"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.