“Oh, come on, beauty. You have to admit, there are worse things than your little girl being tough.”
The first thought I had was how him calling me “beauty” caused a flutter deep in my belly—a flutter I hadn’t felt in more years than I cared to count. The second thought was how that flutter was not a good thing. I needed to stay away from this guy. Everything about him was just too tempting. I couldn’t risk letting myself feel any more for him than I already did.
Turning my back on Brett, I faced Lizzy and shoved my finger in her face.
“You,” I scolded. “No more teaching my kids bad habits or I’ll make sure to feed each of them a pound of candy before your next babysitting gig.”
Without another word to either of them, I walked away and started preparing for my first appointment.
Damn, that was one prickly woman. No matter how I went about it, I couldn’t get so much as a civilized conversation out of her.
And damn it…that just pissed me off. I knew she was interested. When she thought I wouldn’t notice, I’d caught her staring at me enough times to know that much. And if that hadn’t been enough to go off, how those expressive hazel eyes of hers darkened as they scanned over my body was a pretty damn strong tell.
She wanted me. I was convinced of it. And I wanted her like I couldn’t recall ever wanting another woman before. Female companionship was never something I lacked; I’d just never really wanted anything longer than a few nights. But I could see something more with this woman. She’d piqued my interests the moment I walked into Lizzy’s salon and caught sight of her. There was just something in those eyes, something that ran so deep in her jade pools I couldn’t decipher what it was.
Lizzy told me she had some baggage and an asshole ex but other than that I had no real clue who the woman was. She was a complete mystery, one I was desperate to unravel. I found myself wanting something I’d never wanted with another woman before.
I wanted to know her. Not just bang her, but actually find out what made this woman tick.
I was tired of tiptoeing around, waiting for something to magically happen. I was a man used to going after what I wanted and that was exactly what I was going to do. But I was going to have to go about it in a different way. Something told me that waltzing up to her and flirting my ass off before asking her if she wanted to go home with me was definitely out of the question. Everything about Kenzie’s demeanor indicated she wasn’t a one-night stand sort of woman, and for once in my life, that actually worked for me, since as I was pretty sure I wanted way more than one night. Pursuing Kenzie was out of my comfort zone, but there was a pull every time I was in her presence that I couldn’t ignore. I wanted to take that darkness, that sadness I saw deep in her eyes, and make it disappear. Comfort zone or not, I was going after this woman with everything I had.
Taking the opportunity to catch her unaware while her head was down rummaging through a drawer for whatever it was she needed, I walked over to her little table.
“I didn’t mean to offend you a minute ago.”
Her head shot up as a startled gasp escaped her lips. “Jesus, you scared the crap outta me. You can’t just wander up on a person like that.”
She looked so damn cute when she was all ruffled and reprimanding me like I was one of her kids; I couldn’t help but laugh.
Her eyes narrowed in a fierce glare causing me to hold my hands up in surrender. “Sorry, beauty. Didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to come over and apologize for earlier. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just meant that it’s good your little girl’s already so strong willed.”
The anger slowly crept out of her gaze as she eyed me cautiously. “Thanks,” she said, sounding somewhat hesitant.
“You’re very welcome, beauty.”
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
The corner of my mouth tipped up in a smirk that most women found irresistible as I answered her with complete honesty. “Because I think you’re beautiful. You’re one of the most stunning women I’ve ever laid eyes on. I’m just calling it like I see it.”
Usually, a woman would have melted if I told her something like that, but Kenzie’s demeanor didn’t shift whatsoever, except to grow a tad icier.
“Thanks.” Her tone as she spat out that one word was anything but thankful. She clipped out that one syllable so sharply, I was surprised she didn’t cut herself on it.
I was floundering, and to make matters worse, Trevor and the rest of my crew had already come into the salon and gotten to work. And by work, I mean they were hovering around trying not to make it obvious that they were eavesdropping on every friggin’ word between Kenzie and me.