Emily, on the other hand, was back to enjoying herself.
Jake’s eyes narrowed.
Eric, who was cutting her hair, was having a blast, too. Jake could see him from here, standing over Emily, smiling and laughing as he wielded a pair of scissors and a comb.
She was laughing, too.
Jake’s mouth turned down.
What the hell was there to laugh about?
The SOB better not be taking off too much of all that sex hair. “Just trim it,” Jake had warned, when he’d handed Emily over.
“Trust me, Jake,” Eric had said.
Well, yeah. That was the reason he’d brought Emily here, wasn’t it? He and Eric worked out at the same gym. They’d had some beers together. And Eric owned one of the trendiest styling salons in the city.
He was also straight, Jake thought grimly. And it was just possible some women might be turned on by his Viking good looks.
How come he hadn’t considered those things before he’d brought Emily here and put her in Eric’s hands? How come it hadn’t occurred to him that Eric wouldn’t just cut her hair, he’d also see how beautiful she was, how much fun; he’d see that she wasn’t anything like the other women who crowded THE BEAUTY SPOT, that she was...
“Hi.”
Jake lifted his glowering face. Emily stood before him. Eric was there, too, but at first all Jake could see was Emily. Emily, with her hair loose, with her curls set free, shiny and dark as coffee as they tumbled around her face.
“Well?” She smiled nervously. “What do you think?”
What did he think? Jake rose from the chair. What he thought was that he wanted to reach out and touch one of those curls, feel the silken whisper of it as he brought it to his lips....
“Not bad,” he said calmly.
Emily’s smile drooped. Good, Jake thought savagely. Had she really imagined he’d tell her she looked—she looked—
“That’s typical,” Eric said. He grinned, looped an arm lightly around Emily’s shoulders and gave her a quick hug. “Last time I beat him at racquetball, he said the same thing.”
Jake looked at Eric. “You got it wrong, buddy,” he said quietly. “I beat you. And since when do stylists get so cozy with their clients?”
Emily flushed. Eric raised his eyebrows. Jake felt like an idiot.
“Oh, hell,” he muttered, “man, I’m sorry. That was a stupid thing to say. I just—”
Eric let go of Emily and smiled. “No harm done, Jake. I’d probably have the ol’ green-eyed monster on my back, too, if this were my lady.”
“But I’m not,” Emily said quickly. “I’m not—”
“See you,” Jake said. He clasped Emily’s arm and hustled her out of the salon.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” she hissed. “Now he thinks you and I—he thinks we’re—”
“Did he ask for your phone number?”
“No!” Emily wrenched free of Jake’s hand and glared at him. “But what if he had?”
What, indeed? Jake dug his hands deep into the pockets of his jacket. “Don’t worry about it,” he said coldly. “I’ll set him straight when I see him next time. Once he’s sure you and I aren’t involved, he’ll ask you out.”
“I don’t want him to ask me out! That’s not what this is about.”
“Sure it is. What else am I doing this for, if not to make guys interested in you?”
“I don’t like your attitude!”
“You don’t have to like it,” Jake snarled. “Just do as you’re told so we can get through the day.”
“You know what?” Emily blew a curl off her forehead. “I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to get through the day. I don’t want you in my face. In fact, I’m going home.”
She swung away. Jake reached out, caught her arm and spun her towards him.
“You’ll go home when I say you can go home.”
“I know this may come as a shock, Mr. McBride, but I don’t have to take orders from you.”
“Yeah, you do. You’re my exec, remember?”
“Five days a week. Even Scrooge gave Bob Cratchit weekends off.”
“So, you’re telling me you won’t work overtime?”
Emily blinked. “What kind of question is that?”
“What do you think today is, if not overtime?”
“Huh?”
Huh, was right. Think fast, Jake told himself, go on, find a way to dig yourself out of the mess you’re in.
“I have to drive to Connecticut, to, ah, to check on some property.” Well, he thought, it could have been the truth. He had been planning to head north; he just hadn’t thought about doing it today.