Page 7 of My Wild Mountain Man (Summer in the Pines #15)

raven

. . .

I swept up the hair from my last job, my mind full of things I should definitely not be thinking about.

Mainly Bash Ledesma.

Bash and those strong arms that made me feel safe and delicate when I was in them. Bash and his way too talented mouth. I shook my head, my heart heavy and torn about what to do. It was Wednesday, and it wasn’t a surprise to me that he hadn’t come in for a haircut like I offered.

I hadn’t seen him. I was avoiding life. Something that, according to my sisters, I was excellent at doing.

“Hey, Raven!” Claire, my coworker, called out. “That cut looked great,” she complimented.

“Thanks.”

“I’m going to get going. Chelly just texted. Practice got out early. You okay closing up on your own?” Claire wasn’t just awesome to work with, she was also raising her younger sister, Chelly, who was a junior at the local high school.

“Don’t worry about it. I got it.”

“Thanks! I owe you! I’ll bring you your favorite coffee from Pine and Grind,” she offered, giving me a hug before she rushed out.

I didn’t turn her down because I had a feeling if she didn’t go get us coffee, I would have anyways with how badly I’d been sleeping. I headed to the back to get the dustpan I had forgotten when I heard the bell over the front door chime.

“I’ll be right with you!” I called out. It wasn’t unusual for someone to come in just before closing. What I didn’t expect was the man I had been so busy thinking about to be standing by my station.

Not only standing there but with a bag of what smelled like incredible food and a coffee drink in his hands.

“Hey,” he called out, and my head tilted. “I know it’s late, but you said, well… Maybe you can squeeze me in before you close?”

“Bash…” I said his name but didn’t know what else to say.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he called me out. “You haven’t come in all week.”

“Three days,” I corrected. “And it's been busy here. By the time I get out, I’m pretty wiped,” I found myself explaining.

“Shit.” He ran his fingers through his overgrown hair. He seriously needed a haircut. “I brought you food and a coffee,” he finally spoke, lifting the bag and cup. “The kind you like,” he added, and I frowned.

“How would you know?” I wasn’t sure if it was the lighting in the salon or what, but I could have sworn he’d blushed.

“I asked Molly,” he confessed, and something in me begrudgingly softened. Molly was one of my best friends and co-owners of Pine and Grind. She was the only one who knew just how infatuated I was with Bash.

“Coffee orders should be kept confidential. Like medical records,” I muttered under my breath, but he heard it. My sassy comment earned me a sexy gruff chuckle. He stepped forward and handed it to me. And for some reason, I took it.

“You don’t have to cut my hair if you’re too tired. Just take the drink and food, yeah?”

“Fine,” I muttered. “Thanks. You really didn’t have to do this.”

“I did.” His jaw clenched when our eyes connected. I wanted to ask him why. Why does he feel the need to feed me, take care of me? The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t ask them.

Don’t ask questions you’re not ready to have honestly answered , a little voice chimed in the back of my head. For all I knew, this was some kind of stupid gesture to apologize for kissing me because he regretted it, and that would kill. Maybe he was going to rescind his offer for a long weekend.

“I wish I could hear what was going on in your head,” he said, breaking the momentary silence.

“You really don’t,” I muttered, taking a sip of the coffee. I glanced down at the drink order label. Thankfully, Molly knew me and had given me a decaf.

“Is it okay?”

“Perfect, thank you.”

“Want to eat with me?” I could have sworn Bash Ledesma almost seemed nervous. But why? It was just me. I opened and shut my mouth, trying to get my thoughts together.

“Where is this going, Bash?”

“What?” I could have laughed at how instantaneously pale he turned.

“I’m not talking about us. I mean tonight. This whole food thing. What’s the game plan here? Because I’ll be honest with you, it almost looks like a date.”

“There isn’t one,” he blurted. “I mean, there isn’t a plan.” I stared at him, challenging him to double down. “I missed you, okay? Is that what you wanted to hear?” He ran his fingers through his hair.

“You know, Morris at the barbershop is open later than the salon.”

“I know.” He swallowed. “I missed you. Not the haircut you could give me or anything else. Just you. I can’t stop thinking about you. Have you eaten? Did you sleep okay? I even wonder what book you’re reading.”

“Bash… you said?—“

“Please?” His brown eyes pleaded with me, and I sighed. I glanced at the watch on my wrist.

