In the Eye of the Storm / Catering to the CEO

by Samantha Chase

  Her heart was pounding, and she was mumbling to herself about what kind of an idiot people must take her for when a shadow crossed the doorway.

  “If you pick that up, I’m going to put it back.”

  Cassie stood straight. “I thought I made myself clear. I am not sharing a bed with you. You may have conned my family into welcoming you, but they don’t know the real you. You act sincere, and then as soon as you get your way, you walk out. I’m not going there with you again, Adam,” she said, her voice finally cracking. “I can’t.”

  He stepped into the closet and took Cassie in his arms. It felt so good to hold her again, and he was surprised that she didn’t put up more of a fight; instead, she started to cry.

  “Why couldn’t you stay away?” she sobbed. “I don’t understand why you need to be cruel.”

  Her words cut him deeply, and he placed a finger under her chin and forced her to look at him. “I’m not trying to be cruel, Cassandra,” he said softly, “I realized I couldn’t stay away. I missed you.”

  Disbelief marked her face, and Adam knew he had to come clean. “I had to be here. I couldn’t lose you.” His eyes scanned her face, the beautiful face that had been haunting him for weeks. Deciding to lay it all out on the table, he took a deep breath and said, “I know.”

  Eyebrows arched, Cassie leaned back and stared at him. “You know what?”

  A small chuckle emerged because Adam knew that life with Cassie was never going to be boring. She was going to make him work for this. “I know about the baby.”

  She stepped out of his arms and nearly stumbled over her suitcase in her attempt to put some space between them. “What baby? What are you talking about?”

  Now it was Adam’s turn to be confused. “Our baby,” he said simply, although there wasn’t a lot of confidence behind the statement. “I heard you on the phone that day in my office. You’re pregnant.”

  Cassie laughed out loud and stepped past him to get out of the closet. “I don’t know what you thought you heard, Adam, but I am most definitely not pregnant. And what were you doing listening in on my conversation?”

  Following her to the bedroom, Adam felt a slight sense of panic at the turn in the conversation. “I wasn’t intentionally listening to your conversation, you were in my office! Grace told me that you were on the phone, and I heard you talking about being pregnant and that you weren’t going to tell me!”

  “Is that why you freaked out in the restaurant? Rather than talking to me about what you thought you heard, you decided it would be better to rant and rave and say horrible things to me and my family?”

  Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath to calm himself. This was not going the way he had planned. “Look, I will admit I behaved badly that night to everyone, and I have apologized to all of them for it…”

  “Not to me,” she stated.

  “I was getting to that,” he snapped, mentally counting to ten before he continued. “My feelings for you terrify me. I’d never felt for anyone what I feel for you. I don’t trust easily, and there I was, willing to try, and then you announcing that you were pregnant but not wanting to ever tell me sort of flipped a switch. I am so sorry for the way I reacted, Cassandra, but I want you to know that I’m excited about the baby!”

  With a mirthless laugh, Cassie sat on the edge of the bed. “Look, Adam, you completely misunderstood what you heard that day. I’m not pregnant.”

  “But on the phone…you said…”

  “I was on the phone with Danielle Chamberlain, who actually is pregnant. She and Max are excited to become parents, but she didn’t want me to tell you because Max wanted to do it himself. So I promised to keep silent. That’s what you heard.” Cassie sighed wearily, waiting for Adam’s retreat.

  “If you had simply asked me when you came into the office, I would have told you. Then we could have avoided all the ugliness that happened, and we could have ended our relationship differently,” she said wearily.

  Sitting beside her, Adam took her hand and stared at their connection. “What makes you think it would have ended?” he asked softly.

  “I’m not stupid, Adam. I knew when we left here that you were having regrets and that it was only a matter of time. I figured that we would drift apart and try not to be awkward with each other when our parents married.”

