From her own makeup bag, she selected her ruby red lipstick, a bronze eyeshadow palette, black eyeliner, and mascara.Those were her standard items for when she did her face.She wanted something more.
After she smudged her waterline in, she put the pen down.
Different.
From behind her, clad in an identical charcoal suit to the one she’d cleaned, Fink appeared, fiddling with the knot in his thin tie.Their gazes met in the mirror.
Shuffling beside her, he reached for one of the smaller brushes he’d used to create the blue dot on his nose.He studied it for a moment before focusing on her again.
A smile spread across his painted lips and brightened his face.
To anyone else, it was probably creepy.For Sydney?Her heart fluttered.
He took the tube of lipstick from the bag, pulled off the cap, and twisted it until the stick was fully visible.He tapped the tip of the brush against the red hue.
What was he doing?
She licked her bottom lip in anticipation.
Their eyes locked.
Her stomach flipped.
Fink took hold of her chin, then brought the brush to the corner of her mouth.It tickled as he dragged it out over her cheek, looped it around, and then moved back up toward her eye.
His grin widened as he twisted her features right and left.“Gorgeous,” he murmured.
With a nod, he repeated the process on the other side.
After coloring a circle on the tip of her nose, he was done.He put the brush down, placed his hands on either side of her face, careful to avoid his work, and leaned in.She closed her eyes as the butterflies in her belly bounced around.
Instead of making contact with her lips, he gently kissed her forehead tenderly.She rested her hands on his forearms as he lingered.The moment wasn’t sexual but oddly intimate.Somehow, in the past five minutes, they’d become closer.This man meant more to her than anyone else in her life ever had.
“Ready?”he whispered as he pulled away.
For anything he planned.Whether they killed Burke alone, or everyone else at the port, Sydney was all in.She was never surer of anything in her life.
She nodded.
“Are you sure?”he asked.
There was a hint of concern in his tone, but what was that about?Was he worried that she would back out?Did he think she couldn’t handle the mission?Or was it something else?
“You can stay here,” he suggested.“I can do this one—”
“Absolutely not,” she affirmed.
Nothing in the world could prevent her from joining him.This felt right.Anticipation made her jittery, ready to jump out of her skin.She’d never been more excited.
His smile warmed her soul.Their first kill had been an accident.It wasn’t intentional.This one would be different.Excitement zinged through her veins.
Mitchell’s murder had changed her.Afterward, she could have moved on and forgotten about it.No one would’ve been the wiser.That course of action probably would’ve been easier, but being a part of his world breathed life into her existence.There was no turning back now.She had a taste of murder and fell in love.
They’d do Burke.
She had a plan.
They had a plan.
