I couldn’t help myself. I took a few quick pictures of the jumble of pots, creams, shadows, brushes, and sponges. “On who?”
“You, of course.”
“What?” I slowly lowered the camera.
Lark grinned. “You’re fucking gorgeous, but you need a little…something.”
A quick lick of panic fluttered in my chest. “I don’t need anything.”
“Oh, but you do.”
I backed up, but Lark snagged my hand and snatched my camera, quick as a snake.
“Hey!”
She lifted the camera and took a few pictures of me then handed it back. “Need before and after.”
“No befores and no afters. I’m good.”
“Come on. Don’t you want to blow his mind? I mean, you obviously do already, but just for fun. You know, make him sit up and beg.”
I glanced over at Ian. Still sound asleep. I wasn’t exactly opposed to glamming up a little. I just didn’t really think about it.
“Perry does amazing hair, and I’ll make you look like what a Kardashian wished they looked like.”
I tried to inch away. “I’m not really into anything with Kardashian in the sentence.”
Lark rolled her eyes. “I said wish. I’m going to make you look like yourself with a glowy, I’m-going-to-mess-with-your-man’s-mind-to-obsessive-levels kind of look.”
I nibbled on my lower lip. We did have time to kill. And if it was terrible, that was what they made soap for. I shrugged. “Have at it, girls.”
“Yes!” Perry hauled me up and over to sit at the little table between the gaming area and the couches. “Let us take care of everything.”
I fidgeted in my seat as Lark prepped my face—her words. Then did something with a spray and lotion and then her arsenal of tools. Perry brushed out my hair and started doing some sort of intricate braid.
The only problem with me sitting there was it gave me way too much time to analyze. When I was wrapped up in my art, I didn’t have time to think about Ian when he wasn’t around.
It was easier to immerse myself in one or the other. In the beginning, I was annoyed when he took me away from my work, now I just used them both as a respite from the other. It was confusing and overwhelming to have an equal love for both.
I swallowed.
Crap.
Where had that come from?
I couldn’t love him as much as I loved my art. There wasn’t enough room for both in my heart or my head. I reached up to touch Lark’s hand. “Um, can I have a sec?”
She stepped back. “Sure.”
I slid out of the booth and stumbled to the back where the small water closet was. Grant barely blinked as I passed him.
“Is she okay?” Perry asked Lark.
I closed the door then turned the water on. I stuck my wrists under the cool stream until the roar in my head subsided. I looked up—and gave a startled yelp at my face in the mirror.
My hair was in a crown braid and my eyes looked enormous. I wasn’t sure if the enormous part was panic, or Lark’s deft hand with her version of a paintbrush.
Probably a little bit of both.