Chloe wasn’t used to sitting still.

Chloe wasn’t used to sitting still. Especially not after the past year, when she’d had to keep working odd jobs just to pay the rent and eat and be able to buy some fabric to quilt together. She kept asking Jeremy if there was something she could do to help, but he was firm about her being Chase’s guest.

Worse still, all that staring at Chase was doing really funny things to her insides. To her outsides, too. Her skin felt sensitive all over beneath her clothes. Warmer than the weather warranted.

Similar to the way she’d felt in the tub as the water had slid across her skin and she’d ended up coming apart with his name on her lips.

Chloe’s uncomfortable musings were interrupted by a loud squeal that was followed by female cursing. Chloe craned her neck and saw that Amanda had tripped over a rock and her dress had a long, jagged rip across the front.

Chase called, “Jeremy, we need a new dress. The same one.”

Jeremy’s face had gone even paler than it already was. “I don’t think they sent more than one of this dress. I’ll look again to make absolutely sure.” He scurried off to look through the huge containers of clothes.

Chloe spoke without thinking. “I’ll fix it.”

Chase turned his green-eyed gaze to her and at the question in his eyes, she said, “I’ve worked with some pretty similar fabrics in my quilts. I can at least try.”

“Amanda, take off the dress.”

The model pulled it off without giving so much as a thought to the fact that she was wearing only very sheer panties beneath the gauzy fabric.

At first it had been a bit of a shock to see how comfortable these young girls were with their near nudity, but then, Chloe figured if she’d had a figure like that when she was nineteen, she would have been smart to flaunt it, too.

More glad than she should have been that Chase didn’t so much as glance at Amanda’s perfect naked breasts, Chloe got up out of her seat and came to get the dress. “Can you wait ten minutes?”

He looked down at the large tear. “You can have this fixed in ten minutes?”

She looked at it more closely, running her fingers along the tear. “I think so.” Satins and silks were always harder to work with because every hole the needle made showed, but she’d been eying the enormous sewing box all day. Now she finally had a reason to dig into it.

Chase called out for a break. She quickly threaded a needle with thin, transparent filament and began to work on the dress. She was so entranced by the soft fabric beneath her fingertips that it took her a few moments to realize Chase was sitting beside her.

“What would I do without you?”

She almost stabbed herself with the needle. Thankfully she was concentrating too hard to have to reply. Actually, she wasn’t concentrating all that hard. After the past year of doing side jobs for the local tailor for what amounted to little more than slave wages, she could sew up things like this in her sleep.

Only, it was more than a little unnerving to have Chase’s full attention like this.

“Don’t you have something else you need to be doing?”

She could feel his grin without needing to see it. “Just keeping my friend company while she does me a favor.”

Friends. He’d agreed to be her friend. So then, why was she a teeny bit disappointed that he hadn’t pushed her for more up on the hill?

No. That was crazy thinking. And she knew exactly where that kind of crazy would lead.

A bed…with Chase in it.

“I’d like to help more,” she told him. “You’ve been so kind to me and I wish there was something more I could do to repay you.”

“Chloe.” The serious way he said her name had her looking up at him. “I wanted to help. You don’t need to repay me for anything. Ever.”

The intensity of his gaze—the utter dedication and focus on her—nearly had her stabbing herself again with the needle.

“I need to concentrate on this,” she lied.

What she really needed was some breathing room from her budding feelings for him.

“Go check on something else,” she told him in her best no-nonsense voice.

Before she looked back down at the dress, she caught a flash of his gorgeous grin. A grin that told her he knew exactly why she was sending him away, darn it.

Ten minutes later, she helped Amanda put the dress back on and found herself blushing as everyone started clapping and telling her how great she was to have repaired it so quickly and so well.

It wasn’t long until the sun set and the models were really drooping.

“Let’s call it a day,” Chase said. “Great work, everyone.” He made sure to include her with his eyes, even though she’d barely done anything to help. “Really, really great.”

Chloe could see how much his praise meant to everyone. Including her.

“My brother, Marcus, is hosting all of us for dinner and drinks at his place tonight.” He pointed to the big house across the vineyard. “Jeremy, why don’t you take everyone over?”

Without being asked, Chloe helped the models out of their dresses, making sure to tell each one of them how impressed she was with the work they’d done. “How do you hold those poses for so long?”

