Mackenzie sits in the conference room with Grace staring at her from across the table. Her mind on overdrive after that kiss. The kiss that never should have happened. The kiss that disgusted her. The kiss that she physically fought against him to stop.

The very same kiss that has haunted her every thought since it happened.

"Mackenzie, are you listening?" Grace waves a hand in front of her face.

She blinks. "Sorry, what?"

Grace gives her a weird look. "Justin called and wants you to go with him to take the money to Bonnie."

"Why?" She voice is high and if Grace didn't know any better it'd sound like she was nervous.

"Because you made the fundraiser happen? I don't know." She shrugs. "Maybe he's scared Bonnie's gonna hit on him some more." She giggles at the memory of a tipsy Bonnie making passes at Justin the night of the party.

"What you're deal this past few days?" Grace puts her pen down when the brunette doesn't even crack a smile. "You've been acting like some cracked out zombie."

"Nothing." She shrugs. "I'm fine."

"Come on, don't give me that crap. We've known each other for how many years now? We may not be the closest of friends but I'm not an idiot either. I can tell when something's off."

She lets out a deep sigh and rakes her hands through her hair. "It's just stress."

"Stuff with Preston?" She questions with no respond. "Cause you know, dude's kinda old. Like really old. I mean, it's not normal."

Despite herself, a small smile tugs at her mouth. "Preston is great. It's a very healthy relationship based on mutual trust and respect and....just being a grown up."

Grace watches her talk and something clicks with those last few words. She should have known, of course Justin would be her issue. The two of them are always going at each other and if she didn't know better, she'd say they bicker like an old married couple.

"So, Justin's on your mind then?" She gives her a crooked grin.

Her eyes snap to the blond. "No!" She almost yells and a blush spreads across her cheeks.

"Riiiigh. Whatever you say." Grace laughs.

"Ugh. He's just....I hate him." She rolls her eyes. "He's the most obnoxious, childish, rudest person I've ever met in my entire life."

"He's not that bad. He just likes to push your buttons cause he knows it annoys you. And you let him so of course he's not gonna stop."

"I don't want him to stop, I just want him to disappear." She mutters.

Grace watches her, completely amused at the sight in front of her. Mackenzie is bouncing slightly in her chair, most likely because she's shaking her foot, a nervous habit of hers. She gnawing on her bottom lip and her eyes are darting all over the room.

"Dude, when was the last time you had sex?" She asks.

Mackenzie stops all movement and stares at her. "Excuse me?"

"Sex. When was the last time you had sex? It's a great stress reliever. Just get it out of your system and then Justin will be a non-issue."

"That is none of your business." She starts to stack the paperwork in front of her.

"That's your problem. You need to get laid and the fighting you do with Justin....it's like...foreplay or something. You're getting all hyped up and ready but the big finale never comes."

She stops shuffling the papers and looks at her friend. "Did you really just use ‘The Cutting Edge' as a reference to my stress?"

"What? It's true!" She laughs. "Doug Dorsey was a sexy man back in the day."

Laughing she leans back in her seat, the papers scattering in front of her. "It's not foreplay."

"Then what?"

"I don't know." She closes her eyes and replays the kiss again in her mind. A feeling courses through her that she hasn't had in a long time. It makes her wish she had kissed him back. Maybe push him up against the wall and do more than just kiss him.

Feeling another blush creep up her neck, she shakes her head. "It's nothing. I'm just stressed out."

Graces watches her stand, biting her tongue because this is not the same girl she's known for the last four years. This new girl is like a ticking time bomb and one wrong word is going to set her off. Sure, it's an unbalanced feeling seeing her like this but she's also taking a deep amusement in it.

"So, you've got the job." Mackenzie's voice snaps her out of her daydream.

"Huh?"

"The job. I'm offering you a fulltime job." She tells her. "You were a huge help to me with the party and I wouldn't have been able to do it without you. So, the offer is out there. I'll have a written one ready for you tomorrow morning if you'd like."

"No, no. This is fine." She shakes her head. "Thank you so much."

Walking towards the door, the stack of paperwork in her hands. "You're welcome."

Mackenzie smiles at her before reaching out and pulling the door open.

"You gonna to call Justin back?" Graces calls out to her.

"Yes." She responds, a nervous flutter in her stomach when she heard his name.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The humming of the engine in the black Hummer is the only sound inside the cab of the car. That and Justin's annoying tapping of the steering wheel.

Every time his fingers hit the leather, Mackenzie fights the urge to reach over and hit him. Because that would mean she'd have to touch him and she's not sure she can handle that right now.

He had shown up in the parking deck of her building and she almost swallowed her tongue when she saw him. Dark jeans and a white t-shirt, his trademark black leather jacket hugging close to his body. It was like she was seeing him as someone other than the annoying guy she'd known over the years.

Seeing it and fully appreciating it.

The huge car slows to a stop in the traffic not far from Bonnie's office. Both of them wanting to say something but not really knowing what to say.

"So, that was some party." He finally says and instantly feels like a dumbass. Some party?

"Yeah." She says her vision focused on the car beside them.

He sneaks a look at her and feels guilty because he knows he's the reason she's so completely uncomfortable right now.

He wishes he knew why he kissed her but he truly doesn't. She was standing there, yelling at him for God knows what and she just looking for fucking sexy that he was either going to kiss her to shut her up for slam her up against the wall and really shut her up. He was assuming that the latter would have gone over a lot worse than the kiss.

They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the night as it was. They avoided each other and if Mackenzie needed anything she had Grace talk to Justin or vice versa. This really was the first thing he's said to her since that night.

"Look," He clears his throat when the light turns green. "I want to apologize for last week. I was out of line and never should have done that."

She doesn't respond or even move.

"Really. I'm very sorry. I had been drinking and that, plus the fact that I was dateless, well, that's not really an excuse." He continues, his voice taking a genuine tone. "I shouldn't have done it and I'm sorry for acting like an ass and overstepping my bounds."

She turns slowly to look at him. The way his hands are clenching the steering wheel and how he's refusing to look at her, she knows that he's serious and it's not just something he feels he needs to say.

"I'm sorry too." She says and he glances at her quickly, pulling into the parking lot. "I didn't have been so rude to you."

He grins before turning the car off. "Truce?"

"Truce." She returns the smile as they climb out of the car and make their way towards the building.

They both reach for the door handle, his hand covering hers and her eyes snap to his. Neither of them moves for several seconds before she snatches her hand away and quickly steps into the office.

With his hand still burning from where her tiny hand fit in his, he follows in after her.