Page 49 of Keep Your Friends Close and Your… Work Enemy Closer?

When it was almost time to leave, Veronica approached our desks, after being out all day, asking us how everything went with Venus. I filled her in, noting the slight look of disappointment on her face before she quickly masked it. She'd been hoping for that yes just as much as I had.

"What exactly are you planning on doing?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet," I admitted. "I... I mean,weneed to put our heads together and brainstorm some ideas. I just haven'thad time today." I stopped myself from telling her about my day, not wanting to come across as a whiny complainer, something I knew bosses, in general, hated.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something. Preferably by the end of the week, before our retreat."

Oh, no. She had not just gone there.

"Retreat?" Jared asked. "What retreat?"

Veronica shot me a look. "You didn't tell him?"

Fuckety fuck fuck fuck. "I figured it was too late to add another person. So no. My apologies."

"It's not too late. You can call them yourself, first thing tomorrow, that is if Jared's available."

"I'm available," Jared said.

Great.This day had quickly gone from kind of sucky to super shitty with my boss now annoyed at me, thinking I'm not the brightest, plus the prospect of spending the weekend with Jared and all my other co-workers.

I loved my job—I really did—but did I really want to spend my supposed free time with work people?

"Good," Veronica said in a brisk tone. "Okay. Well, keep me posted on your plan with Venus."

And with that, she turned to walk away, leaving me staring at Jared. Everything in my life had been going swimmingly before he came along. All he'd proceeded to do since his arrival was throw me off course.

His smug smile rubbed me completely the wrong way, and my nerves were further frayed when he stretched out his hands, making his knuckles crack loudly.

"So..." he dared to say. "A weekend retreat, huh? Why didn't you tell me about this before? Didn't want me to go?"

"I figured you were busy, you know, jetting off to London for the weekend."

"Iwasgoing to jet off to Paris. but I'd much rather go to this retreat. What's it for anyway?"

"Team building."

His eyes lit up. "Team building? That sounds like a blast. What all are we going to do?"

"They won't tell us. It's a surprise."

He laughed, the sound grating on my nerves. "You sound so excited about it all."

My lips curved up in a half-snarl, half-smirk. "I'm thrilled. Now if you don't mind, I clearly have a ton of work to do with this Venus project."

Dismissing him and this conversation, I turned back to my desk, getting to work on one last email before I could completely focus on everything Venus La Fleur.

Popping in my earbuds and with my head down, I didn't notice the office clearing out, and I didn't notice Jared at all until I finally hit send and looked up, realizing that everyone had left. Or so I thought.

Precisely when I was about to get up and go to the breakroom to scrounge for snacks, Jared came waltzing back in with a large bag in hand. "Care for some sushi?" he asked.

Did I want sushi? That was like asking if the sky was blue.

My stomach rumbled as I watched him unpack everything he'd ordered onto his desk, the whiplash of my earlier annoyance shifting into unexpected appreciation, leaving me off balance and unsure how to feel.

He handed me a container, which I opened to find a perfect serving of spicy tuna on crispy rice, my absolute favorite. "How did you know?" I gasped.

"Duh. I saw you eating it two weeks ago."

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