Romantic Acquisition (7 page)

The worst part came w
hen her period was late that month
.  As soon as she’d suspected that there might be consequences to their one night together
, she
’d
approached him and warned him of the possibility of a pregnancy. 

Kate would never forget that moment.
  She told him that her period was late and he’d immediately exploded in a rage, telling her that she’d have to get rid of the baby.  He’d gone on to shout that if she didn’t abort the child, he’d have nothing to do with it. 

Kate had gone white at his rage but
something inside her shriveled and died that day as he spoke his venomous
words. 
That afternoon had been a turning point in her life.  Kate remembered standing in the man’s apartment and shivering with the realization that she’d
made the same mistake her mother had made, trusting in a man who she didn’t really know. 
Kate had
stumbled out of the man’s apartment that afternoon and gone home.  Luckily, her monthly cycle had started later that day but the fury in the man’s eyes had
never
left her. 

Since then, she’d never taken
that kind of a
chance again.  She’d never
been willing to experiment
with a sexual relationship
after that
, not able to find a man who made her feel anything more than mild pleasure when he kissed her and definitely no one she wanted to worry about a possible pregnancy situation again. 

Kate knew that she made friends with her boyfriends instead of risking a physical relationship with them because of her fear of a repetition of that scene. 

Unfortunately, she found herself staring at Carlo
occasionally when no one else was looking.  She wondered
what it would be like to experience a kiss with him.  Were his lips as hard as they appeared, she wondered?  Or would they be soft, gentle? 

Kate was staring at him
one afternoon about three
and a half
weeks after Carlo’s team had taken over the conference room.  H
er finger
was
rubbing her lips as her imagination took control.  It was a long time before her eyes focused and she realized that Carlo was staring right back at her! 

She snapped her attention back to her computer, hoping her face didn’t look as hot as it felt. 

Jeff and Peter had gone through their previous reports and were now asking other questions which she had to research to get the answers.  She was also pulling previous accounting reports for them to review, tax reports and purchasing files.   Kate was amazed at the level of detail they wanted to get into but since she’d never been through this kind of operation
.
H
aving worked for Jamison
’
s since she was a teenager, she wasn’t sure what to expect.

It was almost
eight o’clock
before Jeff and Peter left.  Kate hadn’t seen them leave since she was busy dealing with some purchasing issues that came up and Matt had ignored.  When she finally cleaned those up, she came back to the conference room to find Carlo sitting back in his chair reviewing a report.

“Ah…Do you need anything else?” Kate asked, wanting to leave.  She was worried about being alone with him. 

Carlo put down his report and eyed her across the table.  “Why so wary?”

Kate tried to relax.  “I’m not,” she lied. 

Carlo ignored her obvious lie and shook his head.  “I don’t need any other reports tonight.  Thanks for your help,” he said.

Kate picked up her purse and rushed out of the room.  “I’ll see you tomorrow then,” she said and
wave
d to him behind her.

Kate made her way to her car and jumped in.  Turning the key in the ignition, she was eager to get home and relax.  It had been a difficult day.  But nothing happened
when she turned the key
. 

“Oh no!” she
groaned
.  She looked at her gauges and none of them moved when she turned the key.

She noticed her headlight switch at that point.  “No!  Please tell me I didn’t forget to turn off my lights this morning,” she said to the dashboard.

Obviously it didn’t reply but she was able to push the button and it moved to the ‘off’ position.  “Shoot!” she said and opened her car door again. 

“Car trouble?” a deep voice said from behind her. 

Kate jumped and turned around to face
Carlo
.

“No.  Nothing’s wrong,” she said
immediately as Carlo stopped a foot away from her. 

“Forget something?” he asked.

Kate latched onto that excuse.  “Yes.  I forgot my purse,” she said, it was the first thing that came to mind.

Carlo looked past her and raised his eyebrow.  “Isn’t that it sitting on your passenger seat?”

Kate sighed.  “Yes.”

“What’s wrong, Kate?” he asked, putting his hands into his pockets.

Defeated, she admitted her problem.  “I left my lights on this morning.  Now my battery is dead.”

Carlo nodded.  “Do you have jumper cables?”

She shook her head.  “No.  I have a car service though.  I’ll call them and wait for them to jump the car.’

Carlo shook his head.  “I’m not letting you stay here alone tonight.”  He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.  “Hey, Jim.  I have a dead battery.  Can you come over and fix it?”  He listened for a moment and nodded his head.  “We’ll leave the address in the passenger seat.  Thanks for your help.”

