Loving the CEO (bundle of five romance novels)

by Noelle Adams

  Cassie cried out his name and hugged his head closer to her, unwilling to let him slip away. She wanted to touch him and be touched by him. Adam’s hands continued to roam her body and it wasn’t long before he tugged at the waistband of her silky pants and found his way inside. With unerring precision, he found where she wanted his touch most. She was wet with anticipation and Adam growled his approval.

  Before he allowed himself the pleasure of feeling Cassie more intimately, he sprang off of the bed and removed his shirt, then his shoes, socks and belt. The sight of her dark hair spread across his white comforter and her body sprawled out for his eyes only had Adam barely hanging on to the thread of his control.

  They weren’t supposed to get to this point this weekend. He had planned on kissing her tonight, but in a much less frantic way. Adam had thought that he’d have to coax her, persuade her; how was he to know that she was just as needy and frantic as him? Unfastening his trousers he stopped and reached for Cassie. Reaching for the waistband to her pants, he carefully slipped them over her hips and down the incredible length of her legs. Wearing no more than a tiny piece of lace, Cassie squirmed slightly under Adam’s heated inspection.

  “Please…” Her voice trembled slightly and Adam’s resistance broke. He wanted her; he had to have her. Now. To hell with the consequences, he was already going to burn for many of his life’s decisions; this simply added one more to the list.

  Stripping away his trousers and briefs, Adam joined Cassie back on the bed and settled into her open arms and opened legs. He felt the heat of her, the dampness of her panties and nearly came from the sensation.

  Cassie pulled his head down to hers and kissed him as if her life depended on it. She had never known such need but she was spiraling out of control and needed Adam’s hands on her; needed him to feel what he did to her.

  Anxious to return to what he had started, Adam slipped a hand between them and let it skim the outside of the lace she wore. Taking his mouth from Cassie’s, he trailed kisses down her throat to her breast while his hand teased and tormented the very core of her.

  With her back arching off the bed, Cassie silently pled for Adam to touch her more, she felt her body starting to tingle with sensations that had been long since missing from her life. With her breast fully pressed against his mouth, she told him exactly what she wanted him to do and for once, Adam took someone else’s command and was happy to oblige.

  Tearing the lace from her body, Adam found her. Her folds, her wetness and dove in with first one finger then two. Cassie bucked off the mattress but Adam settled her with his body. She loved the sensations he was creating in her and it didn’t take long for her release to hit.

  Millions of colors, gasping for air, Cassie cried out Adam’s name over and over. Even with her eyes closed, Cassie could tell that he was watching her and it thrilled her all the more. She wanted Adam to see and feel what he did to her. She wanted to be his.

  As her world began to right itself, Adam leaned over and gently kissed her. Cassie could feel his impressive erection pressing against her thigh and right now all she wanted was to feel it inside of her. She lowered her arms that had been thrown above her head in reckless abandon and reached down to touch him.

  In the madness that they had just created, Cassie had not taken the opportunity to simply touch. She ran her hands over his chest, toying with his flat nipples before letting her hand trail lower to glide and stroke over him. Adam hissed out a breath and pulsed in her hand.

  “Cassandra…” She loved that he was the only person to use the formal version of her name and right now, said in such a husky tone, she loved it even more.

  She moaned slightly as she leaned forward and kissed his chest. She wanted to explore all of him as he had her when suddenly pleasure turned to pain. She gasped and let go of him before crying out in pain.

  Adam cursed under his breath and sat upright. Dammit, he knew that it was too soon for this and she had made him lose control.

  “Cass? What can I do? What’s going on?” He was so worried. Cassie was curled up tightly next to him, clutching her stomach.

  “I didn’t bother to listen to what the doctor said about the timeline for sex because I wasn’t expecting to have any,” she said through clenched teeth. “But once that orgasm settled my insides sort of felt like they were being attacked with a rusty razor blade.”

