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

“Just Jay,” he confirms, “though when I realized I liked guys and wanted something a bit more fabulous, I changed the spelling from Y to I at the end to make it stand out. Spencer got tacked on in the middle, which I don’t really tell people, because all three names together make me sound like a criminal. You ever notice how all the really notorious murderers and killers throughout history have three names? Lee Harvey Oswald, John Wilkes Booth, Jay Spencer Hathaway. See? It fits right in there so easily. It’s almost scary.”


“You want to hear scary?” Duane counters, leaning across the table. He lowers his voice to a loud whisper. “I went by Bubba growing up.”


Jai had reached for his glass of water and took a sip; now he half-chokes on it, half-spits it out as he snickers. “No way. Bubba? That’s worlds worse than Spencer.”


Chapter 20