Guardian For Hire: A For Hire Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

toward the bathroom. “I think you’ve done enough.” She slammed the door and flipped on the light. Tears gathered behind her lids, and she groaned. She’d cried more in the past few months than in the previous ten years combined. It wouldn’t do at all for him to hear her, so she turned on the water to drown out her sniveling.
    She stared into the mirror as she lifted her hands to her hair. Right now, from the front, she looked the same. Maybe she should just leave it that way. She took a steadying breath. Better to get it over with, and fast. Like a Band-Aid. She plucked the clip from her hair, and it fell like a curtain over her cheeks, brushing her chin. She blinked away the tears to see more clearly. She turned her head this way and that, and the bob swung with it. It wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t great, either, but she could live with it. Not that she was going to tell him that. He hadn’t cared whether it looked good or not, so the outcome didn’t absolve him. Still, she’d have to play nice because she needed him to snip the ragged pieces she couldn’t reach in the back to make it even. She gave another tentative fluff, then picked up the box.
    She’d just finished mixing the concoction and was shaking it to a terrifying shade of chocolate brown when a knock sounded on the door.
    “I’m going to take a nap,” Gavin called gruffly. “I put the bag of clothes right outside the door. Once you’re done with the dye job, change into them. You can’t be wearing what you left the house in, just in case any of the witnesses described your outfit. There’s also some…girl stuff in there. The lady at the makeup counter picked everything, so don’t blame me if you don’t like it.”
    She paused, then gave her reflection a sheepish look. Whatever this guy was, he was also trying, albeit in a clumsy, oafish way, to help her. She vowed that, going forward, she was going to make his job a little easier. Her reflection raised a dubious brow, and she waggled her tongue at it. Okay, she’d make his job easier within reason, she amended. As long as he started being a little less ham-handed about everything. Maybe they could even come to some sort of agreement now that the immediate crisis was temporarily in check and cooler heads prevailed.
    That settled, she put the bottle of dye down on the edge of the ugly, avocado-colored sink, anxious to see the clothes and makeup he’d gotten. She hoped everything fit. He hadn’t asked her sizes, so it was unlikely, but she’d take even close at this point. She peered into the bag and let out a groan.
    …
    Gavin tucked his hands behind his head and tried, yet again, to fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, another random noise came from the bathroom. First it was groaning, then what sounded like a muffled but semi-panicked laughter, and now the drone of a hair dryer. Women were strange, and this hardheaded one was no different, in spite of the conservative package.
    He almost smiled as he recalled the look on her face when he’d cut her hair. Priceless. He was so not going to sit there for two hours and play Vidal Sassoon while she directed him on what kind of hairdo she wanted. Way easier just to cut first, ask questions later. She had clearly not found it as amusing as he did. He had to hand it to her, though. Considering the circumstances, she’d proven to be a trouper. If she would get in line with the rest of the plan, they’d have a shot at getting out of this unscathed.
    He closed his eyes again and wondered idly if the clothes fit. He hadn’t asked her measurements for the same reason he hadn’t asked about her hair preferences. No need to spend any more time than he had to in the store hunting down a pair of kitten heels—whatever the hell those were—or some other item he had no clue how to find. Besides, he’d dressed and undressed enough women to have a fair idea of her sizes. The most important thing was that she didn’t look like the Sarabeth