The CEO's Little Surprise by Kat Cantrell Page A

whatever got him that formula.
    Ignoring his own vile glass of headache in a bottle, he grinned because it would be pointless to argue when she clearly saw the truth. But that didn’t mean they had to dwell on it.
    Gage slid a palm across the table and captured her hand before she could prevent it. “Don’t think of me as your competition, not tonight.”
    She glanced down at their joined hands but didn’t snatch hers away. He could tell she was contemplating it, though, hopefully because she also felt the electricity between them—and it was working to loosen her up.
    â€œBut you are. Always and forever. We sell similar products or you wouldn’t be here. Nor would you have been my mentor. Competition is not something you can will away.”
    â€œMaybe not. I can, however, ban all business talk until later. Then we’re just old friends reconnecting. Like I told you in your office.”
    He had the distinct impression she didn’t loosen up easily these days. If there was any competition going on tonight, that was it. And he didn’t intend to lose this particular contest.
    â€œI’m curious,” she said, her gaze back on him but not nearly warm enough for his taste. “I never see you at trade shows. My email address is easy to locate on Fyra’s website. If you have such an interest in reconnecting, why haven’t we done so before now?”
    A hot prickle walked across the back of his neck as he instantly recognized a spring-loaded trap, ready to close around his leg if he moved the wrong way. An unsettled feeling bled through his chest.
    And in the end, he was the one to pull his hand back from hers, suddenly uncomfortable with the contact.
    â€œI hate trade shows. They’re stifling. And they’re always on weekends when I’m...busy.”
    That had sounded much dirtier than he’d intended, especially when lately, his weekends had consisted of giving Arwen a bath or taking her to the lake so she could have fun practicing her pointer skills.
    Cass watched him without blinking, silently waiting on him to stop stalling and get to the meat of her question, which was basically designed to force him to admit he’d developed an interest in her in order to get his hands on her formula.
    Maybe it had started out as a little of both—seducing her to ensure she remembered what she owed him. He wasn’t a saint.
    But at this moment, he really did want to be a friend. None of her other so-called friends seemed to realize how brittle she was under her super-CEO costume. Someone had to banish the shadows of fatigue and uncertainty in her gaze. Give her a safe place to let her hair down, which would preferably be in his bed, like she’d once done.
    Yeah. He’d like to pull those pins from the tight blond twist at her crown, all right. His lower half went rock solid as he imagined that fall of hair raining down around her bare shoulders as he peeled that lacy, sexy cranberry-colored dress from her beautiful body. It was crazy to be so hot for her again after not seeing her for so long—or to her point, after not actively pursuing reacquaintance for all these years.
    He should have looked her up. Why hadn’t he?
    He blew out a pent-up breath. “Truth? I didn’t drive up from Austin to reconnect over a drink. I want your formula. But that’s just business.”
    Tonight was very personal.
    Nodding at the wine bottle, she drained her glass and held it out for Gage to pour her another. “I’m surprised you’d admit it.”
    â€œI told you, I’m an open book. I don’t mind being cagey when the occasion calls for it, but I don’t have deep dark secrets.” Who had time for that noise? Life was too short to care about other people’s opinions, and that’s all secrets were—things you didn’t want others to know because you feared their judgment.
    Cass leaned forward and the new angle