Page 25 of Falling for You

He nods then closes his eyes briefly when I run my fingers through his hair.

Considering the last time I let myself get caught up in his looks I gave us both an unwanted shower, I do my best to keep my focus only on his hair. No need to cut off a finger with my sheers.

I’m so lost in cutting that when Rex speaks, I startle. “What would you do differently?”

After getting my heart rate back under control, I finally respond, “What do you mean?”

“With your own.” He looks around the shop and it clicks what he’s asking.

“Oh! Well, I’d be the owner, for one thing. The best way to explain it is, I just pay a chair fee here. Which is fine, but I want something to call my own, I guess.”

“That makes sense.”

I finish clipping the last few longer strands of his dark hair then reach for the clippers to clean up his neck. “Yeah. One day, it will happen,” I tell him with determination over the buzz.

“I believe that.”

“Thank you.”

“So that’s it? Just that you’d be the owner?”

“No, that’s not all, but that’s the main reason. I love working here. We’re a family, which I don’t have any of, so it makes coming to work not feel like work at all. But owning my own business has always been my dream. It’s just going to take a little more patience on my part for it to happen,” I explain, shrugging as if it’s no big deal. In reality, it isn’t. I have a nice home to go to every night and I really do like working at New You. Perhaps I need to focus on what I do have rather than what I don’t.

I unsnap the cape and use the blow dryer to clean off the extra hairs on his neck. Then, because I can’t help myself, I aim it at his legs to help dry his jeans a bit.

Looking up at him from under my lashes, a smile plays on my lips and widens when I see he’s doing the same, our eyes meeting in the mirror.

“See? It is a full service salon. Not only do you get a cut, a shower and blow dry, too.”

“But no happy ending,” he reminds me, slipping his glasses on.

“Right.”

We make our way to the counter, where Jana is sitting once again, and he pulls out his wallet.

“No way. This one was on me. Especially after what happened back there.” I point over my shoulder with my thumb.

“Are we about to have a fight? You provided a service and I’m going to pay you for it.”

“I also sprayed water all over your body.”

“Ahh. So it sounds like maybe you owe me, then,” he says, leaning in a little closer.

I laugh nervously. “So uh, I meant to thank you. For calling your friend about fixing my water heater.”

We’re both leaning against the counter facing each other. He inches closer and the awareness of his presence hits me full force. “He said it’s working okay now?”

Swallowing hard, I say, “Yeah. It is. And it wasn’t very expensive, though, he refused to let me pay him for his labor so it was only the part.” I notice how he presses his sexy lips together, like he’s trying not to laugh. “You know anything about that?”

“Nope.”

“Hmm. I thought you told me you would never lie to me.”

“Shit. I did say that, didn’t I? Does that mean I’ll never be able to surprise you?”

More stomach fluttering when he mentions being around each other again. “Depends.”

“Good to know.” The door behind him opens and my next customer comes in. “I guess I should let you get back to it, huh?”

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