But it was too late to turn around and go back. What if he was awake? How desperate would that be, walking back into his house? How needy? How much of a turn-off?
And in Wren’s world, guys hated a needy woman.
“I do have work early today though,” she added lamely.
“Do you at least have plans to see him again?”
Wren felt a smile steal across her lips. She glanced from the road to the passenger seat beside her.
To Elias’ scrubs top folded neatly and draped over her tote.
I’ve lost my mind, I’ve lost my mind, I’vecompletelylost my mind.
“Actually, I do, yes.”
The chorus didn’t leaveher alone, even when she got home.
It sang through what few dreams she had in the hour and a half of sleep she got before her alarm went off. It echoed off the shower walls. And it serenaded her as she grabbed a yogurt out of her fridge and headed for her garage. To block it out, Wren turned on the radio as loudly as she could and sang along to every song on her way to her gig.
Wren pulled up in front of a house in a secluded neighborhood in the mountains. She parked across the freshly paved street and studied the property. Just as she thought, the light would be perfect as soon as the sun rose a little higher. She went around to her trunk and unloaded her gear. She closed the trunk and set the case holding her drone on top of it—her pride and joy and current obsession, not including a certain lion-faced paramedic.
Wren was fiddling with the drone camera’s aperture setting when the real estate agent who’d hired her drove up and parked behind her car.
“Good morning,” Chase Brandt said as he got out of his Jeep. And wow, he’d picked up two coffees on his way.How nice.
“Good morning. Thanks for this.” Wren lifted one of the coffees out of the carrier.
“Thank you for coming out so early.” Chase pulled out the other coffee and tossed the carrier back into the Jeep.
“No problem. I think you’ll be pleased when you see how the sun hits the property this time of day. That natural stone façade in the back’s going to light right up.”
Chase studied her. “You explored the back yard already.” He kept his tone neutral but she could tell by his face she’d suddenly lost some of his trust. She tried to ignore the anxious clenching in her stomach.
“No, I wouldn’t go onto the property without you here. I just looked at the photos in the previous listing, the one that didn’t sell the house. And I can see why. In the wrong light, the backyard looks dark and uninviting. I’m going to change that this morning.”
Chase’s stern expression eased as he smiled. “Fantastic. That’s what I’m looking for.”
Wren’s stomach unclenched. She was still new enough at real estate photography that if she wasn’t careful, she’d second-guess herself out of a job. Chase was going to need handling with kid gloves—at least she was an expert at that.
Just treat him like your touchiest subjects. Don’t back down, don’t show fear, a little light flattery goes a long way.
“Between my photos and your charisma, this house will be sold in no time.”
Placated, Chase’s smile widened. “Your lips to God’s ears. The remoteness doesn’t always appeal to people. But the new road helps.” He took a sip of his coffee while Wren set hers down and went back to her drone. She set the shutter speed to medium to minimize blurring since the wind would probably pick up as the morning got warmer. She didn’t need blurry trees in the wind.
“All right. I’m ready to go. I’ve got half an hour of fly time before the battery dies. I brought an extra one, but I don’tanticipate we’ll need it. I should get all the shots we need within about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. The weather’s perfect.”
Chase raised his coffee cup in a salute. “Fantastic. Just do me a favor and make sure you don’t film the property off that direction.” He turned and pointed into the woods opposite the house. “I went around and let all the neighbors know we’d be doing drone shots, half as a courtesy and half-hoping if anyone’s thinking of selling they’d be impressed. But the guy who lives over there warned me off.” He chuckled. “Then his wife asked about getting drone shots taken of their property.”
Wren raised an eyebrow. “Are they thinking of selling?”
“No. They’re actually building some sort of camp or B&B or something and she wants to have photos for a website once it’s done.” Chase shook his head. “Just, if you go up really high, make sure you don’t catch their property. The wife was sweet, but her husband was a real bear.”
“No problem. Thanks for the warning.”And the possible leadshe thought. “If I do happen to catch their property, I can always crop it out later.”
Satisfied with the drone, Wren set its launch pad on the ground next to the car and placed the drone on it. She’d preprogrammed a flight path that would return the drone to its launch pad as soon as the battery started getting low, a habit she’d formed even though she didn’t think she’d need it today. Wren picked up her phone and inserted it into the drone controller. The drone lifted off and Chase leaned in to watch the screen on her phone as she worked.
“Right now, we’ve got really good ambient light. I’m going to start out low and get some shots of the front of the house first before the sun gets too much higher. Otherwise, we’ll have the same problem as the previous agent did with the backyard. It’ll be too backlit and appear shadowed.”
