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He laughed. “You got me.”
She smiled, drew another tile, and was able to play it on the sidecar. “You don’t have your ranch name on your gate.”
He placed a ten-one on a ten tile on the sidecar. “Never got around to it.”
She drew another tile. “What is its name?” Why hadn’t she thought to ask him that before?
“Ace High Ranch.” He grinned. “Almost named it High Roller, but since I’m not a gambler—other than this—” he gestured to the game. “—it didn’t make sense.”
“But you got your name from a game where aces were your highest hand…now that does make sense.” No place to play the tile she’d just drawn. “Pass,” she said before she added, “You should get a sign.”
“One of these days.” He played on her train again, a double ten then a ten-one since the first tile was a double. “I’m thinking an Ace of Clubs on the sign.”
She drew a tile and was able to play it. “Not an Ace of Hearts?”
He played a domino and met her gaze. “That would mean I’d need a Queen of Hearts.”
She laughed. She’d asked for that. “Anything else you’d put on the sign?
“Nah.” He looked at his tile and the board. “Pass.”
“Thank God.” She played a domino on his train. “You’re way ahead of me.” She pointed to his remaining tiles. “I’ve got six tiles left to your three.”
“The game can change in a flash,” he said.
“Tell me about it.” Things sure changed for her when it came to Ace. She wasn’t afraid of him, didn’t distrust him, didn’t harbor any negative feelings about him. She liked him, more and more as time went on.
She fought not to imagine him far more than just shirtless, making dinner in her kitchen, but it only made her imagine more of him naked. She felt like covering her eyes to stop the images, but that might look kinda weird to Ace, and he’d wonder why she was doing it. Damn, but her face was hot.
He smirked as he played a tile on the sidecar, leaving him with two dominoes. She groaned.
“I like the names of your salons,” he said. “The Escape Spa sounds like going to a tropical island.”
“That’s my theme.” She needed to dump her tiles before he beat her to it. Half of her remaining dominoes were high-numbered tiles. She drew again, hoping for something to play. She groaned as she drew the twelve-ten. “You’ll have to come in sometime for a pedi.”
“Me? A pedicure in a woman’s spa?” Ace laughed as he played a double nine and a nine-three. “I won this round.”
“We have men who come in to get a pedi-mani, too.” She pushed her tiles over so they were face up. “I must have sixty points here.”
“Nope, no manicure here.” Ace counted the numbers on her tiles. “Seventy-five to zero.”
This time she allowed herself to bury her face in her hands. No, now she was imagining him in only an apron.
“Hey, we’ve got twelve hands to go to get to double blanks,” he said. “But don’t expect any mercy from me.”
She looked up and gave him a determined look. “Iamgoing to beat you.”
After putting their numbers on the notebook to start keeping track, they turned all the tiles facedown and shuffled them before starting all over again.
“I named my other place Timeless Salon,” she said. “On the wall I have an analogue clock with no numbers, and I have an hourglass with no sand.”
Ace laughed. “Do you cut men’s hair?”
“Of course.” She smiled. “It’s an equal-opportunity hairstyle experience.”
His lips twisted into an amused expression. “I’ll come in for a haircut. But I’m asking for you. I only want the best.”
“I told you I don’t cut hair in the salon anymore.” She looked at her fifteen tiles again. “But I can set you up with the best stylist I have.”
