In the Eye of the Storm / Catering to the CEO

by Samantha Chase

  “It sounds lovely,” Bev said with a smile. “I always imagined that house being used for special events and big parties.”

  “I know what you mean. This is a small event. I could go wild with something a lot bigger. God knows there’s enough space there for a large group. Oh! You and Dad should have your wedding there. It would be absolutely perfect! We could do flowers on the railings of the deck and lots and lots of candles all around… Oh, to see you coming down the stairs or maybe going down to the beach…it would be magical!” The words were out before Cassie could stop them, and soon Lauren and Katie were chiming in with questions and ideas, but Cassie could feel the tension coming from Adam’s end of the table.

  * * *

  Adam’s sense of ease vanished, and he excused himself with claims of a call.

  “Is everything all right?” Cassie had followed him to the porch.

  He glared at her, that cold, hard stare that she’d seen him give dozens of times to his employees. “What could be wrong?” he snapped. “One weekend in my home, and you’re already making plans for it yourself. Tell me, do you always make yourself at home that quickly, or is it just with me?”

  Her eyes grew wide with shock. “Are you kidding me? She’s your mother, for crying out loud, and it’s her wedding! That’s hardly planning something for me! How can you be so cold about this?”

  “Cold? This has nothing to do with being cold, Cassandra. I simply don’t appreciate you stepping in and offering up my home for parties without consulting me first. I hired you to plan an event for my company. If my mother wants to hire you to plan her wedding, then you two can discuss other venues or maybe talk to me privately before you start renting out space that isn’t yours.”

  She looked as if he’d slapped her. Clearly, she had crossed a line, again, and he was not happy. Fine. Apparently, she was good enough to sleep with but not good enough to make suggestions for things that involved both their families. She made a mental note never to go there again.

  Stiffening her spine, she nodded. “Fine, you’re right. It was not my place to speak up.”

  It was the way she said place that got him. Their conversation yesterday about being the hired help rang out in his mind, and as much as he wanted to be pissed off at her for offering the house for a wedding, he felt like crap for making her feel like their weekend together meant nothing to him.

  “Cassandra, look…”

  She held up a hand to stop him. “No, really, let’s not go there right now. You made yourself abundantly clear.” Turning, Cassie walked inside, firmly shutting the door behind her, leaving Adam alone in the darkness.

  Chapter 10

  Cassie took a final look around her kitchen and picked up her checklist from the butcher-block island to make sure she had everything.

  “Are you sure you still want to do this? Because I can go in your place.” Katie was standing opposite Cassie, arms folded across her chest.

  “It’s going to be fine. I have a job to do, and as much as I am still ticked off at Adam for being…well, Adam, I am going to do that job and impress the hell out of those Europeans!”

  In the two and a half weeks since that fateful night, Cassie had refused all of Adam’s calls. She had gotten her information to Grace and managed to pick up the keys to the Manteo house while Adam was out of the office.

  He had been relentless that first week in his attempts to talk to her. It had been painful at times and downright impossible at others to avoid him. He’d called, he’d sent flowers, and he’d shown up at her apartment late at night. Cassie refused to talk to him or answer the door. When the family had gotten together for dinner one night the previous week, he had shown up, but her family, while being polite to him, had rallied around her and made sure to keep her busy and unable to talk with him alone.

  In this whole rotten situation, she felt the worst for Bev. After all, none of this was her fault; her son was a grown man who had control issues. Well, Cassie wasn’t going to let that bother her. She had a job to do, and while it might be a bit awkward and uncomfortable to be with Adam in the house where they had nearly made love, Cassie knew she would be too busy with her job to pay much attention to him, and in turn, she hoped he would be too busy with his clients to focus any attention on her.

  Walking around the work space, Cassie grabbed her sister and hugged her. “You are the best, you know that?” She kissed Kate on the cheek and smiled. “I appreciate how much everyone wants to fight this battle for me, but I am a professional, and I am going to do what I was hired to do.”

  “At least he didn’t fire you this time.”

  “Yeah, thank God for small favors.” Pulling her keys from her purse, Cassie took one final look around. “I think I’ve got everything that I need. Everything else is already there. Call me if you need anything. The Miller party—”

  “Is a walk in the park, Cass. I can do a party of that size with my eyes closed. Go, get on the road, and enjoy the peace and solitude before Satan arrives.”

  “You have got to stop calling him that!” She laughed.

  “I will when he stops acting like that.”

  “I guess we all never outgrow the rubber-and-glue scenario…” She kissed her sister one last time and walked out the door feeling confident and ready to take on the world.

  The drive to Manteo was the perfect time for Cassie to clear her head and get mentally prepared for dealing with Adam. The only thing saving her was the fact that he wouldn’t be arriving until Friday with the rest of the group. By that time, she should be able to handle seeing him. Actually, by that time, she’d be in full service mode, and she could make sure that every second of her time was spent doing something for his guests.

