Overdrive TheLookOfLove June14

by Bella Andre

  Silently laughing at herself, Chloe suddenly felt worlds better. Maybe she actually could hang out here for a few days. Maybe she could extend “normal” for a little while, before she had to buckle down and face all that ugliness again.

  Because, really, how could Chase possibly want anything from her when he had these other visions of gorgeousness around? Sure, she was cute. Pretty, even. But she certainly wasn’t looking her best, with no makeup on and all bruised and wearing crappy clothes.

  And yes, okay, so it would probably kill her a little bit to see him flirting with—or kissing—one of these beautiful young things.

  Then again, as she watched him work for the next hour or so, she realized Chase didn’t play those kinds of games with his models. Obviously very good at what he did, while he was great at making the models feel great about themselves, it wasn’t like he was playing off some sort of, 'sHey baby, I want to do you, so show the camera your fuck-me face' game.

  Chloe was surprised to feel her own creative juices flowing, even though she’d never cared much for either fashion or photography.

  Her true passion was quilting and as she watched him work, she realized that more than fashion was coming to life. The way Chase manipulated the canvas of models and clothes and the natural background of the vines and mountains and sky was so brilliant that simply watching him was helping her develop a new eye for composition. A new vision for the way she could block her next quilt.

  Fortunately, now that she was firmly convinced she had nothing to worry about anymore when it came to Chase “wanting” her, she could allow herself to acknowledge just how awesome he was. She even let her insides go a little gooey.

  At least now she could chalk her feelings for him up to artistic genius…rather than how good-looking or how charming he was.

  “Oh my god, hot boy alert!” Jeremy’s voice sounded squeaky.

  “What? Where?” Chloe asked, looking around and seeing that Chase was busy shooting pictures a hundred yards away.

  “To your right,” Jeremy stage-whispered and she followed his gaze across the field to the very good-looking man who was walking toward them.

  “Who’s that?” she whispered back, even though she didn’t know why they were whispering.

  “It’s Marcus.” Jeremy said the name reverently.

  Oh my. That was Chase’s brother?

  There were six of them?

  Like Chase, Marcus was ridiculously good looking. Still, while she recognized pure male beauty when she saw it, her heart wasn’t pounding and she wasn’t getting breathless and wanting to touch herself, or anything. Still, there was no denying the powerful allure of the Sullivan men.

  “I really need to see a photo of the whole family,” she muttered to herself, not intending for anyone to hear.

  Of course, Jeremy heard and saw everything. “Their genes are insane,” was his response. “Their mother used to be a model, back in the day. And their father was probably Cary Grant or something.”

  Chloe didn’t say anything more—not now that she knew Jeremy was the worst, and most delicious, kind of gossip—but she was thinking that having six brothers and two sisters this good-looking all in one place must be too much for the eye to behold.

  “Just watch. I can’t even speak around him,” Jeremy told her. “I’m going to go to pieces even though I knew he’ll never ever play for my team and it doesn’t make any sense for me to be so nervous.

  I hate how the best ones are all totally, completely hetero.”

  As he approached, Chloe decided Marcus looked a little bit older than Chase, and a whole lot more serious. Then again, maybe it was because he had a suit on, whereas her Sullivan was in jeans.

  Her Sullivan?

  What the heck was wrong with her? Chase wasn’t hers. She was merely hanging out in this perfect world for a little while before heading back to her real life. She couldn’t afford to get attached to anyone or anything here.

  “Hey, Marcus.” Jeremy stuttered out another, “Hi!”

  Poor Jeremy. He was so nervous, Chloe actually forgot to be nervous herself. She even forgot to put her hand over her cheek to cover the nasty bruise.

  She was about to reach out her hand to introduce herself when Jeremy blurted, “This is Chloe.

  She’s with Chase. He found her last night on the side of the road.”

  Chloe shot him a horrified glance. She knew she should have kept her mouth shut with Jeremy about how she and Chase had met.

  Clearly mortified by what he’d said, two bright pink spots appeared on his cheeks. “I need to check on things,” he said before running off.

  Jeremy wasn’t the only one who was mortified. Willing her composure to come back after that embarrassing introduction, she held out her hand. “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you, Marcus.”

  “Nice to meet you, too, Chloe.”

  Marcus had a low, slightly rough voice that was undeniably attractive. Only for some reason, it didn’t do anything for her. Well, hardly anything. Heck, she was human, wasn’t she? It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t completely blind to male beauty. She was more than a little complimented by that quick flash in Marcus’s eyes when he’d first looked at her that told her he thought she was an attractive woman.

  “So, you met my brother last night?”

  She swallowed, trying not to be defensive. “I did. On the side of a road, just like Jeremy mentioned. My car skidded into a ditch and I was lucky enough that he drove by during the storm.”

  “I’m glad he was able to help.”

  “And I’m glad to get the chance to meet you because I wanted to thank you for—” She felt terribly awkward as she said, “—for letting me stay the night in your guest house.”

