The next few weeks flew by, with me busy in the lab preparing for the launch.

I’d just spent the morning with Eva, my head researcher. She looked at her laptop, brows furrowed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

She sighed and turned to me. “Just because I’m scrunching my face up doesn’t mean something’s wrong. It means I’m concentrating.” Her face relaxed into a weary smile. “Maybe you should take a look. See what’s got me so interested.”

She pushed the computer toward me, and I sucked in a breath, eager and nervous. We were conducting another round of clinical trials, and we were running out of time.

What I saw thrilled me. I turned to Eva. “All of these subsequent tests were positive?”

“That’s right. Since Test Subject 1,201, all of our testing has been positive.” Eva’s eyes shone with excitement. “We’re making significant progress toward our FDA approval.”

In a very un-Lauren Taylor-like move, I threw my arms around her. “I’m so excited!”

Eva laughed and patted my back. “I can tell.” Her words came out muffled against my hair.

I’d finally made enough headway that I could leave work and see Gabe, which thrilled me. Although I was concerned by how much he’d been occupying my thoughts for the past few weeks, I still paced as I waited for him, watching from my office as the evening sky darkened. A quick knock sounded before the door opened.

“Finally.” Gabe’s eyes shone with warmth as he came in.

I let out a shaky breath and went to him, hugging him and relishing his closeness. ‘Finally’ was right.

My phone rang, and I pulled away.

Gabe watched me, his eyes slightly hooded, as I shakily picked up the phone.

“Lauren. It’s Leo.” He sounded tense.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. I’d spoken to him earlier in the day and he’d said everything was fine.

“It’s Clive. I just found something. I need you to come look at this.”

My heart pounded. “I’ll be right there.”

Gabe watched me, a worry creasing his brow. “What’s the matter?”

“Leo found something in Warren Technology’s system.” I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “I need to go look.”

“Can I come?”

I nodded, relieved he was there. “Of course.”

We headed directly to Leo’s office.

“I need you to look at these, to confirm if it’s what I think it is,” he said when we arrived.

He pulled up the documents on his screen, and I read through them quickly. File after file, attached to an email to Clive from an anonymous contact, showed studies that had been recently conducted on a patch that contained technology extremely similar to Paragon’s. I held my breath as I scrolled through the reports. They showed similar results to the tests we’d run in the spring, before I’d discovered the component I’d been missing.

“Can you trace who this email’s from?” I asked.

“I’m on it. So far, I’ve only traced it to a proxy server in Russia.”

I sighed, looking back at the screen. The tests reflected the outdated information Clive Warren had stolen. I’d set up our computer system to guard against the possibility of being hacked, and herein lied the benefit—the technology they’d stolen was not the technology that worked.

Still, Clive was an accomplished scientist. It was only a matter of time before he, or whoever he was working with, figured out the flaws and worked out the technology.

I just had to make sure Paragon’s patch made it to market before that happened.

“What do you see?” Gabe asked.

I sighed. “Exactly what I was worried about. Someone is running tests on a patch similar to ours, and they sent the results to Clive. It’s probably his foreign buyer, the one he said wouldn’t be ‘hampered’ by government compliance.” I closed the documents and turned to Leo. “Thank you. I need you to continue to monitor this. Alert me to anything new.”

Gabe and I went back into the hallway, and I stood there for a minute, catching my breath. My nerves were shot, and my body was humming with adrenaline.

Gabe watched me carefully. “You’re coming with me,” he said.

“Not tonight. I can’t.” I shook my head. “I have to stay. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I need to be here if Leo finds anything else—”

Gabe took me by the elbow, either interrupting me or totally shutting me down—I wasn’t sure which. “Leo has your phone number. He’ll get hold of you. You need to take a break, Lauren, and eat something. You’ll feel better in the morning if you take care of yourself. It sounds like it’s going to be another long week.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but he continued to ignore me, guiding me to my office and collecting my things. Thank goodness my assistant, Stephanie, had gone home for the night. I could only imagine the look on her face if she saw Gabe hustling me around like this.

I usually didn’t get hustled around. But Gabe outweighed me by about eighty pounds, and he didn’t appear to be taking no for an answer.

Of course, I hadn’t said no to him.

“Gabe.” My voice was pleading. “I need to be here right now. If Leo finds something else tonight, I need to know immediately.”

He shrugged, undeterred. “If something happens, I’ll bring you back. I promise. Now, call security and your driver. They know my address, unless it’s been so long that they’ve forgotten.” His tone was casual, but I knew that underneath it, he was one of the most stubborn men I’d ever met. Apparently, I was going home with him, either voluntarily or over his shoulder. I could live with that.

“You promise? About bringing me back?”

