Annika stepped into his path, just a few inches apart from him, to block his view. Which was ridiculous, because the dude had, like, ten inches on her. Her head wasn’t even in his periphery. Determinedly staring at the little white buttons on his polo shirt (she didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of seeing her struggle to meet his eye), she said, “I don’t need you to take it easy on me, Hudson. I’ll be sure to send you the link to Indeed.com’s job listings, though. You’ll need to start thinking about a career change after we smoke you at EPIC. I hear Subway’s always hiring.”

There was a soft snort. Annika thought Hudson might be laughing at her but it was impossible to know for sure from this angle. Damn him and his gigantic genes. She tossed her hair behind her casually, and said, to his pecs, “It won’t be so funny when I kick your ass.”

“You want to say that to my face?” Laughter pushed at the edges of his words.

Ziggy snickered in response, but June was stonily silent in solidarity. She could hear them but she couldn’t see them, since she was still resolutely studying Hudson’s buttons. Damn. She should’ve come up with an exit strategy.

Hudson bent toward Annika, his eyes locked on hers. She had no choice but to gaze back. “You’ve got an edge, Ms. Dev. Anyone ever tell you that?”

There was a beat between them that Annika couldn’t quite read. Her palms got damp. “A competitive edge, yes. All the time. I’m glad you’re finally acknowledging it.” Hudson didn’t smile at her quip. What did he see when he looked at her? Finally breaking eye contact, she stepped back unsteadily and cleared her throat. “So, did you just come down here to tell us you’re pitching at EPIC?”

“Actually, no.” Stepping back too, Hudson rested his shoulder lightly against the doorjamb. It creaked, but he didn’t seem to notice. Of course not. He’d be happy if Annika’s office collapsed into a pile of rubble. “We’re on our way to talk to someone about having a few dozen cases of champagne delivered.”

Annika scoffed, abandoning her scrutiny of the doorjamb, and crossed her arms. “A few dozen cases of champagne? I know you’re all about the self-congratulation, but that seems excessive, even for you.”

Ziggy spoke up, his eyes bright. “We’re having a ‘moving into the building’ party on Thursday.” After a pause, his eyes darting to June, he added, “You guys should come. You know, if you’re not busy.”

Hudson shot Ziggy an annoyed look, but Ziggy was so busy staring at June, he completely missed it.

“Why would we ever come to that?” Annika asked, looking up at him.