  The look on his face told her he had no idea she’d even been there. A beat later, he said, “Any friend of Chase’s is a friend of mine.”

  He was very sweet, but she knew what he had to be thinking. It was what any person in his right mind would think upon hearing Chase had picked her up last night and taken her to the guest house.

  Just the two of them, all alone in the beautiful house, with all those beds…and bathtubs. From Marcus’s standpoint, what reason could there possibly have been for them not to get it on?

  “Really, it’s not what you—” But she couldn’t get the rest of the sentence out. Not without flashing back to that moment in the tub when she was coming and saying Chase’s name and he was there.

  So yeah, maybe it was exactly what Marcus thought.

  She felt a blush cover her cheeks as she realized there was, quite clearly, nothing she could say about the previous evening without sounding like a total freaking idiot.

  Planting a smile on her face, she said instead, “You’re winery is beautiful. Just stunning.”

  Marcus was clearly pleased with her compliment. “Thanks. How about I give you a tour?”

  No question about it, their mother had raised her Sullivan boys well. The only problem, as far as Chloe could see, was that it had also turned them into lady killers, one and all.

  How could a woman possibly resist those faces? Those bodies? Especially when they came with manners?

  “That’s very nice of you, but I’m sure you have far more important things to take care of.”

  “I love showing people around the property. That’s part of the joy of this for me—watching other people take it in.”

  Just then, Chase stepped up. As the two men did their half-handshake, half-hug, Chloe barely held back a sigh of pure female delight at all that beautifully made testosterone in front of her.

  * * *

  “I see you’ve already met Chloe,” Chase said.

  “Sure did. I was just offering to show her around.”

  It only took a millisecond—and one pointed look—for the brothers to have a very important silent conversation.

  Chase: I know you think she’s pretty. Don’t ever think about it, not even for a second. She’s mine.

  Marcus: I’ve
got a girlfriend, remember? Besides, I wasn’t going to lay claim to her. I can see that she’s yours.

  Chase turned to Chloe. “We’re taking a break for lunch and even though the girls don’t always eat, the rest of us do. How about you and I go for a short hike to the top of that hill and have a picnic?”

  He lifted the basket he’d had Jeremy put together that morning in anticipation of seeing her.

  Fortunately, Marcus deftly let her off the hook from his previous offer by saying, “Hopefully I’ll see you tonight for dinner, Chloe.”

  Chase watched her expression shift to indecision. She’d agreed to stay the day, but now his brother was basically asking her if she was going to stay the night, too.

  “I don’t have anything other than this to wear,” she said, gesturing to her clothes. “So, thanks, but it would probably be best if—”

  Marcus smoothly cut her refusal off in a show of brotherly love at its finest. “My suit’s coming off as soon as I’m done with my final meeting.”

  With Marcus going out of his way to make Chloe comfortable, she finally agreed. “Okay.

  Thanks.”

  Chase owed his brother one.

  * * *

  The two of them hiked up the hillside and the view took her breath away.

  Chase took a waterproof blanket out of the basket and laid it on grass that was still damp from the previous night’s shower.

  “Wow, you really come prepared.”

  “I’ve got a good crew.”

  She nodded. “They’re all great.” Jeremy had introduced her to Alice, the stylist, Kalen, the makeup artist, and Francis, who was in charge of lighting. The words, “I liked watching you work,”

  came out before she could hold them inside.

  His smile was like a warm caress over her skin. “I liked you being there. I was trying not to show off.”

  Amazed by how easily he could make her smile and laugh, she said, “Most guys don’t admit stuff like that.”

  She half-expected him to say something like, “I’m not most guys.” Instead, he asked, “So, what do you do?”

  He was being so careful with her. She felt it in every glance, every word. Even now, when he could so easily have asked her where she was from or why she was running, he was getting to know her another way instead. Just as he hadn’t touched her without her permission last night. It was as if there were a silent agreement between them that he wouldn’t push too far or get in too deep before she allowed him in.

  The question was, would she dare let him in?

  Chloe didn’t have an answer. How could she, when she was afraid to even acknowledge the question?

  He handed her a gourmet sandwich and as she took it, she said, “Well, I’ve been waitressing.”

  He nodded. “But what do you like to do?”

  Most people would have stopped at her day job. But not Chase. He was truly interested. And that honest interest went a long way toward shoving aside her reluctance to talk about herself. She paused before answering, “I make quilts.”

  People never knew what to make of that. Most assumed it was a hobby. Others just thought it was plain weird or boring. Men, without exception, dismissed it as just another housewife craft.

  “Tell me more.”

  Downplaying it like she usually did, she said, “I like seeing how fabrics come together in patterns.”

  “I’ve photographed a few quilt shows and art quilts for various publications, so I know a little bit about it, but I’d love to know more. When did you start?”

  Chloe rarely had a chance to wax on about her love for quilting. Not since she’d last been a member of a quilting guild years and years ago. She missed those women—and their shared passion—terribly.

