The blinds on the exterior windows were closed, but the sunset had slipped through the slits and then burned out hours before. After studying Travis’s case file, I’d spent the rest of the evening looking for ways to get him out of prison time for the fire, but using him as an asset was not just the best idea. It was the only idea. Unluckily for Travis, his brother was so good at his job that the Bureau felt adding another Maddox would only be beneficial. So, he wasn’t only an asset. He would be recruited.

A knock sounded, and Agent Sawyer slipped a file into the metal holder screwed on the front of my door. The holder was there so that agents wouldn’t have to bother me with every approval request, but Sawyer opened the door just enough to poke his head into my office, a bright white Cheshire smile on his face.

“It’s late,” he said.

“I know,” I said, resting my chin on the heel of my hand. I didn’t take my eyes from the screen.

“It’s Friday.”

“I’m aware,” I said. “Have a good weekend.”

“I thought maybe you’d like to get dinner somewhere. You’ve got to be starving.”

Maddox stepped into my office, cool and pleasant to me, and then he glowered at Sawyer. “Agent Lindy and I have a meeting in two minutes.”

“A meeting?” Sawyer said, chuckling. Under Maddox’s intense stare, his smile faded. He smoothed down his tie and then cleared his throat. “Really?”

“Good night, Agent Sawyer,” Maddox said.

“Good night, sir,” he said before disappearing down the hall.

Maddox ambled to my desk and sat in one of the club chairs, casually leaning back with both of his elbows perched on the arms.

“We don’t have a meeting,” I said, my eyes on the monitor.

“No, we don’t,” Maddox said, sounding tired.

“You made me his boss. You’ve got to let him speak to me at some point.”

“I don’t see it that way.”

I leaned to the side to see his face, my face still squashed by my hand, and frowned at him, dubious.

“You look like hell,” Maddox said.

“You look worse,” I lied.

He looked like an Abercrombie model, including the stern yet impervious stare, and I happened to know that he looked like one under his suit and tie, too. I hid behind my computer again before he could catch my eyes lingering on those damn unforgettable lips.

“Hungry?” he asked.

“Starving.”

“Let’s go pick up something. I’ll drive.”

I shook my head. “I still have a lot to do.”

“You have to eat.”

“No.”

“Goddamn, you’re stubborn.”