He put his hand on my shoulder and marshaled me out the door. “If it’s an emergency, I promise to bring you back. If it’s just you panicking because you’ve left Paragon for the first time in weeks, I reserve the right to refuse and keep you otherwise occupied until you calm down.”

My stomach twisted with a mixture of desire and nerves. Otherwise occupied, indeed.

We headed out to his Porsche Spyder, which was parked in the darkening lot. I texted my driver and Timmy, letting them know we were heading to Gabe’s estate. They pulled out behind us and followed us to the freeway. Gabe was quiet for a long time, then he glanced at me. “Are you going to fill me in on the latest details? About our mutual enemy? Did it look like those tests were close to being successful?” Gabe’s jaw was taut. He hated Clive Warren, and this was just adding fuel to the fire.

“No. Not yet.” I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. I was angry about the whole thing as well as completely exhausted, wobbly and on edge. “But if they catch up? If they manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat? Paragon’s patch will be second, and in this market, that’s the same thing as losing. And then six years of work and billions of my investors’ dollars will be for nothing.”

Gabe covered my hand with his. His touch sent waves of heat through me. “They—whoever ‘they’ are, Clive and/or his foreign buyer—they won’t get to market first. They’re behind. You’re weeks ahead of them with your development—and on top of that, they’ve stolen your trade secrets. You can still go to the authorities. You can file a cease and desist against them.”

I shook my head. “Only against someone on American soil.”

“Someone on American soil is at least a start.” We pulled up to his drive. “Get your legal team together tomorrow and see what your options are.”

“I’m planning on it. I’ll text them tonight.”

“See?” He placed his thumb against the scanner, and the gate swung open. “You should make time for me more often. I’m full of good ideas.”

“I’m pretty sure I would have thought of convening with my legal team after this happened,” I huffed as he pulled me out of the car and up the walkway to his estate.

“Aw, come on Your Highness, we all know that. No one is doubting your omniscient good judgment.” He flashed that dimple, and I couldn’t be mad at him, even though he was referring to me as Your Highness again.

Gabe opened a bottle of wine, then hit a button, causing a fire to roar instantly to life in the enormous stone fireplace. He was probably trying to soothe me. It worked, at least a little. It felt good to be there. I relaxed into the deep leather couch in spite of myself, enjoying the warmth from the fire.

Gabe sat next to me and touched his glass to mine. “Cheers. To finally getting you back here.”

“Cheers.” I took a sip as I watched him, his big shoulders outlined against the fire. Heat crept through my body, and it had nothing to do with the flames in the nearby fireplace.

“In other breaking news, since Clive is moving forward with selling your technology—or whatever it is he’s doing—he needs to be paid another visit from my team.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “It appears old Clive doesn’t listen well. He needs to learn.”

“Um…you don’t need to be the one to school him.” I loved that Gabe was protective, but his immediate urge to fight on my behalf was nerve-racking. “I appreciate what you did before—and I hope you know I value your support—but let my team take care of it. We don’t need to beat Clive to a pulp.”

“He can’t get away with stealing from you. Why won’t you let me help? Dynamica has an interest in this too, you know.”

“I don’t want you to do something illegal. I can’t have that kind of activity associated with my company. And I don’t want you…to get hurt.”

“You’re worried about little old me?” Gabe leaned forward and looked me in the eye. “When you haven’t even made time for me in weeks?”

I took another shaky sip of wine. “I thought you rescued me from work because you wanted me to relax. Instead, you’re sort of making me a nervous wreck.”

“That’s because you’re fighting me.” A slight smile played on his lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “I guess you bring out my…intense side.”

We stared at each other, neither one of us giving an inch.

“Promise me.” I found the strength to make my voice firm. “Nothing else illegal with Clive. I’ve already done enough bad things to probably land us both in federal prison. I’m having him hacked, and your men have him under surveillance—that’s plenty. We don’t need to physically harm him.”

Gabe shrugged. “I didn’t say that I was going to physically harm him. Although I’m sure you’re aware that is on my eventual to-do list.”

“Then what? What’s the plan?”

“You don’t need to know. In fact, it’s better if you don’t—then you won’t have to testify against me, if it ever comes to that.” His dimple returned, but I still groaned.

“Forget about Clive for a minute.” The dimple disappeared as the muscle in his jaw jumped. “Now…about you. And me.”

I swallowed hard. “Yes?”

“I let you leave here a few weeks ago. I’ve regretted it ever since.” He paused for a beat, letting the words sink in. “I’ve left you alone because I know you need to be at Paragon. You’ve needed to get your compliance reports ready. How is it going, aside from the outside threats? Are you in good shape?”

