by Bella Andre
Instead, hadn’t he given her the tools to empower herself? Hadn’t he asked her to use her talents, her skills, to create beauty? To grow stronger?
And then, like a ton of bricks raining down from the perfectly blue sky, the real truth of the matter hit her: It wasn’t Chase that thought he needed to save her, to coddle her so that she never had to face danger again.
She’d been doing that all by herself.
Hiding out here at the winery, not picking up the damn phone and calling the police, not forcing herself to face the fact that she was going to have to find a way to protect herself from Dean once she was out on her own again.
It was just what she’d done in her marriage. She’d hidden from the truth of how bad it was because it had seemed so much more painful to deal with the truth.
Standing in the middle of the vineyard with Chase’s eyes still on her, she knew he didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess. And until she could be worthy of him by knowing how to stand on her own two feet, she couldn’t be with him.
Just then, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” started blaring from the portable MP3 player and Amanda dragged her over to the group, who had all started dancing in their beautiful silk dresses.
Chloe had always loved to dance, loved to feel her limbs, her muscles, grow loose and warm.
The sun was still in the sky, pouring down over them, and when the rubber band around her hair fell out she let it go, shaking her hair to let it move around her face.
As she danced, as Sara grabbed her hips and shimmied into her, Chloe could almost pretend again that the past ten years had never happened. Yes, she’d been hiding out from reality, but getting to be with Chase and the models and his crew these past few days had done so much to strip away the layers she’d never wanted to be there in the first place.
Yes, she knew this feeling of freedom, of joy, was only temporary, knew that trouble was waiting for her outside of the fantasy of this vine-covered world, but she still had a few more hours of joy left, didn’t she?
* * *
“She really is pretty.”
Chase turned to see Ellen standing beside him. He’d been utterly enraptured watching Chloe dance with the models.
But it was more than beauty that made it impossible for him to take his eyes off her.
Day by day, minute by minute, she was transforming. She’d already been a butterfly, even standing on the side of the road, dripping wet with that horrible bruise marring her soft skin. So it wasn’t that she was emerging from her cocoon.
Rather, the colors on her wings were growing brighter, more magnificent, as the burdens, the fears she’d been carrying, fell away piece by piece.
“Inside and out,” he agreed.
Ellen remained by his side, both of them watching the dancing. Surprisingly, this was the first time he’d run into her during the shoot. Almost as if she’d made sure to stay out of his way.
Feeling bad about the way he’d stood her up that first night, he said, “I really am sorry about—”
She put her hand on his arm and her touch felt strange. Wrong. The song ended and when Chloe looked over and saw them standing together, her expression tightened, narrowed. Ellen quickly dropped her hand and waved. “Hi, Chloe!”
Chase watched Chloe’s mouth turn up into a smile that wasn’t entirely real as she moved toward them.
“Hmm,” Ellen said, “she looks mighty possessive of you.”
Chase didn’t have time to tell her it was mutual before Chloe was there with them.
“Hello, Ellen.”
Ellen smiled at her. “Wow, you have really gorgeous hair.”
Chloe blinked, clearly surprised by the compliment. “Thanks.”
The late afternoon breeze whipped up, blowing a strand across her face. Chase reached out, slid his fingers through the silken strand as he tucked it behind her ear.
He felt her breath catch more than heard it as their eyes locked. He’d waited all day to touch her again, for the chance to fill up his senses with her softness, her sweet scent, her innate sensual responses. Her hand came up to cover his, holding his palm against her cheek in an instinctive reaction to his touch.
Until Ellen broke the spell by asking, “How have the two of you enjoyed being here this week?”
Chloe dropped his hand like he had the plague and a faint blush stained her already flushed cheeks. Clearly, she’d only just realized she and Chase had been holding on to each other in front of Ellen.
“It’s been like living inside a fairy tale,” she said softly. She gestured out across the gently rolling mountains, covered in even green rows. “It must be marvelous coming to work here every day.”
Ellen nodded. “It’s pretty great. Except for when we get a bridezilla in, demanding to know why the grapes aren’t in fuller bloom for her big day. But really, that’s the only time it kind of sucks.”
Chase was glad to hear Chloe chuckle, her discomfort at seeing Ellen again—and accidentally touching him in front of the other woman—receding.
He liked seeing that possessive glint in her eyes. Loved it, actually. He doubted she even realized it was there—and that she’d continually been moving closer and closer to him, unconsciously staking her claim in front of a possible rival.
She might have repeatedly told him she couldn’t be with him, but that was her head talking. Her heart seemed to know better.
He knew better, too.
“Marcus wanted to be here to say goodbye to everyone, but he was called into the city suddenly,” Ellen told them. “He sends his apologies.”
Chase had a bad feeling about his brother’s frequent trips to the city. He’d always tried to keep an open mind about Marcus’s girlfriend, Jill. But Chase had never been all that crazy about her. None of the Sullivans were. Yes, she was beautiful, but her beauty wore thin beneath the layer of ice she walked around in. The stick up her ass didn’t help much either.
