Page 17 of Hypnotized By Love

And I had no idea how or when my perspective had shifted.

Mason Beckett cannot read my mind,I whispered to myself as I steeled my nerves and willed myself to begin.

The M&M’s sitting on my coffee table were calling to me, and I wanted nothing more than to grab a handful and pop that hard candy goodness into my mouth, letting the sugar rush soothe me. I also had an emergency sugar stash in my desk drawer, but Mason would a hundred percent notice and would most likely have something annoyingly true to say about it.

“You saw me do this with your mom, but the first step is to have you relax. So I want you to take three slow deep breaths, and each time as you exhale, start to feel yourself relaxing fully.”

I was using my hypnosis voice—gentle, calm, purpose driven.

“Clear your mind. Let go of any worries or stresses you’re carrying around right now. First, I want you to be aware of your arms. Flex, feeling them, and then relax. Let them get more and more comfortable. They feel limp and loose. As you breathe out, you are more relaxed. Slow your breathing and focus on that sensation of relaxation.”

I watched as he tensed his arms and then let them go.

“Good,” I said. “Focus on your shoulders. Feel any tension and then let it go, sinking into the couch, breathing out anything that would weigh you down.”

This time he didn’t respond as well. If anything, he looked more tense, holding himself rigidly in place.

“You’re supposed to be relaxing.” I shouldn’t have scolded him, but it almost felt deliberate. Like he was trying to provoke me. That was probably another irrational thought, but since my day was full of irrational and illogical things, why not one more?

He opened his eyes to peer up at me. “I’m sorry, but it’s hard to relax when I have to worry about whether or not you’re going to stab me while my eyes are closed.”

I tried not to sigh. “I promise to not stab you while you’re in my office.”

“And after?”

“The offer only extends as far as these four walls.”

“Noted. So ... relaxing. What are you going to do to help me fully relax?” He said it softly, with a look in his eyes that made my mouth go completely dry.

How did he manage to make such an innocent question sound suggestive? My imagination was running wild, and I didn’t know what was wrong with me.

It had been a long time since I’d actively loathed someone. Was it supposed to feel so much like lust?

“I’m already doing it,” I said through clamped teeth. My knee sweats were back. “Like I said, this is called progressive relaxation.”

“So we’re going to do my entire body?”

Again, unbidden images. I hadn’t been to church in years, but what from I remembered, lust was a sin, and if that was correct, I needed to stop it. Living in Florida had made me realize that I couldn’t end up in hell.

“Yes, because that’s how this works. Now be quiet.”

A small smile and he closed his eyes again. “Whatever you say, Sinclair.”

I used my hypnosis voice again and directed him to focus on feeling the tension in his chest, to concentrate on breathing slowly, and my gaze slipped over to the letter opener on my desk.

He made me nuts. I’d never, ever even considered harming another person before.

But nobody got under my skin like Mason.

I was kind of on autopilot as I tried to figure out this strange hold he had over me. I was an adult woman. It was ridiculous to be responding to a man who had hurt me so deeply just because he was objectively hot. I wasn’t seventeen any longer. I didn’t need to let my hyperactive ovaries be the boss of me.

“Good,” I told him automatically. “Very good.” I always assured my clients as we went through this exercise.

He crossed his arms across his chest, and his entire body tensed up. His eyes flew open, and that look, the one that felt so much like desire, was back. There was a heavy, charged moment that passed between us until he smiled and said, “I wish I’d known that all I had to do to get you to talk nicely to me was do a session of hypnosis with you.”

Although I knew he didn’t mean it that way, it made me feel like he was taking advantage of me, and I was back to wanting to maim him. I pressed my lips together. “This isn’t going to work unless you listen and stop talking.”

Now he looked smug, and that impulse to do something to wipe that smirk off his face was a bit overwhelming, but I refrained, even though my letter opener was right there, because I had promised I wouldn’t stab him.

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