Page 139 of Drop Shot
“Yes, I have.”
I gape at him in shock. “When? On who?”
“On myself.” He shrugs, holding the eyeliner tube up to his top lip like it’s a mustache. “You love to do your makeup, and you said you have trouble with your eyeliner sometimes, so I learned how to do that wing thing you like so when you’re struggling, I can do it for you.”
There’s no stopping them then—the tears burst out of me. I’m grateful that I haven’t done any of my face makeup yet and I’ve only been focused on my eyes, so there’s not really anything for me to mess up with my tears.
“That’s … you seriously learned how to do wing eyeliner … for me?”
“I did,” he says like it’s the easiest thing in the world. “It’s important to you.”
It’s the sweetest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me.
I can’t stop them then—those words that have been on the tip of my tongue all the time lately. I might’ve wanted him to say them first, but he deserves them right now.
“I love you.”
The way Elias lights up makes me glad that I’ve waited until now to tell him.
“God, Whimsy. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard you say.” He pulls me in by my chin. “I love you, too.”
He lowers his mouth to mine while my brain and my heart are rejoicing in the fact that this man loves me back.
“Now”—he grins at me as his fingers fall from my chin— “sit that pretty ass down here on the floor and let me put my skills to the test.”
I do as I’m told and Elias settles in front of me. I can tell he’s nervous from the way he keeps licking at his bottom lip, as he holds my head steady and carefully hovers the eyeliner pen above my lid.
“I’ve never actually done this on another person, so I’m sorry in advance if I fuck up. I didn’t want to ask Ebba to let me practice on her. She would’ve asked me too many questions.”
“I’m sure you’ll do great. How long have you been practicing?” Hopefully if I ask him questions it’ll calm his nerves.
“Ever since you told me about it.”
If I wasn’t already frozen, I certainly would be now. That is well before anything serious was happening between us. That means … he liked me even then.
“I watched a bunch of tutorials at first and then I had to figure out which eyeliner it is you like so I could buy it and practice with it. You’re around a lot so sometimes it was hard to practice, but I feel decent with my skills at this point. This shit isn’t easy, though. I have a newfound respect for you girls and makeup.”
“I love you,” I say it again because I want to, because I mean it, because I’m certain there’s no man who will ever measure up to Elias. I might’ve always harbored a crush on him, but that’s all it was, a crush I was never going to act on. Even with this fake dating scheme Jackson came up with, it’s never once crossed my mind to use it to my advantage to get him to fall in love with me. It just happened for both of us, because it’s justrightwhen we’re together.
“I love you, too, baby. So much.” He kisses both of my cheeks and sits back to assess his handiwork. “I think it’s okay, but you check. I can redo it.”
I scurry up from my position on the floor and gape at my reflection in the mirror. “Elias.” His name is a shrill exhale. “This is amazing. You did this better than I do.”
He rolls his eyes. “You don’t have to blow smoke up my ass.”
“You know I would never,” I scoff. “This is perfect, though. You…” Crap, I can’t cry again. I don’t want to ruin his perfect eyeliner job. “This is the most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. I … this means more to me than you’ll ever know. But also, I’m sorry, because I’ll be expecting you to do my eyeliner from now on.”
He chuckles, recapping the tube. “Is there any spot I need to touch up.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You did great.” I stand on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. “We better finish getting ready.”
He sighs, shoulders drooping. It’s the first sign he’s shown that this situation is getting to him. “Yeah, we better.”
I wish I could make this all go away for him. Tennis is all about conduct, though, and punching another player in what seems like an unprovoked attack could very well get him banned. Things like this are taken seriously—sometimes too seriously.
I reach for his hand before he slips from the bathroom and give it a gentle squeeze. “It’s going to be okay.”
Ithasto be.
