The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)(10)

Opening her eyes, she was still disoriented enough from her orgasm for a few seconds that she was sure she couldn’t be seeing what she was seeing: Chase, standing in the doorway of the bathroom, one hand on the doorknob.

Surprise—and dangerously strong lust—were written all over his face.

Chapter Four

Chloe closed her eyes again, held her breath, and went completely under the water as the jets turned off on their own. She held her breath as long as she could, all the while praying that when she came back up the door would still be closed and locked…and that Chase seeing her not just naked, but masturbating in his brother’s bathtub would be nothing more than a bad dream.

Alas, when she came back up for air and opened her eyes, there he was, standing right where he’d been a minute ago.

Despite the fact that she was already in warm water, she could feel an extra hot flush of mortification quickly covering her skin, head to toe.

At least, that’s what she told herself it was.

With a snap of water and skin, she shoved her thighs together and lifted her knees to try and hide her naked bottom half, while simultaneously crossing her arms over her chest to cover her br**sts.

Forcing herself to meet his gaze—green eyes that blazed with enough heat to set off a fire extinguisher—she said, “The door was locked!”

Good thing she already knew better than to expect an apology. Because Chase didn’t look the least bit repentant. “It must not have locked all the way.”

Her lips shouldn’t be on the verge of tilting up into a grin. None of this was funny. Rather, it would have been funny if it were happening to anyone else, like, say, in a movie she was watching.

But this wasn’t a romantic comedy.

This was her screwed-up life.

“Do you always break into the bathroom when you have guests?”

At long last, he looked a teensy bit chagrined. “I didn’t see your things in the bedroom. I thought you might have decided to leave again.” He paused, his gaze softening behind the desire that still radiated from him. “I was worried about you.”

The sweetness of that final sentence hit her right in the solar plexus, right where she was still stupidly vulnerable, making her eyes close at the force of it.

She knew she should just keep her eyes closed. Because when she made the mistake of opening them again to be brave and look him in the eye, what she saw on his face made it impossible for her to tell the difference between his desire and his sweetness.

How could she when they were both wrapped up in one far-too-gorgeous package?

Oh God.

She’d been so stunned by seeing him standing in the doorway that she’d completely forgotten the name that had passed her lips as she was coming.

She gulped. Hard.

Knowing there was only one way to play it, she said with far more bravado than she actually possessed, “I know a lot of Chases, by the way.”

He raised an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching with an obvious urge to grin. “Really?”

He held her there in that half-smile for longer than was fair. Especially when both of them knew she’d likely never met a Chase before in her life.

“People usually tell me it’s a pretty uncommon name.”

Well, what was she going to say to that? But now that the initial stab of mortification and surprise had passed, Chloe became even more aware of the position she was in.

Whatever Chase’s mother had taught him, she’d clearly forgotten the lesson on leaving a naked girl alone to regain her composure. Because instead of letting her get out of the tub and get dressed in peace, he let his appreciative gaze flicker up and down her bare skin.

Her hands itched to cover herself up more, but even though the naked girl on his bed had been a good thirty pounds thinner than Chloe, why did she have to be ashamed of her curves?

She’d been told one too many times by one certain person that she needed to lose weight. She was never going to diet again. Not for anyone. She was keeping her muscles and curves, thank you very much.

Throwing on that cloak of bravado again, she said, “I’m still naked here, you know.”

“You certainly are,” he stated, his pleasure at her naked state clear and up front.

Why wasn’t she more irritated with him?

Or, more to the point, why wasn’t she scared?

He was big. Way bigger than she was. His hands could do incredible damage to her. Not to mention other parts of his body that could hurt her.

And yet…she wasn’t afraid of him. At first, she’d been wary about getting into his car, but then, when he’d started talking about his family, that wariness had disappeared. She’d tried to force it to reappear in the kitchen when he’d insisted on looking at her cheek, but the truth was, she hadn’t been running because she was afraid he’d hurt her.

No, she’d wanted to run because of a different kind of fear entirely.

She’d been frightened of her response to him. Of how strong—and immediate—it was.

And now, here she was, naked and wet in rapidly cooling water, still feeling that response. More than ever, in fact.

Irritated with herself for this strange weakness, and with Chase for being such an obstinate guy, she said with no small measure of sarcasm, “You don’t take a hint very well, do you?”

He grinned, a beautiful smile that did funny things to her stomach. “I’m better with direct requests.”