Page 61 of Skin In the Game (The BlackWater)

“You can head off too if you want. Don’t feel like you need to stay Maddie.” He said.

“I don’t. I just want to figure this out then I might shoot.” She replied.

“Sure.” He said looking back at his own notes.

She took a sip of her coffee and frowned, what the hell was it saying? Come on Maddie, she thought because she knew the answer was staring her in the face.

Brandon’s phone rang and he frowned, picking it up and walking out the room. She barely glanced up, her eyes focused like she was practically forcing them to see something between the lines.

She didn’t notice when Cole walked in. She was too focused on the file. He stood watching her as she sat, crossed legged in the chair, leaning over the table giving him a near perfect view of her cleavage.

He smirked to himself and silently put in his code to the door. The Black Code.

“Where is everyone else?” He asked and she half jumped looking right back at him. He saw the flash in her eyes for a second, the same he’d seen back at the hospital, that wild, trapped, dangerous animal look before it vanished.

“Becky’s off, Douglas left about an hour ago and Brandon just took a call.”

“And Jamie?”

She shrugged. She hadn’t seen him all week now she came to realise it but she figured someone knew where he was because no one seemed concerned by his absence.

“So it’s just you then.” He said.

“Looks like it.” She said before looking back at the file. She felt herself on edge, that the very fact he was back and that they were there alone made her head suddenly spin. For fucksake Maddie, she thought, get a god damn grip. What would he do that he hadn’t practically already done and anyway, they were there, in the office with Brandon no doubt returning at any minute. Surely he wouldn’t do anything right there? He was the CEO for fucksake.

He watched her curiously. She seemed so focused on that file that he knew she was either pretending or overthinking his absence over the last few days and he smirked. Had she’d missed him he wondered, and the thought make him want to know the answer.

“Not going to ask where I’ve been?” He asked.

She shrugged glancing up. “I’m sure you were busy Cole. Don’t need to explain yourself to me.”

He laughed then. “I was in Berlin Maddie.”

“Sounds fun.” She said.

He narrowed his eyes. Was she annoyed at him or was she just disinterested he thought. How could she be, he’d spent the entire last weekend fucking her brains out. There’s no way she would have gotten over it so quickly, gotten over him so quickly.

“What’s the file?” He said.

“Some new intel. Brandon wants to set up a dispatch, see if we can get something from it so we have to move fast.” She said not looking up this time at all and he felt a flash of annoyance then, that she was essentially ignoring him, dismissing him.

“And yet you’re the only one working on it?” He stated.

She frowned looking up at him. “What do you mean? We’ve been working on it all day. Doug took it down to the field ops team and they’re gonna get to work on it first thing.”

“And here you are still working, I didn’t realise what great work ethic you had Maddie.” He said.

“What?” She replied feeling confused.

“Maybe it’s time for a performance review.” He smirked walking up to her and she swallowed realising exactly what he was getting at.

“You can’t. Brandon will be back any minute.” She stated.

“He can’t get in. I secured the room. No one can get in or out without my code.”

She felt her jaw drop and looked from him to the door and back again.

“Cole…”

“Stand up Maddie.” He ordered.

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