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Ugh. That came out a little more tense than what he wanted it to, but he was desperate to get Noah out of there so he could talk to Maggie. It was good that Noah didn't seem to notice the edge to Charlie's voice.
"Nothing else, boss," Noah said with a teasing smile. Charlie should've never told him that the "boss" thing was annoying him. "Remember our meeting tomorrow with the attorney."
Charlie nodded and gave Noah a wave before he walked out of the suite. Then he took a deep breath and turned out to see the arena just beyond the seats in the suite.
The attorneys were meeting with him again to see what they could do to get this team secured in Charlie's hands. They had assured him that this would work out and the will was ironclad. It wouldn't take much to tell a judge that the team belonged to Charlie because that's what his uncle wanted. It was still going to be nerve-wracking until they got it done.
"Uh, Charlie?"
Oh hell. His head snapped back to see Maggie staring at him. He had totally forgotten about her still being there, which was so wrong.
"Hey." He tried to put a smile on his face. "Hi. Sorry, I just... My mind was going somewhere else."
Maggie nodded. "I mean, sex with you in my office kind of made me forget my name, but it seems to have made you forget me completely."
Charlie cringed. That stung but he deserved it.
He stood there for a moment before finally willing himself to do something or say something. Anything.
"Did you try the cookies?"
"I made the cookies."
There was a little bit of a smile that teased the corner of her mouth and made Charlie think maybe this wasn't a hopeless cause after all. Maybe he would have a chance to get this back on track with Maggie.
So Charlie decided to take a chance and grabbed a plate from the buffet, piling it with some of the cookies on the tray that was still full in his suite.
Then he nodded towards the seats that looked out on the arena, hoping she would follow him.
She did.
He placed the plate on the countertop with the bar chairs in the back of the seating area looking out on the ice. It would give them a little more privacy from the fans who were still straggling out of the arena.
It also gave him the chance to sit next to her without being able to look directly at her. He wasn't sure he could do that when he was talking to her.
Charlie pulled a chair out for her to sit in before taking the one next to her, close by still a respectful distance away. And yet, as he held the chair for her to sit down, he couldn't help but let his fingers slide against her back every so gently.
He remembered the way her back felt against his fingers in her office and he wished he could do that again, but he had other things to do now.
He owed Maggie an explanation and an apology and anything else that ended up coming out of his stupid mouth.
Charlie sat down next to her and stared at the plate of cookies he put in front of them, too afraid to look at her directly when he started talking to her. But he still didn't know what to say to her.
"Lawyers, huh?"
She broke a piece of a cookie off and slipped it into the mouth with her eyes continuing to stare at him. At least she was the one to break the ice.
"You heard that."
"I was standing right next to Noah when he said it."
Right. Charlie's head was swimming with too many thoughts going in too many different directions. He could barely remember one moment from the next apparently. He needed to get a grip if he was going to have any conversation with Maggie.
He grabbed one of the cookies from the plate and broke off a piece to eat as he tried to put his thoughts together. But it was hard considering all the lawyer stuff while sitting next to Maggie like this.
"I get it," she said.
He turned and gave her a weary look. "What exactly do you get?"
