It wasn’t too far-fetched to image the slide in logic.
He’d prove he could bring down the rogues before they harmed a single hair on an innocent’s head. If he had to overhaul his wardrobe, cut inches off his hair, and dance like a puppet to somehow demonstrate he was worthy to rule, so be it.
“Fine.” Hayden rubbed his hands together briskly. “Let’s just get this over with.”
…
Two hours later, Hayden was seated in a chair in the corner of Elegance Salon. He went back and forth on the facial and manicure but finally refused. No matter how many times Ruby pressed after he’d made up his mind, he’d declined with a stoic expression on his face. He’d grumbled and cursed under his breath while Melina failed to control her laughter.
Torturing Hayden was turning out to be her favorite form of entertainment.
He squinted and rubbed his nose, as if the chemicals in the salon really bothered him. He looked downright miserable, staring into the mirror as Ricardo—hair stylist extraordinaire—snipped his hair. Ruby stood beside Ricardo, guiding him in his masterpiece. Hayden closed his eyes, scrubbed his hand beneath his nose, and winced.
“How long has it been since you’ve been in a salon like that?” Melina asked, sitting on one end of the bench next to his chair.
“Never.” He sneezed. “The barber comes to me.”
“Seriously? Must be nice when the world revolves around you.”
“It’s not a Prima Donna thing.” He rubbed his nose harder. “The chemicals in here are too strong. They burn my nose.”
Her attention shifted to the pile of magazines on the bench. She tossed a few onto his lap. “Want some reading material to take your mind off it?”
He looked down. Ricardo jerked his head back to level and continued cutting.
Hayden held the magazines in front of his face. As he flipped through, he read aloud, “Hayden Dean: Womanizer Strikes Again, Hayden Dean’s Night Club Brawl; Two in Hospital, The New Dean Girl Exposes Hayden’s Nitty-Gritty Secrets.” He tossed the last magazine onto her lap. “Women, fights, secrets. Are you sure your article is going to be able to turn this all around?”
“It has to.” She met his eyes in the mirror. “There’s a lot riding on this.”
Her dream job at Eclipse. Hayden’s new position in his father’s company…or whatever he was after.
“I think the only way we can change the public image of you,” she explained, “is if we give readers a completely different version of you to believe in. For that to happen, though, I have to see you in your element so there’s a ring of truth to it. I have to know what makes you tick. I have to know the reasons behind certain things.”
Yeah, like why he kissed her, and then sent her away.
He nodded, and got smacked in the back of the head by the ridge of Ricardo’s comb. Melina bit back a smirk as Hayden growled, and then held his head straightforward and still.
“Six,” he said, giving his nose a rub. “That’s the answer to your question.”
She knew exactly which question he meant.
But that didn’t mean she wanted to miss the opportunity to screw with him.
“Six sexually transmitted diseases you have?” She laughed as Hayden’s eyes went wide, Ricardo dropped his comb, and Ruby backed away from the chair with her arms in the air. “Joking. Joking. Six…inches long is the size of your—”
“Six celebrities I’ve dated this year,” Hayden blurted, laughing. “Jesus, Melina.”
Ricardo waggled his eyebrows. Hayden paled. Ruby shrugged, and glanced at Melina as if waiting for an answer on the true length of his manhood.
Total embarrassment.
“How would I know?” Melina mouthed, cheeks burning.
Although she couldn’t attest to exactly how big Hayden’s ego really was, when he’d pressed against her in the doorway and ground his hips into hers, she’d felt something…impressive. Her knees weakened and her tummy went fluttery at the memory.
“You probably wouldn’t believe most of those women broke up with me,” he said, “but that’d be the truth. Not that the magazines would report that.”
She’d have to remember to research his past girlfriends for the article. Maybe she could do a small section on his past and the real reasons some of those relationships failed. If he were telling the truth, it’d take some of the womanizing heat off him.