  Adam stood and walked in to his bathroom, hit the lights and then started the water in the Jacuzzi tub. He went into his medicine cabinet and found some Ibuprofen and retrieved a bottle of water from the mini fridge he kept in his walk in closet. Dimming the lights in the bathroom on the way out, he went to the bed and sat down next to Cassie.

  “I don’t know if you have your pain pills with you but these should help take the edge off.” She mumbled a thank you and took the pills and the water from him. Before she knew it, Adam had her in his arms and was walking towards the bathroom.

  “What are you doing?” she asked weakly.

  “We’re going to take a nice bath to relax you and then we’re going to go to sleep.” Cassie was in too much pain to admit that she liked the fact that Adam had taken control and was helping her and that he was using ‘we’ to describe what was going on. It comforted Cassie to no end to have someone taking care of her. While she hated that she needed someone to care for her and that she was dealing with this pain, particularly at this moment, but it was certainly more tolerable when someone was there to help her through it.

  Gently lowering Cassie into the large tub, Adam waited until she was settled before turning the jets on to low. The water level was perfect and her turned off the spout and climbed in behind her so Cassie could relax against his chest. This was a first and once they fitted themselves together, Adam found that it was actually quite a pleasant experience; one he wouldn’t mind repeating when Cassie was feeling better.

  They sat in tub, letting the jets pulse over their bodies in silence. Adam rested his head next to Cassie’s and simply enjoyed the sensation of having her in his arms. After several long minutes, he whispered, “How are you feeling?”

  She sounded drowsy. “Mmm…better. This is just as good as the heating pad. Can we sleep here?”

  Adam chuckled. “We’d be pruney by morning.”

  “I don’t even have the strength to care,” she murmured, shifting slightly. They returned to the amicable silence, the sound of the water jets the only thing they could hear.

  Some time later, Adam felt the water cooling and whispered Cassie’s name. “I think it’s time to pull the plug here.” Cassie sat forward and Adam stood, the water cascading off of his muscular frame as he stepped from the tub and grabbed first one fluffy towel from the heated rack and wrapped it around himself before grabbing the second for Cassie.

  She stood, heedless of her own nakedness and allowed Adam to wrap the plush towel around her and lift her from the tub. He placed her on her feet and dried her off before wrapping the towel snugly around her. “Wait here,” he said as he stepped away and walked over to his closet. In less than a minute he was back with a cotton t-shirt in his hands. Without asking for permission, Adam loosened the towel and pulled the shirt over Cassie’s head. “You’ll be more comfortable sleeping in this,” was all he said before taking her hand and leading her back into the master bedroom.

  Cassie stood next to the bed while Adam drew the blankets back and motioned for her to climb in. Obeying, feeling as if she were in a dream state, she snuggled into the cool sheets and watched as Adam removed the towel from around his hips and climbed in beside her. He turned off the light next to the bed and drew Cassie into his arm.

  “Do you need anything else?” he whispered, mentally kicking himself for not asking sooner.

  “No, this is perfect,” Her head rested on his shoulder as her arm wrapped around his middle and one of her silky thighs tangled with his. “Good night.” Adam knew immediately that she was asleep.

  If only sleep would claim him as quickl
y. The night had promised to be spectacular. Knowing that it would be this way made waiting that much harder. He wasn’t selfish enough to press her; after witnessing her pain tonight, he berated himself for being such a bastard who had no sense of self control.

  The sound and feel of Cassie’s soft breath against his chest was soothing; taming the beast within. The last time he had held her while she slept, they had been spooned together, her back to his chest. This position was much better.

  Tomorrow would bring the end of their weekend and it felt like it was too soon. It would be three weeks before they would be back here. Adam thought of how long three weeks could seem. He knew that it would be best if Cassie used all that time to recover. When he made love with her for the first time, he wanted it to be here, in this house, in this bed. Of that he was certain.

