Authors: Piper Vaughn
Chapter One
Dusty
“SO, HOW short do you wanna go? Would you
like me to take a couple of inches off the ends?”
The client I was working on—Rachel—
caught her lower lip between her teeth and eyed
her reflection in my station mirror. “I don’t know,”
she said dubiously. “What do you think? I’ve never
gone above my shoulders before, and I’m not sure
my husband would like it if I did….”
Personally, I thought with her long, narrow
face, she’d look better in a cute, chin-length bob,
maybe even with some soft waves thrown in, but I
could tell from her expression she wasn’t ready for
that kind of change. Not on her first visit with me
at least. And her current cut wasn’t terrible; it just
needed to be livened up a bit.
“How about I just trim the edges and put some
layers in? Add a little bit of volume?”
Rachel chewed her lip some more and met my
eyes in the mirror, her blue ones dark and anxious.
“Okay.”
“Don’t worry.” I smiled brightly and gave her
shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “You’ll look
gorgeous when I’m done. Your hubby won’t be
able to resist you.”
She grinned shyly at that. “It’s our one-year
anniversary today. He’s taking me to The Palm.”
“Ooh, nice,” I said as I got started, parting her
wet hair down the middle and gently running my
comb from root to tip, working out the knots and
considering how many layers I should put in.
“Happy anniversary. One year, huh? You’re
practically still newlyweds then.”
“Thanks! Sometimes it feels like we are. You
know how it is with work and everything.” She
waved her hand under her cape, nails swishing
against the nylon. “We barely get to see each other.
But I’m excited. He took the whole weekend off
for me.”
“That’s great,” I murmured, and if my smile
was a bit dimmer, my voice a little less
enthusiastic, I hoped only I noticed.
“I just can’t wait to be alone with him, you
know? He normally works the night shift, and it’s
been so long. I mean, really,
really
long. I’m
talking weeks here.”
I chuckled softly, reaching into my apron
pocket for my trimming shears.
Oh, honey, you
have no idea.
It had been
months
for me. Not since
my ex, Gary, whose name now made me cringe,
even if sometimes I couldn’t help missing the
version of him I’d known at the beginning. We’d
had a lot of fun together before everything went to
crap. He’d said he loved me, treated me right.
Then he decided he could slap me around
whenever I pissed him off… and I’d let him get
away with it too, because I was scared, ashamed
to tell anyone, terrified he’d leave and I’d be
forever alone. It had taken that night at the Two
Koi, the first and last time he’d hit me in public,
for me to realize I was so much better than he
deserved, and being alone was nowhere near as
frightening as staying with him.
“Are you seeing anyone?” Rachel asked
suddenly, as if she’d read my thoughts.
I paused with my scissors poised and ready to
snip the first of the layers I had planned. A flash of
pretty brown eyes popped into my head and was
gone faster than I could blink. I wished—
oh
, did I
wish—I could say yes to her question, but I hadn’t
seen
him
since that day last month, and before him
the only guy who’d really interested me had been
head over heels in love with someone else: my
best friend, Rue.
“Nope,” I said cheerily. “Chronically single,
that’s me.” There hadn’t been anyone serious
before Gary, and no one since. Erik never had eyes
for anyone but Rue, and my brief stint with Paul
back in May didn’t count. We’d fooled around
some, but that was all. Nice as he was, I’d known
from the start he wasn’t for me. Still, I had hope.
Maybe it was running on fumes these days and half
a breath from giving out, but it was there.
Eventually I’d find him, my one, and he’d want me
and only me.
“It’ll happen,” Rachel told me with a sage
little nod.
Instead of answering, I plastered on my
sunniest smile and got back to the business of
cutting her hair. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe her.
It would happen for me—I
knew
it would—but the
wait was getting awfully lonely in the meantime.
Rachel spoke again after a few seconds.
Thankfully, she’d found a new subject to focus on.
“So, how long have you had your septum pierced?
Did it hurt when you had it done?”
“Oh,” I said, my smile easing into something
that felt a lot more natural. Piercings were a topic I
could talk about all day. “It wasn’t bad, actually.
My eyes watered, but that was about it. The one
that
really
hurt was my daith, which goes through
the cartilage in the middle of my ear. The piercer
had to push three times before the needle went
through.”
Rachel cringed. “Ouch.”
“Yeah,
it
kind
of
sucked.”
Total
understatement. That experience was the reason I
only had it pierced on the left side. “But you know
what I’ve heard is the worst?”
Rachel shook her head and stared at me in the
mirror, eyes wide.
I winked at her. “It’s below the belt. I’ll give
you three guesses, and the first two don’t count.”
“COME on, come on,” I muttered under my breath,
standing up on my tiptoes to see what was holding
up the line. I was in my favorite smoothie shop,
only a few doors down from the salon where I
rented a chair. I’d dashed over during a gap
between clients, thinking I’d be in and out like
normal, but the line hadn’t budged since I’d
entered the shop.
