The CEO's Little Surprise (3 page)

“My conscience is quite clear, thanks.” Her gaze fastened firmly on his, she crossed her arms in a mirror of his pose, intentionally sliding her elbow across his. And then hung around, brushing arms deliberately. “I'll take your offer to the others. Shall I show you the way out or can you find it yourself?”

Heat flashed where they touched. “As you're late for a board meeting where I suspect one of the topics will be the offer in question, I'll see myself out.”

She didn't move, still partially blocking the open doorway. On purpose. So he'd have to slide by her like he'd done when he entered the room, to show she had his number and that whatever he dished out, he should expect to have served right back. It almost pulled an appreciative chuckle out of him but he caught it at the last second. Cass had grown up in many intriguing ways and this battle was far from over.

No point in letting her believe she had a chance in hell of winning.

So close to her that he could easily see the lighter colored flecks of blue in her irises, he palmed those cut-away panels at her waist like he'd been itching to do for an eternity and drew her against him. Yes, she was still as warm as he remembered and he ached to pull the pins from her tight blond chignon to let it rain down around her shoulders.

He leaned in, nearly nuzzling her ear with his lips. Her quick intake of breath was almost as thrilling as the feel of her skin through the panels. Instead of pulling her toward him like he wanted to, he pivoted and hustled her back a step into her office.

“Tell the girls I said hi,” he murmured and let her go. Though where he found the willpower, he had no idea.

She nodded, her expression blank. He was
so
going to enjoy putting a few more cracks in her newly found ice-goddess exterior when they next met.

Three

C
ass blew out the breath she'd been holding. Which didn't help either her shakes or her thundering pulse.

That hadn't gone down quite like she would have hoped. She and Gage might be equals now but that hadn't afforded her any special magic to keep her insides under control.

But Gage had left and that seemed like a small win.

Except now she had to go into that board meeting, where Trinity had most definitely told the others who Cass was meeting with. So she would have to give them the whole story, including his ridiculous offer for the formula.

Of all the nerve. Telling her she owed him the formula because he'd given her a few pointers once upon a time. Oh, she owed him all right, but more like a fat lip. Fyra's success had nothing to do with Gage.

Well, the broken heart he'd left her with had driven her for a long time. But she'd succeeded by her own merit, not because he'd mentored her.

If anyone decided to sell the formula, it would be because it made sound business sense. Like she'd told him. She squared her shoulders and went to her meeting in the large, sunny room at the end of the hall.

The other three women in the C-suite ringed the conference table as the governing forces of the company they'd dubbed Fyra, from the Swedish word for four. Alex Meer ran the numbers as the chief financial officer, Dr. Harper Livingston cooked up formulas in her lab as the chief science officer, Trinity Forrester convinced consumers to buy as the chief marketing officer and Cass held the reins.

All three of her friends looked up as she entered, faces bright with expectation.

“He's gone. Let's get started.” Cass set down her phone and tablet, then slid into her customary chair.

“Not so fast,” Trinity said succinctly. “We've been sitting here patiently waiting for juicy details, remember?”

They'd all been friends a long time. Juicy details meant they wanted to know how she felt about seeing Gage again. Whether she wanted to punch him or just go in the corner and cry. What was he up to and had they talked about their personal lives?

She didn't have the luxury of burdening her friends with any of that because they were also her business partners. There was no room at this conference table for her emotional upheaval.

“He wants to buy Formula-47. Offered one hundred million,” she said bluntly. Better to get it out on the table. “I told him it wasn't for sale. That's the extent of it.”

Harper's grin slipped as she wound her strawberry blond ponytail around one finger, an absent gesture that meant her brilliant mind was blazing away. “That's hardly the extent. What's the damage? Did he hear about my formula from the trade article?”

“No.” Cass hated to have to be the bearer of bad news, but they had to know. “His information was much more detailed. Which means the leak is worse than we thought.”

Hearing her own words echo in her head was almost as bad as a physical blow.

“What's wrong?” Trinity asked immediately, her dark head bent at an angle as she evaluated Cass. “Did Gage get to you?”

Dang it.
It had taken all of fourteen seconds for the woman who'd been Cass's best friend since eleventh grade to clue in on the undercurrents. That man had put a hitch in her stride and it was unforgivable.

“I'm concerned about the leak. That's it. Forget about Gage. I already have,” she lied.