  As a master planner, Adam began to formulate a plan of survival for the coming weeks. There was no way that he could completely stay away and yet the thought of being with her, whether for work or in a social setting, and not touching her, would test the limits of his control.

  There would be phone calls, both to discuss the upcoming retreat and for personal reasons; he was sure there would be a family event or two that he could find time to get involved in. His mother would be shocked.

  Holding Cassie close, Adam smiled. While he didn’t believe in forever, he was looking forward to whatever span of time he was going to have while being involved with Cassie.

  He kissed the top of her head as sleep finally claimed him.

  Nine

  They began their ride home after lunch and while neither had encouraged or entertained the idea of engaging in the passion of the previous night, it was lurking in the backs of their minds.

  Cassie hated to leave the big, beautiful house but was comforted by the fact that she had accomplished, business-wise, what she needed to this weekend and that she would be returning in three short weeks. As the road took them further and further away from the coast and closer to home, Cassie had a mental checklist going on in her head as to what she would need to do in order to be ready before returning.

  Wishing that she had her day planner with her, she couldn’t be positive that there wasn’t going to be too much left back in Raleigh for her staff to handle. Tomorrow, she would call their waitress from Friday night and make arrangements with her and remember to touch base with her over the coming weeks.

  The sound of her cell phone ringing startled her out of the peaceful, companionable silence. Looking at the phone she saw that it was her father.

  “Hey, dad! How are you today?”

  “Doin’ good, sweetheart. How are you feeling?”

  Cassie updated him on her health while not going into details about last night’s setback. “I’ve got a follow up appointment on Wednesday but I think everything is healing as it should. Only time will tell.”

  “I’m glad, Cass, I really am. I want you to never have to deal with those painful spells again.” Cassie agreed. “Hey, are you up for dinner tomorrow night?”

  She sighed lightheartedly. “What am I making?”

  Stephen laughed. “Actually, um…Bev would like to cook dinner for the family.” Cassie was stunned silent. While she knew that her father and Bev were going to be married, cooking had always been her responsibility and she took it seriously. “Cass? You still there?”

  “What? Oh, yes, yes…I’m still here. Sorry, my mind wandered. Actually, that sounds great. Are we eating at home or at Bev’s?”

  With great relief that she wasn’t upset, Stephen detailed that dinner would be at Bev’s house and promised to e-mail Cassie the direction. “So what time should I be there?” she asked.

  “I don’t know what your schedule is like tomorrow, but would six work?”

  “That sounds great. Should I bring anything?” she asked, hopeful that she wouldn’t totally be eliminated from the preparation of the meal.

  “Actually, sweetheart, Bev is really looking forward to doing the whole meal for everyone. I think she feels a little intimidated by you and so if you could just…”

  “It’s okay, dad. I get it. I am glad to come and just be a guest. I’ll see you tomorrow night at six.” When Cassie placed her phone back in her purse, she turned her head to look out the window and sighed.

  “Everything okay?” Adam asked, concern lacing his voice.

  Turning her head to him, she gave a small smile. “Family dinner tomorrow night at your mom’s. I’m sure you’ll get the call, too.”

  He chuckled. “I doubt that.”

  “What? Why?”

  “My mother and I don’t normally do family dinners. I mean, she invited me to your father’s that night mainly because they were making an announcement but other than that, we just doesn’t get together and socialize much.”

  “Well that’s just sad, Adam. You guys are family, the only family that you have, from what I can tell. You should spend time together.”

  “Cassandra, please…don’t try to fix my relationship with my mother. It works for us both and now, apparently, she’ll have a whole new family that she’ll spend time with.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  “Hell, no.” Actually, he wondered if Bev would call more and invite him to come around more now that she was getting married. Would she want to include him in her new family? “So why the sigh? Clearly you enjoy the whole family get-together thing, so what’s the problem?”

  Unable to help it, another sigh escaped her lips. “There’s no problem, really. It’s just that this is all new, you know? We all have our roles in the family and now they’re changing.”

