The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

She sniffed, unimpressed. “Big of you.”

Shaking my head, I continued to chuckle. “That and I can’t see your nose wrinkling from all the way across the courtyard. You have no idea how much I’ve missed that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She fluttered out an unimpressed hand. “I bet you’re just falling behind in calculus and need my help.”

“Well… Since you mentioned it…” With a shrug, I pulled my calculus book from my bag and flipped it open. Searching for a pencil, I asked, “What’re you feeding me today?”

In answer, she tossed a small bag of chips to me. Sweet.

“Nacho cheese.” I approved. Getting myself a handful, I asked, “Turn in your English paper yet?”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Oh, so you care about my English paper today, huh?”

Oh, damn, I’d forgotten I had snapped at her about that on Sarah’s birthday. “Reese. Come on,” I begged. “I’m sorry I said that to you at the party. I was in a mood.” Setting my hand over my heart, I swore, “I care about everything you do.” And that was the honest-to-God truth.

Reese groaned, probably over the cheesiness of my answer. “Okay, enough already. The bullshit around here is getting too deep to wade through.”

“What?” I yelped. “I’m serious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. So let me guess. Your landlady thinks you and I are riding the baby-making train together, doesn’t she?”

I sighed, not wanting to discuss Patricia, but when I tried to evade and then downplay the topic, Reese kept at it, guessing and asking what Patricia had said to me when she had sat next to me on the loveseat during the birthday party. I groaned in agony over the whole inquisition.

“Oh my God.” Reese’s eyes widened with worry. “How bad was it?”

“It wasn’t even true,” I argued, “so… Just drop it. Please.”

Yeah, I should’ve known better than to even suggest that. “If it wasn’t true,” she started, “then why can’t you tell—”

“Fine.” Damn. I always gave into her way too easily. “She said you were an attention seeker. Okay? She said you were stealing the limelight away from Sarah on her own birthday, which wasn’t…”

I swear, Reese’s face drained of even more color. She pressed her hand to her chest and asked if she really had stolen all the attention from Sarah.

“No!” I told her unequivocally. “I told you, what she said wasn’t true.”

“But—”

“Listen to me.” I stood and leaned over the table toward her so she would look at nothing but my face and she could see I meant nothing but the truth. “Before you showed up on Sunday, my sister was absolutely miserable. The next morning, she said it was the best birthday she’d ever had. And that was because of you, got it? You made those other girls interact with her. And now, that tall one, Sorcha, she’s even coming back on Saturday afternoon to spend the day with Sarah.”

“Really?” Her face lighting with cheer, Reese bounced on her bench seat. “That’s great. Oh! I liked Sorcha.”

I shook my head and gave her a slight grin. “You are the least selfish person I know.”

“Well…” She cringed guilty. “I can be a little selfish.”

“I don’t see it,” I insisted, shaking my head. “That day in the library, with Dr. Janison and Eva… Every woman treats me that way, Reese. I’m not a person to them. I’m just a good time or something vile to be avoided at all costs. And then you came along and you…you hugged me. You are the first person who sees me, Mason, not sex for sale. And that kind of compassion is not the sign of a selfish person. At all.”

“I…” She seemed to have trouble swallowing. And blinking. “Well, thank you,” she rasped out, meaningfully. “But you are a person, and—”

I lifted my hand to stop her. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you. And you are…you’re…” I paused to shake my head because I wasn’t sure if an amazing enough word had been invented to describe Reese Randall properly.

“I’m…?” she said, looking a little alarmed, as if she thought I might possibly have a single negative thing to say about her.

As if.

“You’re quirky,” I started, loving that most about her. “And yet conventional. Innocent but worldly. Reserved yet outgoing. Candid yet guarded. Trendy but also practical. And childlike while still managing to be mature. It’s like you’re the perfect contradiction.”

With all that said, she just stared at me, like I was some kind of hero, or…or worthy guy, or something. Which I wasn’t.