Chapter Two
Thank god, thought Chase, as she final y agreed to come with him. That motorcycle had scared the shit out of him. He hadn't thought, had just acted to save her. Both of them.
Now, his instincts as a gentleman had him reaching for her backpack.
She immediately jumped back a foot. "Please don't." She careful y banked that quick flash of fear before saying, "I can carry my own bag, thanks."
The way she'd leaped out of his reach could hurt a guy's ego if he let it. At the same time, Chase knew it was just plain good sense for a woman to be on her guard with a strange guy in a situation like this.
Unfortunately, as she walked to his car, he found himself unable take his eyes off her sweetly rounded curves.
But any guy with little sisters, especial y two pretty girls who got into more scrapes than he was comfortable thinking about, gave an extra bit of consideration to his interactions with women. He and his brothers might like to play - a whole heck of a lot - but none of them would ever do anything dangerous or take a woman against her wil . No, they'd much rather have their women begging for it.
And this was no time to be thinking about sex. Not when he had a half-drowned woman on his hands...wel , in his car, at least, since he'd promised her his hands weren't going to come anywhere near her.
Knowing his leather interior was never going to be the same after the water and mud hit them, Chase opened the driver's side door and slid inside.
Steam rose from their clothes, condensation covering the inside of the windows, making the car feel even more intimate than it already was. Chase couldn't help but notice that his surprise passenger smel ed good, like rain and freshly bloomed flowers.
"Where were you headed?" he asked.
Instead of answering his question, she said, "If you could just take me to the nearest motel, that'd be great." She paused for a moment before adding, "Someplace cheap would be best."
With his plans for the evening fal ing apart one soaking-wet minute at a time - along with the fact that he was trying to repress the way her scent was driving his senses crazy - Chase's voice was gruffer than usual as he offered, "Look, I've got a free place for you to stay for the night. We can cal road assistance from there."
It would be better to wait until she was dry and warm again to break it to her that even though road assistance would be able to pul her car out of the ditch, they probably wouldn't be able to make it run again.
"Thanks for the offer," she said, her words stil wary, but firm, too. "Real y, a motel is fine." She shrugged, an outline of moving shoulders in the dark interior of his car. "And don't bother cal ing road assistance. At this point I might as wel leave my car in the ditch."
The exhaustion in her voice fought with an underlying strength for dominance. While she clearly didn't have the money to deal with any of this, she wasn't sitting in his car crying about it.
Chase knew he should just take her to a motel. Lord knew she'd told him to do that more than once already. But there was no way he could leave her in some dank motel. Not if he wanted to be able look at himself in the mirror in the morning without seeing the word as**ole written across his forehead.
Besides, every instinct he possessed told him she needed more help than just a ride to a motel.
Chase had learned early on from his mother and sisters not to mess with what a woman wanted.
He knew better, knew this woman would be pissed off with what he was about to do.
But none of that, none of the warning buzzers that were going off in his head, were enough to stop him from deciding to help her anyway.
He turned the key in the ignition and as he careful y pul ed back onto the road, he realized he didn't know her name. Considering he was taking her to the warmth and comfort of the large guest house at his brother's winery - whether she wanted to go there or not - he figured a couple of formalities wouldn't be a bad thing.
"I'm Chase Sul ivan."
No sound came from the passenger seat and, inexplicably, he found himself fighting a grin.
When was the last time a woman hadn't thrown herself at him?
Then again, this one hadn't told him anything at al , had she? Not just her name, but where she was headed.
Something was definitely up. It would be a much better idea if he could let it go, take her to a motel so that he could get on with his night of meaningless sex with El en at the winery.
So then, why wasn't he doing just that?
And why the hel did he feel strangely drawn to this complete stranger?
He let the silence ride out between them, knowing she'd only answer if she felt comfortable enough with him to do so.
Final y, she said, "My name is Chloe."
A pretty name. He normal y would have told her so, but she was so touchy she'd probably take it the wrong way. He also noticed she didn't tel him her last name.
She craned her neck to look out the window at a dimly lit sign. "Where are you going?" she asked, panic clearly threaded through each vowel.
"Town is the opposite direction."
Fortunately, right then he saw the Sul ivan Winery sign, hit the remote to open the gates, and started up the narrow road.
"Chase."
