The CEO's Little Surprise

And she wanted that. Oh, how she wanted things to be different, with the possibility of throwing their agendas out the window and just connecting as man and woman.

It was madness. Gage could not be trusted under any circumstances and obviously sex had only confused things, not clarified them. She kicked him out before she started imagining things that were impossible, like asking him to stay and hold her all night.

He left without arguing, which dug under her skin and sat there irritating her for no apparent reason. Why? He’d done what she asked—what more could she want? Gage did not belong in her bed. That was reserved for men who wanted to stick around and he wasn’t the type. A few days and then gone.

She knew that. But that didn’t stop all the needy dreams during the long night where he curled around her in bed and stroked her hair and told her everything was going to be okay, that he was here for her and she didn’t have to be strong with him. That he understood her and cared about her.

Clearly a dream—Gage Branson wasn’t marriage material and she didn’t need a man who whispered pretty lies in her ear about the state of things. There was no guarantee even one blessed thing in her life would turn out okay. The investigative work she’d done on her own time hadn’t amounted to much and Gage hadn’t given up any information either, which meant she was still at square one.

Around 5:00 a.m. she crawled from the big, lonely bed and tried to rinse Gage off her body and soul with a hot shower. It was Friday. Reckoning day. Trinity had scheduled a meeting with the four executives to hear Cass’s progress report on the leak. It was shaping up to be a short meeting because she had nothing to report.

It took twice as long as normal to do her makeup, partly due to her shaking hands and partly due to the necessity of taking extra care to present her best “I’ve got this” face to the world. Then, she dressed carefully in a black suit with a knee-length skirt and red silk shell. The look radiated power and control and she needed both today.

By nine, the other ladies filed in to take their customary seats around the conference table. Cass had been in her chair for fifteen minutes, going over nonexistent notes, and calming her nerves. It should have been the other way around. Lots of progress, cool as a cucumber.

There was a distinct possibility she might throw up.

New fine lines around Harper’s eyes spoke to the heightened level of stress on Fyra’s chief science officer. She’d been clocking long hours in anticipation of presenting Formula-47 for FDA approval, perhaps in vain if Cass didn’t get with the program. Trinity tapped one foot, impatient and ready to draw blood the moment someone presented their jugular. Someone was about to be Cass, she had a feeling. Eyes on her legal pad, Alex wore a slight frown, as if this boardroom was the last place she wanted to be and Cass had interrupted the CFO’s more important agenda items for the day.

“Thanks for taking time from your busy Friday to hear my progress report,” Cass began smoothly and squared her tablet, trying to get her emotions under control. She’d failed to do her job and her partners needed to know it, no matter how hard it was to admit she didn’t have it all together.

If only she’d gotten some sleep last night, her emotions wouldn’t be riding so close to the surface. If only she’d checked her mushy heart at the door when Gage came over, she could have gone all night with him and maybe extracted something useful. Instead, she’d kicked him out because she couldn’t control anything, let alone herself.

“I’ll cut to the chase,” Cass said and met the gaze of each of her partners in turn. “I haven’t found anything yet.”

The three women’s expressions ranged from disbelief to anger.

Alex spoke first. “What do you mean, you haven’t found anything yet? You’ve had all week.” She sank down in her chair an inch, as if Cass’s news had physically added weight to her shoulders, which increased the general despair in the room. “This is awful. We should have involved the authorities from the beginning.”

“We couldn’t have,” Cass reminded her. She cleared the catch from her throat. They’d had this discussion on Monday when the trade magazine had hit the industry and again on Tuesday in their board meeting. “Mike said the article was too vague, remember? We don’t have any recourse but to investigate ourselves.”

“Which has failed miserably.” Alex crossed her arms and stared at Cass. “We trusted you with this. We could have all been working on it but you said you’d handle it. What, exactly, did you do all week?”