Chapter Ten
Chloe woke up the next morning just as Chase was about to leave the bedroom.
She waited for regret to move through her at waking up in a man's bed, expected fear to pulse through her veins at the way she'd naively trusted him.
Her bel y did feel a little tight. But apart from that, she was surprised to realize that she felt pretty good.
Verging on great, actual y.
Pushing her hair out of her face, she sat up. Shocked by the way her muscles were protesting the sudden movement, she felt herself flush as she said, "How long have you been up?"
He moved back across the room to her, his long, strong limbs, his innate power and beauty taking her breath away al over again as he answered with a soft kiss, fol owed by, "Good morning."
One kiss turned into another, and then another, until al she could think about was how much she needed him.
"You have no idea how much I want to stay here with you," he whispered into the curve of her neck right before his tongue came out to taste the skin below her earlobe.
She shivered, wanting him to stay with her - wanting him to be inside her again - so much she thought she might burst apart with it. If circumstances had been different, maybe she would have pul ed him down onto the bed with her and convinced him to let his professional responsibilities slide for an hour. But she couldn't stand the thought of being any more trouble than she'd already been.
So instead of pul ing him closer, she laid her hands flat on his chest. "They'l al be waiting for you."
His eyes were dark, ful of desire, as he looked down at her. With a badly muffled curse, he straightened up. As soon as he stepped back, she threw off the covers.
"I'l just be a second."
"I'm heading over early to set up. You don't need to rush." He moved closer again, pul ed her na**d body against him. "God, you're lovely. You make me want to cal off the shoot today and just stay locked in this room."
She wanted the same thing, but that want was too big, like an ocean trying to swel and crash inside of her, so she joked, "We'd starve."
"What's one day without food if I've got you?"
She knew he wasn't serious, and yet ... he sure looked like he was.
Stepping out of his arms, she headed for the bathroom. "I just need five minutes and then I'l come help you."
His eyes were dark with the desire that was always there...and something she needed a moment to put her finger on.
"I real y appreciate your help."
That was it, she realized as warmth spread through her. He appreciated her. And not just because of what had gone on between them in bed.
They smiled at each other. She was just leaning in to turn on the shower when she heard him say, "Chloe?"
Feeling surprisingly comfortable being na**d around him, she said, "Mmm?"
"Remember that first night I found you in the tub?"
Another flush accompanied her smile. "I honestly don't think I'l ever be able to forget."
"Me either," he agreed with a wicked grin that said he had no intention of ever forgetting, and then, "I can't help but wonder what would have happened next if we'd known each other better that night."
"You're not the only one," she murmured as she turned on the hot water and stepped beneath the spray. She could feel Chase's eyes on her through the glass door, even after it had fogged up.
Chloe smiled, feeling pretty and so wonderful y feminine as she soaped up and washed her hair.
She had already been looking forward to tonight, after the shoot was done, when she and Chase could do al those wonderful things they'd done the night before.
But now that he'd put that image in her head of the bathtub, of what the two of them could do together in it...now her anticipation was al but running away with her.
By the time she got out of the shower, Chase had left the room. She wrapped one towel around her hair, another around her body. As she blow dried her hair, she tried not to look too closely at the bruise on her cheek. It was fading a little bit. She'd actual y forgotten about it last night when she and Chase were making love. Because he didn't look at her like she had anything wrong with her.
He looked at her like she real y was lovely.
Moving back into the bedroom, she saw that Chase had folded her jeans and T-shirt and placed them on a soft chair in the corner. God, she'd like to burn those clothes. But they'd been what she was wearing to paint her little apartment a more cheerful color when her ex had surprised her.
Yesterday, she'd forced herself to put the horrible clothes back on because she'd been planning to leave after saying goodbye to Chase. But now that she wasn't leaving until the end of the shoot, she couldn't help but think of the rack of beautiful clothes in the living room.
Clothes she didn't have the money to pay for.
Her stomach sank as she looked again at her ratty jeans. Would it real y hurt if she wore another new outfit or two? She would pay Chase back as soon as she could.
Knowing she was rationalizing things, she made herself face the real reason for wanting to wear the new clothes: It would be as good as a promise to Chase that she real y wasn't going to leave. She owed him that, at the very least.
She poked her head into the living room to make sure no one else was there before walking over to the rack of clothes. "Just coming to find something to wear," she explained to Chase.
His answering smile told her he understood the message she was sending him. Chloe had never been able to say so much to a man without saying a thing. Probably because she'd never been able to find a man who real y understood her.
Not until now.
The thought made her legs a little shaky as she headed for the rack of clothes.
"The clothes are going to look great," he said just before tugging at the towel around her body as she walked past, pul ing it down below one breast,
"but this might be even better."
And then his lips were on her, tugging, sucking and she was dissolving into one big puddle of need. "You're going to be late," she reminded him breathlessly.
"Don't care." His words were muffled against her other breast, which he'd uncovered with another tug at the towel. A moment later, it was on the floor and he was lifting her up onto his lap, her legs going around his waist.
Someone could come in, Marcus could stop by any second, one of the models or Jeremy might need a word with Chase before the shoot began.
But instead of voicing al - or any - of those concerns, Chloe worked to unbutton and unzip his jeans.
He pul ed a condom from a pocket and then - oh yes! - a moment later he was lifting her h*ps up and then down over him and he was driving into her. Their mouths devoured each other and his hands were busy, one cupping and squeezing the curve of her ass as she rode him in the seat, the other on her breast, teasing her nipple between his thumb and forefinger, a beautiful y sensual pressure that shot straight through her to her core.
She was coming that fast, her inner muscles squeezing and clenching around his shaft until he stiffened, pul ed her closer and groaned her name into their kiss.
