Killer Summer by Lynda Curnyn (e book reading free .txt) 📗

chord somewhere in Vince. The feeling, 1 discovered, was addictive. For throughout dinner, I found myself looking for opportunities to see that look in his eyes again, even though doubts still flickered in my mind about Gianna. I hadn’t figured out a way to bring up the topic without seeming like some jealous fool. I wasn’t jealous exactly. I just wanted to know what I was up against.

But by the end of the meal, my confidence was at an all-time high. Especially when the conversation turned to my favorite subject—Edge. Even more so when I discovered Vince and I shared a lot of the same views about how, exactly, Edge should be run. With some differences. Nothing we couldn’t handle, however.

“I keep telling Tom, again and again, that he’s still got to keep quality in mind, even with this younger customer,” Vince said, as he poured the last of the wine into our glasses. “That’s why I’m always advocating making bodies in the better leathers. It’s a question of branding. Yes, we want Edge to be the leading name in young, urban outerwear, but we don’t want it to become synonymous with trendy junk. He’s always ready to downgrade to a lesser skin, usually from one of our Chinese tanneries. But there is nothing like Italian leather.”

At the mention of the tanneries, I saw the opening I had been looking for all night. Choosing my words carefully, I said, “That’s true. But mass-producing in Italian leather can get expensive. In fact, I understand the Lorenzo tannery has just upped their prices.”

He raised an eyebrow. “So you’re keeping up on the pricing now, too, are you?”

“I have to in order to understand what we’re up against in terms of production costs.” I hesitated for a moment, then plunged in. “In fact, I understand someone from the Lorenzo tannery was in town last week. Gianna, I think? I hope you had a chance to meet with her. Maybe work a little of your charm to help keep prices down.” The moment the words were out of my mouth, I held my breath, hoping he wasn’t charming her right into bed.

He smiled. “Don’t worry about the Lorenzos. They’re old friends of mine. Good people. Very fair.”

Fair? As in the fairest of them all? Needing more, I said, “So I guess you did have a chance to meet with Gianna here?”

“Of course,” he said, looking at me in a way that made me wonder if I was being too obvious.

But if he suspected the jealousy that I had, against my will, felt moving through me, he certainly managed to beat down the green monster with his next words. “It was nice to see Gianna. I spent some time with her family when I was in Italy. She’s like a sister to me.”

I slowly let out my breath. Sister, I could handle.“Well, let’s hope sister Gianna remembers who her family is when it comes time to negotiate prices next year. Otherwise, we may have to stick to Chinese tanneries.”

“I think we’ll be fine. If not, we’ll just mark up the price to the customer,” he said with a wink.

“Yeah, and make my job selling it hell.”

“Remember, you’re not a sales rep anymore.”

Smiling I said, “But now I have to take the hit if my reps can’t move the stuff. I’ve got volume projections I’m accountable for. Besides, there’s more to being a sales rep than getting buyers to leave the showroom with a big order for your goods. I’d say seventy-five percent of the battle is knowing what the buyer wants—and having it ready to show him—before he even enters the showroom. When I was managing The Bomb, I made it my business to make sure everything we put on those racks anticipated the latest trends.” I smiled.“Tom probably told you, I used to drive him kinda crazy with the goods we carried from Luxe. I was forever asking him to remerchandise.“ My smile deepened. ”But I think he respected me for that.“

Vince returned the smile.“Clearly he did.” And I could see that by the time the dessert course came, Vince’s respect was growing for me.

By the time we headed back toward Kismet, I was feeling a little more than respect for Vince, which was why I suggested we walk home along the beach. Not only was I looking for a little romance, I was hoping Vince might open up a bit. We had spent so much time talking business, I had learned very little about the man himself.

And I wanted to know more. A lot more.

Once we hit the cool sand, I kicked off my sandals, and Vince followed suit. Breathing deeply, I gazed up at the sky glittering with stars and a pale slice of moon hovering over the crashing waves. Now this was something worth appreciating. And I felt glad, very glad, to finally have someone to appreciate it with.

“So tell me about you,” I said, once we began to walk side by side along the shore.

“What do you want to know?”

I shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. What it was like in the beginning. When you met Tom and started up Luxe.”

“Not a very interesting story,” Vince said. “I was in textiles at the time—running a small shipping operation out of New York. But 1 was looking to branch out. I had been doing a little business with Tom. One day we started talking, and before you know it, we were making plans. Soon enough, we were business partners.” He smiled. “Now we’re practically family. He was the best man at my wedding.”

I absorbed this information. “And you were married for how long?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t prying too much. Yes, I was attracted to this man, but I needed to do a baggage check, didn’t I? Most of the men I dated had barely gotten over their first heartbreak, never mind their first wife.

“Six years,” he replied.“I gave that woman six years and a beautiful little girl, and she walked