The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)(24)

“At this point, between the eight of us, I think she’s pretty much thrown in the towel on worrying.”

Chloe shook her head. “No,” she said softly, “she’s your mother. She still worries. About all of you. Because she loves you.”

Caught up in a perfectly clear vision of Chloe as a mother, sweet and loving, his voice felt raw as he agreed. “That’s why we’ve tried to give her a little peace, now and again, as we get older.”

“Who’s this?” She pointed at one of his sisters.

“Nice.” He corrected himself. “I mean Sophie.” He pointed to her twin. “That’s Lori. A.K.A. Naughty.”

She chuckled. “Why do I have a feeling they don’t much care for those nicknames?”

“They do. Even though they’re always telling me they don’t.”

Chloe shook her head and muttered, “I can’t imagine dealing with one big brother like you, let alone six.” She arched a brow at him. “You know exactly what’s best for them, don’t you?”

He grinned at her unrepentantly. “Of course I do.”

She snorted, looked at the picture again. “They are both very pretty. I sure hope they got some good ones in on you and the rest of your brothers for being know-it-alls.”

Chase winced in memory. “More than once, you’ll be glad to hear.”

She laughed again, and if there was a sweeter sound in the world, Chase hadn’t heard it yet.

“What do they do? Lori looks really athletic.”

“She’s a dancer and choreographer. She started out working with cheerleaders and now she does a lot of the stuff you see on TV.” Damn, he loved those girls. “Sophie is a librarian at a university. She’s smart as a freaking whip.”

“Wow. Very impressive. No wonder you’re proud of them.”

He was proud of all his siblings. They didn’t always see eye to eye, fists were sometimes raised and landed in the heat of anger, but he’d give up his left arm—hell, both of his arms—for any one of them.

“I already know about Smith. He’s a little older than you, right?”

“Thirty-four.”

“Wow, your parents were busy,” she said, before pointing at another of his brothers. “And he is?”

“Zach. Twenty-nine. Owns half the auto shops in California.”

“Hey, those Sullivan Auto ads I hear all the time on the radio are his, aren’t they?”

“He’s a business mastermind who’d rather spend his life with his head under a hood.”

Or between a woman’s legs. But Chloe didn’t need to know that. Especially given that Zach was a good-looking bastard. Quite possibly the best looking of them all. Including Smith, whose looks were integral to his profession.

“Marcus is the old man of the group at thirty-six.”

“So, there are eight of you between the ages of twenty-four and thirty-six.” She raised an eyebrow. “And none of you are married yet?” Her surprise was evident.

He shrugged. “Nope. Bets were placed a long time ago on who would be shackled with the ball and chain first. We’re all expecting Marcus and his girlfriend to do the deed soon.”

She laughed out loud at that. “See, now you’re talking like a normal guy. Using the words shackled and ball and chain in reference to getting married.”

Funny, he thought as he enjoyed her laughter, up until yesterday he’d been right in with the rest of his siblings on thinking marriage was a long way off. But now, he wasn’t so sure. The crazy thing was, he didn’t mind being led straight to the edge of the cliff. As long as Chloe was standing there, too.

And they were falling together.

Turning back to the picture, she said, “Your mother is beautiful.”

“She’s great.”

“She looks so happy to be with all of you.” Chloe’s eyes were big and full of concern as she asked, “What happened to your father?” She bit her beautiful lower lip. “That was really rude. I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer.”

“You can ask me anything,” he told her.

Her gaze flew to his and he held it steadily. “We just met last night. We don’t know each other that well,” she protested.

“I was ten when he died. He went to work that morning and he had an aneurysm. One of his employees found him in his office on the floor.”

“Oh, Chase, I’m sorry.” She put her hand on his arm and it was crazy, but even though he thought he’d been over his father’s death for two decades, her touch gave him comfort. “I can’t imagine how your mom managed without him.”

Beyond glad that she hadn’t shied away from what she wanted to know, either, he said, “It wasn’t easy. Especially not at first. We all helped out. At least, the big kids did.” He gave her a small smile. “I make a mean mac and cheese.”

“Yum,” she said in a soft, not altogether convincing voice.

“Want to hear my secret?”

“Uh…okay.”

He leaned in a little closer, close enough that he could breathe in her sweet scent. “You’ve got to watch the pot carefully and know just when to stir.”

Attraction flared between them again at his teasing words, both of them knowing that what he was really saying was that he was gauging her reaction to him, too.