Monday, November 4, 2013

Challenge Accepted

Here's an excerpt from my #NaNoWriMo book, Applause. I'm writing it in the month of November. Stay tuned for more!

Nolan was two minutes from his call to the set, and his makeup artist, Cynthia, was feverishly reworking his eyeliner where it had run in the heat of the scene they'd been shooting all day. She was patting with this and dabbing with that, all the while biting her bottom lip in that way that told Nolan it wasn't going well.
"They might just have to let me take it all off and start fresh, I just don't know what they expect me to do with four minutes in this heat," she scowled as she dabbed a bit more.
"I'm sure it will look fine," Nolan said. "You always deliver. But I have to admit, I do like the way you nibble on your lips when you're nervous."
Blushing, she paused for a second. She met his gaze and her eyes skittered away from his. "Thanks for the compliment, and as for the lip thing, it's still a no, Mr. Ridley."
"Cynth, it's been two months now, I think it's time you started calling me Nolan," he chided with a mischievous grin on his handsome face.
"I'm sorry Mr.--Nolan," she said. "Now hold still! They're giving you the signal and I've just got to make this last little dab." Sighing, she lifted the dark kohl pencil from his eyelid and gestured that she was through.
"How do I look?" He asked. He puffed his mostly naked torso and flexed his biceps, which were gleaming with the oils she'd rubbed into them just moments before.
"Like a sexy beast. Now go, before they fire me for keeping you so long!" She shoved him gently toward the cameras, shaking her head.
Nolan Ridley was indeed a sexy man, and he knew it. In the eight weeks since they'd hired her to replace his previous makeup artist, she'd seen him move through the women on the set like wildfire, each one seeming not to mind when their one-night stands never turned into anything more. If anything, they seemed almost grateful to have become one of his conquests!
Somehow, Nolan had given them the night of their lives, which they'd willingly offered in return for an appearance at some event that involved the paparazzi. Then he'd simply moved on to the next willing female, and she had no idea how he'd managed to do so without the women hating his guts as well as causing strife between the other women on the crew who competed for his attention.
It was a mystery to her, but she could only assume he was as good in bed as they all claimed. She also knew he was very generous with them afterwards, giving them a "hey, thanks for playing on the Ridley gameshow--here are your parting gifts" sort of prize that seemed to cause them to bear no ill will towards him or the next female on his list.
Well, whatever it was, Cynthia had no intentions of becoming another notch on his belt. Those bronzed biceps and that delicious face were hers for as long as it took to cover them in makeup each day, but as soon as he was in front of the cameras, he belonged to the world.

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