God.
Those were the days.
When the two detectives were gone, she focused on Alex. Well, after she told everyone else to meet her in the lobby.
Callen got up, paid the bill, and they gave her some space to talk to the man. Gene hightailed it the hell out of there like his britches were on fire.
Smart man.
Even security went to babysit the men, giving her time to deal with this.
When they were alone, she moved to sit next to him.
“Uh-oh. I’ve been screwed before. This feels suspiciously like one hell of a boning. I don’t like this.”
Yeah, well, never let it be said that her team wasn’t the smartest people.
They.
Were.
“We need to talk.”
Shit.
Here it came.
It was never good when the boss wanted a one-on-one with you outside your yearly evaluation.
“I already know what it’s about. It’s about Corbin,” he said. “He’s not here, and you just said I’m going out with the detectives tomorrow. That’s not good. That means he’s quit or you fired him.”
Oh, well, not quite.
Elizabeth kept her voice down, and tried to keep this at a point where it wouldn’t make a scene. Alex tended to be a handful in certain situations.
This was likely going to be one of them.
What she wished was she could Cupid their way out of this. It was clear that Corbin was attracted to Alex, and she knew that Alex had once had a crush on Noah.
If there was a way, she’d shove them together, and hope for the best, but if Corbin needed space, she had to respect that. Hopefully, Alex could see through all of this and figure it out. She was rooting for them.
Because she didn’t believe for a second that there wasn’t chemistry there. Elizabeth saw the way Alex watched his partner, and the way Corbin smiled at his new friend.
She’d bet there was more.
Someone just hadn’t come to grips with it yet, and she hoped Alex would take the hint.
“Corbin came to me, and he’s asked me to put him on a different team, Alex. He just can’t work with you, and I hope you don’t take that personally.”
The man sat there, and his face went blank.
Alex could play poker with the best of them, and she knew it. Only, she also knew that with that blank look, there was trouble. He was throwing that out to protect himself.
“Corbin comes with baggage, and today, something triggered it. This has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with him.”
Well, that was a lie if she ever told one. Yeah, never let it be said being the boss was fun.
It wasn’t.
