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One

TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO

His final project for the benefit ball cast ad looks at her many reflections as she sashayed out of the rooed ry aloved in a clinging blue gown The starlet paused in the act of appraising herself froles

She had aarish dressing rooilded e one on the ceiling Daphne DeGarro, the heiress-turned-reality-show-star and hostess for the Cancer Research Benefit Ball, had opened several rooht for the transforuests She’d reserved her risqué, decadently decorated dressing roo, Daphne had led hirin Seth had nificent, sexually flagrant Marie Antoinette, his creative instincts sparked by the woman’s opulent bad taste and brassy beauty The benefit ball for cancer research was now in full swing in an alaudy ballroom and downstairs terrace

Seth was the last special effects makeup artist to finish He eary He’d done his part for tonight Between hier interns frohtower Special Effects Stud

io, they’d completed nearly two hundred characters in costume and makeup The price of their labor, in addition to the use of Hightower’s extensive costume-and-makeup collection, was a hefty donation to the Cancer Research Fund by each client Daphne DeGarro ht have been in love with herself, but she was shrewd Hollywood players would pay a sizable chunk of cash to be turned into a fearsolaht

Perhaps the young actress noticed his gaze lingering on her backside in one of the many mirrored reflections, because she turned to him

“Aren’t you attending the ball, Seth?” she asked

“No, I’ up an airbrush case and returning it to his kit Realizing he still had on the tinted glasses he hen he did an application, he shoved them impatiently back on his head

“That’s all it was then? Work?” the Ice Queen asked He paused warily, hearing the hint of seduction in her tone She’d drunk too lanced up She was arching her back slightly, highlighting her aown Earlier, he had offered to glue the edges of the gown—her nipples were bound to pop over the edge at any moment—but his offer had been flatly refused Apparently the possibility was so she hoped for rather than dreaded

She was a teroell accusto himself Seth liked women a lot

Just not the actress variety

He resu his kit methodically He knew firsthand the level of infatuation a wo vision He tried to recall her naave up What difference did it make? Seth avoided woenue was burning with it, which had perhaps been his inspiration for the Ice Queen makeup

She could use a little so to cool her down

“No Not just work It’ssome paints into his kit

“I hope you’re pleased with your creation then I know I am I feel so honored to have been touched by the best,” the Ice Queen said tre suspicion she was feathering her fingertips across the top of her breasts and peekaboo nipples, he heard a resigned sigh

“I see All the ru with the talent are true then Shame”

The door closed

He exhaled in relief and shut his kit briskly in preparation to leave as well Eight members of his staff had volunteered to stay and assist with prosthetic and costume removal after the ball A delivery service had been hired to pick up all the costuear left at Daphne’s house tomorrow

He paused next to one of several iced buckets of chalass He rarely drank chane—or any alcohol, really He’d developed a dislike for the stuff at an early age after seeing firsthand its effects on his father and two uncles in his hoht though Usually a script and his creative instincts drove his work Tonight, he’d been driven largely by vanity and questionable taste

He drained the flute, finding the cold, dry liquid cleared his mental cobwebs better than he would have expected

He caught his reflection in one of the gilded e hand Next to the feold and blue décor that surrounded him, he looked especially out of place, a bull in a china shopa savage in the midst of contrived artifice

It was the paradox of his life that those unlikely, big hands contributed to the subtlety, artistry and nuance of Hollywood’s grand façade