The CEO's Little Surprise(26)

He was committing to his child. Didn't that give her some hope he might want to commit to her, too?

"Maybe it's not so ridiculous." Had that just come out of her mouth? It was madness. But honest.

"Stop humoring me," he said flatly. "I get it. Everything is up in the  air, which is unfair to you. Besides, you might want to think about  whether you'd like to be in the same boat as Briana. I don't know how  she got pregnant. I used protection every single time."

Yeah, that had occurred to her. But he'd gotten it wrong. She was in a  whole boatload of trouble regardless because she wasn't mother material.  She ran a million-dollar company for crying out loud. Any conversation  she and Gage had about seeing where things could go included a future  with a baby no matter what. Now that she'd thought of it, she couldn't  stop thinking about it.                       
       
           



       

But there was no point in heaping condemnation on him, especially not  when it sounded as though he was doing a pretty good job of that on his  own. "Of course you did, Gage. It was an accident. It happens all the  time, even to smart, careful people."

Her heart twisted as they talked about subjects that shouldn't be a  part of his reality. Gage embraced this challenge in a way she'd never  have guessed-the king of disentangling himself from anything that  smacked of the long-term had changed when she wasn't looking. Really and  truly changed, which she'd just spent a considerable amount of effort  denying over the past week.

What if she could trust him with her heart this time? A world of possibilities might be open to her. To both of them.

It gave her a lot to think about.

In the morning, she awoke before Gage. His sleeping form was close  enough to touch but she didn't dare do it. He'd only slept for a couple  of hours last night, which she knew because she'd been holding him when  he'd finally drifted off.

Their conversation had meandered to every subject under the sun-how  they'd gone without their first year in business, what kind of spices  you could add to ramen noodles to make them taste like something other  than cardboard, the first splurge purchase they'd made when their  companies finally turned a profit.

It was like the old days, except Gage hadn't even tried to kiss her.  Last night hadn't been about sex, a fact she appreciated. But at the  same time, she couldn't help but try to categorize the night.

A turning point, perhaps. But one thing she did know for sure-she had  to answer that million-dollar question about Gage's involvement in the  leak. Soon.





Twelve

Cass entered this new phase of her relationship with Gage with equal  parts caution and greed. She soaked up every second of laughing with him  over Robbie's antics as Gage visited his son at Lauren's house, and she  helped Gage shop for nursery items.

No task required to prepare Gage to take custody of his son was too  small for her involvement, apparently. She didn't mind. Except for the  part where they never picked up the conversation about where things were  going. Whether there was a goodbye in their future or not. Was she  simply a hand to hold until he found his footing?

Eventually, that question would have to be answered. But she was content, for now.

She shuttled between Austin and Dallas enough times over the next week  that she could pick out roadside elements as mile markers. That weed  formation meant it was an hour and thirty-six minutes until she'd be in  Gage's arms again. The pile of rocks by the exit sign meant she'd see  Gage's beautiful hazel eyes light up at the sight of her in seventeen  minutes.

In between, she ran her company and hired a private detective to look  into the leak. If she hadn't been so distracted, she would have done so  earlier. The move was enough to satisfy her partners into giving her  more time. And enough to satisfy herself that if Gage was involved,  she'd find out before things went too far. She hoped.

On Friday, one week after she'd snuck out early to get busy with Gage  in his Hummer-totally by accident, in her defense-she spent an hour at  the end of the day frantically whittling down her email in anticipation  of spending the weekend in Austin with Gage.

Her phone rang. Speak of the devil.

"Hey, sexy," she purred.

"It's done," he said. "The last of Briana's estate is settled and Robbie is officially mine."

She swallowed. Hard. "That's great news!"

Just in time for the weekend. They'd expected it to take a few more  days, but Lauren had been instrumental in pushing things through once  she saw how serious Gage was about being a father. She could have made  Gage's life a living hell and he'd said he was grateful she'd chosen to  take the high road for Robbie's sake.

Except now it was real. Gage was a single father.

Now that the estate was settled, Robbie would come to live with Gage  permanently. Lauren would still be a huge part of her nephew's life, and  she and Gage had already discussed potential arrangements for holidays.  Gage's parents had put their house in Houston on the market and planned  to move to Austin so they could spend their golden years with their new  grandson.                       
       
           



       

The only person who didn't have her future mapped out was Cass.

"So I guess Lauren is bringing Robbie over tonight?" she asked. She'd  planned to drive to Austin tonight to spend the weekend with Gage.

Things had just come to a head. What did Cass know about dating a  single father? If things progressed, was she really ready to be a  mother? The thought frightened her. She had a demanding job. She  couldn't be calm and cool around a baby. The timing wasn't great for any  of this.

One step at a time. What better way to figure out what came next than to spend time with the man and his child?

"No, she asked if she could keep Robbie until Monday so she could say goodbye, just the two of them. I couldn't say no."

"That was sweet of you."

Her heart opened a little more with each glimpse of the man Gage was  becoming as he met this challenge. Each time, she had to reprogram a bit  more of her thinking. She wasn't sure what to do with the result.

"So instead of you driving here, I'm coming to you. You've already put  far too many miles on your car in the past week. Turnabout is fair  play," he reminded her in case she'd forgotten about his strong sense of  tit-for-tat. "I'll be there in three hours."

She ended the call with a smile and drove home instead of to Austin.  The reprieve gave her time to review the email she'd received a few  minutes ago from the background-check company. They'd finally completed  new scans of all her employees.

Thirty minutes later, she kicked back on her sofa with her laptop, the  report and a list of cross-referenced employees who worked in the lab.  The scans she'd ordered included arrest records, of course, but that  wasn't necessarily a good indicator of someone's propensity toward  corporate espionage. A better one was financial records such as property  owned and debt, which was the section of the report where she focused  her attention.

Someone with a mountain of outstanding bills might be a prime candidate  for thievery, particularly in light of what the formula was worth to  someone like Gage. He'd never buy it from a shady Fyra employee, but the  culprit might not realize that.

But Cass knew that about Gage. The thought settled into her mind as if  it had always been there. Of course that was true. Why would he have  bothered to come to Fyra's CEO with an offer to buy the formula if he  planned to buy it on the black market?

Or was she missing the big picture?

Everything was mixed up in her head and the addition of his new status  as a committed father wasn't helping. She just didn't know whether she  trusted Gage or not.

Cass refocused and noted two lab employees with outstanding mortgages  that seemed quite large for what Fyra paid them. Also not a blinking  sign that pointed to criminal activity. But a curiosity all the same,  considering neither of them were married according to the scan.  Inheritance, maybe, but Cass couldn't be too careful.

Next, she moved on to her employees' former employers and known  associates. GB Skin leaped off the page almost instantly. Cass's gaze  slid to the employee's name. Rebecca Moon. She worked for Harper as a  lab analyst. She'd worked for Gage before coming to Fyra. Also in his  lab.

It wasn't uncommon. Many of Fyra's employees had previously worked for  Mary Kay, too. That didn't make them criminals, just people with skill  sets companies in the cosmetics industry sought.

But no one from a competitor had approached Cass about her formula, except one.

Cass sat up and started from the beginning of Rebecca's report. The  picture was not pretty. She had a wide swath of credit card debt  totaling well over a hundred grand and outstanding medical bills  from-Cass tapped the line once she found it-her ex-husband's many  elective procedures. So Rebecca had gotten divorced but was still  saddled with an ex's debt.