Page 49 of The Devil's Tattoo
My head sank to my knees, and Igroaned.
“Hey,” he said loudly. “Wanna give me ahaircut?”
“What? No. I don’t have any scissors.” Until three years ago, I was employed as a hairdresser. For some reason that was now lost on me, I wanted to cut hair for a living.As a career. I now saw that I was ill-suited for it. The reason being that you had to like people, and after the breakup, people and I didn’t get along. I’d cut ties with almost every aspect of that old life. I’d thrown away my scissors, my equipment, and every other reminder of that time that now seemed fake andempty.
Dee shrugged. “When you threw them out, I bin scabbed ’em when you weren’tlooking.”
“You’re so annoying.” I wondered what his game was. He had to have one because this was coming out of nowhere. Besides, he didn’t need ahaircut.
“I thought they might come in handyoneday.”
“Yeah, when you want a freehaircut.”
“Yeah,” he said like I was stupid, which only made me more annoyed, and heknewit.
“I don’t want to go back to thatshittyjob.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” he said. “I don’t trust anyone outside of you and that bloke at thebarbershop.”
“Thatblokehas been cutting your hair for three years, and you still don’t knowhisname?”
“Nope.” He popped thepattheend.
“You two fight like an old married couple,” Louie declared, and I realized everyone had fallen silent and were listening to us. I felt my faceredden.
“You’re cute when you blush, Zo,” Frank said loudly, and I almost got up to drown him in the pool, but Dee made a bold statement on mybehalf.
“Who needs a haircut? She’s an artist, our Zoe. Slices and dices likeRembrandt.”
“Dee,” Ihissed.
“What? Some of us might want to take advantage of yourskills.”
So that was how I found myself in the bathroom of my hotel room with Will sitting on a chair in front of me with a fluffy white towel around his shoulders and dripping wet hair. Dee’s game was revealed, and I wanted to give him ablackeye.
Brandishing my scissors, I asked, “Ready?”
Will smiled at me in the mirror. “As I’lleverbe.”
It was do or die, so I chosetodo.
I tried not to be awkward about it, but I found myself thinking almost instantaneously about how I was touching Will’s hair. Hell, I’d been a hairdresser for five years straight out of school for some unknown reason, and I’d touched plenty of hot guys’ heads. I’d shampooed and conditioned a ton of them—scalp massages and all—and in all that time, I’d never felt so uncomfortably turned on as I didrightthen.
I pushed his head forward so I could cut in at the nape of his neck, and I was able to study one of his tattoos without him noticing. It was a small hourglass with gray wings. I had something similar and felt myself blush. I was suddenly grateful he couldn’t see me in the mirror. I was red as abeetroot.
“Thanks,” he said as I began to cut. “It was gettin’ a bit outtacontrol.”
“No problem,” I said as evenly as I could. “What’s the use of having a qualified hairdresser around if you can’t take advantage,right?”
“Right.”
I focused on what I was doing. I couldn’t give him a shit haircut, not after Dee had talked me up like I was some kind of Leonardo da Vinci with scissors. It had to be perfect, but I couldn’t quite get past the fact that I was touching him. It took all my strength not to straddle him then and there. The room was small…pushing ustogether.
When it was time to do the top, I moved around to stand in front of him, pulling the comb through his wet curls, and for the first time, I could see his eyes clearly. I did my best to look away, but he was staring up at me like he’d never seen a girl cut his hair before. I was frozen to the spot, my heart thumping a million milesanhour.
I was in a daze as he reached up, took the comb and scissors from my hands, and set them on the counter. When he stood, the towel dropped to the floor, my gaze following it. Grasping both sides of my face, he pushed me back against the mirror andkissedme.
It took me by surprise, so when I hit the glass, I opened my mouth with a gasp, and he plunged his tongue right in, and I couldn’t stop myself. I kissed him back, my hands raking up his back as I pulled him harder into me. He claimed me with a hunger I didn’t know he possessed, and I wanted him justasmuch.
