Page 133 of His White Moonlight
I glanced at her, trying to gauge what she meant by that.She held up her hands a second before the blinds snapped open.I flipped the bird in the general direction of the windows without looking.
“I heard you’re no longer on a lunch timeout.Thought maybe you and I can grab a bite.”
Stay here and endure Bennett, or risk my safety with Miranda.The choice was easy to make.
“Just to be clear, they haven’t forgotten about me yet,” I said, referring to the threat she’d made after she’d introduced my face to the bathroom door.“They track where I am at all times.If the tracking suddenly stops, they go to the last known location.”
Her mouth dropped open a little.“Are you serious?”
I nodded.
“Now we definitely need to have lunch.Meet me at the elevators a few minutes before noon.”
* * *
Milena arrivedat my desk ten minutes before lunch, and I couldn’t have been happier.
“Is he in?”she asked.
I gestured to the blinds, which had remained open all morning despite the closed door.Through them, I knew she could see Bennett sitting at his desk.
In the last few hours, he hadn’t moved much.The calls he’d taken had been brief, and he’d scowled at me the entire time.Not that I’d paid much attention to it.I’d finished another spreadsheet and sent it to him, Mom, and Dad about thirty minutes ago before starting on the next one.
“You know that’s not what I meant, right?”Milena said.“What kind of mood is he in?”
Clasping my hands under my chin, I looked up at her.
“Use your eyes.Does he look happy to you?”Some of the joy bled out of her expression.“Careful, he’s watching.He’s been glaring at me all morning, and I’m about to leave for lunch.Who do you think he’s going to transfer his anger to?”
I locked my laptop and stood.
“Enjoy your meeting.I hope, for your sake, your performance meets his expectations.”
I made it two steps toward the exit when his office door opened behind me.
“Where are you going, Wrenly?”
“To get something to eat.”
“Order in.”
I flipped him off over my shoulder as I kept walking.
“You should fire her,” Milena said.“Anyone would be a better assistant than her.”
“She’s reviewed a dozen subsidiaries and found more than a million dollars in unnecessary expenses in the nine days she’s been here.I doubt you could do the same in two months.”
Internally cringing on Milena’s behalf because her review wasn’t going to go as she hoped, I left them to their co-misery and waited for Miranda by the elevators.
“You’re early,” she said.
“So was Milena.I bailed while I could.”
We rode the elevators down without talking until we reached the street out front.
“Why are we having lunch together?”I asked.“If it’s revenge for trying to hit you, you might want to wait until the end of summer.”
She chuckled.“It’s not revenge.After I cooled off, I realized your response had been in defense.Automatic, not confrontational.And I’ve also been paying attention.”
