After the initial awkwardness of the weekend wore off, Monday morning came around like normal and everything seemed to fall back into place. Maddie and Bennet went on with their normal daily routines. She could sense he was keeping a bit more distance than normal but she wasn’t going to complain, her inability to keep herself from blushing around him was becoming a full blown problem.

By the time two weeks had passed she felt everything was finally back to normal and she had almost forgotten about a stupid little kiss.

They had both returned to their daily routines of small talk on the commute to work and general pleasantries around the house. Bennet had been traveling quite a bit more and staying at the office later. Maddie wasn’t sure if it was a tactic to avoid her but figured it most likely had to do with the recent acquisition of all of the Larson business.

She had just settled back into her desk to work on some designs when an IM from Bennet popped up on her screen. Hey there, do you have some time in the next hour to swing by my office?

She always felt like she was in trouble when these requests came in, she had no reason to actually worry but she couldn’t help but feel nervous. Yeah absolutely, just finishing up a design and will be up in the next 15 minutes.

"Miss Strickland is here to see you Sir," Janice said into the buzzer as she smiled at Maddie. She was just about to ask how her weekend went when Bennet’s door opened.

"Hey come on in." He seemed a bit melancholy today. She had noticed on the drive in he was buried in his email with a permanent look of consternation on his face. She waved bye to Janice and followed Bennet into his office.

"Sorry for the short notice but I was going through some of the plans for the Larson file and wanted to speak with you about it. I’d love to throw some of this your way and just have you run with things but that would mean some changes." Maddie sat on the edge of her seat trying not to visible wring her hands. Bennet walked around and sat on the edge of his desk right in front of her. “I'd like to move you off of Vince’s team and have you work directly for me. I’ve already spoken to him and he’s very understanding and agrees that your abilities far exceed his design team."

Madeline couldn’t hide her surprise, "Wow! Work directly for you in what capacity?" “I'd like to have you handle our top clients. I’ll let you build out your own team but I want you to be the creative director, essentially a department head."

Madeline sat in shock…department head?! I’m only 23 and this is my first job! She thought to herself. "Seriously? Why?" The worlds slipped out before she could stop them.

"Madeline you are not only extremely talented but you have an aptitude for business. The way you presented your designs to the Larson team last month was outstanding. You not only showed them metrics on how their return on investment could be tripled with this campaign you also convinced them to move all of their business over to my company."

She was happy to finally hear Bennet address her presentation. "And while we’re on the subject I wanted to apologize to you for not expressing my gratitude for all of your hard work on that presentation and how impressed I was." He looked down at his hands for a moment before he spoke again, "I do have one other concern or question rather."

Madeline swallowed as she waited for him to spit it out. "I don’t know if you are engaged in a relationship with Jared Larson at all but it could cause a conflict of interest in this position. If you are that’s fine I would just need to find someone else to handle their file."

Maddie was shocked and then angry. "What?! Why would you think I’m in a relationship with a client? That’s unethical and absolutely unprofessional!" She could feel her face flushing as she tried to keep her voice even and calm.

"Well I saw him give you his card and offer to take you out sometime so I think it’s only natural that I would ask that question.”

"So because a client gives me his card I’m sleeping with him?!" Maddie couldn’t hide her anger anymore. “He simply asked me for a drink which I never took him up on and speaking of this subject, you’re the one that made a rude comment about me seeing him on Friday nights!” She sprang to her feet and pointed a finger at Bennet, "I have nor will I ever sleep with or date a client and you should know that Mr. Windsor!"

She walked swiftly to the door and opened it. "I would prefer to stay on Mr. Thomas’ team please. Thanks for the offer, I appreciate it." She said as she shut the door and practically sprinted to the elevator before the tears began streaming down her face.

After several deep breaths and some cold water on her face Maddie gathered herself and looked in the mirror, letting out a long sigh. She had let the tension of Bennet’s comments about Jared build up…she knew she should have dealt with them when they happened but she had gotten so caught up in that kiss she let her feelings get pushed aside.

"Ok so I might have overreacted a bit." She took some deep breaths before deciding she should probably apologize to Bennet for her reaction but she also wanted to clear the air between them about Jared. She wasn’t convinced about the promotion though, she just didn’t have the same faith in herself that he did and was terrified what this could mean if she failed.

Maddie took a deep breath and straitened her posture as she opened the restroom door. She took the elevator back up to Bennet’s floor and walked swiftly towards his door with confidence in her step.

"Oh perfect I was just about to call you!" Janice said causing Maddie to spin around on the ball of her foot.

"Me?" She asked Janice in confusion.

"Yes, Bennet had to run out early but he said the car will be waiting for you after work."

Maddie was confused but just thanked Janice for the info and headed back to her desk. Maybe an intense boxing session would help her clear her head and prepare herself mentally to apologize when she got home tonight.