Page 81 of Falling for the Boss's Son

“And you don’t want to call your mom?”

“No.” Again, she hesitated. “I mean, I’m not looking forward to the conversation, but my mom is who she is.”

“Then what has that crease in your forehead growing by the second?”

She touched the crease in question, rubbing it as though that would make it somehow go away. “Nothing, really. Bradley told Dad about you, and he did some digging. I have no idea how deep he went, but he obviously didn’t find anything too bad.”

“Why do you say that?” He didn’t seem bothered by the topic of conversation, but given some of their previous talks along the same lines, she wasn’t surprised by his reaction.

“Because if he had, he wouldn’t have delivered the message over the phone.”

* * *

This was getting out of hand. Jesse had done everything he could to reassure her of his intentions. He wasn’t going to be frightened away by her mom, her brothers, or her father. But it seemed it was going to take more than words to get her over this hump. “I want you to call your mom and set up a time for us to come to dinner this week. She can invite your brothers as well if she wants. I’d suggest inviting your father as well, but I think that might need to be a separate event.”

Cassie’s eyes were as wide as saucers. She’d stopped eating and was looking at him as if he’d lost his mind.

He finished off his sandwich and waited until she’d found her voice again. “Why?”

Not the response he’d been hoping for, but one he could work with. “We’re getting you over this aversion you have of me meeting your family. You’ve created this nightmare scenario in your head and the only way to dispel it is to tackle it head-on. Call your mom.”

“Now?”

“Now.”

She stared at him for a long moment, then retrieved her phone from her purse. Reluctantly, she punched in her mom’s number.

Before Cassie could say a word, he heard a woman’s voice coming through the phone. He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but she sounded agitated.

“Mom, that’s why I’m calling. Yes. Yes. Um…Wednesday?”

Cassie met his gaze and he nodded. He’d planned to work late on Wednesday, but plans could be changed.

“Sounds good.”

There was more talking from the other end of the line.

“Okay. We’ll see you then. Love you, too.” Cassie lowered the phone from her ear and placed it in her lap. “Dinner’s at six on Wednesday. We’ll have to leave from here to get there on time. They live outside the city.”

“That isn’t a problem.” He gathered his trash and stuffed it in the bag. “Now you can relax and finish your sandwich.”

“You’re not nervous at all about meeting my family, are you?”

“No.” That wasn’t completely true. He was nervous about meeting her dad. Her mom, he could handle.

Cassie sighed and resumed eating.

They spent the rest of their lunch break talking about Outlander. They’d finished the first two seasons over the weekend, and he had to admit, he was hooked. He’d thought it would be all about the romance, and while the relationship between the two main characters was front and center, there was so much more to the story.

At the end of their time, Jesse stole a quick kiss before they left his dad’s office, then headed back to his own. Cassie was going home tonight, which meant he had free time to fill. Time he was going to spend digging through years’ worth of accounts.

Stephanie knocked on his door at five o’clock. “Come in.”

“Hey, I wanted to see if you needed anything before I go.”

“No. I think I’m good. Thanks.” Stephanie had been his eyes and ears on the office floor while he’d been spending hours combing through accounting sheets and contracts.

She nodded but stepped into the office and closed the door. “Are you making any sense of things?”

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