Chapter 78

Claire froze on the spot. Her mind went completely blank. All she could register was that Julian had just said sorry—probably for the way he talked to her the first time she went into his bedroom. Wait, so… The sharp-tongued boss suddenly grew a conscience? But then, what was up with the rest of what he said? She kept replaying his words, running over each sentence again and again. Then it hit her. What really ticked him off wasn’t what she thought—it was that she didn’t step in when she should have. He was mad she didn’t take initiative, that his assistant acted like a scared little kitten, wasting brain cells on nonsense. Now that she thought about it, the last two sentences made total sense. He was basically saying: there’s nothing ever going to happen between them, and gossip’s not allowed. A wave of guilt crept up on Claire. She nodded, all serious. “Got it. You’re right. If you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to hide.” Julian: “...” Yeah. She absolutely didn’t get it. *