The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

Olive exhaled slowly, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Why would you even— What would you even get out of
this?”
“Out of what?”
“Pretending to date me. Why do you care? What’s in it for
you?”
Dr. Carlsen—Adam—opened his mouth, and for a moment
Olive had the impression that he was going to say something
important. But then he averted his gaze, and all that came out
was “It would help you out.” He hesitated for a moment. “And
I have my own reasons.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What reasons?”
“Reasons.”
“If it’s criminal, I’d rather not be involved.”
He smiled a bit. “It’s not.”
“If you don’t tell me, I have no choice but to assume that it
entails kidnapping. Or arson. Or embezzlement.”
He seemed preoccupied for a moment, fingertips
drumming against a large biceps. It considerably strained his
shirt. “If I tell you, it cannot leave this room.”
“I think we can both agree that nothing that has happened
in this room should ever leave it.”
“Good point,” he conceded. He paused. Sighed. Chewed on
the inside of his cheek for a second. Sighed again.
“Okay,” he finally said, sounding like a man who knew that
he was going to regret speaking the second he opened his
mouth. “I’m considered a flight risk.”
“Flight risk?” God, he was a felon on parole. A jury of his
peers had convicted him for crimes against grad students. He’d