Page 31 of Hypnotized By Love

“Such a gentleman,” she cooed at him. “I’ve heard good things about this place.”

“I have to admit that it’s the first time I’ve been on a date with reptiles.”

“Not me,” she said as she went inside. “I’ve dated plenty of them.”

Mason laughed, and that jealous feeling intensified tenfold and slammed into me, making my chest go concave.

I still didn’t understand my apparent ability to hold multiple emotions at once. How I could want to touch him, be envious that Bridget made him laugh, freaked out that Mason had the power to potentially hurt me, and still really hate him. A lot.

He held the door open for me, and I debated whether or not to tell him I didn’t want him to open my door, as I didn’t need any help from him. But then I would never hear the end of it from my mom for being rude, so I decided to settle on the path of least resistance and went intothe building. He brushed past me to go to the hostess’s stand, and I had to fight off a wave of wanting him.

Had I done this? Opened Pandora’s box by trying to comfort him? Had I doomed myself to hating him while also craving his touch?

It didn’t matter. I was going to keep him safe tonight, get his word that he wouldn’t do anything stupid in the morning, and then send him on his way. I wouldn’t be seeing him again.

Apparently Mason had made a reservation, and after he gave his name, the hostess asked, “For three?”

“Yes, for three.” That jerk turned to wink at me, letting me know that he’d accurately guessed I was going to show up and had made a reservation sure that I would come.

Part of me wanted to spin on my heel and walk out, just to spite him, but I didn’t. Instead I followed behind Mason and Bridget as the hostess led us to our table.

It was on a balcony completely enclosed in glass so that we had a good view of the alligators without all the humidity and bugs ruining our dinner. There were three place settings, and the fourth side of the table was pushed up against the balcony wall. Mason pulled out Bridget’s chair on the left side of the table, and as she sat down, I debated where I should sit. Next to her, to be a buffer? Putting me in the center between them? That seemed like the best bet. But then Mason would be across from her and would be captivated by her eyes and her, uh, other assets.

Keeping him a bit farther away seemed like the better option, and as I went to sit down in the middle seat, he said, “Wait.”

Then he pulled my chair out, and I was worried he might try to yank it out from underneath me. I kept both of my hands on it as I sat, and he made an exasperated sound.

“I’m not going to drop you on the floor, Sinclair.”

Bridget pretended not to notice, and I ignored him. I didn’t trust him. When my rear end had made full contact with the chair, he helped me scoot it in a bit, more strongly than was probably necessary.

He sat across from Bridget, on my right side. And it was then that I remembered he was left-handed, which meant he was probably going to be bumping into me all night as we tried to eat.

I sighed. None of this was going how I’d planned.

Bridget set her purse on the table, and Lulabelle stuck her face out, her tongue lolling out of her mouth like usual.

Mason startled. “What is that thing? A rat?”

“She is a Chihuahua, and watch what you say. My Lulabelle is very sensitive.”

“Is it sick?”

“She always looks like that,” I told him.

For the first time since he’d been back, Mason seemed to be at a total loss for words.

I picked up the menu. “So do they serve alligator here? Because that would be horrible, and I definitely don’t want to order that by mistake.”

“I looked it up online, and they don’t. They’re just here for the ambience,” Bridget said. “I’m in the mood for some ribs, but they only do a full rack, and there’s no way I could finish that off. Savannah, do you want to split it with me?”

I was glad to have someone else making decisions for me at that moment, given that the words on the menu were kind of swimming in front of me because this entire thing was so surreal.

I was a third wheel on my best friend’s date with Mason Beckett.

If somebody had told me a week ago that this was going to happen, I would have bet my entire life savings against it.

“Sure,” I said as I set down my menu.

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