They’re going to love you, he says, as if he knows the cause of my waffling.
I cringe. “Really?” I ask, half pleading.
R-E-A-L-L-Y, he spells. He winks at me, and I resolve to feel better about it for now, and to think about it properly later on when I’m alone in my office. I cast around for something else to say, and then I remember my conversation with Daphne.
“Do you like dogs?”
He looks at me curiously and nods with a shrug.
"Have you ever looked into having a service dog?” His eyebrow twitches upwards, and I take that as leave to continue. “My friend Daphne trains them for all sorts of people. Blind, Deaf, epileptics, autistics, and emotional support animals for people with anxiety, or veterans with PTSD…” I have his undivided attention, and he doesn’t appear offended or uncomfortable. “She has one, and it’s a really sad case. He was going to be a therapy dog for a soldier who’d been discharged for mental health reasons, and literally a week before he was due to be sent to his new owner, he got his leg caught in a steel trap during a walk in the countryside, and had to have his leg amputated, so he wasn’t sent after all. And he needs a home…” I trail off with my best wheedling smile.
His mouth quirks into a small smile, and he sighs.I’m not sure if I’d use him right,he says.Probably wasted on me.
“Company when you have a bad night?” I suggest. “Comfort when you have bad memories? Something to look after and focus your energy on?” A shadow passes over Dean’s face. “It’s just a thought,” I murmur, hoping I haven’t overstepped.
He rubs his face pensively.Let me think about it. And I’d have to ask my landlord. He spells ‘landlord’ for me, and thenshows me the sign. I repeat it, and he nods that I signed it correctly.
“Of course,” I reply happily, hopeful that I’ve maybe planted a seed that might lead to something beneficial for him. “Come on, I’ll give you a lift to work.”
Dean
I’mreluctant to leave her car to head into the parlor. Like that’s going to break the spell, or something like that.
The past twenty-four hours have been the absolute best of my life, hands down. I can’t think of much I wouldn’t give to freeze time for one more hour. But she has shit to do, and so do I, so I’ll have to just deal. But damn me if I’m not downright pissed about it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for my appointment,” she says with an adorable smile before leaning over and giving me a soft, lingering kiss.
Well, that answered the next question I had about when I was gonna see her again. I bite her lip and tug it gently, enjoying the rush when she softly moans in response. Maybe we could go back to bed…
I sigh to myself. No.Work. I have back to back clients today and tomorrow. And she’s the last one of them. I smile darkly to myself as I think of what I’ll be able to do once the door is shut and everyone’s gone home, and she’s in my studio and all mine…
…and now I’ll be walking into work with an erection if I don’t quit it.
One more kiss and I force myself to open the car door and head back to the real world. Watching her drive away kinda sucks, but I tell the hunger sizzling along my skin to stow it. I can’t keep acting like a junkie jonesing for his next fix, even if that is closer to the truth than I want to admit.
She’s a person, not a buzz.
She isnota diazepam substitute.
I head into the salon, and abruptly the weight of a completely sleepless night hits me, dragging at my limbs and heating my eyeballs. Today will be brought to you by coffee and willpower.
Leo comes down from the upstairs apartment, and his eyes light up when he sees me. “Buddy!” He leans casually over the black iron stair rail, but his face is alive with mischievous interest. “Tell me everything.”
No, fuck off,I laugh.
He chuckles back. “Fair enough, but from the looks of you, all went well?” The tone of his voice is sincere, almostcaring.
I can feel my face heating, but I cover it with a wry smile and a nod.Though you and I need to have words. Why the fuck didn’t you warn me how amazing oral sex is?
He bursts out laughing. “Giving or receiving? Nah, don’t answer that, they’re both bloody wonderful.” He claps his hand on my back. “Pleased for ya, fella.” His grin returns to the nosy bastard one I was expecting. “So - ”
The front door bursts open, and Sadie storms in looking like all the magnificent fury of a tornado, and just as damaged as the towns they sweep through. Her hair is pulled back in a haphazard knot, uneven strands sticking up all around her, and her eyelids are red and puffy, flashing with furious pain. I’ve never seen her this angry and miserable in all the time I’ve known her.
“Hey, what’s - ”
She cuts Leo off.
“Nobodypiss me off today,” she warns us in a dangerously quiet voice, “and it’s probably better for everyone if you all stay away and leave me thefuckalone.” She dashes down the corridor and kicks her studio door open. It hits the wall before the slow close mechanism kicks in as it swings back.
