Brooke pointedly turned the faucet on at the sink, shooting Anna a wink as she picked up a bell pepper.“Let the record show, I’m really good at doing what I’m told.”
Outside of their playful, exploratory teasing, they cooked breakfast with ease. Obviously, Anna knew her way around a kitchen, and Brooke was actually pretty good at taking orders. Even if she occasionally made jokes just to watch the effect they had on Anna. Brooke wasn’t used to flirting, making playful jokes, or really doing anything inappropriate. But Anna seemed to enjoy it. And her laugh, so light and happy and equal parts shocked and amused, kept guiding Brooke along, encouraging her to play and tease in ways she never had before. She was admittedly a bit surprised by just how much she enjoyed it, how much she hoped it would continue when they were back home.
After breakfast, Nate and Mel got their suitcases all loaded into the back of a private car and were off, on their way to their fancy wedding. They made sure that Brooke and Anna still had their key from the night before, and that they had the number to their own driver who would be taking them to and from the castle today. Then, they were gone. And Anna and Brooke were left sitting across from each other at the kitchen table.
“So,” Anna said, though she had said it more like a question.“Ready to go get ready?” She frowned at her own question.
Brooke just smiled and nodded.“I’ve never really done the whole,‘get ready with the girls’thing. Chris and Vivienne and I will sometimes help with or approve outfits, but usually it’s just for a big event that one of us has. It’s never really for a group outing. Nate and I getting ready for the rehearsal dinner was about as close as it gets. And really, the biggest moment of that was when I told him to redo his tie because a half-Windsor wouldn’t cut it for an event as formal as last night.”
Anna let out a surprised laugh.“Did you really?”
Brooke nodded.“Absolutely, that was a full-Windsor moment.”
Anna just shook her head.“Well, then.” A tension filled silence hovered between them, as real as the table they sat at. Anna licked her lips.“I should probably start with my makeup so I don’t get any of it on my dress.”
Brooke nodded, knowing full well the only makeup she intended to do was her smokey eye trick. She wasn’t really sure what Anna’s makeup routine looked like. It felt oddly intimate, knowing that about someone. She would be honored to learn. She just nodded.“Okay,” her voice was too soft, barely above a whisper.“We can start there.”
The charged energy didn’t leave them as they settled into the guest bathroom. Anna adorably hopped up onto the counter and sat cross-legged there, as close to the mirror as she could get. Brooke smiled at her warmly. It was such an Anna thing to do, but yet learning that she did it made Brooke’s heart clamor against her ribs. There was still so much for her to learn about Anna, so much that she wanted to know.
Brooke didn’t let her mind linger. If she did, she would just stand there awkwardly drooling over Anna while the other woman tried to get ready, so Brooke instead focused on lining up her very small, in comparison, makeup gear. Anna let out a little chuckle as she dug through the bag in front of her. Her organizational strategy seemed to be an approximation of organized chaos. She seemed to have no difficulty in finding any of the products she might be looking for, but in comparison to Brooke's very neatly, well laid out system, Anna’s bag looked like a tornado had touched down inside it.
Brooke wasn’t used to getting ready in front of anyone. Even Anna in the same room as her, despite being fully engrossed in her own activities, added an unspoken layer of pressure to Brooke. For some reason, it made her nervous. She almost regretted agreeing to it. They could have taken turns. Perhaps they should have.
It was as if Anna could hear Brooke’s brain working overtime.“Hey, Honey-B?”
“Hmmm?”
“Can you help me? This whole winged eyeliner bullshit, is impossible to get even,” Anna said with a heavy sigh.
“Oh. Uh, sure? I’m not actually very good at the whole makeup thing.”
Anna scoffed.“Okay, Ms. Has Women Falling All Over Themselves To Talk To You.”
Brooke rolled her eyes, but moved closer to Anna. She would try. If Anna asked, no matter what she asked, Brooke would always try. Anna spun around easily on the counter and stared up into Brooke's eyes.“That would be an awful name to have,” Brooke muttered, hoping to land a joke and distract herself from how close Anna’s lips were to her own. It didn’t matter that only half of her eye makeup was done, or that she hadn’t done her hair yet, or that she was still wearing Brooke's house clothes, it was the most beautiful she had ever been.
Anna smirked at her.“It would be an accurate name for you to have, it would seem.”
“And what would your name be?” Brooke mused. “ Ms. I’m The Most Beautiful Woman In Any Room I Enter, But I’m Somehow Completely Unaware Of The Effect I Have On People.”
Anna snorted out a laugh.“I never would have passed first grade with all of that.” But the words lingered between them.“I’m not, though,” Anna added softly as Brooke eased the eyeliner from her grip.
Brooke ignored Anna’s comment, afraid that pushing it any farther would result in her confessing her ever deepening love. Instead, she did her best to match the winged eyeliner Anna had done on the other side of her face.“What do you think?” she whispered.
“I think that I can’t be if you’re there,” Anna whispered back, without a second of hesitation.
Brooke softened, feeling a blush creep up to the tips of her ears.“I meant about your makeup.”
“Do you like it?” Anna asked without turning to look at it in the mirror.
Brooke nodded, stepping back to take a better look at it, willing herself to actually look at Anna and not lose herself in Anna’s intense, dark gaze.“You’re beautiful.”
Anna’s smile was so pure and so genuinely pleased that it made Brooke nearly melt. She had never really understood the expression weak in the knees until now. Until this. Until Anna.“Thanks, B,” Anna hummed, leaning in to press the softest of kisses to Brooke's lips.
Brooke didn’t really know what to do when they broke apart. Part of her wanted to just keep on kissing Anna until they had to leave, but Anna kissed Brooke's cheeks a few times each and then spun back around on the counter to inspect Brooke's work.
“You did great, Honey-B. Thank you.” Anna grinned at her through her reflection in the mirror.
Brooke blushed and returned to her things on the other side of the sink.“You’re welcome, Darling. Any time.” Even when we go home, she thought, but didn’t have the courage to say. She didn’t want to burst the bubble of this morning and the hovering promise of tonight.