  Her first inclination was to say their guests, but it was thinking like that that got her in trouble in the first place. Damn him! Damn him for ruining what was looking like a really decent relationship. Cassie was the first to admit that she didn’t have the greatest taste in men, but that taste usually ran to picking men who were unmotivated and content to still live at home with their moms.

  She had finally found someone who was confident, independent, and successful, and he ended up being a damn control freak. Wait…why was this a surprise to her? She knew this about Adam all along. As a matter of fact, if she were honest with herself, this was the exact reason she had quit on him a month ago! What was wrong with her? How could she have forgotten?

  So now the blame lay fully at her own feet, and she didn’t like it. He had seduced her with his kindness and sexy looks, and if her feelings were hurt, then it was her own fault. Well, there was a bitter pill to swallow.

  No, she was not going to take all the responsibility for this. Adam needed to learn to not be so rude and to treat people with respect. Ha! Fat chance of that happening! Turning on some music, Cassie decided to wipe all thoughts of Adam out of her mind for the remainder of her drive. Checking the GPS, she saw that she still had two hours to go and decided to let her inner ’80s child out, singing along to Bon Jovi for the next stretch of road.

  The clock read six fifteen when Cassie pulled into the driveway at Adam’s house. There were a couple of lights on, and she stiffened for a minute but then realized that he must have them on a timer. She got out of the car, glared at the closed garage door, and wished that she had asked for the remote so she didn’t have to walk up the steps to the front door with all her stuff; using the elevator would have been easier.

  Deciding to grab her suitcase, she took the house key out of her purse and climbed the stairs; later she could open the garage door from the inside so she could haul her supplies up with ease in the elevator.

  Several things hit her at once as she opened the door. First, there was music playing softly; second, something was cooking; and third, clearly she wasn’t alone.

  “Hello?” she nervously called out, refusing to walk any farther into the ho
use and unsure what was going on.

  Adam stepped into her field of vision, and she wanted to scream. Whether the scream was of frustration or anger or fear, she wasn’t sure, but his early arrival had thrown a monkey wrench in her perfectly crafted plan of clearing her head.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, hands on hips, eyes ablaze.

  “It’s my house,” he stated simply. “How was your drive?” Adam walked toward her, took her suitcase from beside her, and moved it to the bottom of the staircase. When he noticed that she hadn’t moved from her spot next to the entrance, he strode over, closed the door, and walked toward the kitchen.

  If she wanted to scream a minute ago, she wanted to howl in rage now. How was her drive? How was her drive? That’s all he had to say after showing up here unannounced after being such a jackass? How dare he! Cassie’s first instinct was to turn around and flee, but if she knew anything about Adam Lawrence, she knew she’d be kissing this job goodbye, and she’d worked too hard to make it perfect to allow that to happen.

  With no other choice, she sighed heavily and followed Adam into the kitchen. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her. There were candles set along the breakfast bar, a fire roaring in the living room fireplace. Cassie could see steam coming from the grill outside, and under one of the heat lamps, a table set for two was covered in linen, with pillar candles as a centerpiece.

  There were no words for what was going on in her mind. Adam was here and he had prepared a dinner for her. In all of her adult life, no man had ever taken the initiative and attempted to cook for her. She wasn’t sure how to respond to this, what to say, how to act.

  “I’m glad I timed this properly,” Adam was saying as he poured them each a glass of wine. “I hope you didn’t stop for something to eat on the way. I’ve got a couple of filets on the grill and picked up some crab cakes from that seafood market we saw last time.” He looked around as if getting his bearings.

  “I will admit that the salad is a kit I bought, so I’m sure it won’t taste as good as yours, but my culinary skills are quite limited.”

  “What’s going on, Adam?” Cassie knew that things had gone badly the last time they had been together, and while she was aware of the fact that Adam had tried to make it right, for him to go to this extreme seemed well out of character for him.

  “I thought that was obvious, Cassandra. I’ve made dinner for us. I figured you’d be hungry after a long drive.”

  “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. We haven’t spoken in weeks, and you weren’t supposed to be here until Friday, so what’s going on?”

  He smiled. That was it—he smiled, put his glass down, and walked toward her. When he was standing directly in front of Cassie, he cupped her face and kissed her. Slowly, gently, luxuriating in the taste of her even when she wouldn’t kiss him back.

  Raising his head, Adam stared deeply into her eyes, the smile returning to his face. “I have to go check those steaks. They should be done.” He walked away and went out to the grill. Cassie watched him remove the steaks and place them on a platter and then on the candlelit table. Next, he came inside and moved the rest of their meal outside.

  Cassie followed and found that everything looked beautiful. Adam held out a chair for her, and Cassie sat and waited for him to do the same. She sipped at her wine, the cool evening breeze gently blowing her hair but the heat from the tall lamp keeping her warm. Anger simmered inside her, but she had enough curiosity in her to want to taste what he had prepared for her.

  The hope was that the meal would be terrible and she could use that to fuel her bad feelings toward Adam, but after one bite of the tender filet, which melted in her mouth, she found that she couldn’t use that excuse.

