Page 5 of Big Deal Sweetheart

“Yes, sir. I’ll just go and sit on my bed, like a good little girl and wait until you come back with whatever punishment you decide is fitting for me cutting my own hair,” she yelled before turning and slamming the door. A moment later, the door opened again. “And for your information, it’s my hair. If I want to shave it all off, I can,” she yelled and slammed the door again. The sound of the lock engaging was loud in the ensuing silence.

“You shave your damn head and I’ll enroll you in an all-girls school when we get home,” he warned.

Before she could come back out and piss him off further, he left after making sure he had the key to get back in. He’d come to Sweetheart, Colorado so that Delilah could meet her mother’s family and so he could move on from her loss as well. It’s been three years since they’d lost her, three long years where he had to adjust to being a single dad to a teenage daughter. “There sure as shit isn’t a manual on how to do things right,” he muttered, bracing for the cold as he stepped outside.

With his phone out, he googled the salon. In a town as small as the one they were in; it took him less than seven minutes to get there. Not enough time for him to cool down, and definitely not enough time for him to formulate what he’d say, without blowing a gasket. Stepping up to the door, he had to admit the place looked professional. But what kind of stylist would cut and color a fifteen-year-old girl’s hair without a parent’s permission?

The chime above the door had him wincing as he entered. However, it was the vision of the gorgeous brunette that sent his mind reeling. Keifer stood in the entryway and watched her for a moment before she looked up and met his stare. Her smile fading as soon as she saw him.

“Hi, can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m here to find out who butchered my daughter’s hair this morning.” Keifer looked at the woman who made him spill his coffee earlier, then to the other stylist who was showering the floor with water. Shit, if they were any indication for professionalism, his daughter was lucky her hair hadn’t fallen out.

The coffee spiller wiped her hands on a towel before sauntering over to him, giving him a chance to appreciate her curves.

“I’m going to assume your daughter was Delilah?”

Shit, he didn’t remember her voice being as smooth from earlier. Of course, he was a little harassed and running late for his morning conference call that had been rescheduled when he wasn’t supposed to have any, plus he and Delilah had argued since he’d promised no work while on vacation. The tiny little woman snapped her fingers in front of him, bringing him back to the reason why he was in the salon in the first place.

“Sir, are you alright?” she asked.

Keifer stared down at almond shaped eyes thinking he could get lost in them. “I’m perfectly fine. My daughter on the other hand is not. Someone chopped off her hair and destroyed her golden locks,” he spat.

He might be overexaggerating, but dammit, he couldn’t believe half her hair had been wacked off without his consent or knowledge.

“Alright, let’s calm down and stop with the theatrics. First of all, Delilah is old enough to make up her own mind what she does and doesn’t do with her hair. Second, her hair wasn’t destroyed, but rather given an edgy look that while it might not be what someone of your...taste likes, she loved. And last, but certainly not least, I’ll have you know I talked her out of what she’d come in requesting, which I might add was black hair cut up to here.” She raised her hands to her shoulders.

He narrowed his eyes, his mind stuck on the first thing she’d said. “Let me fill you in on a few truths, young lady. Delilah is not old enough to do a damn thing. She’s fifteen. And you’re right, I most certainly have better tastes than...that.”

“Oh my god, Daddy, stop.” Delilah burst through the door.

His daughter’s outraged cry had him spinning around to see her rushing toward him with her face red from crying. “What are you doing here, Dee?”

Delilah rolled her eyes, but he could see how upset she was. “I knew you were going to do something stupid and embarrass the both of us, and look, here you are.”

Keifer didn’t know whether he should laugh or growl at his daughter. “I’m not embarrassing either of us. This woman could lose her license for cutting and coloring a minor’s hair without parental consent.”

He watched the little girl who reminded him so much of his wife turn away from him, her face blooming a shade of red that had nothing to do with the cold. “Delilah Jean Sparks, what did you do?”

“Would you two like to talk in the back where you can have a little privacy?”

Keifer looked over his shoulder at the woman who was by all intents and purposes wrong in this situation, or was she? Shit, he hated being the one who had to apologize.

“Thank you,” he said with as much respect as he could.

NOVA TRIED NOT TO STICKher tongue out at the jerk who admittedly appeared to be in the right. Shoot, Delilah was a child, not a young woman. “She’s only fifteen.” She mouthed toward Linny as she walked in front of the father daughter duo. Luckily Linny got control of the waterspout and hadn’t drowned her client while she’d been ogling the gorgeous man who was bent on chewing her out. Thoughts on him doing just that, only not verbally, had her face heating. Thank the lord she was in front of them.

“Here you go. It’s just Linny and I here today besides our clients, so take your time. If you want me, holler. My name is Nova Leigh.” She smiled brightly, probably too brightly, but damn, the man checked every box on what she wanted, in looks that was.

“Oh, I’ll want to speak with you shortly, so don’t go anywhere, Miss Leigh,” he assured her.

Yep, just like that, she remembered why she didn’t like men like him. The wool coat he had on, probably cost more than the entire salon would make the entire week with a full client load. His loafers, which were ridiculous to be wearing in Sweetheart, Colorado in the winter, were also expensive as all get out, so yeah, stupid choice. The slacks and button-down shirt, while minus the tie and suit jacket, which were probably back at his suite, probably cost a pretty penny as well. All those things weren’t a negative, usually, but his attitude made her put him on the no fuck list. Yep, she had a very long list of men she could appreciate looking at, could even fantasize about. Yet when they opened their mouth, they were instantly slapped right on over into the MIWNFL. Or, better known as the men I would not fuck list.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, sir.” She gave a mock salute, then turned on her sensible heel because while she was smart enough to wear boots to traverse the streets in, she did have good tastes as well. If he was to look at the bottom, he’d see they were red and cost a pretty penny as well.

The door to the shared office the ladies used at the salon shut. Linny smirked with her hands knuckle deep in her client’s hair. Nova did stick her tongue out to the other woman, making her laugh and stick her tongue back out at Nova. “If Mr. Grouch comes back out while I’m in the ladies’ room, assure him I didn’t run off please.”

“Will do. Should you call your Nana about the underage thing?”

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