Christmas Love (Love Collection)

by Natalie Ann

  He ran his knuckles down her cheek. “I’ll try, but you’re reaching there. You’re famous.”

  “I’m not. In some circles, my name carries some weight, but not anymore. Trust me on this.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I know so.” She’d never be that model again. Nor did she even want to go back to it. Ever.

  Worth So Much

  By the end of September, Noelle was wondering what was going on in her life.

  Calvin was doing great. House training had been going wonderfully with only a few little misses here and there. Misses being ruined chewed-up articles of clothing rather than bodily fluids around the house. Drool and spit not included because Chase had informed her that some boxers drool, and she was probably going to be the proud owner of one of those dogs.

  She’d agreed to look past the drool if he’d leave her shoes alone. The shoes had been safe, her socks and panties not so much.

  Who knew how fast and sneaky a puppy could be. Or how he managed to get them out of her drawers, but unless he was opening the dryer, she had no clue since he always had clean ones in his mouth when he ran around the house.

  Sadly, that was the only action her panties had been seeing.

  She could have gotten sex anywhere or any time she wanted it most of her life. The problem was, she never did. Or not often.

  Laser focused, that was her. She worked so she could put money away and be her own boss, just like her parents were.

  Her mother had her own practice, her father his own business. She had no plans of a nine to five job, again, just like her parents. And because her parents had been such awesome people, and fiscally responsible, they touched very little of her money over the years.

  Nope, they invested it all from day one, more than tripling it from those younger years. She was a millionaire before she even signed that first contract with Calvin Klein. It only went up from there.

  Where other models lived lavishly, she was pretty simple at the heart of it. Even her house now, basic middle of the road home in a town where no one would know who she was.

  But Chase did know who she was and since then he’d kept everything off of her but his lips.

  Talk about frustration.

  Not that he didn’t have some pretty fantastic lips, but she’d appreciate if they were somewhere else other than her mouth.

  She could ask him, she supposed, but she wasn’t about to ask a man for sex. She never had before. She only engaged in sexual activities when in a relationship.

  In her eyes, they were in one though. They’d been dating for almost a month. She’d cooked dinner for him, he’d cooked for her. She’d helped him with two cycles of puppy deliveries, photographing and then helping with paperwork during the adoption days.

  She’d even taken pictures of kids and adults with their new additions to the family, gotten signed releases to use those pictures in any advertising for the shelter too. She had all sorts of ideas for Chase and they talked about plenty of them.

  They talked about everything except some bedroom exercise and her life prior to moving to Vermont. She didn’t want him to think of her as a famous supermodel, but rather the woman he was dating. Nothing more, nothing less.

  “Are you sure you don’t mind having Calvin for a few days?” she asked him on Wednesday night.

  “The boys love playing with him. He’s full of energy and Bruno could run for hours. Snacks isn’t much fun for Bruno unless I tie a bone to Bruno’s tail.”

  She laughed, squatted down and pet Calvin’s head, then grabbed his jowls and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. They were dry at the moment, thankfully.

  “Now you be a good dog for Chase.” She stood back up. “You don’t think he’ll worry I won’t come back, do you? Maybe I shouldn’t go.”

  “He’ll be fine,” he said. “You need to go. Good luck and have fun. Maybe I’ll teach him a few tricks while you’re gone.”

  She hesitated on wanting him to and telling him not to. She wanted to be the one to teach Calvin those tricks. “Will he do them for me if you show him?”

  He wrapped his hand in her hair and brought her forward for a kiss. One with a promise that he hadn’t fulfilled yet. “Yes, he will, but I doubt I’ll have time for it. You’ll be home on Friday, right?”

  “Friday afternoon, with any luck. The showing is tomorrow, but I need to meet with the gallery and my agent tonight for dinner and drinks. I appreciate you letting me drop him off here.”

  “Brianna will watch him. It will do him good to get used to it here anyway. It’s part of the training, being around other dogs and staying calm.”

  “Good luck with that,” she said, then took a deep breath, knowing it was time to go. “I’ll call and check on him.”

  “You’re not going to call and check on me?” he asked, tweaking her hair. She had it down for the moment, which she didn’t often do, but she had to get ready for tonight, and didn’t want to wash and dry the long locks again in the hotel.

  “I’ll check on you too, but I know you’ll be just fine.”

  Too bad she wasn’t fine later that night when she was meeting with her agent. He had her nerves on end when they never were in her other career. Not as a kid on her first shoot. Not as an adult on a go-see for potential jobs.

  But this meant more to her. This was her first showing. This one was going to be the start of her future. If it went well, she’d be in demand. If it flopped, she could be talked about as the woman who failed.

  Failure was something she never wanted. She’d experienced it before and didn’t like the feeling. It hurt too much. More so when the heart was involved. Or when she was played like a fool. Never again.

  “This is amazing. I wonder who the talent is behind these pictures.”

  Noelle turned and looked at Emma who’d spoken those words minutes before the doors were going to be opened. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

  She pulled her in for a hug. The two of them made quite a picture standing there in high-end black gowns and perfectly styled hair and makeup.

