Loving the CEO (bundle of five romance novels)

by Noelle Adams

  “They’re a wonderful family, aren’t they?” she asked.

  Wanting more of an explanation than his mother was willing to give, Adam couldn’t help but be annoyed. “Yeah, sure, they’re great. You’re not the one they were giving the evil eye to all night. That doesn’t seem so wonderful to me.”

  “You had it coming. You hurt Cassie and in turn they wanted to hurt you because of it. They stick together. You have to respect that.”

  “Respect what?”

  “Their loyalty.”

  “Whatever,” he mumbled and looked into the house to see Lauren and Matt heading for the kitchen and Katie not far behind them. “I guess we should head in.” Nodding, Bev waited as Adam opened the door for her and went inside.

  On the way to the kitchen, Adam couldn’t help but look around to see where Cassie had gone to. He found the rest of the family setting dessert plates on the table and pouring coffee but no signs of Cassie. With a sigh of frustration, he sat down in the same chair he’d used during dinner. Lauren slammed a plate down in front of him and sat down across from him. And glared.

  “At least you apologized,” she said with a sour look and waited for Adam to respond.

  “I know when to admit I’m wrong,” there was confidence in his words but one look at Lauren showed him that she wasn’t buying it.

  Without appearing to care, Adam looked around to see if Cassie was going to join them or if there was any clue as to where she was. Conversation kicked up around him while dessert was served and within moments he got caught up in listening to his mother and Stephen’s story of how they met.

  Rolling his eyes would have been completely inappropriate, so would checking his watch; there was no choice but to sit back and listen to Bev and Stephen take turns talking about their awkward blind date that they had been set upon by friends. Bev’s eyes shown bright as she talked about the point where they knew they were in love.

  It didn’t take long to see where this all was going. Shifting in his seat, Adam could only pray that his instincts were wrong. He wasn’t used to his mother dating as it was; she used to date quite often when he was younger but after one particularly nasty situation, she’d stopped. It had been easily ten years since she’d been serious with anyone.

  “I know that this might be something of a shock to all of you,” Stephen was saying when Adam tuned back in, “but I’ve asked Bev to marry me.”

  The room erupted in congratulations to the point that baby Ella was startled and started to cry. Katie rushed over to pick up her daughter and soothed her as she went over to hug her father. Adam stood back and observed before offering his own reserved congratulations to their parents.

  “Thank you, Adam,” Stephen said as he shook his hand. “I know we all got off to a rocky start this evening but it seems like you and Cassie have managed to work things out and we’re not the type to hold grudges around here. I want you to know that your mother means the world to me.” To reinforce his point, he put an arm around his fiancé and pulled her close before kissing her.

  Bev absolutely beamed and Adam could not deny that his mother believed herself to be in love. But why did it have to be with the patriarch of this particular family? How was he supposed to keep his promise to himself to fire Cassie as his event planner and coordinator after the Fall Retreat when they were practically family?

  By the time dessert was finished and he and Bev were getting ready to leave, he still didn’t have the answer as to what to do about Cassie, nor had she returned to the festivities. As much as he tried to tell himself that he wasn’t concerned or didn’t care about her, he couldn’t deny being curious.

  Once he was in the car with Bev and heading back to her house, Adam knew that he couldn’t wait any longer to know what was going on. “Okay,” he began cautiously. “I know that you said that Cassie had some mystery ‘condition’ but seriously, what’s wrong with her? Does this secret ailment have a name?”

  With a sigh of defeat, Bev answered. “You know, Adam, sometimes I wish you’d learn to just leave some things alone. Some things don’t need to be discussed.”

  “Mom…”

  “Cassie has Endometriosis; it’s a gynecological problem. It’s very painful when it flares up. Apparently that’s what happened tonight. According to Stephen it doesn’t happen often but when it does, she has a rough time of it.” She tsked with pity. “Poor girl.”

  “So why doesn’t she just do something about it?”

  “Gee, it’s no wonder you’re the CEO of a big corporation. I wonder why Cassie hasn’t thought of that. ‘Do something’! Why don’t I call her right now and tell her that you’ve solved yet another of the world’s problems!”

  “Sarcasm doesn’t suit you, mother,” he said wearily. “I’m not trying to make light of this, I’m just saying that maybe there’s something that can be done to help her, that’s all.”

  Bev turned and looked at her son. He always did want to solve all of the world’s problems. It was an admirable quality and he had a hard time when things were beyond his control. “She’s taken medication, she’s done everything the doctor’s have said; the next option is surgery and she doesn’t want that.”

  “Why not?”

  She looked at her son with disbelief. “Not everyone is excited about getting cut open, you know.”

  “But if it would cure this problem…”

  “There is no real cure for this. It’s manageable but not curable. Even with the surgery, there is the very real possibility that it will return. She’s learned to live with it and has these occasional setbacks. She’s lucky that she wasn’t out at an event or anything and could just be comforted by her family.”

  Adam made a non-committal sound and continued to drive. He didn’t want to talk about Cassie any more. He’d had enough of Cassandra Jacobs for one day. He was just about to broach the subject of the engagement when his mother spoke again.

