The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)(31)

She opened her mouth to tell him all the reasons why, but suddenly, all she could remember was how good it felt when he was kissing her, how good his hands felt as they moved across her skin.

Everything had been good.

“I—” She stopped, tried to straighten out her head before continuing. “We—”

Darn it, instead of her thoughts straightening out, they were spinning off in a crazy direction.

A really crazy direction.

She was changing a lot of things in her life, right? She was going to stop running. She wasn’t going to back down from a threat anymore. And she was going to stand up and take what she wanted when she wanted it.

Lord, did she ever want Chase.

She couldn’t be thinking this, knew better than to even go there, but—

“Oh, hell,” she muttered. Chase lifted an eyebrow at her soft curse and she made herself face him squarely. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this.” She swallowed, grasped her hands in front of her in a nervous gesture she couldn’t contain. “I honestly don’t even know how to say it.”

“You sure know how to keep a guy on the edge,” he said in a slightly husky tone.

Chloe took a deep breath and forced herself to just spit it out. “Maybe we should just have a fling.”

“A fling?”

She could feel a flush moving across her skin. “Sure. Like you said, why not?” Beyond nervous, she started babbling. “Last night was really great and you’re right, I was a little drunk, and I probably would have woken up in the morning and felt weird about it all. But I’m not drunk now.”

“No,” he said, his intense eyes never leaving hers once, “you’re not.”

“I’ve decided I’m going to stay to help. For the rest of the shoot. I’m not going to pack my bag up again and come find you to say goodbye. No matter what happens, you can count on me.”

Oh God, this was awkward. Why wasn’t he just grabbing her and taking what she was trying so pathetically to offer?

“You and I obviously have something between us. We’re both consenting adults. It just seems to make sense while I’m here and you’re here that we could maybe just, well, enjoy that.”

“Are you saying you want to have sex with me?”

Oh God. She’d almost climaxed from the husky sound of his voice...and what he’d said.

“Yes.” The word came out shaky with need. “A lot.”

His mouth quirked up at the two words she’d stolen from his breakfast note.

She could feel, could see, how much he wanted her. And yet he wasn’t pulling her into his arms, wasn’t just taking her right there between the rows of vines under the rising moon.

“Of all the things I thought you were going to say to me today, Chloe, this wasn’t on the list.”

Seriously? She’d just killed herself laying it all out on the line and he was going to be honorable again, wasn’t he?

No, no, no!

“Kiss me again.”

“I promised myself I wouldn’t take anything from you that you didn’t want to give.”

“I want to kiss you. I want you to kiss me. All day long I’ve wanted you to kiss me.”

* * *

Chase took her hand, hurried up the front steps, and kicked open the front door, not stopping in the living room even though it meant waiting another few seconds for the pleasure he’d been craving. He wanted her in a bed, the way he’d been picturing her for forty-eight straight hours, naked and flushed with desire—and pleasure—for him.

In the end it felt like hiking halfway across the county just to get to the bedroom, but then—finally!—they were inside the room. Chase closed the door and locked it, before forcing himself to drop her hand and to step back a few inches.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes.”

She hadn’t hesitated, but still he had to say, “Absolutely certain?”

“Yes.”

Again, there was no hesitation, only a growing irritation in her eyes that he was stalling. But he cared about her too much to do anything to hurt her.

“Once we start, I’m not going to be able to stop. I want you too badly.”

At that, the faint irritation in her eyes was pushed aside by need, her eyes dilating at the force of her arousal.

He didn’t want to scare her—didn’t ever want her to be scared again—but she needed to know. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”

Before he could take his next breath, her fingers threaded into his hair and her mouth was on his, her tongue pushing against his. He lifted her into his arms and moved to the bed, his mouth never leaving hers for a second. There was no finesse, no gentleness in their kisses.

How could there be when they were both pure need?

Just that quickly, all thoughts of honor were forgotten. All that mattered was Chloe. Worshiping her body.

And loving her.

Chapter Nine

Chloe could hardly believe she was lying on the bed looking up at a sinfully gorgeous man as he pulled his T-shirt off and threw it on the floor. Seeing all those muscles, his incredible washboard abs, all but paralyzed her.

She’d never seen anyone like Chase, live and in person, before.

“You’re so beautiful.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized they were coming.