Catering to the CEO (7 page)

“How is she this morning?”

Adam wished he’d gotten the hell out of here last night.  It was bad enough that he’d spent the night, he didn’t feel like getting the third degree from anyone; especially not a twenty year old!  “She’s still sleeping.  I didn’t want to wake her.”  Making his excuses about needing to get home and get ready for this morning’s session, Adam left and pulled away from the shop as if his life depended on it.

Last night he was supposed to go home and tweak his speech for today and get a good night’s sleep.  Instead, he’d slept in a strange bed, fully clothed while holding a very stiff and clearly miserable Cassie.  He’d have to avoid her today, that’s all.  Blow her off and pretend as if he hadn’t shared her bed. 

A quick shower and shave back at his place had Adam feeling refreshed.  He’d rehearsed his speech during the whole process and was confident in the day to come.  The point of this retreat was to energize his staff for the upcoming year.  The plan was to branch out into several more countries and in order to do that, his staff had to be as excited about their new products and services as he was.  They needed to understand how he created the systems and how to use them.  He planned on doubling his fortune.

He was prepared for the leeches to come out of the woodwork when that happened.  Like his father had all those years ago.  Adam looked in the mirror and straightened his tie as he frowned at the thought of the man who had deserted him and his mother so many years ago and then came back when Adam had first made a name for himself in the business world.   The old man had walked away from his wife and only son on the hopes of climbing the corporate ladder unhindered.  It must have worked because for years, William Lawrence had led a very good, very pampered existence.  Unfortunately, like most corporate mongers, he had gotten greedy, made some bad investments and lost it all.  When Adam was 25 and made his first million with the L.S.S. 3.0 security system, his father had come calling.

And begging.  The man had groveled and begged to have his family back; claiming that he’d been a shell of a man without them and that he’d made a terrible mistake.  When both Adam and Bev had hesitated in opening their hearts to him, he’d turned bitter and flat-out asked for money.  Adam had kicked him out and made it abundantly clear that he was never to contact them again.  Bev had been devastated and it was then that Adam had learned that love didn’t exist.  People didn’t really want nor need love; it was all about the money.  Well, he had money; lots of it.  He didn’t need love. 

Sure, his mother loved him and that relationship was never in doubt, but other than Bev, there was no one and Adam doubted that real love even existed.  Knowing that even now Bev was claiming to be in love with Stephen Jacobs, he had his doubts.  Maybe they were both lonely and looking for companionship.  At least have the guts to call it what it was!  Just as long as Stephen didn’t come to him for any loans or investments, Adam would be fine. 

Wiping the Jacobs family from his mind, Adam strode into the ball room which was now set up to serve breakfast.  Most of last night’s decorations were still set up around the room but the tables where now clear of flowers and candles and housed information packets for today’s seminars.

Spotting Grace, Adam called her over to their table next to the stage and went over any last minute details and within minutes, employees began to file in.  The smell of coffee and pastries was filling the air and although breakfast was going to be done buffet style, there were still a handful of servers walking around assisting Adam’s staff.  A quick glance at his watch showed that it was eight-forty-five and he was just about to stand and get a plate of food for himself when he saw her.

Cassie.

She was smiling and talking to two of his sales staff and both men seemed to be enthralled with whatever it was that she was saying.  Adam had to stop himself from going over to them and demanding that they find their seats and tell Cassie that he wasn’t paying her to talk to his people.  Even in his head that sounded unreasonable and over the top. 

Adam frowned.  He never minded thinking himself to be forceful with his people; it was how he had achieved the level of success that he had.  Somehow, acting like that in front of Cassie just seemed mean.  His mother’s words from their ride home came back to him.  “
I can’t imagine you being so hard on anyone, especially a woman.”
  Apparently even his mother didn’t know the real him.

Waiting until Cassie finished her giggly, school-girl conversation with
her two admirer’s and walked into the kitchen, Adam quickly made it across the room to grab himself something to eat before he had to begin this morning’s session.  Back at the table, Grace was already eating. 

