Catering to the CEO (9 page)

“Um…hello, Cassandra, it’s Adam.  Can I come up?”  She didn’t answer right away and he had brief moment of uncertainty and fear that she’d send him away.  A solid minute passed that had him feeling more and more foolish for coming.

A buzzer sounded and Adam heard the lock click.  “It’s just a friendly dinner,” he mumbled to himself as he climbed the stairs.  “No big deal.”

Cassie met him at the top of the stairs wearing a similar ensemble to what she’d worn Saturday night:  flannel pajama pants, this time in red with a dark red tank top.  “Adam, this is a surprise.”  The words were out before she fully saw him and then the items in his hands caught her attention.  “Pizza?  You brought me pizza?” Her smile widened to pure delight as she stepped aside and let him in.

“I figured I owed you a meal since you sent me home with leftovers last time.  I hope you like pepperoni.”  Placing the pizza on the table, he then placed the bag he had with him in the freezer. 

“What was that?”

He gave her a wicked smile.  “Milkshakes.  Chocolate milkshakes.”

Cassie’s smile lit up the room and in that moment Adam understood what the Grinch must have felt on that fateful Christmas morning when his heart grew three sizes.  “Wow!  This is quite a treat!  You came at the perfect time.  I was trying to decide what to have for dinner and I really didn’t want to cook.  You are my hero.”

In that moment, Adam truly believed her.  Most women would say that in order to get something from him but he was finding bit by bit that Cassie wasn’t like any woman he’d ever met before.  The women in his life would never have been happy with pizza and milkshakes; they’d want lobster and champagne.  This was definitely new territory for him and as he shed his jacket and tie, Adam believed it was one that he wouldn’t mind spending time in.

Cassie was getting plates and napkin and carrying them into the living room.  “What are you doing?” Adam asked, clearly confused that she wasn’t setting the kitchen table.

“I thought we‘d eat inside.  Katie rented a couple of movies for me and I thought maybe we’d watch one while we eat.  Is that okay?”

Probably a chick-flick, he thought.  “Um…sure.  I’m right behind you with the pizza.”

“Don’t forget the milkshakes…”

Adam chuckled and grabbed the bag from the freezer and walked into the living room.  Opening the pizza box, he sat down and was about to grab a slice, waiting for the girly music to start when he looked up and saw Robert DeNiro’s name on the screen.  “DeNiro?”

“Oh, it’s ‘
Midnight Run
’.  Robert DeNiro, Charles Grodin?  It’s one of my favorites.”

Placing a slice of pizza on Cassie’s plate, he turned and pulled the milkshakes out of the bag and put straws in each of them and handed one to Cassie.  This woman was becoming more and more intriguing by the minute.  She was sitting Indian style on the couch, a paper plate in her lap, her milkshake on the floor in front of her.  The mass of chestnut hair was wavier than he’d ever seen it and she didn’t have on a scrap of make up and yet she looked more appealing than he’d ever seen her. 

Taking a bite of his dinner, Adam turned his attention to the movie and off of the woman and he waited a full five minutes before he spoke and asked how she was feeling.

“Much better today, thanks.”  She took a sip of her milkshake.  “Oh, that is perfect,” she purred.  “I’m actually much sorer than I was yesterday but that’s to be expected.  Katie was here all day and took care of me.  This is way better than being mothered.”

“Mothered?”

“You know, fussing about, fluffing pillows, asking if I needed anything…it was sweet of her and I appreciate every minute of her time but I didn’t have a limb amputated or anything.  She had Ella with her and I loved getting to spend time with them but by the time they left I was actually more exhausted than relaxed.”

Adam chuckled.  “Well, you have my promise to not fluff pillows or to fuss.”

Cassie let out a laugh of her own.  “Thanks.”

They resumed watching the movie with minimal conversation and shared laughs.  It was actually the most pleasant time she’d had in a long time.  By the time the credits rolled, Cassie had eaten way more pizza than she should have and had polished off the milkshake.  Her head rested on the back of the couch and she felt completely relaxed.  With a sigh of contentment, she turned her head towards Adam.  “At the risk of being redundant, thank you.”

He turned and smiled.  “And at the risk of answering with redundancy, you are welcome.”  They sat like that for long moments.  Just looking, just smiling.  Adam started to feel a pull towards her and knew that he had to do or say something to break the hypnotic spell.  “You know, I’m still hearing buzz from people about the food from the retreat.  Everything was a big hit.”  It was on the tip of his tongue to say that she was right about the menu choices and not changing them, but he just wasn’t ready for that kind of admission out loud.

“I’m so glad.  How did the training go?  Are you getting the feedback that you want from it?”  Another first, Adam thought.  No other woman, beside his mother, ever asked about his business with any interest and the look on Cassie’s face as she spoke told him that she was truly interested. 

“Well, I’ve had a couple of smaller meetings with a select group of programmers and s
alesmen.  I have some executives from three smaller companies in Europe coming over in a few weeks to talk about having L.S.S. come over and rebuilding their computer systems.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.  So you’ll be entertaining them at the office?”

