All Consuming (Brotherhood by Fire #3) -Jaci Burton Page 0,21
his aunt showed up, and there was plenty of room, so I don’t know what Rachel’s problem was, other than she’s always been a raving bitch who wants everything to be about her.”
Hannah finished cutting her client’s hair while simultaneously listening to her go off on her sister-in-law. But part of her job also consisted of being a good listener, and sometimes a counselor, depending on the situation. This client needed someone to listen while she vented her frustrations, which Hannah was adept at doing. She nodded, said a lot of “Oh no” and “That’s too bad” and “I’ll bet that was awful,” which seemed to satisfy her client.
She had a short break before her next appointment. Despite the deluge of rain today, the shop was getting a steady stream of clients. It rained a lot in Florida, but that never stopped people from doing their daily tasks. Even a hard rain like today wasn’t a deterrent.
She cleaned her station, got something to drink from the kitchen, then took a seat and went through the supply catalog and made some notes about products she needed to order. Occasionally, she’d lift her head to listen in on whatever conversation Delilah or Marguerite had going on with their clients. Josephine had her own station in the corner of the salon with a relaxing mani/pedi chair. She currently had a client sitting there with her eyes closed while Josephine did a pedicure on her, so everything seemed to be going well there. Hannah was happy with the influx of new clients since Josephine had started.
Hannah went back to her catalog until the door opened and a tall, dark and handsome man walked in. He wore his yellow firefighter coat, he was dripping wet from the rain and he looked drop-dead gorgeous.
All work stopped, every pair of eyes immediately turning to Kal, who smiled at Hannah. She got out of her chair as he walked over to her.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by to check out your place.”
“You’re on duty?”
He nodded. “On a supply run. There’s a shop just a block from here, so I thought I’d take a minute to drop in and say hello.” He looked around her. “Are you with a client?”
“Not at the moment.” She felt every set of eyes in the place trained on her—well, not on her, on Kal. She should probably introduce him. “Hey, everyone. This is Kal Donovan. He’s a firefighter and a friend of mine. Kal, you remember Delilah from high school?”
“Oh yeah. Hey, Delilah.”
“And this is Marguerite, and over there is Josephine.”
“Hey, Kal,” Marguerite said, sporting a wide grin. “Nice to meet you.”
“Hi, Kal,” Delilah said. “Hannah said you two were dating again.”
“She did, huh?”
“And she’s said good things about you,” Marguerite added.
“Really.”
“Oh yes,” she said. “Very good things.”
He looked over at Hannah. “You’ve been talking about me, huh?”
“Oh, she talks about you all the time,” Delilah said with a grin.
“I do not. Not a word.” She shot a look over at Delilah, who laughed.
“Honestly,” Hannah said to Kal. “Nothing.”
Now Kal laughed. “I don’t mind, as long as it’s all good.”
“I haven’t said a word to anyone.”
“Oh, so now I’m your dirty secret.”
She rolled her eyes. “Kal.”
“Come on. I’m teasing. Show me your place. I can’t stay long.”
The man was exasperating. “Fine. This is it.” She held her hands out wide.
He slanted a look at her. “You can do better than that.” He walked over to her station. “So this is where you work?”
She sighed. “Yes. This is my station.”
“Nice.” He leaned down to inspect the corner of the mirror where she had a picture of her son. “This is Oliver?”
“Yes.”
He lifted, giving her a warm smile. “He’s cute. He looks a lot like you.”
“Thank you for saying that.”
“It’s true.”
She could get lost in Kal’s eyes, the smoothness of his skin and his mouth—just remembering what it had been like to kiss him the other night . . .
She cleared those thoughts from her head and walked him toward the lunchroom. “Anyway, this way is the break room where we can put our feet up and eat.”
He peeked his head in the door, leaning his body against hers so he could see. Her body reacted by quivering all over.
“Sizable enough and you have a microwave and fridge. That’s nice.”
“Yes.” She straightened and moved away. “Here are the washing stations, and our washer/dryer and storage.”