Kiss and Make Up

by Serenity Woods

  Will continued to watch her. The gleam in his eyes told her the chase was on. But she wasn’t that desperate.

  And besides, now she had another, better, possibility to think about.

  After she’d finished Will’s makeup and sent him packing, Tabby helped the other makeup artists out with some of the extras who were appearing in the scene, and didn’t leave the room until after lunch. She decided to take a walk around the set and familiarize herself with the place.

  She stopped and had a chat with the costume department, who complimented her on what she’d done with Eli and Will, and then she wandered outside to see what was going on.

  She found Madeleine in the middle of organizing a stage fight between Will and another actor. She hovered at the edge of the set until Madeleine finished the shot and saw her, and the tall, blond beauty came over with a smile. “I hear your morning went well.”

  “Thank God,” Tabby said. “I think Geoff was satisfied.”

  “More than satisfied, from what I hear.” Madeleine smiled. “Well done.”

  Tabby’s cheeks grew hot with pleasure at the compliment, and she glanced away. “How’s your day going?”

  “Well enough. We’ve just finished the close-ups of the first fight between the King of Atlantis and the head of the Celts. Now we’re going to bring the stunt guys in and do it properly.”

  Tabby’s heart missed a beat. “What do you mean, ‘properly’?”

  “Well, you can only do a few staged shots with the real actors. Too precious, you know? And besides, Eli and some of the others are trained in medieval sword fighting.” Her eyes danced. “Stay around and watch. You’ll be impressed.”

  “No doubt,” said Tabby under her breath as Madeleine walked away and began organizing the actors in front of the blue screen.

  Eli appeared at the other side of the set, talking to a tall, white-haired man in his late fifties, nodding as the man gestured and made a flicking motion with his arm. Eli copied the movement while holding a three-foot long heavy sword, swirling the blade around him and ending with a thrust forward. The white-haired man nodded and said something, and Eli laughed.

  He was wearing the same costume as Will—thick leather pants tucked into heavy black boots and a beautiful turquoise shirt underneath his leather jerkin, which blended in with his painted skin and wild hair. Flat metal plates in the shape of shells were sewn to the jerkin, and more shells and stones decorated the pommel of the sword. The guy was magnificent. Tabby could easily believe he was the king of an underwater kingdom.

  The white-haired man came to stand a few feet down from her, and together they watched as Eli and the other actor’s stunt double took their places. Half a dozen other actors playing Celtic warriors surrounded Eli. The crew spent a while fine-tuning their positions, testing the light and lord knew what else, but eventually Geoff Stone called for quiet and yelled, “Action!”

  The fight had obviously been rehearsed. The warriors advanced on the Atlantis King, and he fought them off majestically, the air ringing with the sharp clang of blades as he swung and parried, bringing the men to their knees with the force of his blows, ending with a thrust to the stomach of one of the knights. From her angle, Tabby could see his blade pass beneath the knight’s arm, but she knew from the camera’s spot it would look as if he’d skewered the guy.

  Stone called, “Cut!” and the actors stopped. Eli helped up the guy he’d wounded, saying something that made the actor laugh.

  “Wow,” she said, not realizing she’d said it aloud until the white-haired man turned and smiled at her.

  “Impressive, isn’t he?”

  Tabby grinned. “Very. I’m guessing you’re Val, the stunt coordinator?”

  His eyebrows rose. “Yes. My fame precedes me, I see.”

  “Very much so. I’m Tabby, the new makeup artist.”

  “Ah.” He shook her hand. “So you’re the one who’s worked magic with the paint.”

  She shrugged modestly. “Hopefully the audience won’t notice the difference between my work and Kelly’s.”

  “You’ve done a splendid job, sweetheart. You should be proud.”

  “Thank you.” Tabby decided Val wasn’t as scary as he looked. “Looks like you did a good job too with that fight.”

  “Ah, they’ll do it again half a dozen times, but yeah, there weren’t any major issues. Eli’s a good guy. He knows his stuff.”

