Price of a Kiss (Forbidden Men, #1)(4)

“You mean figuratively, right?”

“I mean exactly what I said, literally.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “And…you would know this because…?”

“I don’t know. I just…know. Everyone knows. Except the cops, of course. Otherwise, he’d be in jail for illegal prostitution or something. It’s a well-known rumor he works at the Country Club as some kind of cover to set up appointments with his clients, who just happen to be some of the richest, horniest women in the county who pay him boocoos of cash to pleasure them…any way they want. I’m certain some of my mom’s cronies have had him.”

My mouth fell open. I scrutinized her an entire minute before snorting out a laugh and shoving at her shoulder. “Oh, my God. You are such a liar. Jeez, E., you totally had me going for a second.”

“What?” Eva managed to look insulted. “I swear to God, I’m not lying. Do you want to go ask him?” She hooked her arm through mine and tried to stand up, dragging me with her.

Um, yeah. Not going to happen. I’d internally combust from hormone overdose if I went anywhere near Hotness right now. Like getting too close to the sun, he’d probably burn me with one of his deadly testosterone rays. And I so wasn’t wearing enough SPF for that kind of action.

I yanked both our asses back down. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just go up to someone and ask him if he’s a gigolo?” Gah!

Eva responded in typical Eva fashion. She shrugged and tossed her hair. “Why not? I doubt he’d lie about it. It certainly doesn’t seem to be a secret.”

I threw my head back and shouted out a laugh. But, wow. Sometimes Eva was just too much. The things she could think up were, well…they were outlandish. I kind of loved that about her, and yet it also embarrassed the heck out of me. Sadly, I wasn’t quite as outgoing as my vivid counterpart. I was much more prone to moments of horrified blushing than feats of extroverted greatness. I mean, I wasn’t shy by any stretch of the imagination, but I was by no means an Eva Mercer.

As if he sensed I was blushing over him that very second, Hotness—or as Eva had dubbed him, Mason Lowe—glanced in our direction and made eye contact. With me.

I stopped laughing. Stopped smiling. Pretty much stopped breathing. Gawd, but the boy sure knew how to hold a heated stare.

“Lord have mercy,” Eva murmured next to me.

I didn’t respond—couldn’t if I’d wanted to. I was too busy being electrocuted from the inside out. My fingertips sizzled and toes curled as if an invisible, kinetically charged bolt tethered me to the hunk fifty yards away, who seemed to bind us together with his stare alone.

Yes, the chemical current between us was exactly that powerful. I’m not even exaggerating. Okay, maybe a little. But not much.

He broke the connection by shifting his attention to Eva. I gasped from the release as if someone had just ripped a Band-Aid off my soul.

Not that I could really tell, but I swore his eyes narrowed when he focused on my cousin. He sent me another quick dart, which suddenly seemed full of accusation, and swiftly turned back to his group, dismissing us both entirely.

Never before had a mere glance rattled me so deeply.

Blowing out an unsteady breath, I set my hand against my wildly thumping heart. If I had just flatlined and someone had used a defibrillator to bring me back to life, I don’t think I would’ve felt more jolted than I did now. “Whoa.”

“Yeah,” Eva murmured, sounding similarly affected. “I think I need a cigarette.”

I turned to her and blinked. “You don’t smoke.”

She rolled her eyes. “I swear, sometimes, we cannot possibly be related. You weren’t supposed to take that literally, ReeRee. Gah.”

My rational cognition was still too fried for me to think properly, so I merely murmured, “Oh.” Then I shrugged. “Well, my sparkly ballet flats still kick your sandals’ ass.”

“Dream on.” She snorted. “Sandals are so in this season.” And with that, she chomped her gaze back on my piece of man candy.

“Whatever,” I mumbled with a petulant sniff, battling this insane urge to pull her hair and scream that I’d seen him first, or at the very least remind her she had a boyfriend. “Chillax, E. I was just looking anyway. It’s not like I want to get married and set up house with him. I am so not ready for another relationship right now.”

“Whatever,” Eva repeated right back, but in a much nastier tone than I’d used. “I told you he was unattainable.”

Damn, what had crawled into her Wheaties and died? And why did she keep staring at him? Seriously, it pissed me off something crucial, because now I couldn’t sneak another peek. Two girls eye-gushing over the same guy was just plain pathetic.

Oh, hell, it didn’t matter if she wanted to hog all the ogling to herself. I was a little too intimidated to look at him again, anyway. I mean, what if he looked back? I wasn’t sure I could take that kind of shockwave twice in one day.

I assume no one had ever actually overdosed from a lusty glance before, but with Hotness around, I had a bad feeling I’d probably be the first.

So, I focused my attention on my class schedule I’d pulled up on my cell phone two-point-five seconds before becoming intensely aware of Mason Lowe’s existence. Draining the rest of my latte, I looked up the room number for my first class. The heat and steam from the drink burned all the way down, but I kind of welcomed the pain. It kept me distracted from you-know-who.