9. Cassie
Cassie
C assie wisely ate one of the chocolate bars he’d brought back before submitting herself to more criticism.
“So, what’s wrong with the spanking?” she finally asked.
“The problem is that it feels wrong. Amy isn’t happy or turned on. That immediately makes Henri seem like an ass for not seeing that his sub doesn’t enjoy their scene.”
She nodded like she understood, but she didn’t, not really. How was anyone supposed to like being spanked?
She opened her mouth, but ended up biting the words back.
Thankfully, the microwave beeped before she’d found the courage to make an ass of herself by saying something like show me . Talk about making unwanted advances. To the mega boss, no less .
Carter walked up to the mini kitchen tucked on the side of his humongous office and plated up two servings of messy pasta.
“It’s supposed to look better,” she frowned, wrinkling her nose.
“Thank fuck it doesn’t smell any better or I’d have to eat it with my fingers and lick the plate.”
She smiled broadly, with an embarrassing amount of pride. Cassie liked to cook, but she didn’t really often exert her skills; who wanted to spend an hour in the kitchen for something that they’d eat by themselves?
She and her friends saw each other every week, and they tended to meet up for dinner at each other’s houses, which meant she got to cook for people once a month or so.
Any other day, it was ready meals for her.
Everyone agreed that Amelia was the best cook of the lot, but Cassie came in a close second, and she won hands down with her baking skills.
They ate in relative silence, punctuated by a shower of compliments and delighted grunts that made her beam with satisfaction. They were almost finished when out of the blue, the attractive and voluptuous redhead who manned the desk at his door walked in, an amused smirk on her lips.
“I just got a warning from the doorman. Code red.”
Carter blanched, his eyes rounded with surprise and even a little bit of fear, perhaps.
“How long ago?”
“Two, three minutes.”
The usually collected, confident CEO cursed out loud, outright panicking.
“Anything I can do?” Cassie asked.
“No, it’s too late. Wait, maybe you could hide in the bathroom, I’ll get rid of her as quickly as I… Fuck.”
His tirade was interrupted by the elevator, opening up to show a tall, gorgeous, sensual brunette.
Oh .
It wasn’t the same woman as the one she’d seen with him the previous day, but she was just as stunning, if a little bit less polished. She was in skinny jeans and an elegant coat, with a tasteful, painted scarf on top.
“Dammit,” Carter muttered, forcing a smile as he got to his feet. “Mother, what a lovely surprise.”
Wait a second. Had he just said mother?
The woman seemed to be in her forties, max.
“Cut the crappy cake, Carter. I got a call from dear Patrick, he said you’d been terrorizing all your employees this morning. I thought I’d come up to box your ears.”
At the door, she turned to Carter’s assistant and kissed both her cheeks.
“How are you doing, Lucy? Still putting up with my idiot of a son?”
“Yes, ma’am. I shall for as long as he carries on paying me an obscene amount of money.”
“Nonsense. I give it two, three years until you ensnare yourself a millionaire and move on. Still not tempted by Carter, by the way?”
“Not even if you paid me in chocolate. Besides, I’m apparently not to his taste,” Lucy added, with a little tilt of her head.
Thus prompted, Carter’s mother turned, looking past her son, who fruitlessly tried to block her view of his office.
The familiar, sharp grey eyes fell on Cassie, taking her in with so much scrutiny she felt like she was under X-ray.
“Oh, my.”
The woman pushed by Carter, walking right to her.
“Lara Harris,” she introduced herself, holding a hand up.
“Cassandra Franklin, ma’am,” she replied with a blush.
The woman’s mouth opened up, forming a round O.
“Isn’t she precious! My, my.”
“Mother, stop, I beg of you. Cassie is just a friend – and I sincerely doubt she shall remain so another day if you divulge just how batshit crazy you are. She may think that’s hereditary.”
“Carter, shut it. Be a good boy and go get us coffee.”
To Cassie’s infinite amusement, he obeyed, and with only a little bit of grumbling.
