Beauty

By Nailah Setepenre

Amani seemed to be ignoring Vince's struggles as she licked a trail from Vince's ear to his collarbone, half-distracting Vince from worrying why he was bound.

Why couldn't she believe Vince's excuses about where the bruises had come from? Why did the mark on Vince's right arm give her the impression of a large hand? Vince had said he was clumsy, but never once had he tripped or accidentally bumped into anything while in Amani's presence.

"You'll find out tomorrow." Before Vince could protest, Amani captured Vince's mouth with her own and started moving her hips in a way that instantly distracted Vince from other thoughts.

"Vince. I'm sorry." Vince's throat was too raw for him to speak, but Amani continued despite his silence, staring into Vince's eyes as she did so.

Vince loved her, Vince was devoted to her, and Vince wasn't going to leave her like her last love had. With a faint sigh, Amani rolled over so that she was face-to-face with Vince, pressed tightly against Vince's side.

"I want you to paint me." Vince's shirt was removed as Amani spoke, the painter's mouth moving down the planes of Vince's chest, making Vince shiver.

Amani teased Vince, circling around the sides of Vince's chest but ignoring the points Vince really wanted her to touch.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nailah Setepenre
• Release date: Dec 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310655333

Book preview

Beauty

By

Nailah Setepenre

Smashword Edition

Beauty Copyright 2014 Nailah Setepenre

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

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Dedication / Acknowledgments

This is dedicated to the surrendered soul that cast a new light on My world.

Chapter 1

Amani surveyed the coffee house crowd from the corner of the room, her position on a raised level of tables, giving her a clear view of the majority of the shop's other occupants. The faces in the crowd were methodically absorbed compared with the ideal image she held in her head. Each face, discarded as inferior and she moved on to contemplate the next, frustrated with the lack of suitable candidates in this city. She had been to numerous locations over the past two weeks: posh clubs, trendy restaurants and the like, all with the same goal in mind. She was searching for beauty. Not the artificial kind found in air brushed and computer generated images, but true, living beauty.

Amani Vaughan was used to beauty. It surrounded her in her home, at work, at the parties, she visited, and in the people, she knew. She dealt in it, made her living from transferring the essence of the beauty of the human form from flesh to canvas. She was famous for it, revered by thousands because of her art. With their reverence came the demand for higher standards, the need to take what she had produced previously and go beyond it. She needed to find a beauty, either male or female, which surpassed all her previous models. This was not an easy task. No one Amani saw met the image she had in her head. She wanted someone who was more than just a pretty face. Amani wanted to find a new kind of beauty, one that was not already plastered across magazine covers and movie screens. She wanted something new, something fresh, something out of the ordinary. Nevertheless, what she wanted was not here.

Sighing, Amani drained the last of her café mocha and tossed the plastic cup in the trash as she started to leave. When she walked past the counter, she spotted a young man bent over his laptop at a far table, her hunched form partially obscured by the crowd of people waiting in line to order. Amani stopped and studied the man; her interest peaked as she sensed potential. The man was neither too thin nor too thick from what Amani could see above the table. His head was low. Hair that was mostly ginger, with what looked like naturally blonde streaks going through it fell down to hide his face. Amani guessed the guy’s hair to be about chin length, somewhat spiky in the way it fell. As she watched, a hand reached up to push a few vagrant strands behind his ear, but they fell back to the same position shortly after the hand moved. The casual jeans and turtleneck marked him as a student as much as the textbooks sitting next to him, the wear evident on the covers giving him the impression of a studious young man. He was in his early twenties from what Amani could tell, though he retained the look of a teenager in some aspects. A backpack was sprawled at his feet, and an unidentifiable drink placed farther back on the table to avoid accidental spillage.

Amani moved forward slowly, casually approaching the man she'd set as her new target. She twisted a chair around next to the boy and sank into it with a brief greeting. Hi there.

The young man stared at Amani's sudden appearance, Amani's speech jolting him from his single-minded concentration on the computer screen. He looked around hesitantly, as if to verify that Amani was not speaking to someone else, and then settled his gaze on Amani's features. Amani smiled as the young man looked at her. The guy had an elongated and strong face with pale skin that seemed as if it would be incredibly smooth to touch. Eyes gleaming like diamonds in the sky, stared at her in surprise and Amani knew she was looking at her new model.

May I help you? The man's voice was distant; the question asked more out of general politeness than any real interest.

Amani smiled at the man, her charm in full force as she gazed at the man. She knew what the young man would see when he looked at her. Her chestnut brown hair, gathered in a bun giving her that youthful appearance. Sparkling brown eyes shined at her target, filled with warmth. She was dressed to kill in a blue silken shirt that highlighted her eyes one half-open to reveal a clinging white T-shirt underneath. Black pants hugged her thighs, though, mostly hidden from the man's view under the table.

I'd like you to be my model.

Vince Austin and I'm not really interested. The young man instantly dropped his gaze back to the computer screen, completely ignoring Amani's presence.

Amani was not fazed; she had dealt with resistance before. My name's Amani Vaughan. I'm an artist. I can make you famous.

I'm not interested. Please leave me alone. The man did not even look up from his laptop as she spoke.

Amani just smiled. She liked challenges. If the target played hard to get, then that just made Amani's eventual victory even sweeter. Moreover, she would get what she wanted, guaranteed. Amani Vaughan could be incredibly patient when she wanted to be. She leaned forward to speak softly in his ear, her breath tickling the hair there.

I really want you to be my new model. I won't take 'no' for an answer.

The man jerked back quickly and clapped a hand over his ear. A light blush stained the young man's cheeks and Amani realized another potential use for the young man. Her smile turned into