Page 91 of The Young & the Sinner

She bit her lip to keep from laughing, and I probably took longer to put on the eyeshadow than I should have, too caught up in that unguarded look of hers.

When we were done, I took a seat next to her and held up a small mirror in front of us so we could both look at the same time. Our eyes met in the reflection for a long pause, and then we both lost it.

We fell to the ground laughing our asses off.

Max found us like that not long after. I didn’t even hear him come home.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Neither of us answered him. I didn’t think we could. Instead, Olivia pointed at me, then at her own face, and then to the makeup box still on my bed. It didn’t take him long to assess the situation, then laugh with us.

“Why would you do this to each other? Were you really that bored?”

His question set us off again. Max walked away with an amused smile on his face, muttering something about preparing dinner. It didn’t take long for us to settle down. I wiped away some of the tears that had fallen down my face and looked at her. She looked absolutely ridiculous. And still so fucking beautiful, I couldn’t breathe properly.

“Thank you,” she said when we both gained our composure.

“Of course, Livie.” I touched my thumb to the skin under her eyes. “Sorry, you have a little eyeshadow there.”

She smiled. “Better?”

I nodded and had to clear my throat before I spoke again. “Yeah. You have always been a beautiful girl. Makeup, no makeup, even badly applied makeup can’t take that away.”

Her eyes lit up and a pleased smiled graced her lips. Silly girl. Didn’t she know?

“You really think so?”

“I know so,” I answered, my voice rough. “Listen to me, sweetheart. I don’t expect you to just be able to put on makeup after this like it’s nothing. But I want you to start with something small every single day. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded. “Yes, Mason. I can do that.”

“Good. Now come on. Let’s go see what Max is doing about dinner.” I made a move to get up and she stopped me.

“Uh, shouldn’t we wipe this off first?”

I smiled sheepishly. “Yeah. I almost forgot it was on. The saleslady was right. This stuff really is lightweight.”

She giggled and I winked at her. This was probably the most I heard her laugh since the whole Lorenzo incident.

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