Maddy/werewolf Romance

Chapter 1

Meetings

"She had finally made the appointment. He couldn't believe after all these years he'd found her again. Purely by accident, yes, but what a wonderful accident it'd been.

All those years ago. A smile slipped across his face as he remembered fixing her hair in the salon. She had been engaged back then so he'd never asked her for a date, and he frowned, she was white he was black. In those days a relationship between the two of them was just asking for trouble. And...he pulled the comb through his customer's hair easily, he wasn't sure how she'd have reacted to dating a werewolf.

He'd been so young then and new to his lifestyle.

"Do you want me to trim off more from the back or do you like it like this?" he asked his customer as he handed her a mirror and twisted her chair around so she could see the back.

"I'm fine with it as it is," she mumbled just as her eyes turned towards the door.

He glanced up and smiled too. She had arrived! He'd been hoping his greeting of 'hi' had been forwarded to her by her friend when he'd see her again the following week and this had encouraged her to call and make an appointment. Just as he'd hoped it would.

"Hi," She smiled in return and appeared to be somewhat nervous.

"It's good to see you," he said stumbling over the words good naturally just as he lost his grip on the comb he'd been running through his client's hair. With a soft sounding bang it hit the floor but rang like a bell to his ears.

Nobody moved. It was like the room was in frozen in place.

His eyes were locked with hers. She found it difficult to breath.

A few more moments pasted. The sound of the outside door opening down the hall broke the silence. She smiled in his direction with a start.

"Where might I sit down to wait?" She glanced around the room looking for seating but didn't see anything right away.

The client shifted in the chair as if she too had been enveloped in their common stillness.

"Just over there," he pointed. "I'll be with you in a few minutes." He glanced back down at his client. "I'll be right back..." he reached down to pick up the comb.

"I just need to replace this." He disappeared around the corner into another room.

"He is just as I remember him." she decided and pulled out her cell phone. "I can't be thinking about how sexy I think he looks, even today, I have to remember I really liked the way he fixed my hair and that is why I'm here."

She pulled up her text messages and frowned. "I'm not at work." She dropped them and glanced back towards the chair. The black woman occupying the chair smiled back at her.

Funny, she'd noticed over the years that in most cases black people cut black people's hair while white people cut white people's hair. In some cases, she'd seen black people get their hair cut by white folks but she had not seen too many white folks get their hair cut by black folks. But it didn't matter to her in the least. He'd always made her hair look wonderful and she expected he'd do the same today.

He rounded the corner with a new comb in his hand and smiled at her, again. OK now, Neal, lets keep calm and think about what we are doing. We have to finish. It has to be a good job. You will get to her in a moment.

He glanced down at his client and allowed a plastic smile to form across his face. The comb slide down through the client's hair smoothly. He turned his back so that he couldn't see her. She was a total distraction; she'd always been a total distraction. He mumbled softly to the lady as he fixed her hair.

"Do you like it to curl on the sides, or do you prefer it to be straight?"

"Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea. She glanced at him once again and watched as his fingers moved ever so softly along the woman's head. His voice was so sweet.

She smiled. He was so dressed up; A tie even, she noticed. He was heavier now then he'd been in the past. But, years did that to a person. She wasn't heavier; she was lighter but that was only because she'd joined a karate group and practiced 2 nights a week. She still had a sore shoulder from a punch she'd received last night because she'd failed to follow through with a good block.

She glanced down at the table in front of her and looked at the magazines spreed out every which way on the table.

"Oh yes, the picture." She reached inside her purse and pulled out the image she'd brought with her so he'd know how to cut her hair.

"Something to do....humm." The kindle she decided and pulled it out of her purse. It would be rude to sit and watch him work. Yes, he was sexy as hell, and no she didn't need to be showing what she was thinking by watching him with her hungry eyes. She was only getting her hair cut nothing more.

She flipped open the kindle and tried to decide on a game that'd keep her attention. Bowling, the lost city, word search, the walking dead, checkers...nothing called to her. She flipped to magazines; Black belt, Fate...now she laughed. Fate, wasn't she living in that right now?

The sound of a cloth called her attention to the front of the room. Josh had finished his client. She folded her kindle back into its case and placed it back inside her over grown purse. Why she thought she needed to carry so many things always evaded her. But, she'd needed them all at one time or another. So having them now was truly alright.

The woman paid for her hair cut admired it in the mirror for a few more moments and then disappeared out the door.

Now the time had arrived Josh realized. She was in the room and damn, he had to pee.

"Maddy," he smiled her way and motioned towards the chair. "I will be back in a moment. Please make yourself comfortable."

Again he disappeared around the corner and she rose. It was time. She swallowed hard.

"Now remember this is just a haircut not a date. It's nothing to get excited about. You have not seen him in years." She told herself as she picked up her purse and moved towards the chair.

Wasn't silly things like this excitement only meant for teens? Surly old ladies didn't feel this way. She slipped onto the chair after laying her purse on the floor a few feet away from her. Still reasoning it out in her mind that she was just being silly. It was just a haircut nothing more and nothing less. He always did such a wonderful job cutting her hair in the past. And he'd do a wonderful job now. There was nothing more to it then that.

"Calm down..." he panted and gazed into the mirror before him. "It's only a hair cut. She didn't say, "I Love you or I wanna sleep with you or I wanna have your babies. All she said was 'hi'."

The thin line of extra hair growth slowly disappeared from his forehead and along his cheeks. He could control this. He had the ability. He took several more deep breaths before he moved away from the mirror.

"Calm...you have to remain calm." He opened the door took a few more deep breaths and rounded the corner.

"Are you ready?" he asked in the most pleasing and calm voice that he could manage.

"I, uh, brought the picture you asked me for." she managed to say before her voice crumbled and failed her.

"I'm not sixteen." she kept saying to herself. "I'm fifty-one. Get over it!"

He took the image out of her hand and studied it. With glasses he reminded her of a college professor not a hairdresser. She turned her eyes away so she wasn't looking at his form; however, his body heat and scent were over powering. She was attracted to him and she'd always been attracted to him. There were so few individuals she found attractive. Personalities, body shapes, hobbies and such did not attract her for the most part from anyone. But him...

"Maddy?" She jumped with a start. He'd been talking to her and she'd gotten lost in her own thoughts.

"I'm sorry..." she found herself saying in a voice that she didn't recognize as her own. "What did you say?"

"Well," he cleared his throat. This was going to be hard. Already he felt his body stiffening. This wasn't a sexual encounter. It was just a hair appointment nothing more and nothing less. But, it'd been so long. He'd felt no attraction to anyone in years.

"I asked you if you wanted it layered in the back. The picture doesn't show any layering; however...." He ran his fingers in her hair and somehow it felt more like a sexual experience then a simple assessment of hair lengths. "You already have it layered. So..."

"Yes," she found herself saying too quickly even for her. "My other beautician always kept it layered because it made my thin hair look fuller."

"Of course," he remarked as he tilted her head downward. "I'll just start in the back."

"Breathe..." he kept saying to himself. "Breathe...."