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I led him to the washing station and he leaned back in the chair. Turning on the water, I waited a few seconds for it to warm up, then tested it on him. “How’s that temperature?”
“Perfect.”
I wet his hair and washed it, pretending he was just another client and my stomach wasn’t filled with butterflies. It worked well enough until I started massaging his scalp, like I always did, and he groaned.
He chuckled softly. “Sorry. That feels good.”
I pressed my lips together and kept massaging, willing myself not to say something embarrassing. His eyes were closed, so mine roamed over his handsome features. He groaned again, the noise low in his throat. Normally I would have stopped massaging by that point, but I kept going a little longer.
But honestly, could you blame me?
Finally, I had to stop or I was going to make things awkward. I had him sit up and pressed a towel to his hair to get the excess water off.
“That almost put me to sleep,” he said. “You have talented hands.”
I laughed and my cheeks blazed with heat. This man was going to kill me right here in my own salon.
Oddly, that made me think of the way Zachary had looked lying on the floor.
Strange thought to have at that moment.
“We can go back over to my station.”
Preston followed me and sat in the chair. And I got to work.
“So, you must be new in town,” I said, attempting a normal conversation while I started cutting. “Or visiting?”
“I don’t live here full time, but I’m building a place about an hour northwest of here. Kind of a mountain getaway. It’s fairly isolated, so Tilikum is a convenient place for me to stay when I’m in the area.”
That was interesting. The Tilikum gossip line had been buzzing about someone building a mansion on the river. A lot of local tradesmen had been hired to work on it, including Stacey’s husband. This had to be the owner.
“Where do you live the rest of the time?”
“Seattle.”
That was common. There were quite a few out-of-towners, mainly from the Seattle area, who owned vacation homes in the area. Most of them rented them out when they weren’t using them.
“What about you?” he asked. “Are you from Tilikum?”
“Born and raised. I went to beauty school in Wenatchee, but otherwise, I’ve always lived here.”
“It’s a nice town. I like it.”
“Me too. Small-town living isn’t for everyone, but it suits me.”
His eyes caught mine in the mirror again and he smiled.
Focus, Marigold. Don’t screw up his hair.
“What do you do for a living?” I asked, letting my ‘make conversation with the client’ habit take over.
“I’m a lawyer.”
“What kind of law do you practice?”
“Corporate law. It probably doesn’t sound riveting, but I like it.”
“As long as you enjoy what you do, that’s what matters.”
