“Eva, get off me.” Grabbing her wrists that she’d seemingly super-glued around him, he struggled to untangle her arms.
Still perched on his lap, she merely smirked. “So, did you two actually do it up here, or were you only setting up your next…appointment? Personally, I think it’d be hot to do it in some place public. Like a library. Except we’d have to be too quiet.”
Giving up on trying to unlace her arms from around his throat—because he was having no luck whatsoever—Mason lifted his hands in surrender. “Seriously, you need to get off me. Now.”
“Seriously,” she repeated, her smile teasing as she unfastened one arm from around him only to run her newly freed finger down the center of his chest. “You need to loosen up.”
I went cold all over, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to do my cousin intense, bodily harm, like break that finger she kept using to touch him.
“So, I’m not drunk now,” she said with a smile. “You don’t have to be a gentleman any longer. Still want to turn me down?”
“Yes.” He snorted. “I’m not going to sleep with you, Mercer. Ever.”
Her playful expression turned dark. Eyes flashing with outrage, she hissed, “Why? Because I’m not one of your professors? I can’t give you an automatic A for every orgasm well received?”
Oh, yeah, she totally said that.
“Actually, there are several reasons. And none of them have to do with that. First of which, you have a boyfriend, and he’s one of my good friends. Not to mention, I don’t want to have sex with you, plus your cousin is—”
Eva broke him off before I could hear what he was going to say about me. “Don’t you dare mention Reese. She’s been through enough and doesn’t need another loser asshole hurting her. So just stay away. Got it?”
Mason blinked, looking startled. Then his face clouded with fury. “Who hurt her? Hurt her how?”
Eva didn’t answer. Instead, she smiled. “She’s not to be played with. If you want to play, you’ll have to settle for me.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’ll pass.”
“Oh, I’m sure I could change your mind.”
She reached between his legs, and he reacted instantly, surging to his feet and dumping her off his lap to the floor in an angry heave. “Don’t ever touch me again.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to defend Mason or save my cousin—since he looked pissed enough to hurt her. But I flew from my hiding spot.
“Eva!” I shout-whispered. “What the hell are you doing? That’s sexual assault.”
Instead of apologizing with utter embarrassment, Eva turned indignant. Picking herself up off the floor in a huff, she scowled at me. “Whatever. He’s a prostitute, ReeRee. He’s nothing.”
Mason’s chest swelled as he sucked in a sharp breath. His eyes glazed with emotion, but I think there was more hurt than anger in their depths.
“He’s a human being!” I snapped. “He has just as many rights not to be harassed every time he turns around as you or I do. And how dare you do this to Alec. Were you seriously just going to cheat on him?”
My cousin wiped floor dust off her butt with a humph. “You’re blind if you can’t see I just did this for you.”
“Me?” My mouth fell open. “I guess I’m totally blind then. How did you do this for me?”
“He’s not good for you. I was trying to keep him away from you.”
I sighed. “Believe it or not, E., you don’t have to bother. Mason and I are just friends.”
She snorted. “Yeah, right. Keep telling yourself that, sweetie. Maybe someday our dead Grandma Dixon will actually believe it.” Searing Mason with a glare, she hissed, “You know better than to pant after her.” Then she stalked off.
Neither he nor I moved until she disappeared. Finally, he turned to face me, worry lining his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
I shook my head, making a face. “For what?” I was the one who seriously needed to apologize for my asshole relative.
He lifted his hands, his expression incredulous. “I just knocked your cousin to the floor.”
If I’d been him, I would’ve kicked her while she was down there. “You don’t have to apologize for that. I’m surprised you didn’t dump her off your lap sooner.”
He still looked like he wanted to keep begging for my forgiveness.
I couldn’t help it; I felt bad for him. Stepping close, I hugged him hard. “I never meant to bring the wrath of Eva down on you.”
He gave a startled jerk in my arms. “You didn’t. I brought it on myself.”
I pulled back, aghast. “Just because you had some misguided notion when you were eighteen, thinking you had to do something drastic and unnecessary to save your family, doesn’t mean you deserve to be treated with such constant degradation by every woman who crosses your path.”
It struck me how much even I had objectified him the first few times I’d seen him, waxing poetic about his amazing looks. I had cared nothing about his personality. About him.