5. Cassie
CASSIE
Azure Cay is gorgeous enough to make me forget I’m technically working.
Almost.
My phone buzzes nonstop while I walk through the resort’s eastern courtyard, answering emails, rearranging investor meetings, and stopping one executive from accidentally scheduling two board dinners at the exact same time.
“Tell me you’re joking,” I mutter into my headset.
“I thought the dinner was tomorrow,” Dean says weakly.
“You thought wrong. Again.”
Palm trees sway overhead while fountains sparkle beneath the morning sun, but I barely notice because Carrington International apparently cannot function without constant supervision.
Somewhere behind me, a golf cart nearly crashes into a luggage display.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Dear God.”
“You look stressed.”
I glance up to find Elias Ward leaning against a stone pillar wearing a fitted white linen shirt and a lazy grin that belongs in a travel magazine.
“I manage executives for a living,” I deadpan. “Stress is basically part of my personality now.”
He laughs warmly. “You know most people would kill for a month in paradise.”
“Most people aren’t coordinating twenty-seven executives who think deadlines are optional.”
“Fair point.”
I end the call and finally tuck my phone away. Eventually since I woke up, silence settles around me.
It’s nice.
Dangerously nice.
Elias studies me for a second before nodding toward the beach path. “Come on.”
“Come on where?”
“I’m showing you the real island. Not the corporate version.”
I hesitate automatically. “I should probably review the investor schedules before?—”
“Cassie.” His voice turns teasing. “You’re on a tropical island wearing sandals. Live a little.”
A laugh slips out before I can stop it.
And honestly? After last night with Gideon glaring at me like I personally offended his existence, I need the distraction.
“Fine,” I say. “But if one executive sets something on fire while I’m gone, I’m blaming you.”
Elias grins. “Deal.”
We walk along a narrow stone path winding behind the private villas, and For the very first time after arriving here, I actually breathe.
Bright flowers spill over cliffs overlooking impossibly blue water while distant music drifts from the marina below. The air smells like salt and jasmine.
“It’s beautiful,” I admit softly.
“Told you.”
Elias watches me carefully. “You spend so much time taking care of everybody else, Cassie. Somebody should make sure you enjoy things too.”
The comment catches me off guard.
Because Gideon says things like work harder. Focus. Handle it.
Not enjoy things.
And somehow, despite the sunshine and breathtaking view right here, my stupid brain still flashes back to Gideon standing too close in that hallway last night, gray eyes locked on mine like he couldn’t look away.
“This,” Elias says dramatically, spreading his arms toward the hidden cove below us, “is the best view on the entire island.”
He’s probably right.
Crystal-blue water crashes against black rocks while sunlight glitters across the waves hard enough to hurt my eyes. The secluded beach feels miles away from corporate chaos.
After several days, my shoulders start relaxing.
Then my phone rings.
I glance at the screen and immediately sigh. “Of course.”
Elias laughs. “Carrington?”
“Unfortunately.”
I answer. “What emergency happened now?”
Gideon’s deep voice slides through the phone cold and clipped. “Conference room three. Immediately.”
I frown. “I’m in the middle of something.”
“You’re needed for contract revisions.”
“You have three attorneys there.”
“And I need you.”
The line goes dead.
Elias raises an eyebrow. “That sounded friendly.”
I shove my phone into my bag. “He’s allergic to friendliness.”
Twenty minutes later, Gideon doesn’t even look up when I walk into the conference room.
Figures.
Executives crowd around the massive glass table while financial projections glow across several monitors. Gideon stands near the head of the table in a dark button-down with the sleeves rolled to his forearms, looking unfairly attractive while terrifying half the room.
He finally glances at me. “Sit.”
“That’s it?” I whisper sharply. “You dragged me across the island for a sit?”
His steel eyes flick briefly toward Elias lingering outside the doorway before returning to me.
Interesting.
The meeting drags on forever.
And somehow, despite Gideon claiming he desperately needed me here, I barely speak once.
