by Noelle Adams
“Who’s to say that they don’t enjoy a good casserole,” his tone was deep and husky. Cassie felt his breath on her face and found she was focusing on his mouth.
She swayed slightly and closed her eyes to break the spell but found that she enjoyed looking at him way too much. Clearing her throat she said, “I guess that’s always a possibility.”
After that, they moved as if of one mind towards one another. When Adam’s lips touched Cassie’s all thought of food and European’s drained from her mind. She was still caged in close against his body and she slowly lifted her arms to twine them around Adam’s neck and pull him closer. In turn, Adam took his hands from the countertop and placed them first on her waist and then let them travel slowly up and down her back.
When his tongue reached out and touched Cassie’s bottom lip, she tilted her head and gave him entry; her own tongue dueling with his in an erotic dance that had her straining against him. For a mouth that always seemed so hard and firm, it was actually quite soft and thrilling Cassie thought as Adam began to work his way from her mouth to her cheek to her throat.
His hands came up and cupped her face and then moved in to her hair and lightly gripped. In turn, Cassie mimicked the move as she purred with satisfaction. Adam leaned into her, his hardness to her softness and she let out a gasp that wasn’t of pleasure, but of pain. He backed off immediately.
“Are you alright?”
Placing her hand on her stomach she merely nodded and took a deep breath. “I managed to forget that I just had surgery yesterday.” Her voice was laced with pain and in that instant Adam felt like the world’s biggest heel.
Placing an arm around her waist, he guided Cassie back to the sofa and helped her to sit down. With a sense of needing to fix what he’d done, he strode back into the kitchen and fetched her a glass of water. He found what he hoped to be her pain medication next to the sink.
They communicated without words. Handing Cassie the prescription bottle and drink, Adam went in search of the heating pad that she’d used the last time he was here. Within minutes he had her settled and comfortable while he felt anything but. “Should I call anyone? Your sisters? You dad?”
Cassie shook her head. “Really, I’m fine. It was actually kind of amazing that I hadn’t had a whole lot of pain tonight so I guess I was due.” She tried to smile but failed. The pain was ebbing but not completely gone. “Thank you for helping me out, Adam. I appreciate it.”
When she looked at him, he was no longer the sexy man that had been in her kitchen but the hard CEO that she normally worked with. The transformation was swift and Cassie had known Adam long enough to know that he was not pleased with the situation. “I’m really sorry that you had to take care of me. Again.”
He could only stare. She had scared the life out of him, again; made him lose his own head, again, and she was apologizing! “Damn it, Cassandra, I’m the one who’s sorry. I knew that you had just had surgery and here I am putting the moves on you in your kitchen!” Adam raked a hand through his hair in frustration and started to pace. “Is there anything else I can get you?’
The tone of voice wasn’t quite as clipped as it had been just moments before and Cassie could tell by the look on his face that while he wasn’t pleased with the situation, it had nothing to do with anger and everything to do with concern. She wanted to smile at the thought but the pain she was in was still too intense to ignore.
“No, I’ll be fine in a little while. The doctor told me that I’d feel pretty bad for a couple of days but that by next week I’d be back to my old self.” He didn’t look convinced. “Actually, I think I’ve had all the excitement I can take for one day so if you don’t mind, I think it’s time for me to go to bed.”
Brows furrowed, Adam stepped forward and helped Cassie to get up and as he had earlier, placed his arm around her and walked her to her room where he said good night.
“Thank you again for dinner, Adam. It was a very nice surprise.” Her tone was soft, almost sleepy. As Cassie watched him standing next to her bed, her mind immediately played back their kiss and the night he’d spent with her when she’d been in pain last weekend. She was sorely tempted to ask him to do the same for her again right now. Adam took a step back and Cassie knew that his staying was not something that was going to be repeated.
“Dinner was my pleasure. Get some rest, Cassandra, and thank you for the input on my upcoming meetings. I’m definitely going to explore that option.” For a man who was normally so confident in everything he did, Adam was unsure what his next move should be. Did he dare kiss her goodnight like he longed to do or would it be best to just go?
Seeing Cassie wince as she moved around her room gave Adam his answer. “Good night,” he said firmly. “Get some rest.” With that he was gone.
Once Adam had left Cassie’s apartment and was in his car he simply sat. What exactly was he doing? This was a relationship that was supposed to be at an end and yet here he was starting a new aspect to it. It made no sense! And to a man who made sure that he always made sense, it was maddening!
Driving off into the night, his mind raced. Sure the whole parents getting married thing added an element of prolonging the relationship that he and Cassie had but for all intents and purposes, their working relationship should be over. But then why was he actually considering hiring her to handle the beach retreat?
In business, Adam was not known to change his mind; when he made a decision about someone or something, he stuck to it. Why wasn’t that the case with Cassie? She had defied him and walked out on him in the middle of a meeting and then humiliated him in front of her family. If any other employee had pulled a stunt like that, they’d have been fired immediately and Adam would have made sure that they didn’t work in any capacity for any company remotely related to his ever again.
