Page 96 of Hypnotized By Love

“Did you?”

“Yes! I parked my mom’s car down the block.”

“You are so smart,” I said, admiring him.

“I know.” He gave me a quick kiss. “It’s a good thing, too. If she knew what we were doing up here, both of our moms would be ordering bride catalogs tomorrow.”

“What’s a bride catalog?”

He shrugged, not able to lift his shoulders up very far, as we were still intertwined. “I don’t know anything about the industry. Don’t they have those? Where you order wedding stuff?”

“I think they’re called bridal magazines. Or websites. I think a bride catalog is a way to order a bride.”

“Don’t tell my mother that she can order me a bride,” he said. “She’d do it before I got home tonight.”

“What kind of bride do you think she’d order for you?”

He smiled adoringly at me. “The dark-haired, tall, smart, loving kind with a wicked spike.”

“I haven’t spiked a volleyball in years,” I told him.

“Who said I’m talking about volleyball? I meant your verbal skills.” Another quick kiss that felt far too fast.

“I have to go in and see what she wants,” I said. “I was all hot and bothered, and now I’m just bothered and hot.”

Mason gave me his signature sexy smile that sapped nearly all of my willpower. “I could try to fix that.”

“Maybe another time.”

“Another time,” he agreed, giving me a fleeting kiss. “I’m going to sneak back to my car.”

He kissed me about a dozen more times, saying after each one that he had to go, until he finally left. I stayed on the floor, willing my heart rate to return to normal.

It didn’t help things when Sierra threw the trapdoor open and said, “There you are!”

I yelped and put a hand over my chest.

She came into the treehouse, taking in my romantic date setup. “Oh ... what was happening here? Or, rather, is going to happen in the very near future?”

“Mason came by, and we hung out.”

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows at me.

I had to tell her what was going on. I needed to vent. “Confession time—we have discussed that the adult and rational thing to do is to take things slowly so that I can trust him again, but every time he gets close to me, all of that goes out the proverbial window, and I pounce on him. He says the most romantic things you could possibly imagine, and he, well, looks like Mason, so there’s been a lot of making out.”

“It makes sense. The two of you have a lot of pent-up longing to express,” she said. “Mom’s looking for you.”

“I know. I heard. I’ll go inside in a minute.” I was going to lie here for about five minutes, until all of my nerve endings calmed down, and then I would go into the house.

Where I planned on taking a very long and very cold shower.

“Cool.” Her expression shifted, and I realized that there was something she wanted to say to me, but she was worried.

“Out with it.”

“When you get the chance, you might want to check out that message board for our high school. In the alumni section. There’s something I think you might want to see.”

She climbed back down, letting the door shut, and I reached for my phone. I found the board she was talking about, and I felt a strong wave of nausea when I saw why Sierra had brought it to my attention.

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