Page 24 of Her Defiant Warrior

So good.

She went back to Jase. She poured a good-sized portion in her hand, then threaded it through his wet hair. The scent wafted up and surrounded her as she built up a lather. When all the suds had been evenly distributed, Bonnie began the mindless work of massaging Jase’s head. This was one of her favorite things to do for a client. She’d read up on it and asked her friend Lucy, who worked at a chiropractic office, for some tips on how to really give a good scalp massage.

Bonnie always took the time to do it right. She worked on the back of Jase’s neck, above the heated towels, making sure the lather was properly worked in and her fingers tenderly pushed in while her thumbs swirled around to the sides of his neck. It was important to never go too hard. Her job was to ensure he was relaxed, not to hurt him.

Her hands drifted upwards until her fingers stroked around the shell of his ear. He had gorgeous ears. Many people didn’t, but Jase’s ears were perfect. She wanted to pinch and bite his earlobe.

Bad Bonnie.

Bad.

She speared her fingers through his thick hair and took a deep breath of all the scents, the cypress. The bergamot. The leather. Then she smelled something else. It was tantalizing. She couldn’t place it. She should be able to. She worked with scents all the damn time. There was a bit of spice. She wanted to nuzzle his neck, breathe in his scent, revel in it.

Bad Bonnie. But it would be oh so good.

Shannon opened the door to the shampoo room. “Hey, toots, I can take Mrs. Lyles if you want…”

“What time is it?”

“Ten to two. You’re going to have to hustle if you want to make it to her normal arrival time.”

“Thanks Shannon. You don’t have anything?”

“Nope.”

“Let me see how it goes. Just be my back-up, okay?”

“Absolutely. Happy to finally do you a solid.”

* * *

Jase didn’t want to do anything to stop Bonnie from massaging his head. Whatever shampoo she was using smelled outstanding. Not as good as Bonnie smelled, but still, pretty damned good. He never considered shampoo before. There was the stuff that his dad had used, or the stuff that was on sale, or when he was really in a pinch, he used a bar of Irish Spring. But this stuff was the shit.

“You doing, okay?”

She even sounded different. Her voice was lower. It was like she was using her sex voice, that voice that all women had when they were picking a guy up in a bar. But that’s not what Bonnie was doing. This voice was smoky, and it was turning him on like crazy. Thank God he was wearing this goddamn cape. He was picturing her in his bedroom, using that smoky voice, and it was driving him out of his mind.

“I’m doing great,” he finally answered her. “Any better, and I would have melted right into the chair.”

Except my penis. That would have been the one thing that wouldn’t have melted. It would have been a rock-hard column standing straight up in a pool of goo.

“I’m glad.” He could hear that she was telling the truth. He liked that.

“I need to rinse your hair, then I can get you back to my station.”

The idea of being back out on the floor with all those chattering people, instead of here where it was just the two of them, made him cranky.

“Does anyone hire you just to give them weekly shampoos?”

Bonnie laughed. “You’re kidding, right? Who would do something like that?”

“Me. You have magic in your fingers.”

Jase caught her gaze and saw that she was blushing. Good, he was getting to her. That’s what he wanted. If she was off kilter a bit, then he could get under her defenses.

“Just lie back, and I’ll get your hair rinsed.”

Jase closed his eyes, savoring her touch as she sifted her small fingers through his hair, underneath the warm water.