Beauty Shot (Hope Parish Novels Book 5) Read Online Free Page B

don’t
know, that’s Tattersall and Outlaw.”
    “It would
leave a big hole in the show if a model doesn’t show up,
right?”
    “Oh my, you’re
from the South. Dreamy accent. Yes, no-show models are a big problem.
Not showing the clothes, that loses them business.” He pulled
out a brush and started to run it through my hair, then he grabbed a
curling iron, and by this time I was ready to bolt. “Minnie’s
gambling on everything today. Of course, that doll of a Verity, her
cutie little boy, and her yummy husband, are simply divine. Minnie
loves them. I’ve been doing hair for her since way before she
took on her new partner. Nice addition, if you ask me. That Verity
has an eye for what looks good on a man. Well, of course, look at her
husband. And I will,” he said with a wink and a twinkling
smirk.
    I started to
unbutton my shirt and cuffs while he wrapped hair around the wand and
held it. Decision made. He released it and fluffed it up, making it
look more natural. When he finished with that, I pulled my shirt off
and reached for the snap on my jeans. He came at me with a sponge. I
jerked back and he gave me a hold-still look. “What’s
wrong?”
    “Is that
makeup?”
    “Yes,”
he said, his brow furrowing. “It’s to keep you from
looking shiny under the lights. Just light foundation. Everyone also
gets eyeliner. Wasn’t this explained to you when you took the
job?”
    “Um…okay,”
I said, not wanting to jeopardize Minnie and Verity’s show. The
bottom line was, it looked like the model who was supposed to be
wearing these clothes was either late or not showing. I couldn’t
let Verity down. She’d put everything she had into this. I also
couldn’t let Minnie down. She’d taken a chance on Verity,
a complete unknown. She’d welcomed my friend’s wife into
her heart when she was alone and pregnant with Boone’s little
boy Duel.
    And besides, it just
so happened the clothes would fit. Perhaps the goddess of opportunity
had thrown a tidbit my way.
    He applied the
foundation and then outlined my eyes.
    “You’re
set, handsome.”
    I shucked my jeans
and grabbed up the…bathing suit?…a black mesh piece of
barely-there spandex. I’d worn jock straps that had more
material.
    Dante leaned in and
met my eyes in the mirror. “I can already tell you’re
straight, but honey, oh my, if you weren’t…” He
grinned and snapped the spandex and said, “Knock ’em
dead, sweet cheeks. I’m out. Ta.”
    I had to laugh. The
shower groping aside, this was quite a strange and wondrous land, and
maybe I should loosen up a bit. I turned as the little Asian warrior
motioned to me. Yep, she was wearing a headset. I could hear music
begin to roll. Looked like I was getting this party started. That’s
when I saw her.
    Minnie.
    Geezus.
    This must be what it
felt like to have a ton of bricks dropped on you. I gazed after her
while she crossed the room and stopped at the entrance to the runway.
She was sipping on one of those small bottles of champagne. Her lips,
pursed and painted a bronzed color, made me want to press my mouth
against hers and get that lipstick on me. She’d twisted her
hair up into a perfectly disheveled pile of wild curls on top of her
head, leaving her lovely throat and nape bare. For some reason the
sight of her bare neck turned me on.
    She put the meaning
in sleek and sophisticated in a little polka-dot dress with a tight
bodice and full, short flirty skirt. Instead of black, it was a deep
chocolate brown, and the dots were tan. The neckline was low, curving
around and showing off the tops of her white, creamy breasts with a
hint of cleavage. My whole body charged up as if there was an
electrical current straight from her to me.
    She stood on sexy,
three-inch chocolate heels that laced up her ankles. With confidence,
a study in calm, cool, and collected in a sea of pandemonium and
chaos, like an air traffic controller, she conversed with the
Yuminator, who glanced at me again,