Rodeo Drive

Starving artist, Tiffany Hunter, creates a new business as a Purchase Consultant, a gift saver for desperate, busy, hard-working, or just plain lazy men.  Most have procrastinated to the last minute to buy gifts for their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, even their fiancés.  She gets a high from shopping, a rush from the lack of time, and finds pleasure in the women’s faces when she pretends to be the delivery person as she drops the gift off at their door.

Tiffany Hunter’s favorite place to shop is of course, Lauren & Co. on Rodeo Drive, where she meets the sharp-dressed jeweler, Nick Bennett.  As Tiffany and Nick’s relationship heats up, two of their old flames return.  As the summer temperature rises in Southern California, so does the anticipation of which path Tiffany will take.  Follow Tiffany on her hilarious and surprising adventure.

Excerpt:

 Nick slammed his fist on the table. “No! A deal is a deal. This is stupid,” he said and stood up. He took his coat off and tossed it on my bed. “In art class the nude models come out and no one cares. They’re there to be painted. They shouldn’t be nervous. The body is beautiful.” He unbuttoned his shirt.

I held my breath, stunned. He had changed his mind quickly and was talking himself into it right in front of me. Maybe he could paint? He mentioned an art class.

“I’m a good lookin’ guy, I don’t need to be embarrassed,” he continued, slipped his shoes off, walked into my bathroom, and shut the door.

I tossed the pizza into the box and shut the lid. I could still hear him mumbling to himself in the bathroom. I turned on the heater for the first time that winter and ran to my stool. I sat there calmly with my camera in my hands.

Nick walked out of the bathroom with a cobalt blue towel around his waist. He smiled nervously at me, sat down on a stool I had set out for him, and didn’t move.

I held back a smile and tried not to laugh. I was nervous for him and still couldn’t understand why he agreed to this. It would have been so much easier for him just to bring the paintings back. I held up my camera. “Okay, I need to take one photo, just in case you move position, or for when I need to study detail,” I said.

His eyes grew wider. “What? No! I don’t take photos when I do a portrait. The model has to hold their position and keep coming back. And if I want to study detail, I just get closer,” he said and crossed his legs.

“Really?” I asked, setting the camera down. I hid myself behind the canvas and giggled without a sound.

“Are you laughing at me?” he asked.

I peeked around the canvas. “No, why?” I asked seriously. Maybe Nick was an artist after all. Artists did have their own style and way of creating. I picked up my pencil and gave him my most somber look. “Are you ready?”

He nodded and removed the towel. He uncrossed his legs and sat straight up. I bit my bottom lip and hid behind the canvas. Nick Bennett had nothing to be embarrassed about.