“He’s so mean!”
Chloe’s heartbeat, which had barely slowed, kicked back into overdrive. Feeling incredibly protective, she asked, “Who’s mean? Your boyfriend?”
The girl shook her head, strikingly beautiful even with tear-streaked cheeks and tangled hair. “I wish. He’s so gorgeous,” she finally said, fresh tears falling down her cheeks, “and so mean!”
Why did they all do this to themselves? Chloe wondered. What was the allure of falling for guys who treated them like dirt? Was it some secret part of the kindergarten curriculum for girls?
Chloe had finished untangling the silk threads from the vine, but the girl was still crying—big, wracking, dramatic sobs.
“Thank God, you found her.”
Chase? When had he come upon them? And how could the warm voice that had threaded through all of her dreams last night have her body heating up this quickly?
The girl wrapped her long, slim fingers around Chloe’s wrist and held on tight. Tight enough that any greeting Chloe might have uttered was swallowed up in a gasp of pain as long, perfectly manicured nails dug in between the veins in her wrist.
Chase’s eyes were warm as he scanned Chloe’s face. “How’d you sleep?”
One look into his eyes was all it took for her to immediately forget the sting in her wrist. He looked so concerned. And so ridiculously beautiful that it actually stole her breath away.
Somehow, she managed a way-too-breathy, “Good.”
He smiled, a big, heartfelt smile that immediately turned Chloe’s insides to liquid goo. “Good. I’m glad.”
The girl dug her nails in harder. “It’s him,” she hissed, frowning at the gentle interplay between the two adults.
Chloe tried to shift her wrist from beneath the girl’s talons. “What?”
“He’s the one who made me cry!”
Chloe turned from the girl to Chase. Trying to get everything straight, Chloe said, “You made her cry?”
Rather than answer her question, he addressed the girl directly. “Amanda, we’re losing the proper light. I need you back in place. Now.”
The girl’s pout rivaled that of a three-year-old. “It’s not fair.”
“I don’t have time for your tantrums, Amanda.”
What in heck were they talking about? This pretty young girl couldn’t be his girlfriend, could it? And what did he mean by “getting back in place”?
Still protective of the girl, she moved to put herself between the two of them. “Look, Chase,” she began, “she is really upset about something.”
The girl elbowed her out of the way and Chloe had a strange feeling that she’d just made the mistake of standing in Amanda’s limelight.
“I want to be in the front!” The girl’s big eyes were calculating. “Promise me I’ll be the lead for the rest of the day and I’ll go back.”
Chase’s expression didn’t change. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t laughing. He was simply focused. Determined. Chloe had the distinct sense that he rarely, if ever, didn’t get exactly what he wanted.
A slight shiver came over her as she remembered the way he’d looked at her with such intense desire the previous night. What would have happened if he’d thrown in this focus? This determination? Would she have ended the night alone in that big, delicious bed?
Or would she have had company?
She barely managed to pull herself down to earth in time to hear him say, “Here’s the deal, Amanda. Either you get back over there and do your job or I call a cab and let your agent know that this is the last time you and I will have the privilege of working together.”
“But Chase,” the girl whined, “it’s not fair!”
He shrugged, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. “Napa Valley. I need the phone number of a cab company.”
The girl all but leapt across the field to grab the phone from his hand, her sharp nails raking even harder across Chloe’s skin as she abruptly let go. Of course Chase was faster than the girl, raising his hand high above his head and stepping to the side so that she had to catch a vine to keep from falling.
Chase put the phone back to his ear. “Yes, I need an airport pickup at the Sullivan winery.”
“No!” The girl shrieked so loud Chloe’s ears rang. “I’ll go back and do whatever you want.”
Chase didn’t shift the phone away from his ear as he simply told Amanda, “You won’t question me again.” It wasn’t an inquiry. It was a statement.
The girl agreed, nodding her head. Hard. “It’s just that I found out that my boyfriend is sleeping with my roommate and I hate them both and I’m so upset.”
At that point, the girl changed tactics, clearly doing her best to blink her huge eyes at him and look equally pathetic and beautiful. Chloe knew if she ever tried to pull that off, she’d just look like she had a nasty cold.
“I’m really sorry I’m messing up the shoot.”
Surprisingly, a hint of a smile played on his lips. Was Amanda being forgiven that easily? In Chloe’s experience, men weren’t so forgiving. “Apology accepted. Now why don’t you head on back and get your makeup cleaned up.”
The girl turned and trotted back on her mile-long legs, leaving Chloe and Chase alone.
“Teenage girls.” He mock-shivered. “After dealing with my sisters for so long, I should have known better than to work in a field that depends on them.”