He hung up the phone and pulled out a card.  “I’ll drive you home.  Write your address down on this and someone will deliver it to you once the battery is replaced.”

“There’s no need…”

“Yes there is.  Write,” he said firmly.

Kate took out a pen from her purse and wrote down her address.  She left the card in the passenger seat, then turned to speak to him again. 

“Come on, I’ll drive you home.”

“You don’t need
to drive me home, I’ll get a cab
.”

“Now what would my mother say if I left a lady stranded on the side of the road?”

Kate laughed at his serious expression.  “You told me
the other night that
your parents passed away
several years ago
.”

“She’d still be furious with me.  Come on,” he said and put a hand in the small of her back.  “I’m driving you home.”

Kate hesitated but the firm hand only pushed her gently along.  Before she knew it, Carlo was tucking her into his car and they were driving away. 

At the
exit
of the parking lot, he turned to her, silently asking her which way to go.  Kate gave him directions and within fifteen minutes, they were pulling up outside her small house.  It was completely dark which wasn’t unusual.  She usually drove into the garage which had an automatic light. 

“I’ll walk you to the door,”
he said and got out of the car.
  He walked around to the passenger side and held her door for her. 

She stepped out of the car and he closed it behind her. 
“Carlo, rea
lly there’s no need to do this,” she said, terrified of being alone with him more than of a burglar inside her home.   She wasn’t sure which was more dangerous. 

He ignored her and walked in front of her to the darkened front door.  When they reached the porch, he waited for her to find her key.  “Thank you for the ride,” she said, digging through her purse and finally locating her keys.  Her fingers were shaking and she dropped them three times before he took them out of her hands.

“Do I make you nervous?” he asked as he opened the door. 

Kate shook her head. 

Carlo chuckled.  “You’re not a very good liar, Kate.”

She smiled slightly.  “Your mother should have told you a gentle
man doesn’t call a lady a liar.”

“I believe she did,” he laughed.  “Why do I make you nervous?”

She shrugged her shoulders. 

He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her so that she was facing him. 
“W
e’re going to be lovers, Kate,” he said softly. 

Kate’s gasp almost choked her.  “What?”

He wouldn’t let her step back from him. 
“Admit it Kate, you’re just as attracted to me as I am to you,” he said
, his voice husky in the dim light
.

She shook her head, denying what he was saying. 
“No.  You’ve never given me any indication that you’re interested
in me
.”

He took a step closer to her and smiled.  She could barely see the smile in the light but she could feel it somehow. 
“Ah, but I have.  You just don’t know me well enough.  But I’ll give you time.”

She took a step back.  “No, that’s not a good idea,” she said.
  Kate didn’t think he would be the kind of man who would accept a friendship with her.  Carlo definitely needed to be kept at arms length. 

“I can see your heartbeat on
your neck,” he said and touched the spot that was beating frantically.  “
Don’t be nervous.  I won’t bite,” he said.  “At least not where you’ll mind,” he replied, leaning closer.

“Carlo, you’ve only known me for
a little over
three
weeks
and now you
’
r
e
telling me we’re going to be lovers.”

“I know.  Odd isn’t it?”

She nodded her head, her hair dancing along his hands where he was still holding her shoulders. 
“It’s crazy.”

He didn’t like the nervousness in her eyes.  But he knew he could get past that eventually. 
“Not crazy.  Just odd.”

She shook her head.  He nodded. 

“I’m going to kiss you,” he warned.

“Don’t say that,” she
whispered
and put her hands on his chest
to push him away
as he leaned forward.  That was a mistake.  As soon as her hands touched him, she was instantly fascinated by the feel of his muscles
flexing
under her fingertips.  Her breath caught in her throat and her face turned up to his
like a flower to sunshine
.  She wanted the kiss now.  She was aching for it.  She felt like she’d been waiting for it ever since she’d first met him in the lobby of the office
over three weeks ago
. 

The first touch of his lips against hers made her gasp.  His lips weren’t stone after
all.   They were definitely firm, but very persuas
ive.  His lips moved over hers slowly, persistently, telling her to open her mouth.  The moment she complied with his unspoken request, his tongue entered and the kiss escalated. 

The passion soared, Kate’s mind was already blank but it was unable to stop him or to understand that this was too dangerous to continue.  His mouth moved over her lips and her hands gripped his lapels, holding onto the only solid force in her world. 

The kiss ended abruptly but he didn’t move away from her.  He couldn’t
,
of course
,
because she was still holding him, unable to stand on her own feet since her head was still spinning.