Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
The guy she’d hooked up with Friday night—and early Saturday morning—stood across the room, those intense golden eyes fixed on her. It was no consolation that he looked just as shocked to see her as she was to see him. The jerk had called her a bar slut.
Anger simmered in her veins, and her fingers twitched to grab up the scissors in the top right drawer of her desk and cut off the manhood he was so proud of.
She was really starting to commiserate with the blonde from the hotel bar.
Apparently, everything she’d said was true.
He was a prick who used women and discarded them like tissues.
All of her thoughts and wishes from this morning dissipated like dust in the wind.
She broke their gaze and turned to Miles, who was currently draped over the counter. “Off to have fun?”
He winked. “Not as much fun as I’d have with you.”
She’d first met Miles when he helped Knox and her move her things into Ellen’s place.
He flirted shamelessly, even knowing that there would never be anything between them.
She started to roll her eyes, then thought better of it.
She refused to let the man know he’d hurt her.
“What kinda trouble are you gettin’ into today? ”
“The usual.” He turned and waved the new guy over. “Mason, come meet Vivi.”
She gritted her teeth as the jerk—Mason—approached. Forcing a smile to her lips, she held out a hand like we’d never met before. “Nice to meet you.”
His gaze narrowed as he took her hand in his, giving her fingers a little squeeze. She snatched them away. His face darkened further, but she dismissed it a moment later when Miles’s words penetrated her fog of anger. “Vivi, this is my brother, Mason.”
His brother? What in the name of all things holy was happening right now? She stood there slack-jawed for a moment, her brain spinning. “Your brother?”
“Yep.” He grinned. “I’m the good looking one, obviously.”
“Obviously.” Her response was half-hearted as her gaze darted over Miles’s shoulder to Mason, who looked ready to kill. She couldn’t freaking believe it. Miles had never once mentioned his brother’s name, and besides—
“Wait.” She snapped her gaze back to Miles. “She thought you said you were a twin.”
“Yep. Fraternal,” he added helpfully.
Good God. Mason had told her he was a twin after the debacle in the bar. Never in a million years did she ever imagine that he was related to Miles Kane. For whatever reason, she’d imagined an exact duplicate of him—not the man who continued to glower her way across the counter.
She tried desperately not to glare at Miles, because that information would have been super helpful a few days ago. She cleared her throat. “Awesome. Well, I should let you guys get going.”
“You’re more than welcome to join us,” Miles teased. “The more the merrier.”
“I—” She jumped as her brother shoved another file into her hands, jerking her out of her stupor.
“Stop flirting with my guys.”
She rolled her eyes. “No one’s flirting.” And she most certainly did not have an insanely hot one-night stand with the new guy.
“Good, ‘cuz I’d have to kill them for putting hands on her baby sister.”
Her jaw dropped at his declaration. “Oh, my God, you’re such a—”
“Mason, this is my sister, Vivi,” Knox said, cutting off her tirade.
Mason dipped his head, his sharp golden eyes unreadable, mask firmly back in place. “We’ve met.”
She glared at him, but it was short-lived as her brother continued. “You need any help getting settled, let her know. She’ll be more than happy to help.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” His eyes never left hers, and Vivi felt her pulse kick up.
She needed to get away from all of them before she lost her mind.
Her brother would probably kill Mason if he found out about their night at the hotel.
He’d practically raised her and acted more like a parent than her big brother sometimes.
“Excuse me,” she said, pushing past the three men currently crowding her space and being a general nuisance. “I’ve got to take care of these.”
She pulled her phone out of her pocket as she made her way to the back office where the files were kept, then pulled up Jamie’s number.
They’d been friends all through high school and had reconnected via Facebook when she told her she was moving back to Florida.
She’d graduated from cosmetology school a couple of years ago and now had her own small salon on the west end of town.
“Hey, girl, what’s up?” Jamie asked when she picked up.
“I need an emergency session with you tonight if you’re free.”
“Sure. Stop by around seven?”
“You got it.” Vivi shoved the files into their places, then slammed the drawer.
Three hours later, Vivi sat in Jamie’s kitchen, her shears at the ready. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she asked, her fingers sifting through Vivi’s long locks.
She wasn’t sure why every life change required women to do something drastic to their hair, but here she was. Vivi was tired of Knox treating her like a little girl. She was tired of men like Mason telling her what to do. It was time for a change.
Jamie studied her in the reflection of the mirror she’d propped on the table. “You’re not going to freak out afterward, right?”
“No way.” Vivi laughed. “The guys like it long, but this is for me. I want something shorter, more mature. Easy to take care of.”
“Hmm…” Jamie circled her, looking at her face and rearranging her hair. She opened her phone and flipped to a picture of a woman with a sleek bob that barely brushed her shoulders and handed it to Vivi. “Is this too short?”
“That’s perfect,” Vivi said with a grin. “Let’s get to it.”
She watched as long locks of brown hair fell to the floor around her, and she waited anxiously for Jamie to finish so she could see.
Finally, Jamie turned her around to face the huge mirror hanging on her wall. “What do you think?”
“Holy crap.” It was short, but it felt so light and playful. “I love it!”
Longer in front and a little shorter in the back, the cut framed her face and made her look older. Now if only she could be a little wiser…
No more hookups with alpha bodyguards, she promised herself as she studied her reflection.
She hugged Jamie, then headed to her car.
Slowing for a red light, she glanced at her reflection in the rearview mirror and ran her fingers through her dramatically shorter locks.
A bitter smile curved her face. Mason could eat his heart out, because she was done being that girl back at the hotel.
He thought she was some cheap slut he could use and throw away like yesterday’s trash.
Driven by anger, she hadn’t allowed them to come before, but tears now pricked her eyes.
She refused to let another man make her feel like that ever again.
She’d wanted him, and she’d gone after him.
Never mind the fact that Friday night was the first time she’d ever slept with a man she’d just met.
It was a stupid mistake she would never make again, that was for sure.
Now she had to work with the jerk every day.
She couldn’t let him see that he’d affected her at all.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.
Her heart clenched a little bit when she thought back to our time together.
He was witty and smart, and hot as sin. She’d almost stupidly admitted to him that she actually lived in the area, but he was gone by the time she woke up.
She’d never asked him where he was from, assuming—probably the same as he had—that he was just visiting. It was a cruel twist of fate that she had to see him every day, with the memory of his touch haunting her.
The more distance she put between them, the better.
Soon enough, whatever was between them would fade.
In another few weeks, maybe a month, it would be like it’d never happened.
He obviously wasn’t interested in her, so she had nothing to worry about.
She’d just avoid him until she had her feelings under control—maybe start seeing someone else.
Just the thought made her sick. Images of Mason in the hotel room, his lips on her neck, hands leaving fire in their wake as they traveled over her skin, assaulted her. She wasn’t the type to just hook up with another guy to get her mind off Mason.
What she needed was a little bit of time, then maybe she’d find a nice guy to date. Someone who actually cared about her and didn’t work with her. Someone who wouldn’t break her heart.