The Look of Love
Page 14

Jeremy sighed and looked at Chase in clear admiration. “And can you believe he doesn’t even know it?”
There was no holding back her laughter, loud enough that everyone—including Chase—turned to look at her.
“I was talking about the models,” she clarified.
Jeremy shrugged. “They’re all right.”
Of course, the truth was, she agreed with his assessment: Chase was better looking than all of the models combined.
Nonetheless, the young women were all shockingly attractive. Rather than being jealous, Chloe told herself she was glad they were there to remind her that she had nothing to worry about when it came to Chase. How could she have actually let herself get caught up in thinking, Oh no, he wants me so much, and What am I going to do if he’s determined to have me?
She chuckled again, realizing how ridiculous it seemed now that she’d seen the models he was practically close enough to kiss as he got into position for another shot. It might be a whole lot of beautiful out there in the vineyard, but it was definitely a whole lot of delusional where she was sitting.
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. He simply let them know when they were doing a great job and as their confidence grew, so did their skill at posing for him.
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 know 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.”