Page 100 of Enchanting the CEO

I filled my plate as I balanced Ben in one arm. The chafing dishes kept everything piping hot. It was a good thing Ben was too small to walk around on his own; it could be very unsafe for him wandering around these scalding pans.

"Do you want to put him down?" Spencer asked him.

"No, I can multitask," I said, putting some mashed potatoes on my plate with gravy and roast beef.

As we sat down at the table, I held him firmly with my left arm and ate with the right. When I took my third spoonful, Ben's sounds changed. I looked down at him. The poor guy was salivating.

"Aw. I’m sorry. He does that ever since we introduced solids," Penny said.

"Think he wants to taste it?" I asked.

"For sure," Spencer said. "The little guy will eat anything, I swear to God."

I put mashed potatoes on the fork and held it to his lips. He licked a bit and scrunched his face but then gave me a huge smile.

Holy shit, this is amazing! He'd never smiled like this. I loved it. I switched to a spoon and fed him more of my potatoes.

"You're really good at this," Spencer said. He sounded stunned.

"I'm just as surprised as you are."

Diane smiled at me and said, "You’re a great uncle. I can hold him so you can eat if you want. I've already finished with my food, and I have some mashed potatoes left." She sounded very eager, and that stirred something inside me.

"Sure," I said, and she took him, settling Ben on her lap.

She looked really good with a baby in her arms. She kissed his forehead before starting to feed him. I couldn't look away. The image spoke to a primal part of my brain that I wasn't even aware existed until now.

I forced myself to focus on my food, which wasn't too difficult since I was starving. Everyone made small talk around the table. No one brought up work and Whitley Industries. We rarely talked shop among ourselves, and it didn't make much sense anyway, since each of us was focusing on our own companies.

Once we were done, the caterer who’d stayed behind rolled the chafing dishes out of sight on the porch and brought in trays with dessert.

"I can’t believe you didn't want cake," Maddox exclaimed.

"That's like the best part of a birthday party," Leo added.

"What are you guys, four?" I asked them, but I kind of agreed. It didn't feel like a birthday party without a cake.

Grandfather chuckled. “What can I say? Not a fan of cake.”

There was a good assortment of sweets, and everyone circulated around the room while eating the dessert. Spencer took Ben back from Diane, who was now chatting with Penny.

Meredith and Natalie had their heads together, looking at me. At first I thought it was a coincidence, but I kept glancing at them while I filled my plate with macarons and figured they were definitely talking about me. I headed over to them.

"Gabe," Natalie said, sounding a bit on edge.

"So, you two were clearly gossiping about me. Why don't you fill me in?"

Meredith's cheek hollowed like she bit it from the inside. Natalie looked at her feet, hesitating.

"What's wrong? Jake or Cade need help with anything, or you two? Or do you know anything about our grandparents that—”

"No, no," Natalie said quickly.

Meredith sighed. "Dammit, we do need to tell him because now he's going to make up stuff in his mind."

I nodded. "Exactly. And you'd better fess up fast because I'm damn good at jumping to conclusions."

"You know, Diane doesn’t seem convinced that this is a long-term thing," Natalie murmured.

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