Chapter 64: Don’t You Know How to Talk Back?
"Huh?"
The sound escaped her lips before Leah Sinclair realized what she’d just said. She instantly regretted her impulsiveness.
"Trying to hide things from me again?"
"No! It’s just... I ran into Madeline Sterling when I got there, and we chatted for a bit."
"What could you possibly have talked about that led to the word ’Canary’?"
Asher Keating clearly didn’t believe her. "Morgan Sterling said he saw you when he was leaving. If you got here so early, why didn’t you come in?"
Leah bit her lip, conflicted for a moment before speaking slowly. "When I arrived, you and Madeline Sterling were singing a duet. I was afraid it would be awkward if I walked in right then, so I went downstairs to wait. Then I ran into Dr. Hale at the entrance and had a smoke with him."
"You were so afraid of it being awkward that you ran off to stand in the cold? You’re really something else."
Speechless, Asher tapped her on the forehead. "It’s my birthday. Ethan Shaw and the guys made me play a game, and I lost, so they were bugging me to sing a song. She just came up to sing with me. So, did she run into you and gloat about that?"
"No, she didn’t mention that."
Leah answered honestly, wrapping her arms around Asher’s waist. Her voice was muffled. "Asher, do I really look that much like her?"
Asher frowned. "She said that?"
"Zion Sawyer said it today, too. During dinner, she said my profile looked a bit like Madeline Sterling’s. And when I ran into Madeline on my way here, she said you’re only keeping me because I look like her."
"What else?"
"That’s it."
"Are you sure?"
"...She said you’re still the same as always, that you like leaving marks on people’s necks. She said you used to leave so many on her that she couldn’t even go out." Leah looked up at Asher, her eyes filled with grievance.
Asher looked down at her. "And you believed her? You’ve been stewing about it all night by yourself? Don’t you know how to talk back?"
"I did! I told her that at least you still like ’playing’ with me now. I told her to go and try, see if you’d ’play’ with her," Leah replied with a pout.
Asher sneered. Madeline Sterling really was something else. She must have been banking on Leah not daring to question him, which is why she had the guts to say those things. What she didn’t count on, however, was that while Leah wouldn’t bring it up herself, she would never hide anything from him if he asked directly.
He lit a cigarette and sat down on the sofa, pulling her over and pinching her cheek. "I don’t think you look like her. You are you. And another thing—I’ve never slept with her. Never even kissed her. I don’t deny the women I’ve slept with."
Leah was stunned. "But... didn’t everyone say you were pursuing her? That you two had this on-and-off thing for years?"
"That was just a publicity stunt by the Sterling Family. All you need to remember is that it’s impossible for me to have left a hickey on her. If you run into her again and she spouts more of this nonsense, just tell her this: Asher Keating told you he’s never slept with her."
Leah hummed in agreement, then hugged him. "Asher, is she the kind of person you might be forced to sleep with, someone you can’t refuse?"
"No."
Asher remembered what he had told Leah when they first got together: that aside from any necessary entanglements with women he couldn’t refuse, he would try not to be with anyone else.
But that was just something he’d said to placate her at the time. ’The truth is, if I, Asher Keating, don’t want to sleep with someone, it doesn’t matter who pushes them on me. And right now, I don’t want to sleep with anyone else. This one is more than enough.’
"Okay, I understand now." Leah’s mood brightened.
Asher extinguished his cigarette, then scooped her up and headed back to the bedroom. "Alright, talk’s over. Time for business."
Leah let out a cry that was quickly silenced by his lips. The new position Asher guided her into was so intense she nearly bit through his shoulder.
It was as if Asher was trying to merge her entire being into his own body. Leah clung to him, enduring his force, feeling wave after wave of fireworks exploding in her mind.
「The next day」
Leah felt her thigh muscles were sore and tight. Asher didn’t let her squeeze onto the subway; the weather had been getting colder and colder lately, and he also stopped making her get up to prepare lunch.
At first, Leah had gotten up anyway, but after Asher "educated" her under him a few times—telling her that since they had the time, he wouldn’t mind a "morning activity beneficial to both body and mind"—she obediently stayed in bed.
Seeing Leah’s rather resentful glare, Asher, in a very good mood, simply said, "You agreed to it yourself."
"I didn’t know that position was so difficult," Leah mumbled. Today, Asher hadn’t asked Sean Yates to drive; he was driving himself. Hearing her grumble, a smile touched his eyes.
"Didn’t you say you were going to sing for me yesterday?" Asher asked suddenly.
"Huh?"
Leah had forgotten. Seeing Asher’s displeased look, she quickly recovered. "What would you like to hear, Asher?"
"Anything."
Asher answered casually, his eyes on the road, as he reached out to connect the car’s Bluetooth to Leah’s phone.
Leah took out her phone and began scrolling through her playlists. She snuck a glance at Asher, then selected a backing track.
The intro to "Liking You" slowly drifted from the speakers. It was an old Cantonese classic by Beyond, a song that had been covered in many versions, but Leah had chosen the original. Her voice was lovely, and she sang in a soft, gentle tone.
The corners of Asher’s mouth curved up. He turned to glance at Leah just as she was singing the lines, "Liking you, your captivating eyes, your even more enchanting laugh..." His gaze made her face start to blush, and her voice grew quieter and quieter.
"Don’t look at me," Leah said, embarrassed.
"Is there any part of you I haven’t seen?" Asher took her hand and laughed.
Leah fidgeted with his fingers, her face too red to reply. Asher stopped teasing her and focused on driving.
Leah asked him to drop her off at the intersection before her office, but Asher ignored her and drove straight into the company’s underground parking garage. Leah tensed up, trying to shrink into her seat. The moment he parked, she bolted faster than a rabbit. Asher watched her go, a smile playing on his lips.
Throughout the day, Leah kept overhearing people gossiping about the hickey on Asher’s neck. They were saying they never expected President Keating, who seemed so ascetic, to be so wild in private. The employees were all speculating about who could have left the mark.
Zion Sawyer said it was Madeline Sterling, nine times out of ten. Meanwhile, Leah, the actual person responsible, was so embarrassed her toes could have dug a three-bedroom apartment out of the floor.
Asher called Mr. Langdon to his office. The old Mr. Keating would soon be officially announcing that the Southwood project was being handed over to Asher. From the beginning, he had planned to assign this project to Project Department One. Asher instructed Mr. Langdon to wrap up the acceptance phase of the New City project as quickly as possible and prepare to take on the Southwood project.
"President Keating, will Aaron Keating take this lying down?" Mr. Langdon asked, a little worried.
"Of course not. Just wait, he’ll make a move."
"Then should we start preparing now?"
"For now, just pick out a few reliable people. You don’t need to tell them anything yet. Just identify the right candidates."
Asher lit a cigarette. He didn’t want this getting out too early, especially since Aaron still had people in the project department.
He planned to clean out the project department before the Southwood project officially kicked off. The entire Southwood area was still in the slow-moving government planning stages, so he still had some time.
After gathering his documents, Mr. Langdon hesitated before asking, "President Keating, what about new hires? Would they be acceptable?"