The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)(18)
Author: Bella Andre

“So, when did you start taking pictures?”

He gave her a look in the near-dark, one that said he knew what she was after with her small talk. “I used to steal my father’s Polaroid camera and annoy everyone with it.”

She grinned at the vision of a mini-Chase documenting the world around him. “Did you always concentrate on photographing people?”

“I’ve tried it all, but in the end I’ve always found people—and their emotions—to be more interesting than anything else.”

All day she’d been trying to put her finger on Chase’s magic. “That’s what you were after today,” Chloe said with a sudden hit of awareness. “Emotion.” She met his gaze and knew that even though she wasn’t one of his models, it was exactly what he was tapping into with her, too.

“You were a great help today.”

She flushed at his praise. “I’m glad I could help in some way.” She gestured to the property. “Getting to be here today was wonderful. Like being inside a fantasy world.”

They stepped up on to the porch and Chase opened the door for her. Always the gentleman.

She stopped short in the living room, causing him to bump into her. His heat seared her and she jumped away.

“What’s all this?”

A clothing rack, just like the ones the models’ outfits had been hanging on at the shoot, was standing in the middle of the room. It was packed full of clothes that looked like they would fit her, rather than size zero, six foot, nineteen-year-old girls.

“I had a few things delivered for you.”

“How did you even do this? You were working the whole time, harder than anyone else.”

She couldn’t remember ever seeing him take a break, beyond having lunch with her. Even when the rest of the crew was relaxing between shots, he was busy setting things up or reviewing the day’s work.

“You look great in your jeans,” he told her, “really great, but I know you weren’t crazy about heading over to Marcus’s tonight wearing them. If there’s one thing I can do, it’s get nice clothes delivered fast.”

He was so sweet. And modest. But…

“I don’t have the money to pay you back for these clothes, Chase. It was a lovely thought, but I can’t wear them tonight.”

“Let me do this for you,” he said softly.

“I can’t.”

But, oh, how she wanted to. Even in her previous life when she’d had money, she’d never worn clothes this gorgeous.

“You can.” He didn’t move closer, but the warmth of his words moved over her skin like a caress as he said, “I’m not going to come back later and demand anything from you.”

Instinctively, she knew he was telling her the truth. He would never hold anything over her. So then why did that almost scare her more?

Chase was great. Beyond great. She should stop acting like a nervous cat already, claws popping out at the slightest noise.

Feeling like an ungrateful jerk over the clothes, she asked, “Can we start over and pretend we just walked in?”

“Sure.” He walked to the door and held it open for her.

Following his lead, she walked outside on the porch and let him open the door for her again. “Wow, Chase. These are such pretty clothes. Thanks so much.”

“You’re welcome.”

Chloe had to force herself to step away from him, rather than move closer. Yet again, she wanted to put her arms around him and kiss him. She’d never been like this before, vacillating from one extreme to the other…from wanting to run away one second, then wanting to run straight into his arms the next.

Chase walked over to the rack of clothes. “This one.”

He was holding up an amazing dress with a long flowing skirt and a fitted bodice. It was midnight blue—her favorite color—and she already knew it would fit like a glove.

“I guess I’ll go shower and get dressed,” she said softly, taking it from him as she walked past. She felt his eyes on her back all the way down the hall until she closed the bedroom door behind her.

The shower felt like heaven, but she knew Chase was waiting for her so she didn’t linger. The tub had beckoned, of course, but she wasn’t sure she could face Chase again if she accidentally set off the jets and he heard them go on.

She dried off, then opened the toiletry and makeup bag he’d had set out for her as well. She was most grateful for the makeup, because it meant she could cover up her bruise a little better. True, everyone had already seen it, but that didn’t mean she liked looking at it every time she looked in the mirror.

Chase had thought of everything. How on earth was a girl supposed to not fall for a guy like this?

Forget his looks. He was awesome on the inside, too.

Then again, hadn’t she thought her ex was awesome at first?

Forcing down the icky thought, she finished blowing her hair dry, then slipped into the beautiful dress and picked a pair of incredibly pretty heels out of the half-dozen pairs of shoes that had been placed in her bedroom while she showered.

A shiver ran through her at the knowledge that Chase had been just beyond the bathroom door while she was naked. Had he been tempted to break in again?

And what would she have done this time? Would she have acted like she didn’t want him in there?

Or would she have opened up the shower door and invited him in?

She tried as hard as she could to put herself back in her mindset from earlier in the day, when she’d first seen the models and had been able to convince herself that there was no way Chase would be interested in her with them around.

But after a full day with them, she knew without even the slightest doubt that there was nothing going on between Chase and any of those young women. Nor would there ever be. They looked at him with stars in their eyes. He looked at them like they were his younger sisters.

Chloe knew he didn’t look at her like that, however.

He looked at her like a man looked at a woman he desired.

No, she found herself thinking before she could stop herself from going there, there was more behind his gaze than just desire.

Her heart fluttering wildly, she stepped out of the bedroom. Chase was silent for a long moment, which only made her heart beat faster.

Finally, he said, “You’re lovely.”

Lovely.

Did he know the effect that one word had on her? Did he know how special he made her feel, again and again?

Desperate to cut the sensual—and emotional—tension between them, she tried to joke, “Whoever picked out this dress has a great eye.”