  “You know I don’t like to pry in to your business, dear, but I have to tell you I was more than a little embarrassed when I heard about your behavior today.”

  So much for not talking about Cassie any more.

  “It’s none of your business…”

  “I know, I know,” she said, placating him. “It’s just that I can’t imagine you being so hard on anyone, especially a woman.”

  Adam rolled his eyes at his mother’s naïveté. “Mother, please,” he began. “Cassie is a business woman; she doesn’t expect preferential treatment and how I conduct myself at work is none of your concern.”

  “It’s just that…”

  “You don’t seem to mind reaping the benefits of how I do my business,” he snapped.

  Refusing to let her son see her hurt, she merely nodded and turned to look out the window for the remainder of the ride home. Once there, she kissed him on the cheek and thanked him for coming with her before climbing out of the car. She didn’t invite him in and held herself in check until she was safely ensconced in her home before allowing any tears to fall.

  ****

  By seven the next evening, Adam was mentally exhausted. He’d spent a brutal day dealing with a difficult client and all he wanted to do was go home and enjoy the silence. As he walked through his building, he noticed that everyone else was long gone and to just hear the sound of his own footsteps was a godsend.

  Out of the building, wishing the security team a good night, he almost felt his spirits lifting. It had been a long time since a client had frustrated him so. Adam was the security expert, why wasn’t that good enough? His conversation with Cassie from the night before came to mind. He could thoroughly see her point now that he was deeply entrenched in a situation that frustrated him as much as she must have been frustrated.

  It had almost been twenty-four hours since he’d given her a thought. As he pulled his car out of the parking garage, he tried to shake her image free from his mind. It didn’t work. He could see the conservative business woman who he always dealt with and then, more firmly in his
mind, was the woman in jeans from last night, with her loose, wavy hair framing her face and her big blue eyes that just danced and twinkled with laughter when she was with her family.

  He sighed with frustration, and then with disgust, when he realized that he was driving not towards his house but towards her shop-her business-her home. What the hell was wrong with him? He’d known Cassie for two years! He’d been doing business with her all this time and never managed to give her a second thought; now, for some ungodly reason, he was driving by her house like he was some teenager hoping to get a glimpse of her.

  The light was on in the showroom and he slowed down to see if he actually could see her. God, he was pathetic! As he neared a stop, he did, in fact, see her walking back towards the kitchen. Not giving himself time to question his actions, Adam turned the car around, pulled around to the back of the building and parked by the back door.

  Climbing out of his car, Adam began to question himself. What was he going to say? Why was he even here? Maybe he was just concerned because of what had happened last night? Maybe he was just checking up on her to make sure she was okay? That was plausible, right? He knocked-and he waited.

  “Adam?” Cassie said as she pulled open the door, unable to hide her surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “Can I come in?

  Cassie stepped aside as he came through the door. He stood only a few feet away then watched as she closed the door and walked back into the kitchen. She stared at him, waiting for an answer. “Adam?”

  “You never did come back to the table last night. Are you feeling okay?” If he didn’t know himself any better, he’d swear he was actually concerned.

  “Well, that’s awfully nice of you,” she smiled. “Come on in, I was just cooking.” Without waiting to see if he’d follow, Cassie walked back over to her work station and finished tossing ingredients in to a bowl.

  “Do you have a client tonight?”

  “What? Oh, you mean this?” When he nodded she continued. “Well, normally I make enough for two or three when I’m concocting; you know, so that I can get a second or third opinion. Katie is usually my guinea pig but she left early tonight. So she’ll have to taste it as a left over.”

  “What are you making?”

  “I’m not exactly sure yet,” she said with a grin. “I’ve got chicken and artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, fresh mozzarella…I think I’ll use some penne and maybe some Vodka sauce.” At this point she’d stopped talking directly to him and more to herself as she walked around the kitchen grabbing ingredients. She was putting a pot of water on the stove to boil when she remembered that he was there.

  “Sorry, I get distracted easily when I’m cooking. Why exactly did you stop by?” She began heating olive oil in a large skillet as Adam walked a little closer.

  “Like I said, I wanted to make sure that you were feeling all right after last night.”

  “Oh, right, yes. I’m fine. No big deal. I took some Advil, laid down for a little while and drove myself home around eleven. I’m fine today.”

  “That’s good,” he said, watching as she tossed all sorts of things in to the pan and tossed them around while seasonings abounded. “That smells amazing.” The words were out before he could stop himself.

  She flashed him one of those smiles that he was really starting to like right over her shoulder, never stopping the pan flipping action she had going on. “Thanks. I just love it, the creating, and the experimenting. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but a girl’s gotta eat, right?”

  Adam nodded. “You cook for yourself every night?”

  “Absolutely!” She lowered the flame on the stove and went to grab the pasta to add to the boiling water. “Do you cook?”

  “Does hitting ‘cook’ on the microwave count?” he asked, hating how pathetic he sounded. Truth be known, after standing here and watching her cook, smelling the wonderful aroma of whatever this was that Cassie was throwing together, his microwave dinner had lost more of its appeal than usual.

