Page 51 of Pretend You're Mine
Then again, who was I kidding? If the next night went how I thought it was going to go, it would be complete chaos.
I sat and waited. And waited and waited. I waited while she finished cutting the hair of one lady, wrestling her curls into a masterpiece of elegance. And then I waited as she cut another woman’s red hair to a stylish bob. I waited as she gave the third lady a shampoo and a set, expertly working her straightener on the frizzy hair. I was amazed that the end result was a smooth and chic style that looked nothing like the disaster the woman had walked in with. Naomi was truly an artist and I found that I loved watching her work.
And, once all women were gone and finished, I could wait no longer.
“Want help?” I asked as Naomi set about sweeping up the piles and plops of hair all over the ground.
“I’m fine,” she said.
I got her a plastic cup of some coffee from the coffee machine anyway.
“Thanks.” She smiled. I didn’t move.
“Oh, all right,” she said with a sigh.
“Okay, so the grand tour,” she said. “Here’s chair one. Here’s chair two.” Her hands swept about where she described as she walked. “Here’s the waiting area. Here’s my break room.”
She strode into a small hallway I followed her into. She flicked her arm in a cupboard-sized room and then walked away, although I was still peering inside it.
On the wall, there was a poster board filled with pictures I wanted to ask about.
The sounds of Naomi cleaning up filtered over.
“What about my shave?” I called after her.
She stopped walking. “You were serious?”
“You weren’t?” I said.
“I just thought you were looking for an excuse to show up at my work like a creeper,” she said with a half smile.
I grinned at her. “Creeper, eh? Yeah, I suppose it could have looked like that. But no, I know you’re busy and I wanted to spend some time with you so I figured this would be the easiest way. Plus, I do need a shave so, two birds with one stone and all that. I pride myself on efficiency.”
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest, trying but unable to hide the smile that pulled at her lips.
“Fine. A shave it is,” she said, stepping over to me. She basically shoved me into a chair, although I wasn’t complaining.
“I like me a take charge kind of woman,” I said.
Naomi was busy surveying me with narrowed eyes, trying not to smile.
“What?” I said.
“Has anyone ever told your that you are relentless?” she asked.
I laughed out loud at that. “I have been accused of that a time or two, yes,” I admitted.
“As long as you’re aware,” she said, stepping forward and placing a towel around my neck.
I kept my mouth shut and closed my eyes as she got to work. It was strangely intimate, her rubbing in the shaving gel, then gliding the razor in long unbroken strips over my cheeks and jaw. Almost pleasurable – that glide with the odd scrape… The lap of the razor. How many times had I had my face shaved many times before and it had never been sensual like this.
And then, her other hand on the back of my neck, steadying her shaving hand.
When my eyes opened, I wanted to kiss her, but she’d already moved on, patting my face dry, now finished.
“What’s in the back room?” I asked.
As quickly as I’d forgotten about the picture-covered board, just now I’d remembered it.
“You mean my break room?” she asked.
“Yeah, the poster board with all the pictures.”
Naomi took her time saying, “Oh. That.”
“Yes, that.” I swiveled my head at an angle to eye her. Clearly, she was finished anyway, already putting away her tools. “Just my dream board.”
That was all the permission I needed to get to my feet and head that way.
“Xander!” she cried, rushing over to grab my arm, but it was too late.
I was already back in there, looking at it, seeing the pictures.
The building labeled Eighteen. The clasped hands. Some wooden cabin that caught my eye. I pointed, “What’s this?”
“I … It’s stupid.” Naomi wouldn’t meet my eye.
“Your dreams aren’t stupid. What is it?” I said.
“You’re going to laugh.”
“I won’t.”
“Fine. Whatever. It’s just another one of my dreams – owning a gorgeous, all-wood chalet in one of the forests in Germany like that. Saw some movie with this great one as a kid and I’ve wanted one ever since.”
Now her smile went pragmatic. “Pretty crazy, but a girl can dream, right?”
I had my own views on that, but my finger had already gone to the building labeled Eighteen “But this – this was a dream and you actually did this.”
“True.”
My finger went back to the chalet. “Why not this then?”