  “Have you worked with him long?”

  “Five years or so. You know Mick Forstner?”

  “Yes, we’ve met.”

  “Mick got Eli hired as an extra on one of his films. At the time, Eli had a job doing security for bands that came to play in Wellington. One night, after a shoot, most of the cast and crew went to a bar where he worked. Some local lads came in, three sheets to the wind, and started a fight. Eli broke it up. Never seen anything like it—took out four guys, one after the other. So I asked him if he’d ever thought of being a stuntman.”

  She suppressed an erotic shiver at the thought of Eli breaking up a fight. “And he said yes?”

  Val gave her a wry grin. “Not initially. He was a cocky young lad back then. I told him who I was, and he said, ‘Val’s a girl’s name.’ So I flattened him.”

  Tabby burst out laughing. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

  “He came to me the next day, all apologetic, said he wanted to give it a go. Did everything I asked and a hundred percent more. He’s come a long way since then.”

  “Hmm.” Tabby watched Eli check behind him to make sure nobody was in range, then practice swinging the blade around his body, left, right, left, right, then somehow twist it behind him in a loop before starting all over again. Yum. He made her mouth water.

  She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get a grip. It wouldn’t look very professional if the director caught her drooling.

  Geoff called Val over to discuss the fight, so Tabby went back to the makeup room to prepare for the end-of-day flurry of actors. Before long they began to meander in, and she joined the other makeup artists in removing their lenses and wigs and makeup, storing the items and working as fast as possible to enable them to get home and get a good night’s rest before they started all over again the next day.

  Eli came in around six o’clock, and Tabby was already halfway through removing Mick’s makeup, so the girl next to her got to take care of him. Every time she looked at him, though, she caught him watching her, and several times he gave her a little smile.

  For the next few days, she didn’t get a chance to speak to him alone much. Although she did his makeup each morning, there was always somebody else present, and the evenings were chaotic. She did wander around and see him most days. Sometimes he was on set, doing his stunts: bouncing off trampolines before crashing onto safety mats, or falling down flights of stairs. Other times she saw him off set, practicing his sword fights, working through maneuvers with Val and other actors, and once skateboarding in full costume down the center of the road. “It helps his balance,” Mick told her. “Or so he says. Basically he can’t sit still.”

  She’d noticed that. He had a restless energy she adored, and whereas every time she saw Will he was sitting in a chair either staring at his phone or dozing, Eli was always, at the very least, walking over to the food tent for the umpteenth time. The guy ate more than anyone she’d ever seen, but it wasn’t surprising, considering the amount of energy he expended in one day.

  She didn’t see him alone again until Friday night. It had been a difficult afternoon. Everyone was trying to get their makeup off and costumes removed, ready for the weekend, and she worked without resting for several hours, finally stopping around seven o’clock when her cell phone rang. It was her sister.

  Tabby’s heart sank as she checked her watch. She usually considered herself safe once it got to late afternoon. “What are you doing up at…one in the morning?”

  “Harry won’t sleep. I’m nursing him.” Lisa yawned. “How’s it going?”


  “Good. What’s up?”

  “Nothing. Can’t I just call my baby sister for a chat?”

  “Of course.” But Tabby knew Lisa would have an ulterior motive. “How are you?”

  “Ugh. Luke’s got chickenpox, and Sean was sick all day yesterday. You’d be amazed at how much puke a four-year-old can hold in his body.”

  “I’m sure.” After two boys, Lisa had hoped her third child would be a girl. Harry had had other ideas. “Sorry to hear you’re having a hard time, Lees.”

  “Yeah, well…” Lisa fell silent.

  Tabby didn’t want to ask, but she knew she had no choice. “How’s Dad?”

  When Lisa spoke, her voice was quiet. “Not so good today. I swear he didn’t recognize me when I walked in.”

  “That sucks.”

  “Yeah. And it upsets Mom, too.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s really struggling lately.”

  “I know.”

  “She could do with some extra help.”

