Page 95 of Till The Sun Dies (Checkmate 2)

She snickers. “Sorry. I came because Jules is in labor, and I felt like I needed a baby buddy.”

“A baby buddy?”

“Yeah, Jess and Kane are sitting on the couch at home and staring at their phones, and though they didn’t tell me to get lost, I felt it was awkward the longer I sat on Kane’s lap. He can’t tell us apart yet, so my joke turned awkward after a while.”

“You sat in his fucking lap? Why? Why would you do that?” Images of him and Jess play through my mind. He doesn’tnottouch. His hands would have been all over Laine before he figured it out.

“Jesus, I was kidding.” Laughing, she pushes off the car and steps forward to close the gap between us. “I wasn’t in his lap; she was. But I felt like the third wheel, so I decided to make myself scarce. Do you mind? If you have plans somewhere else, I can go.”

“No.” I take a step forward and push a hand into my hair. “I don’t mind, but I do have an appointment in,” I check my watch, “eleven minutes ago.”

She snorts. “Oops. You’re gonna be in trouble.”

“She won’t get mad, but she sure as shit won’t wait around for me, either.”

“She?” Laine’s brows shoot high on her forehead. “Did I interrupt a date? Because I can get lost real fast and pretend we never spoke of this.”

“Not a date, a haircut. I booked in with Caitlin, since we’re going away and I haven’t had a haircut in forever. It’s time to stop looking like a bum.”

Snickering, she stretches her neck as though to study the bun at the back of my neck. “How much are you chopping off? I might have to cut a bitch if she buzzes you clean. I mean, you can do whatever you want – ya know, considering they let guys out of the kitchen these days – but damn, you’ve had long hair since forever, it might hurt my soul to see it gone.”

“Not buzzing, but I was thinking maybe bringing it shorter. It’s a pain in the ass having it long, and hot as hell in the summer. I’ve been meaning to do it for ages, but I’ve been too lazy.”

She taps her bottom lip and gives a contemplative nod. “She won’t wait for you? It’s only a minute across to her studio. I’ll come if you want, and we can hang out. Maybe I’ll talk her into frosted tips a’la Justin Timberlake when he was still dating Britney.”

“No.”Don’t smile. Don’t smile!“She won’t wait. She and her girlfriends are going out tonight, apparently. She’s always been a little… testy.” I scratch the stubble on my jaw and add that to my to-do list.

Clean the fuck up and stop looking homeless.

Pulling the keys from my pocket, I push my office door open again and flip the lights on. Laine follows me into the messy room, filling it with the scent of fruity shampoo that battles against the constant odor of oil and rubber.

“Caitlin doesn’t wait for anyone, but I’ll shoot her a text soon and book in again for tomorrow or Saturday.”

“I can do it.” She looks up at me through long lashes and nods at my desk. “Take a seat and lemme at a pair of scissors. I’ll do it up right.”

“Really?” Narrowing my eyes, I drop into my desk chair and palm the scissors before she finds them. “You know how to cut hair?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s just,” she uses her fingers and makes ‘snip, snip’ sounds. “I’ll do it good, I promise. No way in hell would I make you look bad.”

“O…kay.” I uncover the scissors and nudge them forward just half an inch. “You promise not to fuck it up? Like you just said, I’ve had this hair since forever. I’ll maybe cry if you make it weird.”

“Promise. You can trust me.” Setting her purse and keys down, she studies my office and whips a used towel from beneath a tower of paperwork. It teeters precariously, and with her legs braced and her hands raised in surrender – or telekinesis – she waits for the pile to settle.

Turning victoriously, she grins and walks a seductive track around my desk, stopping behind my chair until warmth radiates from her body and settles against my back.

This was a bad idea.

With gentle hands that make me swallow the lump in my throat, she fixes the towel around my shoulders and presses her palms against my traps. “Do you trust me?”

“To cut my hair?” I swallow and maneuver the corner of the towel to cover my crotch. “No.”

Snorting, her breath tickles the back of my ear until my eyes drift closed at the unintentional seduction.This was a terrible fucking idea.“You got a comb?”

“No.”

“It’s okay.” Completely unaffected by our nearness, she steps to her purse and fishes around in the bottom. Pulling out a gray comb and her flashing cell, she drops them on the corner of my desk near my arm, before she steps out of my office and comes back a minute later with a spray bottle I normally keep soap in. “It’s just water.” She shakes it. “Maybe a little soap left behind, but it won’t hurt your hair.” Stopping behind me, she pulls the tie from my hair and glances down as her phone vibrates. Mine does the same, since we’re both in the same chat, but she doesn’t open hers. She just reads the ‘six cm’s!’ on the screen, then turns back to me and starts running her comb through my hair. “Are you scared?”

I sit back in my chair and consider myself stuck. Laine Lenaghan is cutting my hair today, whether I like it or not. “Scared of what? My haircut?”

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