More truth.

No coaxing.

Damn, she was killing me.

“If you’re sorry—which you have nothing to be sorry for—why do you look like…” I trailed off, not knowing what she looked like. There was sadness mixed in there, but I couldn’t place the exact emotion that had her forehead wrinkling and her eyes glossy.

“Why do I look like a woman who feels like a—”

Understanding dawned and before she could finish what she was going to call herself I interrupted her. “Nope. Don’t say it. And while we’re on this topic, let’s go back to the beginning. You are not dumb or naïve. For six months, you managed to navigate your way in a world that made you uncomfortable and you held it together. You called it correctly—after watching me at the club you knew there was something strange about me being there. You quit your jobs and went in search of answers about your friend. That’s not weak, that’s crazy-loyal. And check this, Sloane, I don’t care if you played me and five other men and ten women and screwed each of them to get the answers you were after. That still doesn’t make you whatever bullshit, filthy name you were gonna call yourself. There are times in life when you gotta do what you gotta do to get a job done. You were doing what you had to do.”

“So were you.”

“Come again?”

“With me. You were doing what you had to do, but you still asked me if I was okay with what happened. But when you asked you looked guilty, like you weren’t okay with it.”

“Sloane—”

“Don’t feel bad about what happened. Please. That would make me feel worse. I started it. I backed you into a corner. I understand that now. My crazy plan to get you into bed put you in a bad place. And that’s the only thing I regret about any of it. Can we just forget it happened? Besides, you were Adam then. Now you’re Asher. That’s your real name, right?”

Yep, she was killing me and I was still on top of her in her bed and she might’ve been clothed, but she was in a dress that showed a fuck of a lot of cleavage. The dress’s length hit mid-thigh when she was standing but was now pulled up, barely covering her panties. As much as I wanted to investigate the cut of those panties I needed to get my mind out of the gutter and get us the hell out of this bed.

“Yeah, Asher’s my real name.”

I started to roll but was waylaid when Sloane placed her hand on my shoulder and smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Asher.”

Fucking hell. I couldn’t stop it. I busted out laughing and did it harder when I heard Sloane join in.

Good Lord, this woman was testing every ounce of my good intentions.

“Yeah, Sloane, nice to meet you.”

“Is that all settled? Are we good?”