“There. My mane.”
He stared in silence, as if he needed time to take it in. “I didn’t realise it was so long.”
She squeezed the pins, daring to glance up. “The weight makes it more manageable.”
He said nothing else, just staring as if mesmerised.
She flushed. Having her hair loose felt as if she was revealing something deeply intimate about herself, something she was accustomed to keeping carefully put away because it was so often treated as either unacceptable or pitiable. She wasn’t prepared for this kind of reaction.
He leaned forward, lacing his fingers into her hair along her temple, running his fingers through it. His expression curious. She shivered at the sensation, at the nearness of him.
“It’s softer than I expected,” he said. His eyes were fascinated.
She didn’t know what
