The CEO's Little Surprise by Kat Cantrell

worthless. He couldn’t ignore the need to discuss strategy.
    Fortunately, what he apparently lacked in ESP, he made up for in charm and ingenuity. So he’d wing it. Like always.
    Gage barely glanced at the wine menu before handing it over to Cass. “Since you called dibs on ordering the wine, here you go.”
    She arched one of those cool brows and took the leather-bound wine listing. The movement drew attention to her cleavage, where scarcely-contained nipples threatened to burst free of their cranberry lace cage at a moment’s notice. A bead of sweat slid between his shoulder blades as he tore his gaze from her breasts.
    â€œI was expecting more of an argument,” she commented as if the sexual undercurrents didn’t exist. “You’re not a fan of wine, if memory serves.”
    No, but the fact that she recalled his preference put a good deal more warmth down south. As if he’d had room for more.
    â€œI’ll make an exception for you.”
    The more she drank, the less she’d remember to act like the ice goddess, or at least that had been the plan once upon a time when his faculties were in order. Back in her office, she’d seemed...brittle. As if she’d needed someone to pay attention to her. Cass was in sore need of a glass of wine and an orgasm, and not necessarily in that order.
    That made up his mind. He wanted to give her a chance to relax, as he’d entreated her to. One of them should be able to anyway. Seduction first. And then they could talk leak strategy later. Much later.
    With their food, Cass ordered a four hundred dollar bottle of wine—exorbitant, as promised—and once the waiter left to retrieve it, she folded her hands, contemplating Gage as if she’d found an amusing little puppy she didn’t know whether to pet or send outside for peeing on the floor.
    â€œTell me something,” she began in her boardroom voice that he should not find so sexy.
    â€œSure. I’m an open book.” He spread his hands wide, earning a small, less-than-amused smile. She needed to drink more. Maybe her Gage-proof armor would fall off along with her inhibitions.
    Once, they’d talked about everything under the sun and he’d enjoyed hearing her thoughts and soothing her through her angst. Just like he’d enjoyed being her mentor, shaping her, guiding her.
    Maybe you hope to fall into that role again, with the hero worship and Pygmalion overtones, hmm?
    Yeah. He did. And she needed his help to find the leak. Needed him . So what? Seduction and strategy, then. All of that worked together to get him the formula. Where was the harm?
    â€œWhy the interest in my formula?” she asked point-blank. “Other than the song and dance about how I owe it to you. For real. Why? You’ve expanded your retail reach enormously over the past five years and you just landed that endorsement deal. Something must have prompted you to show up on my doorstep.”
    â€œThat’s a fair question,” he acknowledged, impressed that she’d done her homework on his company. And that’s why he chose to answer her honestly. “It’s simple really. My target consumers are starting to pay close attention to things like bar-fight scars and wrinkles. So I launched my own product. I don’t want any competition.”
    â€œGage, there are a hundred wrinkle creams on the market. Your competition is legion.”
    â€œNo.” He caught her gaze and held it. “There’s only one person who’s my equal.”
    â€œSo this is a pride thing.” Looking away, she sipped the glass of wine the waiter had placed in front of her and murmured her appreciation for the red blend. “You can’t stand it when a competitor is primed to beat you.”
    He might as well be made of glass when it came to Cass and that was sexy, too. Dang if he could figure out why he was so drawn to her when all he should care about was