Page 140 of Taming the CEO

I nodded and turned around, holding up my hair. It had grown quite a bit, and I needed to cut it again. I quite liked it styled in a bob.

Maddox kissed the back of my neck, making me shudder, and then clasped the silver chain attached to the pendant. I felt so close to my mom right now even though she'd never even seen it. I’d always known that she'd been watching over me, but I'd never been more certain than now. How else would I have had the luck to meet this amazing man?

He turned me around and sealed his mouth over mine, kissing me hungrily. I laughed when he lifted me off my feet, arching his back so I was slightly towering over him. He kept kissing me when he set me back down on the ground. I moaned through the kiss, and he growled.

"Hmm," I murmured, taking him in. Then a sound broke the air. "What was that?"

Maddox pulled back, groaning. "That's the crew. Damn it. What time is it?"

"It's 9:50 a.m. Oh, you told them to start later today. That's what you meant."

He nodded.

"Well," I said, taking his hand and leading him back down the trail, "we can always go back to the main office and continue what we started in front of the tree. You can seduce me, or I can seduce you. I don't have a preference. I mean, we can do both."

Maddox laughed, then abruptly halted, putting an arm around my shoulders. "You're forgetting a detail."

I groaned. "The store."

"I have a solution for that," he said. "Miriam said she could open up today and stay for as long as you need her."

I blushed because Miriam would know exactly what we were doing while she was there.

"You were talking to her this morning?"

"Yeah. She's been my accomplice."

I smiled. "You've planned every detail."

Maddox frowned, looking into the distance. "I should have told them to come even later. Then we could start on that seduction plan right here, right now," he growled in my ear.

I nudged him, shuddering at his words. "Hold that thought until we're back at the building. Otherwise, I might completely forget myself and do something outrageous."

I looked at the start of the trail, but everyone was far enough away. I reached behind me, cupping him over his jeans.

"Cami!" he growled.

Yeah, that was not my best idea. "Hold all those sexy sounds for another few minutes, and then you can unleash them when we get there."

Epilogue

Cami

Two months later

"And we’re open," I announced to no one except Maddox, turning around a sign on the front door of Cami’s Corner.

A few seconds later, I decided to open the door and leave it like that because we had pleasantly warm April weather today.

"It smells like sun," I said.

Maddox laughed, and I looked at him over my shoulder. He was at the counter, making coffee for both of us. Every weekend since I'd opened Cami’s Corner, he was here without exception, at least in the morning. He and I were just opening today. Marjorie, my right hand, should be in any minute now. It was a big day today—Gabe and Maddox were opening the hotel, and the whole family was coming to brunch. I still couldn’t believe he came here with me this morning at all.

He held up the two coffee cups and said, "It's ready for you—just the way you like it."

Grinning, I hurried behind the counter-slash-front-desk, stepping up next to him. Instead of taking my coffee and drinking it, I grabbed both of our cups and set them on the reception desk. Taking his hands, I placed them strategically on my lower back so they weren't on my ass, but he could tell what my intention was.

I wanted my man to fondle me right now. As far as I was concerned, that was the best way to start a day.

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