Trinity's eyes narrowed but she didn't push, thank God. Gage's timing was horrific. Why had he waltzed back into her life during such a huge professional catastrophe?

Alex, the consummate tomboy in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, fiddled with her ever-present pen, tapping it against the legal pad on the conference table in front of her. “A hundred million is worth considering, don't you think?”

Instantly, Harper shook her head so hard, her ponytail flipped over her shoulder. Trinity and Cass scowled at Alex, who shrank under the heat of their gazes, but didn't recant her traitorous statement.

“Worth considering?” Cass's stomach contracted sharply as she took in the seriousness of Alex's expression. How could she be talking about selling so coolly? To Cass, it would be like selling her own child. “Are you out of your mind?”

“Shouldn't we consider a lucrative income stream when it's presented?” Alex argued. “We can't categorically dismiss that kind of paycheck.”

They could when it was coming out of the bank account of the man who had destroyed Cass. Didn't that matter?

“Wait just a darn minute, Ms. Moneybags.” Harper rounded on Alex, who shrank a bit under the redhead's scowl. “Formula-47 is my baby, not yours. I spent two years of my life perfecting it on the premise that we'd hinge our entire future strategy around the products we can create from the technology. If we sell it, we're giving up rights to it forever for a lump sum. That's not smart.”

Alex tapped her pen faster against the legal pad. “Not if we retain rights and structure the deal—”

“No one is structuring deals,” Cass broke in. “I only mentioned it because you needed to know. Gage's offer will vanish instantly if the leak shares the formula's recipe. And since we still don't know who it is, we have to focus on that first.”

Alex firmed her mouth and nodded. “That's true.”

“What did our lawyer say?” Trinity asked, raising her eyebrows as Cass blinked at her. “Didn't you just come back from Mike's office?”

“God, I'm sorry.” Cass slid down in her chair an inch in mortification. Gage had wiped that entire meeting out of her head. “Mike doesn't think we can involve the police yet. The article didn't contain enough detail and wouldn't stand up in court as proprietary information. He advised us to file for FDA approval immediately, in hopes that will stem future information from being released prematurely. Until we find the leak, we can't be too careful.”

She had to regain control
now
. Gage wasn't a factor. Period.

“I'm not ready.” Harper shook her head mulishly.
Careful
and
thorough
might as well be tattooed on her forehead alongside her credentials, a valuable trait in a scientist who created the products with Fyra's label on them. “This is our first product that requires FDA approval. We can't rush it.”

“So our lawyer gave us advice we don't plan to take.” Pradas flat on the ground, Trinity leaned on the table. “What else do we have on the agenda that we need to get busy shooting down?”

“The leak is the only thing on the agenda,” Cass said firmly.

Alex zeroed in on her. “What's your plan for fixing this problem, then?”

“I'm still working on it.”

“You're working on it.” Alex's sarcastic tone couldn't have conveyed her disbelief any more clearly. “You mean you don't have something laid out already?”

Cass froze her muscles, a trick she'd perfected over the years. She refused to let on that Alex's words had pierced her through the chest.

Alex's point wasn't lost on her. Cass should have a plan. But didn't, which was the last thing she'd admit to these women who were looking to her for leadership. “I've got some ideas. Things in the works.”

“Things?” Trinity repeated incredulously.

Trinity and Alex glanced at each other and foreboding slid down Cass's spine. She was losing her edge. And everyone knew she didn't have a blessed clue how to handle this problem.

“I said I'll take care of it,” Cass snapped and then immediately murmured an apology.

She couldn't believe how the meeting had deteriorated, how much it hurt to have Alex on the other side of these critical company issues. There were fractures in Fyra she hadn't known existed. Fractures in the relationships with her friends and business partners that scared her. Was Alex disputing her ideas because she had lost confidence in Cass's ability to run Fyra?

And what was with that look Alex and Trinity had exchanged? Did they know Cass had lied about how much Gage had affected her? And Trinity hadn't defended Cass, not when Gage's offer had come up and not when Alex had attacked Cass for her lack of a plan.

It all rubbed at the raw place inside that Gage had opened up.

Cass cleared her throat and forced her CEO mask back into place. Emotions had no place in a boardroom, yet she'd been letting them run rampant thus far. It was much harder than she would have expected to shut it down given all the practice she had.

“I've got this,” she said a little more calmly. “Trust me. Nothing is more important than finding this leak. Let me take care of it.”