“I know that Cassie doesn’t do all of the baked goods herself but she chose a fabulous assortment, don’t you think?”

Adam merely grumbled a reply and didn’t notice the smug look on his assistant’s face.  “Everyone is still talking about how wonderful everything was last night.”

Adam still wasn’t taking the bait as he finished his last bite of cinnamon Danish.  “I think it’s time to get started.”  He drank the last of his coffee and headed up to the stage.  Straightening his folder of paperwork, Adam looked out into the crowd and saw her again.  Dammit.  Why just the sight of her flustered him, he wasn’t sure.  All he knew was that right now he wanted to skip his introduction to his staff and go and ask how Cassie was feeling.

Not exactly the actions of a man trying to get rid of a woman.

Shaking his head as if to clear it, Adam began, “Good morning.  I want to tell you all about my plan
s for L.S.S.’s expansion in 2014…”

Cassie listened to the man speak and smiled to herself.  Here, in this environment, Adam Lawrence was a man in charge.  Last night, however, while dealing with a woman in pain, he’d looked anything but confident.  She still couldn’t believe that Adam had stayed the night and that he’d actually left his conference early to take care of her.  That was a side of him that she wasn’t sure what to do with.

In the two years that she’d known him, this was what she was used to.  These last few weeks, however, she’d seen a different side of Adam and the more she learned about him, the more attracted she became. 

It would have been easy this morning to turn over in his arms and see if he was interested but the bed-head look was never her strong point.  No, it would be better to pick a time when she actually didn’t have morning breath or looked as if she’d let a cat do her hair.  True, Adam had never really given off any kind of vibe that he was interested but that didn’t mean anything.  He was definitely a man whose focus was on one thing:  business.  Should she tempt that balance that they’d found by seeing if he could be interested?

Walking back into the kitchen to check on the progress of the lunch preparations, Cassie inwardly scolded herself.  Why on Earth would she look for more complications where Adam was concerned?  Clearly she’d seen the real him these last two years; one man did not suddenly change in a matter of weeks.  Besides, it would be awkward with their parents getting married.  What if she and Adam did get involved and then things didn’t work out?  She’d be stuck seeing him at every holiday and family get-together and she would cringe at the thought that he’d seen her naked. 

By four o’clock, Cassie and her crew were loading the last of their supplies into her van.  She did a final walk through the kitchen and then headed out to the ball room where she ran into Grace. 

“Another great job, Cassie,” Grace said with a smile as she walked across the room.  “Everyone just loved the food and I think that between you and Adam you pulled off the perfect event!” 

Smiling with pleasure, Cassie didn’t want to think of Adam having as much to do with people’s pleasure from the weekend.  “I’m just glad that there were no problems.  I had my doubts there a couple of weeks back.”

“Oh, don’t get me started on that.  I wanted to choke Adam for the way he behaved.”  Grace looked around the room to make sure that they were alone.  “To be honest with you, I was really surprised when he told me that you were staying on and doing the event.  I mean, he had me calling people that afternoon to try and find a replacement.  How did you manage to change his mind?”

Her first reaction was to be annoyed that he had fired her all over again but then remembered that it had all worked out in her favor and that it didn’t do her any good to hold a grudge.  Cassie told Grace of their soon-to-be merging families and the other woman just about doubled over with laughter.

“Oh, what I would have given to be a fly on the wall when the great Adam Lawrence found himself face-to-face with your family!  Did they all gang up on him?”

“Pretty much.”  The memory had her smiling.  “It was a silent attack for most of the evening but then…we actually sat and talked and cleared the air.  I’m actually kind of glad that we did.”

Grace frowned.  “Wait, so you spoke to him and told him that you didn’t like the way he treated you and…”

“Lauren even told him that he was the one in breach of contract…”

“And he still asked you to come back and do the event?  That doesn’t make sense; that’s not like Adam at all.”

