Todos los capítulos de THE CEO'S LITTLE MATCHMAKERS : Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 47

The industrial kitchen of Willow Springs was a warm, flour-dusted haven that smelled of sweet vanilla and melting chocolate. It was the absolute antithesis of the cold corporate warfare waiting for them outside the door. Amelia stood by the central prep table, her fingers tying the strings of a clean canvas apron around her waist. Her cheeks still held the faint heat from Lily's innocent proclamation in the office. *Mommy.* The word had caught Amelia completely off guard. She still couldn't decide whether it had embarrassed her, touched her, or both. Ethan stood next to her, looking completely ridiculous and utterly captivating. He had rolled the sleeves of his crisp white shirt past his forearms, exposing the dark hair and the flashing silver watch on his wrist. Emma had insisted he wear a spare red chef's hat, which sat precariously on his perfectly styled dark hair. "You look like a man preparing to execute a hostile takeover of a bakery, Mr. Blackwood," Amelia teased,

The adults remained gathered inside the library for most of the morning, leaving the rest of the lodge unusually quiet. Outside, beneath the shade of the old willow tree, Emma and Lily had decided they had waited long enough for the grown-ups to finish whispering. Three-year-old Emma marched determinedly past the weeping willow tree, dragging an old, colorful patchwork picnic blanket behind her. Two-year-old Lily trotted right behind her, her chubby hands firmly gripping the handle of a plastic bucket filled with assorted plastic building blocks. "We need a secret club, Lily," Emma announced, stopping near the low-hanging branches of the massive willow that swept all the way to the grass, creating a natural green curtain. "The big people are doing too much whispering in the office. They keep saying 'no, Emma, go play' and looking at papers. So we are having our own club." Lily dropped her bucket with a loud plastic thud and sat down cross-legged on the dirt, nodding with abs

The afternoon sun was beginning to cast a warm, golden glow across the resort grounds when Sarah walked out onto the back porch, a vintage polaroid camera dangling from her wrist. "The light is absolutely beautiful right now," Sarah called out, an affectionate smile softening her face as she looked at the four of them standing near the garden fence. "You are all covered in dirt, the kids are happy, and the lodge is perfectly framed in the background. We need to capture this. Let me take a picture." Amelia instantly hesitated, her fingers tightening around the edge of her canvas apron. A sudden wave of protective anxiety hit her chest. Taking a photograph felt so permanent, so official. She didn't want to create expectations for the children—or for herself—that the cruel corporate reality outside their valley might eventually shatter. "Sarah, I don't know... we're a bit of a mess right now. Maybe another time." "There is nothing wrong with preserving a happy moment, Amelia