battle, and there was no way she’d deal with Gage for a second time today in front of a bevy of onlookers. “It’s better if I talk to him in my office. Trinity, can you tell Alex and Harper I’ll be there in a few minutes?”
Trinity harrumphed but edged away as Cass stared her down. “Okay. But if you’re robbing us of the show, you better come prepared to spill all the details.”
With Melinda dogging her steps—because the receptionist likely didn’t want to miss a thing at this point—Cass marched to the reception area.
Arms crossed and one hip leaning on the desk as if he owned it, Gage glanced toward her as she entered, his deep hazel eyes lighting up at the sight of her. His slow smile set off a tap dance in her abdomen. Which was not okay. It was even less okay than his ability to fuzzle her mind.
Steeling her spine against the onslaught of Gage’s larger-than-life personality, she jerked her head toward the hallway. “Five minutes, Mr. Branson. I’m late for a board meeting.”
“Mr. Branson. I like the sound of that,” he mused, winking. “Respect where respect is due.”
Flirting came so naturally to him, she wondered if he even realized when he was doing it. She rolled her eyes and turned her back on his smug face, taking off toward her office in hopes he’d get lost.
He drew abreast with little effort, glancing down at her because he still topped her by several inches no matter how high her heels were, dang it. His powerful masculinity dominated the small hallway that had always seemed quite large enough for every other person who’d accompanied her to her office.
“Trying to score the first one-minute mile? You can’t outrun me barefoot, let alone while wearing icepick stilettos.” He eyed them appreciatively, his too-long hair flopping over his forehead. “Which I like, by the way.”
Her toes automatically curled inside her shoes as heat swept over her skin. “I didn’t wear them for you.”
Why had she thought taking care of this in her office was a good idea? She should have gone to her board meeting and had Melinda tell Gage to take a hike.
But he would have just shown up over and over again until she agreed to an appointment.
So she’d get rid of him once and for all.
When she halted by her open office door, Gage raised a brow as he read its deep purple placard. “Chief enhancement officer?”
His amused tone rankled but she just smiled and silently dared him to do his worst. “Branding. We put incredibly careful thought into every single aspect of this business. Seems like I had a mentor once who taught me a few things about that.”
He grinned in return and didn’t acknowledge her sarcasm. Nor did he say a word about her outstretched arm, choosing to humor her and enter first as she’d meant him to, but he didn’t miss the opportunity to brush her, oh, so casually. She pretended the skin he’d just touched wasn’t tingling.
“Yeah, we did have a few lively discussions about business strategies,” he mused. “Branding is why I drive a green Hummer, by the way.”
Cass had decorated her office with the same trademark Fyra deep purple hue, down to the glass-topped desk and expensive woven carpet under it. He took it all in with slightly widened eyes.
“Because you want everyone to see it and think GB Skin has zero environmental consciousness and its owner is obnoxious?” she asked sweetly before he could make a crack about her decor.
Sleek and modern, the offices had been decorated by an expensive, trendy uptown firm. It had cost a pretty penny, but the results had been worth it. This company was hers, from the baseboards to the ceiling and she loved it. They’d moved to this building three years ago, once Fyra posted its first annual revenue of fifty million dollars. That was when she knew they were going to make it.
She’d do whatever she needed to do in order to keep her company alive.
He laughed as he slid into a purple chair and then swept her with a pointed once-over. “You know the name of my company. I was starting to think you didn’t care.”
How did he manage to make understanding the competitive landscape sound so...personal? It was a skill he’d clearly bargained with the devil to obtain.
“I’m good at what I do. Of course I know the names of my competitors.” Cass remained standing near the door. Which she pointedly left open. “You’ve got your appointment. And about three minutes to tell me why you didn’t take the no I gave you earlier and run back to Austin.”
Casually, he swiveled his chair to face her and waved a hand to the empty chair next to him. “Sit and let’s talk.”
She didn’t move. There was no way she could be in close quarters with him, not on the heels of their earlier encounter when he’d barely breathed on her and still managed to get her hot and bothered. At least by the door, she had a shot at retaining the upper hand. “No, thanks. I’m okay.”
“You can’t keep standing. That tactic only works if you inflict it on someone other than the person who taught it to you,” he said mildly.
The fact that he saw through her only made it worse.
“Really, Gage,” she snapped. “Fyra’s executives are waiting in a boardroom for the CEO to arrive. Cut the crap. Why are you here?”
His expression didn’t change. “The rumors about your formula are true, right?”
She crossed her arms over the squiggle in her stomach. “Depends on what you’ve heard.”
“Revolutionary is the word being thrown around,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve heard the formula works with your natural stem cells to regenerate skin, thus healing scars and eliminating wrinkles. Nanotech at its finest.”
She kept her expression schooled, but only just. “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
Her lungs hitched as she fought to draw a breath without alerting Gage to her distress. The leak was worse than they’d assumed. When Trinity had stormed into Cass’s office yesterday to show Cass the offending blurb in an online trade magazine, she’d read the scant few lines mentioning Fyra’s yet-to-be released product with horror. But it could have been so much worse, they’d assured each other. The trade magazine had few details, especially about the nanotechnology, and they’d hoped that had been the extent of the information that had traveled beyond their walls.
Apparently not.
It was a disaster. Full-blown, made even worse by Gage’s arrival on the scene.
Gage watched her carefully, his sharp gaze missing nothing. “But if my intel is correct, a formula like that might be worth about a hundred million or so. Which I’m prepared to pay.”
Oh, no, he had not just dropped that sum on her. She shut her eyes for a blink. Money like that was serious business, and as the CEO, she had to take his offer to the others for due consideration.
But she knew her friends. They’d agree with her that the formula was priceless. “I told you, the formula isn’t for sale.”
He stood suddenly and advanced on her, clearly over the power play she’d instigated by standing by the door. The closer he got, the harder her pulse pounded, but she blinked coolly as if lethally sexy men faced her down on a daily basis.
“It’s smart business to consider all opportunities,” he said as he leaned against the doorjamb not two feet from her. “If you sell, you don’t have to worry about little things like FDA approval and production costs and false-claim lawsuits. You just roll around in your millions and leave the hard work to someone else.”
The scent of clean forest and man wafted in her direction.
“I’m