Page 76 of Hypnotized By Love

Because I was home in bed panicking about you and now you’re here and I have absolutely no idea what to do with you.I wondered what he would do if I said it out loud.

I knew what he’d do. Tell me he knew exactly what to do with me.

Just the thought of it had my knees going woozy.

“I’m not feeling well,” I said, and it was true. I may not have had a fever before, but I definitely had one now. He made my internal temperature rise to dangerous levels.

“You look great to me,” he said, giving me one of those appraising looks that did funny things to my insides. “And why can’t you kiss me?”

“For one, you’re my client.”

“I am not your client.”

“You came into my office and had a session. How else would you define that?”

“As a journalist doing a story and needing to experience the process for myself,” he responded. “Also, I didn’t pay you.”

“What?”

“I never paid you,” he repeated. “Money would have to change hands for me to technically be your client, right?”

Yes, that was true. He hadn’t paid me.

Mason added, “I don’t plan on ever having you hypnotize me again, so I’m not a client.”

“You’re a journalist doing a story,” I said. “I’m your source. Don’t you have some ethical code about not hooking up with subjects of your articles?”

He stood up and walked over toward me, and it was like it was happening in slow motion.

Oh, I was so screwed.

“It sounds to me,” he said, “like you’re looking for an excuse.”

“I don’t need excuses. I have reasons.”

“Tell me your reasons.”

Here it was—the perfect opportunity to have the talk I’d told my sister I would have.

But my body quickly figured out that if I opened up that particular can of worms, it might not get kissed. It was very much against my brain’s plan, and it was winning this particular tug-of-war.

“No,” I said. And I didn’t know if I was saying no to telling him why I was mad or if I was trying to get my traitorous body to behave.

He put his hands on my waist, and my breath caught. He slowly slid them around to my back, pulling me against him. He did it so carefully, like he was waiting for me to stop him, but I didn’t want to.

Then, when I was firmly against him, I let out a sigh that was both relief and happiness.

“No one has to know but me, Sinclair. I can be your dirty little secret.”

Why did that sound so exciting?

My brain made a last-ditch effort. “What if my hypnosis hasn’t worn off yet? You said yes to ice cream with my family pretty quickly.”

He kissed my left cheek softly, then ghosted his lips over my sensitized skin. “I said yes because I needed to cool off. So that I could slow things down, like you said. I’m not under your spell, Sinclair. And I can prove it.”

Delighted shivers were racking my body. “How?”

“Ask me to do something and I’ll say no.”

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