Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men, #1)(22)

I flushed and looked away. “I’m not—” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him sleeping with him would break my heart. But admitting that couldn’t end well, so I repeated, “No!” just to be clear. “I’m not like that. I need to be in, you know, a committed, monogamous relationship, and…in love, and stuff, before I…sleep with someone.”

Shifting closer and setting an elbow on the table to study me until I squirmed on the inside, he softly asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

My mouth fell open. “Are you asking if I’m a virgin? Because I’m not—”

Lifting his hand, he waved it softly to stop my flow of embarrassing words. “That’s not what I’m asking.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat and glanced away. More self-conscious than I’d ever been, I bit my lip and winced. “Well…I don’t…” I shook my head. His question was too complicated to answer with a simply yes or no. “I’m not sure what I was, if it was stupid, too-young-to-know-better infatuation or what, but it definitely wasn’t love. And I’m not about to make the mistake of not knowing the difference ever again.”

His lips tilted up in a smile, almost as if he were proud of me. “Good.”

Huh? I wasn’t sure which part of that he approved of so much, but the admiring gleam in his eyes made me a touch too warm. I promptly turned the subject back to him and back to why I needed to stay away. “So, if it’s common knowledge around here that you’re really, you know, what you are, then how have you never been arrested before?”

“It’s not common knowledge. It’s a common rumor.” He squinted as if he wanted to say more on the topic but sighed instead. “You’re not going to leave this alone, are you?”

“Hey, it’s not every day I meet a gigolo.”

He choked on a tomato when I said gigolo aloud, because my vocal chords might’ve risen a touch too vociferously, but I kept going. More quietly, of course.

“Can you blame me for being curious? I have, like, a million questions.” I held up a hand, remembering how uptight it had made him last night when I’d gotten nosey. “But only if you’re cool with answering them.”

He eyed me a moment longer before shaking his head. “You read a lot of Nancy Drew mysteries when you were a kid, didn’t you?”

I wrinkled my nose. “No. I’ve never even read one. Harry Potter is more my style, and yeah, his curiosity got him into trouble a lot too. As you well know.”

“No,” he murmured, looking almost regretful. “I’ve never read Harry Potter.”

Gasping, I set my hand over my heart and stared at him as if he were an alien. “Are you kidding me? But…everyone’s read Harry Potter.”

He shrugged and didn’t even have the grace to look ashamed or guilty. “Not me.”

“But…but…they’re so…amazing. Don’t worry,” I instantly reassured, reaching out to pat his arm. “I have all the books in the series sitting in my apartment. Next time I babysit Sarah, I’ll bring the first one over for you to see what you think.”

The muscles under my fingertips twitched as if my touch burned him. I noticed his expression then as he stared at my hand still resting on his forearm. I wanted to jerk my fingers away because he seemed so transfixed by our connection, but I couldn’t move. He just looked so…tempted.

I liked it.

Slowly, he slid his arm out from under my gentle grip, severing our contact. “I don’t do freebies,” he said in a throaty voice. “Ever.”

Wow. Okay, then. That had kind of come out of left field.

Had he really thought I’d been coming onto him to score a freebie?

Jeez, had I been coming onto him?

“But I wasn’t…” Scowling, I turned back to my lunch. “Whatever.” Then just as quickly, my snoopy Harry Potter syndrome struck again. Crunching on a crouton, I asked, “What about your personal life, though? What about dating and—” I broke off when he laughed. “What’s so funny?” I totally hated missing out on a joke.

He arched his eyebrows. “Dating? Personal life? Are you serious? The only girls who sniff around me are willing to pay or they’re looking for free services rendered, which only pisses me off.”

“But—”

“And all you monogamous, relationship-conscious ladies stay as far away from me as possible for obvious reasons.”

I made a face. “That can’t be true. I’m sure plenty of—”

“Reese.” He stopped me mid-word by lifting his hand. “Honestly, would you date a…person of my occupation?”

I gulped. Hells to the no, I would not. “Good point.”

“Yeah.” He let out a long, lonely sigh. “Exactly.”

“Well, that’s just sad,” I finally decided. “You can’t date or have recreational…fun, or even fall in love just because you went to drastic measures to save your family?”

Yes, I was feeling bad for a gigolo. Sue me.

He shook his head as if stumped by my sympathy. “I was eighteen when I fell into this. At the time, I was too young and stupid to think about how it would impact my future…so.” He shrugged. “There you have it. Now I’m stuck.”