Her heart raced as she tucked her head against the crook of his neck. He tasted clean and sexy, like a man who'd just given a woman incredible pleasure at the breakfast bar.
"Just like I said," he murmured against her hair, "I'l take you over breakfast any day."
She couldn't believe she was sitting there, na**d on his lap, her legs stil wrapped around him, with a smile on her face.
But she was.
"Last night...now...it's been amazing. Just amazing."
She felt his arms tighten on her for a moment, wondered if it had been the wrong thing to say, to tel him what she was feeling when she was in his arms.
But then, he was giving her bottom a light smack and saying, "Go find some clothes before I take you back to the bedroom and make us real y late,"
and the easiest thing was just to tel herself that everything was okay.
Their fling was going great. And it was stil just a fling.
Definitely just a fling.
Ten minutes later, they were headed out to the vineyards. Wisps of early morning fog lingered beneath a rising sun that promised warmth. And yet, despite the beauty al around them, despite the fact that the shoot was going wel , despite the fact that Chloe had wil ingly trusted her body with him again and again, something grated inside of Chase. No question about it. Chloe was right. Their night together had been beyond amazing.
But the whole honor thing was stil bothering him, a feeling that he should have had more control, that he should have waited until she was even more ready for everything he wanted to give her...when more than just her body wanted to be with him.
Because he wanted more from her than just a few nights. He wanted a hel of a lot more than just a fling.
They were standing near Marcus's huge infinity pool, which looked out over the rol ing hil s, when his brother walked over to say, "Good morning."
Chloe turned to his brother with a wide smile. "Hi, Marcus." She gestured over the pool. "You real y have a lovely home."
Chase watched Chloe flush as the adjective she'd used registered.
Lovely. His special word for her.
"It's just stunning," she amended a moment later, as if she had recognized the same thing, that the word was now off limits for anything but what he saw when he looked at her.
They al took a moment to appreciate the kil er view. Marcus turned to Chase. "Sorry I wasn't able to check in with you yesterday. Something came up in the city that I needed to go deal with."
"Anything you need my help with, just let me know." Chase made sure to keep his offer light, easy. But he wanted to make sure Marcus knew he was there to be a sounding board for whatever was going on with Jil . Just because Chase didn't real y like her, didn't mean he couldn't help, right?
Jeremy rounded the corner, saying, "Who's got coffee?" in a voice that sounded like death.
When he saw Marcus standing there, he stumbled and would have fal en into the pool if Chloe hadn't caught his arm in the nick of time.
"M-Marcus."
"Feel free to have at my coffee maker."
Their mother had raised them to accept everyone - gay, straight, whatever - and Marcus had always dealt wel with Jeremy's adoration, careful not to feed into it, or give any false hope, without being mean about it.
Stil , when Jeremy opened and closed his mouth without saying anything, Chase was glad when Chloe wrapped her hand more firmly around his arm, and said, "I'l go with you and you can tel me what we're working with today. I can't wait to get my hands on more beautiful clothes."
When they'd disappeared inside the house, Marcus said, "Is Chloe working for you now?"
Chase quickly explained about Alice. "Sounds like Chloe is saving the day left and right for you,"
Marcus noted. "Maybe you should add her to your permanent team."
"I want her to be more than a part of my team."
Marcus didn't say anything for a long moment. "Have you told her this?"
"No." He already knew what she'd say if he did. "I need to find out what happened to her the night I picked her up."
But even then, even if she eventual y trusted him with her past, with her troubles, he wasn't convinced she'd choose to stay with him...or that she'd choose to love him.
Chloe did even better her second day, as if she'd been born to the job. Even when he did a host of water shots, needing each of the models to get into the water, she wasn't afraid to get right in there with them. After fal ing in, she emerged with a giggle, then repeatedly held her breath and went under the water to make adjustments with needle and thread and clips and pins. He was switching to a different camera when he was stopped by the sweet sound of her laughter. Unable to keep from staring, he saw her there in the pool, surrounded by sun and blue sky and a group of people who had al come to quickly adore - and respect - her.
Dinner with the models and crew that night was ful of laughter, especial y when Jeremy urged Chase to share his stories of life on the road. As flan was brought out for everyone, Chloe was wiping away moisture from her eyes from laughing at one of his better tales. "Please, be serious.
No matter what anyone says, I refuse to believe you actual y walked into the cage at the zoo with the lions."
"I most certainly did," he said in a mock-offended voice. "They were eating out of my hands."
"More like preparing to eat your hands," she shot back.
He shrugged, spooning up some dessert to feed to her. He couldn't have been more pleased when she ate it off his spoon without even the slightest hesitation. "See," he said for her ears only,
"eating right out of my hands."
She rol ed her eyes, but the flush that began to creep across her cheeks told him she was only just realizing how close the two of them had been tonight. He'd repeatedly touched her hands, brushed stray locks of hair away from her lovely, expressive face, and just plain stared at her like a lovesick teenager al night long.
"Did your mother know you did this?"
He grimaced. "Not exactly."
Everyone else was talking about other things by now, but Chloe didn't drop the lion photos.
"Please tel me you were younger. And way stupider."
He put on his most solemn face. "I was." He waited a beat. "It's been a good year since that assignment." He could see her trying not to smile. And failing. "Would you have been worried about me, lovely Chloe?"
Her mouth parted slightly at the word and he realized his mistake when he went from half-mast to rock-hard in a mil isecond. He'd needed to join his crew and models tonight. But every second he was here with the group was one less he was alone with Chloe.
"Would it have mattered?"
He held her gaze, suddenly serious. "Yes, it would have mattered. If I had known you back then, I never would have risked everything for the perfect photo."
"No?"
He slid his hand over hers beneath the table. "No."
But he'd risk everything for her.