  “Ah, my mom is going to cook, isn’t she?”

  Cassie’s head snapped towards Adam’s. “How did you know?”

  “If there is one thing I’ve learned about you, it’s that you enjoy the role of the chef. You like the praise and you thoroughly enjoy the whole process of preparation. Having Bev step in and take over sort of leaves you without a role.”

  “Very astute, Mr. Lawrence,” she said with sarcasm, angry that he had her pegged. “Maybe I’ll actually get to relax and enjoy myself for once; maybe I’ll enjoy just sitting back and letting someone else fret over the meal.” She crossed her arms across her chest and pouted.

  Adam found her to be adorable.

  “Pouting doesn’t suit you, Cassandra.” He pointed out. “And fret? You never fret over anything and believe me, if I know my mother, she is going to go overboard while trying to impress you.”

  “She doesn’t need to do that! Oh, gosh…I don’t want there to be like a competition or anything! I just…”

  Adam took a hand off of the steering wheel and reached for one of Cassie’s. “Sshh…it’s alright, Cass, really. I don’t think my mom is trying to have a competition with you. This is all new to her, too. I don’t think she ever dated anyone with kids so she is just trying to find her place in all of this, as well. Relax. Just go tomorrow night and enjoy having the night off.”

  Their fingers were linked together and Cassie found his touch to be comforting. “Thanks. I know you’re right. It just feels weird. I never get to just be the guest. I’m more comfortable in the role of hired help.”

  Adam pulled his hand from hers and if he weren’t in the middle of a major highway, he would have slammed the brakes. “What does that mean?” His tone suggested that he was appalled by her statement.

  “What? The hired help?” Adam nodded. “When you know how to cook and people know that you own your own catering business, no one invites you for dinner where you don’t do the cooking.” The look on Adam’s face showed that he was well and truly appalled. “It’s not a big deal, Adam. I got used to it.”

  “So you never get to go anywhere and just be a guest?”

  “Nope. At least…” she stopped and thought for a moment. “Nope. If I get invited somewhere, I’m either bringing the meal or preparing it there.”

  “What about your friends? Or boyfriends?”


  She chuckled at his outrage for her. “The business has been my main priority for quite some time so there hasn’t been a man in my life in a while. When there was, we would eat out mainly. As for friends? Well, most of my friends are married and having children now and our schedules just don’t mesh much anymore.”

  Adam didn’t see that as a bad thing; after all, he didn’t socialize much with friends anymore and he was fine with that. Looking at Cassie’s face, however, he saw that it wasn’t okay with her. And then he realized that it wasn’t okay with him, either, because clearly he was no better than all the rest. Their relationship started as a business one, which meant it was about her cooking for him but since then had he done anything to change that?

  Sure, he’d bought her a pizza and took her out to eat but…hell, he did not like to think of himself as being like anybody else and that meant he would have to treat Cassie as she’d never been treated before. Even if their relationship was brief, he wanted her to remember that he had cared enough to take better care of her and respect her time and feelings more than anyone else.

  He let the subject drop, mainly because he feared that if he continued with it, his role in using her as the hired help would come up and he didn’t want to focus on that right now. The remainder of the drive consisted of listening to music and discussing not much of anything; Adam’s main focus was just on not bringing up the subject of her family or his mom again for the time being.

  When they arrived back at Cassie’s place, Adam parked and got out to retrieve her luggage. He waited while Cassie unlocked the door and followed her inside and up the stairs to her apartment. Had she not been recovering, he would have been taking advantage of their location and making love to her here and spending the night. Since that wasn’t an option, he settled for watching her go about putting her suitcase in her bedroom and checking her phone messages.

  Sitting down on the couch, Adam felt no hurry to leave. A few minutes later, Cassie joined him and handed him a glass of wine. “Thank you for a wonderful weekend. I can’t wait to get back and set up for your meetings.”