Her voice held a strong note of warning, but it certainly didn't stop him from liking the way his name sounded on her lips.
"I told you to take me to a motel."
He thought about the different ways he could respond, if he should make excuses or be placating. But sensing she'd see through his bul shit in a way most women rarely did, he simply said,
"The guest house is closer. Nicer, too."
She made a barely muffled sound of irritation. "Do you always ignore what people want and do what you want to do anyway?"
Again, there were several possible responses. But only one honest one. "Pretty much."
"Your mother must be so proud," Chloe said, sarcastical y.
He like the way the words rol ed right off her tongue, as if she was getting a little more comfortable with the idea of being in his car, but a moment later, judging by the way she shifted uncomfortably in the seat, he knew she was worried about her off-the-cuff response.
Speaking as easily as he could, he said, "Fortunately, I have five brothers and two hel cat sisters to distract her."
He hoped she'd give another unguarded response to that piece of information and was glad when she turned back to him and said, "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope. Eight of us in al ." He took his eyes off the road long enough to grin at her.
She shook her head. "Your mother must be a saint."
Good. He'd managed to distract her for a few moments, long enough to pul up behind the guest house. And this time, she didn't seem to be worried by what she'd said - or how he would react to it.
"Look," he said softly, "I know you'd rather not be here, but my brother owns this winery and I can't see how it makes sense to pay for a crappy room in some dump on the side of the freeway when there are five empty bedrooms right here."
"I don't know you," she said again.
"I know you don't. And, trust me, if you were either of my sisters I wouldn't want you to trust some guy who picked you up on the side of the road in the middle of a rainstorm." He noted her surprise at the way he'd agreed with her innate wariness of him. "That's why al I'm going to do is get you settled and then I'l leave and head over to my brother's house on the other side of the property."
He waited for her to say no again. And the truth was, if she flat-out insisted on going to a motel, outside of throwing her over his shoulder and chaining her to one of the beds in his brother's guest house, he was going to have to do what she wanted.
He pushed aside the flare of desire that tried to shoot through him at that whole tied-to-the-bedpost scenario. Lord knew if she saw her impact on him now, she was going to start clawing at the car door so that she could run screaming into town to get away from him.
"So," she said slowly, drawing the one word out, which had the unfortunate result of drawing his eyes to her ful , expressive lips.
My God, she had to be one the most beautiful women he'd come across in months. Years, maybe. And beautiful women were his job.
"You're not going to stay with me?"
Ah, final y. It was the first time she hadn't argued with him or told him she couldn't stay here.
Seizing the moment, he said, "I'l just get you settled and then I'l head over to his house for the rest of the night."
Before she could change her mind, he reached for her bag, but she shifted and opened the door, moving out into the rain before he could help her with the damn thing. For some crazy reason, it had become a goal to carry it for her. He wanted to get her to trust him enough that she would accept his help.
She moved quickly to the covered porch. His brother's housekeeper had left the front light on for him and he was graced with his best view of Chloe yet. Her hair, which had started to dry just a little in the car, real y was like silk, so glossy she could make a mint in shampoo ads. She had a truly gorgeous figure. Not too thin, with beautiful y lush curves that made his fingers itch to touch her.
What the hel was wrong with him? He needed to stop thinking like that. He'd taken her to his brother's place to help her out of a bad situation, not help her out of her clothes.
As she waited for him on the porch, one hand holding her bag, the other placed over her right cheek again, Chase had to wonder why she was always hiding her cheek like that.
He had a bad feeling about it.
Knowing it wouldn't help her feel any more comfortable around him if he was scowling at her, he worked to focus, instead, on the way the porch light bathed her in a faint glow. Making a mental note to set up some shots with the models the fol owing evening right where she was standing, he walked up the steps and headed for the front door.
"Let's go inside and warm up."
He held the door open for her and she murmured, "At least your mother taught you one thing,"
as she moved past him.
Chloe's scent wrapped itself around him again and it was a hit of potent sensuality. Problem was, she was a gorgeous woman and he was a man who adored gorgeous women. But then her bag bumped against the door frame, pushing her h*ps into his groin, and he barely stifled his groan in time.
Jesus, if he didn't know better, if she were any other woman, he'd think she'd done that on purpose. But given the way she al but threw herself across the room and away from him, he knew there was nothing intentional about her effect on him.
