Page 3 of One Eye Open (The BlackWater)

“If you were going to be here then why did Brandon asked me to cover? Surely you could have done it?” She said.

“I don’t work for BlackWater Maddie.” He said leaning against the table and running his eyes over her, admiring the black dress she had put on for the occasion. It was tight but not too tight, emphasising her beautifully honed body and her hair was down too, flowing down her back in a way that made him want to yank it hard while devouring every inch of her.

She sighed ignoring the blatant look he was giving her.

“So why are you here then?” She asked.

“I’m CEO Maddie, why would I not attend a Quarterly Review Meetings?”

“And you neglected to tell me why?” She asked.

“And ruin the surprise? Where would fun in that be?” He replied his voice dropping into the irresistible seductive tone that he knew always sent a thrill through her.

She rolled her eyes and took a gulp of her drink feeling like this meeting was going to be even more nervy than she’d imagined and not because she was presentating but because Cole was there, looking more and more like he was undressing her with his eyes as each second passed.

“This dress looks good on you.” He said and she raised her eyebrows at him.

“Seriously? Here?”

He laughed. “Oh Maddie, don’t act like you don’t want me to rip that dress off and fuck you right now, right here.” He said and it sent another shiver down her and she was pretty certain her knickers were suddenly very wet.

“Cole.” She gasped but before he could reply the door opened and everyone was suddenly there, in the room, and she had to put her game face on like he hadn’t just propositioned her.

“Maddie Cooper in the flesh.” Carlton, Brandon’s U.S. equivalent said holding his hand out to shake her hand.

She smiled trying not to wince as he half crushed her fingers. “Good to finally meet you.” She said.

“Likewise.” Carlton said glancing at Cole then back at her.

“So this is the famous Maddie huh?” The woman beside him said obviously assessing her. “Amanda Holt. Finance Director.” She added holding her hand out and Maddie smiled taking it.

“How am I famous?” Maddie asked laughing.

“We all heard about the shooting.” Carlton said. “How is the leg?”

“Oh.” Maddie replied glancing at Cole because as far as she was concerned it was still a classified case and technically it was still open even if she was no longer involved with it. “Well it’s technically healed but I’m still in psychical therapy and not really allowed to work out as much as I’d like.” She said.

“It’s only been six month.” Cole stated. “Most people don’t recover as much as you have by this point.”

“Still...” Maddie shrugged because truth be told the injury was still causing her pain, and the fact that she couldn’t work out properly was more than a little infuriating.

“How long have you been in New York?” Amanda asked.

“Five days today. I tied it in with a case but I’ll be leaving this evening.” She said and Cole smirked in a way that made her frown.

“Right let’s get on with it.” Cole said clapping his hands and walking to the top of the massive table, taking the seat like he was a king sitting on his throne. But then he was wasn’t he? Maddie thought, this was his kingdom, his empire that he’d built with his own hands and here she was now presenting essentially to him and all his generals for their approval.

“Agenda is on the table. We’ll go through the financials first, then each Subsidiary Lead has ten minutes. For those of you who don’t know we have Maddie Cooper here representing Brandon from our London Office. She’ll be presenting after the coffee break and then we can finish on Q4 objectives.” Cole dictated looking around at each of their faces.

Maddie sat listening and trying to follow as Amanda talked them through the accounts, staring at the numbers like they meant something.

“…So we’re reporting an increase of 9% from last fiscal year and with the influx of new revenue from BlackWater and Black Tech we are looking to make an overall increase of $90million as long as we remain on our current trajectory.” Amanda said and a few people nodded while Maddie did her best to keep her face neutral because the numbers sounded crazy, actually crazy.

“What about the issue with Argentina?” Someone asked.

“We have factored that into our projections.” She replied before glancing over at the man to the right of her.

“We don’t think there will be an issue.” The man said in a Californian accent. “The U.S. government is working with them now and we’re pretty confident that any asset freezes won’t come into effect until after we’ve finished our contract and the payment is made.”

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