Take the Reins (A Cowboy's Promise #2) - Megan Squires Page 0,44
seat and locked.
“Honestly, Seth—”
“Will you just let me do this one thing for you?” There was an edge in his voice that he hadn’t meant to be there. He recovered his tone. “The storage tank only has a certain amount of water in it and I want to make sure you’re all cleaned up before it runs out.” Reason was going to be the only thing to convince her. Hospitality certainly wasn’t enough. “Please. Just sit back and let me take care of things.” Take care of you, he thought, but he left off.
Josie’s cheeks ballooned as she pushed out a fiery breath of air with the resignation Seth knew she fought to give. “Okay.” She dropped into the chair and threw her hands into the air. “Fine. Have at it.”
Seth rolled up a towel as padding for her neck and placed it along the hard edge of the sink. “Don’t most women like getting their hair done? Isn’t it some sort of pampering thing? Going to the salon and all.” He flipped on the faucet and let the cool water pour out.
“I wouldn’t know. Never been.”
“You’ve never had your hair done before?”
She leaned back and squinted her eyes shut to avoid the sprays of water. “Nope.”
“Not for a haircut or anything?”
“I cut my own hair.”
For some reason, that didn’t surprise Seth one bit. But what did surprise him was his sudden desire to make sure she enjoyed every minute of this particular shampooing. He cupped his hand under the stream of water and then cradled her head with his other palm. Immediately, Josie stiffened under his touch.
“Relax,” he urged. He rocked her head to the side to angle a stream of water down the long length of her honey colored strands that collected in the basin like swirling threads of gold.
“I’m trying,” she admitted, grimly. She pushed out another forceful breath that hit Seth’s cheek and she gave him an exacerbated look. “Believe it or not, I really am trying.”
When her eyes slipped softly closed, Seth interpreted that as a good sign. He collected the shampoo bottle and squirted a dollop into his palm, then massaged it onto Josie’s scalp, digging his fingers gently into the crown of her hair while he washed away the mess from their evening. As he continued to move his hands across her scalp, her lips parted and something an awful lot like a sigh eased through.
She cleared her throat with a small cough.
“You doing okay?” Seth tried to hide his smile.
“Yep.” Her features tensed back up. “Just fine.”
“Only fine?”
Josie’s eyes popped open. “Do you want me to say this is the best shampoo of my entire life?” she mocked in a tone several octaves above her usual one. “Is that what you’re hoping for?”
“Something like that, sure.” This time, Seth didn’t hide his snicker. He let it out completely. “You trust me, don’t you?”
It took a moment, but she finally answered, “Yes. I trust you, Seth.”
“Then just try to relax while I get this caked-on cow patty out of your hair.”
“Gotta admit—not words I ever thought I’d hear,” Josie confessed, but something did shift in her composure after that. She slunk just a little lower in the chair, angled her head back just a degree more, and her tight features loosened enough to allow a moderately peaceful look to slide onto her face. This would be the closest version of relaxed Seth would ever get.
He reached for the conditioner and spent the next few minutes working it into her hair, making the cream become a foamy lather. He tilted and turned her head until the water ran clear, then took up the towel next to the sink basin and wrapped it over her sodden strands once he switched off the faucet. He gently nudged her to sit forward.
“There we go. All done. See? Not so painful.”
For a beat longer, Josie’s eyes remained closed. A blissful exhale, followed by an easy grin, culminated in a thank you she didn’t have to speak. She opened her eyes and met Seth’s. “Okay,” she drawled. “I’m starting to understand this whole pampering thing.” She stood and flipped her head over, then refit the towel onto her wet hair by twisting it into a coil with one hand. “That was pretty great. Not gonna lie.”
“Think I’ve got what it takes to open up my own salon?” He winked because he was clearly joking.