When hair stylist Jai Hathaway decided to open his own salon, he knew he would sacrifice some of his personal time to run the business. But long hours working late have him feeling lonely, and he just doesn't seem to connect with the few men he dates. His business partner Kiki suggests what he needs is to find a different type of guy, someone who isn't in the salon business, but not only does Jai not know how to find a guy like that, he isn't even sure where to look.<br><br>On a particularly cold morning in January, the salon's hot water goes out and Jai scrambles to find a plumber on short notice. Enter Duane Schneider, sexy and confident, and interested in getting more than just Jai's hot water boiling. But he's so outside Jai's comfort zone that, at first, the stylist isn't sure how to react. When it becomes obvious Duane wants to continue things outside of business hours, though, Jai agrees to a date, if only to see where the evening might lead.<br><br>Is Kiki right when she said Jai needed to find someone different? Or will Duane turn out to be just his style after all?

Just My Style

So he took a few business classes at a local community college, with the idea that maybe he’d open his own salon, but he had no real knowledge of how a real salon operated. He signed on at a beauty academy and learned different techniques—how to cut and clip and shave, how to mix color, how to highlight, how to perm. With all those courses on his resume, he started looking at the high-end salons downtown, this time aiming for the top. Really, what was the worst they could say?


It turned out most of them didn’t even bother to tell him no—they just never called. Finally, though, he heard from Mimosa, a new salon spa in the Museum District that had a few openings and was willing to take a chance on someone like him. Someone with the knowledge and desire and talent but little actual hands-on experience. Of course, Jai should’ve been leery about that, but by then he really needed a job. Those student loans he’d taken out to cover the college courses weren’t going to repay themselves.


Chapter 3