Uncaged Love #2: MMA New Adult Contemporary Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

and Brittany want me to stay red, they’ll drag me back.
    Kimi finally takes me over to a high-tech hair dryer that looks like it could beam me into space. I put on my angriest look as I broil in all my layers under the hot air.
    “You have to take me to a fancy dinner after this,” I say to him, although I know I won’t go. I don’t have anything to wear.
    “Anything the lady wants,” Colt says. “Although we should probably fly somewhere no one will recognize us, or you’ll have to go blue next time.”
    He’s right. The whole point is to hide me. We’re stuck. “Okay,” I say. “But you’re buying the most expensive takeout pizza in LA.”
    “Deal,” he says.
    I’m struck with the total strangeness of this conversation. We’re talking like we’re a couple. Like going to dinner is normal, an ordinary thing. I feel like I’m living someone else’s life.
    Kimi lifts the metal head casket off me and checks one of the pieces of foil. “Perfect,” she says.
    We head back to the station, and she turns me away from the mirror. The foil piles up on a tray.
    She starts snipping then, bits of hair falling to the floor. I feel alarmed at the amount that is piling up below the chair.
    Colt sits back on a sofa, checking his phone. He fills the space, masculine in such a girlie spot. Kimi starts to dry my hair, pulling out each section with a round brush. My head gradually feels lighter. It smells divine and fruity, nothing like the ammonia hell of my grandmother’s beauty parlor.
    When she clicks off the dryer, Colt looks up. His eyebrows hit his hairline. I wonder what he sees. I try to turn to the mirror, but Kimi holds me in place, removing the kimono and brushing stray hairs off my shoulders with a feather duster.
    “Now you can look,” she says and whirls the chair to face the mirror.
    I can’t even focus for a second, the image is so unexpected. Despite the dye being blood red, my hair isn’t. It’s a shimmery sort of auburn, mixed together with my natural brown. When I turn my head, the light shifts the color, making it deeper or lighter. It’s a better fit for my pale skin than my own hair.
    Colt comes up behind me. “I don’t even think there are words for how beautiful you look.”
    I can’t speak. The cut is simple, but classy. It angles in near my chin and falls in a cascade to my shoulders.
    Colt leans near my cheek. “Sure you don’t want to take me up on that trip? I would love to show you off in Paris.”
    My breath comes in jagged gulps. I can’t believe what I look like.
    “We should get her a stylist,” Kimi says. “With this bone structure, she will fit in anywhere with some light touches.” She gestures to my eyes and cheeks.
    “She’s perfect just like this,” Colt says. “She’s a fighter. This is exactly the look.” He picks up a few strands of my hair and lets it glide through his fingers. “I think I need to get you home.”
    Kimi beams. “I am glad you like it.” She waves her hands. “Now shoo so I can go tend to my doggies.”
    I turn to her. “Thank you, Kimi.” I thought I would be mad about the change. But I can’t be. It’s too amazing.
    She bows to me. “You are most welcome. I hope to see you again.”
    I steal one more look in the mirror, just to make sure it’s me. My hoodie and sweats are the same, but now instead of sloppy, I look like an actress on her day off.
    Colt holds out his elbow. “I think I owe you the city’s most expensive pizza.”
    I slide my arm through his. I’ve just figured out who I look like. Amy Adams in Enchanted . And I think that maybe I feel exactly the same.

Chapter 6
    Colt realizes he can’t carry a pizza on his bike, so he has a driver bring an entire selection ranging from four cheese to one piled with caviar. We eat slices straight from the boxes on my sagging sofa, although when I see the fish eggs floating on white sauce, I close that cardboard box fast.
    “I didn’t think anything could scare you,”