Overdrive TheLookOfLove June14 (24 page)

Chloe realized it was just as well that she was naked with Chase on the bed as she confessed her innermost thoughts, her final secrets. She was done hiding anything from him. From here until forever, she’d willingly give him her body. Her heart.

And her soul.

“All along I think I knew our connection went way beyond physical. All along I think I knew nothing would be able to stop me from falling in love with you. No matter how many times I tried to tell myself that I was going to leave, that I needed to leave, that striking out on my own was the only option, another piece of my heart broke just trying to imagine leaving you. I thought being strong meant going solo, meant standing on my own two feet without needing anything or anyone to lean on, but then I heard you talk about your family, I watched you with Marcus and I saw the way you work as a team with your crew. You showed me that the real strength comes from learning how to trust again.

You make me want to be brave enough to love again.”

Chloe moved closer to Chase, the sheet falling completely off her lap as she went to her knees in front of him on the bed, his hands held tightly up against her heart.

“I still want to be stronger, I still want to be a better person...but when I’m with you, I’m already the strongest, the best I’ve ever been. Your love makes me feel like I just might find the woman I’ve been searching for inside myself all these years.” Her tears were falling now, one after the other, as she professed the truth of her feelings. “I know we need to leave this fantasy world soon, but I don’t want to leave you. Not now. Not ever.”

Her heart pounded hard, so ridiculously hard, as she waited for him to respond to her heart laid out bare before him, practically raw and beating on the soft white sheets.

But he didn’t say anything at all, this incredible man she loved so much. He simply lifted her on to his lap and held her.

As all of her dreams finally came true, Chloe wanted to laugh with the joy of it all. She wanted to cry tears of appreciation for the little girl inside who had never been able to give up the dream of warmth.

And she wanted to love the man who held her heart with his.

Making her choice, she nipped at his lips with her teeth, once, then twice, then a third time.

With each love-bite she could feel him growing bigger, thicker, against her groin.

She didn’t think, didn’t have to worry about hiding any of her desires anymore, as she lifted herself up just enough to come over his erection, then lowered herself down over his thick shaft. He was big, but she was already more than ready for him, had been from the moment “Good morning” had left his lips.

And still, even as she could feel how hard it was for Chase to hold onto his control, he let her lead their lovemaking. But, oh, how she’d loved making him lose control. And how desperately she wanted him to lose hold of that control again and again until there was no more thinking, no more chances for either of them to stop and think and worry.

“Last night,” she said as she lifted nearly all the way off of his rock-hard shaft, “do you remember when I had you in my mouth?”

She slid back down on to him and his cock pulsed hard within her, nearly setting off her own answering explosion.

“You were so gorgeous like that, Chloe.”

Each word sounded pained, she thought, as she slowly lowered herself back down onto him.

“Which part did you like best?” she asked in her most innocent voice. “Having me on my knees in front of you?” She blinked at him, eyes wide. “Or was it watching yourself slide in and out of my mouth, watching my lips stretch wide to take all of you in?”

She felt it then, the vibration of a growl that started in the bottom of his lungs before erupting against her mouth as he covered her lips with his and kissed her hard.

Another second found her on her back, her arms pulled over her head and held in place by one of his hands at her wrists. Again and again he drove into her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist to take him deeper, then deeper still.

She wasn’t even the slightest bit afraid of the way he was holding her, but before she could tell him just how good it was, how close she was to coming apart, he stilled inside of her.

“I don’t ever want to take anything you don’t want to give. But I want you too bad, need you too much, not to lose control one day.”

She loved that he was so careful with her heart even when their bodies were on the verge of going completely out of control. And yet, she knew better now than to need these pauses. She didn’t need him to reassure her anymore that she was safe with him.

“I love it when you lose control. I love knowing I can do that to you. I love knowing that I can share all of my fantasies with you, that sometimes you’ll tie me up and other times you’ll be the one bound and waiting for me to lick every inch of your body.”

