Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men 1)

“Whatever,” he hissed and disconnected before he flung his phone onto the counter as if it was contaminated. “Damn it.” He kicked the wall and ran his hand through his hair.

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to hear the truth aloud, even though I already knew.

“We had an eavesdropper,” he said, his voice low and barely controlled with a wrath that surprised me.

When he glanced toward the closed window blinds, it struck me.

Oh, God.

I set my hand over my mouth. “Mrs. Garrison?”

He nodded. “Apparently, she didn’t like seeing us kiss.”

Ripping my fingers from my lips, I balled them into a fist. “Then maybe she shouldn’t have watched.”

Mason bent down and snagged up his shirt. “I have to go. I got the royal summons from the wicked bitch herself.” As he yanked the cloth back over his head, making his sexy tousled hair look even sexier, I wilted.

It was hard to believe I’d just had my hands in that hair. And now he was going to let another woman put her hands in it.

Shaking my head, I denied that this moment was happening. “You’re not really going over there, are you?”

“I have to, Reese. She owns this house. She owns my mother, and Sarah, and me. I have to see what she wants.”

Well, that wasn’t hard to guess. The cougar pimp wanted him.

“She may own this house, but she doesn’t own you, or your family. You do not have to go over there.”

“I’m just going to see what she wants. That’s all.” When he glanced at me, his expression turned vulnerable and uncertain. “Will you be here when I get back?”

My mouth fell open. “Are you on crack? Hell, no, I won’t be here! You know what she wants, Mason. She wants you naked in her bed. If she’d wanted anything else, she would’ve told you over the phone, or better yet, she wouldn’t have interrupted our kiss at all.”

From the stubborn look on his face, I knew I hadn’t convinced him to stay. “I’ll only be gone a few minutes. I won’t even go inside her house.”

I turned away. “Fine. Whatever. Go over there. Fuck her. I don’t care. I’m out of here.”

I swiped my purse off the table and marched toward the back door.

“Reese.” He lunged after me and wrapped his arms around me from behind. His chest was so warm, and so Mason, I almost melted on the spot. “Don’t leave like this. Please don’t leave like this. I promise you, I will not sleep with her. I don’t care what she tries to hang over my head. I just want to tell her to leave me alone.”

Shaking my head, I snorted out a sound of disbelief. “And you could have told her to leave you alone over the phone too.”

His arms tightened around me. “Reese. Please.”

I closed my eyes and pulled up every ounce of willpower I had inside me. “You might not have charged me a fee, but kissing you is too big of a price for me. I didn’t sign up for this. Now let me go.”

He sobbed out a choked sound against my back but loosened his arms. I squirmed free of the rest of his hold and stumbled toward the door, shoving my way outside.

I didn’t look back once. I know, my willpower even startled me. When I got behind the steering wheel of my car and started the engine, I didn’t look up at his house. I simply put the gear into drive and pulled away from the curb.

I got a block and a half down the street before my hands started to shake. Gritting my teeth, I pulled to the curb and called myself every vile name in the book. Then I killed the engine and yanked the door open to stumble out into the warm evening. I sprinted all the way back to his house, my chest heaving, unable to stay away.

He

y, I never claimed to be a wise, rational person.

Yeah, okay, this probably topped my impulsive list. Going back there was the cherry on the double fudge icing of my stupid cake.

I was stupid, stupid, stupid. I know!