  Which was probably why she actually found herself telling Chase, “I started quilting when I lost a close friend from college in a car accident. She had been such a passionate quilter. Her mom actually owned a store in town. It was the only way I could think of to keep up my connection to her. And it gave me something else to think about—the motion of my hands and the needle, the patterns of fabric and shape, the building of something that I could create. Sometimes I can almost feel her watching me from up above with a smile on her face.”

  “I’m sure she is.”

  She started at Chase’s words. Had she really just said all of that to him? Somehow he had gotten her to talk about her passion for quilting—a subject that would have put nearly every guy on the planet to sleep.

  She wasn’t at all comfortable acknowledging that Chase had just become the exception. And that it had felt so good to share herself with someone who was really listening.

  She was being stupid, letting herself think that this fantasy of sitting with a gorgeous guy on a hilltop in Napa Valley had anything to do with her real life.

  It didn’t.

  She put down her sandwich and made herself face him, but before she could say anything, he said, “Uh-oh. That’s not a good look.”

  She wasn’t going to smile. There was no place for grinning when she was about to set him straight, when she was about to make her position on the two of them perfectly clear. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

  “I like you.”

  The glow his words caused was too bright. Too warm. Forcing herself to blot it out, she said,

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I’m starting to.”

  No pauses. No smooth words. No trying to charm her into agreeing with him. Didn’t he realize just how much harder his honest responses were making this for her?

  “Is this what you do?”

  “What am I doing?”

  “You keep helping me, making me breakfast, asking Jeremy to be nice to me all day.”

  He frowned and she could see that he was confused. “Is there something wrong with wanting to make you smile?”

  Oh. Wow. Why did he have to say that?

  She couldn’t think of any other man who’d simply wanted to make her smile. Not even the man she’d married.

  Frustrated with herself for being so soft—so easy to turn to goo—she made herself come at him one more time with, “I get it if you’re into saving people, but—”

  “I’m not a saint, Chloe. I’ll always take care of my family, but I’ve never gone out looking for women who need to be saved. And it’s not why I asked you to stay.”

  His low voice cut her accusation off in mid-stream and she found herself unable to look away from his serious expression. Feeling like a big jerk for doing anything and everything she could think of to try and keep herself from doing something really, really stupid like falling for him, she said,

  “Look, Chase, you really have been nice.” Despite having been slow to hand her a towel last night, she silently amended with a flush. “But, we’re not going to do…well…you know.”

  Ugh. She wasn’t used to having conversations like this.

  She half-expected—half-wanted—him to tell her she was wrong. That they were, in fact, going to end up doing well-you-know if she stuck around much longer.

  Instead, his expression grew perfectly serious. “Earlier, when we were out in the vineyard, when I asked you to stay, you didn’t want to. But I didn’t let up until you finally gave in.” He ran a hand through his hair, clearly upset with himself. “I would never want to force you to do something you don’t want to do, Chloe. I don’t ever want to take something from you that you don’t want to give me.”

  This was the perfect opening. Her chance to tell him she’d never had any intention of staying, to make it clear that there was no connection between them, and that it was time for her to be moving on.

  So then, why did she find herself saying, “I wanted to stay.”

  The pure truth of that statement resonated within her solar plexus. Turned out the truth didn’t care if she wanted it to be true, or not.

  “I want to stay,” she said again in a firmer voice. She wanted to spend more time with Chase.

  She sh
ouldn’t. But she did.

  His grin came back, softer this time, and somehow even more potent. “Good.” And then, “You were saying something about how you and I aren’t going to do…?” He paused, letting the unsaid words hang in the air between them.

  She should have come back with a quick retort, something to put him in his place. But right at that moment, with the Napa Valley sun shining down on her and grapevines budding to life across rolling hills as far as the eye could see, there was nothing left but honesty.

  “I haven’t had a male friend in a very long time.”

  He was silent for a long moment, and even though the butterflies in her stomach had her keeping her eyes on the horizon, she could feel his gaze on her.

  “I’d be honored to be your friend, Chloe.”

  Her breath caught in her throat, then, and she liked him so much it was almost impossible not to grab him and kiss him.

  Sure that he could hear her heart beating in her chest, it was so loud to her own ears, instead of kissing him she had to be content with whispering, “I like you, too.”

  Chapter Six

  Chloe wasn’t used to sitting still. Especially not after the past year, when she’d had to keep working odd jobs just to pay the rent and eat and be able to buy some fabric to quilt together. She kept asking Jeremy if there was something she could do to help, but he was firm about her being Chase’s guest.

  Worse still, all that staring at Chase was doing really funny things to her insides. To her outsides, too. Her skin felt sensitive all over beneath her clothes. Warmer than the weather warranted.

  Similar to the way she’d felt in the tub as the water had slid across her skin and she’d ended up coming apart with his name on her lips.

  Chloe’s uncomfortable musings were interrupted by a loud squeal that was followed by female cursing. Chloe craned her neck and saw that Amanda had tripped over a rock and her dress had a long, jagged rip across the front.

  Chase called, “Jeremy, we need a new dress. The same one.”