Shifting impatiently on the bench, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then along the path between it and Building 1, but there was still no light coming from their room, or sign of her cousin on the path. Allison appeared to be taking her time about returning to their room.
Jess sat back with a disgruntled sigh. She needed to get into their room. She had to put some clothes on, pack, call the airport to see what the first available flight out of Punta Cana was. And find out if she could somehow switch her ticket or, if not, figure out if she could afford the new one, she thought grimly. Fortunately, the room was already paid for. They’d had to prepay months ago. Having to buy a new plane ticket would be a problem, though. She would have to put it on her credit card, and work extra shifts at the bar, or get a third job, to pay for it once she got home.
Sighing, Jess glanced toward Building 2 and then to the path between the buildings again. There was still no sign of Allison.
Muttering impatiently under her breath, Jess leaned her head back to peer up at the stars. She planned to try to convince her cousin to leave with her, but didn’t think she was likely to succeed. As far as she could tell, Allison had absolutely no memory of what had really taken place on the pirate ship. She and Tyler, and everyone else from the bus, seemed to be convinced they’d had a grand time.
Jess shook her head with amazement. Several groups of people from the bus had passed her while she sat here waiting for Allison, and everyone had been laughing and talking about what a great time the shark feeding tour had been, and how they should tell so-and-so to go on it. But Jess had seen the bite marks on several of them, and she distinctly remembered Tyler’s horrified and pain-filled expression as Ildaria had chewed on his family jewels. She knew he hadn’t had a good time. He, however, didn’t.
Lowering her chin, Jess rubbed her forehead unhappily. Part of her wanted to tell them all what had really occurred, but she was sure they’d think she was crazy. They all had a different memory of events. Besides, it seemed the pirates were smart vampires. They didn’t kill their victims, which might have drawn attention to their existence. Instead, they just snacked on the tourists they lured aboard ship, and then returned them safe and sound and even with happy memories of the trip. What would she achieve by changing that? Did she really want them to be as afraid and freaked out as she was? Where was the value in that? As far as she could tell, they were all probably safe enough now that they were back. She doubted any of them would suffer a second encounter with the pirates, unless they went back to the pirate ship on their own because they thought they’d had such fun. Jess didn’t think the pirates would come back looking for a second round themselves, though. At least not with the others. If the pirates had wanted more from them, they could have simply kept them. No, Jess was pretty sure she was the only one who had to worry about the vampirates coming for her.
She gave her head a shake, finding it hard to believe she was even thinking that. Jess had never imagined that would be a concern in her life. That she’d have to worry about vampirates coming for her. It hardly seemed possible. She could still hardly believe there were vampires, or even pirates.
“Maybe I’m crazy and hallucinated it all,” she muttered.
“Jess?”
Stiffening, she jerked her head up and stared at the man approaching through the shadows. Jess breathed out a sigh of relief when he got close enough that the light from the lamppost behind the bench she sat on reached his face.
“Raffaele,” she said, managing a shaky smile. “Hi.”
“Hello,” he responded, pausing in front of her. Glancing around with a frown, he asked, “What are you doing out here?”
“Waiting for Allison to come to our room so I can get in,” she admitted, and then added ruefully, “Apparently, I lost my room key today. Along with everything else I had in my waist belt.”
Raffaele’s eyebrows rose slightly. “What is a waist belt?”
“Oh.” Jess smiled faintly. “It’s a small nylon sack, kind of like a big wallet, that you wear strapped around your waist. You keep your valuables in it,” she explained. “Money, ID, room key, stuff like that.”
“And you lost it in the water?” he asked with concern.
Jess frowned. She’d had it when she’d boarded the pirate ship, but not when she’d left it. She was quite sure about that. It would have caught on the porthole when she’d pushed herself through it. Besides, Jess couldn’t remember it being there when Vasco had pulled her shorts off during their wrestling session on his bed. The only thing she could think was that she’d lost it during their first session on deck when Ildaria had sent her out to kiss him and Jess had found she’d climbed the man like a telephone pole. It must have somehow got dislodged then, along with Vasco’s hat, she decided.
“Jess?” Raffaele queried.
“Sorry,” she muttered, forcing a smile. “I was thinking. But no, I didn’t lose it in the water. I’m pretty sure I lost it on the pirate ship.”
“The pirate ship?” he asked with interest.
