Читать книгу The Ceo's Little Surprise - Kat Cantrell - Страница 9

Three

Cass 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.

“Thanks for coming on short notice,” she purred and the subtle innuendo wasn’t lost on him.

“Thanks for having me,” he returned and cleared the rasp from his throat. Maybe she knew a little more about this game than he’d supposed. “You ready to talk details?”

“Sure, if you want to jump right into it.” She cocked her head, watching him. “The others don’t want to sell. But I’m willing to talk to them.”

Instantly suspicious, he grinned and crossed his arms, leaning back in the chair so he could see all of her at once. She was something else. “Along with what strings?”

“Oh, nothing much.” She waved a French-manicured hand airily and leaned forward, one palm on the desk. Her silky button-up shirt billowed a bit, just enough to draw his attention to her cleavage but not enough to actually show anything.

The anticipation of catching a glimpse of skin had his mouth watering.

“Name your price, Cass,” he murmured and wondered what she’d do if he pulled her off that desk into his lap. “I’m assuming one hundred million wasn’t enough?”

“Not quite. You also have to help me catch the leak first.”

His gaze snapped back up to her beautiful face as her meaning registered. “Help you catch the leak? You mean you haven’t already?”

Unacceptable. Hadn’t she learned anything important from him? Yesterday he sure would have said so, but obviously she needed a few more pointers about how to run her business.

“I have a plan,” she explained calmly. “And you’re it. Until the leak is stopped, Fyra can’t make a major decision like selling our formula. Surely you understand that.”

He did. This was a wrinkle he hadn’t anticipated. But what she was proposing—it meant he’d have to stay in Dallas longer than he’d anticipated. He ran a successful company, too, and it was suffering from his lack of attention. If he stayed, he’d have to ship Arwen home, which she’d never forgive him for.

“You should have already handled the leak,” he groused.

“I know.”

Her voice didn’t change. Her expression didn’t change. But something shifted as he realized how hard this conversation was for her. She hadn’t wanted to admit that.

Disturbed at the sudden revelation, he stared at her and his heart thumped strangely. He’d been so busy examining the angles, he’d failed to see this was actually just a baseline plea for help that she’d disguised well.

“Work with me, Gage. Together, like old times.”

She wanted to pick up where they left off. Maybe in more ways than one. The simple phrases reached out and grabbed hold of his lungs. It echoed through his mind, his chest, and the thought pleased him. Enormously.

It was a redo of college, where he was her mentor and she soaked it all up like a sponge with a side of hero worship that made him feel invincible. That had been a heady arrangement for a twenty-four-year-old. But they weren’t kids anymore.

And he didn’t for a moment underestimate Cass. She’d suggested this for some reason he couldn’t figure out yet. Which didn’t keep him from contemplating that redo. Who was he kidding? He’d wanted her the moment he’d turned around in the parking lot yesterday and gotten an eyeful of grown-up Cass. If he hung around and helped her, it gave him an opportunity to get her naked again.

And he could ensure the problem with the leak was handled like it should have been from the get-go. Not to mention he could dig a bit to uncover her real motives here.

Her eyes huge and warm, she watched him and he was lost. Dang. She’d played this extremely well. There was absolutely no way he could say no. He didn’t want to say no.

But a yes didn’t mean he’d do it without adding a few strings of his own.

“I’ll help you. Until Sunday. I have a meeting Monday that can’t be rescheduled.”

Her smile hit him crossways. And then it slipped from her face as he leaned forward oh-so-slowly. Mute, she stared at his hand as he braced it on the desk a millimeter from her thigh. He could slip a finger right under the hem of that tiny skirt. And his mind got busy on imagining where that would lead.

“But you have to do something for me,” he murmured. He got as close to her as he dared, crowding her space where all the trappings of business melted away and they were simply man and woman.

She smelled classy and expensive, and instantly he wanted that scent on his own skin, transferred by her body heat as she writhed under him. He could lean her back against that desk and at this angle, the pleasure would be intense. The image made him a little lightheaded as his erection intensified.

“I already said I’d talk to the others about selling you the formula,” she said a touch breathlessly, but to her credit, she didn’t allow one single muscle twitch to give away whether she welcomed his nearness or preferred the distance. “If we catch the leak.”

That ice-goddess routine needed to go, fast. That wasn’t going to happen here. Not under these circumstances. If he wanted to take things to the next level, he had to go bold or go home.

“Yes, but you’re doing that because deep down, you know you owe me. If I help you find the leak, you owe me again. Turnabout, sweetheart.”

“What do you want?”

Oh, where should I start? “Nothing you can’t handle.”

The knowing glint in her gaze said she already had a pretty good idea what gauntlet he was about to throw down. They stared at each other for a long moment and her breathing hitched as he reached out and slid a thumb along her jawline.

“You have to take me to dinner.”