“What’s this?” Levi said. “What did you do to make Lolly punish you now?”
“Lolly’s not punishing me. Zanna is.”
Perry Andersen along with his brother Jeff pushed their way inside the door. “Is this true? You doing hair for a living now?” He had a smug look on his face—which was brave of him, considering Colt could evict him at any moment.
“He ain’t doing shit,” Duke growled. “Now get out before I kick your ass, too.”
“I knew it was a lie. Everyone should know by now never to trust a King boy. They’re no good, just like their father. Let’s go outside, Jeff, and tell everybody that Colt is running away, just like his father did after that accident he caused in the factory. Just like he did when Duke got sent to prison.”
“Send them in.”
“What?” Zanna said. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll send them away. I’ll tell them it’s my fault. It is my fault.”
“I don’t run away. Send them in.”
“I’ll help,” Levi said. “Colt wasn’t the only one who got punished by doing roller sets.”
“Don’t look at me,” Duke said. “I’ve never touched a roller in my life. But I’ll stay here to support you.”
“I’ll go first.” Grace stepped forward. “I would be honored to have Colt do my hair.”
“Move it, Bertie,” Colt said, staring down the old woman. “I’m taking over your station.”
She grinned at him. “Just make sure you clean it up when you’re done.”
“I’m sorry, Colt.” Zanna grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“You will be. You’re going to pay for this.”
*
Colt and Levi definitely did know how to put rollers in hair, but that was all; it was the extent of their training. They both were awkward about it at first, big rough hands fumbling with delicate pink and yellow rollers, but after a while they got the hang of it again and made a competition out of it, to see which of the King brothers could do a set faster.
Zanna had never in her wildest dreams thought that watching men roll hair could be sexy, but it was. Especially men in black T-shirts wearing motorcycle boots. She was forever grateful that Levi decided to pitch in, because the salon turned into a party spot with music blasting and people laughing. He made Colt smile, too, which Zanna thought would be impossible since he had gone into this with such grim determination. He was pissed at her, would barely look her way, and when he did, his expression nearly burned up her skin. But she didn’t have much time to focus on him. It was up to the rest of them to style the hair the boys were rolling up. And for once the stylists’ knowledge of older hairstyles came in handy. The women of Destiny were walking out of the Head Shed with bouffants and beehives, victory rolls and Marilyn Monroe face-softening curls. They had used more hair spray and bobby pins in one day than they had in a year, but the clients were walking out of the shop happy—and Zanna had never taken in so much money.
“Food’s here.” Grace headed toward them with two large bags of Chinese food. Zanna couldn’t help but give her a Grace Kelly–inspired hairstyle. She was as slender and regal-looking as her name implied even if she wore clothes that looked about fifteen years old.
“Oh thank you, you sweet, beautiful woman.” Levi grabbed the bags from her. “I had her order everything on the menu, Shells,” he said to Shelly, whom Zanna had turned into a pinup girl with some big soft curls and a rolled bang. “I want you to walk on the wild side tonight and try some spicy Kung Pao beef.”
“I’ll be fine with just rice. You know I’m not used to eating exotic things.” She gave him a soft smile and Zanna watched Levi’s eyes change. He was always a flirt, but there was something in the way he looked at Shelly that made Zanna’s heart beat faster.
“Only you would think that Chinese food is exotic.” He kissed her cheek and grabbed her hand. “Take a walk on the wild side with me tonight.” They walked into the back, followed by Annie, Peggy, and Bertie.
“I think I need to call Ryder again,” Grace said, reaching into her purse for her phone.
“No.” Duke grabbed her hand. “He’s fine. He’s with his friends and you already called him.”
“I just want to make sure he’s not getting into any trouble.”
“Two dozen phone calls from you isn’t going to keep them out of trouble. Plus I told him that if he didn’t keep his nose clean, I was going to break his neck.”
“You didn’t?” she gasped.
“He’ll be fine, Grace.” He wrapped his arm around her, a twinkle of amusement in his eye. “Now let’s go eat some high-calorie, inorganic, non-free-range food.”
“I want to say I’d rather eat spinach and sole tonight, but I really am looking forward to shoving my face into some fried rice.”
“That’s my girl. Come eat, Zanna.” Duke motioned his head toward the back. “I bet your feet are barking.”
She nodded and looked back at Colt, who was sitting at Bertie’s station in a world of his own. He had been there since the last customer left twenty minutes ago.
“Leave him,” Duke said. “He needs to decompress.”
She did leave him but just for a little while. She came back a few minutes later with a couple of beers that somebody had smuggled in and a smaller bag with the food she had ordered just for herself.
“I’m breaking my own rules tonight.” She set the food on Bertie’s clean station and handed him a beer. “We’re not supposed to eat on the floor.” She climbed into his lap. “Don’t tell Lolly.”
He didn’t say anything, just looked at her with the cold look he had been giving her all day.
“Say something.”
He took a long drink of his beer instead.
