Page 66 of His Good Girl

“Why?”

“Because you have two modes with fools: glacial contempt and courtroom murder. Neither says community partnership.”

“I can be diplomatic.”

“You can imitate diplomacy for roughly six minutes before your face start drafting indictments.”

He was not wrong, which irritated me more than if he had been.

My phone buzzed on the table. For one stupid second, my pulse changed because some part of me thought of Avery. It was not Avery. It was Dana, already sending a list of staff who needed briefing.

Benjamin saw my face anyway and the corner of his mouth lifted in the shape of a smirk.

“Don’t,” I warned.

“I said nothing.”

“You breathed judgment.”

“Whoopsies.” Another smirk.

I picked up my phone. “Avery starts in twenty minutes. Make sure someone meets her by the elevators if you’re busy.”

“I am never too busy to manage a sentimental variable.”

“Benjamin.”

“Fine. Avery. I will meet Avery.” He tucked the tablet under his arm. “But you need to understand something. Today cannot become about her.”

“It won’t,” I lied.

He held my gaze for a beat. “Good.”

Then he opened the conference room door, stepped halfway out, and paused. “For the record, I do think she’ll show up on time.”

“That’s generous of you.”

“No. Observant. She wants to prove herself.” His mouth twitched. “Which, regrettably, is one of my preferred personality defects.”

I almost smiled.

“Be fair,” I said again.

Benjamin sighed. “You’ve given me a crisis, a new hire, a mayor’s office, Dana in hunting mode, and no scones.”

“You were allowed a scone.”

“I wanted institutional scones.”

“Go.”

“I go because I must. Not because you command it.”

“Ben-ja-min.”

He disappeared through the door.

I stayed in the conference room for a moment after he left, looking through the glass wall toward the office beyond. The company had fully awakened now. People moved between desks, gathered near screens, carried plans, and answered calls. Somewhere below, Avery would soon be walking through security with her visitor badge replaced by an official one, her nerves tucked under that brave chin, her first day already swallowed by a crisis she did not yet understand.