Page 101 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"Did I wear the same sequin sparkly outfit as you at the big winter gala?"

"No. Come on. We really need to get going."

"Oh, you think you're just going to escape this conversation, do you?"

"No. But we should get a good night of sleep while we still can."

His gaze sharpened on me. "Wait. I know. I know exactly what it was."

A sick feeling spread throughout my abdomen because this man in front of me was pretty damn smart. Too smart sometimes. "It was nothing. Now let's go."

I turned to clear my desk off and started packing my bag, intent on ignoring him. But did Max take the hint? Of course not. He was like a dog with a damn bone.

"You flirted with me," he said triumphantly. "That's totally it. You flirted with me, and I didn't respond most likely, because I'm totally clueless about when a woman might be flirting with me, unless it's completely obvious, like a naked woman jumping up and down with a boombox in her hands."

"What?" I gasped, giving him a glance despite myself. "What are you even talking about?"

"It's happened."

"No, it didn't."

"Yes, it did. Just ask my grandma. She saw it, to my absolute mortification."

"Please tell me you turned the jumping naked woman down."

"Of course I did. But that's not the point. The point is... did you flirt with me? And then, I didn't even recognize you the next time I saw you?"

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop my face from flushing bright red. "No comment."

"So that's it. I fucking knew it. The great Annalise Stratton took a hit to her pride."

There was a book sitting on the empty desk on the other side of me, a book that had been sitting there for days with an eye-catching cover. Resisting the urge to throw it at him, I instead grabbed it and thrust it into his hands.

"The Art of Not Being a Dick," he read the title out loud before laughing his ass off.

"Maybe read it tonight and see if you can learn anything," I suggested.

And with that, I grabbed my bag and headed for the elevator. But the jerk caught up to me as I waited. Why did the elevators take so long at night? Hardly anyone was even here anymore.

"So how did you flirt with me anyway?" Max asked.

"I don't remember. And I didn't flirt with you," I added, even though I had. And I hardly ever did that. It was actually the only time I could remember ever doing so.

"I'd give anything to know."

"All I did was say that I liked the food," I lied. It'd been a bit more than that. "We happened to be standing next to each other at the bar."

"So you do remember."

Shit. "That'sallI remember."

He laughed. "You're such a liar."

"I'm not a liar." God, this conversation had turned incredibly juvenile.

The elevator arrived, and I stepped in, hitting the close door button repeatedly, wishing I could close Max out. But no such luck of course.

We stood side by side, facing forward, Max staring at me in the shiny reflection of the closed door, a cocky grin covering his stupid face.

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