As the rain pelted the roof of the Charger, Sera held herself stiff. So far, Robocop 1, Sera 0. Yesterday had been a bust. But the good news was, at least she'd gotten to watch what she wanted on TV.

Dylan had worked for while, then watched his basketball game…on full volume. She'd heard every call of the announcers. It had been so loud she'd had to give up and turn on the closed captioning on her shows. But there was no way she would have asked him to turn the volume down.

It was okay. She'd have to regroup, but she could do it. Last night was only a minor setback.

He parked in the parking garage, then strolled around to her side to let her out. He flashed her a grin that made her want to smack him. Instead she smiled at him as sweetly as she could manage.

"Look at that smile. No one would even know you were plotting to poison me with arsenic."

"Poison? I’d rather make your removal from this Earth up close and personal. And just because I'm showing teeth doesn't mean I'm smiling."

"Well noted. If you think you can take me, you're welcome to try. I doubt your tiara could do much damage."

She scowled at him and he took her hand. "Uh-uh. Remember, smile. I'm your boyfriend and you are madly in love."

"Just shut up and let's get this over with."

Beside her, he chuckled and she fought off the sensations of what that low rumble did to her. She could do this. Leading the way to the elevators to the main floor, she willed herself to try harder. Once they were through security, she turned to him. "How does this work? You plan on hanging out in my office?"

"No, but I'll be able to see you so don't get any bright ideas about running off again."

"Shut up."

He lifted a brow. "What was that?"

"Nothing, sweetheart."

"That's what I thought." He leaned in and she jerked back.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Kissing you goodbye. Then I'm going to watch you get on this elevator like a love-struck moron. Pucker up, princess."

"Are you serious right now?" She must have really screwed something up in a former life.

"Yes."

She braced herself, but he didn't look like he particularly wanted to kiss her either. The kiss was brief. A quick peck, then slow linger. She hadn't even closed her eyes for it. But somehow it was just as potent as when he had kissed her on Friday.

"Have a good day, Sera. If you want to go for lunch, let me know and I—"

"Sera?"

She froze when she heard her name. Aaron. Quickly doing mental calculations to see if there was time to hide, maybe she could pretend she didn't hear him? But it was too late for that. And then she realized she had an out. A very hot out. And she could kill two birds with one stone. Irritate Dylan and send Aaron packing.

Grasping onto Dylan's lapel, she tugged him closer and angled her head up. Standing on tiptoe, she closed the gap between them and kissed him again. He froze for an instant, then he tucked her closer, his tongue sliding over hers. Soon she released him, her body warm and her skin flushed.

He gave her that wry smile as his shrewd eyes assessed her. He knew exactly why she'd kissed him. He took her hand in his and turned her toward Aaron. Damn him. "Oh, hi, Aaron."

He halted mid-step. "Oh, I didn't think that was you." Scowling up at Dylan, he asked. "Who the fuck is this?"

Dylan didn't miss a beat. "I'm Dylan Donovan. Her boyfriend. And you are?"

Aaron ignored him. "Sera, we need to talk. Can we grab a cup of coffee?"

"No. Sorry. Busy."

Dylan tucked her close. "Yeah, she's busy."

"I'm not talking to you. You think you're a big shot? You're just the rebound guy."

Dylan tucked his suit jacket aside and shoved his hands into his pocket, the move showcasing his badge. "Not likely. And to hear it from Sera, you've already been forgotten. So no, you're not speaking to her alone."

Aaron stared at the badge, then back at her, then at Dylan. "Fine. I need to get to work. But Sera, we're going to talk."

She'd been dreading this moment. Having to see him again. Of what it would mean. But she felt this odd sense of calm. She might not like Dylan and want him gone, but she'd felt more when a total stranger kissed her, then when she'd been with Aaron. They didn't belong together. They never had.

"No, Aaron. We're not. I'm done." She stayed by Dylan's side until he exited the glass doors to the street, then she extricated herself. "You didn't need to do that."

"I have excellent asshole detector skills. Besides, I know you were looking for an excuse to kiss me."

And just like that, the fury was back. "Laugh all you want, soon you'll be heading out of here, just like him."

"Have a good day, princess."

* * *

"What is wrong with you? You look like you stepped in mud with your new Jimmy Choos or something."

Sera shook her head as she took her seat next to Taj in the conference room. There was no way they were getting into it now, even if she wanted to. "I'm fine."

"Sweetie, I know fine and this ain't it. Is it Aaron? Did he do something? Because I swear to God, I will beat his preppy ass."

Aaron. That was rich. He'd ticked her off, but Dylan was the sole focus of her irritation at the moment. He was just so smug. Just the way he said “princess” was enough to make her want to smack him.

"You can beat Aaron’s ass later. Just for fun. He cornered me in the lobby, but it's okay. Dylan was there."

Taj clapped gleefully. "Please tell me he shriveled up right on the spot when faced with a superior masculine specimen."

"Can we talk about it later?"

Taj studied her, but let it go.

The rest of their co-workers filed in and took seats all with varying degrees of alertness. The espresso machine with the good coffee has broken earlier last week, so everyone had been going to the coffee cart at the end of the block instead of drinking the oozing black sludge in the break room. As a result, there were some stragglers.

