Page 149 of Twisted Truth

Back in our hotel room, I hand a bag of stuffed clothes to a bellman to take down to Maya, who’s waiting in the car with Sterling.

“I’ll make sure she gets them, Ms. Hale.”

“Thank you.”

“What was that?” Asher asks, shrugging out of his suit coat as I shut the door.

“I sent him down with some clothes for Maya. I’m not letting her look like she’s on some sordid walk of shame tomorrow when she goes back to her dorm.”

“You’re good to those you love, Ella.”

The sweet compliment takes me by surprise. “Thank you. So are you.”

He looks uncomfortable. “Yes, but it’s easy for me. It’s easy to help people when you have almost anything and everything at your fingertips. With you, you sacrifice over and over to give to those you love. It’s humbling to watch, knowing I’ve never had to sacrifice like that.”

His words wash over me, and though I’m still a little buzzed, they make me sad. He doesn’t see himself clearly at all.

“Just because you haven’t had to doesn’t mean you wouldn’t if it came down to it. I see the way you love your brothers, and I’ve seen the things you’ve done for me. I fully believe that if you had been in my same situation that you would have done the same thing. Don’t sell yourself short because your circumstances differ.”

“Maybe,” he shrugs.

“Not maybe. I’m sure about that. One thing I’ve learned about you, Asher, is that you may have access to everything, and you may have lavish, snobbish, exotic tastes,” I wink at him, “but you’re also not ruled by your money. You command power because you have to, and you do it for your company and those you love. But you don’t necessarily revel in it. You don’t get off on abusing your power or using it to hurt others. Maybe with the exception of Kyle.”

He smirks. “And I’d do it again, that fucker deserved everything he got.”

Now I laugh. I sidle closer to him and wrap my arms around his waist. He looks down at me, his face open, but unsure.

“You are good to those you love, Asher. And you’re good to many people you don’t even know. You understand and respect the responsibility you have in wielding the money and power you have. And that, to me, is just as powerful of a characteristic as sacrificing for those you love.”

His eyes are wide, his face vulnerable. Almost stunned. “Thank you,” he croaks.

I brush my hand up along his cheek and through his perfectly stubbled jawline. God, this man. Sometimes the insanity of the situation hits me out of nowhere, and I have no clue how I ended up here. How is it that weeks ago I was living in Zahra’s apartment with almost no clothes, my money tied up in theft, and worrying myself to death over sending money to Maya? Now I’m in London with one of the most wealthy and powerful men in the world, and as far as the world knows, I’mhis girlfriend. The two of us have rules and boundaries that sharpen and blur at a moment’s notice, and my life and anonymity has been flipped on its head.

It’s crazy to think about it.

But what hits me most of all, is that while all of those things sometimes take me by surprise and make me want to pinch myself, that’s not why I’m reeling. I’m reeling because of the man in front of me. Not his money, not his name, not his position. Just him. It’s too easy to get lost in him. It’s too easy to care for him. And I know it would be wise to pull back and clear those boundaries back up.

But I don’t want to.

And that’s what scares me the most.

He leans his forehead down onto mine. His hands press into my back. My heart pounds in my chest. All the flirting and teasing aside tonight, now that I’m here in his arms, there’s a weight to us. The chemistry that has always burned between us feels like more, somehow.

“What are we doing?” I whisper.

“I don’t fucking know anymore.”

“We were supposed to have boundaries. Be professional. Only act like a couple in public.”

“I don’t know if that was ever realistic,” he admits. “At first, I thought it was necessary, especially when the plan was to date a high society heiress. I’ve been around enough of them to know that they aren’t something I would ever want, so keeping boundaries with an heiress was non-negotiable for me.”

“And now?”

He pulls his head back and looks down into my eyes. My hands are on his shoulders, holding on like he’s a lifeline.

“Now, everything is different. I didn’t mean for it to be, but it is. With you . . . I don’t know. I can’t fight the draw I feel toward you. The pull, the energy—I don’t even know what to call it. ButI know I’m a slave to it. And I don’t know if I have a choice anymore.”

“What are you saying?” I ask. My heart is frantic in my chest, and I want to be one-hundred-percent sure he’s saying what I think he is. I don’t think I could live with it if I was misinterpreting things and made a fool of myself.