Tentatively, Chloe turned to the next photo. She was laughing again, this time in the middle of the pool, after falling in while trying to help fix Amanda’s hat at just the right angle.
A smile moved onto her lips before she realized it was coming. “I had such a great time with everyone,” she said softly before turning to the next photo.
Chase had captured her talking with Marcus that night at the party at his house. She’d been loose because of the wine and had let down her guard with Marcus after a surprisingly fun day with everyone. It was obvious just how desperate she’d been to let happiness take root within her heart again.
Thrown off by what Chase was showing her about herself, she moved on to the next picture, one where she was packing up dresses and a half-dozen beautiful fabrics were spread out across her lap.
She’d never seen herself look like that, had never see herself dreaming before.
Emotion threatened to swamp her, so she quickly moved to the next picture in the stack.
Oh.
If only she’d stopped with the fabrics, with the dreaming, with the desperate longing for happiness.
The final picture was from that first afternoon out in the vineyards, when she’d looked up at the end of the day and Chase had his lens pointed at her. She remembered the terror of knowing she hadn’t hid her feelings for him. Feelings she hadn’t even been able to understand because they were so raw, so new.
So pure.
“Ask me again how I know you’re special, Chloe.”
The pictures dropped from her fingers onto the table.
She didn’t need to ask.
Chase had shifted his seat so that he was sitting close enough to hold her hand beneath the tablecloth.
“Thank you,” she said softly, her throat clogged with emotion. “It’s been a wonderful night.” She licked her lips, squeezed his hand with hers. “A perfect night.”
Oh God, she was going to cry, could feel the tears building up, threatening to spill. All it would take was one sweet word, one heartfelt look, and she’d be a goner.
She was working so hard on holding those tears back that she didn’t notice Chase standing up until she felt him gently tugging at her hand. Blinking up at him in confusion, she rose to her feet and let him lead her across the room, his hand on the small of her back, simultaneously comforting and arousing. He pulled her into his arms and they were dancing to the song the three-piece jazz band in the corner had just begun playing.
The Look of Love.
Chloe lifted her face to his in surprise. “This song.” She flicked a gaze at the band, then back at him, shaking her head. “It’s almost like they know about—”
Her voice broke before she could finish the sentence. But she had to. Had to admit it to herself. To Chase.
Her voice so soft she didn’t know if Chase would even be able to hear her, she whispered, “It’s like they know about the way you look at me. About the way you’ve always looked at me.”
And, she now knew from seeing that picture he’d taken of her in the vineyard that first night, it was the way she’d always looked at him, too.
With love.
And with his large, strong body cradling hers, with his heart pounding against hers, Chloe pressed her face into his shoulder...and finally let her tears come.
* * *
Chase had never felt like this before, like his heart was breaking one beat at a time as Chloe softly cried while they danced.
He wanted to give her everything. He wanted to slay all her dragons. He wanted to hold her close and never let her go. He’d told her he loved her, but he knew she still believed she needed to leave him to prove that she was a strong person.
She’d told him the night was perfect, but she was crying.
His whole life, he’d always known exactly what to do. Women hadn’t been much of a challenge, but now he knew that was because he’d never really cared before.
Until he’d fallen in love with Chloe.
Chase wished there was a simple answer, wished he could convince himself it was as easy as taking her ex-husband apart for ever hurting her in the first place, and that once he dissolved the threat to Chloe’s well-being, everything would be fine.
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.”