Chloe smiled, feeling pretty and so wonderfully 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 all 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 all 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 actually 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 really 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 really 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 really 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 really 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, pulling 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 all—or any—of those concerns, Chloe worked to unbutton and unzip his jeans.
He pulled a condom from a pocket and then—oh yes!—a moment later he was lifting her hips 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 sensitive flesh between his thumb and forefinger, a beautifully 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, pulled 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’ll take you over breakfast any day.”
She couldn’t believe she was sitting there, naked on his lap, her legs still 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 tell 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 really late,” and the easiest thing was just to tell herself that everything was okay.
Their fling was going great. And it was still 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 all around them, despite the fact that the shoot was going well, despite the fact that Chloe had willingly 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 still 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 hell of a lot more than just a fling.
They were standing near Marcus’s huge infinity pool, which looked out over the rolling hills, 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 really 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 all took a moment to appreciate the killer 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 Jill. Just because Chase didn’t really like her, didn’t mean he couldn’t help, right?