“She wasn’t so naïve if she had the audacity to show up to my house half naked,” Gage responded. He’d never forgotten how stunned he’d been after having a few beers at the bar only to come home to find Fallon in his bed.
“She was sixteen with a crush on you,” Theo said. “She was feeling herself, but then her parents caught her. She got scared and lied about what happened.”
“Her lies cost my mother her job. And without references from the Stewarts, Mama couldn’t find work. It took her months to recover, especially since the Stewarts were paying her minimum wage to work day and night.”
“Well, she recovered and so have you. I mean look at you.” Theo motioned to him. “You’re the wizard of Wall Street. I’d say you’ve done well.”
“No thanks to the Stewarts.”
Theo sighed. “Then you’ll probably be glad to hear this. The rumor is that Stewart Technologies is leveraged to the max. No bank will loan them money and they’ve run out of options.”
“Serves Henry right,” Gage responded. “Though I have to wonder what happened. I thought he had a good head on his shoulders. I even looked up to him once upon a time, admired him when he took me under his wing.”
“Henry Stewart isn’t running the show.”
A knot formed in Gage’s stomach. He didn’t need Theo to say his next words; he already knew. “Fallon’s in charge.”
“She’s been looking for a handout from anyone she can and has come up empty.”
“Is that so?” Gage rubbed his jaw. Fallon Stewart had been taken down a peg and was essentially on the street begging for scraps. Now, if that wasn’t karma, he didn’t know what was.
“Could be a good time to go in with a consortium and pick up the pieces,” Theo stated. “Think about it.”
The two men parted right after lunch, but Gage didn’t return home to his penthouse at the Austonian in downtown Austin until late evening. It was a temporary oasis with all the modern conveniences a bachelor required. There was a large television with a surround-sound system, an enormous master suite with a king-size bed and a luxurious master bath with room for more than one occupant in the hot tub and massive steam shower.
He went to the wet bar, opened the snifter of brandy and poured himself a glass. He swirled the alcohol around and took a generous, satisfying sip. Sliding the pocket door to his balcony aside, he opened the living room to the oversize terrace with its panoramic views. Austin’s city lights twinkled in the distance, but Gage didn’t see them. All he saw was a beautiful teenager, wearing the sexiest teddy he’d ever laid eyes on, in his bed. Gage gritted his teeth and forced himself to remember that night. He hadn’t just been angry when he’d found Fallon in his bed. He’d been intrigued.
Fallon had been everything he wasn’t. Spoiled. Rich. Entitled. She’d had more money than she’d known what to do with, ponies and cars, while he’d worked two jobs. He hadn’t wanted to want her, but he had. He’d seen the coy looks Fallon had given him when she’d thought he wasn’t looking, but she’d been sixteen. Jailbait. Gage had been determined to steer clear, but she’d poked the bear and Gage had hauled her against him and kissed her.
If her parents had found them any later, the result might have been him being led off in handcuffs. Instead he and his mother had been shown the door. But now things had changed. He held all the cards and Fallon was on the bottom. He was no longer at the mercy of the Stewarts and whatever scraps they doled out to him. Gage relished how the tables had turned.
* * *
Fallon arrived at the Stewart Technologies’ offices the next morning feeling out of sorts. She hadn’t slept well the night before. She’d been thinking about her lack of a love life. It had been ages since she’d been on a proper date, let alone had a steady boyfriend.
She tried to focus on the day ahead. There were several meetings scheduled, including a negotiation to sell off one of the company’s long-held nanotech patents. Fallon didn’t want to do it—it was one of her father’s significant achievements—but she was running out of options. The cash influx would stave off the bank and ensure thousands of employees kept their jobs.
The morning flew by quickly with Fallon only stopping long enough to eat a quick salad her assistant, Chelsea, had fetched from the deli downstairs.
Fallon was poring over financials when a knock sounded on the door. “Not now, Chelsea, I’m in the middle of something,” she said without looking up.
“You don’t have time for an old friend?”
Fallon’s heart slowed at first and she closed her eyes, leaning back in her leather executive chair. Surely, it couldn’t be. Perhaps she was imagining things, conjuring up the past. Because she hadn’t heard that deep masculine voice in over sixteen years. Inhaling deeply, she snuck a glance at the man standing in the doorway of her office and was bowled over.
It was none other than Gage Campbell.
How? Why was he here at her office? A morass of feelings engulfed her and she tingled from head to toe. The last time she’d seen Gage there had been nothing but hatred in his eyes, not the amused expression he now wore. Fallon reminded herself to breathe in then breathe out.
Calm yourself. Don’t let him see he’s affected you.
So instead she took the offensive. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Hello to you, too, Fallon.” Gage closed the door behind him and strode toward her desk.
Fallon regarded him from where she sat. Her blood pumped faster as she took in the sight of him. Time had been very good to Gage Campbell. Immaculate and imposingly masculine, he was utterly breathtaking. With his neatly cropped hair, warm caramel-toned skin, thick, juicy lips, bushy eyebrows and those brandy-colored eyes framed by black lashes that always drew her to them, he was impossible to ignore.
He was even sexier than the last time she’d seen him especially with those broodingly intense eyes. He reeked of money and looked as if he was born to wear the bespoke three-piece designer suit, cream shirt with striped tie and polished designer shoes. Fallon knew he hadn’t always been this way. The Gage of yesteryear was happier in faded jeans and a wife-beater mucking out stables. The man in front of her was far removed from those days. He stood confident and self-assured.
“I hope I pass the mustard,” Gage said after her long perusal.
Fallon blushed at having been caught openly staring and glanced up to find Gage’s eyes trained on her. She blinked to refocus. “My apologies. I’m just surprised to see you after all this time.”
“I’m sure,” Gage responded as he unbuttoned several buttons on his jacket before sitting across from her. Fallon remembered how impossible it had always been to resist those dangerous gleaming eyes of his and today was no different. He looked intriguing, like a total enigma. “It’s been what—sixteen years since we last saw each other? You’re all grown up.” He dropped his gaze and used the opportunity to give her a searing once-over.
Fallon was in her usual work mode. Her naturally wavy hair had been tamed with a flat iron until it lay in straight layers down her back while her makeup was simple: coal eyeliner, mascara, blush and lipstick. Having been blessed with her mother’s smooth café-au-lait skin, she required little makeup. And although she was no clothesmonger like Nora, Fallon always managed to be fashionable. She was sporting linen trousers with a sleeveless silk top. She’d abandoned the matching jacket earlier in the day. She wondered what Gage thought of her.
“Oh, yes,