Amanda was already on her cell phone, but Jackie, a shy “older” girl (who was barely twenty-one, but Chloe had already learned that was borderline ancient in their business), said, “I do a lot of yoga.”

The girl’s smile was beautiful and Chloe immediately grinned back at her.

“It was nice to have you on set,” Jackie said. “Kind of like having my mom here to take care of us.”

Chloe somehow managed to hold her grin.

She was only nine years older than Jackie. And yet, she supposed the model was right. If life experience was anything to go by, they were a century apart.

Jeremy loaded the huge van with trunks and racks of clothes and camera equipment, then called everyone together. “Are you coming, Chloe?”

She was tempted to go with the group, rather than stay behind with Chase. But she felt grimy.

Even if she didn’t have nicer clothes to wear to Marcus’s house, the least she could do was smell better than this. A shower was definitely necessary.

“I’m going to freshen up a bit. I’ll see you all there soon.”

Freshen up a bit. Seriously, she even sounded like she was Jackie’s mom.

After everyone left, she turned to look for Chase. Thinking of him made her insides go soft and warm.

At first she couldn’t find him, and then she realized he was standing behind one of his big cameras…and it was pointed straight at her.

She instinctively put her hand over her cheek. Oh God, what was he doing? And what would he see? Would he be able to look beyond the ugly bruise and see that she was a quivering mess of jelly on the inside? Would he see what a coward she felt like for not having called the police yet, for just hiding out here with him and the models and his crew?

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.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