It had been nearly a month since Chase had had sex, but his body was reacting to Chloe like it had been a year, like he was fourteen again and hiding out in the girls' locker room while the cheerleading team changed.
He smiled, thinking about that afternoon. Hel yeah, it had been good to be fourteen that day.
Definitely one of Ryan's better ideas.
A gust of wind blew rain up on the porch and Chase closed the door and moved inside, where Chloe was standing awkwardly next to the kitchen island.
He moved slowly into the room and worked to keep his eyes from devouring her. "Are you hungry?"
She shook her head, her hand stil over her cheek.
"You're hurt." It wasn't a question. "Let me take a look at your face."
She tried to take a step back but the granite counter held her where she was. "No," she said,
"I'm fine."
He could see how hard she was trying to be tough and strong. But didn't she get it? He was right here offering to help her. Not moving slowly this time, not bothering to make sure he didn't spook her, he crossed to her and put his hand over hers.
The first touch had both of them sucking in a breath and he swore her pupils dilated a split second before she wrenched out of his grip.
"I knew I shouldn't have come here with you," she said as she began to rush across the room.
But Chase was faster, pul ing her into his arms before she could get away. He was just registering her soft heat, the press of her ful br**sts against his chest, the heated vee between her legs that so perfectly cradled his groin, when he saw what she'd been hiding from him.
"Jesus, Chloe, did that happen in the car?"
Her cheek had a huge mottled bruise across it, al the colors of the rainbow with a long scratch through the center. Tears sparkled in her eyes, but they seemed to be more of frustration than due to any pain she was feeling.
"It hasn't been my best night."
Yet again, she hadn't answered his question. But by not saying yes, he figured it was pretty safe to assume the bruise hadn't been caused by her hitting the steering wheel when her car had landed in the ditch. Any other woman would have been crying, but not this one, even though she'd clearly had some crazy shit happen to her in the last few hours.
"No kidding," he said softly.
The more he looked at her, the angrier he got about the bruise. He'd fought with his brothers enough times to know that it must hurt like a mother.
But he knew better than to make a big deal out of it. He wasn't going to bruise her pride...not when someone had already done a hel of a job on her face.
"Have you put any ice on it?"
She shook her head and he reluctantly let go of her and moved toward the kitchen.
After fil ing a plastic bag with ice, he wrapped the whole thing up in a clean, soft kitchen towel.
She hadn't moved from the spot where he'd stopped her from running. He could easily bring her the ice, but he knew it was important that she start to trust him - at least a little - if he was going to be able to help her.
Every instinct he possessed had been screaming out from that first instant he'd spotted her that her damage was a hel of a lot bigger than just losing control of her car in the rain.
Sucked to be right sometimes.
"I don't bite. I promise."
The last thing he expected her to do was drop her gaze to his stil throbbing groin, raise an eyebrow, and say, "Real y?"
Glad to see that any remnant of the tears that hadn't come were long gone, he let loose his grin at her pointed comment. "What I should have said is, I won't bite unless - "
She held up a hand to cut him off and finished his sentence in a sarcastic voice. "Unless I want you to." She said it like she'd heard it a hundred times before. "Whatever. I don't want you to. Not now. Not ever." Her words were tired, hard, but she moved toward him. "I'l take the ice, though."
He handed it to her and she was starting to thank him when she pressed it against her cheek a little too hard and gasped in pain.
"Here," he said, "let me."
Moving close enough to touch again, he slid the fingers of his left hand beneath hers while cupping the back of her head with his right.
Chase was surprised to realize the ice had final y broken between them. Al because of the hard-on he couldn't control and her sarcastic comments about it.
Who would have thought that would do it?
He expected her to pul away from him, to tel him she could take care of herself, to insist that he keep his hands off her. Instead, he was in for another surprise when she said, "You're good at this,"
in a soft voice that did nothing to stop the southerly flow of blood to his groin.
"Five brothers, remember?" he said with a smal smile. "Although my sisters were the ones who usual y left the worst bruises when we were messing around." He grinned. "Little brats."
She looked up at him, then, and he didn't have any hope of control ing his reaction to the shot of desire that rocked him. Her eyes were extraordinary, a vibrant green along the rims of the pupil, but fil ed in everywhere else with blue.