“I’m sorry.” She kissed his quiet lips. “I’m sorry that I embarrassed you.” She gave him another slow full-lipped peck. “I was mad at you and trying to be like you. You said it’s just business and I was doing what I thought what was best for the business.” She smoothed her hands over his lightly bearded face. “We took in enough to cover Bertie’s salary for two months today. Plus I got ten women who made appointments to come back. I used what I had. I used you, but you have to understand why I did it.”
“Shut up.” He put his beer down and reached up to her hair, pulling out the bobby pins and headband she wore to secure it in place. “I hate your hair up.” He raked his fingers through her tangled hair.
“Do you?”
“No, but I’m mad at you and I want to say mean stuff.”
She smiled up at him.
“Don’t smile at me. You’re going to pay for this.”
“I’ll pay.” She slipped her hand up his T-shirt. All day she’d thought about picking things up where they’d left off this morning. “I can think of fifty ways that I’d like to pay you back.”
“I decide when. I decide how and where. You’ll just have to take whatever I have in store. No questions asked. No protests.”
“Okay.” She grew breathless. Her nipples went hard again at the thought of his mouth on them again. If he could turn her to mush in five minutes, she couldn’t wait to see what he would do to her if he had all night.
“Take these stupid shoes off.” He reached for one of her heels and flung it across the room. “I don’t know how you function in them all day.”
“I—”
“No talking. I’m hungry. Feed me.”
She took an eggroll out of the bag and handed it to him. But he grabbed her wrist and brought it up to his mouth. “I said feed me, damn it.”
Normally she hated to be bossed around, especially by a man, but there was something about Colt, with his low, rumbly voice and his sleepy eyes, that made her do what he said. “You’re lucky I feel bad.” She fed him. “Or I might be reaching for my shotgun about now.”
“And you’re lucky I’m so damn tired right now, because you have no idea what I want to do to you.”
She kissed up the cord of his neck. “I’ll make you some coffe
e when we get home. I really don’t want to delay my punishment.”
“I decide when, where, and how. You aren’t supposed to be looking forward to it.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and took another bite of the eggroll.
“I can’t help it. I look forward to everything when it comes to you.”
He wiped his hand across his mouth and then kissed her, cupping her face in his hands, not allowing her to get away, even if she wanted to. She didn’t want to get away from him. There was no place she’d rather be than right here, the recipient of Colt’s hot sleepy kisses.
“Get a room, you two,” Bertie barked at them, causing Colt to break the kiss.
“Go away, old woman. How many more ways can you ruin my day?”
“Oh, hush, boy. I came out here to talk to Zanna.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
She showed her one of the flyers she had made for today. “You did this all to save my job?”
She glanced at Colt, not wanting to tell Bertie that Colt didn’t think she was useful to them anymore. “We needed extra money coming in. I made it happen.”
“I was going to retire. I am going to retire at the end of the month. Colt worked it out so that I could live near my oldest on the Oregon coast. He’s even sending me on a cruise.”
“What?” She looked up at Colt, noticing that his body had gone stiff and his face was expressionless once again.
“It was good to see the boys back in the shop and even better to see you take Colt down a peg or two, but you didn’t have to do it for me. I thank you for wanting to keep an old lady around, but you didn’t have to.” She reached for her purse. “I’m going home to soak these old bones. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Zanna looked back up at Colt when Bertie had gone. “You made me think … You acted like you were just going to fire her if we didn’t bring in enough money.”
“I know what I’m doing. I know what’s best for a business and I know how to treat people.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me you’d worked it all out with her?”
“Why did you assume I would throw Bertie away? I thought you knew me better than that by now.”
She had hurt him. He would die before he admitted it, but she had hurt him. And she realized that as much as she would like to, she still didn’t know him at all.
Chapter 11
“Hi, Colt.” Jennifer Peters, one of his former classmates, waved to him as he was leaving the gas station that evening.
He waved back, expecting her to keep moving, but she walked over to him, carrying a small blond child in her arms.
“I’m so sorry I missed that stunt you and your brothers pulled off at The Head Shed. I was at work, but I could have dropped dead right on the spot when my sister told me that you and Levi were doing hair. Business there has been slowing down for years. It was a smart thing to do to bring people back in.”
“I can’t take credit for it. It was Zanna’s idea.”
“But she couldn’t have pulled it off without you.” She smiled softly up at him. “I would have loved for you to do my hair. I had a huge crush on you in high school. Did you know that?”
The admission took him by surprise. Jennifer was in all his honors classes, but was one of the nice girls who generally stayed away from them. “I didn’t.”
“We didn’t have assigned seats in school, Colt. Why do you think I sat next to you in almost every class?”
Like every teenage boy he had liked girls, but back then he didn’t pay his classmates much attention; he was focused on getting the hell out of there. On receiving a scholarship to Stanford. On making something of himself so he could prove them all wrong. Jennifer had always been nice to him, though, and so had her sister and a lot of other people he knew. He’d forgotten that, or had been too pissed off to notice it in the first place.
“I wish you would’ve told me that.”
She shrugged. “You were too good for me. It’s like you were on a mission and the rest of us knew we would get in your way.”
“I was too good for you, Jenny?”
She nodded. “We’re really proud of you here. You King boys are the best thing that ever came out of this place.”