Chloe tidak digunakan untuk duduk diam. Terutama setelah tahun yang lalu, ketika ia harus tetap bekerja pekerjaan aneh hanya untuk membayar sewa dan makan dan mampu membeli beberapa kain untuk selimut bersama-sama. Dia terus meminta Jeremy jika ada sesuatu yang bisa dia lakukan untuk membantu, tetapi dia tegas tentang dia menjadi Chase tamu.Lebih buruk lagi, Semua itu menatap Chase adalah melakukan hal yang benar-benar lucu untuk bagian nya. Untuk luar nya, terlalu. Kulitnya merasa sensitif seluruh di bawah pakaian. Lebih hangat daripada cuaca dijamin.Mirip dengan cara dia akan merasa di bak mandi seperti air telah meluncur di seluruh kulitnya, dan dia akhirnya datang terpisah dengan namanya di bibirnya.Chloe's tidak nyaman renungan disela oleh memekik keras yang diikuti oleh perempuan mengutuk. Chloe craned lehernya dan melihat bahwa Amanda telah tersandung batu dan gaun memiliki panjang, bergerigi rip di bagian depan.Chase disebut, "Jeremy, kita perlu baju baru. Yang sama."Jeremy wajah telah pergi bahkan lebih pucat daripada sudah. "Saya tidak berpikir mereka mengirim lebih dari satu gaun ini. Aku akan melihat lagi untuk benar-benar memastikan." Dia bergegas untuk melihat melalui wadah besar pakaian.Chloe berbicara tanpa berpikir. "Aku akan memperbaikinya."Chase mengalihkan perhatiannya yang green-eyed kepadanya dan pertanyaan matanya, dia berkata, "saya telah bekerja dengan beberapa kain sangat mirip dalam selimut saya. Aku bisa setidaknya mencoba.""Amanda, mengambil off gaun."The model pulled it off without giving so much as a thought to the fact that she was wearing only very sheer panties beneath the gauzy fabric.At first it had been a bit of a shock to see how comfortable these young girls were with their near nudity, but then, Chloe figured if she’d had a figure like that when she was nineteen, she would have been smart to flaunt it, too.More glad than she should have been that Chase didn’t so much as glance at Amanda’s perfect naked breasts, Chloe got up out of her seat and came to get the dress. “Can you wait ten minutes?”He looked down at the large tear. “You can have this fixed in ten minutes?”She looked at it more closely, running her fingers along the tear. “I think so.” Satins and silks were always harder to work with because every hole the needle made showed, but she’d been eying the enormous sewing box all day. Now she finally had a reason to dig into it.Chase called out for a break. She quickly threaded a needle with thin, transparent filament and began to work on the dress. She was so entranced by the soft fabric beneath her fingertips that it took her a few moments to realize Chase was sitting beside her.“What would I do without you?”She almost stabbed herself with the needle. Thankfully she was concentrating too hard to have to reply. Actually, she wasn’t concentrating all that hard. After the past year of doing side jobs for the local tailor for what amounted to little more than slave wages, she could sew up things like this in her sleep.Hanya, itu lebih dari sedikit mengerikan untuk memiliki perhatian penuh Chase seperti ini."Jangan Anda memiliki sesuatu yang lain yang harus Anda lakukan?"Dia bisa merasakan nya menyeringai tanpa perlu melihatnya. "Hanya menjaga perusahaan teman saya selama dia melakukan saya nikmat."Teman. Dia telah setuju untuk menjadi temannya. Jadi kemudian, mengapa dia mungil sedikit kecewa bahwa dia tidak mendorongnya untuk lebih up di bukit?Tidak. Bahwa gila berpikir. Dan dia tahu persis di mana gila semacam itu akan memimpin.Tempat tidur... dengan Chase di dalamnya."Saya ingin membantu lebih banyak," dia menjawabnya. "Anda sudah baik padaku dan aku berharap ada sesuatu yang lebih bisa saya lakukan untuk membayar kembali kepadamu.""Chloe." Jalan serius yang katanya namanya telah mencari Nya kepadanya. "Aku ingin membantu. Anda tidak perlu membayar saya untuk apa pun. Pernah."Intensitas tatapan — mengucapkan dedikasi dan memfokuskan dirinya — hampir telah nya menikam dirinya lagi dengan jarum."Saya perlu berkonsentrasi pada ini," dia berbohong.Apa yang dia benar-benar butuhkan adalah beberapa ruang untuk bernapas dari perasaannya pemula baginya."Pergi memeriksa sesuatu yang lain," Dia mengatakan bahwa suaranya sungguh-sungguh terbaik.Sebelum dia menatap kembali gaun, dia tertangkap flash senyum indah nya. Senyum yang mengatakan kepadanya bahwa ia tahu persis mengapa dia mengirim dia pergi, sialan itu.Sepuluh menit kemudian, dia membantu Amanda menempatkan memerah berpakaian kembali dan menemukan dirinya sebagai semua orang mulai bertepuk tangan dan menceritakan bagaimana besar ia telah diperbaiki itu begitu cepat dan begitu baik.It wasn’t long until the sun set and the models were really drooping.“Let’s call it a day,” Chase said. “Great work, everyone.” He made sure to include her with his eyes, even though she’d barely done anything to help. “Really, really great.”Chloe could see how much his praise meant to everyone. Including her.“My brother, Marcus, is hosting all of us for dinner and drinks at his place tonight.” He pointed to the big house across the vineyard. “Jeremy, why don’t you take everyone over?”Without being asked, Chloe helped the models out of their dresses, making sure to tell each one of them how impressed she was with the work they’d done. “How do you hold those poses for so long?”Amanda was already on her cell phone, but Jackie, a shy “older” girl (who was barely twenty-one, but Chloe had already learned that was borderline ancient in their business), said, “I do a lot of yoga.”The girl’s smile was beautiful and Chloe immediately grinned back at her.“It was nice to have you on set,” Jackie said. “Kind of like having my mom here to take care of us.”Chloe somehow managed to hold her grin.She was only nine years older than Jackie. And yet, she supposed the model was right. If life experience was anything to go by, they were a century apart.Jeremy loaded the huge van with trunks and racks of clothes and camera equipment, then called everyone together. “Are you coming, Chloe?”She was tempted to go with the group, rather than stay behind with Chase. But she felt grimy.Even if she didn’t have nicer clothes to wear to Marcus’s house, the least she could do was smell better than this. A shower was definitely necessary.“I’m going to freshen up a bit. I’ll see you all there soon.”Freshen up a bit. Seriously, she even sounded like she was Jackie’s mom.After everyone left, she turned to look for Chase. Thinking of him made her insides go soft and warm.At first she couldn’t find him, and then she realized he was standing behind one of his big cameras…and it was pointed straight at her.She instinctively put her hand over her cheek. Oh God, what was he doing? And what would he see? Would he be able to look beyond the ugly bruise and see that she was a quivering mess of jelly on the inside? Would he see what a coward she felt like for not having called the police yet, for just hiding out here with him and the models and his crew?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.