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 bal court.

"Bocce bal used to be my favorite game to watch as a kid," she said to try and bring some normalcy back to things after crying al 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 official y. But when there was no one around I would play with tennis bal s I'd col ected."

She let go of Chase's hand and moved onto the empty sand court and picked up one of the heavy bal s. "These are the fancy bal s 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 bal s."

She was surprised when Chase took off his jacket and rol ed up his sleeves. "Show me how it's done."

Chloe almost told him she hadn't intended to end their uber-romantic evening by rol ing bal s 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 al , 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 bal . "This is the jack. We toss it out, then try to see who can get closest to it with our own bal s." She picked up a blue bal and handed it to him with a grin. "Since you're al man, why don't you be blue?"

He put his hand over the bal , somehow managing to pul 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 pul away from his sinful y 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 real y wasn't a single reason left to be blushing in front of Chase anymore. Not after al 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 bel y 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.

"Tel me how we score the game," Chase said, pul ing her from her dark thoughts.

She explained that the team with the bal s 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 wonderful y 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 al the breath she had left to tease back, "But you want to change al that, don't you?"

"Don't you?" he asked, his question a caressing chal enge to her fantasies.

Oh God, she almost came right there, in the middle of a bocce bal 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 bel y and at the tips of her breasts.

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

She felt her lips open, felt air rush from them in the reverse of a gasp. "Anything?"

"Anything."

No. God, no, she shouldn't want what anything entailed.

"Everything?"

He ran his fingers over a lock of her hair. "Everything, Chloe."

She'd already done more wild things with Chase this week than she had before in her whole life. Bathtub sex. Outdoor sex. Up against the wal sex.

She tried to tel herself there couldn't be more, but it was no use.

She knew there was. Simply because she'd already been fantasizing about it. About doing al of those forbidden things she'd once wanted, things she'd been told were wrong to want.

"And if you win, lovely Chloe, I'm yours to do with as you wish."

Oh God. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to win...or lose.

Chase had never played bocce bal before, but he and his siblings had often played similar games where they hurled rocks at a target. At the outset of the game, Chase had been fairly certain he'd win. It didn't take him long to realize he should have known better.     By the time they were down to the final point, 14 - 13, Chloe's lead, he told her, "You're real y good at this."

She smiled up at him. "I know."

He loved the playful way she kissed him, none of those dark shadows in her eyes for the time being. "Are you trying to distract me?" he asked.

"I would if I needed to..."

He had her in his arms before she could finish her sentence. "You just gave me a good idea." He dropped his eyes to her lush mouth, so lovely, so soft. "Prepare to be distracted."

"You can give it your best shot," she chal enged him.

"Now you're in for it," he said, and then he was kissing her and the game was momentarily forgotten.

It near kil ed him to fol ow through on his plan and abruptly let her go. "Your turn."

Her eyes were fuzzy and unfocused. "My turn to what?"

He smiled at her, a devious smile that told her he had her right where he wanted her.

Her eyes cleared. "Right. The game." She gave him a mock-hard look. "Prepare to be destroyed, Hotstuff."

But as she bent over to pick up a red bal , he knew he was long past being destroyed by Chloe.

She was lovely. And his, damn it. Just as he was hers.

It wasn't one of them having power over the other. It wasn't a matter of control, of wanting to be in charge.

She had to lift up the hem of her dress every time she got into position for a shot. Her legs were strong and gorgeous, her feet bare and pretty on the sand. There wasn't an inch of her body he didn't desire, from her toes to her eyebrows.

Just as there wasn't any part of her heart that he didn't love.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?" he asked in his most innocent voice.

"Like you're the big bad wolf and I'm Red Riding Hood."

"Hmm," he said, "now that's an idea for another game to play tonight." He paused a beat.

"When I win."

He barely heard her muttered, "Like hel " before she let the red bal rol from her fingertips.

Her bal slammed into his with perfect precision, knocking his blue bal completely out of the game.

Straightening up, she gave him such a gleeful look - so pretty, so pure, so sweet to the core - it was al he could do not to fal on one knee in the sand and propose to her right then and there.

"One more perfect shot and I win," she told him with great satisfaction. "And then you're mine."

He could sprint around a track, row across a lake without losing his breath. But with Chloe, it happened al the time.

He saw the way her hand trembled as she picked up the final red bal . She looked at him, held his gaze for a long moment before turning back to the game and letting the bal go in one graceful rol , where it landed right next to the jack.

And she won.

But instead of turning to him with a victorious cheer, she simply stood and stared at the bal s.

Final y, she turned back to him. "I guess we should go now."

He wanted to tel her it was just a game. He wanted to pul her into his arms and tel her there was nothing to be worried about.

But something stopped him - the same thing that had stopped him from heading into the city over the past four days and taking her ex apart.

Chase knew Chloe's strength, could sense how deeply rooted it was in her from that first moment on the side of the road.

But it wasn't enough that he knew it.

Chloe needed to know her own strength, too. And that loving him wouldn't ever diminish it.

Walking over to where she stood, he held out his hand to her. And waited for her to make up her mind about tonight. About whether she was going to claim not just her spoils...but al of him, body and soul.

Final y, she reached back to him and just as their fingers slid together, said, "It would have been so much easier if you had won."

"I know," he said, "but I never stood a chance of holding on to my heart with you." He held her gaze. "Not for one single second."