The Look of Love (The Sullivans): Chapter 15 + Audiobook + Exclusive Commentary from Bella
I hope you loved Chapter 14 of The Look of Love (The Sullivans)!
When I’m writing a book, one of the main questions I ask myself is, “Are the characters being honest, both with others and themselves?” It’s not uncommon for people to lie to themselves about something, especially love. The reasons can be multifold, but essentially come down to fear. They’re afraid to let themselves love, because they’re afraid to be hurt. Especially if they were badly hurt in the past.
In Chapter 15, Chloe has a huge moment of clarity about what’s true for her, and what isn’t. Of course, just because she has new insight into her true feelings, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s ready to drop all of her fears and completely give over her heart to Chase. But before I say too much, I’ll let you get reading.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14
Enjoy Chapter 15!
Note: You can also listen to THE LOOK OF LOVE for free!
AUDIOBOOK:
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6 / Chapter 7 / Chapter 8 / Chapter 9 / Chapter 10 / Chapter 11 / Chapter 12 / Chapter 13 / Chapter 14 / Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
copyright 2022 Bella Andre / Oak Press, LLC
Please Note: My books are sexy and emotional love stories. Which is to say there will be lots of scenes where the hero and heroine are smooching (and doing much, much more!) in nearly all of my posts. 😍
One more day.
One more night.
Chloe had twenty-four hours left to be with Chase in this fairy tale. She wanted each of those hours, those precious minutes, to last forever, knew that she would be counting them down until the buzzer rang and she left.
She needed to leave. Because, as she’d told him last night, she needed to do this on her own.
Didn’t she?
All day, as she’d worked with everyone, as she’d gone to check on Alice and found her much improved in her hotel room, Chloe had gone around and around with it in her head.
At first, it had been easy to tell herself she needed to keep her distance from Chase because all men were evil.
Which had turned out to be completely laughable. Because while her ex was certainly unhinged, Chase didn’t have an evil bone in his body. In a million years, she’d never have thought she’d find a guy like him on the side of the road in the middle of a hailstorm, on what she’d thought was the worst night of her life.
She shouldn’t believe he could have fallen in love with her. Not in only three days.
She shouldn’t be replaying that moment over and over when he’d said, “I love you.”
Lost in her troubled thoughts, her hands stilled on the lace of the corset she was tying for Amanda.
“Do you need me to suck in tighter?”
Chloe frowned. Suck in tighter? What could Amanda possibly have to suck in? “No. You’re perfect just like that.”
Amanda looked down at herself. “I’m getting fat.”
“No!” In the back of her mind she knew she needed to back off, calm down. But she’d spent too many years listening to Dean say that to her. She couldn’t stand to hear Amanda say it about herself.
“You’re beautiful, Amanda.”
But although she could see that the girl enjoyed the compliment, she didn’t truly believe it.
As the model walked away, Chloe wanted so badly for her to believe in her own beauty. In her own worth. She wanted to save Amanda from years of self-hatred. From bad relationships. From men who weren’t worthy of even a minute of her time…let alone years.
She felt her lover’s eyes on her and Chase’s pull was so strong that she couldn’t stop herself from staring back and suddenly wondering, yet again, was that what she was to him? Was she simply a woman he was desperate to save because he was a protector to his core?
No. She knew better than to think that. Especially when he’d never done one single thing to try to take her power away.
Instead, hadn’t he given her the tools to empower herself? Hadn’t he asked her to use her talents, her skills, to create beauty? To grow stronger?
And then, like a ton of bricks raining down from the perfectly blue sky, the real truth of the matter hit her: It wasn’t Chase who thought he needed to save her, to coddle her so that she never had to face danger again.
She’d been doing that all by herself.
Hiding out here at the winery, not picking up the damn phone and calling the police, not forcing herself to face the fact that she was going to have to find a way to protect herself from Dean once she was out on her own again.
It was just what she’d done in her marriage. She’d hidden from the truth of how bad it was because it had seemed so much more painful to deal with the truth.
Standing in the middle of the vineyard with Chase’s eyes still on her, she knew he didn’t deserve to be dragged into her mess. And until she could be worthy of him by knowing how to stand on her own two feet, she couldn’t be with him for real.
Just then, a Beyoncé song started blaring from the portable stereo, and Amanda dragged her over to the group, who had all started dancing in their beautiful silk dresses.
Chloe had always loved to dance, loved to feel her limbs, her muscles, grow loose and warm. The sun was still in the sky, pouring down over them, and when the rubber band around her ponytail fell out, she let it go, shaking her hair to let it move around her face.
As she danced and Sara grabbed her hips to shimmy into her, Chloe could almost pretend again that the past ten years had never happened. Yes, she’d been hiding out from reality, but getting to be with Chase and the models and his crew these past few days had done so much to strip away the layers she’d never wanted to be there in the first place.
Yes, she knew this feeling of freedom, of joy, was only temporary, knew that trouble was waiting for her outside of the fantasy of this vine-covered world, but she still had a few more hours of joy left, didn’t she?
* * *
“She really is pretty.”
Chase turned to see Ellen standing beside him. He’d been utterly enraptured watching Chloe dance with the models.
But it was more than beauty that made it impossible for him to take his eyes off her.
Day by day, minute by minute, she was transforming. She’d already been a butterfly, even standing on the side of the road, dripping wet with that horrible bruise marring her soft skin. So it wasn’t that she was emerging from her cocoon.
