Page 38 of For Better or for Ransom

“Just tell me.”

In the dark, his eyes were an even deeper chestnut brown. You could almost get lost in them. She reminded herself she needed to focus.

“There are a lot of makeup products here: foundation, mascara, primer, at least three different types of contour, an array of eye shadows, blush, lip gloss, eyebrow gel… Whatever you may need to get dolled up, it’s here. And theater actors use a lot of makeup so that their faces look even more expressive and dramatic from a distance” she explained, pointing to some of the products on Leonardo’s narrow vanity table, while Luke’s eyes remained fixed on her. She almost blushed. Sol didn’t know what was happening with her that day, but it was almost as if she couldn’t take his intensity.

“Okay, tell me why that’s weird.” He wasn’t questioning her reasoning, just wanted to understand.

“There’s nothing to remove any of it. Or to hydrate and replenish the skin after. I interviewed Leonardo on Thursday,” she tried explaining.

“I remember.”

She thought Luke sounded mildly bothered. She almost couldn’t repress her smile. She didn’t like jealousy, but a mildly jealous Luke was a bit funny.

“Okay, so he was wearing makeup that day during the interview,” she continued.

“He was?” Luke was smug now. A smug 34-year-old who’d been granted the best genes and always looked scrumptiously gorgeous—no freaking concealer needed for him, even hungover and with only four hours of sleep.

“It was very tastefully done. A regular person wouldn’t even realize. But I’m trained to notice those things.”

“I don’t follow.”

Sol sighed. “Don’t get jealous when I say this, okay?”

“I don’t get jealous.”

Her eyes swept toward the ceiling.

“I won’t get jealous,” Luke finally groaned.

“Okay, so Leonardo is a very attractive man.” Luke’s face was twitching, but he didn’t say anything. “He takes extremely good care of himself and knows how to always look good. But he’s forty-five years old. No one gets to that age looking like he does without taking exceptional care of their skin. We actually talked about our skin care routines during the interview. His is way longer and more detailed than mine. Which made me think whether I should be taking better care, frankly…”

“You look great.” He put an immediate stop to any thoughts Sol had of perhaps needing to do something else to look younger. “But I still don’t follow. The chap is very attractive and I promised not to get jealous. What are you trying to tell me?”

“That I can’t believe he was planning on getting to the theater, wearing street makeup as he was, and he wasn’t going to remove all that first, hydrate well, and then put his theater makeup on. Same way I can’t believe he went out to dinner every night with his cast mates, without removing all the stage makeup first, and moisturizing well after that. But there’s no product of that sort here…” She signaled again to the makeup on the dressing room table.

“Cara, you’re brilliant!” Luke grabbed her face and gave her one quick, yet still breathtaking kiss. “Now, let’s get out of here.”

22

Sol

They got into their place after a journey through the streets of her hometown that went from fast walk to exhilarating run.

Once inside the elevator—which had always seemed annoyingly small to Sol but somehow was perfectly sized that night—she grabbed him by the oversized T-shirt and pulled him toward her. Half breathless from the run, they crashed in an urgent kiss that lasted for the whole elevator climb to the rooftop. They were still kissing, and on top of each other, by the time they made it to their floor. Their exit from the elevator—and to get the apartment’s front door open—was like out of a movie. It was almost as if a camera was circling around them, not wanting to miss a detail of their ragged breaths and urgent touches.

She fumbled with the keys to the apartment while Luke made her lose what little concentration she had, focusing on that area of her nape and behind her earlobes that could have her panting in mere seconds. Once finally inside, she removed his baseball cap first, making his unruly curls pile over his face. He blew at one of them to get it out of his eyes, and gave her his most mischievous smile. He was about to say something.

Before he could utter a single word, she brought her index fingers to his lips.

“Shhhhh!” she demanded.

Luke, who was looking at Sol with an amused expression on his face, gave her an eyebrow arch as if asking: You sure about that, cara?

She returned the look with her most determined face—hopefully sexy too—and continued with the task she’d just started.

Some things in life—like long conversations about deep stuff or whatever it was that had him all preoccupied and looking intense—could wait. But others, like the need to fuck one’s partner, couldn’t. After all, and especially when it came to sex, she was extremely impatient.

As if fully aware of her unspoken desires, Luke removed his T-shirt. Peeled down his pants next. She allowed herself to enjoy the show and bit her lower lip. He arched his eyebrow even more prominently, his lips curling up. She got his message and was quick to dispose of her pants and sweatshirt as well.