Melanie Schuster - Model Perfect Passion

Billie raised an eyebrow and hesitated a second before extending her hand for a shake.

“All you have to do is say hello. I’m Billie Phillips.” There was a gleam in his eye that she couldn’t quite interpret and she waited to see what he would say next.

Jason brought her hand to his lips for a brief kiss and missed the look on Billie’s face when he said in a low, silky voice, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wilhelmina. I’m surprised to see one of the most sought-after models in the world at my event.”

“My name is Billie,” she said firmly. “Wilhelmina is the woman they pay to pose. Billie is the real person.”

She waited for Jason’s reaction. Some people got it right away that she wasn’t trying to trade on her reputation. Other people took longer to catch on. And some people never got it. Billie hoped Jason Wainwright wasn’t one of the clueless ones!

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started reading when she was four and believes that’s why she’s a writer today. She was always fascinated with books and loved telling stories. From the time she was very small she wanted to be a writer. She fell in love with romances when she began reading the ones her mother would bring home. She would go to any store that sold paperbacks and load up! When she had a spare moment she was reading. Schuster loves romance because it’s always so hopeful. Despite the harsh realities of life, romance always brings to mind the wonderful, exciting adventure of falling in love and meeting your soul mate. She believes in love and romance with all her heart. She finds fulfillment in writing stories about compelling couples who find true, lasting love in the face of all the obstacles out there. She hopes all of her readers find their true love. If they’ve already been lucky enough to find love, she hopes that they never forget what it felt like to fall in love.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Dear Reader,

Sometimes when you’re not looking for it, love will find you. That’s what happens to Billie Phillips and Jason Wainwright. Neither one of them was looking for a serious relationship, but they got one.

Jason didn’t make a good impression on Billie when they first met because he viewed her in terms of her physical appearance only. Billie realized that and resented it highly. It took a minute for each of them to set aside their initial assessment of the other and begin to get to know the real person behind the facade. Once they were able to do that, they began to realize that theirs could be a real love, a love to last for all time.

How many of us have judged someone unfairly in the beginning and never gave them a chance to reveal their real personality? And how many times have you been totally caught off guard when a person you thought you couldn’t stand turned out to be a fascinating individual? It’s happened to me, and that’s what gave me the inspiration for this story. Two people who think they know all there is to know about the other person end up getting surprised by love when they open their minds and their hearts.

Stay Blessed,

Melanie

I Chronicles 4:10

MelanieAuthor@aol.com

P.O. Box 5176

Saginaw, Michigan 48638

Dedicated to all my loyal readers.

Thanks for going on another journey with me.

Acknowledgment

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Epilogue

A very special thank-you to Rhodora, Phil, Liz (aka Vlad the Impaler) and Carrie. A special thank-you to Betty Dowdell, even though thank you is never enough. Thanks to all the ladies in my group for keeping me lifted up.

And as always, to Jamil. You’re my rock.

“Is that a dead rat?”

“Yeah, that’s a big ol’ dead rat. Or a small dead cat. It’s kinda hard to say at this point.”

The first voice, which belonged to Billie Phillips, was undeniably female, although she sounded like an excited preadolescent boy at the moment. “That’s really gross! That was one big-A rat,” she said with a whistle. “What else are we going to find?”

The second voice was the deep, amused one of her brother-in-law, Nick Hunter. “This house has been empty for a long time, so we’re liable to find rats, cats, possums, bats and a bunch of drug paraphernalia. Just watch where you step,” he cautioned.

They were looking over a house that she desperately wanted to buy. It was a three-bedroom brick bungalow in a part of Chicago that had seen better days. The house had fared much worse than the neighborhood, however. It had passed through many owners and tenants and it was currently a mess. It was by far the worst house on the block and there was a lot of work to be done to it to make it livable, which was why Billie wanted to get her hands on it. She’d been working with Nick at his construction business for over three months and she was eager to take on more responsibilities. Nick was mostly into commercial construction, but he did do some residential work. That was where Billie’s main interest lay and she was dying to get hold of a house like this. Her passion was home renovation, and as she’d been telling Nick, there was no better way to learn the business of flipping houses than by actually flipping one. And this semidilapidated house was just the place to begin, she thought.

Billie’s eyes were shining with anticipation and her face was flushed with pleasure as she carefully followed Nick’s lead in exploring the deplorable house. Despite wearing jeans, construction boots, a thermal undershirt and a plaid flannel shirt with a parka on top, she looked adorable. Nick glanced at her and laughed.

She looked at him quizzically. “What’s so funny?”

“You,” he told her. “You’ve got soot on your nose, dirt on your jeans and cobwebs in your hair. You sure don’t look like a big-time international model now,” he teased her.

Billie wrinkled her nose at him. “That’s because I’m not. I have a few shoots left to fulfill a couple of contracts, but after that I’m done with prowling the runway and tooting my booty up in the air to show off some ridiculously priced shoes or whatever,” she said, and then grunted as she used a crowbar to pull up the floor tile in the bathroom. Nick had shown her how to look for mold and water damage and she was going after it like rat terrier.

“I liked modeling—it was fun. But I was doing it for the money and for no other reason. This is what I want to do, Nick. I want to take old houses and make them wonderful again. Oh, dang, is that mold I smell?” She straightened up from her semicrouched position and took a good long sniff.