Jess glanced to him with surprise and then realized she hadn’t yet told him anything about her adventures. Probably a good thing, she decided. He’d seen everyone get off the bus happy and chatty, and would hardly believe her version of events anyway. She was having trouble believing it herself.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said finally, and glanced past him to Santo and Zanipolo as the two men joined them at the bench and took up position on either side of Raffaele.
Before she could offer a greeting to the men, Raffaele asked, “Did you have anything of value in the waist belt?”
“Well, my key card to our room was in it. That’s why I’m sitting here waiting for Allison,” she pointed out. “As for anything of value—”
“What is it?” Raffaele asked when she stopped abruptly, her eyes going wide with alarm.
“My iPhone and driver’s license were in it,” she breathed shakily.
“You took your iPhone and driver’s license with you on your outing?” Raffaele asked with surprise.
“Yes,” Jess moaned, closing her eyes. “My iPhone is my camera, of course I took it. I wanted pictures of the sharks and stingrays and our swimming with them,” she explained, and silently mourned the loss of those pictures. All of her pictures from this trip were on it—the wedding, the wedding dinner, their excursions so far—and she’d lost all of them.
“I understand the phone,” Zanipolo said. “But your driver’s license?”
“Oh,” Jess sighed, and waved a hand vaguely. “Allison insisted I bring my driver’s license. She said she’d heard that you had to have photo ID if you wanted to rent anything on these excursions. She thought there might be Jet-Skis or Seabobs to try at the Seaquarium, and if there was, she wanted to rent one.”
“And her wanting to rent one meant you had to bring your ID?” Santo asked heavily, sounding like he didn’t like her cousin. She didn’t know how that could be, though; as far as she knew they hadn’t even met. Of course, they were in the same resort and might have had a brief encounter in passing. With Allison, a brief encounter in passing could be enough to cause animosity in the kindest person.
“Both of our driver’s licenses were in the waist belt,” she admitted unhappily. “That way we could both rent a Seabob. Unfortunately, I lost hers as well as mine, and she is so going to kill me for it.”
A moment of silence passed and then Raffaele cleared his throat and asked, “So these vampires have your room key?”
“Vampires?” she squeaked, peering at him with wide eyes.
“That is what you called them when we were in the water,” he reminded her.
“Oh, right.” She stared at him wide-eyed, suddenly understanding why these men were following her around. They thought she was off her nut because of the vampire thing. Clearing her throat, she forced a laugh. “Yeah. Vampires. Ha ha. That was a joke,” she lied anxiously, not wanting him to think her crazy, and then she stiffened as his question filtered through her mind. The vampires had her room key.
Vasco had her room key.
For a moment, panic assailed her, but then Jess realized that was okay. The room keys didn’t list the room number on them, so it wasn’t like he could use it to find her here. Unfortunately, he also had her iPhone and driver’s license, which meant he had tons of info about her, including her home address. But surely, he wouldn’t sail all the way to Montana to hunt her down? Well, no, he couldn’t. Montana was hundreds of miles from the ocean. No one could sail there. She supposed he could fly, but what would he do about his coffin?
Speaking of coffins, where had those been? Vampires slept in coffins; the ship was full of vampires. Where did they keep their coffins? Jess pursed her lips as she considered the question. She hadn’t seen one in Vasco’s cabin. But maybe they kept the coffins down in the hull of the ship where the tourists wouldn’t find them.
That made sense, Jess decided. But wherever it was, he wouldn’t fly to Montana to hunt her down without his coffin just in the hopes of a good lay. That would be crazy, she assured herself.
“We were heading down to the restaurant on the beach to get some food,” Zanipolo blurted suddenly. “Did you want to join us?”
Jess glanced to the man, tempted to say yes. Now that he’d mentioned food, she was starving . . . and had been for a while, she realized. She’d been suffering hunger pangs for hours, even while she was in the water, but had been too distracted with other issues to pay it any attention. Now that he’d brought it to her awareness with his invitation, however, she was tempted. But . . .
“No,” she said on a sigh, her eyes shifting to Building 2 and then the path again. “Thank you, but I have to wait for Allison.”
“I think she would be here already if she was returning directly to the room,” Raffaele pointed out gently.
“But where else would she go?” Jess asked with frustration. She’d kind of come to that conclusion herself, but had no idea where else her cousin could have gone.
