The awesome and talented Heather Murphy @ Random Interruptions has tagged me. Not in a Roxette song, but close ^_^

As I understand it, here’s how U Got The Look works. I take my current manuscript, search for the word ‘look’ and post the surrounding paragraphs. I’m also supposed to tag five writerly people and ask you to do the same.

Because I always manage to tag people who have already done these things, I won’t list them out. I want to read snippets from what everyone is working on, so I’ll ask anyone who reads this to participate, and to let me know below so we can all go read your latest WIP.

Mine is a little different this time around. For NaNoWriMo I just finished (Yes, I know it’s only Nov 12, I finished about five days ago) a category romance, which is new for me.

Basic setup – Scott is the co-founder and CTO for one of the largest software companies in the US. He’s also got an aversion to filtering his words and actions in public, including in professional situations. He’s making his game distributor nervous, and has been handed an ultimatum: clean up your professional image, or find another distributor.

Kenzie is the public relations person he’s hired to help him out, and she agrees there’s an issue. But that’s okay, she specializes in high-impact public makeovers. There are just a few, teeny, tiny problems. 1 – Scott’s not actually interested in changing, and resents the entire concept, and 2 – Neither of them can stop thinking about the anonymous one night stand they shared before any of this happened.

And Kenzie has just insisted Scott’s wardrobe needs updating, so they’re clothes shopping, much to his dismay.

Scott resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Great, now he was going to have to play dress up doll. Maybe he should have considered that before he tossed his authority around. “Can’t you just tell her sizes and colors and we can buy them and leave?” He followed the women toward a room in back.

“No.” Kenzie gave him a look that said she thought that was the stupidest suggestion ever. “We have to know how they hang, fit, work together.”

“We have a couple of ties that aren’t out yet that would look fantastic with those shirts,” Amanda said. “I’ll go grab them if you’re interested.”

“I’m not wearing ties.” Scott kept his voice low enough for only Kenzie to hear.

“That would be fantastic.” Kenzie’s smile stretched her face in ways that looked grossly uncomfortable.

And Amanda was gone again.

“The faster you get this over with, the fast you can get back to important work.” Kenzie nudged him into the dressing room.

A shock of want raced through him when her hand brushed his arm, and he tried to ignore it. He wasn’t going to let lust mingle with frustration and make the afternoon even more miserable. “They look great. There, we’re done.”

She stepped into the room next to him and pulled the door shut, irritation lining her face. “No. You’re trying these things on.” She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pushed up.

He inhaled sharply when her palms brushed his chest. Inspiration and desire pulsed through him and he grabbed her wrists loosely, holding her in place. When she didn’t try and pull away, he dipped his head next to hers, lips hovering near her ear and voice low. “You know what I think we should do instead?”

She shook her head.

“I think we should pretend we’re those two anonymous people from the coffee shop last weekend. The two who aren’t us, and who aren’t worried about silly things like professionalism.”

(Standard disclaimers apply – this is a first draft, still pretty rough, all that 😉