A Million Kisses or More (15 page)

“What are you humming?” Jolie asked from the doorway.

“A lullaby my mom used to sing to me when I was a little girl,” she answered, grinning when she saw the way Jolie swam in the clothes, the way her muscled leggings sagged. Patting the chair, she asked, “Ready?”

With a beaming smile, Jolie leapt onto the chair and nodded her head, “Very.”

Since Jolie’s hair was already up, Ana went to work applying the latex pieces to the young girl’s face. Since there was a large mirror, Jolie would be able to watch the entire process and ask any questions that might pop into her head. While she worked, Ana continued to hum, loving the process of turning a beautiful little girl into a horrifying monster; loving how Jolie watched in awe as she made the transformation. As she worked, they discussed zombies, from how they would survive a zombie apocalypse to whether fast zombies were better than slow zombies. Jolie had a surprisingly vivid game plan in place in the event of such an occurrence and it was apparent she spent a lot of time with Dan discussing it.

Once finished, Ana smiled, pleased with the results. It looked like half of Jolie’s face had been torn off exposing the muscle and bone beneath. The flap of skin brushed against her artfully shredded throat and the little girl looked beyond gruesome. Jolie also had a dangling eyeball and a “hole” where her eye used to be. Of course, Ana created it so Jolie would be able to see but no one would be able to see her actual eye. It was going to be even more impressive in the dark. Holding up a mirror for Jolie, Ana asked, “So, what do you think?”

Tilting her head from side to side, Jolie was quiet for a long time and Ana worried that perhaps she had gone too far. But then Jolie’s lips curved into a brilliant smile and she beamed, tickled pink with the effect. “I love it. Uncle Dan is going to be so jealous.”

Ana grinned because the little girl appreciated gore as much as she did. When it was her turn to get ready, Jolie asked to watch and of course, Ana agreed. Before she put any makeup on, though, Ana put in a pair of watery, yellow contacts to add to the zombie look. It was her least favorite part of doing transformative makeup but the result was worth it.

“Do you think that I could wear contacts, too?” Jolie asked softly, awe in her voice.

“No, sweetheart, not until you’re older,” Ana murmured, blinking back the tears from the second contact. For the next hour, Jolie sat transfixed as Ana turned herself into a zombie. Since she had to work that night, her makeup was mostly prosthetics, blended with makeup to appear natural. It was a pain in the ass to apply but it came off easily and that was what mattered.

When she was finished, she looked like she had been dead for a few weeks, her flesh rotting and falling off. Because she was wearing a heavy sweatshirt and long underwear beneath her clothes, she looked like a bloated corpse, which she used to her advantage. Beneath the tears in her shirt and pants, she had created torn flesh and bone that was absolutely disgusting. She had also decided to go with a ratted up wig so it would be easier to fix her hair later on for work. Looking in the mirror at the horrific pair that stared back, they did almost resemble sisters. Or a mother-daughter zombie duo.

Holding out her hand, Ana smiled down at Jolie, “Ready, Jelly Bean?”

“Yes,” Jolie grinned, the smile garish as she stretched her rotted lips and exposed her bloody teeth.

They made their way across the street after Ana locked up, picturing a stern Harrison giving her grief for not locking her door. Not bothering to knock on Harrison’s door, she used the key he had given her and the two of them went in. Jolie was struggling not to giggle since she was determined to scare the living shit out of her father. Ana, on the other hand, wasn’t sure that was the best plan. Pressing her hand against her roiling stomach, she debated whether or not she should call out and give Harrison some warning about what was coming. But it didn’t matter because he wasn’t sleeping when they got to his bedroom. In fact, he wasn’t even in his bedroom.

“He must be in the office,” Jolie whispered, stepping out of Harrison’s room and dragging Ana with her. Ana wouldn’t have minded staying a few more minutes because his bed was unmade and it looked like he had tossed and turned a lot. She almost missed Jolie as she added, “Sometimes he wakes up early and gets some writing in.”

“Uh huh,” Ana murmured, still dwelling on the unmade bed but, more importantly, on a naked Harrison in the unmade bed.

The office was the next room over, the room that Harrison had been in when she had thrown the book at him. So, he really hadn’t been sleeping, not that it mattered anymore. She had made more than enough brownies and other goodies to make up for that altercation, not to mention the kisses they had shared.