“Why?”

“I have yet to see, in the six years that I’ve worked here, anyone speak their minds or disagree with Adam and continue on here; it just doesn’t happen.”  She pulled an envelope from her purse and handed it to Cassie.  “I’d be on guard, if I were you.  This doesn’t seem right.”

“Maybe he’s just mellowing because we’re going to be family.”

Grace shook her head.  “Please…he hardly ever spends time with Bev and she’s the only family he has.  No, I’m telling you, Cass, something’s not right with this whole situation.  Just…be careful, okay?”

Agreeing but not convinced, Cassie hugged her friend and finished her final inspection of the facility before walking out to her van and driving back to the shop.  Grace’s words bothered her mainly because they kind of made sense.  It did seem like Adam was being way more agreeable than she’d ever seen him but then again, she’d thought that had something to do with the family angle.  Now, knowing what she did, she couldn’t help but see what Grace was saying.

“So how are you feeling today?” Katie asked as Cassie walked back in to the kitchen.  “Any lingering effects?”

“Thankfully, no, but I have to face the facts.  I’m going to call Dr. Jackson first thing Monday morning and make the appointment.”

“You’re going to have the surgery?”

“I don’t see having a choice.  This has been twice in two weeks and while I don’t mind when it hits at home, having nearly passed out in the kitchen of an event was not an experience that I ever want to repeat.”

“Adam just about freaked out.”

“Well, he hates when things don’t go his way.”

“No, it was more than that,” Katie said, her voice soft with contemplation.  “It was more like he was really concerned about you.  It was really nice of him to bring you home and how he stayed the night to take care of you.”

“He told you about that?”

“I saw him when he was leaving this morning.”

“Oh.”

Katie started to giggle.  “I have to admit, for a minute, I thought he was sneaking out after maybe the two of you…you know…did the deed!”

“
What??
  Me and Adam?  Are you crazy?”

“Well, that’s what it looked like!  If I hadn’t known that you were in such bad shape last night I would have totally believed it and that
he was doing the walk of shame out of here!”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”  She hated the sarcastic tone in her own voice but somehow thinking of anyone slinking away in the wee morning hours because they were ashamed to have had sex with her just rubbed her the wrong way.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.  Gosh, don’t be such a drama queen.”  Katie turned and finished unloading the van.  When everything was put away, she wiped down all of the surfaces and grabbed her coat.   “I guess I should get home and relieve dad and Bev from babysitting.  Besides, I miss my girl.”

Cassie envied her little sister and knew that someday she wanted a baby of her own.  That was just another reason to call Dr. Jackson and schedule the surgery.  Infertility was a big factor when you had Endometriosis and now that she was 26, thoughts of getting married and having children were becoming more and more important to her.  Her business was thriving and by the time she did meet Mr. Right, Cassie didn’t want any obstacles to keep her from having everything that she wanted.

The thought of surgery scared her to no end.  Her own mother had died of Ovarian cancer and deep down, Cassie was afraid that this surgery, even though it was an outpatient procedure, would have the doctor’s finding more than she was willing to deal with.  So far, ignorance had been bliss but Cassie was no fool.  The pain from the Endometriosis was getting worse and couldn’t be ignored any longer and if they did find something, then Cassie would rather catch it early.

She knew it was the responsible thing to do and she knew that she would feel better both mentally and physically when it was all over.  It didn’t mean that she still wasn’t scared to death.

And there was nobody here to hold her.

Chapter Six

Lauren was busy fluffing pillows and making promises of Chinese food as Cassie slowly crossed the room Wednesday afternoon.  The laparoscopic procedure had been done that morning because Dr. Jackson had had a cancelation and was anxious to get Cassie in as soon as possible before she could change her mind.  As she climbed into the bed, Cassie appreciated her doctor’s efficiency; it hadn’t given her too much time to dwell on the whole thing and now that she was home and in her bed
, she was relieved that it was over.