“I’ll never forgive myself if I step over the line, Chloe.”

“No lines, Chase. No boundaries. We don’t need them, I know that now, not when love is what’s behind every kiss—” She pressed her lips to his. “—not when love is what prompts every bite—” She nipped at his shoulder, then laved the small hurt with her tongue. “—not when love is what has me begging you to take me harder. Faster.” She clenched her inner muscles on him to reinforce her point.

She looked into the beautiful green eyes that had always looked at her with wonder, with laughter...and with love.

“I’m putty in your hands. And I love it. Take me, Chase. Turn me inside out.” She licked across his lips before adding, “Cross a line. I dare you.”

As soon as her challenge sounded in the room, everything became a blur as he spun her on the bed so that her hands and knees were under her.

Oh God, she thought as he came into her from behind. She tightened her fist into the sheets and held on for dear life as he pounded her again and again, his hands moving from her hips to her breasts and then back down between her legs in a perfect path of pleasure. How she loved it when he sprinted right over the lines and reduced her boundaries to smithereens.

Chloe no longer had any fears of being controlled and Chase no longer held back to make sure he didn’t push her too far. All that remained was the sweet ecstasy of trust.

And pure love.

* * *

After a shower so long and wonderful that the water had turned cold by the time Chase finally washed the shampoo out of Chloe’s hair, she told him, “I’m going to call the police and file a report.

I’m also going to get a restraining order. I know I should have called right away. It wasn’t that I was ashamed to tell the police what happened to me. I know that I have nothing to be ashamed of.” Her eyes darkened as she said, “I just kept thinking I should have been smart enough to see it coming, that if I’d only realized how unhinged, how angry he was about me leaving him, then surely I could have made sure he couldn’t hurt me.”

Holy fuck, if he ever came face to face with her ex-husband, Chase didn’t have the first clue how he’d stop himself from killing the bastard.

“You’re so good, so sweet, so strong that you can do absolutely anything you want, Chloe.

Anything but blame yourself for other people’s weaknesses.”

“I know that now.”

Last night at dinner, he hadn’t shown her all the pictures he’d taken of her. Now, he went to his camera bags and pulled out another set of photos. “I took these. For evidence.”

She took them from him and quickly looked through the different shots he’d surreptitiously taken of her bruise during that first day. “I should have thought to ask you to take these for me. But I

—” She stopped, took a deep breath. “I wasn’t ready to think about what I needed to do.” Her smile was small, but it was there, at least for a brief moment. “Thank you for being smart enough to take these, to plan ahead when I couldn’t.” She reached out her hand to him. “Will you come sit with me while I make the phone call?”

Chase was a breath away from telling her that he would do more than sit with her for a phone call. He and his brothers would make sure, in no uncertain terms, that her ex would never come near her again.

Instead, he walked with her into the kitchen, handed her the phone, and held her hand the entire time. When the call finally came to an end, Chloe looked shaken.

“Have I told you how brave you are yet this morning?”

“I love you, too,” was her response.

He pulled her onto his lap and wanted to hold her like that forever. But the quiet left her far too susceptible to replaying over and over in her head what she’d just told the police.

“I finally get to have breakfast with you.”

She lifted her head from his chest in surprise. “Breakfast?”

“You’re about to be blessed by another of my talents.”

He raised his eyebrows in a faux-lecherous way to remind her exactly what talent she’d just been party to experiencing. He missed her warmth, her softness, when she slid off his lap, but he was beyond glad to see her smile back as he slipped on a flowery apron.

“I swear I won’t say a single thing about marshmallows,” she said with a giggle as he turned so that she could tie it in the back for him.

When he turned back to her, her eyes were dancing, thank God.

“Definitely still Hotstuff.” She reached for a pair of scissors from the butcher block on the kitchen island. “How about I go pick some pretty flowers to match your very pretty apron?”

She jumped out of his reach before he could give her beautifully curvaceous rear a smack.