  “Well, I’ll tell you what, grab me two plates from that cabinet over there and we’ll discuss our soon-to-be-merged family over dinner. How does that sound?”

  Like a treat, he thought.

  It amazed Adam, but within minutes they were sitting up in Cassie’s apartment and eating a meal that was…well, it was even better than the one she’d cooked for her family the night before.

  “I wish I could have seen everyone’s faces when dad made the announcement,” Cassie said as she lifted her glass of wine. “I mean, I’m sure I would have been equally shocked; none of us had any idea that he was even dating. Did you know?”

  “Not a clue; but then again, I don’t spend a whole lot of time with Bev talking about her social life.” After the words were out he realized how cold and calloused they sounded. “I mean, with my schedule we don’t…”

  Cassie shook her head and smiled. “No need to explain; I completely understand. Not many families spend as much time together as mine and honestly, we didn’t know.”

  “Why would your dad not want you to know?” Adam tasted his own wine and mentally nodded with approval. Not only could the woman cook but she had good taste in wine.

  “I really don’t know. I mean, we’re all adults with our own lives and we want him to be happy. My mom’s been gone for over ten years so he’s mourned enough. We often talked about wanting dad to find someone and start living again. I guess he wasn’t sure how we’d react.” Reaching for a napkin, she gently wiped her mouth. “We talk about everything in my house and he never thought to talk to us about this.”

  “Are you upset?”

  Cassie shook her head. “Not at all. It’s so obvious that they’re crazy about each other and I think it’s wonderful. All I want is for dad to be happy. He’s sacrificed so much for us and now we’re all grown up and doing things, creating lives for ourselves and I want him to be selfish now and focus on what makes him happy.”

  “Maybe just being a dad made him happy.”

  Cassie put her fork down and looked at Adam; tears glistening in her eyes. “That was quite possibly the nicest thing you’ve ever said.” She reached over and touched his hand. “Thank you.”

  Before Cassie could remove her hand, Adam turned his over and linked his fingers through hers and gave a gentle squeeze. This wasn’t supposed to be happening, Cassie thought. She wasn’t supposed to be enjoying herself with Adam; she still didn’t fully trust him. The fact that they were going to be family soon didn’t help matters. But, sitting here next to him, enjoying a meal, talking like two regular people-not business associates-had her seeing him as if for the first time.

  That wasn’t to say that she’d never taken notice of Adam; hell, a woman would have to be blind to not notice him. Adam was the stuff that most fantasies were made of – until he opened his mouth. That was certainly a deal breaker, for sure.

  Realizing that she was staring, Cassie casually pulled her hand free from his and went back to her meal. Clearing her throat she began, “I guess he could have been satisfied with just being a father to four kids, but now that we’re all grown, I want him to do something for himself. He’s raised us all and as much as I know he wants to help with Ella, he needs your mom.”

  “I think Bev needs him too. I guess I didn’t realize how much or how lonely she was until I saw them together last night. It was a bit eye opening.”

  “Um, Adam,” she said cautiously and blushed. He didn’t think that women actually blushed anymore. “As long as we’re being honest, you have to know that I don’t normally…argue with clients. I mean, I can usually get what I want without having to be…bitchy.” If possible, her blush deepened at her description of herself.

  “If it means anything,” he began, “I seriously provoked you.” An inner voice told Adam that he was going to have to kick his own ass soon if he didn’t stop apologizing and getting sappy with this woman. In one day’s time he had fired her, then pretty much begged, groveled and p
ut himself down in order to make her feel better.

  As wonderful as dinner was, he had to get out of here. There was no way for him to hang on to who he was and what he was planning while he was getting all “in touch with his emotions” here in Cassie’s home. He had to get out of Dodge quick.

  Tossing down his napkin, he stood. “Let me help you clear this up and then I have to get going. I’ve got a midnight conference call.” He didn’t but it sounded plausible. “I’m hoping to catch an hour’s sleep before it starts.”

  Cassie shooed his hands away from the dishes. “Not to worry, I’ve got this. You go and do what you do.” To prove it, she began clearing the table and placing dishes in the sink. When everything was cleared, she noticed him standing next to the table watching her, his brows creased. It was both exciting and unnerving. Leaning against the counter, she folded her arms across her chest and observed him right back – only with a smile. “This was an unexpected surprise, Adam.”

  He nodded, almost mesmerized by the sight of her. He had to get out. Now. “Thank you for dinner. That, too, was an unexpected surprise. A delicious one. Thanks for sharing.” He turned to go down the stairs and Cassie followed him.

  “Oh, wait one minute,” she said and walked over to the walk in refrigerator. When she came out she had a round foil take out container. “Here,” she said. “Take the rest of the leftovers for yourself for dinner for another night. I know you’ll still have to nuke it but at least it’s homemade.” She handed it to him with a smile and Adam felt like he’d been kicked in the solar plexus.

  With a gruff ‘good night’ he was out the door, in his car and pulling away. He had no idea what had happened tonight but it made him uncomfortable and if there was one thing he knew for sure about himself it was that he hated to be uncomfortable.