“Maybe she went down to the restaurant,” Zanipolo suggested. “There’s a band playing tonight, and she and the others were probably hungry after their tour. They might have headed there after getting off the bus.”
Jess perked up at the suggestion. That actually made sense, especially since none of them had had supper. At least, she hadn’t seen anything that might suggest the vampirates planned to feed them after feeding off of them. The blood loss might even add to their hunger, she thought. And her not having any money on her wouldn’t be an issue. The resort was all-inclusive; all she had to do was give her room number.
“Yes, I think I will join you, then,” Jess said, standing up, only to hesitate as she glanced down at her outfit. A towel over a ripped T-shirt and bikini bottoms was hardly acceptable attire for a restaurant. On top of that, the rest of her was probably a sight too. She wasn’t wearing a bit of makeup, which Jess didn’t mind so much, but she also didn’t have a brush and her hair had dried au naturel. It was probably a mess.
Sighing, she dropped back onto the bench. “You’d better go without me. I’m not dressed for a restaurant. They’d throw me out.”
Zanipolo immediately started to protest, but Raffaele said, “I have a better idea.”
Jess peered at him curiously, actually hoping he had a solution, because she was really hungry.
“Among the three of us, we must have something that you can wear,” Raffaele assured her. “We’ll go to our room and see if we can find you something. If we can, we can all go down to the restaurant. If we cannot, then Zanipolo and Santo can go themselves, look for Allison, and bring you back food.”
“Or,” Zanipolo countered, “you two can go to our room and see if we have anything for Jess to wear, and Santo and I can go down to the restaurant and wait for you,” he said brightly.
“He is very hungry,” Santo said solemnly.
Jess saw guilt flash across Raffaele’s face, and then he nodded. “Yes. Go. You’ve been waiting for your supper for long enough.”
Zanipolo grinned, but then said, “Call us if you can’t find anything for her to wear and we’ll bring back food right away. I’ll even order mine to go so Jess doesn’t have to wait.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind,” Jess said sincerely.
“Yes, it is,” Raffaele agreed. “Thank you, Zani. Now, go on. I’ll call you in a few minutes and let you know if we are coming or not.”
The two men started away, but then Santo stopped and peered back, his gaze sliding over Jess as she stood up. “One of my dress shirts is robin’s egg blue like your eyes.”
Jess raised her eyebrows and said uncertainly, “Okay.”
“I have seen women wearing what looks like overlarge shirts as dresses,” he explained quietly. “My blue dress shirt should be long enough on you to make a dress. It will be too large in the arms, but you can roll up the sleeves, and wear a belt, and the color would suit you. You may wear it.”
“Oh, I see,” Jess said, a wide smile claiming her lips. “Thank you.”
“What?” Zanipolo howled, turning on the large man. “Robin’s egg blue? Seriously? You never say more than one or two words at a time, three at most on the rare occasion, and the first time you speak more than that it’s about women’s fashion? Really?” He shook his head. “Damn, big guy!”
“Shut up,” Santo said mildly, taking the smaller man’s arm and turning him away. “Walk.”
Jess grinned as she watched the pair continue along the path, Zanipolo taunting the big man, and Santo strutting along, ignoring him. It made her think of a cartoon she’d once seen where a large bulldog was walking along ignoring a much littler dog who was yipping and hopping excitedly around him.
“Shall we?” Raffaele asked, and Jess glanced around to see him gesturing toward the buildings in front of them.
“Oh, yes. Sorry,” she said, moving onto the path that ran along the buildings. “You’re in Building 2, right?” She’d been a bit stressed when she’d rushed out earlier and wasn’t sure.
“Yes. And you?”
“Two as well,” she murmured. “But we’re on the fourth floor. You were three?”
He smiled faintly. “Yes.”
Jess nodded, and then searched her mind for something else to say. She didn’t know why, but she was suddenly nervous around the man. Not about her safety. They’d had her in their room while she was unconscious, and then once she’d woken up and hadn’t done anything to harm her. In fact, the man had saved her life. Still, now that it was just him, she was very aware that they were alone, and that she found him attractive, and really, she hadn’t been making very good decisions today when it came to attraction—
“You have had enough exercise today, I think.”
Jess blinked her thoughts away and glanced around to see that they were standing in front of the elevator in Building 2 and he was pushing the call button. Obviously, the comment had been to explain why they weren’t using the stairs. Smiling faintly, she murmured, “Thank you. You’re right.” Grimacing, she added, “I’m sure I’ll feel it tomorrow.”
