8. Gideon
GIDEON
Ispend the entire next day avoiding Cassandra Valeen like she’s capable of detonating my life with a single smile.
Which, frankly, she probably is.
By noon, I’ve rewritten three investor schedules, dismissed two executives for incompetence, and nearly taken Nolan’s head off during a contract review because he asked why I seemed distracted.
Distracted.
Right.
Meanwhile, every room Cassie enters feels electrically charged.
I catch glimpses of her all day without meaning to. Bright yellow sundress during breakfast. Sleek ponytail during the acquisition briefing. Gold hoops catching sunlight while she argues with Bianca over revised timelines.
Every sight of her drags me right back to last night.
You are.
Christ.
I should’ve never said it.
Wanting her is already dangerous enough. Letting her see it? Stupid. Reckless. Weak.
And yet my body still remembers the way she looked standing barefoot in the sand staring at me like I’d just confessed something devastating.
By late afternoon, I escape the resort entirely and head toward a quieter private beach near the eastern villas. No executives. No investors. No Cassie.
At least that’s the plan.
“You’ve been dodging me all day.”
Her voice hits me from behind like a punch to the ribs.
I block out the light briefly before turning around.
Cassie stands some inches away, curls pulled into a loose braid now, ocean wind tugging strands across her cheeks. She looks annoyed. Determined. Beautiful enough to make rational thought impossible.
“I’ve been working,” I say.
“Uh-huh.” She crosses her arms. “You left a meeting because I walked into it.”
“I had another call.”
“You don’t lie very well when you’re irritated.”
A humorless laugh leaves me. “I lie exceptionally well.”
“Not with me.”
That lands harder than it should.
She steps closer across the sand until only a few feet separate us. “What happened last night?”
I fix my eyes on the water instead of her. “Nothing happened.”
“Gideon.”
The frustration in her voice cracks against my control.
“You shouldn’t say things like that to me and then pretend it means nothing.”
Finally, I place my eyes on her.
Big mistake.
Her honeyed gaze is searching mine like she genuinely wants the truth, and God help me, two years gone into losing this fight silently.
“What do you want me to say, Cassie?”
“The truth.”
The word hangs between us.
Raw. Dangerous.
I step toward her slowly. “Fine.”
My voice drops lower.
“I’ve wanted you for years.”
And judging by the way her breath catches, I know there’s no taking it back now.
The words leave my mouth, and the entire world feels too quiet afterward.
I’ve wanted you for years.
Cassie stares at me like I just knocked the air from her lungs.
Ocean waves crash violently against the rocks nearby, warm wind whipping loose strands of hair across her face, but the space between us holds.
“You’re serious,” she whispers.
A sharp laugh escapes me. “Does this look like a joke to you?”
“No.” Her voice shakes slightly. “No, you just spent two years acting like you barely noticed I existed.”
“That was the point.”
Her brows pull together. “What?”
I drag my fingers through my hair, already irritated with myself for saying any of this aloud. “You work for me, Cassie. I’m your boss. Acting on this would’ve been selfish.”
“And dragging me away from another man because you were jealous isn’t selfish?”
I step closer without even meaning to. “You think watching him touch you was easy for me?”
“That’s not the point.”
“Then tell me what the hell the point is.”
Her copper-lit gaze flashes. “The point is not in your place to switch this on and off whenever it’s convenient for you.”
The accusation lands hard because it’s true.
Cassie shakes her head slowly. “You treat emotions like weaknesses. Like they’re problems you can lock away until they stop being inconvenient.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, please.” She laughs bitterly. “You practically ordered yourself not to kiss me the other night like you were shutting down a business deal.”
“That’s because kissing you would’ve destroyed every line I’ve spent years trying not to cross.”
The honesty comes out rougher than intended.
Her breath catches.
Mine does too.
We’re standing too close now. Only a breath away, I can see the tiny gold flecks in her eyes. Close enough to smell coconut sunscreen and jasmine perfume clinging to her skin.
Dangerous.
Cassie tilts her chin up stubbornly. “Maybe I’m tired of you deciding everything for both of us.”
Something inside me snaps tight.
“You think this has been easy?” I say quietly. “Every meeting. Every late night in my office. Every time you smile at another man like you smiled at Elias?—”
“That bothered you that much?”
“Yes.”
The word comes out immediate. Brutal.
Her lips part softly.
I don’t even realize I’ve moved until my hand brushes her waist.
She inhales sharply, fingers curling against my chest to steady herself.
And suddenly neither of us is arguing anymore.
We’re just breathing the same air, standing one heartbeat away from disaster.
Cassie’s hand against my chest destroys the last fragile thread of restraint I have left.
I can feel her heartbeat through my shirt.
Fast.
Unsteady.
Matching mine.
The realization should make me step back. It should remind me who I am, who she is, and exactly how catastrophic this could become.
Instead, I stare down at her mouth and think about how close I came to kissing her in my office days ago.
How long I’ve wanted to.
Too damn long.
“Gideon,” she whispers.
My name in her voice nearly ruins me.
I slide my hand fully around her waist before I can reconsider it. Her breath catches sharply, fingers tightening against my chest as the ocean crashes behind us.
“Tell me to stop,” I say roughly.
The challenge hangs there between us.
Cassie looks up at me with wide hazel eyes full of heat and fear and something dangerously close to trust.
Then she shakes her head once.
That’s it.
That tiny movement obliterates every ounce of control I’ve built over the last two years.
I kiss her.
Hard.
Her back hits the warm shoreline rocks with a soft gasp as I crowd against her, one hand braced beside her head while the other grips her waist like I’m afraid she’ll disappear. The second our mouths touch, everything inside me detonates.
Christ.
Cassie kisses me back immediately, fingers twisting into my shirt as the sound that leaves her nearly drives me insane. There’s nothing careful about it. Nothing polite.
Just months of tension finally snapping.
I kiss her deeper, and she pulls me closer without hesitation. The taste of her wrecks me completely—sweet cocktails, salt air, pure temptation.
Every suppressed thought I’ve had about her floods to the surface at once.
Mine.
The word hits hard enough to scare me.
Cassie breaks the kiss first with a shaky inhale, but Something keeps us rooted. Her lips are swollen, curls tangled by the wind, cheeks flushed pink beneath the fading sunset.
She stares at me like she doesn’t recognize me anymore.
Honestly, I barely recognize myself either.
“What did we just do?” she whispers.
I rest my forehead briefly against hers, trying and failing to slow my breathing.
Something raw twists in my chest because I already know the answer.
There’s no undoing this.
No pretending we’re still just a CEO and his assistant exchanging sarcastic remarks across conference tables.
I touch her face carefully this time, thumb brushing her cheek.
“We crossed the line,” I admit quietly.
Cassie’s breath trembles.
And standing there with her against the rocks and the ocean roaring around us, I realize neither of us wants to go back.