Clara
“Just for weddings? What the heck is that supposed to mean?” Jenna asked, cocking a brow as she stared into the mirror while holding my hair hostage.
She had a chunk of my long honey locks between her fingers, shears waving precariously as she continued. “Are you two going to take advantage of the rest that this arrangement implies? Or is he using you as his…beard is the wrong word for this. Proxy. Yeah, that’s it. Is he using you as a proxy?”
I sighed in relief when she retrained her focus to the ends of my hair she was supposed to be trimming. “If I’m his proxy, he’s mine. I just…neither one of us wants to go alone to the five hundred weddings happening in Sunrise this summer.”
“And whose genius idea was this? You’ve been in love with him since—“
“I am not in love with Maverick Wilde.”
“Bullshit. You at least want to bone him.”
My cheeks heated. “Who doesn’t?”
“Fair.”
“But the point is, Mav and I put the lid on any possible romantic entanglement a long time ago. We’re friends and colleagues. That’s it.”
She shook her head and continued trimming my hair while nineties hits blared on her speakers. “It’s a damn shame. He’s hot, you’re a smoke show. You two would light up the sheets together.”
“Jenna, leave it alone.”
“Fine. When’s the first wedding?”
“Today. Why do you think you’re doing my hair right now?”
Assessing me, she smirked. “I figured you finally came to your senses and realized once a year wasn’t frequent enough.”
“I just…”
“You don’t want to look like you don’t care what you look like.” The statement was so frank and so true I had to fight a panicked giggle.
“I don’t want him to want to be with anyone else. Even if there’s nothing going on between us. I still want him to be proud to have me on his arm.”
A wicked grin twisted her lips. “Girl, you should have told me from the get-go this was our goal. I’ll take care of you. He won’t know what hit him.”
A little curl of excitement tickled something in my belly but I pushed it down. “Don’t go crazy. I still want to look like me.”
“You will. You’re hot. I don’t know why you can’t see it. Every cowboy you work with has it bad for you. You should see the way they watch you.”
“Trent doesn’t watch me.”
Her cheeks went pink. “Trent Ryker is a player. I figured that out the first time he flashed those baby blues at me.”
“Just like his cousin.”
“Yup. There’s nothing that’ll change them.”
“I don’t know. Tristan is happily married.”
The color drained from her face. “Hazel is lucky. I’ve seen how it can turn out differently. It’s not pretty when the player starts playing his own wife.”
Jenna and I had known each other a long time, but she’d never given me her full story. There was a lot about my past she didn’t know either, but whatever put this look in her eyes seemed big.
“Jen…” I trailed off, not knowing how to continue.
“Okay, enough serious shit. Let’s talk about how you’re not going to bang Maverick tonight.”
As she styled me we talked about our lives, caught up on goals and our favorites from our romance book club. It was good for my soul to spend time with her. We were both busy with our careers. Her with the salon, me with the vet practice. Neither of us wanted more than a night of fun here and there. We both agreed that putting our hearts on the line for men wasn’t appealing. She had her reasons, and I respected them. Our motto was ‘Make the life you want. Don’t wait for a man to give it to you.’ So far, we’d done exactly that.
Three hours later, my brows were waxed, hair styled into long, glossy waves that cascaded down my back, and she’d even done my makeup. I looked really damn good. A far cry from the vet who wears her hair in a ponytail or braid all day, barely puts on anything more than mascara and Chapstick, and exists in jeans and cowboy boots—or pajamas.
“Wow,” she sighed. “You look like a fucking model.”
“I don’t look like myself.”
“Yes you do, girl. You look like Clara Barnes, goddess of Maverick Wilde’s fantasies.”
I swallowed back the nerves that statement set off. “I don’t want to be the goddess of his fantasies.”
She smirked. “Too bad. Besides, you can’t honestly tell me you haven’t fantasized about him. We all have. Those broad shoulders and chiseled jaw. God. And the smolder on that man could set my panties on fire from twenty paces.”
“I’m surprised those Hollywood good looks don’t get him into trouble more often.”
“Seems to me like he doesn’t let them. I wonder why. If I was as good looking as him, I’d have already done all the damage possible in this little one-horse town.”
“You are as good looking as he is, Jenna.”
“Yeah, but I’m not about to let the church ladies slut shame me to the altar. You know they would.”
Chuckling under my breath, I pulled my credit card from my purse, but she shook her head. “Put your money away. I’m just glad I got to bear witness to the beginning of the end of Maverick Wilde.”
“Stop it. I’m not hooking up with him. That doesn’t fit in my plans.”
She rolled her eyes. “Your ‘plans’ are confusing as fuck.”
I’d been toying with the idea of freezing my eggs so when the time was right, I could have a baby. I didn’t want my window to pass. Men were lucky bastards in more ways than one. They could start a family whenever they damn well pleased. I was nearing forty and didn’t have the slightest urge to find myself a husband. Husbands hurt you. I didn’t want that.
“They’re not. I’m going to make the life I want.”
“Don’t throw that back in my face.”
“I’m just looking into my options. I don’t want to wake up one day and regret not having done this.”
“I get it, but it’s hardly like you’re all dried up. People are having kids later and later now.”
“I know. I just like to—“
“Plan ahead.”
“Exactly.”
She fluffed my hair before turning me to look into the mirror one last time. “You’re a bad ass bitch who takes what she wants. Keep that in mind, in case taking a ride on Maverick Wilde’s dick is what you want tonight. I can be your wingwoman.”
I laughed.
“And if it is, I need every detail the next day.”
“Thank you, Jenna. There will be no dick riding tonight.”
“Your loss. I plan to take home a ranch hand.”
I hitched my purse over my shoulder and shook my head as I left. “I’ll see you at the wedding?”
“You bet your pretty ass you will. Have fun tonight.”
Smiling, I left with the thought of what it might be like to take Mav for a ride dancing in the back of my mind. I had to admit, it was appealing.