Catering to the CEO Read Online Free PDF Page B

kind of sweet.”  Bev turned and looked into the house, sure that this was the kind of family that she wanted to be a part of.  She sighed and looked back at her son who didn’t seem the least bit appeased by her explanation.
    “They’re a wonderful family, aren’t they?” she asked.
    Wanting more of an explanation than his mother was willing to give, Adam couldn’t help but be annoyed.  “Yeah, sure, they’re great.  You’re not the one they were giving the evil eye to all night.  That doesn’t seem so wonderful to me.”
    “You had it coming.  You hurt Cassie and in turn they wanted to hurt you because of it.  They stick together.  You have to respect that.”
    “Respect what?”
    “Their loyalty.”
    “Whatever,” he mumbled and looked into the house to see Lauren and Matt heading for the kitchen and Katie not far behind them.  “I guess we should head in.”  Nodding, Bev waited as Adam opened the door for her and went inside. 
    On the way to the kitchen, Adam couldn’t help but look around to see where Cassie had gone to.  He found the rest of the family setting dessert plates on the table and pouring coffee but no signs of Cassie.  With a sigh of frustration, he sat down in the same chair he’d used during dinner.  Lauren slammed a plate down in front of him and sat down across from him.  And glared.
    “At least you apologized,” she said with a sour look and waited for Adam to respond.
    “I know when to admit I’m wrong,” there was confidence in his words but one look at Lauren showed him that she wasn’t buying it.
    Without appearing to care, Adam looked around to see if Cassie was going to join them or if there was any clue as to where she was.  Conversation kicked up around him while dessert was served and within moments he got caught up in listening to his mother and Stephen’s story of how they met.
    Rolling his eyes would have been completely inappropriate, so would checking his watch; there was no choice but to sit back and listen to Bev and Stephen take turns talking about their awkward blind date that they had been set upon by friends.  Bev’s eyes shown bright as she talked about the point where they knew they were in love.
    It didn’t take long to see where this all was going.  Shifting in his seat, Adam could only pray that his instincts were wrong.  He wasn’t used to his mother dating as it was; she used to date quite often when he was younger but after one particularly nasty situation, she’d stopped.  It had been easily ten years since she’d been serious with anyone. 
    “I know that this might be something of a shock to all of you,” Stephen was saying when Adam tuned back in, “but I’ve asked Bev to marry me.”
    The room erupted in congratulations to the point that baby Ella was startled and started to cry.  Katie rushed over to pick up her daughter and soothed her as she went over to hug her father.  Adam stood back and observed before offering his own reserved congratulations to their parents. 
    “Thank you, Adam,” Stephen said as he shook his hand.  “I know we all got off to a rocky start this evening but it seems like you and Cassie have managed to work things out and we’re not the type to hold grudges around here.  I want you to know that your mother means the world to me.”  To reinforce his point, he put an arm around his fiancé and pulled her close before kissing her. 
    Bev absolutely beamed and Adam could not deny that his mother believed herself to be in love.  But why did it have to be with the patriarch of this particular family?  How was he supposed to keep his promise to himself to fire Cassie as his event planner and coordinator after the Fall Retreat when they were practically family? 
    By the time dessert was finished and he and Bev were getting ready to leave, he still didn’t have the answer as to what to do about Cassie nor had she returned to the festivities.  As much as he tried to tell himself that he