This time, Ana insisted on Jolie knocking before they entered, not willing to give Harrison a heart attack. She didn’t know why she bothered when there was no answer other than the steady clicking of fingers on the keyboard as he typed away. Briefly, she wondered what had inspired him to wake up in the middle of his sleep cycle and start writing to the point where he didn’t even hear the door.

Slowly, she pushed the door open and her breath caught in her throat as she saw the intensity on his face as he worked. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and if she hadn’t been dressed as a zombie and Jolie wasn’t standing right there, she would have gone in there and just watched him work. How long would it take before he noticed her sitting there? How much time would it take if she was wearing some frilly piece of nothing? God, she could have watched him work for hours, especially knowing he was working on the next Justice novel. She wanted to look inside of his brain and see how his mind worked

“Daddy?” Jolie asked softly, obviously hesitant to disturb him while he wrote.

His head shot up and he gasped as he flew out of his chair so fast, he knocked it over. Once he realized who they were, he straightened the chair and then straightened his desk. He tried to act nonchalant even though his pulse was pounding along his throat. Pressing a hand against his chest, he looked at Jolie and shuddered, “Holy crap, you scared the living daylights out of me, zombie child. What have you done with my daughter?”

“Daddy!” Jolie laughed. Doing a slow pirouette, she asked, “So, what do you think?”

Ana was too busy staring at his chest, the naked expanse of taut flesh and well-honed muscle and light dusting of hair, to hear what he said. In the weeks since the first and last time she had seen his torso, he had become even more mouth-watering. How was it possible? If she weren’t careful, she’d start drooling, though that might add some verisimilitude to the whole zombie thing she was rocking.

“Ana used spray paint on my face!” Jolie said, making Ana wince.

“It’s not actually spray paint,” she clarified in the off chance Harrison thought it was. Rambling on, she tore her gaze away from his tempting pectorals and tried to explain, “It’s a makeup technique called airbrushing that a lot of makeup artists use, especially for movies and magazine photos. It does a better job blending everything together, which is useful when you’re turning an eight year old into a zombie.”

Slowly, he turned his head and looked at her, his lips pursing in response to her makeup lesson. Or maybe it was in response to how she looked. “You’ve done an amazing job, Ana. You’ve also completely pulled me out of my writing zone.”

Her eyes widened as far as they could with the makeup on, “If it’s any consolation, you look incredibly hot while you are writing. I’m totally crushing on you right now.”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about that,” he said sternly before his lips curved into a smile. Reaching out, he lightly touched the tip of her nose with his forefinger. “Of course, I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to react to being crushed on by a zombie. God, you look gruesome. Very impressive.”

“Thank you. Um, are you going to be coming to Jesters tonight?” she asked, strangely nervous. The feeling that something was going to happen was swamping her and she was excited and terrified and jumpy all at once. Her heart was racing a million miles an hour, her stomach was floating in sludge, and she wasn’t sure whether or not she was going to be sick. Whatever it was, it seemed his answer was vitally important.

“I’m not sure,” he said, a slight frown marring his forehead as he watched her watching him. “I’m supposed to get off on time but Jagger has been sick this past week and he’s the one who is supposed to take the second half of my shift. I hope to but I just don’t know.”

The disappointment that filled her stomach with lead was instant and just as irrational. Running her tongue along her lower lip, feeling the soft latex and remembering the makeup, she nodded, “No sweat. I’m sure we’ll be incredibly busy anyway.”

“I’ll do everything in my power to be there, Ana,” he murmured, understanding in his voice, understanding and some other emotion. At her nod, he reached up but then hesitated. Laughing to himself, he let his hand drop as he said, “I don’t want to mess up your makeup.”

She smiled at that because she had forgotten for a moment that she was wearing any. Great, here she was flirting with the man and she looked like death. Literally. This time when he reached up, he did touch her, and she felt it in her toes. Her breath caught in her throat as he leaned closer, lowered his voice to a whisper, and said into her ear, “I plan on spending the night with you whenever I get off. Just so you know.”

