Page 93 of Lock Up the Darkness

“We will,” Aurora told him. She looked to me. “If you get me all my devices.”

“Consider it done.”

Killian gestured at her suitcase and gym bag over in the far corner of the room just outside the closet. “A bunch of your clothes and toiletries are in there. Although, Ash packed them up, while I was busy moving you, so you might be missing a lot. But there should be something in there if you want to change out of my hoodie, get comfortable.”

She fiddled with the sleeves of it and smiled up at him. “It’s actually incredibly comfortable.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, her cheeks tinging pink.

My fingers tightened around my phone to the point of painful pressure, where I had to stow it away for its own protection.

“You hungry?” Jonah asked. “We’ve got a whole lot here, I can pretty much make you whatever you like.” He thumped his hand on his chest proudly. “I’m an ace chef. Who do you think feeds these assholes?”

She chuckled at that, the sound so free and light. It tugged at something in my chest and I blinked it away and pushed to my feet.

“I need protein. Eggs?” she asked.

“I’ll make it an omelet.”

“Thanks.”

“Heavy cream and three sugars, coffee-wise, yes?” I put to her.

She frowned. “How do you—of course, your invasive research into me. Well, at least this works in my favor.”

“It has its perks, yes.”

She grinned. “I’ll take that coffee.”

“Very good.” I gestured to the boys and they headed for the door as I told Aurora, “The room will be unlocked going forward, but the mansion itself will be locked down.” I smiled. “For your safety, of course.”

Mirth shone in her eyes. “Of course.”

I turned away and followed the boys out, closing the door behind us.

Wily little thing.

It should’ve been a threat.

It would’ve been not long ago.

But now… now it was something else.

She was playing my game now.

And the thrill was unlike any other.

22

~Aurora~

I felt him over my shoulder again as I was typing away, working on my project for my Leadership and Teamwork course.

I side-eyed him. “Can I help you?”

What I’d come to recognize as that typical Asher Monroe smirk spread over his face. “Authoritative,” he told me. “That’s the approach you’ll need to employ in that scenario, where swift, tough, and hard-hitting decisions need to be made. A participative approach will lead to a slowdown and a too-many-cooks-spoil-the-broth mess. The authoritative approach will also reassure the nervous employees under your charge with you projecting strength, decisiveness and knowhow without the need for their input. It will calm the situation and get your company back on track.” He frowned as he zoned in on the sales projections table I’d compiled. “At least one step in the right direction toward doing so, because this fictional company of yours is in some real trouble unless you can acquire another client within… let me see… the next two weeks.”

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