Chapter Fifteen-Ryan
I’d never been this twitchy about a damn haircut before.
Pacing in the locker room of the Castor’s Corner Firehouse, I pulled at the collar of my cleanest Henley for the tenth time.
I’d already changed shirts twice.
Tried the navy one, then the black.
Settled on the charcoal gray because it brought out my eyes—or so Bella claimed.
Not that I was trying to impress anyone.
Bullshit. I was trying to impress her.
Donny freaking Andrews.
The curvy Witch who’d invaded every waking thought since the first time I stepped into her salon and got a whiff of her vanilla-honey-magical hell scent.
She was fire.
Fury. Flawless.
And I was so screwed.
“Dude,” Conrad called from the kitchen, “you wearing cologne or marinating in it?”
I growled. “Shut up.”
He poked his head around the corner, raised a brow at the five empty coffee cups stacked next to me.
“You alright?”
“I’m getting my hair cut.”
He blinked slowly. “Okaaayyyy. Are you dying or what?”
“It’s her,” I muttered, pacing again. “Donny.”
“Ohhh,” he drawled, coming fully into view and leaning against the wall like he was about to enjoy a damn soap opera. “So, today is the day.”
“Yep. Today is it,” I grunted, dragging a hand through my shaggy curls. “I asked to come in early. But she’s booked till tonight. I got the last appointment of the day.”
“Sounds like fate.”
“It’s a haircut.”
“It’s a mating ritual,” he countered. “Did you exfoliate?”
“What? No! I—what?”
How did he?
I paused. No sense in lying. Shifters could tell about that sort of thing.
“Maybe.”
Conrad cackled. I considered throwing my boots at him.
“I just want to make an impression. She always looks so good, and she smells too good,” I said, barely getting the words out without groaning.
“Yeah?”
“Oh yeah. Like honey and sin, and expensive shampoo. And she talks with her hands. Long fingers. Soft skin. I want her hands all over—”
“And there it is. TMI, bro,” Conrad winced and reached for his phone. “Do I need to get Jaxson on the line to talk you down?”
I ignored him. My whole body buzzed with energy. I was too hot.
My Bear stirred under my skin, restless.
I had a couple of hours before I needed to get to Hair Now, Gone Tomorrow.
I had no idea what to do with myself in the meantime.
“Okay, calm down,” I said out loud, adjusting my shirt one more time. “You’re just going in for a haircut. She’s going to touch your head for twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes tops. You are a man. You are composed. You are not going to Shift—”
CRACK.
The back door of the firehouse exploded.
I looked down at my paws.
Oh. Shit.
I’d Shifted.
Full-on Grizzly.
“Bro,” Conrad said from behind the shattered remnants of the door. “That was mahogany.”
I snorted and stomped the ground, ears twitching.
“Better run off some of that energy before you show up drooling on her salon floor,” he advised, already grabbing tools. “Don’t worry. I’ll fix the door.”
I huffed out a breath, nodded once, and lumbered off into the woods behind the firehouse, the lingering scent of honey and hair dye already taunting my poor lovesick Bear.
I was doomed.