“So,” Lara Harris said, sitting down next to her and whispering, “friends, mh?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“With benefits?”
Had she really just said that?
“D on’t give me that look, I wasn’t born yesterday. You’re a pretty thing and my son is too handsome for his own good.”
“I… we… we don’t…”
“Alright, alright. No hanky-panky yet. Oh well, I’m sure it won’t be long,” she said, patting her lap. “You cooked this, mh?”
Fuck. She was in the middle of a potential daughter- in-law screening. Her eyes went to Carter, who seemed to be the amused one now that she was under siege. He looked at her as if to say each man for himself, deal with her.
“Yes?”
“Good, good. And how many children do you want?”
Holy shit. Carter and Lucy were both pretending to be occupied, and holding their laughter as best they could.
No way was she going to let them get away with it. Narrowing her eyes, she replied, “A handful, at least. I’d like to start as soon as possible – as soon as I find a suitable baby daddy, that is.”
Lucy disguised her eruption of chuckles as a cough while Carter shook his head behind his mother’s back, desperately attempting to get her to stop talking. Not happening.
“I’d like a little girl, first – I’d dress her up like a princess every day.”
Lara winked at her, making it clear she knew her game, before she played along, adding, “You should see what Baby Dior comes up with, dear. It’s so adorably cute.”
Cassie nodded enthusiastically.
“Yes! And I plan on knitting little slippers, too.”
By that point, Carter was holding his head in his hands, as if willing the nightmare to end. He hadn’t seen anything yet.
“Oh! I never could get the hang of knitting. Do you do scarves, dear? I adore homemade scarves.”
“I’m working on a Halloween design,” she confessed, not even having to lie on that score. “I’ll make you one before the end of the month.”
“You like the holidays, then?”
“I love every holiday. My family likes to gather and get as silly as we can – we all dress up. Wait!” she grabbed her second Tupperware pan, opening it up. “I’ve made some mini apple pies – sorry, they fell, so they aren’t that pretty, but have one, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
Carter
T wenty minutes. The horrific show lasted twenty minutes, before his mother finally saw fit to announce she was going back to work.
The second she was out of earshot, Lucy and Cassie both burst into laughter. He glared at the former until she stopped sniggering.
“Sorry, but that was hilarious.”
“Lucinda Warner, get the fuck out of the office. It’s lunch time.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, sticking her tongue out before wisely running out the door.
He then turned to the pretty devil who, with so little effort, had turned his regimented life into an absolute chaos.
He and his mother had an understanding. She knew that he wasn’t serious with any woman because he hadn’t met any woman worth being serious about.
And fucking Cassie had just shattered that understanding.
She might have gone over the top to play it up, but his mother was smart.
She’d read under the bullshit. She knew the girl had been joking, and she probably loved her for it.
Shit.
His personal phone vibrated in his pocket; he wasn’t surprised to find a text from his mom.
Keep her, or else!
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“You have no idea what you’ve just done,” he said slowly, enunciating each word clearly.
“Come on, your mother totally read through that,” Cassie replied, rolling her eyes. “She knew I was pulling her leg to annoy you.”
“Yes, indeed. And she also is going to get on my fucking case until I tell her we’re working on that handful of kids you’ve professed to want, Cassandra Franklin. You’re going to pay for this.”
She squirmed in response. Good.
Carter found himself smiling out of the blue. He knew just what he was going to do, and consequences be damned. There was no better way to make little Franklin pay for the situation she’d willfully created.
“Okay, I totally owe you one,” she conceded, before breaking into a monkey grin. “Worth it.”
He wiggled a brow.
“We’ll see what you say about that in a minute.”
His smile was probably wicked, now, and the woman had the sense to look worried.
“Get up.”
“What?”
“Get up. Turn around, hands on the desk. Don’t move.”
She stared at him like he’d lost his mind. He probably had.
“You’ve done your very best to make the last half an hour as uncomfortable as it could be for me, Cassie. My turn. I believed you enquired about spanking a little while ago.”