  Sighing sadly, Cassie raised her head and looked at Adam. “So you’re off the hook. I’m not pregnant. No one is trapping you. You don’t have to be here, pretending to have a good time so that an angry mob won’t come chasing after you over my honor or anything.”

  He was about to respond when there was a knock on the bedroom door. Stephen and Bev walked in, full of smiles. Adam and Cassie stood and faced them, both plastering smiles on their faces as they approached.

  “We want you both to know how much we appreciate all that you’ve done to help with our wedding,” Bev stated. “The house is so beautiful, Adam, and I love how it is like a Christmas wonderland everywhere I turn.”

  “It was my pleasure, Mom,” he said gruffly. “You deserve to have a beautiful wedding.”

  She beamed at his words and then stepped forward to hug him. “It means the world to me that you’re here to share it with me and to walk me down the aisle. Thank you.”

  She turned toward Cassie. “And you,” she said, hugging Cassie as well, “you have outdone yourself already with all the food and with all you’ve done with the preparations! I am the most relaxed bride in the world. Thank you.”

  “You are very welcome,” Cassie said genuinely. “I want your wedding to be everything you want it to be so that you can start your lives together on a good note.”

  “That’s my girl,” Stephen said, taking a turn hugging Cassie. “You make me proud every day, Cass.”

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  “I know it’s getting late, but we wanted to say how happy we are for the two of you. This wedding is more special because the two of you are back together.” Cassie tried not to react to Bev’s words and instead simply smiled and nodded, hugging the couple one last time before they left the room, shutting the door behind them.

  “We’re back together?” Cassie asked as soon as the door was shut. “You told your mother that we’re back together? How did they even know we were together in the first place? I know I never told them that!” Her voice was nearing hysteria, and Adam reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders to try to calm her.

  “I didn’t technically say that we were together but that I was hopeful. You see, when I talked to everyone—”

  Cassie threw Adam’s hands from her shoulders. “When you talked to everyone? So you told my whole family that we were getting back together? And nobody questioned that or bothered to say anything to me?”

  Adam was used to thinking quickly on his feet, but he had a feeling that no matter what he said, Cassie was still going to be upset. “I asked them not to upset you because of…well…” His eyes strayed to her stomach, and it took mere seconds for him to realize his mistake.

  “You told them all that I was pregnant?”

  “In all fairness, at the time it seemed to work in my favor. After all, how could they hate the father of your child, especially when I was stepping up to do the right thing?”

  “Have you gone completely insane, Adam? You went behind my back and told my family something that, even if it was true, was none of their business! How could you do that?” Cassie demanded as she began to pace the length of the bedroom.

  “Is that why everyone has been acting so weird toward me? Why I haven’t done more than lift a dish without someone swooping in to help me?” She wasn’t asking him the questions as much as putting together all the odd behavior of her family for the past couple of weeks. “That must be why Matt came and loaded the van for me and why Lauren has suddenly taken an interest in how I’ve been eating!” Sh
e turned to face him. “Did it ever once occur to you to come and talk to me first?”

  Feeling cornered, Adam stared mutely at her for a moment. “I…it sort of just happened! Your father came to invite me to the wedding, and we talked, and I told him what I’d heard, and he promised to keep it to himself. Then I had to go see my mother and beg for her forgiveness, and then she asked about you, and it came out.” He ran a hand through his hair. “By the time I got to your brother and sisters, it seemed a way to smooth things over with them.”

  Cassie stared at him in disbelief.

  “Looking back, I can see how that was not the way I should have gone, but what am I supposed to do? Tell me how to fix this, and I will.” Walking toward her, Adam reached out. When Cassie flinched and moved out of his grasp, he felt as if all hope was lost. He waited what seemed like hours for her to speak again.

  “In the midst of all this wedding hoopla, I now have to either upset our parents by telling them the truth or lie to them. Have I got that right?” she asked wearily.

