The Delicious De Campos. Дженнифер Хейворд

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СКАЧАТЬ was necessary, picked up his father’s paper and waved it in the air. “Looks like most of you have seen the paper this morning?”

      Matty’s mouth dropped open. Gabe looked fascinated. All the other extremely senior heads of their corporations sat there silently and stared at him. He shifted his gaze to Phil Bedford, the portly CEO of a consumer packaged goods company pushing fifty.

      “Harry Taylor wants to date my wife. I don’t consider that a valid proposition since she is still my wife. So I acted on it.” He threw the paper down on the table like the trash it was and eyed the room. “If anyone would like to crucify me with this please do so now, so we can get on with business.”

      Phil Bedford stared down at his coffee. Chase Kenyon doodled on his notepad.

      “Fine.” Riccardo looked at Antonio. “All yours.”

      He could have sworn his father was holding back laughter as he got to his feet and opened the meeting. Antonio gave a holistic presentation on how the De Campo Group was performing worldwide, every bit the elegant global wine baron as he talked through the slides in his thick accent, then turned the meeting over to Riccardo for an update on the restaurant business.

      Riccardo opened with an overview of the division’s strong growth prospects, then ran through a presentation on the new jewel in the De Campo restaurant crown—Zambia, the SoHo restaurant set to open in six months. He saw the lights go on in the board members’ eyes as he spoke of the twelve percent overall profit increase the restaurant division would bring in, and knew he’d driven home his message of where the future was for De Campo.

      He sat down, his jaw clenched with satisfaction. He had nailed it.

      Gabe stood to give an update on the California operations. Another board member gave a presentation on how lessons learned from the packaged goods industry could be applied to wine. Then they broke for lunch.

      Antonio followed him into his office. “Buon lavoro, figlio.”

      Good job, son.

      Caught off-guard by the compliment, he warily inclined his head. “Grazie.”

      “You keep this up and I might just throw my weight behind you.”

      He froze. The son-of-a-bitch. Even after the results he’d just presented Antonio was still stringing him along.

      He dragged in a breath and let it out slowly. “I will be single-handedly responsible for that twelve percent profit you just gloated over. You start putting recognition where it’s due or so, help me God, I will leave this company and not look back.”

      His father set his chin at that haughty angle he favored. “A De Campo would never utter those words.”

      “This one just did.” Riccardo jammed his hands in his pockets and paced to the window. “Just out of curiosity, how long do you intend to make me pay?”

      Antonio narrowed his gaze on him. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

      “I know that’s what you’re doing.”

      “Maybe I think Gabe would do a better job.”

      He stiffened, white-hot rage slicing through him. “We are not Cain and Abel, with you playing God, Antonio. I will not compete with my brother. Make a decision, but do not try and drive a wedge between us. Neither of us will tolerate it.”

      His father shrugged his broad shoulders. “Some think Gabe has the true love for this business. He’s aggressive, with just the right amount of conservatism.”

      “Then why didn’t you choose him to run the company while you were ill? You had the opportunity.”

      Antonio met his combative stare with one of his own. “Because, despite the fact that you dishonored this family by choosing a racing career over your heritage, you have the heart of a lion, Riccardo. You have the vision to take this company where it needs to go.”

      “So does Gabe.”

      His father shook his head. “Not like you. You have the ability to be brutal. To make the decisions no one else wants to make.”

      “Then do it,” Riccardo gritted out. “Because I’m not waiting much longer. I’ve sacrificed too much.”

      Antonio pointed a beefy finger at him. “How long have I been waiting to hear you say that?”

      Riccardo frowned. “What?”

      “Sacrifice. You view De Campo as a sacrifice. As an impediment to your personal freedom. Not as the majestic birthright that’s been handed to you.”

      “I love this company. I have killed myself for this company. I do not view it as a sacrifice. But I have sacrificed for it.” He trained his gaze on his father. “As you did.”

      “Prove it.” His father flicked his hand in the air in a dismissive motion. “I’m retiring in three months. The job is yours to lose.”

      * * *

      “You might just kill me one of these days.”

      The big, burly football player wiped the sweat from his face and stepped off the treadmill. Lilly smiled and made a note of the time in her chart. What would normally have been a walk-in-the-park run for Trent Goodman had been a one-mile endurance test on a knee that had a whole lot of healing ahead before he stepped back on a football field.

      “Admit it—you like coming to see me.”

      “Are you kidding?” He dropped the towel in his bag and slung it over his shoulder. “It’s the highlight of my week. The pain I can take, when I’m getting the inside scoop on all the gossip. You get more press than I do—and frankly,” he admitted sheepishly, “that’s not a good thing.”

      Lilly laughed. “Believe me—I’d happily pass it along if I could.”

      “I bet you would.” He grinned. “That photo of your husband tangling with the doctor? Priceless.”

      Maybe somewhat less than priceless. She was now back as a fixture in all the gossip rags. She’d spent the weekend fuming at Riccardo’s caveman tactics. Both with Harry and in the bedroom.

      “He has his moments,” she murmured, looking back at the clipboard. “Same time tomorrow?”

      He nodded and blew her a kiss. She smiled and watched him leave. Muscular, gorgeous, charming and making millions...Trent would have had most women on their knees with his overt flirtatiousness. Lilly, however, was fixated on her own brutish male.

      What in the world had gotten into her? She’d nearly toppled. Slept with him and done something she’d have sorely regretted. All because she still couldn’t keep her hands to herself when it came to Riccardo.

      She twirled a chunk of hair around her finger. They had exchanged a total of about a hundred words since that scene in the bedroom. If he was in the kitchen when she came down, she took her coffee onto the patio. If she came down first, he went and watched the news in his study.

      It couldn’t go on like this.

      Unresolved СКАЧАТЬ