  “I wanted it to be a surprise. It’s not like we’ve talked much in the past few weeks.”

  “You’ve been in France,” Noelle pointed out.

  “Very true. The time difference sucks, not to mention the long photo shoots. As much as I love it, I do hate standing in the rain on a cold day and pretending like it’s a dream come true for someone to buy whatever I was selling.”

  “But you’re so convincing,” Noelle said, grinning.

  “You taught me everything I know.”

  Noelle put her hand on Emma’s shoulder. “You’re a natural and taught me plenty.”

  “Very true. We know how wonderful I am.”

  “You’re just what I need right now, Emma. I’m terrified. Why am I terrified?”

  “I have no clue because you’re brilliant. Really, you are.”

  “Thanks. Say it one more time before they open the doors.”

  “You’re brilliant, Noelle. Let’s go knock them dead and fill up that bank account of yours. Then we can take a trip somewhere and celebrate.”

  ***

  “You bought a dog,” Emma said hours later, the two of them in the hotel room with a bottle of champagne in a bucket, their four-inch heels on the floor and their dresses hiked up so they could sit more comfortably. No reason to go to the bar and be hit on. Neither of them was interested.

  “Adopted a dog. There’s a difference.”

  “Whatever,” Emma said. “Let me see a picture of him.”

  Noelle pulled her phone out and brought up multiple pictures of her playful pup. “Okay, seriously adorable. Whoa, talk about seriously something...who’s the hunk rolling around on the ground with your pup? And what’s his name?”

  “His name is Calvin.”

  “The hottie or the pup?”

  She laughed. “The pup is Calvin. First dog, first contract.”

  “Cute. I like the
thought behind that. Now let’s talk about the other male in the picture. Name, occupation, and current dating status.”

  “Chase Martin. Dr. Chase Martin. He’s Calvin’s vet. And he runs the shelter that I adopted Calvin at.”

  “The shelter that I told you to go volunteer your services at? You should thank me. Or better yet, introduce me to him.”

  “Fine, it was your idea. And no, I’m not introducing you so you can steal him away.”

  “I’d never steal your man. I’ve never stolen anyone’s man, even though the tabloids say differently.”

  “You need to take a page from my book and say you’re a lesbian,” Noelle said.

  Emma downed her champagne and then grabbed the bottle and filled both of their glasses back up. “That only worked for a year.”

  “True, and not everyone believed it either.”

  She’d gotten sick of being hit on when she was a teen and hinted that she was into women. The problem with that was, the women that were gay knew she wasn’t and made a point of letting everyone know.

  “So what’s your deal with Dr. Martin?”

  “Chase. I don’t call him doctor. I’m not sure anyone does.” Though she had heard it from Brianna. Brianna who was always flirting with him.

  It never bothered her before when she was dating someone and another woman flirted with them, so why now? Probably because she had no idea what was holding Chase back. Especially when Brianna made a comment last week: “You’ve lasted longer than anyone else. You should consider yourself lucky. Most get sick of his commitment here and putting his practice first. This place is his life. I understand that, but very few do.”

  “Okay, so what’s the deal with Chase?” Emma asked her.

  “I wish I knew.” She picked up her glass and drank half of what Emma had filled. “We’ve been dating for weeks and done nothing but kiss.”

  “Do you think he has a problem? You know.” Emma lifted her finger straight up, then pointed it down.

  Noelle laughed. “I don’t think so.” She’d felt it next to her hip a few times.

  “Maybe he’s a virgin? Could you imagine that? Nah, he seems too hot for that.”

  “I doubt it. We haven’t really had too many conversations about exes or our past. We just spend our time talking about the present more than anything.”

  “So he doesn’t know who you are?” Emma asked, her eyes going wide like she was posing for a shot where a gangster just opened the door unannounced with a massive machine gun pointed at the damsel in distress.

  “He knows. I think that’s the problem. He’s probably read all sorts of lies about me.”

  “Then you need to talk to him about it.”

  “I know. But how do I bring that up? I just want him to see me, not who I used to be.”

  Emma snorted. “It’s still you and you know it. You can’t wipe away what took up so much of your life just because you don’t want to be that person anymore. Noelle, you’ve never had a problem being direct with anyone ever before. Why now?”

  “Because it means something now.”

  “Just like your showing tonight, and look at how successful that was.”

  “This is different. This isn’t something that’s for sale.”

  “No,” Emma said. “It’s something that could be lost. That makes it worth so much more.”

  The Flawed One

  Chase was trying to work, but trying and succeeding were two completely different things, he was realizing.

  It all went back to his conversation with Tricia weeks ago, how what he wanted, and what he got didn’t always mesh.

  He wanted a relationship and had ideas in his head how it should be, but it never worked out that way, making him wonder if he was the flawed one. If he was the one that no one could put up with. That he was better off being with his animals more than a human because no matter how hard he tried, he always messed up.

