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Maybe it wasn t so farfetched to think he had such a heavy reputation.  Are you saying you have a
class with her? With Dr. Janison? When I nodded, he closed his eyes briefly.  Shit.
Well, that didn t sound good.  What? What does that mean?
 Look. He sighed, sounding incredibly tired.  If she starts giving you a tough time, or failing you
or& anything, let me know. I ll talk to her.
 Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why& why would she fail me just for sitting next to you on a public bench?
And setting my hand on his arm as if we were dating, and& oh, crap.
But wait.  That makes no sense. Even if we had& you know, had sex or whatever, she has no
reason to get jealous. Doesn t she know she can t possibly be your only& customer?
 Of course she knows. But you re obviously not a customer. She might feel slighted if she thinks I
gave you a&  He glanced away and waved his hand.  You know, a freebie.
 Wow. Okay. But wow. Not only is this the strangest conversation ever but, wow. A freebie?
Mason sent me a dark glance as if he didn t think I was taking the situation seriously enough.  You
know what I mean.
I barked out a laugh, because okay, yeah, the whole conversation did feel incredibly ridiculous.
 Just convince her I paid for it then, that I m, you know, a client too, just like her.
He blinked.  What? You don t want me to tell her we re not fooling around at all?
Flushing hard, I cleared my throat and glanced away.  Or that. That& I mean, sure, the truth would
probably be best. Yeah. Let s stick with the truth.
Mason shook his head, looking entertained and frustrated in equal parts.  Except she won t buy it.
And she knows you can t be a client.
 Hey. Why couldn t I be a client?
Was I too young? Not classy enough? Not his type?
His lips tightened as if he was trying not to smile. But his eyes lit with amusement.  Reese, you
just admitted you couldn t afford the same kind of shoes as her. There s no way you could afford me.
Oh, now he sounded like Eva.
I didn t want him to know it, but that kind of offended me.
 Really? I arched an eyebrow and set my hands on my hips.  Just how much do you cost, Mr.
Ego?
Leaning in close, he whispered an amount in my ear. My mouth dropped open.  Okay, yeah. I
couldn t afford that. But& wow, I don t know. I flailed my hand.  Don t you have a payment plan or
something? Reduced prices for the lower income?
He sputtered through a startled laugh.  No, I do not offer payment plans. Are you for real? I play
the expensive way, or I don t play at all. I don t do this for my health, you know.
 Then why 
 Because being a decent, moral upstanding citizen didn t keep the eviction notices away, he
snapped.  It didn t get my sister a new wheelchair, and it didn t put food on my mother s table, or
keep the electric company from turning off our power in the middle of the hottest day of the year. And
it sure as hell didn t get me enrolled in college this semester. This is all about the money. Only about
the money. Got it?
 Got it, I said in a small voice. Then I offered him a smile.  Actually, that explanation makes you
sound kind of noble, you know, with you falling on the sword of absolute depravity to save your
family. You d probably make a good Saturday afternoon movie.
There. I hoped that sounded frivolous enough, like I really didn t care what he did with his life.
But Mason blinked at me.  You re& insane.
 Only on Thursdays. I wrinkled my nose since he was counting my nose-wrinkles and all.
He grinned unwillingly, I think, but hey, at least I d managed to ease some tension from the
moment.
Popping a salted tomato between his perfect lips, he chewed with vigor& until I went and asked,
 So, you don t give out freebies? Like ever? That just sounded so bizarre to me. I would ve thought
a gigolo would be a complete man-whore, even off the clock.
But when his jaw went dead still as he stopped chewing and he said,  Are you& asking for one?
I wanted to smack myself on the forehead.
Crap, I hadn t meant to make my question sound so hopeful.  What? No! Then for good measure,
I made an incredulous sound.  God, no.
He gaped at me, telling me he didn t believe me.
I flushed and looked away.  I m not  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him sleeping with
him would break my heart. But admitting that couldn t end well, so I repeated,  No! just to be clear.
 I m not like that. I need to be in, you know, a committed, monogamous relationship, and& in love,
and stuff, before I& sleep with someone.
Shifting closer and setting an elbow on the table to study me until I squirmed on the inside, he
softly asked,  Have you ever been in love?
My mouth fell open.  Are you asking if I m a virgin? Because I m not 
Lifting his hand, he waved it softly to stop my flow of embarrassing words.  That s not what I m
asking.
 Oh. I cleared my throat and glanced away. More self-conscious than I d ever been, I bit my lip
and winced.  Well& I don t&  I shook my head. His question was too complicated to answer with a
simply yes or no.  I m not sure what I was, if it was stupid, too-young-to-know-better infatuation or
what, but it definitely wasn t love. And I m not about to make the mistake of not knowing the
difference ever again.
His lips tilted up in a smile, almost as if he were proud of me.  Good.
Huh? I wasn t sure which part of that he approved of so much, but the admiring gleam in his eyes
made me a touch too warm. I promptly turned the subject back to him and back to why I needed to stay
away.  So, if it s common knowledge around here that you re really, you know, what you are, then
how have you never been arrested before?
 It s not common knowledge. It s a common rumor. He squinted as if he wanted to say more on
the topic but sighed instead.  You re not going to leave this alone, are you?
 Hey, it s not every day I meet a gigolo. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]