Page 79 of Saved By the CEO

“I need the—the, uh?—”

Alarm bells ring in my head. Andrew Bennett does not say “uh.” I’m not entirely sure Andrew Bennett has ever forgotten a word in his life.

He exhales sharply.

“I can’t come up with anything. Fuck.” There’s another rustle, as if he’s pushed back from the desk. “I’m sorry. Go back to bed.”

I blink into the darkness.

“Wait.”

He doesn’t hang up, but he doesn’t answer either.

“Did you call me without actually needing anything?”

A few seconds pass.

“Apparently.”

The word hangs between us.

I stare down at the comforter gathered in my lap, trying to decide whether I misunderstood. But there really isn’t another way to interpret it.

“Do you do that a lot?”

“Sometimes.”

I scramble for something to say, but I don’t even know what to think right now, let alone how to form a coherent sentence.

Andrew is quicker.

“Good night.”

“No.” I shake my head. That infuriating bastard just threw a grenade into my bed and is now sprinting toward the nearest exit.Well, good fucking luck. I’m not letting him. “We’re going to talk about this.”

“We don’t?—”

“How long?” I ask, cutting him off.

It takes a few seconds for him to answer. “A while.”

“Before RHV?”

“Yeah.”

“So you’ve been calling me day and night, just making shit up?” My voice rises despite my attempt to keep it under control. “For what? Shits and giggles?”

“It’s not like that.”

“No? Because it sure as fuck sounds like you’ve been burying me in work because you were bored or something.” I throw the comforter off my legs and stand, suddenly too restless to stay in bed. “I’ve had no real social life for three fucking years.”

The tapping on his end has stopped completely.

“Fuck,” he whispers. “I’m an asshole.”

Yup.

But he’s still my boss, so I’m not going to say that.