The CEO's Little Surprise(30)

But was it even possible to fix it? Cass's frozen routine was a  safeguard against him, after all. He'd started their relationship solely  with the intent of leveraging their attraction to get his hands on her  formula, and she was forcing him to reap what he'd sown. Which was no  less than he deserved. The rift between them was as much his fault as  hers.

He'd wanted something more and had been too chicken to lay it all on  the line, disguising his thirst for Cass as a drive to beat the  competition.

And by the way...if you've never done permanent, never been in love,  never figured out how to sacrifice and be selfless, you know being a  father will be that much harder.

His chest squeezed again. Nicolas was right. Gage's closest companions  were Arwen and his conscience disguised as his long-gone brother. He had  no idea how to do relationships. And he needed to. Gage couldn't be a  good father if he flitted between commitment and freedom. He'd already  realized that but now he knew how to fix it.

He had to learn how to stick. He wanted to. Cass and Robbie were both worth it.

Somehow, he had to prove to Cass that she could trust him this time. That he wasn't responsible for the leak.

He wanted Cassandra Claremont in his life, living it alongside him, giving him the ultimate experience he'd yet to have.

But as difficult as it was to admit, Gage had no basis for figuring out  what it took to be a good partner or a good father. He'd never had a  relationship before-with anyone, his family, a lover...what was  different this time? What could he offer Cass to convince her to give  him one last chance?

After a long night of tossing and turning, Gage sat up in bed as the perfect answer came to him.

Phillip Edgewood.

* * *

Cass frowned as she listened to the detective spout more rhetoric about  how the investigation was ongoing, nothing concrete to report, blah,  blah. She switched her phone to the other ear but the news didn't get  any better.

At the end of the day, Rebecca Moon either wasn't the culprit or she  had been very, very savvy about her movements over the past few weeks.  Nothing pointed to the woman as the source of the leak, nothing pointed  to a link between her and Gage, and Cass was tired of beating her head  against this wall.

She was even more tired of missing Gage and wondering why she was  beating her head against that wall, too. The man wasn't interested in a  relationship-which she'd known from day one. She'd done everything in  her power to keep her emotions out of it, trying to convince herself she  was sticking to him like glue so she could keep tabs on him.

It hadn't worked. She'd fallen in love with him all over again thanks  to those quiet moments when he was the man she longed for, who believed  in her but didn't care if she wasn't strong and capable 24/7, who'd  demonstrated his ability to commit to his son.

None of that mattered. She couldn't trust him and that meant they were through. Forever.

That hole in her heart? It was there for good.

It almost would have been better to find evidence that Gage had been  the one whispering in Rebecca's ear. At least then Cass could hate him  for being a sleaze. Instead, she'd had to cut ties because, after it was  all said and done, he only cared about the formula. When she'd told  Gage it was over, he hadn't argued. Because he knew he'd end things  eventually, so why not now?

A knock on her open door dragged her attention away from the  detective's disappointing phone call and the regret burning in her  chest. Alex stood in the doorway. Cass waved in the CFO and held up one  finger in the universal "give me a minute" gesture as she told the  detective to keep digging.

Alex sauntered into her office, but Cass could tell this wasn't a friendly visit.

"We need to talk," Alex said before Cass had even set the phone on her  desk. "The prelim quarterly numbers are not looking good."

Cass bit back the groan. When it rained, it poured. "And now you're going to tell me they're down due to the leak, right?"

The hard line of Alex's mouth didn't bode well. "I don't think we can  directly pin it on that. But it's clear we've got a problem, and not  having that breach buttoned up isn't helping."                       
       
           



       

The accusation of fault hadn't been verbalized but it came through loud  and clear. This was all on Cass and Alex wasn't pulling any punches. As  the CEO, the buck stopped at Cass's chair and she should have found the  leak's name long ago.

Helplessness welled up and nearly overflowed into her expression.

Push it back. Her throat was already so raw from watching Gage walk out  of her life that she hadn't thought it could get much worse. Turned out  she was wrong.

"I'm working on it," she said smoothly. Or what she thought would pass for smooth, but Alex scowled instead of lightening up.

"You've been saying that for weeks. I'm starting to wonder whether you've got a secret agenda you've failed to share with me."

Oh, God. She'd landed in turnabout hell. This was shaping up to be a  redo of the conversation she'd had with Gage last week, except she was  the one in the hot seat.

Being accused by Alex, who had been Cass's friend for years and years.  They'd suffered through exams together in college, through Alex's man  troubles, and of course, Cass's singular experience with Gage. Later,  she and Alex had worked around the clock together, poring over financial  statements for places to cut and bonding through the difficulties of  starting a brand-new company.

Except Alex was in Cass's office in her capacity as one-quarter owner  of that company. It was her right to call Cass onto the carpet. But she  did not have the right to make this about something other than Cass's  inability to do her job.

"I don't have a secret agenda. Don't be ridiculous."

"Why are you always so dismissive of me?" Alex's unmanicured  fingernails drummed against her leg in a restless pattern as she stared  at Cass with a small frown. "I run this company alongside you, not  beneath you."

Confused, Cass shook her head slightly.

There was more here than a reproach about Cass's performance on the  job. This was personal. She did not get the lack of trust and animosity  wafting in her direction. It wasn't as though she'd done something  horrible to her friend that would make all of this justified. Not like  what Gage had done to Cass, for example.

"What are you talking about?" Cass asked. "I'm not dismissing you. I-"

A brisk knock at the door cut off the rest and Cass glanced up sharply  to see Melinda, Fyra's receptionist, hovering in the hall outside her  office, practically wringing her hands.

"Sorry to interrupt." Melinda's eyes were so wide, it was a wonder they  didn't fall out of her head. "But not really. You've got a visitor and,  well, he's not the kind of person you make wait around. Besides, I'm  afraid he's disrupted the entire office and I thought-"

"Who's the visitor?" Cass asked as patiently as possible.

The timing was the worst and whoever it was could wait. She wanted to  get to the bottom of what was going on with Alex, once and for all.

"Phillip Edgewood," Melinda blurted out. There might have even been  swooning. "The Phillip Edgewood. The senator," she stage-whispered in  case Alex and Cass lived under a rock and might not know the popular  United States senator. "He's even dreamier in person than he is on TV.  Oh, and Mr. Branson is with him."

Cass stood so fast, her chair shot across the low-pile carpet and  crashed into the wall. "You could have told me that first. Send him back  right away."

A compact. There was a compact around here somewhere. Pulse thundering,  Cass fished blindly through her desk drawer, fingers closing around  three lipstick tubes, a bottle of Fyrago perfume and then a foundation  brush before she finally located the powder case. She flicked it open  and used the mirror to slick on a fresh layer of lipstick, which  predictably went on crooked because of how badly her hand was shaking.

Gage was here. In this building. He'd come to apologize, to throw himself at her feet. To declare his undying love...

Now she was the one being ridiculous. Her heart deflated. Gage wouldn't  have shown up after a week of radio silence with a US Senator in tow if  he was here to step back into her life. He was here about the formula.                       
       
           



       

Business. Of course. The man separated business and pleasure like a pro.

"Hot date?" Alex asked wryly and Cass peeked over the compact.

God, she'd forgotten all about Alex and, lucky girl, she was about to witness Cass's complete breakdown.

"Actually, Gage and I aren't seeing each other anymore. We-"

He swept into the room and she forgot to breathe. The sharp, dark navy  suit he wore would make an Italian tailor weep. His too-long hair was  somewhat tamed and smoothed back, leaving his gorgeous face the focal  point it should be.