Page 21 of Hypnotized By Love

He grinned at me, and I felt the corners of my mouth wanting to rise in response, so I pressed my lips together tightly.

“I’m shocked you didn’t leave me behind,” he said, his voice teasing.

“Yeah, that makes two of us.”

Then he said something that nearly knocked me off my feet.

“Come to dinner with me.”

Sure I hadn’t heard him correctly, I said, “What?”

He enunciated each word carefully. “Come. To. Dinner. With. Me.”

“Are you asking or demanding?”

“Asking.”

It was very bad that part of me wanted to say yes. I settled on, “Uh, no, thank you.”

I thought it was very big of me to add the thank-you part of it. Sierra would have been proud of me.

Mason didn’t seem even a little bit deterred. “You want to say yes.”

His words slammed into me, making me feel off kilter. “What? I so do not.”

He looked up at the top of the building. “I’ve known you my entire life, Sinclair. Don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to yourself. I think we should talk things out. Over dinner. I’ll take you to Flavio’s and get you enchiladas.”

Mexican food had always been my weakness, and this wretch knew it.

“Let’s bury the hatchet,” he suggested. “And not in my back, like your look suggests.”

“I’m not the backstabber,” I told him. “And I’m not going to dinner with you. It would be totally unprofessional of me to go out with you. Do you even know—”

He had gotten me so worked up that I almost told him about getting censured and how dating someone who was just a temporary client might get me into real trouble. Mason wanted to write an article. I didn’t need to feed him things he could hold against me.

I’d like him to hold me against him,some rebellious part of me thought, and I groaned. I did not need commentary from my clearly deranged hormones.

The fire trucks pulled up in front of the building, and firefighters rushed inside.

Heather joined us, a shopping bag in hand. “Oh my goodness, what happened?”

“There might be a fire, and Sinclair here heroically rescued me,” Mason said.

“I didn’t—”

But Heather still hugged me, even though I hadn’t actually done anything. “Thank you so much!”

When she released me, Mason said, “I’ve been thinking about it, Mom. And I’ve changed my mind. I want to sign up to do an item for the silent auction.”

“That’s wonderful!”

He had locked his gaze with mine, his eyes dancing with mischief and delight that he’d caught me. Because I was in charge of the auction and would have to interact with him again to set it up.

Why was he being like this?

Heather said, “I’ll let you two work out the details. Savannah, I’m supposed to meet your mom for lunch. I’ll give her your love!”

I couldn’t help but sigh in frustration as she walked away. Who knew what Heather would share with her? This was like watching a car wreck happen in slow motion but being powerless to stop it.

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