10. Gideon
GIDEON
I’ve negotiated hostile takeovers without breaking concentration once.
Now I can’t survive a ninety-minute executive meeting because Cassie keeps crossing her legs beside me.
This is pathetic.
“Gideon?”
Bianca’s sharp voice cuts through the conference room.
I drag my attention away from Cassie and toward the projector screen. “Continue.”
Bianca gives me a suspicious look before resuming the acquisition breakdown. Around the table, executives shuffle contracts and type notes while ocean waves crash faintly beyond the glass walls.
Normally, I control rooms like this effortlessly.
Today, I’m barely holding onto my sanity.
Cassie sits halfway down the table in a fitted cream blouse with her curls pinned loosely up, exposing the graceful line of her neck. Every time she reaches for her coffee, my attention follows automatically.
Christ.
She glances up suddenly and catches me staring.
A tiny smile tugs at her mouth.
That smile nearly destroys me.
Delilah notices immediately because apparently nothing escapes that woman. She hides a grin behind her coffee cup while Nolan keeps rambling about investor retention percentages.
I hear approximately none of it.
Cassie scribbles notes across her tablet, completely composed on the outside, but I notice the small things now. The way her fingers tap when she’s nervous. The faint pink tint in her cheeks whenever our eyes meet too long.
She feels this too.
That realization makes staying away from her impossible.
By the end of the meeting, my patience is gone entirely.
I stand abruptly. “Tonight’s investor dinner is canceled.”
Silence drops across the room.
Nolan blinks. “Canceled?”
“We’ll reschedule.”
“The Carver investors requested a private dinner specifically to finalize?—”
“I said reschedule it.”
Nobody argues after that.
Cassie watches me carefully while the room empties, suspicion written all over her face.
An hour later, she walks into the private villa office overlooking the marina carrying resort development files against her chest.
“You’re causing financial chaos because you’re distracted,” she says.
“You say that like you aren’t the distraction.”
Her breath catches softly.
Damn it.
I loosen my tie and motion toward the chair beside me. “Come here.”
Cassie sits close enough that her knee brushes mine beneath the table while we review expansion plans and renovation projections. The entire office feels charged now. Intimate.
At one point, she leans closer to point at a document, and jasmine perfume wraps around me instantly.
“You’ve barely looked at the paperwork for ten minutes,” she murmurs.
“Because I’m trying very hard not to kiss you instead.”
Her lips part slightly.
Then, quiet enough to ruin me completely, she whispers, “Maybe you should stop trying so hard.”
Nolan notices things because that’s what he’s paid to do.
Unfortunately for me, he’s very good at his job.
“You moved tomorrow’s executive briefing again,” he says casually while walking beside me through the resort corridor. “Third time this week.”
I keep my expression neutral. “Scheduling conflict.”
“Interesting.” His tone stays mild. “Because the new time also happens to match Cassie’s availability after the investor inspections.”
There it is.
I stop outside the conference suite slowly. “Careful, Nolan.”
His brows rise immediately. “I wasn’t accusing you of anything.”
“No,” I say evenly. “You were investigating.”
For a second, we don’t speak.
Nolan studies me with the sharp attention that made him one of the youngest strategy directors in Carrington Global history. Blond hair perfectly neat. Tailored navy suit. Calm expression hiding a dangerously observant mind.
Then he sighs quietly. “This is serious.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprises him.
Good.
“Gideon,” he says carefully, lowering his voice, “you know how this looks.”
I glance toward the glass conference room where Cassie laughs softly at something Delilah says. The sound hits me straight in the chest before I can stop it.
“I know exactly how it looks.”
Nolan follows my stare and goes very still.
“Oh,” he mutters.
Exactly.
Later that afternoon, I assign additional security around the eastern villas after noticing two executives lingering near Cassie during lunch longer than necessary.
Paranoid? Maybe.
I don’t particularly care.
Which becomes a problem an hour later when Cassie storms into my private office looking furious.
