Page 64 of Saved By the CEO

“I know enough.”

“No, you don’t.” My words shake. I’m trying very, very hard not to launch myself over his desk. I’m suddenly starting tounderstand why people throw things. And punch holes through walls.

“So you’re saying none of it is true?”

I open my mouth to say that it isn’t, but then yesterday morning flashes through my mind. Andrew’s hand in my hair. His wrecked voice. The way he looked at me afterward.

Josh sees it.

“That’s what I thought.”

My restraint snaps.

“You know what, Josh? Keep talking.” I step closer to his desk. “Keep spreading rumors about me at work. Keep telling people I’m bad at my job. Keep using what you know about my medical situation to justify humiliating me. Please.”

His expression falters.

“Carly—”

“No. Please do it.” My voice drops. “Because if you say one more thing about me, I’ll go to HR.”

He swallows. “For what?”

“For harassment.” I tilt my head. “And retaliation. And whatever they call it when a man starts a smear campaign because a woman doesn’t want him.”

His face goes red.

Maybe I can’t actually go to HR. Maybe walking into that office would be like opening a grenade with my teeth. Maybe the second anyone starts asking questions about me and Andrew, this whole thing explodes in my face.

But Josh doesn’t need to know that.

I lean in, just enough to make him go still.

“Say my name again,” I say, quieter now. “I fucking dare you.”

“That was a long lunch,”Andrew says as I sit down in his visitor’s chair.

I open my laptop and pull up the notes from the trip. “I had some business to attend to.” Then I start cleaning up the notes. Aggressively.

Too aggressively, apparently, because after a while he says, “Carly.”

“What?” I don’t look up.

“I’m honestly worried you’re going to ruin your laptop typing like that.” His voice is calm, and it reminds me of how he spoke to me in his apartment. “What’s going on?”

For a second, I imagine what would happen if I told him.

Would he be angry? Yeah, most likely. Would he fire Josh? Possibly. And there is a dark, ugly part of me that would relish that. I would love for Andrew to be angry on my behalf. I would absolutely revel in watching Josh escorted out of the building.

But then what?

It would only make everyone dead sure the rumors were true and that Andrew was protecting me because we’re sleeping together. It would make everything a million times worse for both of us. So I keep my eyes on the screen and say, “Nothing. I’m just stressed, that’s all.”

He’s quiet for a moment, and I can feel him watching me. “If this is about yesterday?—”

“It’s not,” I say before he can finish.

I can’t think about New York right now.