Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men #1)(97)

“Shh.” He stroked his hand down my spine.

I closed my eyes, soaking up his unquestioning support. I didn’t know how long we held each other like that, with me wrapped up on his lap and our faces tucked close together.

When I heard footsteps drawing close, I lifted my head to see a doctor approaching. “Oh, thank God.”

But the man under me tensed. “Shit.”

I glanced at him, alarmed. “What’s wrong?”

Just as I spoke, the doctor glanced into the nearest waiting room. “Mercer family?”

“Here.” I leapt off Mason’s lap, forgetting his strange behavior, until he reached out and grabbed my fingers as if to draw me back to him.

The doctor turned toward us and faltered in her step when she saw him. “M-Mason?”

His fingers tightened around mine as the woman’s gaze skipped questioningly from him to me and back to him again.

And suddenly, I understood.

I whirled to him and slugged him on the arm. “You have got to be kidding me. A doctor? A frigging medical doctor?”

He looked as if he were going to be beaten with a whip as he shied back, his face pallid and petrified. “I…I’m sorry.”

The doctor jerked backward as if she was going to run off.

“Hey!” I sliced her a killer glare. “Aren’t you going to tell us how Eva is?”

She paused and cleared her throat, coloring slightly. “Of course. Sorry…” She nervously pushed her platinum blond hair out of her face, making the sleeves of her white coat droop down enough to reveal the Michael Kors watch strapped around her wrist.

Damn, why did all of Mason’s ex-clients have to have such good taste in fashion?

“Miss Mercer is stable,” she said. “Her vitals are strong and she’s awake and lucid.”

“And the baby?” I blurted out.

Dr. Slut nodded. “Still has a heartbeat.”

I slumped against Mason, and he gathered me close, kissing my forehead.

His ex-client glanced curiously between us before returning to business. “You can see her in a couple minutes. Once they have her in a private room, I’ll have a nurse come back and take you to her.”

“Thank you,” Mason said, since it seemed obvious I wasn’t going to speak to her again.

She nodded and gave us a tight smile. “At least now I know why my call was never returned.” Gaze settling on me, she added, “Nice nose ring.”

I turned to pin Mason with a scowl as she hurried off. “Why do all your ex-clients remark on my nose ring?” Even Dr. Janison had said something after class one day when I’d been walking by to leave her Brit Lit lecture.

Mason smiled faintly as he tapped my nose. “Because it reminds them how young they no longer are.”

I frowned, bewildered. That made no sense. “Younger people do not have a monopoly on nose rings, you know. I’ve seen plenty of them on women—and men—of all ages.”

“Ahh, but it looks hot on you.” He paused to nod his head after the departing doctor. “It makes them look grasping and old.”

Though his words pacified me a little, I still wanted to be pissed. I slugged him in the arm again. “And I thought you said all your clients were bored, rich housewives. Successful doctors, college professors, and landladies don’t exactly fit into that category.”

Mason flushed and glanced around as if I’d screamed the accusation. “I said most of them were,” he muttered under his breath. “Not all.”

Realizing this wasn’t the place to make a scene, I fell moody and silent.

I thought about Mason’s shady past and how many freaking horny women there were in Waterford panting after him and thinking they owned him. Then I thought about Eva and her baby, Jeremy and his prison sentence, Alec and his impending fatherhood. Actually, I don’t think there was a thought that didn’t swirl through my busy, muddled head.

Mason stayed quiet beside me, holding my hand and smoothing his thumb over my knuckles. He remained my one constant. Despite what had just happened, the assurance of his love steadied me, and by the time the nurse arrived to lead us back to Eva, I was doing okay, breathing easily and ready to see my cousin.

She was awake and sitting up in bed, cognizant and cracking jokes the minute we walked into the room.

After taking one look at the companion at my side, she set her hand over her heart. “Aww. A get-well-soon present already? ReeRee, you shouldn’t have. Is he going to strip and do a little dance for us, or what?”

Mason’s hand tightened in mine, but I only tugged him closer. “Sorry, E. But Mason is retired from all that.”

“Is he?” Her blue eyes narrowed on him with suspicion. “Well, he better stay that way if he’s going to keep hanging around you. I didn’t get shot for you by one douche just so you could get your heart broken by another.”

“It’s too bad the first douche didn’t shoot your sunny personality right out of you,” Mason muttered.

“Okay, okay.” I held up my hands, playing referee. “No more mudslinging. On any other day, I might be able to handle two people I love absolutely hating each other but…not today. All right? Truce?”

Mason winced and had the grace to look regretful. “Truce,” he grumbled, glancing away.