Molly

Cole Security - the place I’ve called home for the last four years.

As I pull into the parking lot this morning, I take a look at the building before me. When I started, our office was part of a strip mall. Two years ago, Cole bought this building, four stories tall, and expanded his operations to include his own monitoring center for his clients who have a home or office security system from him. Employee count more than tripled, and Cole started taking on more private sector work.

And I’m still here.

Receptionist, client liaison, research assistant, and backup support for the whole team. It was when we moved her that Cole and his little brother Cody started training me for field work, but I’ve yet to be called on to handle anything outside of the office. Something that I’ve craved more, with each passing day.

I would be lying if I said that I haven’t been looking elsewhere. The dream has always been to work with the FBI, DEA, or some other bigger organization at the federal level. This job was only supposed to be a stop along my way.

Don’t get me wrong, these guys are great. Cole knows his stuff, and I have learned a lot from being here. But I want more, I want to know the thrill of working on a case, tracking down a criminal and putting him behind bars. Bringing justice to the community.

That’s not the only thing that has me itching to get out of here. Something else has changed too.

My feelings for Cole.

At first, it was no big deal. He was my boss, and I was his employee. The lines started to blur around the time Cole, and Cody helped me move out of my first apartment and into the condo I bought, three years ago, when I decided that no matter what, I would make Tallahassee my home base.

That night, after we’d brought in the last of my things and most of my furniture was put back together, we ordered pizzas and tossed back a few beers. When the boys left, Cole pulled me in for a hug and congratulated me on becoming a homeowner. It was with that hug that I felt a shift, the attraction between us sparked.

A knock on my car window pulls me back to the present. Looking up, Cole’s ice blue eyes are staring right at me.

He’s dressed in his usual faded jeans and a plain blue t-shirt that just so happens to showcase his very solid torso and strong arms. I can tell he rode the Harley to work today, based on his disarrayed hair that he likely tried to fix with his fingers when he arrived. He’s every woman's fantasy come to life, especially mine.

Pulling the door open, he greets me with far too much enthusiasm for this early in the morning.

“Morning, Gorgeous. Planning on coming inside today?”

He’s always been a charmer and a flirt, today is nothing different. Aside from the fact that it’s become torture on my soul.

“Cole. What’s the rule?”

“If I want you to be nice, I have to serve you coffee first.”  His throaty chuckle sends a chill down my spine.  

It should probably be the other way around, but we have a long-running joke that it’s best if I’ve had coffee before anyone speaks to me. Some mornings, I caffeinate at home. Others, like today, I don’t have time, so it has to wait until we get here. Thankfully for all the other employees, they don’t come rolling in until an hour after Cole and me.

“Cody stopped for coffee this morning. He’ll be here soon.”

“You boys are too good to me.” I sigh as we walk inside the building together.

“Yeah yeah, don’t call any customers until you finish that first cup though.” He nudges me with his elbow before heading into his office.

“I don’t call anyone until after nine! Not everyone is up at the crack of dawn like you!” I call behind him as I settle in at my desk.

You would think that Cole might keep tucked away on the top floor in some cushy office, but he doesn’t. Instead, he and Cody are right here on the first floor along with the guys who install the security systems and troubleshoot, the IT guys and such. The second floor houses the grunts, the guys who work in the field and do the private sector stuff. The third floor is the small-scale lab that comes in handy for some of the jobs that we’re not allowed to talk about and that top floor is where the monitoring center is.

Now if only I could convince him that we need an in-house coffee shop. Then I would be living the dream. Sort of.

~*~

Cole

“Could you...maybe, stop staring at her? It’s starting to get awkward.” Cody coughs out a laugh.

I’ve been standing against the doorway in my office, watching Molly work for God knows how long now. I can’t help it. She’s currently dealing with a high-profile client that has his panties in a twist because he wanted someone out to his house to install a security system the minute he called us. That was twenty minutes ago.

Sure, it would be a great contract to have, but the fact that I can hear him screaming at one of my employees, through the phone, makes me want to take over the call myself and tell him to fuck off. Except for the fact that I am extremely entertained and turned on by the no bullshit attitude Molly is giving him right back.

“Jesus Christ, Cole. Ask her on a fucking date already and bang her so you can stop with all this sexual tension you’ve got floating around this office.”

“Cody. Shut up,” I grumble. “I’m trying to listen to this call and figure out what we’re going to have to do to please this fucker.”

“You do realize, there is an easier way to do that? It’s called, pick up the call monitoring line and pull up that call. It’s amazing, you can even listen to it in real time! Who knew?”

“You’re a sarcastic little shit. Don’t you have work to do?” I tear my eyes away from Molly and shoot daggers at my little brother instead.

“Eh. This is more fun.”

Our attention diverts back to Molly as she slams the phone on her desk and lets out a dramatic shy. “Thank fuck that’s over.”

“Problems?” I poke.

“Fuck you. I should have let you handle that from the beginning. Mr. Johnny Bluejeans seems to think that we’re at his beck and call. I told you he was going to be a diva from the moment his team called about extra security for that concert down at Blue Haven.”

Ah, the cake jobs. The ones we take for a little extra cash, that usually require minimal effort on our part. Like, providing event security for random things. Hell, that’s how both Rhys and Smitty met their wives – at a book signing that we ran security for.

“Well, you didn’t tell him to go to hell, so I’m guessing we still go the job?”

“Oh, we got the job. You’re welcome. I think you should send Taylor and Robert out on this one. They’ll probably be the best bet for handling his temper tantrum,” Molly confirms what I already know.

“Great. Robert can hang back. Cody, time to take a little walk down memory lane.” I slap my brother on the back. “Gear up, you can go play geek squad today.” That ought to be payback enough for giving me shit today.

Cody lets out a huff. “You’re fucking kidding.”

“Not kidding little bro, go tell Taylor to roll out. Don’t fuck this up.” I add at the last minute.

Molly laughs, and Cody sulks on his way back to the technician’s work area.

“That was pretty mean. But, come to think of it, it was a good call. Cody will handle Johnny much better than Robert, and he’ll keep Taylor from telling the guy off too.” She walks over and taps my forehead. “Smart man you are.”

I grab her hand quickly before she has a chance to pull away. “What’s the rule about touching?”

“Fuck off,” she giggles as I pull her closer and tickle her sides. “I hate you.”

“You do not.” If anything, she thinks she’s in love with me. I’ve tried like hell to convince her otherwise.

“I’m taking my lunch break. I switched the calls over to the monitoring center welcome desk.”

“I’ll come with you,” I offer before my brain has a chance to filter the words coming out of my mouth.

“Uhm, no thanks. It’s a lunch date. Pretty sure that it would be awkward to show up with you.”

I shouldn’t care that she’s got a date. Nope. Not one bit. Except I do. And part of me wishes I was the lucky bastard. “Well shit, way to break my heart, Mol.”

“Ha! Yeah okay. I’m sure Jade’s free.” She winks over her shoulder as she heads out.