Drop Dead Gorgeous by Suki McMinn Page A

of young handsome men. Those, and some paintings of a blonde woman. And even though he’d died young, he’d been very prolific.
    “I tink vee’re all set heere, Clara.” Derek’s voice interrupted her thoughts in his new Sesame Street accent, and she turned around. His eyes darted to the painting and then back to her. “Are you ready to go?”
    “Yes.” She smiled at Monica. “Thanks so much, Monica.”
    “My pleasure. Adonis, you’re booked for the Four Seasons shoot tomorrow night.”
    “Great!” Clara said. “I’ll call you tomorrow for the details.”
    “His call time is ten p.m. I hope that’s okay. You did say he’ll only work at night, right?”
    “Yes, that’s great. Ten is perfect. At Jim Cavanaugh’s studio?”
    “No, the hotel. On Doheny.”
    “Okay. He’ll be there at ten.”
    Monica walked them to her door and started to extend her hand before catching herself. Clara gave her a hug and thanked her again before she and Derek – Adonis – left.
    Once they were in the car, Clara said, “Maybe we should have talked about the accent a little before, huh?”
    “Was it that bad?” he asked.
    “We’ll work on it, okay? We need to keep our stories straight, that’s all. Like where you’re from.”
    They rode quietly for a while until she decided to ask Derek about the painting.
    “That was Terence, wasn’t it?”
    “What? I don’t know.” His voice sounded funny. But not funny, like Dracula funny. Funny, like he didn’t want to talk about it.
    “Well, it certainly looked like him. Do you know who the artist is?”
    “No.”
    “Aren’t you even a little curious about it?”
    “No, and I don’t see why you should be either. It’s just a painting. No big deal.”
    “A painting of a vampire that I met in my living room.”
    “Just drop it, okay?”
    He was definitely acting weird. Maybe he just wasn’t comfortable discussing Terence with her. He hadn’t exactly been full of information about Madeline either. She decided to let it go.
    When they got home, any weirdness about the painting was gone and they spent the rest of the night in bed working on Derek’s accent and celebrating his Four Seasons booking, hopeful that it would be the first of many.
    After they’d made love, she felt herself getting sleepy and reminded him of his call time before drifting off blissfully in his arms. Adonis’s career was beginning tomorrow night, and her new life as his manager was as well.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     
    Derek walked into the lobby of the Four Seasons Hotel at precisely ten p.m. He and Clara had agreed to arrive separately. The lights were already set up around a sofa, and Derek spotted Jim Cavanaugh standing close to the set, talking to a woman Derek didn’t recognize.
    He approached Jim and the woman, keeping his hands in his pockets.
    “Are you Jim Cavanaugh?” he asked, knowing full well he was.
    “Yes.” Jim’s hand reached out, but he withdrew it quickly. Monica or Clara had done her job well.
    “I’m Adonees,” Derek said in his deep voice.
    “Yes, of course. Such a pleasure to meet you. Wow. You do look just like Derek Randall. God, I’m sorry. Monica said you hate hearing that.”
    Derek nodded. Clara must have added that to his list of oddities.
    The woman at Jim’s side chimed in, “Oh, I think you’re much better looking than Derek Randall. Plus, you’ve got that hot accent that he didn’t have.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I’m Strawberry.” She extended her hand. Derek ignored it.
    “I guess that’s no worse than Adonis.”
    Her smile faltered. Had his accent slipped?
    “I’m keedding. Nice to meet you, Strawberry.”
    “So, where are you from?” she asked.
    “Uh…Transylvania.” Shit. Should have probably asked Clara about that first.
    “Wow. That’s hot.”
    His new admirer, Strawberry, was obviously the female model booked for the shoot. Her hair and makeup were already perfectly done and she was wearing an oversized bathrobe and Ugg