12. Hannah #2
His chuckle startles me, and I look up from his hair at the mirror, surprised to see my own expression in a pout.
My cheeks heat with embarrassment but my omega seemingly raises her head, urging me to let our scent match know that his affections are not one sided.
"I'm not going to lie and say I didn't look forward to seeing your name on my schedule so often. "
Before he has a chance to respond, I turn on the clippers, loud buzzing filling the area, and get to work on the back and sides of his head. I lose myself in the motions, the white noise of the clippers allowing me to clear my mind for a moment.
Enzo is here, and he doesn't…he doesn't seem disappointed that I'm his match. In fact, with the way I can feel his gaze burning into me as I work on his hair, I think he might be, dare I say…happy?
I find myself tugging my bottom lip under my front teeth. This doesn't make any sense. Enzo already had a scent match. How could I be his too? That's the first thing I should ask about after we can hear again.
Flicking off the clippers, I set them down and meet his eyes again.
My breath whooshes out of my lungs at the pure look of…
longing in his eyes. When was the last time I had someone look at me like that?
Have I ever had anyone look at me like that?
At one point, I would have said Charlie, but he quickly proved himself to be a liar.
It hits me then, I shouldn't ruin this moment with talk of his previous scent match. The conversation probably wouldn't benefit either of us right now.
"So, Enzo." My voice sounds strange. Husky. "Titus is your brother?"
"He is," he confirms, his eyes tracking every movement of mine as I start trimming the hair at the top of this head. "We have the same dad, but my mom died when I was six. Married Titus' mom when I was ten, and had him two years later."
"That must have been hard," I say softly, still working his hair.
"The hardest thing was not understanding how she could be here one day and gone the next, you know?
But it had been long enough that when Dad met Sabine, that it didn't feel like he was trying to replace her.
She and I have always had a great relationship, and I was so excited to be a big brother, even if I don't always live up to my own expectations.
" That has me frowning. He must be referring to how destroyed he was when he lost his scent match.
I don't ask about it though, instead opting for empathy.
"My dad passed when I was seven," I say, grabbing the spray bottle to re-wet the hair that's gotten a little too dry.
"Drunk driver. Mom…she was lost for a while.
My brother and I had to take care of each other until she met Paul—two years later. "
It's second nature to suppress the shiver at the memory of having to spoon feed mom the first two months because she couldn't do anything herself.
Aunt Olivia, dad's sister, came by and realized how bad it was, but when she suggested that Kieran and I come stay with her family for a little bit, Mom flew into a rage.
She was a little better after that. She could feed herself, at least.
"Stepdad?" He asks, curiosity clear in his tone.
"Yeah. He's fine. He just…is." I shrug. "Came with three stepsisters. Birdie, Cat, and Rue."
He gives a wry grin. "All animal themed names?"
A derisive snort leaves me. "Yeah. Don't you dare bring it up to them though. They hate it. Birdie still screams at us to not call her that, even though she's near forty now. Calls us 'immature'." I shake my head.
"Was it strange, suddenly living with three stepsisters?" I suppose he wouldn't know, if he had two years of having his stepmother before Titus was born.
I give a non-committal hum. "Two. Birdie was already at college by the time Mom and Paul got married. Which I am not complaining about."
It's not necessary right now to go into detail about how my step-sisters took whatever they could from me whenever they could, including Charlie.
He looks pensive for a moment, but then I'm brushing the hair off his shoulders, and removing the cape. "There you go, let me know what you think."
Enzo doesn't even move his eyes from mine. "It's perfect." You're perfect.
"You haven't even looked yet." I roll my eyes.
His eyes dart to his hair for all of a millisecond before they're back on mine in the mirror. "It's perfect." Before I can call him on his bullshit again, he's standing, turning towards me and taking my hands in his. "Go on a date with me, reinita ."
Biting my lip, I make a mental note to definitely look up whatever "reinita" means later. He looks at me with such yearning, such hope, that I find myself wanting to tell him yes. My heart is forgetting that it's supposed to be protecting itself, the damn thing.
The alpha in front of me leans in slowly, and for a moment, I freeze, thinking he can't possibly be meaning to kiss me, but instead he brushes his cheekbone against mine, the act of scent-marking me, even though there's so much de-scenter lathered on both of us there's no way anything's getting through.
Just the thought of his leather and tobacco scent has my mouth watering, and I'm once again extra glad for the scent-blocking panties I'm wearing. I have to see where this goes, right? Enzo, out of all of them, seems the most stable. The most sure of what he wants.
"Okay." I nod, biting back a smile as his shoulders seem to sag in relief.
"Thank you, preciosa ." He gives me a heart-stopping smile as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. "Put your number in. We'll make plans for this weekend."
Swallowing roughly, I nod. "Okay." Then I mentally curse myself for how stilted my conversation skills have become in the last two minutes. Do I know any other words other than "okay"?
I type my number into his phone and call myself so I have his number, and hand the phone back to him. Smiling like the cat that got the canary, Enzo pushes a strand of hair behind my ear before he leaves the salon, leaving me staring after him like some sort of slack-jawed idiot.
By the time I get my wits about me, I see that the rest of the hairdressers around me are shooting me sneaking looks and I throw my hands up. "Nothing to see here, people!"
Lilah snorts as she foils her clients hair. "Sure. Bet you'll be bitten and bonded by this time next month."
I flip her off, grabbing a chocolate croissant from the box Enzo brought and nearly moaning when I take a bite.
Weirdly enough, Lilah's words don't freak me out. If anything…I kind of like the idea.