“I guess I can close a couple minutes early. Let me just lock and finish here, and I’ll get us set up to eat in the break room.” I pointed to the back area of the salon.

“I can help,” he offered, and I was too tired and too confused to argue.

When I walked back from locking up the front door, I suddenly realized I was in the salon, alone with the guy of my dreams. Too bad that in his eyes, I was forbidden fruit. He had finished sweeping and wiping down my station.

“How did you know you have to do all that?” I asked, slightly impressed. He shrugged.

“My grandma was a cosmetologist,” he shared.

“She was?” Something softened inside of me.

“Yeah.” He scratched the back of his neck. “My parents… well, they were a mess and a half. Always fighting. Maybe that’s why my grandma insisted I visit her during school breaks. She would always put me to work at the end of the day because her back would be killing her.”

“It happens. Being on your feet all day will definitely do that to you.” I nodded. I hated how close I felt to him in that moment. I had a feeling it wasn’t something he shared with other people usually. “Come on, let’s go eat.” I waved, and he picked up the bag of food.

We set up and sat down in the break room. I was shocked at how comfortable it was to sit and share a meal with him. A real one and not just one where I ate and he stood on the other side of a bar.

“This is really good.”

“Barrett, the new chef, knows his stuff,” he mumbled.

“Onyx hired him, right?”

“Yeah.” Bash nodded. His eyes connected with mine, and suddenly, his hand reached across the table to take mine.

“How was your day?” he asked. My lips suddenly felt dry.

I licked them quickly before I went on to share about the cuts and colors I’d done through the day.

Not to mention how I’d been booked for hair and makeup for an upcoming wedding out at the resort.

“That’s awesome. That’s what you like to do, right? Special events?”

“Mostly,” I mumbled, not sure how he knew that.

“I heard you talking to Olive one day,” he started to explain, almost like he could read my thoughts. “About what you missed from being in San Fran.”

“Oh.” I blushed. He accidentally overheard?

Or did he snoop? Could Bash like me the way I liked him?

Could this be a mutual thing? “I love helping people get ready for special events and maybe with the resort reopening after all the restorations, more weddings and things will be held there.” Or at least, that was my hope.

“You should talk to the event manager. Show them your work and what you can do so they can refer you,” he suggested as we ate.

“You think so?” It had been something I’d thought about, but maybe because of my age, I still felt like a newbie. Too young to ask for something like that.

“You never know what someone might say if you don’t and ask, and you never lose anything by asking.” His thumb stroked the top of my hand absentmindedly.

Just like I’d asked him to kiss me.

To give me a night so I could get him out of my system and move on.

“Thanks for dinner,” I said, pulling my hand away. “This was really good.” I smiled politely. “It hit the spot. I didn’t have lunch.”

“I know.” I could have sworn he muttered those words, but there was no way he’d know something like that unless he’d been watching me.

I shook the thought away as I stood and took my container to the trash.

I didn’t hear him move. For a big guy, Bash was stealthy.

But I felt him. Right behind me. His hands rested at my hips, and everything in my body was yelling at me to lean against him.

To press my back against his front and let him wrap his arms around me and melt my day away.

“Thanks for having dinner with me, Raven,” he whispered against my cheek. “Best date I’ve had in a long time.”

“This was a date?” I turned around. My eyes widened at just how close he was and how far up I had to look up to find his gaze.

“Dinner and candlelight aren’t a date?”

“Candlelight?” I laughed, and he pointed at the little battery operated tealight Claire had left behind. “That doesn’t count––“

“It counts in my book,” he muttered, dipping his head down lower, so close his breath fanned against my mouth, making my body buzz with anticipation. “I missed you.”

“You’re just saying that,” I rasped, my eyes suddenly heavy and ready to flutter shut. God, I wanted him to kiss me so badly. The warmth pooled between my legs made me more than aware of how much I wanted him.

“Why would I say something I didn’t mean?”

“You want a free haircut?” I guessed, knowing I was wrong.

He chuckled and brushed his nose against mine.

A breathy little moan escaped from my lips as my hands rose to his shoulders.

Then, as if they had a mind of their own, they searched for the ends of the hair at the back of his head. “You do need a cut, you know.”

“You offering, pretty girl?” I nodded, pressing my forehead against his. It was comfortable and exciting.

But mostly, it was a stupidly dangerous game we were playing.