all she would say. 

Again, he was going to be a bore and not give in to her evasiveness.  He got the message but was too curious. 
“What do you mean?  Where did he go?  Did he die?”

Kate smiled but it was humorless. 
“Oh no, nothing so dramatic as that.  He just decided one day that he didn’t like being a father or a husband and he went away.  We never heard from him again.” 

Carlo knew she was trying to hide her feelings, but a small amount of pain still came through in her voice and the way
her eyes
avoided focusing on any particular thing while she talked about her father.

“How old were you at the time?”
he asked quietly. 

“
Four
years old.”
  She didn’t elaborate. 

“What do you do when you aren’t working?” Carlo asked, changing the subject.
  He could tell t
hat it was a
very painful subject for her.  He wanted to know more, but she obviously didn’t want to discuss it and he didn’t want to push her. 
He decided to come back to that subject later.   He already knew that he was going to have several of these kinds of conversations with this woman.  He was too fascinated and wanted to get to know her. 

Kate was ea
g
er to talk about something less emotionally charged.  Her eyes lit up again and she leaned forward in her seat. 
“Oh, different things.  I shop at other stores, see what they’re selling
, compare prices and quality
.” She laughed, “But I usually find the more interesting items
to sell at Jamison’s from my
own
sources
so it is just a self-serving mission when I shop.”

“How so?”
He liked the way her eyes revealed whatever she was feeling. 

“I like to know if I’ve gotten the best deals or the best clothes.  Jamison’s is known for quality and originality.  We cater to the business woman, but also to the individual.”

“
How
did you come up with that niche idea?”
he asked. 

The fork froze midway to her mouth.  “How did you know it was my idea?”

He smiled at her surprised expression. 
“I researched the trends, cross referenced when you became the buyer and figured it out.”
  He winked at her from across the table.  “I can be a very resourceful fellow.”

Kate laughed, liking the laughter in his eyes even though he didn’t actually laugh out loud.  “Okay, so it was my idea. 
I had a hard time convincing David to let me go in that direction.  He wanted to stay with the same old boring lines, the traditional career designers.  I had to argue for over a year just to do a trial of my idea. 
It has worked though. 
Jamison’s has become known for their original career clothing and great quality. 
I just wish David would adopt my pricing strategy.
”  She almost rolled her eyes but restrained herself before continuing.  “
We could increase the volume if he’d just lower the price point.  The volume would take care of his precious margins.”

Kate shook her head as if to get the bad thoughts out.  “What do you do when you’re not working?”
she shot back at him. 

“I play tennis and golf,” he replied.

Kate smiled at his cryptic reply. 
“Of course, what else?”

“Why of course?”
he asked. 

“You just look like the type that likes to play golf.”

Carlo wasn’t going to let her get away without explaining her comment. 
“What’s my ‘type’?”

She eyed him carefully, daring to look up at his face with it’s five o’clock shadow, his sharp, intelligent eyes.  She wouldn’t let her eyes drop below his chin.  She didn’t want to think about his incredibly gorgeous body.  “Rich, driven,” she finally said.  “
Hard and tough on both yourself and your staff. 
You probably haven’t played golf in over a month, have you?”

He didn
’t
bother to answer but the look on his face told her she was right on target.  “What else?” he asked.

“Oh, I don’t know much more.  You’re a very serious person.  Probably an only child?”

Carlo
threw back his head and laughed, shaking his head at how far off the mark she was. 

“Older brother?” Kate guessed.
  She was a little rattled by how wonderful his laugh sounded to her ears.  It wasn’t even a rusty laugh which meant he laughed often, just not in business situations, she supposed. 
She felt thrilled to have initiated his laughter although she wasn’t sure what the joke was. 

“I’m
one of
the youngest, I’ll give you that.”

Kate was instantly intrigued. 
“Uh oh.  You must have more than one older brother.  Lucky you!”

Carlo laughed
again
at that.  “Why am I lucky?”

“First of all, tell me how many brothers you have.”

“
I have one older sister who died several years ago plus f
our older brothers and one younger sister.”

Kate sighed and her shoulders drooped slightly.  “Oh, t
hat must have been a lot of fun,” she sighed.  “
What was it like living with so many siblings?
  Was it absolutely wonderful?  Did you all play together and have lots of fun?
”

Carlo shook his head.  “
You definitely have the wrong idea of what it is like living in a large family.  Having siblings is not always fun
.  Especially being the youngest boy.  I only had one sister to pick on
and she was too little to tease for a long time
.  The rest picked on me until I was able to fight back.”

“But you all shared toys didn’t you?  It must have been loads of fun,” she sighed, wishing she could have experienced siblings.

“It didn’t matter how many toys we had.  Everyone wanted what the other was holding, especially me.  And since I was the smallest for a long time, most of my toys got ripped out of my hands.  Until I learned to fight back, that is,” he explained. 

“Is that why you’re so muscular?  Because you had to fight all your older brothers?”

Carlo raised an eyebrow at her observation which instantly made Kate’s cheeks flame yet again.  Carlo laughed at her shy expression.  “I guess it was a type of competition among the five of us.  We’re all pretty big.  I like working out but so do all my other brothers.  It wasn’t really about toys though.”

Kate almost giggled in delight.  “What were Christmas’s like?  Did you have lots of presents and lots of fights?  I can imagine all the toys six kids had.  It must have been heaven
with wrapping paper flying everywhere and lots of food and candy
.”

Carlo nodded. “Christmas was fun if a little hairy.  I had to learn to hide my toys or lose them.  Michael was always trying to take electronic toys apart until he discovered computers.  That was our saving grace.
  It still is.  I have nine nieces and nephews with another one on the way.  With that many kids in one house, you cannot imagine the noise and chaos,
”
he laughed, shaking his head. 

“But you love it?” she asked, knowing from the way he was smiling that he did.

“Yeah, they are all a lot of fun.”

They talked until almost
midnight
before Kate looked at her watch.  “Oh no!  It’s so late.  I really need to get home.  I have an early start with three demanding
soon-to-be
co-workers,” she said, smiling at Carlo.

Carlo
chuckled
and
quickly
threw some bills on the table to cover the check.  “I’ll take you home.”
  He stood up and came around the table to pull out her chair. 

Kate was again flustered by his nearness.  Also, she wasn’t used to men treating her like a
lady
.  Usually, she had to run to catch up to her dates once they left the table. 

She was so nervous she almost dropped her purse as she stood up. 
“No, I need to get my car back at the office,” she said and rushed on ahead of him to the restaurant exit.

After all their talking in the restaurant, Kate couldn’t think of anything to say on the short drive back to the store headquarters. 
She was too conscious of the man’s thigh right near her own.  She kept thinking about the idea of moving her hand slightly, finding out if his leg was really as muscular as it appeared.  She told herself it was only curiosity and nothing else.  She’d think the same thoughts of any statue in a museum that was chiseled so perfectly. 

Her car was the only one left in the parking lot and she knew she’d be ribbed about the fact
when she arrived at work the following morning
.
  There weren’t many secrets in this office.
  Thankfully, they wouldn’t know who she’d left with.
  She didn’t want to imagine David’s fury if he knew she’d been to dinner with Carlo and they talked about family and personal things all evening. 

As soon as Carlo’s car stopped, Kate jumped out.  She bent over and smiled, “Thanks for dinner.  It was wonderful.  I’ll see you tomorrow,” and she slammed the door before he could say anything else.  Kate jumped into her tiny Mazda Miata and drove off, afraid to look back at the handsome man sitting quietly in the car behind her.