by Joanne Rock
White roses filled a vase beside a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket. The black leather bench seats let them sit close to one another while, up front, the driver fired the engine to life. She had no idea where they were going and she didn’t care. All her attention was focused on the man beside her.
“Your dad surprised me. He didn’t say anything when I first got back to New York, but by Friday, he stormed over and demanded to know what was going on between us since I’d been screwing up every way possible in practice.”
“I didn’t tell my parents anything when I got back. I was too upset to talk about it and they respected that.” Her eyes scanned his face and it was all she could do not to lift her fingers to the scrape above his eyebrow. But she wanted to hear more, to find out what had gone on with him since she left the Tides Ranch.
“I was very blunt when I told him how I’d messed up with you. How I hadn’t recognized what I was feeling because I was so busy thinking it all through.”
“You do like to analyze things.” She remembered his mathematically drawn wine labels, his lettering perfectly spaced.
“Right. And he said you don’t find love in your head. You find it in your heart.”
That did not compute for Tatiana. “I can’t imagine my father saying anything like that.”
“Picture the words infused with more cursing while he yells them at me.”
She fell against Jean-Pierre as the limo took a hard turn exiting the parking garage. The feel of his muscular body against hers made her want to curl up and stay there. With an effort, she straightened and met his gaze evenly.
“That I can envision.” She refused to ask him again about love. She’d been mortified enough for one lifetime on that score.
“But by then I already knew the truth. That I love you like crazy. I could tell because when you left the ranch it was like you’d ripped my heart out and took it with you.”
She’d felt that way, too. As if she’d left her heart on the island with him. Still, she waited.
He took her shoulders in his hands and squared her to face him on the seat.
“I am in pain without you. I love you and I’m sure of it. This love will never go away.” He stroked the outside of her arms, sliding his fingers along the silky sleeves of the Gladiators jersey she’d worn to the game. “I understand if you don’t trust me enough to take another chance with me. But your father was right when he told me that you deserved to know how I feel.”
If the “I love you” part hadn’t hit her heart like an arrow, straight and true, then the last part would have sealed the deal. He didn’t expect anything from her in return. He just wanted her to know.
Tears sprang to her eyes and her throat closed up with too many emotions to name.
“I love you, too.” Her words were a harsh whisper, the only sound she could make over the burn in her throat. “So much.”
He folded her in his strong arms and she leaned into him. Home at last.
He held her tight, with a fierceness that told her how much he’d missed her. How much he’d hurt without her. She understood this reserved man so much better than she’d given herself credit for. She’d fallen in love with him a long time ago, and no matter what he said about being a different man now, she saw her old love inside the new one.
“Let’s not be apart anymore.” She levered back to look up at him, realizing they’d left the stadium and were on the highway that led west toward Lake Pontchartrain.
“I’d give anything to take you home with me.” He stroked a thumb along her cheek and tipped her face up to his. “Forever.”
When his kiss brushed her lips, she twined her arms around his neck and he pulled her into his lap. Tomorrow was soon enough to get married. For tonight, no matter the scandal, she was going to go home with Jean-Pierre Reynaud, the man who’d always had her heart.
* * * * *
If you loved this novel, don’t miss any of the stories in the BAYOU BILLIONAIRES series from USA TODAY bestselling author Catherine Mann and Joanne Rock
HIS PREGNANT PRINCESS BRIDE
by Catherine Mann
HIS SECRETARY’S SURPRISE FIANCÉ
by Joanne Rock
REUNITED WITH THE REBEL BILLIONAIRE
by Catherine Mann
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The CEO’s Little Surprise
by Kat Cantrell
One
By the time Gage Branson’s tires hit the Dallas city limits, Arwen had started howling along with the radio. Not for the first time since leaving Austin, Gage questioned the wisdom of bringing his dog on a business trip.
Of course, it wasn’t a normal business trip—unless showing up at your ex-girlfriend’s office building unannounced and uninvited counted as customary. And Arwen wasn’t a normal dog. She was his best buddy, and the one and only time he’d left her at one of those pet hotels, she’d refused to speak to him for a week.
Arwen shared Gage’s love of the open road and honestly, he didn’t mind the company as he drove to Dallas to collect a long overdue debt from the CEO of Fyra Cosmetics.
GB Skin for Men, the company he’d just pushed into the billion-dollar-a-year category, had enjoyed a good run as the top skin-care line of choice for the discerning guy who spends time in the elements: professional athletes, outdoorsmen, even the occasional lumberjack.