Jason scurried in and had a huge smile for her. He took the empty seat beside her with a grin. "Hey, Sera."

She looked up, surprised. "Uh, hey."

He gave her a dazzling smile. "See, I remembered this time."

So she hadn’t imagined it on Saturday. He was flirting. Dylan had picked up on it too. Which made everything all the more irritating. She was in no mood for his sudden flirtation. "It's been two days. Besides, I'm pretty memorable." Meeting his gaze directly, his smile faltered some.

"You ready to get started today?"

If she could get Dylan off the brain. "Of course I'm ready," she mumbled. All she wanted to do was wallow in irritation at the moment. But it looked like he wasn't going to let her do that. "Listen, I was thinking, we should get started on hunting down locations since we don't have much time. You want to meet to brainstorm later? We could check out a few after work?"

Was he asking her out? She didn’t have the mental power to decipher right now. All thrusters were focused on Operation Robocop. "Why don't we see what Xavier has to say about our ideas first. Then go from there. I'm sure he'll have input."

"Good call. Let me grab coffee before this thing starts."

Taj leaned over. "Excuse me. Did Pretty Boy Ken Doll just ask you out? What the fuck is going on around here? Am I in some kind of weird twilight zone? Or did my girl find her swagger?"

"It's no big deal. We talked Saturday. Bonded. Next I'm gonna make him a friendship bracelet. "

"Dude, as long as he knows the bestie pecking order."

"Oh, he knows." Sera looked up to see Ava sneak in with seconds to spare. She had dark circles under her eyes and her normally perfect blowout hung lank and lifeless around her shoulders. "Do you know what's up with Ava? She's been off lately."

Taj shrugged. "Don't ask me. I don't even like the girl."

Maybe she and Ava were due for some quality alone time. Sera shifted her attention to Xavier. For the first time in a long time, she was all in on a project. Their idea over the weekend to really play off of the makeup and beauty images that bombard young girls and then strip them down so they were relatable was huge. And she had a million ideas on how to really drive it home.

Xavier stood. "Thank you all. I want to congratulate the sports division for another great party with the Cannons. It's been a thrill being part of the group to bring an NBA franchise back to San Diego. The whole team did a fantastic job, great effort. Saturday's launch party for the team was fantastic. And the media is behind the new franchise one hundred percent. Good work, team."

Everyone clapped politely and Taj beamed. Across the table Ava rolled her eyes. Xavier continued. "And it looks like philanthropy is off to a great start, as well. Before I go on, I want you all to understand that this is the kind of dedication I'm looking for. Work hard, play hard, and the fact that some of you are willing to go above and beyond to get the job done makes me proud. So this weekend when he could have been out surfing, Jason was in here working on Girl Interrupted."

Sera stiffened then slid her glance over to Jason. His eyes were wide and he shook his head as if he had no idea what was gong to happen. He is not about to get sole credit for the work we did this weekend. He is not about to get sole cre—

"Jason came up with a great concept to really get to the heart of the Girl Interrupted campaign. It was inspired. Honestly."

He'd taken the idea straight to his uncle and claimed it as his. She clamped her jaw shut. Across the table Ava frowned and mouthed, What's wrong?

Sera shook her head. She'd known she shouldn’t have trusted the sudden attention. But she hadn’t expected this kind of backstabbing. Xavier went on with some brief highlights of the idea. Jason had been talking to his uncle and left her out of the damn narrative.

Stiff as a board she sat for the rest of the hour just counting down the minutes until she could escape to her office. As soon as the meeting was over, she bolted, not even waiting for Taj or Ava.

Jason was quick on her heels, though. "Sera, wait up."

Not listening, Sera instead took the back hallway to bypass most of the team as they poured out of the conference room.

"Jesus, Sera." He caught up to her just as she stormed into her office. "Come on."

She forced a calm over herself she didn't feel and kept her voice icy cool. "So all that talk on Saturday about working together and you not wanting to be an asshole and wanting to do a good job, total bullshit?"

He shook his head. "No, not bullshit. I was over at my uncle's house for dinner, he asked about the plans. I told him we'd worked together and the high-level concept—that was it. It's not my fault he tried to give me credit for the idea today."

"Even if that were possible and even if I believed you, you could have corrected him at any point during the meeting and you didn't. I busted my ass and I worked with you on Saturday. You never would have come up with that idea if it weren't for me."

"What was I supposed to do?"

"If you don't know, I can't help you. I don't trust you. I have the beauty campaigns. Eliza likes me. She requested me on this project, so we'll just sketch out two different concepts and see what Eliza likes better. She knows me from the beauty world and I have a unique perspective. Good luck coming up with a new original idea."

He ran his hands through his hair. "Okay, look, I fucked up in there. I should have spoken up. I'll go to his office and fix it right now."

"I don't believe you. Now, can you get out of my office? I have work to do." She had to figure out this campaign and quick, because Jason had made it clear this was a competition and she wasn't backing down. Everyone thought she was too flighty to pull this off. But she could do it. She just needed a great idea.

"Fine. I'm going, but I was serious when I said I wasn't an asshole."

"Sorry to break it to you, but when you steal someone's idea and claim it as your own, guess what that makes you?"

Her day was off to a hell of a start.