“Absolutely not.”
I barely glance up from my laptop. “Good afternoon to you too.”
“You assigned security to follow me.”
“They’re monitoring the resort.”
“They are literally standing outside my villa door, Gideon.”
“Correct.”
Her amber-tinted eyes flash dangerously as she plants both hands on my desk. “I am not one of your business assets.”
The words hit harder than they should.
I lean back slowly in my chair. “You think this is about control?”
“It usually is with you.”
Fair.
Still irritating.
I stand and walk around the desk until we’re nearly chest to chest. Cassie refuses to back up, stubborn as hell despite the fact I tower over her in heels.
“I don’t trust the people around us,” I say quietly.
Her anger flickers slightly. “What does that mean?”
“It means half these executives would sell their own families for leverage. And ever since this acquisition started falling apart, people have been watching you too closely.”
Cassie blinks. “Watching me?”
“You’re attached to me,” I say bluntly. “That makes you visible.”
Something softer moves across her expression then.
“You really think I need protection?”
“Yes.”
The answer comes instantly.
I brush a loose curl behind her ear before I can pull back. Her breath catches softly.
“I’m not apologizing for trying to keep you safe,” I murmur.
Cassie stares up for some second before shaking her head faintly.
“You are unbelievably intense.”
“And yet,” I say quietly, “you’re still here.”
I don’t sleep much anymore.
Not because of the acquisition.
Not because half the board is circling this resort deal like starving sharks waiting for weakness.
Because of Cassie.
She’s everywhere now. In my thoughts. In every decision I make. In every moment of silence I used to survive comfortably before she walked into my life and turned it upside down.
Tonight, we sit alone on the villa terrace overlooking the dark ocean while rain taps softly against the railing overhead. It started overnight and hasn’t stopped since. The resort feels quieter under it, like even the island is conserving energy.
Cassie curls barefoot into the outdoor couch beside me holding a glass of wine I convinced her to drink after twelve straight hours of meetings.
“You’re staring again,” she murmurs.
“I’m thinking.”
“That usually means trouble with you.”
A faint smirk pulls at my mouth. “Accurate.”
She studies me carefully beneath the warm terrace lights. God, she notices too much.
“You looked ready to murder three executives today,” she says.
“Only three?”
Cassie laughs softly, and the sound settles somewhere dangerous in my chest.
Then her expression cools. “Since when did you start carrying all this by yourself?”
The question catches me off guard.
I lean back against the couch slowly. “Since my father handed me the company at twenty-eight.”
“That’s too young.”
“Yes.”
The admission leaves easier with her than it should.
I stare toward the black waves crashing below the cliffs. “Everybody thinks power feels impressive.” My mouth hardens slightly. “Mostly it feels exhausting.”
Cassie stays quiet, letting me speak.
That alone feels rare.
“Every decision affects thousands of people,” I continue. “One mistake costs jobs. Investors panic. Competitors circle.” I laugh bitterly. “You stop being a person after a while. You become damage control.”
Her eyes soften painfully. “Gideon.”
I don’t know why hearing my name from her feels different now. Warmer somehow.
She shifts closer until her shoulder rests lightly against mine.
“You don’t have to carry everything alone,” she says quietly.
The simple sincerity in her voice nearly undoes me.
Most people want things from me. Influence. Access. Money.
Cassie just looks worried.
I turn toward her slowly, studying the woman currently destroying every carefully organized priority in my life.
Because three days ago, I would’ve sacrificed anything to protect this acquisition.
Now?
If this company threatened her happiness, I honestly don’t know which one I’d choose.
That realization hits hard enough to steal my breath.
Cassie brushes her fingers lightly across my hand. “Where’d you go just now?”
I lace our fingers together before I can reconsider it.
“Somewhere dangerous,” I admit quietly.
Like something dormant finally waking, the possibility of losing control doesn’t terrify me nearly as much as losing her does.