As she puzzled over Hayden’s words, and tried to shift them into place in her mind, Ricardo slicked Hayden’s hair back. He parted it down the side. And before Melina realized it, Hayden had transformed into a total Hemsworth.
“What about you?” he asked.
She met his eyes in the mirror once more. “I’m sorry, what?”
“How many men have you dated in the last year?”
A sudden rush of blood burned her cheeks. “We’re not improving my image with this article.”
“I know that.”
Ricardo and Ruby discussed colors Hayden should wear to accent the dark highlights in his hair as Melina fought to find a way out of the conversation.
Why did it matter how many men she’d dated in the last year? Why did he care?
In truth, there’d only been one date. Well, it hadn’t even really been a date, but the same first-meeting feelings had been there. When she looked into Hayden’s eyes, they were still there.
“A few,” she lied. “They were mostly casual dates.”
Casually running into friends here and there, and talking to the guys at the Celeb Crush offices.
God, the truth was pathetic.
A soft humming sound—almost like a growl—came from Hayden’s chest. His shoulders rose toward his ears. His hands clenched around the arm of the chair. He coughed loudly, and then glanced up into the mirror.
What had him so on edge? Must’ve been a buildup of the chemicals in the salon.
“What’s next, Ruby?” he asked, his voice strangely tight.
“Next is the fun part, darling,” she said, running her fingers through Hayden’s shorter hair. “Thursday after you get off work, we go shopping.”
“Thursday?” He exhaled heavily. “Can’t we get this all over with today?”
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, sweetheart.” Ruby put a hand on each shoulder and stared down his reflection in the mirror. “And you’re not my only client. I have a four o’clock on your heels.”
“That actually works better for us,” Melina said, hyperaware of how much she liked the sound of “us.” “We already have an appointment that’ll take up most of tomorrow afternoon.”
Hayden’s lips pressed together in a hard line. “What appointment?”
“Since you’re soaring through Phase One of the improvement plan, I thought we’d move on to Phase Two. We’ll work on improving the inside so it reflects on the outside.”
“Oh shit, here it comes.”
“We’re volunteering at an animal shelter. We’ll be helping with the dogs.”
“If working with dogs for one afternoon will rebuild my image,” he mumbled as he stood and moved toward the exit, “I’d be golden by now. I’m already surrounded by dogs all damn day.”
Funny, but besides the wolf picture hanging in his office, Melina hadn’t noticed signs of a dog being in the Dean, Hyde, & Hammer building.
Chapter Nine
Late Wednesday afternoon, Melina strode toward Forever Pets, an animal shelter near the Presidio. She loved the city when it smelled this way—like rain-washed asphalt. The mist hanging around for the last few days had finally turned into a dusting rainstorm that washed away the dirt and grime in the streets.
Sometime during the night—when she’d tossed and turned thinking of Hayden—Melina came to a few conclusions regarding her article. She wouldn’t mention his stunning good looks since most of the articles floating around focused on it; she’d give readers something different. She’d leave out how many girlfriends Hayden had, and instead focus on one or two serious ones.
But when she woke up this morning, cued up her computer, and searched Google for Hayden’s longer conquests, not a single serious relationship came up. It seemed as if Hayden had never dated anyone longer than a few weeks.
It almost seemed as if he kept everyone at arm’s length on purpose.
His earlier words rang through her head.
I don’t want any mention of my home.
Family and close friends are not to be discussed.
What did he have to hide?
Her thoughts were still whirling when she passed a magazine stand positioned on the edge of the sidewalk. The entertainment magazine on the top right caught her eye.
Millionaire Snubs Homeless.
A picture of Hayden striding down the street in front of Vision Amore was plastered to the front page. The homeless man in front of the shop was in the bottom corner, holding out his hand for spare change. The magazine had clearly Photoshopped Hayden’s face from a photograph in his past. He appeared to be screaming at the homeless man.
Melina’s stomach wrenched.
