The Price of Mason (Forbidden Men 10)

Yep, that was definitely a dismissal.

I looked down at them a moment, hoping this wasn’t the end of us forever, and that maybe she just needed one night to deal with the fact that she was now dating an ex-gigolo. Drawing in a deep breath, I reached down and slid my shoes on.

When I stood, she was back to wringing her hands uneasily, and I suddenly felt just as unsure as she looked. Was it okay to kiss her goodnight?

Fucking hell. What in God’s name had happened in the past few hours to bring us to this? I didn’t like the distance. So I stepped forward, erasing it, and I wrapped my arms around her before I kissed her hair. Besides, at least this way I would know for sure that she was done with me if she stiffened in my arms and pushed me away.

But all she did was melt against my chest and gather fistfuls of the back of my shirt in her hands as she released a long breath of relief and hugged me hard.

“It’s going to be okay,” I told her.

She pulled back and smiled up at me as if thanking me for the reassurance. “I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch?” she asked. “At our table.”

“Definitely.” When I leaned down to press my lips to hers, she kissed me back heartily, even though she didn’t open her mouth for me. So I took that to mean she needed a night—just one night—off, but we weren’t over with forever.

I pulled back, smoothed my hand over her hair as I gazed into her eyes, grateful for everything I’d gotten from her, and then I turned toward the door.

But no sooner did I pull into my own drive when images of that Malfoy wannabe began to haunt me. What if the guy had been Jeremy, and he’d followed me from her place, where he’d been stalking us, watching me buy condoms and lattes, only to follow me back there? Fuck, why hadn’t I asked Reese if I could see a picture of her ex?

The sun had set and the evening was still warm when I made my way from my Jeep to the back door. I refused to glance toward the neighbor’s house, to check whether my own psycho was watching me or not. I refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing I was even thinking about her.

Sarah and Mom were at the kitchen table, eating a late supper. My sister smiled and waved, while Mom lifted her eyebrows as if surprised to see me. I grabbed a plate and joined them, because food. I never turned down food.

“So, you and Reese, huh?” Mom asked as she watched me construct a pile of salad fixings.

I shot her a quick glance. “You okay with that?”

“I…” Her gaze slid to Sarah before she turned back to me. “I mean, yeah. Yes, of course. I adore her. I’m just surprised. In a good way,” she rushed to add before a relieved kind of smile lit her face. “I’m just so happy to see you settling down.”

A.K.A. she was happy to hear I’d given up my side work, which meant she hadn’t been happy with me selling myself in the first place. That actually cheered me up. She’d never lectured me or demanded that I stop or even asked me to, but at least now I knew she’d cared enough to dislike it. Maybe the woman didn’t hate me after all.

I smiled back at her. “Yeah,” I agreed. “Me too.”

Sarah started teasing me then, begging me to marry Reese so she could have her as a sister. I tried to convince her that I was so awesome I was the only sibling she’d ever need. And she finally relented enough to agree that I was okay, for being a gross boy, but she’d liked to have Reese around forever too…for girl things.

Our bantering kept me busy through the rest of supper and into cleaning the dishes. After that, the kid talked me into reading some Harry Potter with her. Since I’d watched the movies all day and knew what was going to happen, I kept pausing to drop hints, which seriously ticked her off. When she slugged me and hissed, “Shh,” as soon as I would stop reading, I knew I’d done my big-brother job well and successfully aggravated her enough to cool it with the teasing for now. So I chuckled, giving in, and continued with the story without any spoiler alerts.

After she fell asleep, however, my worry about Reese mounted. I really didn’t like leaving her alone, even though she’d assured me earlier that she was being cautious. I decided to pop her a quick text.

Mason: Night, Sweet Pea. Sleep well all alone in that big empty bed without me.

Certain that would prompt some kind of response, either about the actual size of her minuscule bed or the chauvinist suggestion that she needed me around in order to sleep well, I frowned, a little concerned when it didn’t show that the message had even been read within five minutes. Maybe she was showering.

Or studying.

Or lying dead and broken in the middle of her living room floor.

Fuck.

I called her.

It went straight to voicemail.

That’s when I decided to head over and merely drive by her house, check to make sure everything looked okay. But once I got to her place, her car wasn’t around, which momentarily freaked me out, until I remembered, oh yeah, I’d never taken her back to pick it up after I’d driven her home Friday night.

Shit, I was going to have to get her back to her car eventually. Maybe I could pick her up for school in the morning and we could reunite her and her wheels after class.

When I realized I’d been idling in my Jeep, staring at her apartment like a total creeper, I went ahead and put it in park at the curb. I mean, I might as well figure out the car situation with her now. Since she wasn’t answering her phone, it seemed safe enough to come over personally and straighten everything out. She wouldn’t get pissed about me showing up again after she’d just kicked me out because of that logical reason, right?