"You like your brothers and sisters a lot, don't you?"
His eyes moved to her mouth as she spoke, giving him a chance to further appreciate the ful curves of her lower lip, the sweet cupid's bow of the upper.
No question about it, he was on his way to total y and completely losing his shit over this woman. One that obviously came with baggage.
He'd never been a man much interested in baggage. Looked like the universe was playing a fast one on him tonight. Because he was definitely interested.
"Do I have something on my mouth?"
Her irritation was, thankful y, fused with a faint amusement at how clearly mesmerized he was.
At this point, he'd rather have her laughing at him than running from him.
He refused to think of later, to let his brain head toward the direction it was dying to go...the one where she was na**d and he was tasting every inch of her beautiful skin. First he had to get her to agree to actual y stay the night.
And not run at first light.
Aware that his erection was fil ing out even more behind the zipper of his jeans, he shifted his h*ps away from hers before saying, "No, your mouth is perfect." A flush spread across the side of her face he wasn't covering with the towel. "And yes, my siblings are great."
Her expression fil ed with longing before she turned her head away and lowered her lashes so he couldn't see into her stunning - and expressive -
eyes anymore.
"My cheek feels better now, thanks. I'm pretty tired. Could you show me where the bedroom is?"
He wanted to keep her there with him and ask her questions until she told him who had hurt her.
It didn't take a brain surgeon to guess that she was running from someone. Every cel in Chase's body wanted to protect her, but even though that initial icy barrier had been broken, he knew she wasn't anywhere near ready to trust him yet.
"The bedrooms are just down the hal ," he told her, but even though it was long past time to let her go, he couldn't do it. Her warmth, her soft curves were too good, too right, for him to back away.
Chloe, unfortunately, had no problem moving out of his arms.
Since odds were a guy had done the number on her face, he wondered, was she married? Was this the work of an abusive husband?
Chase wasn't in the habit of scanning ring fingers for diamonds, but it was important this time.
There was no subtlety in his glance at her left hand. He didn't even try to be subtle. Hel , she'd already seen his hard-on for her. Felt it, too. He'd promised to keep his hands off for the night. But he'd said nothing about the future. And he needed to know if she was being beaten up by the guy she was married to.
She was holding her hand clenched into a fist, but he couldn't see a ring.
Good. That meant that once he found out what had happened to her, once she started to trust him, there wasn't one single reason he couldn't also begin a slow and steady seduction.
When he final y looked up at her face, she was staring back at him with that same irritation he'd seen in her eyes earlier, only with none of the accompanying amusement this time.
Busted.
"The bedroom?" She lifted an eyebrow. Way up. "You were going to show me where it was."
He put his hands on her bag. "This way."
She reached for it, too, and they played a ridiculous game of tug-of-war over the barf-green canvas bag for a few seconds. Chase knew he should just let her continue carrying it, but she couldn't have been more than five foot five to his six-three and he figured he outweighed her by about eighty-or-so pounds. He could carry the damn bag for her.
Stil clutching it in both her fists, she said, "You've real y got a thing about carrying my bag, don't you?"
He was holding firm to his side as he replied, "I was going to say the same to you."
She dropped the bag so fast he stumbled back with it.
She shook her head and muttered, "I've never understood why men feel like they have to be so macho."
"Wanting to help you with this bag isn't macho."
"You sure about that?"
"Maybe it's just that my mother taught me right," he countered, throwing her earlier words back at her.
He didn't wait for her to argue some more...not when he was getting way too close to planting a kiss on that lovely smart mouth, whether she wanted him to or not.
He led the way down the hal to the master suite where he'd been planning to sleep. The other bedrooms were ful y decked out with high-end mattresses, but he wanted Chloe to have the very best.
Chase opened the door and was about to reach for the light switch when he realized it was already on. It took his water-addled brain longer than it should have to realize that the bed wasn't empty.
And a na**d woman was waiting for him on it.
Shit.
Holy f**king shit.
He'd forgotten al about El en, but she obviously hadn't forgotten about him. If things had gone differently tonight - way differently - he would have been psyched to find her already stripped down and ready for him.
Only, after meeting Chloe, Chase was about as un-psyched by El en's na**d presence in the house as he could be.