“That’s the plan.  I was thinking of moving the meetings off-site since their spouses are coming but I couldn’t think of anything to do that would include everyone and yet give us the uninterrupted time I’d like to have with them where I won’t be distracted.”

Cassie nodded with understanding.  “You mean maybe like an actual
‘retreat’
type of environment?”  It was Adam’s turn to nod.  “Well, if I could make a suggestion…”

At any other time, Adam would have rese
nted her insinuating herself into his business but he was relaxed and genuinely curious about what she could come up with.

“I think that if you wanted to have an environment where the wives could be included and you’d have time to get to know them without any real interruptions, I would suggest renting a house either in the mountains or at the beach.”  She stopped and studied Adam for a moment.  “I’m betting that you at least have a beach house, am I right?”

He nodded.  “Indeed you are.  Now tell me why I want to take them to the beach?”

“For starters, it’s more personal.  It shows that you are interested in them on more than just a business level and you won’t have all of the distractions of being in your own office.
”  When he made to interrupt, she held up a hand.  “Hear me out.  Since they’re business men, they’ve seen offices.  Plus, their wives will be bored hanging out at a hotel in Raleigh all day.”

“At the beach, you’re all in the house together, you have the great scenery, and the woman can go shopping or enjoy the water while the men are inside talking business.  You bring in a maid and a cook and no one has to worry about anything.”

Standing, Cassie went to the kitchen to get something to drink and asked Adam if he wanted anything.  When he responded no, she grabbed some water and walked back to the couch.  “You could book spa treatments for the women or have a car pick them up and take them shopping… I’m telling you, you’d come across as the best guy to do business with.”

“At least from the ladies point of view,” he quipped with a smile.  “Actually, it’s a great idea.”  It almost pained him to admit it while at the same time his mind was spinning with possibilities.  It all seemed so simple that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it himself!  “They could fly into Raleigh on Thursday, tour the offices, meet with our people and then I could have a car drive them to the beach on Friday where lunch would be waiting for them.  We would have the afternoon to get settled in and relax, talk a little business, have dinner together and start with negotiations on Saturday morning after breakfast while the women go and do their thing.  Interesting, Cassandra.  It definitely has possibilities.”

That made her smile.  “I am known to have a good idea or two.”  She wanted to ask Adam to hire her to do the job; to hire her to be at the beach house to do all of the cooking and planning and whatnot but she knew that it would be way out of line and that if she’d learned anything about Adam it was that the idea had to be his or he didn’t like it.

Well, except with this beach idea.  He seemed to take well to that and she didn’t want to push her luck.  Right now, Cassie didn’t want to do or say anything that was going to put an end to the relationship they seemed to be building.  It felt good to be here with him.  It was comfortable and if she wasn’t recovering from that damn surgery, she’d probably be playing
a little at seduction right now.  But knowing that she was certainly no raving beauty on her best days, there was no way a man like Adam would find her attractive in her pajamas with bed hair and no make up. 

Again.

Well wasn’t that a bucket of cold water in the face?  Okay, back to reality, she told herself and sighed.  “I think that with the right amount of planning, you’d be a big hit even with the guys.  After all, if the wives are happy…well, the trickle down effect would work here.”

Adam merely nodded.  She was intelligent, considerate and even without makeup she was stunning.  Leaning in a bit closer and lowering his voice a notch he asked, “Know anyone that would be willing to take on such a task?”

The corners of Cassie’s lips twitched with the urge to smile but she kept her response low key.  “Well, I’m sure you could call some sort of temp agency that was familiar with the area who would be willing to come in and cook and clean for a few days.  You could get references…”

She almost had him but he noticed the twitch and decided to play along.  “True, true…I mean, how hard could it be to cook a couple of meals for seven people?  Hell, I’m sure they have temps for that sort of easy work.”  There was no way he could look at her as he finished the statement.  Adam was sure she was seething at the direct jibe at her livelihood. 

And she was.  Mildly.  She stood and began cleaning up their dinner mess.  “I suppose,” she began.  “I guess you could just take them out for every meal, you know, to play it safe and make sure no one gets food poisoning.  Or you could take your chances and hope that your European guests like casseroles and chicken pot pie…”  She left that thought hanging as she walked into the kitchen.  The smile that was tugging at her lips couldn’t be helped; this teasing and bantering with Adam was making her feel light and happy.  Placing her water glass in the sink Cassie nearly screeched when she turned around and found Adam directly behind her.

He placed his hands on the counter on either side of her, effectively caging Cassie in and keeping her close.  “You sound like a bit of a food snob, Cassandra; I never knew that a
bout you.”  Adam looked down into her face and saw, for the first time, just how blue her eyes were.  He scanned her face and noticed the freckles, faint though they were, that were scattered across the bridge of her nose, and how long her lashes were without the help of mascara…all in all she made a very fetching picture.

“Who’s to say that they don’t enjoy a good casserole,” his tone was deep and husky and Cassie felt his breath on her face and found herself 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 i
nto 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 another glass of water and 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?”