The CEO's Little Surprise Read Online Free

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.
    â€œI’m not afraid of hard work,” she stated firmly as she fought to keep from stepping back, out of the line of his masculine fire. It was a battle of wills, and if she fled, he’d figure out how much he truly affected her.
    The man was a shaman, mystical and charismatic. One glance, and she’d follow him into his world of hedonistic pleasure. Or at least that had been true in college. She’d learned a few tricks of her own since then, along with developing a shield around her fragile interior.
    His gaze held her captive as he reached out and tucked a chunk of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering far longer than they should have.
    â€œWhat are you afraid of?” he asked softly, his expression morphing into something almost...warm.
    You. She swallowed. Where had that come from? Gage didn’t scare her. What scared her was how easily she forgot to control her emotions around him.
    This cat-and-mouse game had veered into dangerous territory.
    â€œTaxes,” she muttered inanely and ignored the way her pulse raced.
    When was the last time she’d been touched? Months and months. She’d developed a reputation among single men in Dallas as a man-eater and unfortunately, that just made her even more popular as men vied for her attention so they could claim victory. Mostly she just shut them down because the whole scene exhausted her.
    And she couldn’t lose sight of the fact that the reason she chewed up men and spit them out was staring her in the face. He was very dangerous indeed if she’d forgotten for a second the destruction he’d caused.
    And that’s when it hit her. She was handling Gage all wrong.
    This wasn’t college and Gage wasn’t her mentor. They were equals. And he was on her turf. That meant she called the shots.
    If he wanted to play, she’d play.
    * * *
    Once Gage had tucked the errant lock of hair behind her ear, he’d run out of legitimate excuses to have his hands on her. Which didn’t keep him from silently running through a litany of illegitimate excuses.
    â€œGage,” she murmured throatily and the base of his spine heated. “The formula’s not for sale. I have a board meeting. Seems like we’re done here...unless you’ve got a better offer?”
    Her eyelids lowered to half-mast and she didn’t move, but the sensual vibe emanating from her reached out and wrapped around him, drawing him in. Those cutaway panels at her waist would fit his palms perfectly and with any luck, the mesh inserts would allow him to feel her while fully clothed. The thought sent a rush of blood through his veins and the majority of it ended up in a good, solid erection that got very uncomfortable, very fast.
    â€œI just might have something in mind,” he said, his vocal chords scraping the low end of the register. God, she’d even affected his voice.
    Down boy. Remind her why the formula is for sale...but only to you.
    Yeah, he needed to get back on track, pronto, and stop letting her get into his head. He dropped his hand but leaned into her space to see about turning those tables on her. “You’re doing amazing things here, Cass. I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished.’
    Wariness sprang into her gaze as she processed his abrupt subject change. “Thank you. I’m proud of what the girls and I have built.”
    He crossed his arms before an errant finger could trail down the line of her throat. Because his lower half wasn’t getting the message that the goal here was to get her hot and flustered. Not the other way around. “Remember that project I helped you with for Dr. Beck’s