“I see your girlfriend will be here soon.” Chelsea tapped the computer screen with her finger. “I wonder if she’ll finally make a move. Reece and I have a bet going and I know I’m gonna win.”
With my mouth dropped open, I turned to look at Reece. “You know better than to encourage her like this.”
The “girlfriend” Chelsea teased me about was Leah, a client of mine. She’d been coming to me for the past year, every three weeks like clockwork to get her roots done, along with the occasional trim. I also had a sneaking suspicion she came to see me specifically. She’d never flat-out flirted with me, per se, but the way she looked at me, and the way her hand lingered on my arm a few seconds too long, indicated she was interested. Leah was a beautiful woman in her late twenties, and while I was flattered, I didn’t swing that way.
Reece tied her hair into a messy bun and adjusted her black-rimmed glasses, giving me a wink when she finished. “Far be it from me to miss out on an easy twenty.”
“And which side of the bet did you take?”
“I said she won’t do anything blatant. She’ll keep it low-key as usual.”
“And I say today is the day.” Chelsea did a little dance in her chair, her enthusiasm for my impeding awkwardness not appreciated one bit.
The chime above the door rang, but I never looked, too wrapped up in deciding what action to take if and when Leah did in fact try something.
“And what if she does? Huh? What am I supposed to do?”
“Do about what?” Kaden asked, walking up behind me and wrapping his arm around my waist, pulling me back until I rested against his hard chest. I took a deep breath, his scent infiltrating and serving to soothe me. He kissed the back of my head. “What’s goin’ on?” The chime went off again and this time Brick walked in, followed by Tripp.
“We’re taking bets on whether Riley’s girlfriend will finally make a move on her today, and she’s worried about what to do,” Chelsea said, grinning so big I wanted to throw something at her.
“What is she talkin’ about?” Kaden asked, his arm tightening around me.
“One of her clients,” Reece chimed in right before she rose on her tiptoes to give her husband a kiss.
“Is she attractive?” Brick asked. “’Cause that could be hot.” From his straitlaced expression, I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but my guess was that he wasn’t, him being a guy and all.
“Watch it.” Kaden’s voice dropped a level, the rasp of his tone eliciting the simmering ache between my legs to pump back to life. “No one will be hitting on Riley.”
“Why don’t we see what she looks like first, then decide.” Brick finally grinned, ducking when Kaden flung a hairbrush at his head. “All I’m sayin’ is that a threesome should always be an option. Trust me, you won’t regret it.” We all stared at him, deciding if he was still messin’ around or letting us know he had indeed enjoyed a threesome before. Maybe even more than one.
“Not funny, man.”
“Let’s not talk about two chicks gettin’ it on when one of ’em is Riley,” Tripp chimed in. “She’s like my kid.”
Most of the older guys in the club viewed me like a daughter, their protectiveness stifling at times, but none of their actions were worse than my dad’s, of course. He’d gone mental whenever I mentioned a boy growing up and then calmed down some as I got older, but that was only because I stopped talking about boys because Kaden and I were together. Secretly, of course.
“She ain’t my kid.” Brick laughed, hustling around one of the chairs when Kaden released me and took off after him. The sight of Brick running from anyone was comical, given that the guy was huge, but he enjoyed teasing Kaden, and would engage in the charade of being worried what Kaden would do in retaliation.
“All right. Knock it off.” Reece smacked Brick’s arm when he passed her, chuckling when he managed to dodge Kaden yet again. For a big guy, he moved quickly. Kaden gave up and walked back toward me, smiling right before he leaned in and kissed me.
“I don’t think I ever want to see that again.” Tripp groaned. “That shit is too weird.”
“Don’t care,” Kaden grumbled against my lips. “We’re not hidin’ anymore.” When his tongue swept through my mouth, I relaxed into him, giving over every piece of me.
Moments later, the sound of the bell pulled me out of my blissful haze. I looked toward the door and saw Leah standing there, her eyes pinned to mine and I believed I saw a blush creep over her cheeks.
“Hi, Leah,” Chelsea greeted. “You can take a seat in Riley’s chair.” My bestie was all smiles, rubbing her thumb and first two fingers together behind my client’s back, looking overly confident she was gonna win the bet today.
When I glanced over at Brick, he was busy watching Leah stroll across the salon, her heels clicking against the tile floor. She wore a short black skirt, the hemline skimming an inch or two above her knees. Her cream sleeveless top plunged in front, and while she wasn’t overly endowed in the breast area, she had enough to catch attention. Her chocolate strands flowed behind her as she walked to my chair.
“Hi, Riley.” Her voice was soft, her eyes bouncing from me to Kaden and back again.
“Hi, Leah. I’ll be right with you.” She smiled at me before taking a seat.
I pulled Kaden to the side. “Is there a reason you stopped by?”
“I wanted to make sure we were still on later.” Between my work schedule and his, I hadn’t been back to his house since the other day, but we had plans later to meet up.
“Of course, but can we make it eight instead of six? I’m helping Chelsea clean out her spare room so I can use it instead of sleeping on her couch.”
Kaden knew I’d been staying with my friend for the past couple of days and hadn’t mentioned anything about it, but when a thin line creased his brows, something told me he wasn’t happy about my new arrangement.
I promised my mom I wouldn’t make any rash decisions, but this was what I needed to do. As long as I remained under their roof, I’d never have any freedom, and forget about Kaden stopping over to see me. My dad might shoot him on sight, then tell the cops he was an intruder.
“I didn’t know you were moving in with her?” He tilted his head to the side. “When did this happen?” I could’ve been wrong, but I thought I detected a smidge of annoyance in his tone.
I shrugged. “Just before you got here.”
“And you didn’t talk to me first?” Kaden shoved his hands in his pockets, thoroughly confusing me with his reaction.
“Why would I talk to you first?” I spoke slowly, dragging out every syllable while trying to wrap my brain around why he seemed upset.
“You ready?” Brick shouted, leaning against the counter while still staring at Leah. Thankfully, she didn’t notice, her attention on her phone.
“One sec,” Kaden replied, never taking his eyes off me. “I thought if you moved in with anyone, it would be me.”
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. “We never discussed that. We just got back together.”
“So?”
“So?” I parroted. “Don’t you think that’s moving a little too fast?” Our voices weren’t raised, but we weren’t whispering either. And Tripp made sure to let us know he heard every word.
“You better watch what you’re doin’, man,” he warned. “If Stone gets a whiff of this, things are gonna get worse. And we got enough shit to deal with right now.”
“I don’t care,” Kaden responded, his chest rising and falling quicker than before. “I told you, I’m not—”
“I get it, but just slow down. Let him get used to the idea of you two together before you shove that in his face.” Tripp sighed and shook his head, turning back to his wife and smiling after she whispered something in his ear.
I stepped into Kaden and wrapped my arms around his waist. “We’ll talk about this tonight, okay?”
“Fine.” He gave me a quick kiss before unlocking my hands. “I’ll see ya later.”
He walked away before I could say anything else.
The rest of my day passed in a blur. Chelsea lost the bet because Leah never made a move on me like she predicted. My client did look a bit disappointed, however, when she asked if things were serious between me and Kaden.
I told her he was the love of my life.
Now if only my dad would get on board.