  Subtle, Tabby thought. “I keep telling her to get onto that helpline I found for her. She can afford to pay for someone to come in and make it easier for her.”

  “She doesn’t want hired help, Tabby, she wants her daughter.”

  “I know.” Familiar frustration welled inside her. “I’d come home if I could…”

  “It’s not difficult. You just get on a plane and cross the Pacific.” Lisa’s voice turned hard.

  “Come on Lees, we’ve had this conversation. I will come home, I promise, when I’m finished.”

  “There are makeup schools in New York, you know.”

  Tabby bit her lip. “But I’ve got a scholarship for this one and it’s for this year only. It pays for all my fees. It’s such a good opportunity—I was so lucky to get it.”

  “I don’t care, Mom needs you. It’s not my fault Dad got sick so young.”

  Tabby’s insides churned. “I’ll come home right afterward, I swear, but I have to do this now. I’ve been given a second chance—if I blow this, I won’t get a third.”

  “If I were in your shoes, I’d have stayed home to help,” Lisa protested stubbornly.

  That comment made Tabby grit her teeth. “Lees—you left home at twenty with that idiot boyfriend you had then and we didn’t hear from you for three months. Mom and Dad were out of their minds with worry. For two years I had to put up with Mom wondering where you were in the world, who you were with.”

  “You’re throwing that in my face?”

  Tabby ran a hand through her hair. She shouldn’t get angry. And she had to stay strong. She’d gone through a similar dilemma with Simon—had spent ages trying to explain to him how important her career was to her, but he’d smooth-talked her into giving it up, playing on her emotions and the fact that he was worried she was being selfish in putting her needs first. For months after his betrayal, she’d tried to raise her shattered self-esteem by convincing herself that her needs were as important as everyone else’s, and he’d been wrong to ask her to give up her dream. She couldn’t throw away this wonderful opportunity when it would only be a year and she’d be able to help her family as much as they needed after.

  She made herself take a deep breath. “Of course not. I’m just saying, you had your chance to travel and have a bit of freedom. When I’ve got my certification, of course I’ll come home. I’ll get a job in New York, and then I can help out every day. A year really isn’t that long. If I wait… I’ll never do it, Lees. Can’t you understand how important this is to me?”

  “I can’t cope. I can’t do it—look after three kids and Mom and Dad.” Lisa started to cry. “I shouldn’t have shouted at you. It’s just becoming too much for me.”

  Tabby sympathized, but this wasn’t the first time Lisa had tried this tactic. “I’m really sorry, and I will visit before I go to England to help for a few weeks, but I’m not staying. There’s no reason Mom can’t hire some help.”

  In the background, Harry wailed. “Great.” Lisa sniffed. “I’ve got to go. Thanks for nothing.”

  She hung up.

  Tabby sat and stared at the phone for a while. She always tried to tell herself that her sister didn’t mean the things she said, knowing they were born out of tiredness most of the time. But it didn’t help. Lisa—and her mother—always criticized the choices she’d made with continual inferences that she didn’t care about anything but herself.

  Tabby loved her family, and it broke her heart to think her father was only half the fit, funny guy she remembered from her childhood. He’d been so proud of her—she was certain he wouldn’t have wanted her to sacrifice her career for him. Or was she just being selfish in thinking that? When she returned from London she would be happy to look after him for a while each day so her mother could get some time to herself. But first she had to fulfill her own dream, in case she never got the chance again.

  “Family problems?”

  Tabby jumped, not having realized Eli had entered the room, and she slipped her phone into her pocket. She smiled and stood as he came closer. He’d taken off his costume and wore his jeans and T-shirt, but still had his wig on and lenses in, as well as the colored paint.

  “How did you guess?”

  “You looked frustrated. Wanna talk about it?”

  “Nah. But thanks.” She gestured at the seat in front of her. “Shall we get that makeup off you?”

  He shoved his hands in his pockets. “Are you sure? I’m late. Geoff caught me and wanted to discuss what stunts he needed for next week. I can do it myself—you don’t have to wait.”