I nodded, relieved for the conversation to veer back toward work for a moment. “As of this afternoon, yes. We’ve finally completed another round of successful clinical trials That was the major stress. Now that we’ve done that, we can move forward to fine-tuning our reports. We still have a million things to do, but we’ve made significant, meaningful progress.”

“Good…for several reasons, not the least of which is that you’re out of excuses. No more avoiding me, Lauren. We have unfinished business.”

I gulped my wine. “I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“If you say so, Your Highness.” He inched closer, running his hand down my arm. “You need to tell me once and for all. You either want to be with me, or you don’t.”

My stomach fluttered, heat rushing through me, as I tried to fully comprehend what he was saying. “Want to be with you…how?”

His brown eyes searched mine. He reached up and caressed my face, his strong fingers lingering on my jawline. I relaxed into his hand. Then, remembering I was in the middle of a negotiation, I sat up straight.

“Like this.” He moved closer and wrapped his arms around me, and I felt hot with him so close, hot under his touch. “Like this.” He leaned in and kissed me, his lips strong and unyielding against mine. He parted my lips, then his tongue surged in, caressing mine.

I felt heat shoot through me, straight down to that aching spot between my legs.

“Is that all you want?” I asked breathlessly when he pulled away.

He laughed, and the twinkle I’d missed seeing in his eyes came back. “Hell, no. I want you in my bed, in my pool, in my hot tub…” He looked around as if he were seriously considering the options. “On this couch, maybe bent over the island…”

I felt myself turning crimson. Desire, fear, and disappointment vied for predominance inside of me. I pushed them all to the side and swallowed hard. “If you just want a physical relationship, I think I’m ready for that.”

He sat back, an amused look on his face. “Who said I just want a physical relationship—wait, did I say that? Sorry, babe. You’ve left me with too much time on my hands. My imagination’s been going a little wild.” He ran a hand over his wiry hair and I longed to touch it.

I straightened myself, trying to be brave. “It’s okay. A strictly physical relationship would probably be…easier.” I’d struggled over the past few weeks with how much I’d been missing him, like I had an illness and he was the only remedy. The more time I’d spent away from him, the more time I’d had to examine my emotions, realizing they left me feeling vulnerable and exposed. Maybe it would be better this way? No messy emotional honesty necessary. Just Gabe’s big, sexy body…naked.

“Huh.” His eyes pierced mine. The amused look was gone, replaced by a darker one. “Is that right?”

“Mmm hmm. Yes.” I felt my cheeks burning.

Gabe leaned forward, his fingers tracing my arm, sending sparks of heat through me. “So let me get this straight. You just want to be my business partner now? And our personal entanglement—”

“Shouldn’t be an entanglement,” I offered, interrupting him. “It should just be straightforward. Satisfying. Easy and mutually beneficial.” I gulped more wine, finishing it in record time, realizing that I did not sound at all like myself right now. I’d just asked him to have a sexual relationship with no strings attached.

And I’d never even had sex before.

And I’d already stockpiled a large collection of real feelings for him.

“Satisfying, easy and mutually beneficial. Huh.” He sounded like he was playing along. “Does that mean you want to stay?”

I nodded.

He smiled. “Perfect. Get undressed. I’ll just relieve you of your virginity and send you on your way, then.”

My nerves thrummed. “Okay,” I said, recklessly.

Gabe sat back and laughed. “Are you fucking kidding me, Lauren? I finally get you alone, and you’re backpedaling?”

I winced and he stopped laughing and watched me, dead serious. “I think you’re worried about giving something besides your work your full attention. And you’re afraid to have feelings for me—because feelings are wild, unpredictable, and very unscientific little beasts.”

I wrapped my arms across my chest, deciding silence was the best course of action for the moment. I worried that one of those wild, unpredictable and unscientific beasts might take over and seize the opportunity to out itself.

He regarded me. “I’ve already let you have your way up to now—why not?” Even though he seemed as if he were agreeing with me, his voice had an edge to it. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer, putting my head on his chest as he continued to play with my hair. “But I’m just warning you—once I take you, you might not want me to let you go. Then you’re going to be in a bad position to renegotiate.”

I looked up at him, and my breath caught in my throat. His eyes sparkled as if he were very, very sure of himself. “But that will suit me just fine. In fact, when that happens, I’ll feel free to put you into whatever position I want.”

Once I take you. Whatever position I want. A thrill of desire ran through me. He lifted my chin and kissed me again, deep and urgent. I ran my hands down his torso, reveling in the strength I felt there. I melded my body against his, my hands roaming lower until they brushed against his massive erection. I paused, unsure of what to do.

It’s now or never, said a tiny voice in my head.

His eyes were hooded. “What do you want, Lauren?”

“You. I want you to be my first.”