Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men 1)

I sent her a glower, promising a good strangulation later. I even opened my mouth to tell her in no uncertain terms that Mason and I were not flirting.

But he ignored her and said to me, “Are you watching Sarah tonight?”

I gave him some major brownie points for being able to totally blow off Eva’s rude comment. But the tightening around his mouth told me her words hadn’t left him unaffected.

Following his example, I decided to ignore her too. “Yep. I think I’m going to give her a mani-pedi and paint her fingernails and toenails some wicked awesome color.”

He nodded approvingly as he rewrapped his sandwich and slid his lunch back into his messenger bag. “She’ll get a kick out of that. I’ll see you at the house, then.” He knocked on the table in front of me as he stood. “And don’t forget that book you promised to lend me.”

“Right.” I sucked in a sharp breath, tickled he’d remembered. “Yeah, okay. I won’t.”

“Good.” With a warm, congenial smile for me, he stole one more of my fries. “And for the record, I like deluded.” Then he strolled away without once glancing at Eva.

My cheeks flamed. I loved knowing he liked me just the way I was, naïve tendencies or not.

I didn’t notice how Eva had spun to me with an expectant arch in her eyebrows until she demanded, “What book?”

I played with my fries without eating any. “Harry Potter. He said he’s never read the series before. Can you believe that? So I offered to loan him mine.”

“Really? Harry Potter?”

She sounded so skeptical, I sighed. “No, we were talking about a Kama Sutra book. Yes! Harry Potter. Why is that so hard to believe?”

Eva shrugged. “I just can’t see Mason Lowe reading Harry Potter. I can’t see him reading anything.” Then she made a face, letting me know she’d thought up an allowance. “Except maybe Kama Sutra.”

I shoved my fries away and turned to pin her with a frown. “You know, he’s not that bad of a person. Once you actually talk to him, he’s just another guy.”

Just another guy who made my body heat, my pulse pound, and my throat go dry. Another guy who was fun to talk to, got my jokes, and liked my taste in food. Another guy who made me forget I was leery of the opposite gender these days. Yeah, just another guy.

“I don’t understand why you’ll talk about him behind his back like he’s some kind of god, but you just treated him like crap to his face.”

“Oh, sweetie.” Eva’s features filled with sympathy as she grasped my hands. “You poor, deluded thing. I’m going to have to explain the social pyramid to you, aren’t I? Mason Lowe is an honest-to-God gigolo. Guys like him are fun to gossip about. They’re fun to flirt with when nobody else is around, and I’m sure they’re fun, period, when you employ their services. But you do not sit with them in public and talk to them like they’re just another guy. Because they’re not.” She sighed and patted my hand. “I knew I needed to keep an extra-close watch on you today. Because look what happened. He came sniffing around, trying to ruin your reputation, and—”

I yanked my hands away from hers and lurched to my feet, not about to listen to another word. “If he’s such bad news, then why did you try to get a freebie from him?”

Eva flushed even as her eyes narrowed with outrage. “Okay, one, I was drunk and I am still absolutely humiliated I did that. And two, I could actually handle him without getting in too deep. You’d probably go and fall in love with a piece of underworld scum like him if he ever had sex with you. And that’s completely unacceptable, ReeRee. A prostitute doesn’t belong anywhere near you. You’re too sweet and innocent.”

My mouth fell open as I openly gaped with outright disgust. “Oh, my God, E. I’m going to ignore the way you just totally insulted me because I think you were coming at it from a good place. But I will not sit here and listen to you bash Mason like that.” I stood and gathered my things. “He may have made a…bad career decision, but he is by no means—”

“Dear God, you’re already falling for him, aren’t you?” Eva scooted across the bench toward me, her eyes pleading. “Don’t do it, sweetie. You’re just going to get hurt. It’ll be Jeremy all over again.”

“Whatever,” I muttered as I swept my book bag over my shoulder and whirled away. “I’m out of here.”

I stewed all the way to my next class. Eva was wrong; Mason would never be another Jeremy. First of all, I would never date Mason. I knew he was off limits. Not that he was unworthy, just that he was incapable of being faithful, due to his job and all. I knew I could crush on him from afar but never hope for more. I knew that. And secondly: Mason didn’t give off one control-freak vibe, not the way Jeremy had exhaled them like carbon dioxide. He was most certainly not the girlfriend-beating type.

But I remained moody for the rest of the day because Eva had said one thing that had completely freaked me out. Despite knowing I would never date Mason, I thought he could still hurt me, because I was pretty sure I was falling for him on a level I couldn’t stop.

He would be able to hurt me in a way Jeremy never had. I might have told my first boyfriend I’d loved him when he’d expected me to say it, but I’d never really given my heart to him. There was something about Mason though that told me I could give it to him.

A little too easily.

CHAPTER EIGHT

When I went to babysit on Friday evening, and the Monday after that, I didn’t get to see Mason either day. He’d already left for his “country club” job by the time I arrived. And Dawn got home from work before he did on both nights, meaning he’d stayed late…with a client, no doubt.

The thought made me burn with…I don’t know. Lots of emotions. Anger, jealousy, sadness, depression. I was pretty much a tangled, hot mess inside.

And his mother forgot to pay me—yes, on both nights. But then, Mason had warned me she was a tad on the forgetful side when it came to settling her debts.