“Oh, yeah. I’ve endured worse.”
I watched a strange expression cross her face before she smiled a tight-lipped grin. She cleared her throat before she picked up another coffee mug and proceeded to pour me a cup. She slid it across the kitchen island and I caught it. The smile that slid across her lips warmed a place inside of me I hadn’t touched in almost two years.
“How do you feel about shrimp and grits?” she asked.
“I suppose it’s almost lunchtime,” I said.
“I’m just glad you got some decent sleep,” she said.
I watched her posture tighten and that was when she confirmed my fears. She did hear my nightmare that first night, which meant I had woken her up with it. I sipped on my coffee, trying to fight the urge to flee from the situation. No matter how much it sucked to stick out shit like this or how much I convinced myself I needed to be alone, until we could get through this situation, I needed to compromise.
And that meant talking a little to this whirlwind of a woman.
I stood back and watched her cook like she’d been doing it all her life. She searched for seasonings for the shrimp while she turned them in the pan, leaving the grits to bubble slowly on the backburner of the stove top. She added a bit of cheese to give the grits a kick and then she started pouring it into bowls I’d handed her while the shrimp finished searing off.
She topped the shrimp onto the thickened grits and handed me my bowl and, I had to admit, it smelled phenomenal. I pulled out a drawer and got us a couple of spoons. Then, we leaned against the counter and began to eat.
The food tasted pretty good but the look of pride on her face made it much better.
“Could I ask you something?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said, trying to take Callen’s advice and not be a dick.
“Are you going for the whole shaggy-dog thing or do you just not know how to trim yourself up?” she asked.
I looked over at her and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I was just thinking about how I was getting a little shaggy, yes,” I said.
“If you want, once you’re done eating, I could help. I picked up a few things from my friend Gwen.”
“The hairdresser,” I said.
“So, you were listening?” she asked, grinning.
“Yes. I was. To all of it.”
Her eyes connected with mine before she spooned some grits between her lips and the glimmer in her eye was unmistakable. She was unlike any other person I’d ever come into contact with and I couldn’t help but feel honored just to be in her presence. I found myself wishing I was a different person. A different man from the one I’d turned into. The romance I could pour over her and the heights of pleasure I could bring her to would’ve swirled her mind and rendered her speechless.
She was the kind of woman that deserved all those things. She didn’t deserve to chisel away at a broken man’s crumbling walls.
“So, you want to cut my hair?” I asked.
“And trim up that beard. Something tells me you don’t want to shave it but it does need to be cleaned up.”
“You’re right on that part,” I said as I fingered the hair on my face. “And it grows so far up my face. It’s odd.”
“I realized that yesterday when we were talking. Plus, it would be a way for us to pass the time since we’re sort of stuck here until the weather lets us out.”
“Getting bored already?” I asked.
“I mean, who doesn’t want a bum ankle while being in a small cabin with two feet of snow piling up outside?” she asked.
“And you learned how to do this from your friend,” I said.
“My best friend.”
“Yes, yes. How could I have forgotten that part?”
“I don’t know but we can work on that memory, too,” she said, giggling.
The sound alone was enough to relax my bones. Unlike the high-pitched giggles many women had, hers were filled out with low notes that vibrated through my ribcage. Her giggle started off a bit breathless but those low tones kicked in and it felt like someone was pouring liquid velvet all along your ears. I stood there watching her while we finished the food she’d made and then she proceeded to stack all the dishes in the sink.
“I can get that,” I said.
“Nope, I’ve got it,” she said. “Go get yourself a chair, a towel, your shampoo and conditioner, and a pair of scissors.”
“I didn’t realize I’d agreed to this,” I said.
“You did,” she said, winking.
“I’m not sure if this is a good idea,” I said.
“What? We don’t have anything else better to do and you just said you felt you were looking a bit haggard.”
“Haggard and shaggy are two different things.”
She just stared at me until I grinned.
“If you want me to clean you up a bit, I’ll need a razor, too, if you have one.”
“Nope,” I said. “I don’t have one of those but I do have an electric shaver.”
“Does it have the straight edge tip or is it one of those that has those three circular shaving things?” she asked.
“It’s a straight edge tip. I’ll bring it with me.”
I went to gather up the things she requested while she washed the dishes. I brought everything from my bathroom and set it beside her and the sink. Then I picked up a chair I had in my bedroom and brought it out. She scooted the chair right in front of the sink before she turned on the water. Then she motioned for me to sit.
“Come on. I don’t bite,” she said.
I sat down and leaned my head back while the water poured over my hair. She took her time, her soft fingers massaging my scalp while she shampooed me. I closed my eyes and allowed the warm water to rush over me and her ministrations along my scalp lulled me into a relaxed state. She washed and conditioned my hair before she turned off the water. Then she dried my hair off with the towel before she wrapped it around my shoulders.
With a steady hand and a concentrated eye, she got to work. Small chunks of hair fell around my shoulders and I could feel the mental fog being lifted from my mind. It was like I had been hiding behind my hair while I hid in this cabin and, with each chunk of hair that fell from my head, a little more of me was revealed. She trimmed my hair until the longest part of it sat half an inch above my ear. Then, she moved in front of me and surveyed her work.
The smile that crossed her lips was worth the anticipation of how she was going to make me look.
She took the towel from around my shoulders and dumped it out into the trash. I could hear her fiddling with the plug beside the sink while she tried to strike up the electric shaver. I had to admit, I was a little nervous about her attacking my beard. Even in its thick and uneven state, I’d really grown to enjoy it.
But once she got the shaver plugged in and the towel back around my shoulders, she picked up the scissors again.
Little by little, she went around and trimmed my beard. Some chunks were bigger than others but she wasn’t cutting all the way down to my skin. She moved around to the underside of my neck and really started to go to town and that was when I pulled away from her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I’m not getting rid of your beard. But you are a hairy beast. For your beard to be even, I have to clean up your neck completely.”
I looked into her eyes before I nodded my head and she got back to work.
I knew it was shorter but I honestly couldn’t feel a difference. I could look down and see all the hair on the towel but it wasn’t like I could feel a draft on my chin or anything. She picked up the electric razor and turned it on, the sound roaring to life as I jumped.
She eyed me curiously for a second before she dipped down in front of me.
“Lift up your chin,” she said.