  “Don’t worry.” She smiled. “Come on, sit down.”

  Chapter Five

  Eli sat, and Tabby pulled up her stool. It was growing dark, and she switched the light on above her head, leaving the rest of the room to fade into twilight.

  As he’d made his way through the building, he’d passed empty rooms, his footsteps echoing along the corridors. Was this wise, spending time with Tabby when there was nobody else in the building? Conscious of the attraction between them that seemed as inexorable—and as powerful—as lightning, he’d done his best to avoid her that week. He didn’t want the complication of a relationship, and was sensible enough to recognize the danger of the chemistry between them. In spite of his plan of avoidance, he’d seen her constantly, walking around the set or working with the cast.

  He hadn’t missed the bump his heart gave every time his gaze fell on her. And now here he was, in a quiet room, alone with her. She sat on the stool between his legs, her body only a foot away from his, and her perfume rose from her skin to wind around him, subtle and yet intoxicating, stirring his senses. Strands of dark hair fell from her ponytail to curl around her cheeks. She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue, and he remembered how soft they’d felt when he’d pressed his against them.

  Down, boy.

  Madeleine stuck her head around the door. “Hurry up, you two. We’re going to Rock Salt for a beer.”

  “We’ll come as soon as we’ve finished,” Tabby promised, pouring makeup remover onto a cotton pad. “I can’t let him go out looking like this—he’ll scare the children.”

  “Mwahaha,” Eli said.

  “Don’t be long.” Madeleine disappeared.

  Tabby began smoothing on the cleanser, wiping off the color with a tissue.

  The liquid was cool on his skin, her touch firm but gentle as she stroked the cotton pad over his face. For a while he closed his eyes, loving the sensation, but that meant he couldn’t look at her, so eventually he opened his eyes and watched her as she worked.

  She kept her gaze lowered, concentrating, but her cheeks gradually turned a faint pink. After several minutes she looked up at him, her lips curved.

  “Sorry,” he said, “am I putting you off?”

  “A bit. Most people normally close their eyes while I work.”

  “I’m admiring the view.”

  She gave a little laugh and lowered her gaze again, but somet
hing passed between them, subtle and invisible, but strong enough to make a shiver slide all the way from the nape of his neck to the bottom of his spine. Every time she touched him—his face, his shoulder, a brush to his arm—a tiny electric shock went through his body.

  “You smell nice,” she said, placing the used pads and tissues in a bag.

  “Oh? I assumed the healthy tang of horses would override any nicer aromas.”

  “You smell like leather and grass after it rains. It’s nice.”

  “Thank you.” He felt uncommonly pleased. He worked hard to maintain his physique and was used to women finding his muscles attractive, but it was something else to be complicated on the way he smelled.

  Tabby peeled off the wig and laughed when he complained. “You’re like a six-year-old having a Band-Aid removed.” Cleaning the glue from his forehead and around his ears, she smiled as he sighed. “Is that better?”

  “My head itches. I haven’t been able to scratch it all day.”

  “Come here.” She sank her fingers into his hair and massaged his scalp gently.

  He closed his eyes. Other makeup artists had occasionally done this for him, obviously aware of how torturous it must be to have to wear a wig all day, but Tabby’s touch had an erotic edge to it he couldn’t ignore. It must have been in his imagination, but as her fingers pressed, squeezed, and stroked in circular motions, he couldn’t stop a groan escaping his lips, especially when she lightly scraped her nails across his scalp. Was she doing this on purpose to torture him?

  She ran her fingers through one last time and drew back. “Not much more to do. Take your T-shirt off.”

  He did so, sitting back and watching her again as she started to remove the paint from his shoulders and arms. She worked slowly, and he wondered if she was trying to make the moment last. He wanted it to go on forever.

  Normally she chatted about what had happened during the day, but now she was quiet, almost unnaturally so. It wasn’t his imagination. Something was happening between them, as if two chemical compounds had been exposed to each other for the first time, and they were reacting in an unexpected way, producing heat and light.