I wet my lips. “But something tells me you already know that.”
“I may have heard something,” he said, scratching his neck before putting the curling iron down. He lounged back. “And if it means anything, I didn’t want to be right about him.”
He didn’t? I found that hard to believe. Reaching over, LJ angled his long body over the box on the toilet, and before I could stop him, he was opening it up.
“Hey—”
The long dress fell out of it in shimmering waves, a sapphire blue silk. It came with a note, and when LJ picked it up, he frowned at me. “This is from your dad?”
“Yes, and it’s none of your business,” I said, ripping away both the dress and the card. I threw them both in the box. “And why are you still here?”
“Because I saved you and deserve a consolation prize.”
“Which would be?”
His eyes twinkled before he jerked his chin in the direction of the dress. “An explanation for that?” He leaned forward. “And why you almost set your house on fire twice?”
Groaning, I nearly screamed at him before wrestling in my hair. Something told me he wouldn’t leave either way. I huffed. “If you must know, the dress is a bribe.”
“A bribe?”
I nodded. “My dad wants me to go to his wedding and thinks giving me things will convince me to go.”
His other tactics hadn’t worked, text, phone calls, and ultimately, the wedding invitation itself. I hadn’t responded to any of it, my dad now desperate, but I didn’t care. I didn’t want to go to his stupid wedding.
LJ propped his sneaker against my wall. “So what’s the issue then? You just mad because he’s getting remarried?”
Because I’d be that sophomoric, that trivial, and the fact I was talking about this to this guy now floored me. “You know what? Thanks so much for saving me, but you can get out of my house now.”
Instantly, he pushed off the wall, hands on my shoulders when he said, “Hold up,” and hands coming down my shoulders, he made me stay. He looked right at me, his thumbs burning into my flesh.
It didn’t help I was wearing a tank top.
Despite my dad sending me this gift I didn’t want, I was going to try it on, taking the time to do my hair before modeling it. The decision had proved to be a huge mistake since I’d almost burned my house down with the iron.
LJ eyed me. “Did I say something to offend?” he asked, then noticed my hair. I’d started to curl it, nearly finished it. Currently, it sat in dead red curls on my shoulders. He twisted one. “Were you going somewhere?”
I groaned. “Since the dress came, I was going to model it. Naturally, I had to do my hair.”
“Naturally.”
I started to push him away, his body way too hard under my hands. His hands returned to my shoulders again and guiding me to the toilet, he moved the box and sat me down. “What are you doing?”
He worked quick, getting a bunch of products together from my basket above and even a few styling utensils. He grinned again. “I’m obviously going to help you with your hair to model the dress you don’t want to wear for the wedding you don’t want to go to.” He winked, tapping my shoulder with a comb. “Just give me a sec. It’s been a bit since I did this.”
He’d done this before? My eyes widened. “When have you done this before?”
A wickedness in his eyes when he got behind me, lacing his fingers and cracking them before taking one of my dead curls. Getting it out to full length, electricity surged to my scalp when he touched it, and I attempted to ignore the fact he had his hands in my hair. He got behind me in the mirror. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I actually would, amazed when he clipped my hair back and immediately went in to use the styling product. My hair never curled without it, and he somehow knew that.
“So you wanna tell me about this thing with your dad?” he asked, talking to me like a real stylist. The fact that this moment was truly happening right now blew my mind. He went for the curling iron and I froze up. He eyed me. “Seriously, beauty queen. I got you. I’ve probably done this more than you.”
“How so?”
“Try three sisters and a mom who worked four jobs.” Getting the iron on the curl, he held it, the thing steaming and perfect when he let go. The curl fell down on my shoulder in a way I hadn’t even been able to do.
My lips parted. “Shit.”