Page 2
Author: Bella Andre
A few moments later, he put her down on the side of the road. “It really isn’t safe to be out here. Not for either of us. ”
Common sense told her he was right, and yet, she was still wary. Incredibly so.
But at this very moment what other choice did she have?
Replaying in her mind the way he’d protected her from harm, Chloe finally, said, “Okay. I’ll go with you. ”
She sincerely hoped she didn’t end up regretting her choice.
Chapter Two
Thank god, thought Chase, as she finally agreed to come with him. That motorcycle had scared the crap 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 carefully 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, especially 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 will. 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. . . well, 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 smelled 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 falling 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 call 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 pull 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 still wary, but firm, too. “Really, a motel is fine. ” She shrugged, an outline of moving shoulders in the dark interior of his car. “And don’t bother calling road assistance. At this point I might as well 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 asshole 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 carefully pulled 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 Sullivan. ”
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 all, 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 Ellen at the winery.
So then, why wasn’t he doing just that?
And why the hell 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.
Finally, she said, “My name is Chloe. ”
A pretty name. He normally would have told her so, but she was so touchy she’d probably take it the wrong way. He also noticed she didn’t tell 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 Sullivan 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 bullshit 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, sarcastically.
He liked the way the words rolled 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 hellcat 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 all. ” 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 pull 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 wi
th her innate wariness of him. “That’s why all I’m going to do is get you settled and then I’ll 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 full, 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, finally. 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’ll just get you settled and then I’ll 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, really was like silk, so glossy she could make a mint in shampoo ads. She had a truly gorgeous figure. Not too thin, with beautifully lush curves that made his fingers itch to touch her.
What the hell 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 following 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 hips 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 all 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. Hell 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 still over her cheek.
“You’re hurt. ” It wasn’t a question. “Let me take a look at your face. ”