“I understand completely,” Addison said.
“I’m Angie.” She took a step forward before realizing her mistake.
“No!” She spun and lunged at the counter, but one of the men caught her around the waist and hefted her under his arm.
“Don’t ruin the brew!” She flailed at the coffee pot while the man not holding her pulled the carafe from the hot plate and poured coffee into a cup.
Graham released a long-suffering sigh while Addison failed to stop the soft laugh that escaped. It might have been the first time she’d laughed honestly in weeks.
“Conference room in ten minutes,” Graham said. “Bring Major Foster and me cups of coffee.Afterit’s finished brewing.”
Shaking his head, Graham gestured for Addison to return the way they came. “I’m sorry about that. I promise you my people are very good at their jobs, despite their juvenile behavior just now.”
She stopped in the corridor and faced him. “Don’t. Their behavior, juvenile or not, tells me more about your company and you than I can get from your website. That”—she pointed toward the break room—“tells me your people trust you enough to be who they are. I’d rather see that than a bunch of stiff suits with too much composure and bearing.”
She swallowed hard before softening her voice. “I’d rather see empathy in someone’s eyes when they realize who I am instead of dollar signs, which is all I’ve seen so far.”
He glanced toward the break room and the faint sounds of laughter. “Thank you. I worked for a few companies before starting TLC and I didn’t want to run a company like any of the ones I worked for.” He cocked his head back toward the main area. “Still, I promise you, we are all very good at what we do.”
“I asked around about you—I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t already know that.”
“That’s good to know,” he said.
“What’s good to know?”
Addison turned toward the voice. Whoa. In contrast to the khakis or jeans and polos with the company logo everyone else wore, the woman coming down the hall screamed bombshell in a knee-length black skirt, sky-blue blouse, and four-inch platform heels. Combined with the black-framed glasses, the woman gave off a sexy librarian/dominatrix vibe that made Addison question her sexuality the same way Ruby Rose did.
By comparison, Addison’s peep-toe wedges, fitted slacks, and wrap blouse, which she’d thought understated and professional, were dowdy. Ruby Rose wouldn’t give her a second look with this woman around.
“That Addison heard good things about us when she asked around,” Graham said. “Addison, this is Paige Davis, Chief Operations Officer for Leonidas. Truthfully, this company wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it is if it wasn’t for her. She runs things while I get to run around the ass-end of the world and still play soldier.”
Paige shook Addison’s outstretched hand. “It’s good to meet you. I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”
“Me too,” Addison said.
“Paige, can you take Addison to the conference room while I round up the children? They’re arguing over coffee again,” Graham said.
“Sure. Grab me a cup while you’re in there if Angie will let you near the pot.”
“Ha.” Graham walked back to the break room, leaving her with Paige.
“I’m sure he already apologized for whatever they were getting up to,” Paige said as they continued down the hall.
“He did. I assured him there was no need. It’s nice to see a group of people comfortable enough at work to be who they really are.”
Paige opened a door at the end of the hall, revealing a room with the requisite long conference table and the largest T.V. Addison had ever seen.
“Wow, that’s a big screen.”
“Right?” Paige asked. “I suggested a standard projection screen. You would have thought I said we should get a black chalkboard and do math calculations with an abacus the way Angie reacted. I will admit it’s great when we do movie night, but don’t tell her I said that.”
Addison smiled at her conspiratorial tone. What was it about this group of people that had her smiling and laughing more than she had in the past two months?
Voices carried down the hall, and Graham and the three people from the coffee conflict filed into the room.
Angie carried a tray with cups of coffee. “I didn’t know how you liked your coffee, so I brought sugar and creamer,” she said.
“Black is fine,” Addison said, accepting one of the mugs.
“We’re waiting on a couple more people and then we’ll get started,” Graham said. “Sorry for the delay—there was an accident on the bridge and they got stuck behind it.”
Butterflies took flight in her stomach as she recalled exactly why she was there. They had information on Braedon. They’d been able to distract her for the last half hour, something that rarely happened, but now her fingers began to tingle as her nerves set in.
A tall, well-built, and tattooed man sauntered into the room. “Sorry we’re late. Bridge. Accident. Stopped to help.”
“I know,” Graham said. “Devon called.”
Devon strode in behind the first man and managed to suck all the air out of the room. That was the only explanation Addison had for why she was suddenly breathless. His blue-gray eyes bore into hers when their gazes met, and she fought not to look away. The intensity of his stare felt like a physical caress as he searched her face.
“All right,” Graham said. “Let’s get started.”
