Page 43 of Heartsick & Lipsticks
SKYE
Ri stepped backto admire her work. Her eyes narrowed as she scrutinized every inch of my face. “I mean, I don’t want to toot my own horn, but toot toot!” She tugged on her hand like she was pulling a train whistle.
I turned my head toward the mirror and had to admit that I was impressed. Makeup wasn’t really my thing, but Ri hadn’t made me look like an entirely different person. She’d accentuated my features, making my eyes and lips pop and highlighting my cheekbones and the tip of my nose. The dark circles that had been camped out beneath my eyes were gone, and my eyebrows framed my face perfectly.
“Wow, you arereallygood at this!” Ri had never quite found her niche. She’d start something and then decide to move on to something else. Since she had her inheritance, she worked for pleasure, not necessity.
“I know, right?!” She patted herself on the back. Literally. She reached her hand over her shoulder. “But credit where credit is due, I was working with a smoking hot canvas.”
“Thanks.” I smiled, appreciating her saying so but taking it with a grain of salt. I didn’t suffer in the self-esteem department, but I knew my strengths. I was attractive enough, but ‘smoking hot’ was not applicable. That wasn’t me being self-deprecating; it was just a fact.
“What time is it?” I asked.
Ri checked her watch. “It’s seven twenty.”
“What?! I told you to tell me when it was six thirty; you said you set an alarm!” I’d made it clear before we played makeup Barbie that I had to get ready for work at six thirty. I would have set the alarm on my phone, but it was charging on my nightstand.
Kurt was going to be here any minute. He was scheduled to pick me up at seven thirty, but he was usually a few minutes early.
“Sorry, I forgot. I haven’tseenyou in three weeks. You know how we get.”
“I know! That’s why I told you to set the alarm.” We had a habit of losing track of time when we hung out. It didn’t just happen when we hadn’t seen each other in nearly a month; we could spend every day together and never run out of things to say. Well, Ri wouldn’t run out of things to say. She loved to talk, and I loved to listen. It made for a healthy friendship dynamic.
“I have to get ready!” I stood and started running the water to take off my makeup when Callie called out from the front room.
“Mom! He’s here!”
Besides me, Ri’s eyes widened. “Who’s here? Nick’s here?”
“No, his driver, er, security guard, is here.” I said this as I stripped out of my sweats and into my scrubs. I grabbed my phone and my bag, slid my feet into my tennis shoes, and turned off the lights in my room.
“Be good!” I kissed Callie on the top of her head. “No company.” I pointed at Lola as Ri and I headed out the door. After the first night last week, she’d been good and not had anyone else over, but I still felt the need to restate the rule.
Ri was finishing her story about the Italian twenty-something she’d ended up spending her last week in New Delhi with when we were coming down the final flight of stairs. She grabbed my arm as she stared out the glass door. “Holy shit. Who is that?”
“That’s Kurt. He works security for Mr. Locke.” I hadn’t meant to call him that. I was just repeating what Kurt had said to me on my first day.
“Mr. Locke?” Ri’s eyebrows raised. “That sounds very Fifty Shades to me.”
“That’s his name.”
“I know, it’s just hot that you call him that.”
“You think everything is hot.”
All of the sex that I’d missed out on partaking of over the past fifteen years, Ri had made up for. She’d definitely hooked up enough for both of us.
“Is Kurt married?” she asked as we reached the bottom step.
“I don’t know.”
“Well, does he wear a ring?”
“I don’t know,” I repeated.
As we walked through the door, she spoke without moving her lips as she smiled widely, “Introduce me.”
“Miss Taylor.” Kurt nodded as he opened the door.
