Page 67 of Lock Up the Darkness

She hadn’t run.

The only thing she had exhibited was the flushed cheeks of somebody turned the hell on.

Once Asher had started aftercare, he’d invited her to take a seat on the couch and she had. Then they’d just started up a bunch of small talk.

Well, from her point of view.

Asher always had a purpose. Even with his small talk.

And you never knew what that purpose was until the very end stages of his play.

“It’s still a cover I need to maintain,” Aurora bit back with that sexy forthrightness of hers. “Plus, the degree itself is still real.”

“And needed?”

“What I’ve learned will prove helpful, yes.”

“To what end?”

“What?”

“What’s your plan? Your career path?”

She grinned. “Aww, the all-knowing puppet master hasn’t managed to figure that out?”

Damn. I shifted my weight against Asher so I could see his expression as she challenged him.

He merely seemed amused as he answered, “There are too many variables. Not to mention, my focus wasn’t on your cover, but the reality.”

“Ah, but it is part of my reality. All lies need to be rooted in some truth in order for them to be believable.”

His right eye twitched.

Holy shit.

The only time I’d ever seen a noticeable reaction like that from him, one that he couldn’t control, was when he was with his father. The one person who had the ability to take Asher’s many strengths and twist them into weaknesses.

His fingers left my hair and he sat forward, his hands between his spread thighs as he told her, “Seeing as though it’s important to both your cover and your reality, you can pick my brain.”

“You’re not in my class. Killian would be better.”

“You think Killian gets straight A’s all on his own?”

“He’s smart.”

“Not school smart. He’s not interested in his major, in any of it. And when Killian is disinterested, it’s reflected in poor results. But he needs to maintain that infallible, golden boy image, so I ensure he does.” He clasped his hands together. “So, given the timing, I assume this is about that Economics project that will make up three quarters of your overall grade?”

“Uh… yes.”

“I’ve already completed Killian’s for him, I’ll do the same for you.”

“Asher’s been through the same program. He’s genius level and top of his class in his MBA program now, has been the last three years,” I told her. “It’s a breeze for him.”

She took my words in the same way Asher did, absorbing all the information and filing it away strategically. Fuck me, it was uncanny with the similarity.

Turning her attention back to him, she said, “I don’t need you to do that. I do my own work, pay my own way.”

“That’s a noble sentiment.”

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