I glanced at the watch on my wrist. It was my
favorite for work—waterproof, pink face, thick
black leather band, and lots of stainless steel
accents—and currently it was telling me I had less
than ten minutes before my next appointment was
due. I shifted anxiously from one foot to the other,
wondering if I should just leave and come back
later, but, damn, I was thirsty, and I’d been craving
my favorite smoothie all day. Thirsty or not,
though, I didn’t really want to keep a client
waiting. I’d only been at the salon for a couple of
weeks, and I’d been lucky to find something so
quickly and so close to home. I didn’t want to do
anything to mess it up.
I debated for another few seconds, sucking
nervously on one of the studs in my lower lip (bad
habit, I know), and had just started to turn to leave
when the guy at the head of the line finally moved,
and the girl in front of me with the cut arms and
preppy black fauxhawk stepped up to the register.
I bit back a sigh of relief and shuffled
forward behind her. I’d almost thought she was a
guy at first—a
hot
guy—but then she’d glanced
sideways and I’d noticed the disappointing lack of
an Adam’s apple in her profile.
Tragic.
She was
working that whole androgynous vibe, though, and
her body was seriously amazing. If I had to guess, I
would’ve said her ethnicity was Korean, just
judging by her facial features alone. She reminded
me of a girl I’d known back in high school.
“I’ll take a peach-basil smoothie,” she said.
Her voice was low, a little raspy. “Large, and add
an energy boost, would you?”
I spoke before I could think better of it. “Oh,
you like those too? I thought I was the only one.”
She turned to me in surprise. I realized then
we were almost the exact same height. I was kind
of short for a guy (the bane of my existence since
middle school, let me tell you), but she was taller
than most of the Asian women I’d known. Our
heights were where the similarities ended, though.
My body was slender without any real muscle
definition, while hers was lean and sinewy and
hard. No softness to her at all, except maybe in her
face, but her squarish jawline balanced out the
roundness in her cheeks. Just looking at her made
me feel guilty I’d skipped doing Pilates with Rue
three times that week. “Yeah,” she said after a
beat. “I love basil. I make these at home all the
time.”
I grinned at her. “Basil is great. I cook with it
constantly. Sometimes I even add it to my ice
water.”
“Really?” She seemed to consider that for a
moment. “I’ll have to try it.” She smiled and
extended a hand. “I’m Michelle, by the way. I’ve
seen you around, I think. Do you work nearby?”
“Dusty,” I said, reaching out to shake her
hand. Her grip was firm, the skin of her palm a bit
rough against mine. “I work over at Embellish.
You?”
“I teach classes at Cobra Fitness.”
Ah, so that
explains the body then.
“Ma’am? Here’s your change.”
Michelle turned back to the cashier, who was
holding out a couple of singles. “Thanks.” She took
her money and stepped aside so I could order.
“I’ll have the same thing, but make mine a
medium, please.”
The cashier nodded and accepted my cash.
I’d ordered it enough times that I had the exact
amount. I dug an extra single out of my apron and
tossed it in the tip jar before joining Michelle at
the other end of the counter.
“I love this place,” I said, just to keep the
conversation going. Aside from my clients and
coworkers, it was rare for me to see anyone but
Erik and Rue. And Alice, of course. They were my
family, and I loved them more than anything, but I
was sort of starved for new people to talk to. I
really needed to start putting myself out there.
Even though I knew they didn’t think of me that
way, sometimes it was hard not to feel like a third
wheel, especially with us all living in the same
house. “There weren’t very many like this back in
Wilmington.”
Michelle gave me a questioning look.
“Wilmington?”
“Delaware.”
“Ah. How long have you been in California?”
“About a month.”
“Liking it so far?”
“Loving it,” I answered with a smile. What
wasn’t to love? Being in Cali was the realization
of a dream. Sure, Rue’s more than mine, but I was
happy to be out of Delaware and somewhere I felt
like I actually fit in. And as much as I’d joked
about it with Rue in the past, I’d never particularly
wanted to work in some posh, exclusive salon,
never cared about styling the rich and famous. I
was happy working somewhere like Embellish—
nice, but not ridiculously expensive or over-the-
top.
I didn’t have a single complaint about my job.
I got to do exactly what I’d always wanted: make
people feel confident and look pretty. Rue and I
had experimented, doing each other’s hair and
makeup throughout all of high school. It hadn’t
taken either of us long to figure out what we
wanted to do after graduation, although coming up
with the money for the program had been another
matter entirely. That had taken
years
of saving. But
I’d never doubted it was what I should be doing.
There was only one thing lacking in my life, one
dream that remained unfulfilled. And maybe soon
that wish would come true too.
“Good,” Michelle said. “I’m glad you’re
enjoying it. I grew up in LA. Can’t imagine living
anywhere else.”
“Ma’am? Your drink.”
Michelle glanced over to where the cashier
had just placed her smoothie. “Well, I’d better take
off. I have a class at three. It was nice meeting
you.” She grabbed her cup and started for the door.
When she reached it, she turned back to look at me.
“Hey, if you have any interest in joining a gym,
stop by Cobra. I’ll give you a tour.”
“Thanks. I definitely will.”
She nodded once and left. A few seconds
later I had my own smoothie, and with a minute or
two to spare. I made it back to Embellish just as
my client was taking her seat.