That wasn’t how it’d happened at all.
She’d witnessed the scene firsthand.
He’d given the homeless man money. He’d shaken his hand and promised to send him food. She’d heard him right, hadn’t she?
Disgusted with the lies plastered in front of her, Melina snatched a copy, paid, and then marched away from the stand. When she pushed through the doors leading to Forever Pets and approached the front counter, her blood was still boiling hot.
“Good afternoon,” she said to the brunette at the front. “I made an appointment to volunteer today at four. I’m still waiting for someone else to arrive, but if you’d like me to get started with the dogs, I can—”
“You’re with Hayden Dean, right?” The woman blushed. “He’s already here.”
“He is?”
She nodded. “Around back.”
After showing her ID and signing in, Melina weaved around the front counter, clutching the magazine in her fist. She passed through a set of doors leading to the veterinary section of the shelter, and continued down along a long hallway that smelled of wet fur. As she turned right and passed through another set of doors, a jerky symphony of barks and howls hit her ears.
She reached the canine section of the shelter and her heart tingled with warmth.
She loved working with the dogs.
She volunteered on a weekly basis, taking each one out to play, and cleaning out their kennels. There was something soothing, almost rejuvenating about spending time with the animals. Some were broken, scared, and skittish. Others were loud and excitable, needing more time to run.
All it took was quality time with each of them, and they loosened up, opened up, and trusted her to care for them.
She wouldn’t hurt them. They simply had to come to that conclusion on their own.
A few of the dogs wouldn’t trust Hayden at first—having never met him before—but he could wash out the kennels while she took those timid few out to play.
As she pushed through the final door leading to the unit, she stopped and held it open with her palm.
Hayden stood against the back wall, his arms folded over his chest. He wore dark-washed jeans and a black T-shirt pulled tight over his chest. His jaw was clenched tight, and his eyes were focused far off. He almost looked…scared. Or maybe lost in thought. He couldn’t be afraid; what reason would he have to fear the dogs? They were in kennels, for crying out loud. It wasn’t like the shelter housed Cujo.
“Hayden,” she said, letting the door close behind her. “What are you doing?’
Louder and sharper barks echoed off the cement walls as the dogs went wild.
Hayden’s eyes shifted, and zoned out. As if he was listening to something in the distance rather than her words. He didn’t answer, though he stared at her mouth.
“Hayden?”
Still, he stared, his expression a blank slate.
She approached him, and then smacked him in the shoulder with the end of the rolled up magazine. “Hello?”
With a hard shake of his head, Hayden snapped out of his daze. “There are too many of them,” he hollered. “They’re too loud!”
And then the strangest thing happened.
The dogs quieted. One by one. As if he’d ordered them to.
She spun, watching each of the dogs in the kennels simmer down. And then nothing. Golden silence.
“God,” he said, rubbing his hands over his ears, “that’s better.”
She squinted, staring at each of the dogs. “What the hell happened? I’ve never seen them do that before.”
“Must’ve gotten all the barks out of their system.” He shrugged. “What’d you hit me with?”
“Oh.” She held up the magazine, though she kept her eye on the dogs and their stranger-than-stranger behavior. “I bought this on the street.”
He took the magazine from her and read.
“That’s par.” He plopped down on the bench seat along the wall. “I’m surprised they didn’t say I stole his blanket while I was at it.”
“How can you be so calm?”
“This is normal, Melina. Same thing every day. It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine.” One of the dogs in the back yelped. Hayden leaned around Melina, and seemed to zone far off again. “Can’t you look at me when I’m talking to you? Can’t you stay focused for one second? This is serious.”
He sat straight again, and the dog quieted.
“This is the last thing we need right now. Can’t your law firm sue the magazine for misrepresentation or something?’
“And dump a ton of money into the suit? Settle out of court?” He rested his head back onto the cement wall and sighed. “How long would it take for another magazine to print another, equally-hideous story about me? It’d be like Whack-a-Mole. Smack one, only to have another two rear their ugly heads.”