  “You don’t have to lie, Cassandra. Give me another chance. No one will be thinking about the possibility of you being pregnant because they’ll all be wrapped up in the wedding festivities. We’ll deal with that issue after New Year’s. Please say you’ll give me another chance.”

  Cassie looked at him, desperately wanting to believe him and to give in and say yes. Unfortunately, she’d been down this road before and wasn’t willing to take that chance with him again. Adam Lawrence had broken her heart, and the wound was too fresh for her to be willing to give him the opportunity to do it again.

  A look at the clock showed it to be nearing midnight. She was so tired and wanted the day to end. “I can’t do this with you now, Adam. I’m tired, and I’m confused, and the thought of facing everyone tomorrow knowing that they are all believing a lie…it’s too much for me to deal with right now. I want to go to sleep.” She walked past him and went to get her suitcase. Adam followed her into the closet.

  “It’s late, and you’re tired. Please stay here tonight. I promise to be a perfect gentleman and keep my hands to myself. The bed is big enough for us to both sleep in it without ever touching.” He saw the hesitation in her eyes, and it made him ache. “Please.”

  The slight nod of her head was all he needed. Carrying the suitcase out into the room, he placed it on the bench at the foot of the bed. Cassie opened it and grabbed a nightshirt and her toiletries and went into the bathroom. When she emerged a few minutes later, Adam was already in the bed, facing away from her with his bedside lamp off. She was thankful to not have to speak to him again.

  She crawled into the bed, got comfortable under the blankets, and then lay on her side with her back to Adam, as close to the edge of the mattress as she could get without falling off. Turning off her bedside light, she let a small sigh escape. This was supposed to be a wonderful event; it was Christmas, and her father was getting married. In a matter of hours, all the joy that she had been feeling had been replaced with despair. How was she supposed to face her family in the morning?

  Though Cassie longed for answers, her body longed for sleep even more. Morning would be here soon enough, and she hoped that by the time the sun came up, she’d have the answer to all her troubles.

  Chapter 17

  The first rays of the sun were starting to make their way across the bedroom. Cassie snuggled deeper into the blankets and sighed. She loved this bed. It didn’t take long for her brain to engage and realize that she was pressed up against Adam from head to toe; their legs were tangled together, her head was on his chest, and his arms were wrapped around her. Dammit! she thought. He’d promised!

  At the slight movement of her head, Adam knew she was awake and patiently waited to see what kind of response he would get. Reluctantly loosening his hold on her, he opened his eyes as he met her furious gaze.

  “You promised,” she hissed.

  “Yes, I did,” he said evenly.

  “As if you weren’t despicable enough, you had to try something cheap like this!” She sat up and pushed her hair from her eyes, sighing with frustration.

  “Like what?”

  Her head snapped toward him at his comment. “Like what? You told me that you would be a gentleman, and yet here we are, all tangled up together!”

  Adam chuckled and sat up, adjusting the pillows behind him. “I hate to break it to you, Sweetheart, but check which side of the bed you’re on.”

  Cassie’s heart sank as she realized that Adam was exactly where he’d been last night when she’d come to bed. She was the one who had crossed the invisible line and over to enemy territory. “Oh.”

  Taking a chance, Adam reached out and gently pulled Cassie beside him against the pillows. She didn’t resist, and if anything, she seemed to sigh and relax. She was the first to speak.

  “I’m sorry.”

  Unable to resist, Adam wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ve given you plenty of reasons to distrust me.”

  Cassie looked up at him and gave him a weak smile. “I don’t want to go downstairs and face everyone. I don’t know what to do.”

  “Then we’ll stay up here all day and let them draw their own conclusions,” he teased and gave an inward sigh of relief when Cassie’s smile grew.

  “I definitely don’t want that,” she said, nudging him with her elbow. “But, seriously, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t want to lie to everyone. I’ve never lied to my father, and I’d hate to start now, right before his wedding.”

