Page 14 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"No, he's not."

"Take away the mustache, the bad haircut, the bad glasses and bad clothes, and he'd actually be pretty hot."

"Nope. Not seeing it."

"I mean, look at that jawline. You could cut glass with that."

Sighing, I had to admit she was right. "It's the only decent thing about him."

"He's a fixer-upper, that's all."

"Aren't you tired of fixer-uppers? They're all fixer-uppers. Every last one of them. And I'm sick of it," I huffed. "Aren't there any guys out there who are already whole? I want a man who isn't broken, who gets along great with his family, has a fantastic job, dresses well, eats well, has his entire life together, someone I don't have to fix, someone who can actually fixme."

"Good luck with that," Mona said with a giggle. "Oh, here comes Jared Jawline now."

He strutted toward me, handing me the mic. "You're up."

Oh, shit. And I had no idea what to sing. I tucked my hair behind my ear, wondering if there was a way to get out of it.

"We shook on it, baby," he said.

I stood up, toe to toe with him, annoyed as hell that I had to glance so far up into his smug face. "Don't call me baby."

"Okay,Dee."

Resisting the urge to stomp on his foot, I skirted around his big stupid body and grabbed the tablet from atop one of the side tables, flicking through the song titles, finally settling on the perfect one.

Sober me would never have chosen this song, never even had the nerve to get up on the little platform. But drunk me? Bring it on.

And bring it on I did, rocking out to Ugly Kid Joe's '90s hit, 'Everything About You.' It was maybe a little overkill because I didn't exactlyhateJared. And midway through the song, I kind of started to feel bad about it, not sure I could even finish it. My vocals had died down to practically a whisper when Jared surprised me by jumping up with me and grabbing the other mic.

What the hell?

He sang the lyrics with a silly snarl, hyping me up. "Don't leave me hanging, Dee," he urged.

Oh, God.

So together, we ended up singing the rest of the song. And then another. And then an INXS song. Again.

And it was actually pretty fun. Or I was just wasted.

When we finally sat back down, I was an odd mixture of exhilarated and exhausted, a little sweaty and a whole lot thirsty. Jared, who was once again sitting next to me, handed me a bottle of ice cold water.

"Thanks."

"Sure thing," he said, guzzling some himself. "By the way, you're a really good singer."

"Me? Not really. But thank you."

"I mean it. You have a great voice."

I felt my cheeks flush as Jared's phone made a noise. Thank goodness for the interruption. The last thing I needed was for him to notice me blushing.Blushingfrom something Jared had said.

He glanced up at me, distracted. "Hey, so I have to get going. But make sure you get a ride home."

"Oh, sure. No problem. Everything all right?"

"Yeah. All good. See you Monday," he said, standing up.

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