Page 24 of Fierce-Dane

“I’m going to try to schedule a massage with her. I know it won’t be easy to get in, but I’ll see what openings she has.”

“I’ll do the same,” Diane said. “We need to try to lay it on and feel her out. Name drop and all. She knows what we do.”

“But if we do that, won’t she think that Dane put us up to it? She might think it’s odd that we know Dane went there.”

“We don’t have to say that. We already brought up Dane’s name last month, remember? That was before the massage or that we even knew he got a gift for one.”

“Good point,” she said. “And since we did it once, we can again. Let’s see if she says she’s seen Dane.”

“I doubt it,” Diane said. “She might not be able to do that. Confidentiality and all.”

“I guess we’ll find out and now we’ve got something else to do knowing that Gabe and Elise seem to be on their way.”

“Do we let the guys in on this?” Diane asked.

“I suppose we’ll have to, but they’d have no hand in this. They never go to the spa or see Dane. This one can be on us.”

“Just the way we like it,” Diane said. “And we get some massages out of it.”

“As I said,” she said, “good news.”

7

WAS SOMETHING MORE

Sloane looked at the schedule of appointments first thing weeks later.

She knew Dane was coming in at six thirty. The last appointment she’d have for the day and was for a ninety-minute massage. Since she had nothing for thirty minutes prior, if he was early, she’d start then.

In the past few weeks, the Fierce women came in for pedicures again and she’d spotted them before they left. They’d made a point to name drop and she all but ignored it.

Just like she always did. They talked about someone just getting engaged over the July Fourth holiday that they’d had a hand in setting up, then joked about who they were working on next and the names coming out of their mouths.

One had been Dane. She knew that. They’d brought it up before.

Plus Dane had joked about staying away from the women and what they were after.

She wondered if he was aware they had his name coming out of their mouths.

She wouldn’t be the one to bring it up either.

She went about her day with more anticipation than she normally felt seeing someone again.

It wasn’t like her to be that way.

Sure, she looked forward to seeing some of her clients for a variety of reasons.

Some had to do with health issues and she wanted to see how they were getting on. Or if their massages were easing their pain.

Others were just so much fun to talk to that it always brightened her day.

With Dane...it was something more that she couldn’t put her finger on.

“Going to be a busy one today,” Heather said. Heather was another massage therapist. “I’ve got a packed day until eight tonight.”

“Me too,” she said. “A few breaks in between, but my last appointment will end at eight. Thankfully I’ve got two facials that I booked last minute when I had openings.”

“You love doing them,” Heather said. “I’m surprised you don’t do more.”

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