With a low growl of frustration, both at himself and on some levels, with Cassie, Adam didn’t relax until his home came into view; a large home that while in this frame of mind, seemed ridiculously too large for one man.
He thought about the Jacobs’ home and realized that he could fit at least four of them in this house with room to spare and they had six people living there at one time. Slamming the car door, Adam strode towards the house calling himself every kind of idiot because no matter what he seemed to do lately, it had him thinking about his soon-to-be family.
Family had never meant much to him; his father had seen to that. Deep down, Adam knew that he would never be able to forgive his mother for being weak; both with his father and with her only other attempt at marriage. Both men had been nothing but losers looking for an easy ride at Adam’s expense. Couldn’t Bev see that love and relationships were not to be trusted? No one truly loved anyone. It was all an illusion. If only his mother could learn to be satisfied with being…alone? No, that term did not sit well. Independent? Yes, that sounded better. Why did she feel the need to tie herself down with someone when everyone knew it was going to end and end badly?
The frustration wasn’t ebbing, if anything Adam felt ready to explode. Tossing his keys down on the nearest surface, he sprinted up the curved staircase up to his suite on the second floor and changed into a pair of swim trunks and then dashed back downstairs to the indoor pool. With any luck, he could burn off some of this tension and energy and actually be able to sleep tonight.
And not dream about the woman he’d kissed earlier or about how it would be to hold her again all night long.
Seven
Adam had arrived at the office before dawn on Friday in hopes of getting things done that had eluded him the previous day due to his mind wandering to how Cassie was doing.
By the time Grace had arrived at eight, Adam knew that the day was going to go nowhere. He was caught up on every project that he had going and the only thing that needed his attention now was the retreat he had spoken to Cassie about. Within an hour Adam had come to the conclusion that the idea would work and packed up his briefcase and strode to the outer office w
here Grace sat.
“Going somewhere?” she asked.
“Actually, I’ll be gone for the weekend. Call the cleaning service we use out on the Outer Banks. I need someone to go and open up the house immediately.”
Grace could not hide the look of shock on her face. “Immediately? As in right now?”
“Is that a problem?”
“No, no, of course not. I just didn’t realize that you…um…it wasn’t on your schedule.” She fumbled through her contacts file as she spoke, feeling as if she were all thumbs.
Adam had to stifle a chuckle. It took a lot to unnerve Grace and clearly the thought of him taking an unscheduled trip to the beach did it. “Ask them to purchase some basic supplies for me, as well. Milk, eggs, that sort of thing.”
Grace merely nodded as she began to dial the number. “Will you be back on Monday?”
“I believe so but that could change. I’m thinking of holding the retreat there in a couple of weeks.”
The phone slid from her shoulder and she fumbled to catch it and put it right. Holding up a finger for him to wait, Grace spoke to the agency and made the arrangements that Adam had asked for. When she hung up, she faced him full-on and asked what was going on.
“This deal is very important to the company, Grace, and I thought I’d try something new. Something that will include the wives. Why? Do you think it’s a bad idea?”
“No, actually, it’s a brilliant idea. I can call around and find you an agency that can come in and do all of the cooking and cleaning and that sort of thing if you’d like. I’m sure the one that’s on their way to the house now could help and…”
“That won’t be necessary,” he interrupted. “I’ve already made arrangements. Have a good weekend, Grace.” The look on her face was near comical as he walked away.
Adam threw his briefcase into the back seat of the car and sped towards his house to pack and within an hour he was on his way. Pulling into the back parking lot of Cassie’s shop, he hopped out and knocked on the door.
“Adam?” she said as she pulled open the door. Wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, Cassie fidgeted with her pony tail as she stood there looking at the casual version of Adam Lawrence. In faded blue jeans and a sweater, it was the first time Cassie had seen him in anything but a suit. “Wow, twice in one week,” she said with a smile. “Come in.”
Adam walked through the door and into the massive kitchen and waited for her to close the door. “How are you feeling?”
“Much better, actually. Thanks. I’m getting a little antsy to get back to work but Katie has our event for this weekend covered and so I promised that I’d behave and stay out of the way.” She fidgeted some more with her shirt before adding, “It’s just about killing me.”
“I can relate to that completely,” He smiled and felt it broaden as Cassie smiled back. “Actually, I think I have something that can help.”
“Really?”
“I’m taking your advice and I’m going to host that retreat at my place on the Outer Banks. I’m on my way there now for the weekend and thought you might want to come along with me.”
“Um…”
Adam walked towards Cassie and fought the urge to take her hands in his. He could tell that her mind was racing with all kinds of questions – he was good at reading people like that – and knew that he should explain himself.
“This was your brainchild so I thought maybe you could come with me and help me plan it all out. Plus, the beach is a great place to recuperate and you’ll be able to relax and not be trying to stay away from your kitchen. What do you say?”
“Oh…I don’t know, Adam. I mean…”
“There’s nothing to know,” he said smoothly; ready to cut down all of her objections. “This was your creative idea and I would appreciate your help.”