“Thank you,” he said, meaning it.
“I’ve got to go home and get dinner started. It was nice seeing you.”
“Nice seeing you, too.”
He drove back to Lolly’s house, his mood somewhat lifted. He had avoided Zanna all day. He was pissed at her, but more than that, he wanted her and knew that if he were in close proximity to her, he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He had lost control in the shop yesterday morning. All she did was ask him to kiss her. That’s all it took for him to rip off her clothes. Right there in the back of the salon, in Lolly’s half-painted office. With three employees in the front, in a business where anyone could just walk in. He hadn’t even tried to restrain himself, either. He hadn’t tried to be quiet. He’d wanted her with single-minded focus. He hadn’t wanted anything so bad since he was here, even though he longed to leave this place so bad his teeth hurt.
Zanna’s beat-up old Ford was in the driveway. Levi’s truck was gone, as it usually was this time of day. Colt had come in later than usual, hoping he would catch her alone. After thinking about her all day he was finally ready to face her.
He found her in the kitchen staring into a pot of spaghetti. “You’re late.” She looked up at him, her eyes a little wider than usual.
“Was there a certain time I was supposed to be in?”
“I— no. I held dinner for you. It’s spaghetti and meat sauce. My grandmama’s recipe. Nothing special, but we all liked it.” There was a kind of shyness around her this evening that he found sweet.
“You don’t have to cook for me.”
“I know.” She looked back at the pot.
She had changed out of her black clothes. She was barefoot, in a light-pink tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. Her hair was loose, her face clean of makeup. She was as pure and natural as a woman could be in that moment. He liked her glamorous and made up, but he liked her this way more, because he knew this was the version of her not everyone got to see.
“I’m here now. Let’s eat.”
They shared a quiet dinner. Colt wasn’t hungry, but he ate anyway just to please her. His mind was preoccupied with his plans for tonight.
“Are you sure you had enough to eat?” she asked as she removed his plate. “There’s plenty left.” She put his plate in the sink and turned toward the freezer. “I’ve got some ice cream in here. Or there’s some cheesecake. It’ll take a while to defrost but—”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “I know how I want you to pay me back.”
“Oh?” She swallowed.
“I want you to cut my hair.”
“What?” She blinked as if he had spoken another language. “I embarrassed you in front of the whole town and all you want from me is a haircut?”
He wasn’t really mad at her about the stunt. It was smart. It got more people into the shop. She had expanded their base of returning customers and it hadn’t cost a thing. It was good business. It was just business. It was something he might have done, and he respected her for it. “Yes, but I’m very particular about my haircuts. I’ll be really mad if you screw it up.”
She nodded and left for a few minutes, returning with her barber kit and spray bottle. “You know,” she said as she draped a cape over him, “I started out cutting men’s hair. Men are much less fussy than women, and I made good tips.”
“Why did you switch over?”
“Two reasons.” She studied the shape of his face, and he could see her mind working. She was truly talented. He knew some people thought she was just a hairstylist. But she was more. He’d seen her transform people—not just their looks, but the way they felt about themselves. “Men’s hair can be boring. I wanted to expand my skill set, plus the owner of the shop thought it was okay to stick his ha
nd down my shirt. After I threw a jar of Barbicide in his face, we both felt it was best for me not to return.”
He stiffened slightly, not liking to hear that her boss had taken advantage of her. “I’m glad you defended yourself.”
“I learned how at a young age.” She wet his hair, combing it back away from his face. “I don’t want to cut it too short. I like your hair longer. I like your curls.”
“Do what you want.” He was going to be back home in Las Vegas soon, back to his old self and old life. He had just a little time to be with her, to be this man he barely recognized.
She took his chin between her fingers and kissed him. It was a soft kiss, not necessarily sexual, but it turned him on, sparked that hunger inside him that he had been keeping at bay all day. “I’m sorry, Colt.”
“Stop apologizing to me, damn it!”
She jumped.
“You did what you had to do. You did what you should have done for your business.”
“But I used you to do it and I feel bad. Plus you’re mad at me.”
“Why do you care if I’m mad at you?”
“I don’t know. Why are you mad at me?”
“Nobody likes to be outsmarted, do they?” he lied. That wasn’t why he was mad at her, even though it annoyed him a bit. Maybe he wasn’t even mad at her. Maybe he was mad at himself. He didn’t have to go through with the stunt yesterday, but he wanted to. Not to prove it to the town that he didn’t back down, though. He’d done it for her. Because Bertie was that important to her. He wanted her to have what was important to her, even if he knew it wasn’t the best thing.
Who the hell was he?
“I outsmarted you?” She grinned at him, and it managed to turn him on even more. “That’s the nicest thing any man has ever said to me. I know I’ve been a lot smarter than most of the men I’ve come in contact with, but I’ve never heard them admit it.”
“Stop gloating and cut my hair.”
She picked up her scissors and made a few snips before he leaned forward and lifted her tank top. She froze. Colt took that as encouragement to lean forward again and kiss the curve of her stomach. She’d had him twisted up in knots the whole time he’d been here. It was his turn to twist her up.
The Bad Boy CEO Page 13
