Page 52 of The Tracker's Dawn: Sunderverse

“The first thing is the...?” she prompted.

I narrowed my eyes, trying to remember. “Mmm, the foundation?”

“No, silly. You have to begin with a primer.”

“What am I? A wall?”

“Kind of.”

“Hey!”

Her hands fluttered over my face as she used sponges, brushes, pencils, and who knew what else to beautify me.

“Falsies?” she asked when the eyeshadow was done. “I have different kinds.” She pulled out a thin plastic case with a clear top, presenting me with an array of fake eyelashes. She read the different labels on the box. “Prima donna, little flirt, debutante, pin-up girl.”

“No, I think I’d rather not.” I’d use them once before, and I’d felt weird and self-conscious the entire night.

“That’s fine,” Rosalina put in. “Your natural eyelashes are very pretty. Mascara will do.” She proceeded to curl myvery prettyeyelashes with her tiny torture device and to put three coats of mascara on them.

The girl really had a thing for makeup. The most interesting thing about it was that, even though everything she did seemed excessive, in the end, the final result looked nothing but subtle and natural.

“You look absolutely gorgeous,” she said a moment later when I was fully dressed and pacing the room as I waited for Jake to arrive. “He’s going to flip out.”

I smiled nervously, wringing my hands.

“You should make him wait for a few minutes after he gets here.” She let out a little evil laugh.

“Is that supposed to torture him? Or me?”

My phone buzzed. It was a text from Eric saying that Jake had arrived and was waiting for me by the main entrance.

“He’s here!” I exclaimed, my heart jumping into my throat.

Rosalina bit her lower lip and gave me a quick hug. “Have fun. Think of nothing but you and Jake. Don’t let anything spoil your night.”

“I won’t.”

I took a deep, nervous breath and walked out of the room.

When I entered the large living room with its many sitting areas, Jake was standing by the glass wall, looking out. He held a casual stance, resting heavily on one leg, a hand stuffed in his pocket. He wore a dark gray suit that made his wide back look even wider. When he heard me approaching, he seemed to hold his breath before turning slowly.

His silver eyes were nearly iridescent in the evening light. They focused first on my face and smiled at me. After he drank in my features, he allowed his gaze to travel downward. I stopped a few paces in front of him and allowed him to admire me at the same time I admired him.

I felt his scrutiny like a caress, like foreplay to what was to come. I drank him in, too, making no effort to conceal my desire for him.

As promised, he hadn’t shaved his sexy stubble, not entirely anyway. Hehadused a razor to create sharp lines at the edges, making him look polished. His body and his face were to die for, but it was his unique eyes that captured me. From day one, it had always been his eyes with their clear irises and pupils that seemed to invite me into a bottomless universe where I would keep falling and falling and falling for him.

He approached me and took my hand in his. “You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

In any normal book that had to be an exaggeration, but not in Jake’s. He truly believed it, just like I believed he was the most attractive man ever born. No one else had ever captured me the way he had, and no one ever would. I was sure of it.

He leaned closer and pressed his lips to mine. It was a light, quick brush, a simple greeting that had no business igniting my blood.

Witchlights, this is going to be a long night!

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“You have no idea.”