He was being vague, Cassie thought. Was he just going to pick her brain for the weekend and then hire somebody else? She wanted to stamp her foot and demand to know but decided to act as casual as he and act as if it didn’t matter. “Well,” she began, “I guess it would be nice to get out of here for a few days.”
“Good girl.”
“I’ll just need about fifteen minutes to pack and get ready.” Cassie turned and headed for the stairs to her apartment not waiting to see if Adam would follow. She knew he would. Once upstairs, she made a beeline for her bedroom and pulled a small suitcase from her closet and began filling it with clothes. In minutes she was done. Pulling up the handle, she rolled the suitcase to the door and then turned to grab a sweatshirt to wear for the ride. “I’m all ready,” she said as she walked around and made sure that windows were locked and lights were turned off. “I’ll call Kate from the road and let her know where I’ll be.”
With disbelief, Adam looked at his watch. Only ten minutes had passed. “Are you sure you have everything?” He stared at her lone piece of luggage and then looked back at Cassie, one dark eyebrow arched.
“Sure. It’s only a weekend. I’m guessing we’ll be back sometime on Sunday, right?” Adam nodded. “Then I’ve got all that I need.”
They each reached for her suitcase at the same time, their hands grazing. Cassie pulled back, but not before she felt the heat of his touch and looked up and met his dark gaze. “I’ll get that,” he said, his tone deep and rich, like velvet washing over her skin. Their faces were mere inches apart and Cassie almost gave in to the need to lean into him and kiss him again.
Instead, reason returned and she stood and stepped aside for him to precede her down the stairs and joined him in the car.
The conversation flowed effortlessly during the three hour drive with Adam asking how she saw the plans for the retreat. She was an intelligent business woman, he already knew that, but it was the way that she passionately spoke about her work and her vision that intrigued him.
Most women that he knew were shallow; they were either too career oriented and ended up coming off as being cold or they had no desire to have a career and merely marry someone to support them for the rest of their lives.
While Cassie was definitely career oriented and seemed to have big plans for the expansion of her business, she came off as anything but cold. Her ideas sparked his own imagination. She had a way of talking that wrapped around you and made it easy to visualize whatever it was that she was saying. The only flaw that she had was that one brief meeting in his office.
He shrugged that thought aside, enjoying himself too much to let it get him down. Maybe she’d had a bad day. Hell, he had them a lot. For this weekend, however, that lone meeting, the only blemish on her impeccable record was going to be forgotten. Adam had big plans for this weekend and only some of them were business related.
“So I’m thinking that, weather permitting, you can make the deck into a fabulous dining venue. We can add twinkly lights and rent some extra tables and chairs, use some real linen table coverings…you know, move what’s inside to the outside so that your guests can enjoy the sounds and smells of the ocean. What do you think?”
In that moment Adam realized that she had been talking the whole time he’d been thinking. Cassie had not even seen his house and yet she was already making plans as if she’d been there and what she had planned, from the little he’d heard, sounded lovely.
“I don’t think we’ll have to rent too much, after all, they’ll only be eight of us.”
Cassie did the math in her head and she knew it was three couples and Adam. She was wondering who that eighth person was going to be. “Okay, that makes things a little easier and more intimate. You can do a large table for eight so that everyone is not crammed together and it can still be covered in linen, we’ll do seat covers so they’re not feeling like they’re sitting on folding chairs. We can decorate the table with tea lights and larger candles and pull together a centerpiece that is themed with seashells and sand…Oh, it’s going to look lovely.”
Adam’s head snapped towards hers at the use of the word ‘lovely’; a word he’d just used in his
mind earlier. Cassie was describing everything that he’d had in his mind for this weekend without him prompting her in any way. Grace was the only other person that thought like him and even that had taken time. She had worked for Adam for over a year when she finally stopped asking him how he liked things and simply presented what he liked.
“What about the menu? What are you thinking on that?”
Cassie glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes and with a wicked grin on her face. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Okay, you said that they would arrive on Friday afternoon after lunch, right?” He nodded. “So you’ll want to greet them with something light to eat, some cocktails. We can do some cheese and crackers, some crudités and dip and perhaps some fresh fruit.”
“For dinner, we’ll keep it casual. After all, they’ll have been on the road for several hours after traveling the previous days so we don’t want to command a formal environment that will have the wives fussing about getting ready. We can grill some steaks, get some fresh lobster…I do a fabulous seafood bar for some events that I can scale back and make for eight.”
She stopped and thought some more. “We’ll do grilled vegetables, a field green salad, and lots of wine, fresh baked bread…” Cassie turned and looked at Adam whose face looked grim. “Uh-oh,” she mumbled. “You’re not liking any of that, are you?”
On the contrary, she’d nailed it again.
“No, no, what you’ve outlined sounds wonderful.”
“Are you sure, because you look pretty intense? Did you have something else in mind?”
Yes, telling you that you got it all wrong! He thought to himself. “Actually, you described the perfect meal.” Adam stopped and inhaled, releasing it slowly. “What about dessert?”