Elise

"That's all you've got? Rumors that something happened to my investigator?"

"What do you mean 'That's all I've got'?!" She realized she'd raised her voice a little louder than she'd intended, drawing the eyes of patrons toward their table and leading her to flush. When Elise spoke again, it was in a much more apropos whisper.

"That's better than your ass had, Reid."

His bright eyes seethed with something that looked like annoyance. Elise was unsettled to find herself drawn into those eyes, which were of a color she'd never really seen before, a honeyed brown that seemed to catch the light perfectly. "What else did you get?"

She huffed, tossing back the rest of her champagne and pouring herself another glass. The shit was good. Too good. It probably wasn't the best idea for her to be drinking because, well, she'd never really drank before. But this champagne was fantastic. How could she pass it up? Once she'd finished another sip, she spoke.

"That's it."

"Christ? That's it!" He exclaimed then leaned closer to murmur, "I gave you 50,000 and that's all you've got?"

Elise pouted, matching his look glare for glare and ignoring the fact that his lips were close to hers. "Be patient, Reid. Stuff like this doesn't happen overnight."

He frowned, sitting back and rubbing a hand over his face tiredly. When he finally regarded her, she saw exhaustion in his expression, exhaustion not hidden by the perfect makeup and trimmed eyebrows. "Sorry. I know that. I just... I knew the guy. If something happened to him, I'd feel personally responsible."

Perhaps it was the alcohol or the fact that she'd never seen the man look so pained, so vulnerable. Whatever it was, she reached across the table and placed her small hand over his large one.

"I'm sorry, Reid. Really. I'll try to find out everything I can. I promise."

He stared at her hand long enough for Elise to feel awkward. Frowning, she tore her hand away before she could feel even more awkward about her apology and the fact that she'd liked feeling his warmth. Reid was giving her a strange look, one that made her core do a flip flop before she finished off her second glass of champagne.

Man, the expensive stuff went down easy.

Elise laughed when she felt his eyes burning into her as she poured herself her next glass. "Okay, Mr. Brennan. Care to answer some of my questions off the record?"

Elise didn't dare look at the man, but she heard the superior smirk in his voice as he watched her intently. "Fine."

She dug around in her bag for her pen and stacked her notes neatly in front of her before proceeding. "Mr. Brenna, people often remark on your contentious relationship with your siblings. Care to elaborate?"

He snorted, drawing her to look up to find him scoffing and eyeing the server, who appeared to be carrying out their appetizers.

"No, Ms. Bates, I don't care to elaborate."

"Okay," she nodded deftly, making a tic mark on her paper as if she were taking real notes. "So that's true."

"What's true?" Reid asked innocently as the young male waiter gently placed the dishes before them, having to avoid Elise's stack of receipt notes in the process. Elise watched curiously as the man's hand brush Reid's, and she suddenly got the distinct impression that accidental touch had been intentional, that the youth had wanted to touch Reid.

Hell, she wanted to touch Reid.

Smirking, Elise cleared her throat before answering Brennan. "That you're an arrogant dick with some real sibling rivalry issues. Okie dokie, Reid, next question...."

Reid's eyes snapped to her, and the server scurried away, leaving her alone with the billionaire's ire.

"I will choose to ignore that comment, so can we eat before our food gets cold, Ms. Bates?"

Elise nodded, picking up a fork and absently shoving whatever was on her plate into her mouth as she flipped through her notes looking for another question she'd jotted down, one that she'd been dying to ask him.

"Elise?"

"Yeah." She looked up, feeling her food dripping down her chin and reaching for a napkin to dab at it.

Reid was pinning her with an expression somewhere between perplexed and outraged. "You're eating like a heathen."

Elise flushed with embarrassment then, suddenly realizing she wasn't just holed up in her office eating ramen. She was in a super fancy establishment with a super fancy man who she didn't care to admit was also a super sexy man. A very super sexy man. She covered her embarrassment by drinking more champagne.

"Sorry. I'm not really... I—"

Her stumbling apology brought a surprising look of sympathy to Reid's face. "You want a story, Ms. Bates? There're some things I can give you. There's a reason I don't often talk about the time before Marauder's Inc. The time before I'd made it."

"Why's that?" she said while eating another bite, savoring it this time and realizing that she probably hadn't ever tasted any sort of pasta thingy as delicious as whatever she was eating now.

Reid grinned knowingly at her reaction, shoulders relaxing as he watched her eat for a minute. "My family has had its share of ups and downs, as I'm sure you know from all your insufferable digging into my past, but I haven't always been this..."

"Much of an arrogant prick?" she asked before blushing again when she realized she'd just spoken without thinking.

Elise really needed to stop speaking without thinking.

"I was going to say that I haven't always been this cultured. The first time I went to a place like this, I drank from the fingerbowl. I thought it was soup."

"What's a fingerbowl?" Elise asked, licking her lips and feeling herself already relaxing in a haze of fulfilment that could only be brought on by exquisite food and good booze, although she didn't have much experience with the latter... or the former if she was being honest with herself.

Reid chuckled low, the sound sending shivers across her skin as he polished off the remainder of his own plate just as their next course was arriving.

Elise hurried and shoveled the last bite of food into her mouth before another server hurried over and cleared their dishes so that their main server could place the next courses in front of them.

"So, you were once an uncultured swine like me?"

"Not quite like you, Elise. Never quite like you. Now eat that."

"What is it?" she said regarding, with a fair bit of apprehension, the plate of unidentifiable foodstuffs that looked more like art than food.

"Does it matter? Just try it and see if you like it."

For some reason, Reid's comments felt like they might some famous last words, but Elise didn't ponder it any further as she did as he'd recommended, feeling the alcohol and food affecting her almost as much as the company was. She might as well enjoy it. This was all on Reid Brennan's dime anyway.

At least Elise hoped like hell it was.