Page 76 of Saved By the CEO

I close my notebook and stand, ready to follow Andrew back to the executive floor.

“Miss Michaels,” he says.

I stop.

His gaze moves briefly to the others still leaving the room, then back to me. “A moment.”

Oh no.

The room empties. Marissa leaves last, giving me one quick, unreadable glance before the door clicks shut behind her. Then it is just me and Andrew.

He stays standing for a second, one hand resting on the back of his chair.

“You handled that well,” he says.

“Oh,” I say, looking down at my notebook and blushing, because I am an embarrassing individual. “Thank you.”

“I mean it. You understood the issue faster than half the people at this table.”

“Apparently not fast enough.”

Andrew goes still. “What do you mean?”

I press my thumb into the corner of my notebook.

Lie. Make a dumb joke. Pull the fire alarm. Leave.

Instead, I say, “Atlas said no.”

Silence.

I keep my eyes on the table. “I applied for the PR Manager job after Brian mentioned it. I know they’re a competitor, and I know I probably should have told you, but I didn’t.” I swallow. “I just thought maybe it was a way out.”

Andrew is quiet long enough for the words to start curdling between us.

“A way out of BenCo?” he asks.

I look up. And then, because my mouth apparently has a mind of its own, I say, “A way out of being your assistant.”

He closes the folder in front of him. His eyes drop from mine, and when he speaks, his voice is quieter than before.

“I understand.”

I tighten my grip on my notebook. “I didn’t apply because of you.”

His eyes return to mine.

“That came out wrong,” I say immediately. “I mean, not only because of you. I mean—God.” I press my lips together and try to gather whatever dignity I have left, which is very little. “I wanted something that was mine. Something that wasn’t this.”

“This?” he repeats.

I gesture vaguely between the table, the empty chairs, the room, possibly the entire corporate structure of BenCo. “Sitting outside your office. Managing your inbox. Following you from room to room like a little duckling.” I swallow. “I want more. I want to challenge myself and be taken seriously.”

“I gave you the press briefings.”

“I know,” I say. “But it was still on top of everything else.”

That shuts him up, because he knows I’m right.