Page 17 of Fierce-Dane

She left to take care of the vendor and all but rolled her eyes when she saw who it was.

“Hello, Jerry,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I know,” Jerry said. “But I’ve got some new exfoliating scrubs you might like to try.”

“Why don’t you leave me some samples and I’ll have the girls try them. You know it’s not what I do.”

“That’d be great,” Jerry said. “Are you done for the night?”

It was seven and they closed at eight. She was done with her clients, but she was closing and had work to do in her office.

“No,” she said. “I’ve got another hour of work.”

She never said whether it was with clients or not. “I was hoping we could get something to eat.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I won’t be out of here until after eight and then still have things to do. But I will take those samples.”

“Sure thing,” Jerry said. He had a grin on his face like he always did. She wasn’t surprised he’d come here to slip in a date. He’d been hinting toward it, but she wasn’t interested.

She walked him out a few minutes later.

“Sorry about that,” Vanessa said. “He’s been sitting therefor thirty minutes. I told him you were busy, but he wouldn’t leave.”

“It’s fine,” she said.

“But your last client. Oh my, he was something to look at. I’m not sure how you do that.”

Vanessa always made jokes like that about the good-looking men. “It’s a job,” she said.

Vanessa handed over the envelope. “Here. He left this for you.”

She took the envelope and went back to her office. She never wanted clients to feel as if they had to tip in person so they could leave it at the desk or even put it on their credit card. Most did that now, but she’d always be someone who wanted cash on hand.

Sometimes it was hard to break a habit of trust. The banking institutions weren’t going to crash, but she’d lived so much of her life being fed stupid shit that in the back of her mind, she did like having cash stashed for that rainy day.

Once she was in her office, she opened the envelope and saw the hundred-dollar bill and her jaw dropped. That was a fifty percent tip.

Of course the massage had been a gift so maybe he felt as if he had to do that.

It was still nice and not expected in the least.

She went to her computer and pulled up her schedule. Just out of curiosity, she wanted to see if Dane scheduled another appointment.

Yep, four weeks away but on a Wednesday.

Now she just had to hope time went by quickly before she saw him again.

Sloane put her hand over her mouth. When had she ever thought of a client like that before?

5

A NIGHT TO YOURSELF

“Grandma,” Tiffani said. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“I heard spaghetti was requested again,” Dane’s mother said.

His mother always asked what to make when he spent the night with the kids. This was getting so old in his eyes and he hated it but didn’t know what else to do.

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