Chloe’s face fell. “Oh no. I really wanted to see him again before I left, to thank him properly for giving me a place to stay this week.”
She pulled the plump, soft flesh of her lower lip in between her teeth. Chase couldn’t keep his eyes from landing there, didn’t have a prayer of keeping the rest of his body from responding in kind.
He’d never wanted a woman like this. Not just with his body. Not just with his brain. Not just with his heart.
But with his entire soul.
Ellen looked more than a little confused. “You’ll see him again, won’t you, Chloe?”
Just then, Sara yelled, “Chloe, I can’t get out of this stupid thing! It’s starting to freak me out.
Can you help me?”
Relief sweeping across her lovely face, Chloe said, “I’ve got to go help the girls out of their clothes. It was very nice to see you again, Ellen.” She held out her hand and the two women shook goodbye, at which point she turned and fled any more questions.
“Wait a minute,” Ellen said, still confused. “Why won’t she see Marcus again? Aren’t you and Chloe together?”
Chase ran a hand through his hair. The frustration he’d had a hell of a time keeping at bay during the day’s shoot was eating straight through his gut. “It’s complicated.”
Ellen looked back at Chloe, who was unbuckling one of the models’ bondage-inspired evening dresses. “Doesn’t really look all that complicated from where I’m standing. Heck, I practically got singed when you guys touched.”
He knew Ellen was right. There shouldn’t be anything complicated about a guy falling in love with a girl. Funny, in all the years of women falling for him, he’d never thought it would end up like this—with him losing his heart to a woman who was so afraid to lose hers.
And now, all he had was one final night to try and talk her around from couldn’t to forever.
He felt Ellen’s hand on his arm again. “A few nights ago, I was really disappointed that things didn’t happen between us, but honestly...” She flicked another glance at Chloe. “I r
eally hope this works out for you. She’s very sweet. You make a beautiful couple.” She smiled widely at him. “How about I block out a weekend for you next year, just in case?”
Chase immediately saw a breathtaking vision of Chloe in a long white dress waiting for him surrounded by vines.
“Good luck, Chase.”
Holy hell, he thought as Ellen walked away and he turned back to watch Chloe carefully wrapping up one of the dresses they’d used that afternoon, he’d never relied much on luck before, never liked counting on something so elusive, so unpredictable. He’d always figured on talent and hard work to get him where he wanted to be.
But this time, Chase was afraid luck was exactly what he needed.
Chapter Fourteen
Chloe waved goodbye to everyone in the van as it drove toward the Sullivan winery gates, saying, “I’m really sad your shoot is over.”
“I am, too,” he replied as they walked back inside the guest house. It was always hard to shut the door on a good project. Especially this one, that had turned out to be so incredibly special. But, at the same time, he was glad that it was just down to him and Chloe now.
He slid his hand through hers, lifted it to his mouth, let his lips linger on her knuckles. “Would you go out on a date with me, Chloe?”
Surprise flickered in her eyes. “We’ve already talked about this.”
“I’m not talking about the future. Just tonight. That’s all I’m asking for.”
He could see her uncertainty, the way she was grappling with what she wanted...and what she felt she should be doing.
Finally, she said, “We both know I’m a sure thing tonight,” one side of her mouth moving up into a little smirk. “You don’t need to spring for dinner first.”
He wasn’t ready for the spark of anger that lit in him at the fact that she still seemed to think sex was enough for him, wasn’t ready for the impulse that had him challenging her with the words, “You want to fuck?”
Her eyes were tormented as she lifted her chin and came right back at him with one tortured word.
“Yes.”
His mouth came down over hers, but even then he was careful with her, despite the fact that he was pushing down her shorts and panties.
“Chase,” she moaned against his mouth, urging him on by pressing her hips into his hands, helping him strip her lower half bare.
He gauged her desire, her need, and knew that it was as big as his before saying, “I promised to always give you what you want. Tell me what you want.”
Her eyes were dilated almost to black and he could see everything she was trying to block out, everything she was trying so desperately to hide from.
“Please just fuck me.”
He pulled open her shirt, his mouth finding the tip of her breast through the pink lace bra. At the same time, her fingers were on his zipper, pulling, yanking and then he was in her hand and she was wrapping her long, slender fingers around him, stroking him so that he was impossibly hard.
He’d just promised her anything she wanted, vowed one more time to give her everything. And even though his heart felt like a bomb had hit it at the way she kept trying to put distance between them, he lifted her ass with his hands and told her, “Wrap your legs around me.”
He drove into her before either of them could take their next breath and her flesh tightened, grasped, clenched around him. He knew she wanted him to drive into her mindlessly. He knew she wanted to pretend that what they had was just attraction.
But damn it, he couldn’t do it.
Even for her, even when she’d just asked him point blank to fuck her—and only fuck her—he couldn’t just take her like an animal against the front door even though that was what she was asking him for.
“Chloe.”
Her eyes, which had been closed tight, opened slowly, blurry with lust. And all that emotion she didn’t want to feel. All that emotion that she was trying to push away because it hadn’t come at the right time or place. Because she wasn’t ready for it. Because she thought she needed to be strong and walk away from him tomorrow morning.