Trinity nodded. “Let's meet again on Friday. You can give us a progress report then.”

Cass watched the other ladies stand and leave the conference room. No one said a word but the vote of no confidence rang out in the silence, nonetheless.

With the room empty, she let her forehead thunk the table but the wood didn't cool her raging thoughts.

She needed a plan.

But Gage had messed her up. Of course he was the reason she'd slipped up in the board meeting. Why had he picked today to dismantle her careful facade?

Her head snapped up. What if the timing wasn't coincidental? It had been bothering her how accurate his information was and how quickly on the heels of the trade article publication that he'd shown up. What if he'd planted someone in her company who was feeding him information and the mention of Fyra in the trade magazine had been designed to throw her off?

But why would he do that? He was already successful in his own right and he was willing to pay for the formula. It wasn't as if he'd put a mole in her company in hopes of stealing it.

Or was it?

She had to make sure. She'd never forgive herself if she left that stone unturned.

She also had to make progress on discovering who the culprit was and the faster the better. If the leak heard the formula was worth one hundred million dollars to GB Skin, it was as good as stolen. And Gage probably wasn't the only competitor willing to ante up.

Fyra needed Cass to step up, to lead this company. So she'd keep her friends close and her enemies closer, no matter what sort of distasteful cozying up to the CEO of GB Skin she'd have to do. After all, she
did
owe Gage Branson and it was time to pay him back.

He'd used her once upon a time. Turnabout was fair play in Gage's book, was it? It was time for Cass to wholeheartedly embrace that mantra.

Whatever Gage's game was, she'd uncover it. And maybe exact some revenge at the same time. Karma indeed.

* * *

Whistling as he rounded the Hummer's bumper, Gage went over his pitch as he strolled toward the entrance to Fyra Cosmetics only one short day after running into Cass in the parking lot. After she'd kicked him out, he'd really expected to have to push her for another appointment. When she'd called, it had been a pleasant surprise.

The 9:00 a.m. appointment had been another one. Nice to be Cass's first priority for the day. Apparently she'd thought about the logic of his offer overnight and was finally on board. Or the other executives had convinced her that selling him the formula did make for smart business, like he'd told Cass. Either way, the tide had turned.

Which was good because Arwen didn't like the hotel, and she'd let Gage know about it. Loudly. He'd have to take her on a weekend camping trip to the Hill Country to make up for all of this. Hopefully, he could melt a little of the ice in Cass's spine, close the deal and be back in Austin tomorrow.

Depending how things went with the ice melting, of course. If Cass was still as hot as he remembered under her new bulletproof CEO exterior, he might stick around for a couple of days. Arwen could rough it.

Cass didn't make him cool his heels like he'd thought she would. After yesterday, with all the power plays disguised as flirting and Cass not letting him run roughshod over her, he'd come prepared for battle. Hell, he'd kind of looked forward to another game of one-upmanship. It was rare that a woman could match him.

She appeared in the reception area looking gorgeous and untouchable in another sharp suit with a microskirt, this time in eye-popping candy pink, and she'd swept up her hair into another severe bun-like thing held by lacquered chopsticks that he immediately wanted to take apart. Why was that so hot?

He dredged up a memory of her old look from college, which had largely consisted of yoga pants and hoodies, and he'd liked that, too. But this was something else. Something elemental. He wanted to explore this new Cass in the worst way.

“Good morning, Mr. Branson,” she said, though the frost in her tone told him she thought it was anything but. “This way.”

The chilly greeting and use of his last name put a grin on his face. So she planned to cross swords after all. Excellent.

This time, he didn't even hesitate at the door of her office. No point in beating around the bush when the upper hand was still up for grabs. He waltzed into the middle of all that purple and plunked down into a chair. Happened to be the one behind the desk—Cass's chair—but he figured that would be enough to get her into the room.

It was. She followed him into the interior, and without batting an eye, she crossed to the desk and perched on it. Two feet from his chair. Gaze squarely on Gage, she crossed her stocking-clad legs with a slow and deliberate slide and let her stilettos dangle. The little skirt rode up her thighs almost to the point of indecency.

His tongue went numb as all the blood rushed from his head, pooling into a spectacular hard-on. One tiny push with his heel and Cass's chair would roll him into a proximity much better suited to enjoying the smorgasbord of delights inches away.

This
was his punishment for stealing her chair? She clearly didn't get how corporate politics, particularly between competitors, worked.