Page 102 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"SotheAnnalise Stratton actually flirted with me. Damn."

"I'm not sure why it's a big deal. People flirt with people all the fucking time."

"Itisa big deal. The absolute biggest deal."

"Stop."

It was all the more ridiculous because I knew for a fact that Max Sterling was flirted with pretty much constantly at events. Tall, handsome, rich. He could have his pick of any woman he wanted.

That was part of the reason it had stung so much because, usually, I had way more pride than that. Whatever had possessed me to lower myself that night? And now it was even worse because he knew. Great. Just fucking great.

"I wish to God I could remember," he said quietly, almost to himself.

"Well, it's no wonder you can't, not with all the women fawning all over you at any event you deign to attend."

He turned to me, and I felt his eyes bore into the side of my face. "Why, Annalise, are you jealous?"

"God, no," I scoffed, still not looking at him, my eyes on the lighted numbers above the door counting down the floors.

I most certainly was not jealous. Not in the slightest. And I'd never been jealous of his beautiful fiancée either, although when they'd been together, I hadn't seen very much of them out and about.

Three, two, one. Thank fuck.

"Damn," he muttered as the doors opened. "I was kind of hoping we'd get stuck again."

Very professionally, I thanked him for helping me tonight, thanked him for dinner, and then I was on my way, exiting the building and catching a cab before he could try to talk me into riding with him or anything else.

"Good night,Dee," he said, shutting the door behind me. "Sleeptight."

Why did that sound so dirty? What a dick, leaving me with that. He was a cute dick. But still.

Twenty-Six

Annalise

After another sleepless night, Thursday dawned. The only way to get through this day was with coffee. Too bad I couldn't get an IV of it. But I somehow managed to power through it, on both a caffeine high and adrenaline rush. Friday night, once this whole presentation was over, I could crash and attempt to process the craziness that had been my life lately.

Between all the shit with Max and now this pedal-to-the-metal pace with Venus, I was a woman on the edge. But I could do it. Ihadto do it.

We spent a large amount of the day in the graphics department, all other projects put on hold for Venus La Fleur. The entire office rallied behind me, and I was beyond touched by the show of support.

Dinner was brought in to us, courtesy of Max Sterling, who sent along a note of encouragement, wishing us well. Jared shot me a stupid smirk as Mona read his card out loud, everyone in awe at the gesture.

Looking around the room, I could kind of understand—just a bit—what Max had said about going undercover and his reasoning. People really did treat him differently as Max versus Jared.

Of course, everyone loved Jared. They were themselves in a way they couldn't be around even Veronica, and certainly not the CEO of the entire company.

Shaking my head, I'd think about all that later. Because we had work to do.

And once again, I stayed late, this time quite a few people staying with us, Max never leaving my side, amicably doing whatever I asked of him.

Before I knew it, the big day was upon us. I'd barely slept a wink the night before, and now I really was running on pure adrenaline mixed with raw nerves and anticipation.

It was kind of like the lead-up to a big holiday, maybe how your own wedding felt, the time both at a crawl and flying. I'd confirmed the catering with Aria about a million times. I'd checked and double checked then triple checked our conference room, each time making sure everything was ready to go. The last thing we needed was some embarrassing technical glitch.

Right at four, we stood near the elevators, waiting for her arrival, my heart racing as I glanced at the time on my phone.

"Hey," Max said, drawing my attention, "you're going to do an amazing job. I know it."

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