But by the heated looks he’d given her, the man hadn’t seemed to mind. So neither did she.
Freya wasn’t one to flirt with her clients. Ever. With the few men who’d sat in her chair, she’d kept things completely professional. With Xander? Well, he wasn’ttechnicallya client. Not really. Besides, he made flirting easy. Which wasn’t something she usually did.
She was an introvert who’d never made the first move with a guy. She’d never asked a guy out. Had never been bold and flirty. Her actions today proved that she still wasn’t. Yes, she’d excessively run her hands through his hair, but not in anobviousobvious way.
But what had her timidness gotten her?
A string of cheating boyfriends. Guys who’d made her feel like crap about herself. Who’d gaslighted her into believing she was the cause of their relationship issues. If she’d paid more attention to them, if she’d worked less, if she’d put more effort into going out with their friends, they wouldn’t have had to cheat. Rinse and repeat.
Four serious boyfriends in her twenty-nine years, and not one had remained faithful.
What was that saying about insanity? Doing the same thing and expecting different results? Yeah.
Maybe she needed to mix things up. Throw caution and her self-imposed dating rules out the window and just go with it. She wasn’t sure she wanted a relationship, since those never seemed to work out for her, and she sure as hell had no clue what Xander wanted. If he wanted to do casual, she’d be cool with something like that. Granted, she’d never had a casual affair, but there was a first time for everything, right?
Catching her reflection in the employee lounge mirror, she paused and studied herself. Her long black hair still held a wave, though she wished she had time to refresh some of the curls.Leaning closer to the mirror, she grimaced. Swiping a finger under her right eye and then the left, she removed the mascara smudges.Raccoon eyes. Excellent.
She grabbed her purse from her employee locker, pulled out her compact, and powdered her nose. She reapplied her lip gloss, tossed it back into her purse, and grabbed her jacket. That was as good as it was going to get. Besides, Xander had just spent the last hour with her—raccoon eyes and all—and he still wanted to go to dinner.
She took a deep breath in, hoping it would bolster her confidence, and headed back to the waiting area. She slowed at the front desk and took a moment to just look. Xander sat in one of their oversized chairs. His large body and broad shoulders dwarfed the plush chair. He had his phone to his ear and was smiling and shaking his head at whoever was on the other line while running his free hand through his freshly cut hair.
“You going out with Hottie McHotterson tonight?” Audrey asked with a dreamy wispiness in her voice.
Freya glanced at the spa’s receptionist and grinned. “Yeah, that’s the plan. Have a good night.”
“You lucky bitch,” Audrey whispered with a dramatic sigh. “You better have areallygood night. One I want to hear all about tomorrow.”
“Not gonna happen.” Freya shot her coworker a wink. “See ya!”
With Audrey muttering about helping a girl out, Freya chuckled and walked toward the salon’s waiting area.
When Xander saw her, he murmured into his phone and quickly ended his call.
“Hey,” she said. “Sorry I took longer than expected.”
“You’re good.” He rose and gestured for her to precede him. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” She waved at Audrey as they passed and then glanced up at him. “I assume you’re parked in the main lot?”
“I am,” he replied.
He held the door open for her, and the cool, crisp November air sent a shiver down her spine.
She zipped up her jacket and gestured in the opposite direction of the main building. “I’m parked in the employee lot, but I can drive around and meet you up front. Then I can follow you downtown. Or if it’s easier, I can just meet you at Monty’s.”
“How about I walk you to your car, then you drive me to mine in the main lot?” He shrugged. “Not to state the obvious, but it’s dark. I don’t want you walking to your car alone.”
Her insides melted the tiniest bit. A gentleman to boot.
“That works.” Smiling, she fell into step beside him. “You should know that security installed some temporary lights in the parking lot yesterday. It’s not pitch-black anymore, so me and the rest of the late-shift staff really appreciate whatever you said to Mr. Ortiz.”
“Temporary lights?”
She nodded. “Mr. Ortiz sent an email out saying they’d be putting in new permanent light fixtures over the next week or so. Security cameras too.”
“Good. I’m glad they’ve started implementing some of the security measures.”
Entering the employee lot, she swept her hand in front of her in a ta-da motion. Along the perimeter were portable lamp posts every fifty feet or so. “You know, I don’t think I realized just how dark it was back here until the new lights were put up. I mean, you can actually see all the cars now.”
