Page 108 of Loving the CEO

Jeannie looked at us with a mischievous smile before turning to Nick. “See, what did I tell you? Look how happy these two are.”

Nick looked so miserable that for a split second, I actually considered pretending to be on the outs with Leo. But I had no idea how to do that, so I gave up on the idea altogether.

“Gran, stop laying it on so thick,” Leo said. “Give the man some room to breathe.”

Ah, so he still had his brother’s back. That was good to know.

“Don’t you meddle in my business, young man,” Jeannie said, and I swear to God, the entire room burst out laughing. She turned around, looking at them. “What?”

“Grandmother,” Colton said, “I’m sorry, but considering how much you meddle in all our businesses, you have no right to ask that of us.”

“I suppose I can’t,” she said. “All right, since there’s quite a few of us here, I’m going to the kitchen to bring out the appetizers.”

“What?” Leo and Nick asked at the same time.

“The caterers aren’t here yet,” Meredith said.

Jeannie winked. “I made the appetizers. You didn’t think I’d do nothing, right?”

To my astonishment, no one said anything. I expected them to fight back, but clearly, I still had more to learn regarding the Whitley ways.

“I’ll come with you,” I offered.

“Lovely,” Jeannie replied.

“I’ll come too,” Leo added.

“Really, it’s not a three-person job,” Jeannie said. “It’s not even a two-person job, but I haven’t had the occasion to spend much time with Tory here.”

Leo’s eyes were instantly alert. He was pinning me with his gaze, clearly trying to wordlessly communicate something with me. But I had no idea what that was. My Leo radar was completely off today. But I wasn’t too worried.

I followed Jeannie throughout the house, and she led me into a large kitchen. She’d already laid out mini quiches on trays.

“They smell amazing,” I said.

“They’re still warm, hence why I want to bring them out. Thank you for coming to help me.”

“Sure!”

“I wasn’t lying before. I wasn’t sure if you’d show up with Leo today,” Jeannie said. “But I’m so glad you did and that you and Leo are finally seeing that you’re made for each other.”

“Oh.” I nearly dropped my tray of quiche. “Um..." I opened my mouth, but I had no idea what to tell her.

"Do you disagree?" she asked.

"Well, no," I said reluctantly. "I'm just not sure that, um..."

"That you're in it for the long haul?" To my astonishment, she winked. Was that a family thing? Did she learn it from her grandkidsor the other way around? "You know how many times I've heard that from all my grandkids? They're all stubborn, that's true. They all talk big about how they do things casually and with no strings." Those would have been the exact words I’d planned to use to explain it if she pushed, but apparently it wasn't necessary. "And yet every time, it turns out they're wrong."

"Oh, Jeannie!" I was starting to figure out what Leo was trying to tell me earlier.

"I'm sorry, darling. I didn't want to put you on the spot," she said as we both worked on transferring the mini quiches to a gorgeous serving platter.

"Didn't you?" I double-checked.

She shook her head. "No. Believe it or not, I never try to give anyone a hard time. But I've been an actress my whole life. I can't help if I'm a bit flamboyant. Cade sometimes says I'm downright theatric."

"You're very expressive."

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