Page 47 of Flirting with the CEO

"Good for you," Grandmother said. "Nice to see you took my advice."

I stared at her.

"Wait, what? What advice? What did I miss?" Spencer asked.

Penny chuckled. "You’re such a gossip.”

"It's a family trait I've learned to accept," Spencer replied.

"Wait, Grandmother is playing matchmaker again, and we didn't know about it?" Jake asked.

I'd expected Spencer to join in the harassment, but not Jake.

The doorbell rang.

Grandfather said, "I'll answer that." Then he looked straight at me. "Colton, son, I'm sorry, but you're going to take one for the team today."

"What team?" I asked, bewildered.

He went out to answer the door. By the sounds of it, Gabe had arrived with Cade and Meredith. The three of them came into the living room at the same time as Grandfather.

"Sorry we're late. Waking up early is not my thing," Cade said. He sat down, looked around the table, and asked, "So what's new?"

"Let me recap for everyone who's just arrived. Colton had a sleepless night, and no, he was not stuck at work. My money's on the fact that he was with someone, and Grandmother was just about to tell us that she's been continuing her matchmaking efforts with Colton, unbeknownst to all of us," Spencer said.

"Oh, thank God," Gabe said. "I was worried when you all were so quiet. I thought you might be planning something for me."

"I can multitask," Grandmother replied, looking straight at him.

My brother swallowed hard. "Yeah, I walked right into that." But then he looked at me with interest.

Cade had a shit-eating grin. It was a knowing expression. He and Grandmother exchanged a glance.

"It's that consultant who just started in your office, isn't it?" he asked, and there was a round of gasps at the table.

"Wow," Gabe said. "Damn, that escalated quickly."

"Boys," Grandmother chastised, "can you be a little more respectful?"

I laughed. "They're just learning from the master, Grandmother."

She pressed her lips together. "Look, I just made a comment. That's all."

"No, come on. Admit what you did," Cade told her. "It was the same thing you did with me and Meredith, right? You planted the idea in his head."

"You boys all have free will, but when I have a feeling about something, I don't like to keep it to myself. My feelings turn out to be accurate from time to time," she added with a wink.

Grandfather sighed. "Boys, I want you to know that I never have anything to do with whatever your grandmother is saying, okay?"

Grandmother glanced at him. "Way to have my back, Abe."

"You know I usually do. I just don't condone all of this. Although," he said, "it did work out for you three." He looked at the couples.

“Exactly,” Grandmother exclaimed.

Just another Saturday in the Whitley family. We never talked about the weather or mundane things like that. We went straight to the personal stuff.

"So, Grandmother is onto something, right?" Spencer asked.

---