Page 2 of Taming the CEO

“They’ve been dragging their asses long enough,” I said. “I want to seal the deal and move on.”

“That sort of cutthroat attitude will not cut it with Cami. Pun intended,” Gabe stated.

I winked at him. "You just wait. I'll get it done."

He snorted. Actually snorted. "Actually, I don't think you will."

All jokes aside, I had a plan. I was going to send Samuel an email beforehand. I suspected Cami was playing hard to get because she wanted more money. It was a common tactic in negotiations. My brother wasn’t as cutthroat as I was when it came to business. I, on the other hand, was ruthless. Even when it came to Dad.

Case in point, we hadn’t heard from our father in years until he contacted me last year, asking for money. We’d all decided to buy him out of Whitley Industries—he’d still had a minority package, and we figured that would get him out of our lives for good.

We were wrong. I’d kept tabs on him, and a few months ago, we’d found out he wanted to come back to Boston and open a hotel... in Essex. Gabe and I snatched the property from under his nose. My brothers and Gabe were the only ones who knew about it. There was no reason to worry anyone else, especially our grandparents. I was very protective of them—of the whole family, in fact.

Which was why I was glad to meet with Samuel and Cami. If they truly didn’t want to sell, then it was time for us to change strategies. But they’d wasted enough of our time already. I wasn’t going to let anyone scam us.

Cami Hughes might be playing hard to get, but I was good at this game.

***

Cami

"Yum. This is turning out to be one of my best yet."

I'd just taken a bite of the banana bread I'd baked, and it was delicious. Banana bread was Dad's and my favorite afternoon treat. I’d made decaf coffee too. Even though it was low in caffeine, we both needed the snack and break. Running an adventure park required energy, but I loved Essex Adventures to bits—even on the long, busy days, sweating in the sun. Which was why, for the life of me, I couldn't understand why Dad wanted to sell it. The Whitley brothers were offering a lot of money, that was true. But the park was our life’s work. It had been Mom's too.

"I don't know how you manage to bake better than any of the bakeries in town."

Pride swelled inside me, though I played it cool and shrugged. "I'm just following Mom's book of recipes."

His eyes glistened. The recipes were my most treasured possessions. Mom had absolutely loved to cook and had five volumes of handwritten recipes. She'd always used a pencil so if she made any changes, she could easily adjust it. Those volumes were worth their weight in gold. I often offered customers my baked goods, and they loved them. Their compliments always made me proud and somehow let Mom’s legacy live on.

I usually put something yummy in our registration office for guests to grab either before they went on an adventure or after. I loved whenever someone took a goodie before and after. I felt like I'd done my job right.

"Okay. I’m having a large group coming in now. Are you done for the day?" I asked him.

"Yes. I’m actually meeting Whitley today.”

I straightened up as a shiver went down my spine. Damn it! We were supposed to meet him together next week. I’d wanted to chat with Dad about this again before then. I'd planned to cook a delicious dinner for him sometime this week so we could relax and discuss everything in detail.

I did that when I wanted to have a heart-to-heart chat with him.

I blew out an exasperated breath. "Why didn't you tell me? When is it? Do I have time to get ready?"

"It's not Gabe coming this time, it's his brother, Maddox. He sent me an email. He’d like to meet you, too, but you don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I want to hear more details about their offer, though."

My stomach constricted. Dad owns the business. It's not my place to tell him what to do or not to do. But still... "Dad, but you always said you never want to retire."

Besides, Dad had mentioned the Whitleys intended to cut down some of the trees when they built their massive hotel. This area was beautiful, and I’d hate to see the scenery destroyed.

He smiled at me. "I didn't know anyone was going to offer us so much money. The only other offer we’ve ever had was from Bill’s family, and the amount was a joke."

Bill’s family was in real estate, and his dad had even been mayor at one point. I shuddered, remembering that offer. They'd made it right after Mom passed away, thinking Dad would sell out of desperation.

I bit the inside of my left cheek. "I’ll come with you to meet Maddox, Dad."

"That's an excellent idea. That way you'll see that what they’re proposing is actually really good."

His words were like a punch to my gut. I couldn’t imagine a future in which I didn’t come here every day. I grew up watching Mom and Dad run the place and would hurry back from school every day and help them with chores. I was often trailing Dad when he showed groups around. And I was practically glued to Mom whenever she baked in the kitchen.

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