Page 112 of Matchmaking the CEO

“So fast already? Gabe?"

"No, this time it was Grandfather himself. I think he's hoping I can convince you to view things from his vantage point."

"He made his point loud and clear." I still looked around to see Natalie, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Look, part of the reason we moved here was to be closer to our grandparents," Maddox said, taking me by complete surprise.

I turned my whole body in his direction.

"We wanted as little to do with Dad as possible after everything that happened, but Mom wanted to move away from Maine, and we were at an age where we could decide things on our own."

I hadn't realized that. It must have been shitty for them too. Their mother was alive and healthy, that was true, but these kinds of things left marks.

“The three of us actually made a pact that we would never, ever touch anything that was related to Dad."

"Then how did you end up working in Whitley Enterprises?"

“We saw how much our grandparents hoped the legacy would live on, so we set aside our resentments."

"That’s very noble." I meant every word.

"But as Gabe would say, no pressure."

"You really do sound like him," I said.

“No, he doesn’t. No one can top me,” Gabe himself said, coming up to us. I hadn’t noticed him at all. Cade and Spencer were right behind him.

“We’re the ones who’ll decide that,” Cade said.

“Yeah, you’re impartial,” Spencer added.

Maddox shook his head. “Nah, this isn’t up for debate.”

“'Course it is. You’re even more impartial,” Cade pointed out. “Were you talking about Grandfather’s bombshell?”

“Obviously,” Maddox answered.

“Yeah, we’re not going to solve that one tonight,” Spencer concluded.

“I agree,” I said. “And now if you’ll excuse me, I saw someone who’d be a great client for Whitley Advertising.” I turned to Maddox. “Thanks again for inviting me.”

“My pleasure.”

While I headed toward Holden Delaware, the CEO of a huge international company in the fast-moving consumer-goods industry, I continued looking around for Natalie.

Damn it, where is she?

I spoke to Holden for about twenty minutes before I finally saw her, then immediately excused myself.

She was talking to one of the servers who was bringing out finger food. I caught her eye and made a come-here motion with my finger. She smiled, coming up to me after finishing her conversation. Damn, I loved this woman. My life had completely changed since I met her.

"You're enjoying yourself," she said.

"I am. Good party. Then again, it's managed by an amazing planner, so I had no doubt it was going to be great."

"No one's tempted to steal you yet?"

I frowned. "We've had plenty of people who want to work with Whitley Advertising."

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