The Look of Love (The Sullivans #1)(52)

But how many times had he and his brothers gone out to avenge a wrong against one of his sisters, only to end up the bad guy, only to have them cry, “I’m not a baby! When are you going to let me stand up for myself?”

How the hell was Chase going to let her go and do what she believed she needed to do?

And how much would she hate him if he couldn’t do it?

Chapter Sixteen

By the time the song ended, Chloe had managed to recover her grip on her emotions, thank God. Glad she hadn’t put on much makeup, she quickly wiped her tears away while Chase led them outside to a beautiful lavender- and rosemary-scented terrace complete with a bocce ball court.

“Bocce ball used to be my favorite game to watch as a kid,” she said to try and bring some normalcy back to things after crying all over him. “I would sneak out to the park where they had a couple of courts and watch families play together.”

“Did you play, too?”

She shook her head. “Not officially. But when there was no one around I would play with tennis balls I’d collected.”

She let go of Chase’s hand and moved onto the empty sand court and picked up one of the heavy balls. “These are the fancy balls I’d see other people playing with.” She laughed softly. “If anyone ever saw me, they probably thought I was making a mockery of the game with my tennis balls.”

She was surprised when Chase took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. “Show me how it’s done.”

Chloe almost told him she hadn’t intended to end their über-romantic evening by rolling balls in sand for points. But wasn’t that exactly one of the things she loved most about Chase—that there were no hard and fast rules in his life? No shoulds. No have tos.

And, best of all, no shouldn’ts.

Slipping off her heels so she wouldn’t leave big divots in the sand with the sharp points, she picked up the tiny white ball. “This is the jack. We toss it out, then try to see who can get closest to it with our own balls.” She picked up a blue ball and handed it to him with a grin. “Since you’re all man, why don’t you be blue?”

He put his hand over the ball, somehow managing to pull her closer rather than just taking it from her. His mouth settled down over hers in a way that was at once familiar, yet shockingly surprising, and Chloe couldn’t stop herself from twining her free hand around his neck and going up on her tippy-toes to kiss him right back.

When the sound of a passing car reminded her that they were on a public court in the middle of the resort, she forced herself to pull away from his sinfully delicious mouth.

His thumb brushed across her lower lip. “I like this game already.”

She blushed at the heat in his words, even though there really wasn’t a single reason left to be blushing in front of Chase anymore. Not after all the ways they’d made love, the number of times she’d come with his mouth and hands on her.

But something told her she’d always blush with him, that those butterflies would always be there, flying around inside her belly whenever he gave her one of those hot, intense looks.

She wanted so desperately to look toward that future, to envision what it could look like, to let herself dream of little girls and boys with his eyes, his tanned skin.

But she couldn’t let herself do that tonight. She could only be with him right here, right now.

“Tell me how we score the game,” Chase said, pulling her from her dark thoughts.

She explained that the team with the balls closest to the jack scored the points for each round.

“I have an idea,” he said when she’d laid out the rules, and she couldn’t miss the wicked undercurrent in his voice.

“I can’t wait to hear this.”

And the truth was, being with Chase was so wonderfully exciting, so exhilarating, that even playing a simple game was more fun than she’d ever had before.

What would a life with him be like? Would each day be better than the one before?

Lost in her thoughts, she was surprised to feel his fingertips lightly skimming the skin beneath her chin. She looked up at him and her knees nearly buckled from the desire—and love—shining in his eyes.

“Do you want to guess my new spin on the rules?” he asked in a husky voice.

“Every time a person loses a point, they have to give the other one a kiss?”

He moved his mouth so it was barely a breath from hers. “So innocent,” he whispered against her lips.

It took all the breath she had left to tease back, “But you want to change all that, don’t you?”

“Don’t you?” he asked, his question a caressing challenge to her fantasies.

Oh God, she almost came right there, in the middle of a bocce ball court in Napa.

“Yes.” The word was released from her lips before she knew it was coming and his mouth captured hers again, far too briefly.

“If I win this game, I also win you for the night. If you win, you win me for the night.”

Oh God, they weren’t going to play tonight for a pointless score...they were going to play for each other instead. The wicked suggestion had her body immediately responding with a flood of warmth low down in her belly and at the tips of her br**sts.

“If I win,” he said in a low voice that thrummed through her veins faster, hotter than a shot of tequila, “you’ll be mine tonight for anything, everything, I desire.”