Gage had spent millions designing a new product to heal scars. The product’s launch a month ago had outperformed his carefully executed publicity strategy. GB Skin instantly cornered the market. But now his former lover’s company was poised to steal his success out from under him with a product of their own. That wasn’t going to happen.
A Black Keys song blasted through the speakers and the howling grew unbearable.
“Arwe
n! Really. Shut up.”
She cocked her ginger-colored head and eyed Gage.
“Yeah, never mind,” Gage grumbled good-naturedly and flicked off the music.
The exit for Central Expressway loomed and Gage steered the Hummer north. He drove a few miles and before long, he rolled into the parking lot at the headquarters for Fyra Cosmetics.
Nice. Of course, he’d done an internet search for pictures before driving up from Austin. Just to check out the company Cassandra Claremont had built alongside her business partners–slash–friends after graduating from the University of Texas. But the internet hadn’t done justice to the sharply modern, glass and steel, five-story building. Cass’s multimillion-dollar cosmetics company lived and breathed inside these walls, and the deep purple Fyra logo dominated the landscape.
“Stay here and keep your paws off the gearshift,” he muttered to Arwen and got the trademark vizsla smile for his trouble. It was a cool day, so he parked in the shade and left her in the car with the windows cracked.
Cass had done very well for herself thanks to him. Gage had been her mentor for eight months and turnabout was fair play. She owed him. And he’d help her see that by reminding her of how he’d guided her at a time when she had no idea how to navigate the shark-infested waters of the cosmetics industry.
With any luck, Cass would be curious enough to see him on short notice. Gage couldn’t call ahead and lose the advantage of surprise. Not when he was here to get his hands on Cass’s secret formula.
So secret, he shouldn’t even know about it since it wasn’t on the market yet. His sources had whispered in his ear about a miracle formula developed in Fyra’s labs that worked with a body’s natural healing properties to eliminate wrinkles and scars. His intel adamantly insisted it was better than his. And he wanted it.
You didn’t spring that kind of request on anyone over the phone, not even a former girlfriend. They hadn’t even spoken in eight or nine years. Nine. Maybe it was closer to ten.
“Gage Branson. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
The husky feminine voice raked over Gage from behind before he’d managed to get ten feet from the Hummer.
He spun to face the speaker and did a double take. “Cass?”
“Last time I checked.” High-end sunglasses covered her eyes, but her tone conveyed a hint of cool amusement just fine. “Did I leave my face in my other purse again?”
“No, your face is right where I left it.” Gorgeous and attached to a hell of a woman.
But this überchic version in five-inch heels and a sexy suit with cutaway panels at her hips did not resemble the Cassandra Claremont who lived in his memories. Her voice wasn’t even the same. But something about the way she held herself was very familiar. Confidence and the ever-present “look but don’t you dare touch” vibe had always been a huge part of her attractiveness.
Obviously he hadn’t changed much since graduate school if she’d recognized him from behind.
“Moving into the dog transportation business, are you?” she asked blithely.
He glanced at the Hummer. “You mean Arwen? Nah. She’s just company for the drive. I came up from Austin to see you, actually. Surprise.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
The lack of question in that question said she already knew the answer. And wasn’t planning to adjust her calendar one tiny bit, even for an old boyfriend. He’d change that soon enough.
“I was hoping you’d see me without one.” He grinned, just to keep things friendly. “You know, for old times’ sake.”
His grin grew genuine as he recalled those old times. Lots of late-night discussions over coffee. Lots of inventive ploys to get Cass’s clothes off. Lots of hot and truly spectacular sex when she finally gave in to the inevitable.
She pursed her lips. “What could we possibly have to say to each other?”
Plenty. And maybe a whole lot more than he’d originally come to say. Now that he was here and had an eyeful of the new, grown-up Cass, a late-night dinner and a few drinks with a former lover had suddenly appeared on his schedule for the evening.
Everyone here was an adult. No reason they couldn’t separate business from pleasure.
“For one, I’d like to say congratulations. Long overdue, I realize,” he threw in smoothly. “I’ve been following along from afar and what you’ve accomplished is remarkable.”
Once her name had been dropped in his lap as a potential game changer, he’d searched the internet for details, first with an eye toward how well she was executing his advice and eventually because he couldn’t stop. Strangely, he’d liked seeing her picture, liked remembering their relationship. She was one of a small handful of women from his past that he recalled fondly, and for a guy who held on to very little in his life, that was saying something.
