Page 30 of His Good Girl

“I passed a quiz once about tenant rights.”

“That does not qualify you.”

“It qualifies me emotionally.” She folded her arms. “Answer the question.”

I looked away toward the window, where the city moved through a thin wet shine, taxis sliding past, pedestrians dodging puddles with that little urban hop everyone pretended wasn’t ridiculous. A man outside shook rain from his umbrella. I watched him too intently, as if the answer might be written in the drops he left on the sidewalk.

“Yes,” I said finally.

Jules did not make a sound. That was how I knew she understood that this mattered a great deal.

I swallowed. “There were moments, but not like the whole time. It wasn’t like I walked into his office and immediately lost my mind.”

“No, you saved that for after the hugging and professional evaluation.”

“Exactly.” I picked at the croissant because right now, my humiliation required carbs. “He was so serious. So firm. And not mean. That’s the thing. He wasn’t mean. He was just… clear. He told me it was a real job. He said I needed to understand that. He made me say more than just yes.”

Jules’s mouth slowly opened.

“No.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You were about to.”

“I was only going to say that ‘say more than yes’ is a sentence that should be regulated by the FDA.”

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Wasn’t it?”

I thought about Callum leaning forward, his gaze steady on mine as he spoke. I thought about the awful, immediate heat that had moved through me, and how my body had reacted before the professional part of my brain could slam both hands over the alarm bells.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like that,” I think I might have whispered.

“Ah.” Jules nodded solemnly. “The official motto of every inevitable disaster.”

“I almost felt like…” I stopped and squeezed my eyes shut. “No. I am not saying this.”

“You must. I have already paid for parking.”

“You walked here.”

“Emotionally, I have paid.”

I lowered my voice. “I felt like I wanted to be good. For him.”

Jules’s face went incandescent.

“Do not.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

“I am being so calm.” She pressed both hands flat on the table. “Avery Hale, did your godfather accidentally activate your praise kink during a job interview?”

“I don’t have a praise kink.”