Page 82 of The Ruse

I couldn’t stop the smile that curved my lips as I remembered our night in the cabin.

I wouldn’t admit it to him now, but I kind of liked that he wasn’t a completely selfless gentleman.

But he must be a mind reader because he leaned closer and said, “But then again, you do have a thing for bad boys, don’t you?”

“Are you trying to say you’re a bad boy?” I asked, my smile only growing bigger because he was so stinking cute and I kind of loved that he knew it, too.

“I don’t know.” He pursed his pouty lips. Then he shrugged and said, “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah.” An impish grin lifted his lips. “I mean, I know I’ve been pretty good at keeping my bad-boy side hidden from you so far, but I totally had all sorts of reckless plans for tonight before we decided to rehearse our scene instead.”

“Really?” I asked, enjoying his playful side way too much. “And what would you be doing right now if Miss Crawley hadn’t asked you to rehearse with me?”

“You really want to know?” He looked sideways at me like he was enjoying our back and forth as much as I was. “Because it’s some pretty dangerous stuff.”

“I think I need to know just what kind of a bad boy I’m working with.”

“I don’t know if you can handle hearing about the level of mischief I had planned, though.”

“Try me,” I said, loving that he’d just called itmischief.

“Well, if you must know.” He glanced around, pretending like he was worried one of our classmates was listening. “I was going to do, like, lawbreaking type of stuff.” He raised his eyebrows and made a face like I should be impressed.

“Oooh, lawbreaking stuff?” I said, playing along. “And what would that entail?”

“Only the baddest of things made it onto my night-of-mischief list, of course.” He pushed his hands into his jacket pockets. “Things like doorbell-ditching, jaywalking…” He looked behind him again and lowered his voice so only I could hear. “Throwing pants at someone and yelling, ‘You just got pantsed.’” He took a step back and shrugged. “You know, typical bad-boy stuff.”

“Oh man, Asher,” I said, unable to stop the giggle that bubbled up inside me. “I had no idea you were such a naughty boy.”

Throwing pants at someone and yelling “you just got pantsed”?

How did he come up with this stuff so fast?

He leaned closer again and whispered, “You have no idea how naughty I can be, Elyse.”

And though the activities he’d listed made him sound like the most harmless bad boy I’d ever met, with those few words and one flirtatious look, I was suddenly reminded of why I had always been helpless when it came to bad boys.

As someone who always followed the rules, there was something deep down within me that craved the freedom to throw caution to the wind and do the things I normally wouldn’t dare do.

To be with someone who made life exciting and unpredictable.

And while none of the things Asher talked about were “bad,” when his gaze fell to my lips, I had a feeling he still had all the qualities I really liked about bad boys.

That if he wanted something, he just went for it.

He didn’t ask a girl if she wanted to kiss him. He alreadyknewshe did and made it happen.

Unless a fire alarm went off, of course.

Would we be kissing in his room right now if the smoke detector hadn’t been set off?

I was pretty sure we would be. And it would have been much more like the kisses from my fantasies than the stage kiss we’d rehearsed.

I wrapped my arms around myself to fight the shiver those thoughts sent through me.

“You cold?” Asher asked, noticing the movement.

---