“Thank you.” She inclined her head graciously. “It was a group effort.”
He waited for her to say she’d been following his entrepreneurial trajectory in kind. Maybe a congrats or two on the major retail distribution deals he’d scored in the past few years. An attaboy for Entrepreneurs of America naming him Entrepreneur of the Year. If nothing else, Fyra’s CEO should be brushing up on her competition the way he had.
Nada. She hadn’t been a little curious about what he’d been up to? Was their time together such a blip in her life that she’d truly not cared?
But then, their affair had been brief, by design. Once he’d escaped his restrictive childhood home and overprotective parents, he’d vowed to never again let his wings be clipped. He owed it to his brother, Nicolas, to live on the edge, no regrets. To experience all the things his brother never would thanks to a drunk driver. Sticking to one woman didn’t go with that philosophy and Gage liked his freedom as much—or more—than he liked women, which meant he and Cass had parted ways sooner rather than later, no harm, no foul. He could hardly blame her for not looking back.
“Come on.” He waved off her “group effort” comment. “You’re the CEO. We both know that means you call the shots.”
She crossed her arms over that sexy suit, drawing attention to her breasts. In spite of the cool breeze, the temperature inched up a few degrees.
“Yes. Because someone has to. But Trinity, Harper, Alex and I run this company together. We’re all equal owners.”
Yeah, he’d figured she’d say that. The four women had been inseparable in college and it wasn’t hard to imagine they’d extended their tight circle into the company they’d created together. Fortunately, he’d always gotten along with the quartet of savvy females, but Cass was the one he had his sights set on. She’d make this deal happen.
“Can we take this inside?” Hoping she’d like the idea of getting behind closed doors as much as he did, he sidled closer. “I’d like to catch up.”
“Gage.”
Her husky voice wound through him as she moved closer in kind, tilting her head toward his in a way that shouldn’t feel as intimate as it did. A hint of jasmine filtered through his senses and it was a powerful punch. “Yeah, Cass?”
“You can save the ‘Kumbaya,’” she murmured. “You’re here because you’ve heard about Fyra’s breakthrough formula and you want it.”
Back to business, then.
He grinned and reined in his thundering pulse. Going toe-to-toe with Cass was such a turn-on. Smart, sexy women who didn’t take any crap had always floated his boat. “Am I that easy to read?”
Cass laughed in his ear, a throaty sound he instantly wanted to hear again. “I’m afraid so. Sorry you’ve wasted your time. The formula is not for sale.”
All right, then. Cass needed persuasion to see how his tutelage had launched her into the big leagues. He’d anticipated that.
“Of course it isn’t. Not to the rest of the world. But I’m not one of the masses,” he reminded he
r. “I’m not unreasonable. I’ll pay fair market value.”
He turned his head at just the right angle to almost bring their lips together. The pull between them was magnetic, and he nearly forgot for a second that he’d instigated this sensual tease to get him closer to his goal—the formula.
She didn’t flinch, holding herself rock steady. “You think you have special rights because of our former relationship? Think again.”
His element of surprise hadn’t worked to catch her off guard and, for some reason, that made her twice as attractive. Or maybe the unexpected draw had come about because they were equals now. It was an interesting shift in their dynamic he hadn’t expected, and it was throwing him off.
So he’d up his game. Gage had never met a woman he couldn’t charm. When he wanted something, he got it. “That’s no way to talk to an old friend.”
If he moved an inch, they’d be touching. He almost did it, curious if she still felt the same—soft, exciting and warm. Except he had the distinct impression Cass was all business and little pleasure these days. And that she wasn’t interested in mixing them up.
“Is that what we are?”
There came that sexy laugh again and it did a powerful number on his already-primed lower half. She really shouldn’t be so intriguing, not with his agenda and the lost element of surprise. But all of that actually heightened his sense of awareness, and he had a sharp desire to get under her skin the same way she’d managed to get under his.
“Friends. Former lovers. At one time, mentor and student.”
“Mmm. Yes.” She cocked her head. “You’ve taught me a lot. So much that I’m running a successful company I need to get back to. You’ll excuse my rudeness if I request you make an appointment. Like anyone else who wants to talk business.”
All at once, her heat vanished as she pulled away and clacked toward the entrance to her building. Ouch. He’d been relegated to the ranks of “anyone else.”