I just sit beside him while executives ramble about investor timelines and renovation costs.
Every now and then, Gideon slides documents toward me silently, his fingers brushing mine for half a second longer than necessary.
By the end, I’m annoyed enough to commit violence.
The second the room empties, I stand. “You are unbelievable.”
Gideon loosens his tie slightly. “Excuse me?”
“You interrupted my afternoon for absolutely no reason.”
“I needed you here.”
“No, you needed Elias not to have me there.”
His expression hardens instantly.
Oh.
Oh, I’m right.
“I fold my arms across my chest. “Seriously? What is this weird possessive caveman thing you keep doing around him?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Bull.” I step closer. “You practically growl every time he talks to me.”
A muscle ticks in Gideon’s jaw.
“He’s distracting you.”
My eyes stay on him. “I’m sorry, are you my boss or my jealous husband?”
The words land heavily between us.
Heat rushes into my face immediately, but Gideon goes completely still.
Dangerously still.
His gaze drops briefly to my mouth before lifting again.
“You should be careful what comparisons you make, Cassie,” he says quietly.
And somehow that sounds nothing like a warning.
“You should be careful what comparisons you make, Cassie.”
The low roughness in Gideon’s voice sends heat straight down my spine.
I hate that my body notices things like that.
I lift my chin anyway. “Or what?”
For one reckless second, his attention drops to my mouth again.
Not subtle. Not accidental.
My pulse stumbles hard.
The conference room suddenly feels too warm, too quiet, too small for both of us.
Then Gideon steps back like he physically forces himself to do it, and the moment snaps painfully in half.
“Focus on work,” he says coldly.
I blink at him. “Excuse me?”
“You’re here to coordinate this acquisition, not wander around the island flirting with Elias Ward.”
My jaw drops. “Flirting?”
“You seem distracted.”
“You dragged me away from my afternoon because your ego got bruised?”
His eyes flash dangerously. “This acquisition is important.”
“Oh, please.” I throw my hands up. “You were perfectly fine until Elias started paying attention to me.”
“That’s enough.”
“No, actually, it’s not.” Frustration spills out faster now. “you don’t have the right to act like some jealous psychopath and then pretend this is about work.”
Gideon goes completely still.
Every instinct I have screams that I should stop talking.
I don’t.
“Do you know how confusing you are?” I demand. “One minute you’re glaring at me like you want to throw Elias into the ocean, and the next you’re acting like I imagined the whole thing.”
“I said focus on work.”
“That is not an explanation.”
“You don’t need one.”
The sharpness in his tone slices right through me.
For a second, hurt flickers unexpectedly in my chest.
God. Ridiculous.
Why should I care whether Gideon Carrington explains himself to me?
He’s my boss. A terrifying billionaire with approximately eight emotional walls and the communication skills of an angry storm cloud.
And yet.
I hold him in my sight standing there in rolled sleeves and dark slacks, broad shoulders tense beneath the conference room lights, and all I can think about is the way he looked at my mouth a minute ago.
Like he wanted something he absolutely should not want.
“Fine,” I mutter, grabbing my tablet from the table. “Next time just admit you’re being controlling instead of inventing fake emergencies.”
I brush past him toward the door.
Big mistake.
His hand catches my wrist gently but firmly enough to stop me cold.
Heat flashes through me instantly.
“Cassie.”
My breath catches.
He says my name differently when we’re alone. Lower. Rougher.
Dangerous.
I slowly turn back toward him.
For one suspended moment, we’re both still.
The tension between us feels alive now. Thick enough to choke on.
Then Gideon releases me abruptly like touching me burned him.
“Get some rest,” he says quietly. “You look exhausted.”
I leave before he notices how badly my hands are shaking.
Unfortunately, sleep becomes impossible afterward.
Because every time my eyelids drop, I feel his fingers around my wrist again.
And every time I replay the argument, I realize something terrifying.
I wanted him to explain himself because part of me wanted his jealousy to mean something.