“It’s close, and noon is always a good time.”

He started to sit back while the employee turned on the water. That’s when it occurred to him that he needed to take off his socks and roll up his pants. Which had to be the stupidest thing he’d done all year.

Once he knew his dress pants weren’t going to get wet, he put his pale feet in the water. One toe in and he yanked it out. “Hot.”

The employee stuck her whole hand in the water, looked at him with a you gotta be kidding me expression, and then turned the dial.

“It’s cold outside.” And he wasn’t used to taking his shoes off in public places unless he was buying new ones.

The woman at Grace’s chair pulled one of her feet out of the water and started removing the polish from Grace’s toenails.

Dameon tested the water again, deemed it comfortable, and sat back.

“Let me guess. You’ve never done this before?” Grace asked.

“Men don’t do this kind of thing.”

The seat doubled as a massage chair, and Grace’s whole body arched as the roller ran down her spine. Dameon tried not to stare at her chest as it heaved forward.

“I see guys in here all the time,” Grace told him.

“Really?” Because he didn’t know anyone with a penis that had pedicures.

“All the time.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re pulling my leg?”

Grace spoke to the woman doing her toes. “Nell, you get men in here every day, right?”

Nell nodded and smiled.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Grace asked.

Dameon wiggled his toes in the water and pressed a button on his remote. The chair started moving forward, which didn’t seem right. “Uhm . . . how do I get this thing to go back?”

Grace reached over and pressed the right button. The words on the remote were worn off from years of use. “Sit back,” she told him before putting the chair in motion.

Suddenly his body was heaving just like Grace’s. It actually felt kinda good.

He wiggled his shoulders side to side. “That’s not bad.”

“An hour of stress release,” Grace told him as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

He was insanely happy there was zero chance of anyone he knew seeing him in there.

“I’m moving to town,” he announced.

Grace’s eyelids shot open. “You’re what?”

“Mainly weekends. Probably be a few weekdays once things get rolling. Called DWP and had the water and power turned back on at the house.”

“In the canyon?”

He nodded. The employee at his feet tapped the space where Grace had placed a foot and looked at him. When he didn’t move, she gently tugged on one of his legs until he had a foot perched like Grace. She drizzled some kind of cream on his toes, grabbed a pair of nail clippers, and went to work.

“Dameon,” Grace said his name, pulling his attention back to her.

“Yes. The house with the grandma couch. I thought it would be more convenient than me driving back and forth to the city or staying at the hotel. I already own the place, might as well make use of it. I’ll set up the back bedrooms as offices, use the den as workspace.”

“So you plan on sleeping there?”

“Yeah.” What was the woman doing now? It looked like she was clipping skin away from his toenails, but he didn’t feel a thing. He pointed down and asked, “Is that normal?”

“Yes,” Grace said. “What brought that on?”

“I thought if maybe I experienced the area for more than an hour at a time, I might better grasp what’s going to work.” All of which was true, but not the main reason he had a small crew of workers at the house that morning to clear out the left-behind bed and odds and ends throughout the place.

“That’s going above and beyond, don’t you think?” Grace asked.

He stopped looking at his feet and directed his attention to her. “Maybe. I need this job to go smoothly, Grace. Not going to sugarcoat it. If there was a place I could meet all the essential players that I’m going to be dealing with over the next year to make this project happen, I’d jump on it.”

“You sound nervous.”

He decided it wouldn’t hurt to give her a few facts. “I’m responsible for a lot of employees. My main investor pulled out. And while my company has the funds to do this, it would be a huge weight off my shoulders if I could network with some of the players.”

“You mean schmooze.”

“Yeah,” he said with an unapologetic nod.

“Is that what you’re doing with me?”

He lost his smile. “No.” There were a lot of things he wanted to do with her, but schmoozing wasn’t on the list.

“So you’re sitting in here getting a pedicure, not schmoozing?”

The chair started pounding his back. “I’m here doing this because you won’t say yes to dinner.”

Grace rolled her eyes.

Nell laughed but didn’t comment while she worked on Grace’s feet.

“C’mon, Grace . . . you’re my only friend in town. You must know someplace this circle of people spend time.” The employee moved on to his other foot after all but pushing the first one back in the water.

“There’s a holiday event this Friday,” she told him.

He tried not to smile and give away his excitement. “Oh? Who’s going to be there?”

“You never know who will show up. With free food and alcohol, a lot of the people you’re going to deal with will be there.”

“How do I get an invitation?” he asked.

“It’s not that formal, but I can put your name down. Different investors have been known to come. The who’s who of the community will be there.”

His foot was plopped back in the water, the other one was lifted out. Next thing he knew, the woman was scraping it with some kind of sanding block. Each pass made him jump.

Grace started to giggle.

“It tickles,” he told her while trying to stay still through the torture. “What are you doing, anyway?” he asked the woman at his feet.

“Scraping dead skin.”

He didn’t like the sound of that. Worse, he didn’t like the feeling of that. He turned his attention back to Grace. “So, you’ll pass on the time and place of this event?” he asked for confirmation.

“I’m happy to.” Grace leaned back and closed her eyes as the woman at her feet poured lotion on her leg and started to rub.

“Are you going to be—”

Her palm in the air stopped him midsentence. “No talking during the best part.”

Much as he wanted to keep going, he found his leg oiled up and hands running up and down his calf.

The best part didn’t last nearly as long as he’d have liked.

“Yes, I’m going. It’s the only office party we have, even if it’s a free-for-all event.”

“Is it formal?”

“You mean black tie?”

He nodded.

“We’re not that kind of city.”

Nell started applying a bright red polish on Grace’s toes. For one brief, fanciful moment, Dameon imagined her foot rubbing the side of his while they were tangled up in sheets.