Page 29 of Accidentally Amy

An amused look crossed his face, a slow smile, and it looked ridiculously good on him. “I’m sure I can—”

“You’re not listening.” I cut him off because he needed to understand. “You’re an AVP who wears suits that probably cost more than our rent every month. Billboard Assholes is not for you.”

“Well, I’m in,” Blake pronounced, giving me bossy eye contact that made me a tiny bit more flustered.Is it hot in here?He was standing close enough for me to smell his cologne and stare directly at his throat, which was, for a throat, remarkably appealing. “And you’re going to be my partner.”

“You guys were talking about team-play Billboard Assholes?” I shook my head and said, “No way, that’s even worse. I can’t let you play.”

“What are you—”

“Shhh.” I cut him off again. He had no idea what he was dealing with. “These guys live by the motto that it’s not fun unless someone loses, so they play for high stakes. If you lose, there’s no getting out of paying the price.”

“Are you trying toprotectme?” he asked, his eyes narrowed marginally.

“Kind of.” I cleared my throat and said, “See, Josh and his friends bought a few billboards around town as an investmentpackage a few years ago. But there’s one billboard that’s in a terrible location so they can never lease the space.”

“So…?” he said, his eyebrows cocked together.

“So they use it for their own entertainment.” I tucked my wet hair behind my ears and said, “The loser of Billboard Assholes gets their face put on the billboard for an entire month.”

“No shit?” he said, his mouth slowly sliding into another grin. Wow, there reallywasa mischievous side to him that I wouldn’t hate exploring if he weren’t my boss and I weren’t a corporate minion. He asked, “What does the winner get?”

“To write the caption.”

He started laughing, which made me smile, but he still didn’t get it. “No, no—it’s hilarious. But now you can see why someone like you can’t play.”

His smile flatlined. “Someone like me.”

“My face was up on the billboard in August 2021 with the caption ‘The face of herpes can take any form—get tested.’ ”

He looked horrified for a moment before he laughed. “Dear God.”

“Verynotvice presidential, right?”

Blake seemed to consider that for a moment before saying, “Well, I’m not going to lose.”

He wasn’t going to listen, but I repeated, “No, you totally will.”

“How could you know that?”

“It’s a very complex game,” I said. “You should trust me.”

“Hey.” Josh came into the kitchen and said, “In or out? We want to get started.”

I looked at Blake, who winked at me—dear Lord—before saying, “We aresoin.”

•••

“Wrong.” Kyle, Josh’s best friend, smiled from across the kitchen table and said to Blake, “Haribo eventually found success with gummy bears, but Hans Riegel’s first product was actually hard, colorless candies.”

“Damn it,” I muttered, impressed by Blake’s knowledge of trivia but irritated by his unwillingness to consult his teammate before just blurting out an answer.

“That means the point goes to us,” Kyle said, looking smug as he put the card back into the box. “Unless you want a physical challenge.”

“We’ll take the physical challenge,” Blake said, looking unfazed. He probably assumed it was something easy, a random athletic task that someone fit like him could do in his sleep.

“No, we won’t,” I corrected. “We’re only down by one, no need to panic.”

“Too late—he said it,” Kyle said, reaching into the red box for a card. “Physical challenge it is.”

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