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Gabe took my coat and handed it to the attendant. With that simple act, I felt exposed beside him. Damn that dress. Gabe put his large hand on my back as we followed the hostess to our table.
When he touched me so close to my exposed skin, I felt sweaty and chilled all at the same time. I would think about the biological implications of that later, when I could form a coherent, scientific thought.
Our table was private, near the wall of windows, with a view of the stars. The lights from the city below didn’t spoil the sky all the way up here.
“This is beautiful.”
Gabe watched me. “I’m certainly enjoying the view.”
I sucked in a breath. Being near him in this sexy dress was much too exciting for me. I suddenly just wanted my lab coat and my laptop, with an army of data marching across it.
Instead, another server was pouring me another glass of wine.
Gabe didn’t try to order dinner for me. Even that small modicum of control was a relief. We read our menus in silence, both of us finally ordering salads and fish dishes.
“You don’t have to eat fish because of me,” I said, although I thought he was sweet. “It doesn’t bother me when other people eat meat. I’ve been a pescatarian since I was eight, so I’m used to it.”
“Why’d you become a pescatarian, then? That’s pretty young.”
“My father was a scientist too, and he was concerned about where industrialized farming was taking the environment.” I shrugged. “We all stopped eating meat in my house after a family meeting where we discussed it.”
“So you were a precocious, concerned citizen of the world even at eight. That’s adorable.” Gabe dug into his salad, and I let myself stare at him. He’d gotten more information out of me in a week than most of my employees did in a year. I didn’t care to share personal details about myself with others, but with Gabe, they just seemed to keep coming out.
I continued to study him. His short-cropped hair was thick. It looked as though it would feel bristly and springy beneath my fingers. He had an ever-present twinkle in his brown eyes, and his face was large and handsome, with a square jaw. He had a strong face. Everything about him looked strong, actually, as if all his muscles were constrained beneath his suit coat. What I liked best about the way he looked, however, was the smile that always seemed to be on deck, ready to come out swinging.
At thirty-two, Gabe was already a self-made man. He was a brilliant man, he was a powerful man, but he also seemed kind underneath all that. That glimmer of kindness was helping me relax around him, even though I didn’t want to relax.
He took a sip of wine. “I think I’m going to bash Clive Warren’s skull in.”
So much for my kindness theory.
“Excuse me?”
He leaned toward me. “I said, I think I’m going to bash Clive’s skull in. I don’t want him coming around you. I don’t like it, and I don’t like him. He was at Paragon this morning to threaten you. I’d like to threaten him back, except not at arm’s length. I’m gonna fight him.”
“You’re going to fight him? Are you protecting my honor?”
He kept his body angled toward me across the table, close enough that I could lean in and kiss him.
I moved as far back in my chair as possible.
He grinned. “I’d like to protect you. I think your honor’s pretty safe.”
“You can’t fight Clive Warren, or bash his skull in, or anything like that. I have to be the one to handle him.” My mind started racing, and I tapped my foot, trying to keep up with it. “All I keep thinking is that maybe he had some sort of documentation or notes with his director materials—something he thought he could use against me after I refused his offer last night.”
Gabe sat back a fraction. “Like what? You don’t release proprietary information to your board, do you?”
I took a shaky sip of wine. “No. I present general data points and reports on testing, but I don’t get specific. The technology is classified as a trade secret, so there are no disclosures. That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
“So he can’t have anything he’s not supposed to have, or anything that he hasn’t seen already.”
I nodded. “So I can’t understand why he came and why he wanted that stuff. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
“Unless he didn’t really want his materials. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to be in the building.”
Gabe watched my face warily. “For what?”
