All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,12

games.”

He laughed. “I realize that. And if you don’t want me to meet Oliver right away, I’ll respect that.”

“Let me think about it.”

“Okay. You let me know what you decide.”

“I’ll do that.”

“In the meantime, it’s a beautiful day. What would you like to do?”

“What would I like to do? I’d like to spend the day at the beach. What do I have to do? Laundry. And cleaning. And grocery shopping. And Oliver’s friend is having a birthday party this afternoon, so we have to shop for a present, then I have to drop him off. I have responsibilities, and I don’t have time to play with you today.”

He could tell Hannah’s plate was full and she was stressed. “I understand. We’ll do it some other time.”

“Sure.”

He paid the bill and they walked outside. She turned to face him.

“Hey, thanks for lunch. It was fun to catch up.”

This felt a lot like a permanent goodbye. He wasn’t about to let that happen.

“How about we go out Friday night?”

“I work Saturday and it’s my longest day.”

“Then let me take you out Saturday night.”

She sighed. “Kal, I’d like to but—”

“We’ll do something simple and easy. Nothing fancy.”

It took her a few seconds to answer, and he thought during those seconds she was going to say no. If she did, that would be it. He wouldn’t press her.

“Fine. We’ll go out Saturday night.”

He couldn’t hold back his smile. “Great. I’ll text you.”

“Okay.” She started to turn away, then stopped. “Thanks for asking me.”

“Thanks for saying yes.”

She smiled at him in a way that made his gut feel like he’d been punched. Hannah had the kind of a smile that could stop traffic. Bright and beautiful, making her eyes sparkle.

He’d always known when she was happy, because he could see it in her eyes. Like now.

“See you Saturday, Kal.”

She walked away, and he stood there watching her, feeling stupid happy.

It was just a date. Nothing to get excited about. But there he was, excited as hell because he had a date with Hannah on Saturday.

He grinned, grabbed his keys out of his pocket and headed for his truck.

CHAPTER 5

HANNAH FINISHED APPLYING THE LAST FOIL ON A PARTICULARLY difficult double color on a client, so all she had to do was wait for that to process. While the client sat under the dryer, she updated some appointments for next week and returned a phone call for a client who wanted to change the time for her haircut.

Then she went into the back of the salon to rest her feet and catch up on how this week’s sales had looked.

She rented out space to other stylists, which was going well.

Delilah Watson was the reason Hannah had ended up opening up this salon when she’d returned to Ft. Lauderdale. Having to close her salon in Georgia had hurt Hannah, both emotionally and financially. She figured she’d wait to open a salon once she got back here, maybe work for someone else until she could get back on track.

And then she’d reconnected with Delilah, and Hannah had been thrilled to find out that Delilah was doing hair in another salon. Getting stylists was one of the biggest problems for a salon owner. Delilah had been awesome with hair in high school before she’d ever gotten her license, and when she told Hannah she worked six full days a week, Hannah asked if she’d be willing to come with her.

Delilah hadn’t hesitated. She said the owner of the salon she worked at was a total bitch and she’d leave in a heartbeat. Having an incredible stylist ready to go meant she could get her business up and running. She’d found the location, and they had clients the first week.

Hannah had since added another stylist, and a manicurist was starting next week, which made her very happy.

Her friend Delilah came into the back room.

“You and me both, girl,” Delilah said, pulling up the chair next to her. “I was about to die if I didn’t sit down.”

Delilah was a force. Beautiful, with short spiky blond hair and tattoos down one arm, she was petite but talked with a loud voice, and where Hannah was introverted, Delilah was super outgoing. But they’d bonded over their love of the world of Harry Potter in middle school and had been friends ever since. They’d lost touch for a while after Hannah left Ft. Lauderdale, but once she moved back, she’d run into Delilah at the grocery store and their friendship had kicked right in