“I can’t do it, sweetheart. I can’t pretend this is just sex.” Chase needed to look into her face, wanted her to have to acknowledge the truth of what was between them as he said, “I love you.”
She sobbed out his name before kissing him like she’d die without his kisses.
His body took over, then, pure instinct as he drove into her, as she lifted herself up over him, then down so that they were connected utterly. Perfectly.
He felt her inner muscles go a split second before she gasped against his mouth. And then her head was falling back and she was driving her pelvis into his, entirely lost to the pleasure, to the way their bodies sparked and charged together.
Somehow he rode out her climax, every pull and tug of her clenching heat against him. He never wanted to have to leave her, never wanted to have to let her go.
But when she pressed her mouth against his shoulder and said the word “Love,” so softly he almost couldn’t hear it over the beat of his own heart in his ears, he fell all the way over the edge.
* * *
“Chase?” He’d carried them over to the couch and pulled a blanket over them. She’d only just caught her breath. “I know I’m always asking for this, but can we start tonight over again?”
She could feel his smile against her ear.
“Of course we can.”
Chloe shifted so that she was partially sitting up on the couch, but still in his arms. “They’ve all just left and now it’s time for me to say, ‘I’m really going to miss everyone.’”
His eyes were steady on hers. “This is my part, right?”
She knew he was teasing her and was amazed by how forgiving he was, rather than lashing out at her for trying to reduce what was between them to just sex.
“Yes, this is your part.”
“I’ll miss them, too, but I’m glad we’re alone now.”
She wanted to say she was sorry for hurting him. For the way she kept hurting him. For the fact that she wasn’t saying “I love you” back.
But all she could say was, “I’d like to go out on a date with you, Chase.” When he didn’t immediately respond, she took a shaky breath. “Please say yes.”
His eyes were still dark, still intense as he said, “Yes.”
Her chest, her stomach, everything hurt. Ached for this beautiful man. She made herself smile.
“I should probably put on a new shirt.”
He looked down then, seemed to notice the torn fabric for the first time. “I was too rough with you. I didn’t mean to do that.”
She silenced him with a kiss. “No. You would never be rough with me.” She climbed from his lap and pulled a dress from the rack of clothes before leaving the living room. “It will just take me a few minutes to shower and change.”
* * *
Chase sat with his head in his hands. What the hell had he just done? He’d all but attacked her up against the door. Chloe didn’t deserve to be treated like that. She was precious. He should have been gentle, no matter what.
And he should stop blurting out how much he loved her every fucking second. It only made things worse. It only made her feel more cornered. More like things were out of her control.
Knowing he’d only end up taking her against the bathroom tiles if he joined her in the shower, he went into one of the bathrooms neither of them had used and quickly soaped down. He was already thick and throbbing at the thought of Chloe naked, with water streaming over her body just down the hall.
He turned the water to cold and forced himself to stand beneath the icy spray.
He really wanted this to be a date. A real date.
Not just a prelude to more sex.
Chapter Fifteen
“Wow, this is stunning. I don’t think I would ever get used to this view.”
They were sitting at the corner table at Auberge de Soleil, high in the hills of Napa Valley, and Chase kne
w exactly what she meant. But it wasn’t the view he’d never get used to admiring.
He couldn’t manage to drag his eyes from his date.
The waiter came by and handed them each a glass of champagne. “Your brother, Marcus, wanted to let you both know that he hopes you enjoy your evening with us.”
“I should have known he had eyes all over this mountain,” Chase said with a crooked grin as he lifted his glass to Chloe. “The bastard probably won’t even let me buy my girl dinner. Always trying to assert his older brother status.” He grinned at her. “We’ll just have to make sure we order the most expensive things on the menu.”
Chloe shook her head, obviously still surprised by his brother’s gesture. “It must be so amazing to be from a big family. To know that they’re always there for you.”
He wanted to tell her that being with him meant the entire Sullivan clan would take her in—and protect her—as one of their own. He wanted to give it to her as another reason why she never needed to be frightened again.
Instead, not wanting to break the spell, he said as cheerfully as he could, “Sometimes it’s great.
Sometimes it’s a pain in the ass. Now, if we could forget about Marcus and the rest of my siblings for a moment?”
She looked up at him, their eyes linking, sparking as she nodded. “Forgotten.”
“Good. Because I want you to myself tonight.”
“Tonight,” she echoed, “I’m yours.”
Warmth infused his chest—hell, his entire soul—just to hear her say those two words.
I’m yours.
Chase lifted his glass. “To rainy nights.”
She tipped her flute against his, murmuring, “To rainy nights” in a husky voice.
He continued to hold his glass against hers. “And to one very lovely woman that a storm brought into my life.”
Her eyes were glassy as she put her flute to her lovely lips and took a sip.
* * *
“You know,” she said a while later, after eating some of the best food she’d ever tasted, “this just might be the most romantic dinner date I’ve ever been on.”
