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“Tell an in her boardroom voice that he should not find so sexy

“Sure I’ a small, less-than-ae-proof ar with her inhibitions

Once, they’d talked about everything under the sun and he’d enjoyed hearing her thoughts and soothing her through her angst Just like he’d enjoyed being herher

Maybe you hope to fall into that role again, with the hero worship and Pygmalion overtones, hmm?

Yeah He did And she needed his help to find the leak Needed hiy, then All of that worked together to get him the formula Where was the harm?

“Why the interest inand dance about hoe it to you For real Why? You’ve expanded your retail reach enormously over the past five years and you just landed that endorse must have prompted you to show up on my doorstep”

“That’s a fair question,” he acknowledged, impressed that she’d done her homework on his company And that’s why he chose to answer her honestly “It’s si to pay close attention to things like bar-fight scars and wrinkles So I launched my own product I don’t want any competition”

“Gage, there are a hundred wrinkle creaion”

“No” He caught her gaze and held it “There’s only one person who’s my equal”

“So this is a pride thing” Looking away, she sipped the glass of wine the waiter had placed in front of her and murmured her appreciation for the red blend “You can’t stand it when a competitor is primed to beat you”

He lass when it caure out why he was so drawn to her when all he should care about hatever 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 ht”