  Adam caressed her cheek and tilted her face up toward his. “The last time we were in this bed together, you said that you loved me.” When Cassie went to protest, he placed a finger over her lips to silence her. “You were half-asleep, but you said it. It was the most wonderful and yet the most terrifying thing anyone had ever said to me, and I know that I reacted badly. This was never supposed to happen between us, and yet I can’t begin to regret it. You turned my life upside down the day you quit in my office, and as angry as it made me at the time, I can’t be sorry that it happened.”

  Removing his finger from her soft lips, Adam continued, “I can never apologize enough for all the ways I’ve hurt you, but I want you to know that not a day has gone by since that night in the restaurant that I haven’t kicked myself for the way I treated you. You mean the world to me, and I don’t want to imagine a life without you.”

  Everything in Cassie softened. In all the time she and Adam had spent together, this was the first time he had ever spoken of his feelings, and she knew by the sincerity in his eyes that this wasn’t a game; it wasn’t a means to an end.

  “Don’t go downstairs and lie to everyone, go downstairs with me, hand in hand, and celebrate.”

  A stray tear rolled down her cheek. “I want so badly to believe you…to believe in you, but I’m so scared. I don’t think I can survive if you break my heart again.”

  Leaning forward, Adam kissed her gently on the lips. Pulling back, he stared into her eyes, hoping she’d read his true feelings there. “Cassandra, I love you. I’ve never said those words to anyone, and yet there are no other words to describe how I feel about you. My life has been so empty without you, and even though I know that there is no baby, I want that to be a temporary thing. I want to marry you, have babies with you, and have a life with you. Is it possible that you still love me?”

  His words were Cassie’s undoing. “Adam, I do love you. I tried not to, but I couldn’t stop. Being here without you was so hard! Tell me again. Tell me that you love me.”

  “I love you. I’ll tell you all day every day if that’s what you want.”

  Wrapping a hand behind Adam’s neck, Cassie pulled him to her for the kiss that she’d been craving for weeks. They lay more comfortably on the bed as Adam kissed her like a starving man finally able to feast. In between kisses,
he told Cassie how much she meant to him.

  When they finally surfaced, Cassie was the first to speak. “As much as I want to stay right here in this bed with you, we have a full schedule of wedding preparations to attend to.”

  Reluctantly, he agreed. “So then you’re feeling better about going downstairs and facing everyone?”

  “Well, I’m not totally lying to them, but I dread the time when we do have to tell them that it was all a misunderstanding and I’m not pregnant. Hopefully, they’ll all get a good laugh out of it.”

  “Or,” he began, “we see what we can do to rectify that.” A wicked grin crossed Adam’s face as his hand skimmed over Cassie’s cheek.

  “A man with a plan…I like that.”

  Keep reading for a sneak peek of the next book in the Montgomery Brothers series

  “Dammit,” Megan Montgomery cursed as she tried to pull her phone from her bag and ended up nearly tripping over her own two feet. She might be in a new city, but she was the same old klutz she’d always been. The airport was crowded, and she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going, and all in all, she felt like a disaster. She murmured an apology to the people around her before stepping aside to read her texts.

  Her cousin Summer Reed was meeting her outside baggage claim, and according to the text, she was circling the airport, trying to put her baby daughter to sleep.

  Great.

  The flight to Portland had been full, there had been a crying baby behind Megan, and the last thing she wanted was to be sitting near another crying baby—even if she was incredibly adorable and related to her. Ugh…her nerves were frayed. As if moving across the country wasn’t stressful enough, it had to get off to a rocky start? She let out a breath and joined the throngs of people again—careful to pay attention this time—and merged into the stream heading to the exit.

  Fifteen minutes later she had her bags and was searching for Summer’s red SUV. Spring in Portland was nicer than in Albany, Megan thought as she waited. She was practically bouncing on her toes as she watched the flow of cars. Her emotions were doing their own version of a tennis match, bouncing between being nervous and excited about this new adventure.