And would he see the feelings that had grown for him inside of her heart all day, despite the fact that she knew better than to feel anything at all?
Angry at him—and at herself for even caring in the first place—she started toward him. He’d already lowered the camera by the time she said, “I thought you put all your equipment away.”
“I always feel better if I’ve got at least one on me. Just in case there’s something I need to take a picture of.”
“You don’t need to take pictures of me.”
“I’ve never been able to resist photographing loveliness,” he said softly, before tucking the camera inside his bag. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
The look he gave her—warm and soft, yet full of a desire he didn’t bother to hide—had her realizing just how ridiculous she was being.
“It’s just with this bruise…” she began, lifting her hand to cover it again.
But before she could say anything more, he said, “You’re lovely.”
Her hand was halfway to her face when she realized she didn’t need to hide the bruise from him anymore. Because he didn’t seem to think it made her look ugly. And he didn’t seem to think it made her look weak, either.
Their slow walk back to the guest house through the darkness with only the moonlight to light their way felt impossibly romantic. Far more romantic than she could allow it to be.
“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.