"I have a couple of thoughts I wanted to run by you," she said.
She seemed agitated, though he couldn't put his finger on what had given him that impression when she closely resembled an ice sculpture. A subtlety in her tone, maybe.
"Do any of them start with Gage and end with the word naked?"
Cass's mouth tightened. So that hadn't been the best tactic, even though he'd been kidding in an attempt to lighten the mood. Mostly. He could no sooner forget his outrageous attraction to her than he could leave without the formula. The dual agendas were supposed to complement each other, not be at war. It was killing him.
"Not in the slightest." The frost in her voice needed to go. "I've already done a couple of hours' worth of research. Now that you're here, I want to go over my notes with you."
Would she balk if he yanked her into his lap and kissed that frown upside down? Since the door was open, he resisted. But only just. And only for now.
It was better to deal with business during daylight hours. Probably.
"All right. Lay it on me. I am a fount of advice."
Her brow raised as if she didn't quite believe him. "I haven't even told you what I've got yet. How do you know you'll have anything valuable to contribute?"
"I'm motivated. Plus, you of all people should be aware of my résumé when it comes to that."
"Well, then. I'm dying to hear it, O Sage One."
Maybe her mood wasn't as volatile as he'd assumed if she was making jokes.
Memories of her, hot and pliant in his arms, damp heat against his fingers, all that hair like silk in his fingers...yeah.
It was totally worth taking a shot.
"My first piece of advice is to relax," he said smoothly. Cass hadn't moved an iota from her no-nonsense pose against the desk. Gage couldn't work his charm with her so uptight. "Second, I advise you to have dinner with me again tonight. But let's actually eat this time."
Other than a slight eye roll, she held herself impressively frozen with not even a leg tremor to give away her thoughts. "I can't display that on a presentation at a board meeting. I need results and I need them today."
"Then sit down and let's hash it out," he suggested with a nod at the other chair. "I'm starting to feel as though I was called to the principal's office the way you're towering over me."
With a piercing side eye aimed pointedly in his direction, she perched on the other chair but he had the distinct impression she didn't like the idea. He held his hands up in silent promise to keep them to himself, which she acknowledged with a muttered, "Yeah, we'll see."
The truth was he had as much of an interest in finding the leak and plugging it as Cass did-if nothing else, he wasn't prepared to hand over one single dollar until it was handled, or his investment would be worthless.
Nor could he afford to let the leak take the formula public. Then someone else might get the upper hand. The issues inside Cass's company needed to be resolved.
"Talk to me about your notes." When she hesitated, he stuck his palms under his butt, and widened his eyes in an exaggerated okay? "Come on."
It was so subtle, he almost missed it. But he was watching her closely enough to pinpoint the exact moment she relaxed. The victory shot through him with a sharp thrill.
"My theory is that the leak came from someone in the lab. Has to be. No one else outside of the four founders knows how the formula works."
He'd considered that, too, and it was probably true, but she couldn't make broad assumptions. "Anyone could have hacked into your database or paid off a janitor to steal Harper's notes."
"True. But I don't think that's how it happened. So I'm thinking about planting some false information and watermarking the files. If it gets leaked, I can trace it back."
"Digital forensics? Like what banks use when they're hacked? That's expensive."
"Formula-47 is worth millions of dollars. Maybe billions."
Yes, absolutely. But you had to spend money where it made sense. "Regardless, you'd have to wait until the leak found the information and hope he or she didn't realize that the transferred files could be traced, then you have to assume the leak will decide to spill it, wait for the news to hit the industry and then try to track down who accessed the file on your server. You don't have that long."
Her lips pursed but she didn't give away anything else of her thoughts. "That's exactly why I wanted to run this by you. I knew you'd find the holes if there were any."
That small compliment from a tough customer like Cass held more weight than he would have imagined. It spread through his chest warmly. He could get used to that. Get used to combining business and pleasure in exactly this way, with a woman who could match him mentally and physically.
That's a new experience you can get behind.
Except it wasn't exactly new. This was like old times, but better because they were equals.
"It's not rocket science. I've just been around a while. Failed a lot early on and learned a few things. No big deal," he said, and he ducked his head.
She swept him with a once-over laden with-dare he hope it-some heat?
"You'll forgive me if I disagree. It's is a big deal. You're the CEO of a billion-dollar company for a reason. And I'm not. Also for a reason." Her self-deprecating shrug spoke volumes.
"Hey. You're being too hard on yourself."
Her gaze flew to his and something raw flashed in the depths, a stricken sense of anxiety. The brief spurt of emotion in her eyes sucked him in instantly, spreading through him with equal parts warmth and a desire to fix it. He almost reached out then to comfort her.
Because she needed him that way, too. And he liked being needed by a strong, independent woman like Cass.
It had nothing to do with sex, nothing to do with business-or even fun-and everything to do with why he'd recalled their relationship so fondly. Why he'd wanted to revive that between them. He liked being her go-to guy, being there for her. How had he walked away from that so easily?
Better yet, how did he keep it going now?
"Am I? How many times has one of your employees spilled company secrets?" she asked, and he didn't like how matter-of-fact she was about it.
She'd accomplished something really fantastic here at Fyra. Insisting that a blip like the leak overshadowed that riled him up but good.
"That's not a yardstick," he insisted right back. "If it was, then you could also compare yourself to the CEOs of companies that went bankrupt or employed executives that ended up in orange jumpsuits. You're a star in comparison."
Her amused smile heated his blood unnaturally fast.
And if he could get Cass on the same page, this conversation could very well explode into something that didn't need words.
* * *
Cass let her smile widen.
She had Gage exactly where she wanted him. It had taken her a bit to shift the mood and even longer to convince Gage his charm was working on her. At this point, he was so busy flirting and shooting her heated glances, he was scarcely paying attention to the matter at hand-the leak. Advantage Cassandra.
Keeping it was another story.
"You really think so?" She leaned into him, letting her arm casually brush Gage's. His gaze darkened. "That means a lot to me."
"This is not the conversation I thought we were going to have." He shifted closer, crowding into her space and she almost flinched as the contact sang through her but caught herself in time.
That episode last night, up against the gazebo post, had kept her tossing and turning all night long. She couldn't forget it. She might never be able to jog by that gazebo again without reliving the feel of Gage's mouth on her flesh and the intensity of his heated gaze on her bare breasts as he watched her climax under his talented fingers.
It was enough to make her want to corner him, strip him naked and let the passion between them come to conclusion. Where she got to watch him fall apart at her hands.
Which she totally planned to do...while extracting the information she needed. She could not, under any circumstances, let him dissolve that goal like he'd done last night. No more would she let her emotions run away with her. It was all business, all the time, especially while she was seducing him.
This was her career at stake, and the careers of her friends, poised to vanish into thin air if she didn't produce the name of the person responsible for disclosing company secrets.
Fyra was her life and no man could replace it. Especially not this one.