“A good massage should help with that,” Raffaele said, ushering her onto the elevator when the doors opened.
“Yeah, too bad I won’t be here tomorrow to book one in the spa,” she said on a sigh.
“What?” Raffaele glanced at her sharply. “You have plans for tomorrow?”
Jess hesitated, and then admitted, “Actually, I was thinking it would be better if I leave Punta Cana and go home. I was hoping Allison would return, and I could get into our room, pack up, call to see what time the next flight is, and leave.”
“I see,” Raffaele said slowly, but then fell silent, his expression conflicted. She got the feeling that he didn’t want her to go, but thought it might be for the best.
Which was probably just wishful thinking on her part, Jess decided. At least the part about his not wanting her to go. They’d just met, after all, and other than his being kind and helping her, had shared little interaction. She hadn’t even really explained what had happened to her today, and how she had ended up jumping off a ship.
No, there was no reason he should care whether she stayed or left. But then there was no reason she should regret having to go, and yet Jess was sorry she couldn’t stay and get to know him better. Raffaele was an attractive man. He was also kind and helpful, and made her feel safe for some reason. Plus, he wasn’t a pirate or a vampire, was very polite, and hadn’t once said anything crude or—
A ding sounded, announcing their arrival at the third floor, and Jess gave up her thoughts and stepped off the elevator when the doors opened. When Raffaele followed and took her elbow to usher her along the hall, Jess experienced the same tingling sensation rushing along her skin as she had when she’d grabbed his hand to stop him from pursuing Cristo.
“It’s too late for any flights this evening,” Raffaele said suddenly, his voice slightly husky.
“Oh,” Jess murmured, distracted by the sensations she was experiencing.
“The airport is probably closed for the night,” he added, pausing at the door to what she presumed was the suite he shared with Santo and Zanipolo. Raffaele released her arm then to retrieve his key card, and Jess started to breathe again, realizing only then that she’d been holding her breath as she focused on his effect on her.
She glanced at the number on the door as he unlocked it, and was surprised to see that this suite was the one directly below the one she and Allison shared. Small world, she thought, and cleared her throat to say, “Then I’ll have to see if I can catch a flight out in the morning.”
First thing in the morning, Jess added silently. She knew she wouldn’t get a lick of sleep tonight. She’d lie awake in bed, jumping at every creak and sound because Vasco had her key card, and while it didn’t reveal a room number, he also had her driver’s license, with her name on it. Not that he’d needed that, she thought with a frown as she recalled Cristo telling Vasco her full name. All the man had to do was control whoever was working reception and make them tell him her room number. Yeah, it was going to be a long night.
Actually, Jess wasn’t sure she’d sleep well once she got home either, now that she knew Vasco had her home address. Chances were he wouldn’t follow her to Montana, but what if he did? Maybe she should go to a hotel when she landed, get some sleep, and then start looking for an apartment or something. The very thought made her frown. She really didn’t want to sell the house she’d inherited from her parents, but knew she wouldn’t feel safe there anymore.
“Jess?”
Dragging herself from her thoughts, she glanced up to see that Raffaele had the door unlocked and was standing to the side, holding it open as he waited for her to enter.
“Sorry,” she muttered, slipping quickly past him into the room.
“The shirt Santo mentioned is hanging in the closet in the bedroom,” Raffaele said as he followed her in. “Go take a look and I’ll see if I can find something for you to use as a belt.”
Nodding, Jess led the way through the sitting area and into the bedroom. She headed straight for the closet, while Raffaele moved to the dresser and began to riffle through the drawers.
Jess found the shirt right away. It was the only blue dress shirt in the closet. As Santo had said, it was a lovely robin’s egg blue. Pulling it out, Jess eyed it with interest, noting that it was a very soft, thin linen that would feel amazing on.
“I might have to improvise something.”
Jess glanced around at that comment to see that Raffaele had given up on finding anything in the dresser and was now staring at the suitcase that stood next to it. The suitcase had a dark blue luggage strap around it. Eyebrows rising, she walked over to join him and peered at the strap. It was custom-made, with “Property of R. Notte” stamped on it in black. “That might work. And it’s even blue.”
“Yes, but I suspect it will be too large,” he said, his brow furrowing.