  “Settled down, Molly,” he said gently to the ten-year-old cat on his table. If he thought his sister’s poodles were high maintenance, some cats gave the reigning queen’s titles a new name.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Molly’s owner asked.

  “I’m sure. Cats tend to develop digestive problems because they’re always licking themselves and swallowing fur. Hence, the furballs she’s coughing up.”

  “What can I do to make it stop?”

  “You can groom your cat more, trying to get rid of her shedding hair. Change over her food to one that is easier on her digestive track. Brianna can give you a sample of a few we have here to try before you make the change. Maybe put a little bit of tuna oil over her food to help grease her digestive tract, so if she does get furballs, they come out the other end.”

  Molly’s owner cringed, and he held back the laugh. He really wished people understood more about their pets and didn’t always expect the good and not the bad. That it wasn’t all about cuddles and companionship, but responsibility.

  Once Molly was out of his exam room, he went back to his office to grab a quick snack before his next appointment in ten minutes. He also took that time to pull up an article on Noelle’s showing last night to see how she did.

  He shouldn’t have. Not when his eyes bugged out of his head and he started to cough over his granola bar when he saw how much some of her pieces sold for. Holy shit again! Just two pieces were more than he made in a year, and she had twelve listed last night.

  Not that he thought she needed any income based on the modeling career he’d read about.

  Maybe that was part of the problem with them right now. Maybe she was just so far out of his league, not only in a social aspect, but an income one.

  It’s not like he didn’t read a ton of things about her in the past few weeks. Though she told him not to believe everything he read, some of it had to be true since it was all over the place contradicting each other.

  Let’s see, he’d read she was fragile—which he hadn’t seen a sign of once. She was a raging bitch, again, nothing to indicate that. A sweetheart, a pleasure to work with, a fighter, a heartbreaker, a do-gooder. Those things jived with what he knew.

  Well, the heartbreaker didn’t. Not until he saw pictures of her with some of the men she supposedly had relationships with. He hoped they were supposed relationships, because...hey, nothing like making him feel any more inferior.

  The last news on her with a man was two years ago. A model equally as attractive as her, but not as successful. The breakup was said to be horrific. He was wondering if it was the success part. If the man couldn’t handle her success, or she couldn’t handle him not being an equal?

  He’d never been one of those men that had to be the sole supporter of a woman. He never cared to have a sugar mama either, nor did he ever think he’d be in a situation where that would even be a possibility.

  The thing is, even though her wealth boggled his mind—and he was sure he didn’t have a clue to the real amount—he really wasn’t so much insecure as proud of her. Deep down, he was glad she was as successful as she was since she obviously earned it.

  But was their lack of income equality an issue for her? He had no clue. And if it was, was she just using him as someone to pass the time with?

  Then there was one other thing he read. That she was a lesbian. Since she was pretty much all over him when they were kissing, he was thinking that wasn’t the case.

  Until last night when she called well after midnight sounding slightly drunk. The worst part was, she wasn’t alone. Nope, there was another woman in the room with her and they were both giggling up a storm.

  “Noelle,” he’d said when he answered his phone, his voice a little husky from sleep. She didn’t need to know it was more likely that way because he was dreaming of her mouth all over him while they were in his bed.

  “Hi, Chase,” she’d said, her voice a little higher than normal.

  “Ask him,” he’d heard from the other woman in the room.

  “Shhh, Emma.”

&nbs
p; “Ask me what?” he’d said around a yawn.

  There was some hesitation and finally, she asked, “How is Calvin doing?”

  “Not that,” Emma had said in the background.

  Chase ignored it and answered, “He’s doing good. Sleeping on the floor with Bruno.”

  “Seriously? He’s not on your bed?”

  “Snacks wouldn’t allow that, so Calvin is cuddling with Bruno in Bruno’s bed. Was there something else you wanted to ask me?”

  “No. Just checking on Calvin.”

  “Coward,” he’d heard in the background this time.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Chase. Tell Calvin I miss him.”

  Then she hung up and he was seriously wondering what she wanted to ask him, keeping him up the rest of the night.

  When he’d crawled out of bed the next morning and taken care of the dogs, he started to look online for anything in regards to Noelle and someone named Emma.

  What he saw made his jaw drop like one of those cartoon characters...worse than when he saw what Noelle’s photos sold for.

  Emma Charleston, the next up-and-coming superstar, close friends with Noelle. Pictures of the two of them posing years ago when Noelle was in her prime. Emma had taken that top spot in Europe it seemed, then just signed on to be the newest Victoria Secret model.

  The two were night and day, one dark haired, one light. Both had amazing blue eyes, just different shades and both were tall and leggy.

  These were the people she associated with. These were her friends. Not some small town vet running a shelter for adopted dogs in his free time.

  After lunch, when he walked up front to deliver a fussy Doberman, he noticed that Calvin was gone. “Did Noelle come in?”

  “About twenty minutes ago. Where did she go this weekend?”

  He didn’t want to let Brianna know too much. She could have looked up Noelle if she wanted to, but he was thinking she hadn’t, which was totally fine with him. He didn’t need that headache right now.