Rae opened her eyes and checked his expression. Zach looked deadly serious. Emphasis on deadly. She relaxed. “Oh. Good. I don’t often wear makeup—”
“You never wear makeup,” he said. “I have never in my life seen you wearing makeup.” He stood and crossed the hotel room in three strides, until he was right up in her space. His gaze settled on her lipsticked mouth and he huffed out a breath, nostrils flaring. He was in dragon mode. He’d start breathing fire in a second; then he’d catch her in the cage of his sharp teeth and fly her away to his lair. Maybe in a hundred years some knight would come to rescue her, and she’d say, “Oh, sorry for the misunderstanding, but I actually like it here.” Then Zach would eat the knight alive.
“Your lips,” he told her gravely, “are red.”
She blinked. “Yep. That’s, er, the colour they should be. Based on the lipstick that I, you know, applied. So. Thanks for the confirmation.”
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t even tell her to shut up. He looked down at her body, his jaw tight. “Is this because of Kevin?”
The question was so unexpected, she thought she might’ve misheard. “Kevin?”
Helpfully, he added, “Your ex-husband.”
“Oh, yes, that Kevin. I do get confused, sometimes.” She rolled her eyes, irritated. “No, this is not because of Kevin. I thought I should look nice for dinner. You’re wearing a shirt, for God’s sake.”
“I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
She opened her mouth, then closed it. The simple honesty in his voice had just knocked the air out of her.
Before she could formulate an answer, he added, “I didn’t know you owned a dress.”
“I own several, but why would I bother shaving my legs just to waste the sight on Duke and Mrs. Needham at the news shop?”
The joke, or maybe just her light-hearted tone, punctured his intense bubble. His lips twitched. A moment later, he chuckled under his breath. “Yeah. Fair point. Listen, let’s do this again, okay?”
Um… “Do what?”
“This. The moment. I freaked out. But what’s supposed to happen is, you come out of the bathroom and it’s this whole reveal, and I say you look like Halle Berry or something. Yeah. Go on.” He put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around, steering her toward the bathroom door. “Let’s do this again.”
She blinked, caught between confusion and slow, steady affection. “You want me to go in there and walk out again?”
“Yep. Not until I’m ready, though. Go.”
She must be high after applying her makeup in a room full of deodorant fumes because for some reason, she went along with it.
A few seconds after she re-entered the bathroom, he called, “Ready.”
Fighting a grin, she marched into the bedroom. He was sitting down, just like before, apparently reading the hotel brochure—but he clearly wasn’t focusing on the words. Something lovely danced in his eyes and played at the corners of his mouth.
Slowly, he asked, “What’d you do in there? Sacrifice a sea sponge?”
“Seriously?” she snorted. “That’s what you’re going with? A sea sponge?”
“What else could you sacrifice in a bathroom? I considered saying giant sewer rat, but I didn’t want to freak you out.”
“Good call,” she said dryly.
And, finally, finally, he looked up.
This was all pretend. He’d seen her five bloody minutes ago. Even so, his gaze bit into her like jumper cables and revved the hell out of her engine. He put down the brochure, stood, and said, “Something McRae, you look fucking incredible.”
Laughter bubbled out of her. “Something again? You know, I think I like it.”
“Lauren,” he said, stepping toward her. “Charlotte. Amy.”
“If only.”
“Heaven. Angel. Divinity.” His socked feet nudged her stockinged ones. His hands cupped her upper arms, and she felt an odd tension thrum through his body and shudder into hers.
“No,” she managed to whisper, “but I’m glad you’re thinking bigger.”
He whispered, too. “Rae. You. Look. Beautiful.”
“Thank you. And, Zach—I don’t know what you were talking about, before, but no matter what you wear, you could never embarrass me.”
He smiled that lazy-sexy smile. “I don’t know about that. Next to you, most guys would seem lacking. And now you’re wearing—Christ, sunshine, are those earrings?”
“Yep. I pulled out all the stops.”
“Didn’t even know you had piercings.” He arched a brow. “Hey, want to know about my pierc—?”
“Nope. Let’s go to dinner now.” She whirled around, grabbed her shoes, and slid them on as she went. He followed her into the corridor, laughing all the way. The warmth between