Jess shrugged. “Most luggage straps can be adjusted from something like forty-one inches to eighty-something. That one probably does too.”
“Much too big, then,” he said with a sigh.
“Not if I wrap it around my waist twice,” she pointed out.
Raffaele’s eyebrows rose at that, and then he grinned and murmured, “Clever lady.”
Jess stiffened at the words. It was what Cristo had said to her in front of the lobby. And it brought the pirate and Vasco, and everything that had passed between them, immediately to mind.
“Jess? Is something troubling you?” Raffaele asked, reaching out to take her free hand gently in his.
She sucked in a breath at the shock of awareness that again tingled its way up her arm from where his skin touched hers, and then just shook her head and stared at their entangled fingers. As she did, he used his hold on her hand to turn her arm slightly so that he could get a better look at the scrape by her elbow. Frowning, he ran a finger lightly alongside the injury. The action sent another tingle through Jess, one that made her shiver and close her eyes.
“I originally intended to take you to see the resort physician, but—”
“The resort physician?” Jess’s eyes widened with surprise.
Raffaele nodded solemnly. “You should really be examined by a doctor to be sure your injuries will not be an issue.”
Jess smiled faintly at his concern. She thought it was sweet, but shook her head. “I’m fine. I don’t have any injuries.”
Raffaele arched an eyebrow and then returned his gaze to her arm.
“Well, a couple of scrapes, maybe,” she muttered with chagrin. “But nothing serious.”
“You also have scrapes on your stomach and hips,” he said quietly, “and they are very large and appeared deeper than this one.”
Jess glanced to him sharply. “When did you see my stomach and hips?”
“I carried you up here from the beach,” he reminded her gently. “The life jacket only partially covered your stomach, and didn’t do anything to hide your hips.”
“Oh,” Jess muttered, aware that she was blushing. She could feel the heat in her cheeks. Irritated at herself for it, she handed him Santo’s shirt, and then turned away from him and opened the towel so she could get a look at herself. She’d been so eager to cover up that she hadn’t had the chance to check the scrapes on her stomach and hips before wrapping the towel around herself earlier. Now she peered down at her stomach, and then her hips, and winced as she saw where she’d been skinned while forcing herself through the porthole. Jess had known it was happening at the time, but was surprised at how big they all were. None of them appeared too terribly deep, but they were deep enough, and the one on her stomach was a monster, stretching across her entire stomach from side to side.
Still, while they weren’t pretty, they weren’t life-threatening either, Jess decided, and closed the towel over herself again before turning back to face Raffaele. “I’m fine. Really. They’ll heal quickly.”
“Infection is a real danger in the tropics,” Raffaele informed her quietly.
Jess was frowning at that when he cleared his throat and asked, “Do you have any other wounds anywhere?”
“Probably,” she admitted with a grimace. “Some bruises at least, maybe other stuff.”
“What kind of stuff? Where?” Raffaele asked at once.
“My back for one,” she admitted, recalling Allison attacking her while she kissed Vasco. “I got hit in the kidney pretty hard. It probably bruised.”
“May I see?” he asked with concern.
Jess hesitated, but then sighed and turned her back to him again and opened her towel. This time, though, she let it drop just below the waist of her bikini bottoms and glanced over her shoulder. “Is there a bruise?”
“Hmm, yes,” Raffaele murmured, and she felt his fingers gently probing the area, making her shiver as more tingles raced through her. “You have a couple of bruises back here actually.”
“Yeah, aside from getting punched, I got knocked around a bit,” Jess admitted, turning to face him so that he’d stop touching her. “Allison—Well, it doesn’t matter. I just took a tumble off a raised surface,” she muttered, unwilling to discuss how she’d been bounced from a bed by her cousin who was jealous of the crazy-sexy vampirate who had been ravishing her.
“You have a bruise here too,” he said with concern.
Jess glanced down with a start when he ran one finger lightly across the curve of her breast where the edge of the knotted T-shirt didn’t cover it. The action reminded her at once that she hadn’t wrapped the towel around herself again, but it seemed a bit late for that. Besides, between the ripped T-shirt and the bikini bottoms, she supposed she was wearing more than she wore on the beach. Of course, she didn’t usually have people touching her this way in her swimsuit, Jess thought, and glanced down at the bruise he was examining. She was quite sure it was a result of her forcing herself through the porthole. Before she could say as much, however, she noted the way her nipple was pebbling and pressing against the cloth of the T-shirt in response to Raffaele gently probing just the curve of her breast. It seemed a ridiculous response to her. It wasn’t like he’d actually caressed the nipple that was sticking its head up for attention. But her body obviously wanted him too.
