Page 35 of Fierce-Dane

She looked around and noticed two more tables finishing up.

They got up and walked back to her parking lot. It felt odd to her.

This was a date, but it was a last-minute one. She wasn’t even dressed like she normally would be.

She had her work attire on of black pants and a black T-shirt.

Her hair had been pulled back and again and she was hoping maybe she could give him a bit more to look at the next time.

“I had a good time,” she said.

“Me too,” he said. He reached for her hand and just touched it and then dropped it away.

He’d dated about as much as her and she could tell he was unsure of himself.

She decided to put them both out of their misery and reached up and gave him a light kiss on the lips. “Next time we’ll try for more.”

He actually blushed a bit and she found it adorable.

“We can do that too.”

“Night, Dane. Have fun with your kids.”

“Night, Sloane. Ahhh, I don’t have your number or address.”

She laughed. “I wondered when you’d realize that. I’vegot your number in my files. I’ll text you everything when I get home. I promise.”

He nodded and climbed into his SUV. Nothing fancy or flashy. He didn’t seem to be the type. Then he drove off and she wondered if he was going to be meditating and thinking of that kiss.

Maybe she’d ask him just that question.

Nothing wrong with a little bit of flirting.

10

HOLDING BACK

“Sloane had a date on Wednesday. Did you guys all know that?”

Sloane was surprised no one said anything to her yesterday, but since no one ordered takeout it made sense.

But on Fridays she had a full house of employees. All her massage therapists were here, along with her three nail technicians and her two estheticians.

There hadn’t been much time to talk since the doors opened at nine, but a bunch of the girls ordered lunch like they normally did.

She’d heard where they would be ordering from and expected this to happen when the food arrived.

Thankfully it was only her, Becca, another massage therapist who had an hour break, Elle, a nail technician between clients who also ran to get the food, and Vanessa from the front desk who came back to get her lunch too.

Elle and Nicole were friends and she was positive that was who told her employee when the announcement was made.

“No,” Tessa said, walking into the room where she must have overheard the conversation. “What are you holding back? When did this start and who is it?”

She let out a sigh. “I don’t want to get into a long and drawn-out conversation. We all have work to do.”

“I’ve got time,” Becca said. “And so do you. You don’t have another client for forty-five minutes.”

Sloane wished she hadn’t said that when she ran into Becca in the hall after the two of them were changing over their rooms.

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