Rather, the colors on her wings were growing brighter, more magnificent, as the burdens, the fears, she’d been carrying fell away piece by piece.
“Inside and out,” he agreed.
Ellen remained by his side, both of them watching the dancing. Surprisingly, this was the first time he’d run into her during the shoot. Almost as if she’d made sure to stay out of his way.
Feeling bad about the way he’d stood her up that first night, he said, “I really am sorry about—”
She put her hand on his arm, and her touch felt strange. Wrong. The song ended, and when Chloe looked over and saw them standing together, her expression tightened, narrowed.
Ellen quickly dropped her hand and waved. “Hi, Chloe!”
Chase watched Chloe’s mouth turn up into a smile that wasn’t entirely real as she moved toward them.
“Hmm,” Ellen said, “she looks mighty possessive of you.”
Chase didn’t have time to tell her it was mutual before Chloe was there with them.
“Hello, Ellen.”
Ellen smiled at her. “Wow, you have really gorgeous hair.”
Chloe blinked, clearly surprised by the compliment. “Thanks.”
The late-afternoon breeze whipped up, blowing a strand across her face. Chase reached out, slid his fingers through the silken strand as he tucked it behind her ear.
He felt her breath catch more than heard it as their eyes locked. He’d waited all day to touch her again, for the chance to fill up his senses with her softness, her sweet scent, her innate sensual responses. Her hand came up to cover his, holding his palm against her cheek in an instinctive reaction to his touch.
Until Ellen broke the spell by asking, “How have the two of you enjoyed being here this week?”
Chloe dropped his hand like he had the plague, and a faint blush stained her already flushed cheeks. Clearly, she’d only just realized she and Chase had been holding on to each other in front of Ellen.
“It’s been like living inside a fairy tale,” she said softly. She gestured out across the gently rolling mountains, covered in even green rows. “It must be marvelous coming here to work every day.”
Ellen nodded. “It’s pretty great. Except for when we get a bridezilla in, demanding to know why the grapes aren’t in fuller bloom for her big day. But, really, that’s the only time it kind of sucks.”
Chase was glad to hear Chloe chuckle, her discomfort at seeing Ellen again—and accidentally touching him in front of the other woman—receding.
He liked seeing that possessive glint in Chloe’s eyes. Loved it, actually. He doubted she even realized it was there—and that she’d continually been moving closer and closer to him, unconsciously staking her claim in front of a possible rival.
She might have repeatedly told him she couldn’t be with him, but that was her head talking. Her heart seemed to know better.
He knew better, too.
“Marcus wanted to be here to say goodbye to everyone, but he was called into the city suddenly,” Ellen told them. “He sends his apologies.”
Chase had a bad feeling about his brother’s frequent trips to the city. He’d always tried to keep an open mind about Marcus’s girlfriend, Jill. But Chase had never been all that crazy about her. None of the Sullivans were. Yes, she was beautiful, but her beauty wore thin beneath the layer of ice she walked around in. The stick up her ass didn’t help much, either.
Chloe’s face fell. “Oh, no. I really wanted to see him again before I left, to thank him properly for giving me a place to stay this week.”
She pulled the plump, soft flesh of her lower lip between her teeth. Chase couldn’t keep his eyes from landing there, didn’t have a prayer of keeping the rest of his body from responding in kind.
He’d never wanted a woman like this. Not just with his body. Not just with his brain. Not just with his heart.
But with his entire soul.
Ellen looked more than a little confused. “You’ll see him again, won’t you, Chloe?”
Just then, Sara yelled, “Chloe, I can’t get out of this stupid thing! It’s starting to freak me out. Can you help me?”
Relief sweeping across her lovely face, Chloe said, “I’ve got to go help the girls out of their clothes. It was very nice to see you again, Ellen.” She held out her hand, and the two women shook goodbye, at which point she turned and fled any more questions.
“Wait a minute,” Ellen said, still confused. “Why won’t she see Marcus again? Aren’t you and Chloe together now?”
Chase ran a hand through his hair. The frustration he’d had a hell of a time keeping at bay during the day’s shoot was eating straight through his gut.
“It’s complicated.”
Ellen looked back at Chloe, who was unbuckling one of the models’ bondage-inspired evening dresses. “It doesn’t really look all that complicated from where I’m standing. Heck, I practically got singed when you guys touched.”
He knew Ellen was right. There shouldn’t have been anything complicated about a guy falling in love with a girl. Funny, in all the years of women falling for him, he’d never thought it would end up like this—with him losing his heart to a woman who was so afraid to lose hers.
And now, all he had was one final night to try to talk her around from couldn’t to forever.
He felt Ellen’s hand on his arm again. “A few nights ago, I was a little disappointed that things didn’t happen between us, but honestly…” She flicked another glance at Chloe. “I hope this works out for you. She’s very sweet. You make a beautiful couple.” She smiled widely at him. “How about I block out a weekend for you next year, just in case?”
Chase immediately saw a breathtaking vision of Chloe in a long white dress waiting for him, surrounded by vines.
“Good luck, Chase.”
Ellen walked away, and he turned back to watch Chloe carefully wrapping up one of the dresses they’d used that afternoon. He’d never relied much on luck before, never liked counting on something so elusive, so unpredictable. He’d always figured talent and hard work would get him where he wanted to be.
But this time, Chase was afraid luck was exactly what he needed.
Thanks for reading and keep an eye out for Chapter 16!
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