Lauren (Silicon Valley Billionaires 1)

“You promise? About bringing me back?”

He put his hand on my shoulder and marshaled me out the door. “If it’s an emergency, I promise to bring you back. If it’s just you panicking because you’ve left Paragon for the first time in weeks, I reserve the right to refuse and keep you otherwise occupied until you calm down.”

My stomach twisted with a mixture of desire and nerves. Otherwise occupied, indeed.

We headed out to his Porsche Spyder, which was parked in the darkening lot. I texted my driver and Timmy, letting them know we were heading to Gabe’s estate. They pulled out behind us and followed us to the freeway. Gabe was quiet for a long time, then he glanced at me. “Are you going to fill me in on the latest details? About our mutual enemy? Did it look like those tests were close to being successful?” Gabe’s jaw was taut. He hated Clive Warren, and this was just adding fuel to the fire.

“No. Not yet.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I was angry about the whole thing as well as completely exhausted, wobbly and on edge. “But if they catch up? If they manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Paragon’s patch will be second, and in this market, that’s the same thing as losing. And then six years of work and billions of my investors’ dollars will be for nothing.”

Gabe covered my hand with his. His touch sent waves of heat through me. “They—whoever ‘they’ are, Clive and/or his foreign buyer—they won’t get to market first. They’re behind. You’re weeks ahead of them with your development—and on top of that, they’ve stolen your trade secrets. You can still go to the authorities. You can file a cease and desist against them.”

I shook my head. “Only against someone on American soil.”

“Someone on American soil is at least a start.” We pulled up to his drive. “Get your legal team together tomorrow and see what your options are.”

“I’m planning on it. I’ll text them tonight.”

“See?” He placed his thumb against the scanner, and the gate swung open. “You should make time for me more often. I’m full of good ideas.”

“I’m pretty sure I would have thought of convening with my legal team after this happened,” I huffed as he pulled me out of the car and up the walkway to his estate.

“Aw, come on Your Highness, we all know that. No one is doubting your omniscient good judgment.” He flashed that dimple, and I couldn’t be mad at him, even though he was referring to me as Your Highness again.

Gabe opened a bottle of wine, then hit a button, causing a fire to roar instantly to life in the enormous stone fireplace. He was probably trying to soothe me. It worked, at least a little. It felt good to be there. I relaxed into the deep leather couch in spite of myself, enjoying the warmth from the fire.

Gabe sat next to me and touched his glass to mine. “Cheers. To finally getting you back here.”

“Cheers.” I took a sip as I watched him, his big shoulders outlined against the fire. Heat crept through my body, and it had nothing to do with the flames in the nearby fireplace.

“In other breaking news, since Clive is moving forward with selling your technology—or whatever it is he’s doing—he needs to be paid another visit from my team.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “It appears old Clive doesn’t listen well. He needs to learn.”

“Um…you don’t need to be the one to school him.” I loved that Gabe was protective, but his immediate urge to fight on my behalf was nerve-racking. “I appreciate what you did before—and I hope you know I value your support—but let my team take care of it. We don’t need to beat Clive to a pulp.”

“He can’t get away with stealing from you. Why won’t you let me help? Dynamica has an interest in this too, you know.”

“I don’t want you to do something illegal. I can’t have that kind of activity associated with my company. And I don’t want you…to get hurt.”

“You’re worried about little old me?” Gabe leaned forward and looked me in the eye. “When you haven’t even made time for me in weeks?”

I took another shaky sip of wine. “I thought you rescued me from work because you wanted me to relax. Instead, you’re sort of making me a nervous wreck.”

“That’s because you’re fighting me.” A slight smile played on his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “I guess you bring out my…intense side.”

We stared at each other, neither one of us giving an inch.

“Promise me.” I found the strength to make my voice firm. “Nothing else illegal with Clive. I’ve already done enough bad things to probably land us both in federal prison. I’m having him hacked, and your men have him under surveillance—that’s plenty. We don’t need to physically harm him.”

Gabe shrugged. “I didn’t say that I was going to physically harm him. Although I’m sure you’re aware that is on my eventual to-do list.”

“Then what? What’s the plan?”

“You don’t need to know. In fact, it’s better if you don’t—then you won’t have to testify against me, if it ever comes to that.” His dimple returned, but I still groaned.

“Forget about Clive for a minute.” The dimple disappeared as the muscle in his jaw jumped. “Now…about you. And me.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes?”

“I let you leave here a few weeks ago. I’ve regretted it ever since.” He paused for a beat, letting the words sink in. “I’ve left you alone because I know you need to be at Paragon. You’ve needed to get your compliance reports ready. How is it going, aside from the outside threats? Are you in good shape?”