Page 48 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

I tossed a pillow at him. "Ew. No thanks."

And thanks to this asshole, my mind did indeed go there, wondering just what Jared got up to in the privacy of his bedroom, an image of him stroking his dick popping into my head.

Oh, God. Why had I woken up horny? It was Jared's fault, bringing up his bed and nefarious things.

That cemented it. I needed to go.

After stretching, I stood, pulling up my pants, er, Jared's pants, and began to walk toward the door, Jared getting up and following me.

"I'll walk you out," he said, doing something on his phone.

"No need. I'm a big girl."

"You think Nana would be happy with me for letting you leave all by yourself at..." He checked the time on his phone. "Four in the morning?"

I giggled, then covered my mouth, belatedly wondering what kind of breath I had at the moment.

After shoving on my gross wet shoes and grabbing my little clutch purse, we walked down the hall and into the elevatortogether, Jared's flip flops obnoxiously loud in the silence of the night.

We didn't talk, Jared oddly quiet as we made the descent, all while I was hoping this elevator was better maintained than the work one where we'd been stuck together. And thankfully, it was. All I could think about was getting home and crawling into my bed.

Jared held a hand on the door, gesturing for me to go first into the empty lobby, the rain still coming down outside. I had a bad habit of never looking at the forecast, so I had no idea how long this rainstorm would last.

Realizing that I should have already requested a car, I decided I'd rather just grab a cab at this point, which would probably be much faster. So imagine my surprise when we walked out to see a black car waiting.

"For you, Dee."

"You got me a car?"

"Yeah. No biggie. Just text me when you get home. Okay?"

Really?

"If you don't," he went on, "I'll assume the worst and come after you."

"Fine," I huffed, but only for show.

Jared's concern about me getting home safely any time we were out was honestly something no one else had ever done for me. My parents and sisters sort of cared, some of the time. But usually, I was pretty much on my own in this world.

And I had to admit, it felt nice.

He held open the door for me, not caring that he was once again getting wet as I dashed into the back seat.The warmth of the car enveloped me, contrasting sharply with the chill of the damp night outside.

Closing the door behind me, Jared tapped on the window which I quickly unrolled. "What?" I asked.

"Remember to text me, or I'll start plotting your dramatic rescue."

Laughing, I closed the window as the driver started away from the curb, Jared standing there watching until we were out of sight.

Thirteen

Annalise

Monday morning, I hit the ground running, fires to put out all day for an especially needy author who was always fighting imposter syndrome, even though he was at the peak of his career. I understood, though. Really. Imposter syndrome defined me and my life choices, including this whole undercover operation.

Jared actually helped me by drafting a press release highlighting the author's successes and accolades, passing it along to him in an attempt toboost his confidence and remind him of his many incredible achievements.

And in the back of my mind, the Venus situation was spinning around and around as I kept thinking about the best ways to "woo" her, like an impossible puzzle piece I just couldn't quite figure out.

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