Her lips parted as her eyes rolled back into her head at the sensual promise in his words. When she opened her eyes, he was watching her closely until she felt the heat beneath the makeup and she broke eye contact first. Staring at her a moment longer, he suddenly clapped his hands together and went back over to his desk. While he was rummaging around in his surprisingly messy desk, Ana exchanged a bemused look with Jolie, each wondering what madness had possessed him. Finally, he held up a camera and grinned, “Aha! I knew it was here somewhere.”

“Does it have batteries in it?” Jolie asked. “Remember last time it was dead?”

“I charged it this morning, smarty pants,” he grinned. Pulling the camera up, he started snapping pictures as he said, “Act zombie-ish!”

*****

After getting the most out of trick or treating, hitting as many houses as possible and getting as much candy as they could, Ana had taken Jolie to her grandparents’ house, both of whom she met the week before when she had dropped Jolie off before work. Though she didn’t have time to sit down and pick their brains about Harrison, she had the impression that they were very nice, even if they were a little taken aback by the gruesome makeup. She was just happy that they were okay with her changing at their house before she headed into work. Washing off most of her zombie makeup and taking out the blasted contacts, she changed as quickly as possible. Throwing on a long sweater that covered her outfit, she went and found Jolie. She helped get her cleaned up while Jolie’s grandma watched from a safe distance.

“So, you’ve been spending some time with my son and granddaughter,” Mrs. Miller murmured casually, her eyes narrowing as she watched Ana. When they had first met, she introduced herself as Jillian but Ana couldn’t bring herself to use the woman’s first name, not even in her thoughts, so Mrs. Miller it was.

“Yes, I have,” Ana answered, focusing on getting Jolie cleaned up and not the thumping of her heart. She had never been interrogated before, not that this was an interrogation, and she wasn’t sure she liked it. “Tilt your head to the side, sweetie. I can’t quite get the eye gunk off.”

Jolie giggled as she did as she was told, her eyes bouncing between Ana and her grandmother.

“Is it serious?” Mrs. Miller asked.

The corner of Ana’s lips tilted upwards because the response that was on the tip of her tongue was wildly inappropriate. Telling a boy’s mother that you hadn’t made love to her son yet but you were hopeful was probably unwise. “You’d have to ask him.”

“I did,” she said through a tight smile. “He says you take his breath away.”

Oh, he was so getting lucky the next time she saw him. Trying to steady her suddenly shaking hands, Ana managed, “He takes my breath away, too.”

“He also says you’re leaving at the end of the year,” Mrs. Miller continued in that same disapproving tone.

“I am,” she confirmed, washing the last of Jolie’s makeup off. Turning to Mrs. Miller with a strained smile of her own, Ana crossed her arms beneath her breasts and said, “He’ll have a lot more time to write when I’m not around to distract him, I’m sure.”

“His writing is just a hobby,” his mom said, a strange look on her face as if she had just discovered the moon wasn’t made out of cheese and she wasn’t sure if she was okay with that or not.

“He’s amazing,” Ana gushed, forgetting for the moment that she was talking to his mom. “Haven’t you read his books yet?”

“Books?” Mrs. Miller said, her lips pursed in bemusement. It was a look she had seen on Harrison and the reminder was almost enough to make her shut up. Almost.

“
The Justice Kane Chronicles
?” Ana said, her own brows pulling together as she realized something. “He hasn’t told you about them, has he?”

“He hasn’t,” Mrs. Miller confirmed. “But that’s just like Harrison, keeping his secrets close to his heart. How many books are there?”

“Four… well, three,” she said. “The fourth one will be out in a few weeks but Harrison let me read it early. It’s probably his best book yet, which is saying something because they’re all amazing.”

“
The Justice Kane Chronicles
?” Mrs. Miller asked again for confirmation. At Ana’s nod, she bobbed her head, “I’ll have to look them up.”

“He writes under Harris Fallen,” Jolie added, beaming her million watt smile as she slipped her hand into Ana’s and gave it a conspiratorial squeeze.

“Thank you for telling me,” Mrs. Miller said, slightly less adversarial than just moments before. “If I had waited for my son to say anything, I never would have known.”

“Oh my god, I’m so excited for you to read them,” Ana continued to rave, excited to find a new
Justice
reader, even if it was the writer’s own mother. But then she thought about what was in some of those books and she felt the heat in her cheeks as she stammered, “Um, he’s very… descriptive.”