Page 69 of A Conflict of Interest

Sixty-nine degrees wasnotmy favorite sixty-nine. Like most things, my favorite involved Kelcey Huntington. “Okay, whatever you want to call it,” I said, gesturing to the office. “Are we ditching this junk heap and going already, or what? Why’d you even make me meet you here?”

He let out a heavy breath, shoulders falling. “We should take a car together.”

“What? Why? Gonna be lonely on the drive?”

“It’ll look more appropriate with us showing up at the same time,” he said, measuring his words carefully. Crock of bullshit is what it was—Danielson had kept me around like a feral dog since I’d gotten on his case about Kelcey, keeping me at a safe distance and a wary eye on me. I didn’t really give a damn, honestly. He was looking for an opportunity to get rid of me, probably half because he was scared of what I might pull next and half becausehe felt belittled with a woman younger than him twisting his arm until he cooperated, but I was looking for an opportunity to leave anyway, so all was well.

Obviously, he wanted to put me in an awkward situation somehow or other at the event, thinking I wouldn’t be able to leave without him. Even if Kelcey wouldn’t put her reputation with the company at risk by leaving with me, even if I couldn’t hitch a ride with Anna once again—the guy didn’t pay me heaps, but I could afford to call a ride.

But whatever let him think he was winning. If I didn’t, then he’d get more and more irritable, trying something until he hit on something to make me miserable.

“Ugh… sure. But you’re driving. I’m not getting behind the wheel of your clumsy brick of a car.”

He scowled. “It’s a nice car.”

“That’s worse. That just means it’s expensive even if I just hitonelittle mailbox.”

I was a good driver, actually, but it was worth bullshitting just to see the look on his face. “Okay, yeah, I’m driving. Let’s go.”

I climbed into his car and criticized his music choices on the whole way there, until halfway through he got frustrated and told me to put something on, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make him angry, so I put on all the exact songs I’d just criticized him for. He was staring blankly ahead with a look like he was disassociating by the time we got to the event center and squeezed into a crowded parking garage with a million other cars, and I took it as my win for the day.

My loss for the day was immediately after, when I had to trudge through the bitter cold in a light dress and just one coat, and to top it off, once the receptionist took our names and guided us into the event center, it wasn’t even dressed up in six hundred light strings.

It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, just like it had been the other times—including the last time I was here, when I got thrown into a Christmas tree, but the tree was back to standing up normally, thankfully. Danielson stuck close to my side as we headed towards where people were starting to gather at the center, and he gave me a wary look, scoping out the people looking at me weirdly.

“Are you a celebrity here?” he said.

“Where am I not a celebrity?”

He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “It’s impossible to get a straight answer out of you.”

“Well, I’m not straight, so that makes sense.”

He took a long breath, letting it out slowly, measuring his response. Come to think of it, he’d never known I was bisexual. Guess that was how I was coming out. “Okay,” he said finally.

The cold, Danielson being pushy, and the lack of lights were all suddenly irrelevant, though, when my gaze swept across the room and found the one who was brighter than any number of lights put together—Kelcey Huntington, dressed in a sleek all-black outfit today, with a loose blouse and straight-leg pants with low heels, a look that was equal parts showstopper and understated. She was on the other side of the room, just a glimpse of her through the crowd, talking brightly to one of her coworkers, and the way hersmilejust lit up the room…

I must have stared hard enough for her to notice, because she stirred and glanced my way, and when her eyes locked with mine, even from across the room, it made the world stop turning, stole my breath right out of my body, and had me smiling like a kid on Christmas morning.

I was never making fun of Lucy again. Damn, I was down bad.

Kelcey smiled, a quick and sly thing, before she turned back to the person she was talking to, continuing her conversationwithout a hitch, seamlessly done, no indications given that we knew each other. I didn’t pull it off as well as she did, judging by the way Danielson stopped and looked at me, which made me realize that I’d stopped walking to gawk at her.

“Veronica—what’s your deal?” he said.

“Honestly?” I laughed. “I really couldn’t tell you. Well, c’mon, let’s get drinks.”

“We’re notgetting drinks,we’re going to meet the heads of the comms department who helped organize this. I thought you knew how to handle a formal event, Veronica.”

“Even monkeys fall from trees. Or into trees. Yeah, let’s go say hi to the useless sapphics.”

“Thank god it’s your sister, or I’d have to walk you out of here…”

I decided not to grace his comment with an answer. Mostly because I was thinking about Kelcey.

I followed him to where Lucy and Anna were at the side of the room talking with the douche I recognized as the company president Michael Berg, and it was apparently a douche-off because I didn’t know who to cheer for as Danielson walked up and interrupted it like he was the most important person at this event.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he said, not sorry at all, as Berg gave him a sharp look. “Anna Preston, Lucy Masters? Liam Danielson, with ECR Animation and Videography. I assume you know my outreach coordinator Veronica.”

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