  He was trying. There wasn’t a doubt in Cassie’s mind that Adam was well and truly trying to make things right. Her problem was that she was afraid to discuss what she was angry about because there was a very real possibility of them arguing some more and she knew that fighting with Adam never ended well for her.

  “How’s your steak?” he asked, concern and curiosity in his voice.

  “Everything’s delicious, Adam, thank you.” Cassie returned her attention to the meal and refused to let herself look at him for any length of time because she knew if she did, all traces of anger would disappear. He seemed to have that effect on her, and right now she wanted nothing more than to be angry a little bit longer.

  He had hurt her. Maybe not intentionally, but he had hurt her all the same. Cassie had come to accept that in her line of work she was going to meet wealthy and successful people who had a lot more money and power than she did, and that no matter how glamorous the atmosphere, no matter how posh the setting, she was always going to be the hired help. There had never been a time when it had bothered her like it had that night at Bev’s house when Adam had made it so abundantly clear what her place was.

  Thinking back, Cassie still couldn’t see what the big deal was, and even if he wasn’t that close with his mother, using this house that sat empty most of the year for her wedding should not have been such a big issue. But thinking about it, obsessing about it, was not going to help her right now. Right now she was here with Adam, sharing a meal and preparing to cater an important event for him.

  She was hired to do a job.

  There had been a momentary lapse in judgment on both their parts when they’d almost made love. Cassie knew that it had been a mistake; the only thing saving her pride at this point was that they hadn’t slept together because otherwise she would have been mortified to have Adam speak to her as he had at Bev’s that night. From this point on, she had to remember that he was the employer and she the employee. There would be no repeat of what had happened here last time.

  Adam was watching Cassie intently, trying desperately to read her mind. She wouldn’t look at him; she had used that technique on him before, ignoring him, and he didn’t like it. What was she making such a big deal about? So he didn’t want her taking it upon herself to offer up his house to people. That wasn’t so unreasonable, was it? After all, it was his house, not hers. Spending one weekend here did not give her the right to invite other people.

  True, the other people in question consisted of his own mother and her fiancé, but still, if anyone was going to offer out this home for a wedding, it would be him.

  Only it wouldn’t.

  Adam had no desire to get sucked into all the wedding hoopla, and if Bev and Stephen were going to be married, well, they could make the arrangements themselves. Stephen probably expected him to foot the bill. Well, he would be sorely disappointed because Adam had no intention of shelling out anything for the wedding. If they were foolish enough to want to be married, they could carry the expense themselves.

  Adam was scowling at the thought when Cassie finally lifted her head and looked at him. Adam noticed that she had finished her meal and was standing and clearing her place.

  “Everything was delicious. Thank you, again.” Cassie turned and carried her plates into the house. Once the plates were rinsed and loaded in the dishwasher, she considered finishing the cleanup; after all, that was what she had been hired to do.

  Looking around the kitchen, she saw that Adam had not made too big of a mess. She collected bowls and pans and loaded them into the dishwasher, and then wiped down all the countertops. That’s what Adam saw her doing when he strode inside.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, stopping short as he entered the kitchen, hands on hips.

  Cassie looked at him as if she didn’t understand the question. “What do you mean? I’m cleaning up.”

  “I can see that, Cassandra, I’m not an idiot. What I want to know is why you’re cleaning up.”

  Confusion, plain and simple, showed all over her face. “There was a mess, I’m cleaning it up. I have to work in this kitchen for the next several days, and it needs t
o be clean in here. That’s what you’re paying me for.”

  Adam cursed under his breath. He had had it! He had planned this meal as a peace offering, but clearly Cassie wasn’t ready to forgive and forget yet. Well, dammit, he was tired of waiting.

  Cassie had turned from him and was rinsing something in the sink. Adam stormed up behind her, grabbed her upper arm, and spun her around. Her eyes were like fire when they met his, and although he hoped she would put up a struggle, she didn’t. Cassie merely stared at him, daring him to prove her wrong.

  “The job I hired you for doesn’t start until Friday, so don’t give me any of that crap about working. Dinner tonight had nothing to do with business, and you know it. Now, I have made multiple attempts to talk to you, and you have avoided me like the damn plague. I’ve had enough, dammit!”

  He’d had enough? Cassie yanked her arm from his grasp. “Really? You’ve had enough? Well, too bad, Adam. You can’t have everything your own way.”

  “Meaning what exactly?” His eyes narrowed to slits. He had a feeling what she had to say was going to raise his ire.

  “Meaning that I refuse to be treated like your lover one minute and an employee the next. I thought that we’d shared something that weekend, and as soon as I did something that you didn’t agree with, instead of talking to me privately about it or perhaps giving me the benefit of the doubt, you lashed out and reminded me of my place. So, if I had to choose which relationship with you I’d prefer, it’s the business one. At least there I know exactly where I stand and have the option of whether I want to do business with you ever again. And, believe me, after this weekend, I think I’ll be opting to not do business with you again.”