Taking a page (or a few lines) from Inez,  I thought it would be fun to post five excerpts from a manuscript that I am slugging through edits on (prior to submission).

As it stands, it’s kind of a Hollywood/Waitress Cinderella thing. I can’t decide if it’s a romcom or just a sexy contemporary. I have a working title for this, which I hate. I may post a contest later to rename the sucker.

#1 -

Maggie looked at the blonde, who seemed, despite the flawless makeup and designer clothes, as warm and friendly as an open kitchen door in the middle of winter.  Maggie clung to the woman’s eagerness, even if it suddenly seemed that she had mistaken her for someone else.

#2 -

There was no reason, she thought, that this couldn’t be her element as well. He was paying her shockingly to plaster on a smile and serve up complete bullshit to his backers. She’d studied the fake resume that he’d fabricated for her and she was a quick learner.

Two parts community theater, one part voice-over work, a dash of overseas commercial acting – mix, and voila – Maggie Alexander, relative unknown, shiny new protégé and saving grace of Wesley Young’s pet project. Serving up bullshit? She’d done that to every hokey jerk that had groped her ass as she had struggled through the crush to the bar. She had plastered on a smile and kept working, knowing that the money she made would keep her afloat. She could certainly do this.

#3 -

“You’re doing a fantastic job,” he said, lowering his voice to hide the slight husk in it. “You seem to have soothed the revolt for the time being.”

“Good,” she murmured. “I’m glad to be earning my pay.” She tipped her head to the side and laid her cheek against his shoulder.  He hugged her close, his eyes wandering the glitzy ballroom for Alice and Brett.

“What’s this about?” he asked, smiling.

“Don’t get too cocky. I’ve had a lot of champagne and all of the food here is too weird for me to eat. Just keep dancing and don’t let me fall over.”

#4 -

Wesley dipped his head and her heart skipped in her chest for stretched seconds. He brushed his lips across her cheek, coming to rest at the corner of her mouth, where he placed a kiss so soft, Maggie thought that she may have imagined it. She could smell a faint trace of champagne on his breath. She was three seconds away from begging him to take her in the stairwell. She closed her eyes as he spoke against the corner of her mouth.

“I like the way you say my name. Try it again.”

The butterflies in her stomach formed a troupe of cleat-wearing tapdancers and started practicing a STOMP! routine.

#5 -

Alice sat up and plunked down her cup so hard on the desk that the top popped off.  Her perfectly lipsticked mouth dropped open. “You did not sleep with him!”

Maggie reached over and reseated the lid on Alice’s cup, shaking her head. “No. I haven’t even known him a week. He kissed me.”

Alice rolled her eyes. “Is that all? That’s why he’s skulking around acting like you left him with the world’s biggest case of the bee-bee?”

Maggie scrunched her nose at the petite blonde across from her. “The bee-bee?”

“Yes,” Alice sounded exasperated. “Blue balls. What planet are you from?”

Maggie had lifted her own cup to her lips for another sip when Alice let that little tidbit fly, and it was all she could do not to spit macadamia mocha across the tailored lap of her skirt.

Enjoy, and I hope your Friday is a great one!

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