Capturing Shayne ~ introducing my NaNoWriMo work in progress!

Well, it’s official, ladies and gents.

I am a NaNo. To kick off for the main event, I officially opened my account and drafted my rough synopsis, and included an excerpt to tease and tantalize. Now, this story has been circling in my mind for some time and I had gone as far as sketching the bare bones, but that’s it.

So, I thought this would be the perfect project to tackle in the month long writing frenzy.

Now, just in case outsiders not participating in the event are unable to view my work in progress on the NaNoWriMo site, here is what I’ve posted:

Title: Capturing Shayne

Cover: (and yes, that is Megan Fox – all rights remain the property of the photographer, etc., etc…)

Synopsis: 

Shayne De Melo, rebounding from a disastrous divorce, has picked up the pieces of her shattered life and, with her daughter in tow, moved on to forge a promising career at Prime Time PR. When sexual harassment allegations break out against a major A-list Hollywood celebrity, a promotion she desperately wants is dangled within reach and Shayne leaps at the challenging opportunity of revitalizing the tarnished brand that is Roarke Donovan.

Working shoulder to shoulder with the man who occupied her steamiest fantasies for the last ten years, gorgeous, intelligent, and charged with undeniable sexual magnetism, Roarke is everything she’s expected and more. So when her boss rolls out a plan for Roarke to reignite his romance with America’s favourite darling as part of his ‘image restoration’, Shayne can barely contain her jealousy as she wants to get her hands on much more than just his ‘brand.’

Roarke Donovan has been Hollywood’s golden boy from the age of eight when he won over the hearts of the nation in a cereal commercial. Since then, he’s become the front-runner of romantic comedies and dramatic tearjerkers, with no end in sight. At least until serious allegations made by a socialite break out. Now his career is stalling just when he was about to close a deal on a passion project that would have propelled him into coveted Oscar territory.

​Faced with the realization that he could lose everything if the scandal and seedy reputation that this has earned him doesn’t get wrapped up quickly, Roarke reaches out to LA’s top PR firm for help. While the staged romance brings his image back into the spotlight, his attraction to Shayne, a woman off limits…at least on the red carpet, grows too strong to ignore. Throwing caution to the wind, Roare pursues the exotic beauty, knowing the consequences could spell disaster for them both. Amid the heightening swirl of rumours and speculation, capturing the woman of his deepest, innermost desires could mean forsaking the promise of the Hollywood career he’s worked for his entire life.

Scene Excerpt:

He leaned in close. Too close. His scent–all man and cinnamon.

The way he drew himself in, almost pressing body to body, but not quite, made Shayne’s breathing shallow and difficult. There was only an inch, but in that inch the warmth intensified to a sweltering sort of tension that began to simmer and snap like lightening and fire–all sizzling heat.

Roarke tilted his head, his cheek barely grazed past her as his lips moved to hover along the smooth column of her neck and passed along her bare shoulder. She had been so sure he’d planned to go in fro the kill; instead he was breathing her in.

Savouring.

Her hands gripped the sides of the countertop so hard her knuckles cracked. If and when she ever finally managed to pry her hands away, she knew the marks of her fingers could be embedded in the polished black granite behind her.

And oh, she was afraid. Afraid to think of what would happen if she did release the stone and filled them with his body, fisted them in the thick man of his golden hair.

“Wha–what are you doing?” Shayne swallowed hard. Her mouth had gone bone dry and the ache in her throat was near unbearable.

“Taking a moment.” Roarke lifted her right hand, turned the palm towards his mouth. Instead of planting his lips against her skin, he continued his journey to her wrist where a small smear of cream cheese icing made him pause in contemplation.

“A moment.” Shayne knew she was reaching for words as a way to create a wall to break the trance his presence so expertly wove.

“Yes.” It had seemed like a good plan, turning him around to conversation, until he brought his eyes back to rest on hers.

The startling blue–sharp, edgy with a dark smoky fringe, like a summer sky, hot and sticky, with dark billowing storm clouds looming on the horizon. Rough and dangerous. And she, a sailor cast out at sea, was enthralled by the powerful waves and gusting winds he seemed to command with his stare, pulling her in with the elements that surrounded them.

“I want to kiss you,” he confessed. “And while the temptation is near…undeniable, ” Roarke drew her closer, as if about to give in to this all-consuming temptation he spoke of, “but I find it far more–interesting–to take a moment and linger. It’s intense, personal and intimate in ways a kiss can never be, only because it’s not what you’d expect.” His hips shifted, not quite pressing in.

It was more a subtle reminder, a statement saying, ‘here I am. The rest is up to you.’