The Ceo's Little Surprise. Kat Cantrell

we consider a lucrative income stream when it’s presented?” Alex argued. “We can’t categorically dismiss that kind of paycheck.”

      They could when it was coming out of the bank account of the man who had destroyed Cass. Didn’t that matter?

      “Wait just a darn minute, Ms. Moneybags.” Harper rounded on Alex, who shrank a bit under the redhead’s scowl. “Formula-47 is my baby, not yours. I spent two years of my life perfecting it on the premise that we’d hinge our entire future strategy around the products we can create from the technology. If we sell it, we’re giving up rights to it forever for a lump sum. That’s not smart.”

      Alex tapped her pen faster against the legal pad. “Not if we retain rights and structure the deal—”

      “No one is structuring deals,” Cass broke in. “I only mentioned it because you needed to know. Gage’s offer will vanish instantly if the leak shares the formula’s recipe. And since we still don’t know who it is, we have to focus on that first.”

      Alex firmed her mouth and nodded. “That’s true.”

      “What did our lawyer say?” Trinity asked, raising her eyebrows as Cass blinked at her. “Didn’t you just come back from Mike’s office?”

      “God, I’m sorry.” Cass slid down in her chair an inch in mortification. Gage had wiped that entire meeting out of her head. “Mike doesn’t think we can involve the police yet. The article didn’t contain enough detail and wouldn’t stand up in court as proprietary information. He advised us to file for FDA approval immediately, in hopes that will stem future information from being released prematurely. Until we find the leak, we can’t be too careful.”

      She had to regain control now. Gage wasn’t a factor. Period.

      “I’m not ready.” Harper shook her head mulishly. Careful and thorough might as well be tattooed on her forehead alongside her credentials, a valuable trait in a scientist who created the products with Fyra’s label on them. “This is our first product that requires FDA approval. We can’t rush it.”

      “So our lawyer gave us advice we don’t plan to take.” Pradas flat on the ground, Trinity leaned on the table. “What else do we have on the agenda that we need to get busy shooting down?”

      “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