Page 124 of Ruthless Court

“I knew the building.”

Every answer is calm, clipped, and irritating.

I look at her profile.

The glasses should make her less attractive than she was Friday night.

They don’t.

Now that I know what they hide, they make me want to take them off and see the rest.

She turns.

“What?”

“You looked different at the bar.”

“So did you. Less soup.”

My mouth threatens to smile.

I stop it.

“You knew who I was.”

“Everyone knows who you are. You mention it often enough.”

“You let me flirt with you.”

“You flirted. I observed.”

“You flirted back.”

“I conducted field research.”

“What did you learn?”

Her gaze drops briefly to my mouth.

“There wasn’t much data.”

The insult hits. So does the look.

Heat moves through me.

She turns toward the professor before I answer.

Aldridge writes a question across the board.

WHEN DOES INFLUENCE BECOME COERCION?

He surveys the room.

“Ms. Goodwin?”

Hannah straightens.

“Influence becomes coercion when the person holding power treats access as something everyone else owes them.”