Loving the sound of her laughter, he said, “Little Red better go before the wolf shows her he’s hungry for more than pancakes.”

Her lingering laughter, along with the words, “Promises, promises,” followed her out the front door.

Chase stared after her for several beats, so incredibly thankful for all the blessings in his life, the biggest one of all being the woman he loved.

She’d told him this morning that she wasn’t worried about his stepping over the lines—no, she hadn’t just told him with words, she’d showed him with her body what she wanted to give, what she wanted him to take—but he knew there were bound to be times when he made her mad, when he acted on her behalf without thinking. Lord knew he and his brothers had done that enough times with his sisters, all in the name of protection. Not just because they were older and felt they knew best.

But even though Chase knew he and Chloe were bound to butt heads in the future, he also knew their love was strong enough to survive a little conflict.

And boy, oh boy, was the making-up part of their future “discussions” about boundaries going to be fun. He was grinning as he grabbed flour from the pantry, then reached into the fridge for eggs and milk.

First, he was going to blow her mind with the pancakes...and then he was going to blow her mind in an entirely different way that would have her forgetting about breakfast altogether.

Chloe had been dreading making that phone call to the police for so long that she’d assumed her stomach would be in knots for hours, if not days afterward. But she didn’t feel weak or shaky. Just the opposite. She felt so much lighter now, like she could sprint up the mountain and not even be winded when she got to the top.

The lavender planted in front of the guest house was in full bloom and she could smell it as the sun warmed her and the flowers and the grapes growing on the vines all around the stunning Napa Valley property. Smiling, she moved to the plant with her scissors and had just started cutting a thick bunch when she heard a sudden sound behind her.

The instant it took her brain to realize that Chase wouldn’t be sneaking up on her was a moment too long to jump out of the way of the hand that came down over her mouth.

The scissors fell out of her hand as a man yanked her hard against his body. “You little bitch, I saw you in there playing house with that guy.”

Dean.

How had he found her here?

Chloe worked to still the panic inside. If she let fear rule her, she wouldn’t be able to think straight enough to fight back. To fight for the life she deserved.

In place of fear, she let fury fly free.

Because she wasn’t going to run this time.

No, she was never running again.

Her ex-husband’s hand was smooth and sweaty across her face as he hissed in her ear, “Are you begging him to fuck you in all those ways you used to beg me to fuck you?”

He was even angrier today than he’d been at her apartment. His pride had to be pretty badly battered at the way she’d knocked him out with the paint can. And after living with him for so many years, Chloe knew how his brain worked: He figured since she hadn’t gone to the cops yet that she must be too scared to tell anyone what he’d tried to do to her.

She knew what he expected her to do. He expected her to take what he gave her. He expected her to cower. Just like she must have all those years they were together. He hadn’t even needed to use force during their marriage to get her to surrender her power to him. All he’d needed to do was look at her like she wasn’t worth a damn thing...and she’d believed him.

Well, she knew a hell of a lot better now what she was worth. And who she was.

Using his underestimation of her to her benefit, Chloe bit down on his palm as hard as she could. She tasted his blood in her mouth as he screamed in pain.

Taking her chance, she kicked behind her, hoping she was nailing his family jewels, and dove for the scissors.

Chloe almost had them when her hair was yanked back, hard enough for tears to spring to her eyes. Somehow she bit back her whimper of pain, knowing now that Dean would get off on that.

“I tracked down your car and bribed the tow truck driver to tell me where he picked it up,” he bragged. “But I didn't think you'd be mouth-to-fucking-mouth with some guy when I got here.” He yanked her hair again, hard enough that her vision almost went black with pain. “Answer me. Is he fucking you raw like the slut you are?”

She knew what would happen if she told him the truth. He’d hit her again. She could see how much he wanted to do it.

Oh God, it had hurt so much the first time, but Chloe knew all she needed was to get a few inches closer to the scissors. And then she’d make damn sure the tables were turned.