Page 95 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

"Alone and independent, huh?"

"Yes. Alone and independent. And I assume you'll be going back to your offices at Echelon where you belong. And I'd like to stay here and continue on."

He nodded, thank goodness. It really did make the most sense, to just nip this thing in the bud and pretend like it never happened.

"Whatever you say, Annalise."

"Thank you. And thank you for being so... agreeable," I said after searching for the right word. "Now, I really should be getting back to work."

He smiled at me. "Of course. By all means. Get back to work."

Leaving the room, a rush of relief swirled through me, and I congratulated myself for getting through such a wild situation relatively unscathed. Max would go back to his life, I'd go back to mine, and everything would finally be normal again.

Twenty-Four

Max

Agreeable, my ass. I'd never agreed to ending it all. She was sorely mistaken if she thought she could just throw away what we had and ignore it like yesterday's trash.

One thing Annalise didn't realize about me? I was persistent as fuck. Persistent, tenacious, and I never gave up. Ever.

I gave her a few minutes' head start, looking around the storage room, remembering how she'd banished me here in the beginning. She'd never asked me how I'd performed that miracle of organizing it from pure chaos in under a week, but I figured that question had to be coming at some point in the future now that she knew my identity. If she would ever speak to me again.

That was the key. I had to get her talking to me, talkingwithme again. But this time, knowing my real name.

She thought I'd just go back to Echelon, and we could forget this whole thing.

Not a fucking chance. We'd found something amazing together, and I would do everything in my power to make it work, to convince her that what we had was unique and one of a kind.

I texted my assistant, making sure all was well with the painting, and sure enough, it'd been delivered this morning.How long would it take for Venus to see it and react to it? And if she liked it, how long until we heard from her?

This project could take weeks, and oddly enough, I was okay with that, despite the long hours I'd have to pull at home, despite all the inconveniences. It'd be worth every second to have that time with Annalise.

Deciding it was okay to leave the storage room, I made my way back down the long hallway, grabbing a few snacks to take with me. Conflict made me hungry.

Once I had my bags of chips and little cookies, I went to my desk, D—I mean, Annalise's back to me, rigid, straight, and oh so ergonomic. God, she made me smile, the way she was so determined to put this all behind her. It was even evident in her posture.

She still hadn't noticed me.

But then, I sat down hard, my chair making that obnoxious sound she loathed, and she turned to me, her jaw dropping open in shock as her eyes darted back and forth between me and the snacks on my desk.

"What are you doing?" she whispered loudly, pulling out her earbuds.

"Getting back to work."

"But... but... I thought you were going back to..." She looked around, making sure no one was close enough to hear before dropping her voice even lower. "To Echelon."

"I will. Someday. But not yet."

"Not yet? Excuse me? Why not?"

I tore open a bag and stuffed a chip into my mouth, making her wait for my answer, enjoying the pink flush rising on her cheeks. "Why not? Because we're in the middle of a huge project. We have stuff to do. Stuff to finish."

"I didn't need your help before," she hissed. "And I certainly don't need it now. I can do everything on my own. As a matter of fact, I don't need that painting. You can just unsend it."

"Too late. It arrived at her New York place today. And I happen to know she's here right now and not at her home in LA. She might have already seen it."

Annalise's eyes widened. "Okay. Okay. Wow. I—I—"

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