Page 72 of Lock Up the Darkness

Not speaking to that, Asher told me, “A tour isn’t on the table. Nothing beyond this room and part of the first floor that was accessible during the Blowout. Trust, remember?”

“I get it, you’ll show me around once I prove myself.” At his nod, I said, “Pass. I’m good either way.”

“Because you believe you extracted all the intel you need from the files you siphoned last time you were here.”

“She did what?” Jonah asked. “She hacked your system? Yours? How the fuck?”

I winked at Jonah. “I’m just that good.”

His gaze dipped down my body salaciously. “I fucking know you are, baby.” He licked his lips, his emerald eyes flaming. “Taste good too.”

His callback to that night had me flinching. It was something I’d tried to shove down deep, so having him invoking it now caught me off guard, and a piece of it slammed into me.

He ran his hands up my thighs, under my dress, and brushed his thumb over my panties. I jolted as he slid beneath the fabric and glided his fingers through my folds. I shuddered, the sensation out of this world, the need already beyond containing on any level. And before I knew it, I was giving in. More than that, reveling in it, riding his hand hard and rough.

“Damn, you need this so bad, baby.” He jerked my panties down to my ankles, the cool night air just adding another level of delectable sensation.

“Yes,” I choked out.

“Spread your thighs for me.”

I blinked back to the immediate to find him grinning at me as though he’d known where my mind had gone. Shit. Having his hands on me in a moment with this ring battle they’d clearly brought me here for was a bad idea. I needed to shut that all down, not dive deeper into it.

But I couldn’t vocalize that without showing that I was affected, something that would be seen as a vulnerability by Asher especially. And that bastard was far too skilled in exploiting said vulnerabilities for his own ends.

For his part, Asher didn’t actually say anything on the looks and comments coming from Jonah.

He just watched.

I shoved my hand through my hair and told him, “I got what I needed that night, intel-wise.”

“You got what I allowed,” he countered.

“What?”

“To feel comfortable, you needed more leverage, things to hold over us.”

“And you’re saying you just offered that up?”

“I’m saying, the moment you activated that device, it flagged an alert on my system.”

“You knew I was doing it the entire time?”

He nodded. “I could’ve corrupted the data you downloaded. I didn’t.”

The realization sank in. “An attempt to gain more of my trust.”

“And to test yours at the same time.”

“To see what I’d do with the intel.”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And, the jury’s still out. Suffice to say, you believing the data you acquired is the full story is concerning and paints you in a naïve light.”

Son of a bitch!

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