“So you’re just going to let it go?”
He exhaled heavily. “As long as my closest friends and family know me—the real me—I don’t care what they assume from the outside looking in.”
Could he really be that level-headed?
He was a businessman, and maybe he had to be composed about rumors like these. But he seemed so damn confident. As if nothing got under his skin.
If someone printed an article like that about her, she’d flip.
“So what do we do first?” he said, tossing the magazine in the trash.
“I have to love on Minnie over here. She’s my new favorite.” From the small kennels on the right, the tiny pup yelped. It was the squeakiest, sweetest sound, and broke Melina’s heart every time. She strode over, unlocked the gate, and picked up the Golden Retriever puppy. She held Minnie against her chest and spun around. “Here she is. Isn’t she the sweetest?”
Hayden eyed the pup, but didn’t make a move.
“She was rescued from an apartment in Glen Park last week.” She stroked the dog’s fur as she burrowed her head in Melina’s sweater. “The owner had more dogs than they could care for. Someone in the building finally reported the conditions to the authorities when they realized the owners had moved out, leaving the animals to fend for themselves.”
“That’s terrible.” He stood, and moved in front of her.
“Tell me about it. Minnie refuses to eat. The shelter has run all kinds of tests on her, and has tried all kinds of different food, but nothing’s working.” She nuzzled the dog against her. “She’s losing weight fast. If she doesn’t eat soon, they don’t think she’ll make it. Here.” She held Minnie out for Hayden to take. “If you wouldn’t mind, I want to get a picture of you for the article.”
He blanched. “What?”
“Hold her.” She cupped Minnie in her hand and moved closer. Hayden backed away. “It’ll only be for a second. I want to mention your charity and volunteer work. I think a picture with Minnie would really win people over.”
Shaking his head, Hayden thrust his hands into
his pockets. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Melina couldn’t help but laugh. “She’s not going to bite.”
He lifted his chin. “I’m not afraid of her biting me.”
“Then what?”
He exhaled heavily and then searched right and left, as if looking for an escape route.
“Nothing,” he said. “Never mind. Hand her over.”
He took Minnie in his hands and held her against his chest. The dog gazed up to stare at his face, her tiny black eyes blinking innocently. His touch was gentle, his fingers softly raking through Minnie’s silky-soft fur.
His behavior was so starkly contrasted from the guy she’d kissed in his office—all possession and anger and intensity—that she went dizzy.
He was hot and cold. A womanizer in the magazines but someone else when he was with her. A brash businessman, yet someone who could cuddle up next to a puppy.
“Okay, that’s…perfect.” Melina took out her phone and snapped a few shots.
The dog quivered and shook, whimpering in his arms.
Melina took a handful of other pictures, in case the first few didn’t turn out.
And then Hayden leaned down and whispered something into the dog’s ear. Minnie looked up at him again. Although it was the craziest thought, she could’ve sworn the dog nodded, and then bowed her head into Hayden’s hand. He felt along her neck, right under her jawbone, and around the back.
“Have the vet do a biopsy on her lymph nodes,” he said simply, and then he handed Minnie back.
Chapter Ten
Hayden hadn’t wanted to hold the Golden Retriever yesterday at the shelter. What if Melina picked up the connection he had with canines? Would she know he could hear them? Understand them?
Once the dog trusted him enough to relax in his hands, he knew he had to do something about her pain. If the vets at the shelter didn’t know what was wrong, why not guide them in the right direction?
After they’d finished their volunteer duties at Forever Pets—washing out the kennels and refilling their food and water—Hayden had the company limo pick them up and drop her off at her place. He ached to go with her. Take her to dinner. Wine and dine her the way he did the other women who’d come into his life.
The Werewolf Wears Prada (Entangled Covet) (San Francisco Wolf Pack) Page 7