For a moment, I considered ignoring him, pretending he wasn’t there. But courtesy and habit ruled me faster than impulse. I rose from my chair, smoothing the front of my skirt with steady hands. Not because I wanted to, not because I feared him, but because respect for hierarchy was ingrained in me. He was my CEO. Whatever else he had been the night before, whatever words he had thrown at me, I refused to drag that into this room.

“Good morning, Mr. Langford,” I said evenly.

He accepted ...