Page 110 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

“Inviting Charlotte.

He smirked. “Maddie can handle her. Besides I thought it was worth dipping my toe in and testing the waters.”

“In what respect?” Brandon asked.

“I think you know the answer to that.” Cole replied before walking off to the dining room.

Maddie pulled a vase, filled it with water and quickly stuck the flowers in, not because she wanted to be disrespectful but she wanted to get back to the others and away from the awkward questions as soon as she could.

They walked back to the dining room, Charlotte still probing and Maddie answering in as polite a way as she could.

Cole watched as they walked back in, admiring the way the dress clung to Maddie, the way her hips swayed too.

“So you work for BlackWater then?” Charlotte said sounding half impressed.

“Yeah in Brandon’s team.” Maddie said and Cole’s passed them both a glass of his favourite wine.

“You don’t look like a typical agent.” Charlotte said sizing her up.

“In what way?”

“Well all the other women I’ve met are either pretty butch or total geeks, no offense.”

Maddie laughed but thought that none of the agents she’d met fit that description.

“That’s because she’s not a typical agent.” Cole said before sipping his own glass.

“How so?” Charlotte asked looking between them and smiling.

“She came from Homewell, and she was Blackops before that.” Brandon stated and Maddie frowned then feeling like it had all turned into some weird interview.

“Woah seriously?” Charlotte said and Maddie smiled back at her unsure how to answer. She didn’t really like people knowing she’d been Blackops, at least not outside of work because it always changed the way they viewed her, changed their opinion of her.

“So that’s why you chose her then?” Charlotte said looking to Brandon who nodded.

“Amongst other things.” He replied and Maddie really wanted to change the subject then.

“So Charlotte, what do you do?” She asked and Charlotte looked from her cousin back to Maddie.

“I head up the legal department for Black Industries.” She said and Maddie found her eyebrows raising.

“So you’re a lawyer?”

“Yeah, I qualified over here, then spent some time in the U.S. passing the bar so I could practice in New York and when our Uncle retired a year back I took over as lead. It’s not what I wanted to do but it is what it is.” Charlotte replied.

“What did you want to do?” Maddie asked.

“Human rights. I wanted to work on the cases other people shunned. On the cases people were too scared to take.”

Maddie saw Cole rolling his eyes and Charlotte saw it too.

“What?” Charlotte snapped at him.

“Your talents would have been wasted doing that.” Cole stated.

“Or they would have been needed.” She replied.

“Too late now.” He stated and then the chef appeared announcing the food was ready and instantly calming the tension.

Maddie sat down next to Charlotte and across from Cole who was still glancing at her every so often. It felt like he was watching her, judging her, studying her and it unnerved her. The waitress placed the seafood starter in front of each of them and Maddie waited for Charlotte to pick up her fork before she followed.

“Do you have any siblings Maddie?” Charlotte asked.

“Yeah I have an older half-brother and a younger half-sister.” Maddie said.

“Half? So your parents were naughty huh?”

“My dad was.” Maddie replied taking a slow sip of her drink.

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