Page 69 of Taming the CEO

"Yeah, that won't work with the boys," Granddad said in an uncharacteristically teasing voice. "You can't act around them."

Leo looked at me. "Tell me I’m off base, man. I beg you."

I bit off a mouthful of pizza, buying time. I hadn't expected to be ambushed so quickly by my brothers; I'd figured Gran would eventually want to see if her hunch had panned out. I burned my mouth with the scalding-hot pizza, so I lowered the slice and said, "No, you're not off base."

Leo grinned at me.

Gran pressed her palms together and then put her chin on top of her fingers. "Oh, I'm so happy to hear that. I knew Cami was just what you needed."

"Fucking hell!" Leo exclaimed.

“Language!” Gran scolded.

"Cami from the adventure park?" Nick asked.

"The one and only," I said. I was extremely amused by my brothers' reactions. They both looked personally affronted. Actually, scratch that—Nick seemed horrified.

Granddad looked straight at me. "Son, far be it from me to meddle, but do you think that's smart? You and Gabe are still in the process of convincing her and her father to sell you the land. It's not good business practice to mix your professional and personal lives."

The disappointment in his voice cut me deep. I cleared my throat.

"One thing doesn't have anything to do with the other," I assured him.

"Does Gabe know?" That came from Leo.

"No. I haven't discussed my personal life with Gabe or anyone else.”

"And you don't have to," Gran said. "What you do concerns you alone."

"Yeah, except when it could actually affect the business," Leo countered.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" I exclaimed. Gran covered her ears, and I held up my hands in apology. "You know I have no filter, Gran. I'm sorry."

"But maybe you should tell Gabe," Nick said sarcastically.

"I was intending to do that," I countered. "Now, can we focus on something else?"

Gran smiled politely, turning to Leo and Nick. "Yes, my job here is done. Now I can focus on these two," she said.

If I'd thought my brothers' expressions were horrified before, it was nothing compared to now.

I barely kept myself from telling Gran that her job wasn't anywhere near done, because I was grateful to shift her focus away from me. But she truly was far off base when it came to me. I wasn't going to settle down. It just wasn't in my DNA. It was true that Cami and I had a spectacular weekend together, and I'd like to repeat it soon, but that would in no way lead to anything long term. I wasn't built for it, and from what Cami told me, she wasn't looking for anything like that either.

But I couldn't tell Gran that. She was from a different generation; the idea of casual relationships was strange to her. Every time one of my brothers tried to explain it, she'd shut them down, insisting she knew where that would lead. She'd actually been right on every occasion, but not in my case.

I barely held back laughter when she started to recite the names of all the friends she'd introduce to Leo and Nick.

"Are you going to pitch in and help us out at any point here?" Nick asked me with exasperation.

I grinned. "No. I'm enjoying this immensely."

After finishing the pizza, we stayed for a while longer, talking about the damage the storm did around Essex. When Nick announced that he needed to head to the club for a team meeting, Leo and I decided to leave too.

On the way home, my mom called, and I answered right away. I didn't often talk to her on the phone; since she traveled a lot, she was usually in different time zones and liked communicating through texts more.

I loved that she could travel to her heart’s content. When we grew up, she'd lived very frugally, working two jobs and spending every penny on me and my brothers. Now, it was our turn to look after her. She'd traveled the world twice over, and I was very happy for her. She deserved to have fun even though we didn’t see her often. She'd visited us twice recently, but before that, we hadn't seen her in about a year.

"Hey, Mom," I said.

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