Green Card Read Online Free Page B

work with her as often as possible even if it meant trying to resist her luscious body and the vixen he had apparently unleashed. He gazed over at her and squeezed her hand. They shared a knowing smile.
    Lying to her uncle couldn’t continue, though. Mason would have to come up with a costume for her to wear. Something told him that if the strict disciplinarian discovered she was modelling it wouldn’t be as bad as if he discovered she was modelling nude.
    When they arrived at the restaurant, Katia stopped. “I live upstairs. Thank you for walking me home.”
    “No problem. Thanks for modelling for me.” He remembered he owed her money and reached for the wallet in his back pocket. “By the way, I need to fit you for a costume. When do you think you might be available during the day?”
    “Don’t you work?”
    “I’m on summer sabbatical.”
    She gasped and her eyes bugged out. “Are you a priest?”
    He let out a brash laugh then caught himself and lowered his voice. “No, dear. I’m a teacher at the high school. It’s closed for the summer.”
    “Do you teach art?”
    “Unfortunately. It’s almost killed my creative spirit but not quite.”
    She watched him count out the bills, and said, “I have Wednesday off. I guess we’ll have to go shopping during the day when the stores are open.”
    The lights inside the restaurant clicked on. Katia’s uncle stood immobile just behind the door with his fists on his hips, frowning. Katia jammed the money into her purse and fished out the front door key.
    Mason scratched his head. Damn, this doesn’t look good.
    As soon as she opened the door, her uncle yanked her inside. Before the shit storm hit, Mason wedged his foot and shoulder in the door so it couldn’t be slammed in his face.
    “Not a date, huh? Not a normal, legitimate date, anyway. You didn’t tell me you were a prostitute!”
    “It’s not what you think, sir,” Mason interjected, quickly.
    “What I think is that this girl has no morals, and you obviously don’t either. If you don’t want to be arrested, get out and never come back.” He began to drag a terrified Katia towards the swinging door.
    “No.” Mason thrust his way in and folded his arms, scarcely believing he was going to get involved in this.
    His cool, collected voice must have surprised her uncle because he stopped. He let go of Katia and shoved her. “Go pack your things and get out!”
    Then he turned to Mason. The older man’s bushy eyebrows seemed stuck together with a deep wrinkle in the middle. “You take advantage of my niece, and you don’t want to get out of my restaurant? I could shoot you as a robber right now, and no one would know otherwise.”
    “Do not do that, uncle.” Katia straightened her posture and lifted her chin, defiantly. “I would tell the police what really happened.”
    “What? You would turn against your own family?”
    “Family? Ha! You treat me no better than a slave.”
    “You ungrateful little whore. Say hello to your mother for me when you run back to her.”
    Taking on his Totalitarian’s most menacing stance, Katia bristled. “Stop it, uncle!”
    Mason held up one hand. “Don’t say another word, sir. Not another sentence. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll let me speak.”
    The older man folded his arms and appeared amused. “And what are you going to do to me if I don’t?”
     Mason had to think of an explanation fast. There had to be some kind of logical clarification that wouldn’t get Katia in hot water. The only thing he could think of was the one thing he’d told her would never happen. “I heard about Katia’s mother. Apparently, you don’t feel inclined to help the woman, even though she’s your sister, so I said I would. I gave Katia some money to send to her.” Okay, so it wasn’t exactly a lie. Katia would probably have sent the money to her mother anyway.
    “So you’re saying you fell for a pretty girl with a sad story. I imagine it was creatively