Before he could think fast and get her the hel out of there, Chloe stepped out from behind him.
He waited for her to gasp in outrage, for her to do the inevitable - grab her bag from him and run back out into the rain.
But al that came was laughter.
"Maybe," she said through her undisguised mirth, "there's another bedroom I could take?" She chuckled again. "Out of hearing distance, if at al possible, please."
He shot her a look that said she was crazy. Chloe couldn't seriously think he was going to bone El en while she was in the house, did she?
But then, he lost hold of the question entirely as her ongoing laughter wrapped itself around his senses.
God, he loved the sound of it. So easy. Straight from her soul. And her smile was beautiful.
Lovely.
El en was stil stark na**d on the bed, but he couldn't take his eyes off Chloe. He'd wanted to kiss her practical y from the moment he'd met her.
Now he wanted to kiss her senseless and make her smile, hear her sweet laughter, just as much.
"Chase? Who's she?"
El en hadn't yet made a move to cover up and he noticed she wasn't real y his type after al . He much preferred Chloe's curves to El en's taut muscles. And dyed blond curls had nothing on light brown hair that picked up the light as it shifted across her shoulders and back every time Chloe moved.
She looked far too cheerful for the situation as she replied for him. "I'm Chloe." Another grin.
"Chase picked me up tonight." She nodded in his direction and added, "You know the story, girl in trouble on the side of the road meets guy in a BMW."
El en looked more confused than angry. She looked at Chase and seemed to make up her mind about something before saying, "With you being a photographer and running with al those fast crowds, I should have figured you were into this sort of thing."
Feeling as if he'd stepped into some kind of surreal scene being shot for a movie, Chase had to ask, "What kind of stuff do you think I'm into?"
"You know, menages and stuff," El en said as she sat up cross-legged on the bed, giving both him and Chloe a straight shot of her privates. Her total y bare, waxed privates.
Jesus, he thought with a grimace, she needed to cover up. He yanked open the closet and pul ed a robe out, throwing it to her from across the room.
"I haven't been with another girl in a little while," El en was saying, "but I'm sure I haven't forgotten what to do." She turned her attention from Chase to Chloe. "Nice to meet you, Chloe, even if this is a teensy bit unexpected. I'm El en, by the way." She barely paused to take a breath. "You're very pretty. I don't think this wil be at al difficult to get into."
Chloe looked utterly bemused by the way El en was looking at her, clearly sizing up her future performance in bed. "Thanks, I guess," she said, "but I don't think I'm up for any threesomes tonight."
The easy way she said it had Chase's brain spinning off in al sorts of crazy directions. Had she done a menage before?
Just the thought of a guy and girl both touching her together had him seeing red. He couldn't let himself think about two guys or he'd split a vein.
He'd never gone looking for serious, had been perfectly happy with one-night stands for the past thirty-two years. On the road as much as he was, keeping things clean and simple fit his life best.
He'd never envied his col eagues who had a wife and kids at home waiting for them.
But from the first moment he'd seen Chloe, he'd wanted to protect her...and more.
"Oh my God," El en said suddenly when she final y saw Chloe's nasty bruise. "What happened to your face?"
Chase hated to see every bit of laughter leave Chloe's face.
"I'l find another bedroom myself. Good night."
He wanted to go after her, but he had to deal with El en first.
"Is she okay?" El en asked after Chloe had closed the door behind her.
He ran a hand through his wet hair. "She'l be okay." He'd make sure of it. "Look, tonight's not going to happen anymore."
"Because of her?"
Chase nodded. "Because of her."
Fortunately, although El en looked disappointed, she simply shrugged rather than throwing a tantrum. "She real y is very pretty." She smiled up at him in a hopeful way. "I was serious about the three-way if you want to try to convince her."
"No." He didn't want to be an ass, but he didn't want to lead El en on, either. "I don't think that's going to happen."
"Maybe another time, then," she said as she walked na**d across the room to her clothes, which he now saw were draped over a sofa chair in the corner.
Like hel . He was never, ever going to share Chloe with anyone. Not a woman and definitely not a man.
Once he convinced her to give him a chance, that is.
Problem was, he thought as he turned his back to let El en put on her clothes, he had a feeling convincing Chloe to trust him enough to give him a chance with her wasn't going to be an easy task in the least.