Dear God, Jess thought with dismay, was she just going to respond like this to every man who touched her now? She’d never been like this before. Maybe her hormones were out of whack. Perhaps a trip to the clinic was a good idea.
Stepping back, Jess closed the towel, and then reached out to take the blue shirt from him. Heading for the bathroom with it, she muttered, “I’ll be right back.”
“Of course,” Raffaele said. “I’ll call Zanipolo and tell him we’ll be down soon and he needn’t order the food to go.”
Jess merely nodded, and closed the bathroom door. Spotting the hook on the back of the door, she hung the hanger there and then quickly stripped off her T-shirt. Dropping it on the floor, she considered her damp bikini bottoms, but then left them on. She had no underwear. Wet bikini bottoms were better than nothing, Jess decided, and removed the shirt from the hanger to pull it on over her head. It was big enough for her to get into it that way, and much easier than undoing and redoing the buttons.
Of course, the sleeves were too long. She would definitely have to roll them up, but it did reach two-thirds of the way down her upper legs.
“How is it?” Raffaele asked through the door, and Jess tugged one sleeve up to open the door.
“Good, I think. Or it will be once I put the luggage strap on,” she assured him.
Raffaele held it up at once.
Jess reached for it, but paused when the sleeve flapped around like a flipper.
“Allow me,” Raffaele said with amusement. Resting the luggage strap over his shoulder, he set to work on the sleeves, quickly rolling up first one, and then the other. Jess stood completely still while he worked, her nose twitching as his scent wafted around her. He smelled quite nice, she noted. Delicious even, and she realized that she hadn’t really noticed how Vasco smelled. Just that his hair was greasy. She shifted her gaze to Raffaele’s bent head and noted that his hair was dry now, and a lovely silky-looking black that wasn’t greasy.
“There we go,” Raffaele said, straightening as he finished with his efforts.
“Thank you,” Jess said softly.
“Now the belt,” he announced, and removed it from his shoulder to wrap it around her waist twice, explaining as he did, “I adjusted it to the size I thought might work, but—Oh, look, it’s perfect.”
Jess glanced down with relief when he finished and stepped back. She’d felt odd having him wrapping the belt around her waist. He’d had to bend forward slightly to do it, his head nearly on her shoulder and his arms going around her waist and back, and it had made her stomach jump and quiver a bit. Now, she took a couple of deep breaths to settle herself and turned to peer at her reflection in the vanity mirror that ran the length of the counter that held the double sinks.
Jess considered her reflection with surprise. Actually, it didn’t look half-bad. Belting it had raised it an inch or so, but it wasn’t too too short.
“Nice,” she decided, and then lifted her gaze and groaned as she saw her face and hair.
Raffaele chuckled at her expression. “My hairbrush is the brown one. Feel free to use it. I’ll wait for you in the sitting room.”
Jess didn’t bother to close the door behind him. She was dressed. Or as dressed as she could be at that moment. It felt a little odd to be without a bra. She hadn’t gone braless since she was eleven or twelve. But the shirt was big and blousy enough that you couldn’t really tell, so she picked up Raffaele’s brush and began to run it through her hair. That felt odd too. Not the brush itself, but that she was using his brush. She had no idea why. It wasn’t like it was his toothbrush or something, but it still felt strange and somewhat intimate when she finished and saw the long chestnut-brown hairs caught in the brush along with his shorter, black ones. Jess stared at it briefly, and then quickly pulled all of the hair from the bristles before setting it down.
Jess bent to toss the ball of hair into the little garbage can under the sink and then straightened to look at herself again. Her hair looked much better. A quick brushing had done a world of good and her hair now fell around her face in soft waves.
Her attention shifted to her face. She was a little pale and had dark smudges under her eyes. The result of exhaustion, Jess supposed. And probably dehydration caused by too much sun and too little water. Not having eaten since lunch probably didn’t help either, she guessed. A little concealer to remove the dark shadows, and a touch of blush to add color would have done wonders, but she didn’t have either.
Shrugging, Jess pinched her cheeks and bit her lips to draw out some natural color and then turned to leave the room, telling herself that food would help.