A Moment on the Lips(23)
‘And I’m in charge.’
Only because he was letting her—and the expression in her eyes told him she knew it, too. But he was enjoying indulging her. He loved it when she lowered herself over him and began to move. And he seriously adored it when she kissed him hard, demanding a response and getting it.
Once he’d dealt with the condom and come back to her bedroom, he pulled his clothes on again.
‘Don’t tell me you’re planning to go back to work now?’
He shrugged. ‘You know me. Dull, boring businessman.’
She sighed. ‘Dante, don’t you ever give yourself a break?’
He didn’t even need to think about it. ‘No. Stay there; I’ll see myself out. Your homework this week is a SWOT analysis. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. The idea is to turn weaknesses into strengths—’
‘—and threats into opportunities. Got it,’ she finished dryly.
‘Good. See you Saturday. My office, seven thirty. Ciao.’
And he walked out of her bedroom.
Before he could give in to the temptation of her unspoken offer to stay.
CHAPTER SIX
ON THE Monday afternoon, Carenza came back to her office with a pile of notes following a trip to a competitor’s gelateria, to discover a book smack in the middle of her desk, with a note stuck to it. More homework: analyse your sales for the last five years. What are the trends and why? Split it by outlet. Dante. His handwriting was bold and spiky and confident, like the man himself. And she was so disappointed to realise that she’d missed him.
Ha. How pathetic was she? For all she knew, he could’ve sent the book over by courier.
She emailed him swiftly.
Thank you for the book. All homework in progress.
Though first she needed to get the sales figures. Broken down by outlet.
That was when she discovered that her grandfather didn’t have everything on a computer spreadsheet, the way Amy always had at the gallery. Everything was in paper format only. Which left her with no choice; she was going to have to talk to Emilio Mancuso and ask him for the information.
He frowned when she called in to see him and made her request. ‘Why do you want to see the last five years’ figures?’
‘So I can see the trends.’
He shrugged. ‘There’s no need. I’ve looked after things for your grandfather for the last five years.’ He paused, and gave her a significant look. ‘Since he had his heart problems.’
Heart problems? What heart problems? Why didn’t she know anything about this? Though the last thing she wanted was for Mancuso to think that she’d been kept in the dark, so she kept her worries under wraps. She’d talk to her grandmother about this later.
‘I know sales have been down, but there’s really nothing to worry about. It’s just the recession, and everyone’s in the same boat.’ He gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about it, carissima.’
Darling? She wasn’t his darling. And he’d just used the phrase that always made her see red. Her pretty little head, indeed. Why wouldn’t men take her seriously? Was she going to have to dress in frumpy clothes, stop wearing make-up, dye her hair mouse-brown and scrape it back into a bun, and don a pair of thick glasses before anyone would notice that she did actually have a brain?
And why wouldn’t he just give her the figures and let her see them for herself? ‘Nonno’s put me in charge, and I can’t do my job unless I have all the facts,’ she said, more rudely than she’d intended, but his attitude infuriated her. ‘I can see you’re busy, Signor Mancuso, and I’d hate to disturb you unnecessarily. Just tell me where the paperwork is and I’ll find it for myself.’
He went a dull red. ‘I already told you. You don’t need to do this.’
Another refusal. Did he have something to hide? She narrowed her eyes at him. ‘If it’s a problem for you, I could always ask Nonno.’ And she had some other questions to ask her grandparents, too. Such as why they hadn’t breathed a word about her grandfather’s heart problems.
Tight-lipped, he took her through to a dusty-looking office, rummaged on a shelf and handed her several books.
‘I hope you don’t mind me taking these back to my own office.’ Before he had a chance to say he did mind, she added, ‘Of course, I’ll take great care of them. And I’ll return them personally when I’ve finished.’ And she called a taxi to take her back to her office; no way was she going to ask him to help her get the books back to her place.