If he ever came face to face with her ex-husband, Chase didn’t have the first clue how he’d stop himself from killing the bastard.

“You’re so good, so sweet, so strong that you can do absolutely anything you want, Chloe. Anything but blame yourself for other people’s weaknesses.”

“I know that now.”

Last night at dinner, he hadn’t shown her all the pictures he’d taken of her. Now, he went to his camera bags and pulled out another set of photos. “I took these. For evidence.”

She took them from him and quickly looked through the different shots he’d surreptitiously taken of her bruise during that first day. “I should have thought to ask you to take these for me. But I—” She stopped, took a deep breath. “I wasn’t ready to think about what I needed to do.” Her smile was small, but it was there, at least for a brief moment. “Thank you for being smart enough to take these, to plan ahead when I couldn’t.” She reached out her hand to him. “Will you come sit with me while I make the phone call?”

Chase was a breath away from telling her that he would do more than sit with her for a phone call. He and his brothers would make sure, in no uncertain terms, that her ex would never come near her again.

Instead, he walked with her into the kitchen, handed her the phone, and held her hand the entire time. When the call finally came to an end, Chloe looked shaken.

“Have I told you how brave you are yet this morning?”

“I love you, too,” was her response.

He pulled her onto his lap and wanted to hold her like that forever. But the quiet left her far too susceptible to replaying over and over in her head what she’d just told the police.

“I finally get to have breakfast with you.”

She lifted her head from his chest in surprise. “Breakfast?”

“You’re about to be blessed by another of my talents.”

He raised his eyebrows in a faux-lecherous way to remind her exactly what talent she’d just been party to experiencing. He missed her warmth, her softness, when she slid off his lap, but he was beyond glad to see her smile back as he slipped on a flowery apron.

“I swear I won’t say a single thing about marshmallows,” she said with a giggle as he turned so that she could tie it in the back for him.

When he turned back to her, her eyes were dancing, thank God.

“Definitely still Hotstuff.” She reached for a pair of scissors from the butcher block on the kitchen island. “How about I go pick some pretty flowers to match your very pretty apron?”

She jumped out of his reach before he could give her beautifully curvaceous rear a smack. Loving the sound of her laughter, he said, “Little Red better go before the wolf shows her he’s hungry for more than pancakes.”

Her lingering laughter, along with the words, “Promises, promises,” followed her out the front door.

Chase stared after her for several beats, so incredibly thankful for all the blessings in his life, the biggest one of all being the woman he loved.

She’d told him this morning that she wasn’t worried about his stepping over the lines—no, she hadn’t just told him with words, she’d showed him with her body what she wanted to give, what she wanted him to take—but he knew there were bound to be times when he made her mad, when he acted on her behalf without thinking. Lord knew he and his brothers had done that enough times with his sisters, all in the name of protection. Not just because they were older and felt they knew best.

But even though Chase knew he and Chloe were bound to butt heads in the future, he also knew their love was strong enough to survive a little conflict.

And boy, oh boy, was the making-up part of their future “discussions” about boundaries going to be fun. He was grinning as he grabbed flour from the pantry, then reached into the fridge for eggs and milk.

First, he was going to blow her mind with the pancakes...and then he was going to blow her mind in an entirely different way that would have her forgetting about breakfast altogether.

Chapter Twenty

Chloe had been dreading making that phone call to the police for so long that she’d assumed her stomach would be in knots for hours, if not days afterward. But she didn’t feel weak or shaky. Just the opposite. She felt so much lighter now, like she could sprint up the mountain and not even be winded when she got to the top.

The lavender planted in front of the guest house was in full bloom and she could smell it as the sun warmed her and the flowers and the grapes growing on the vines all around the stunning Napa Valley property. Smiling, she moved to the plant with her scissors and had just started cutting a thick bunch when she heard a sudden sound behind her.

The instant it took her brain to realize that Chase wouldn’t be sneaking up on her was a moment too long to jump out of the way of the hand that came down over her mouth.

The scissors fell out of her hand as a man yanked her hard against his body. “You little bitch, I saw you in there playing house with that guy.”

Dean.

How had he found her here?

Chloe worked to still the panic inside. If she let fear rule her, she wouldn’t be able to think straight enough to fight back. To fight for the life she deserved.

In place of fear, she let fury fly free.

Because she wasn’t going to run this time.

No, she was never running again.

Her ex-husband’s hand was smooth and sweaty across her face as he hissed in her ear, “Are you begging him to do all those dirty things to you, you filthy slut?”

He was even angrier today than he’d been at her apartment. His pride had to be pretty badly battered at the way she’d knocked him out with the paint can. And after living with him for so many years, Chloe knew how his brain worked: He figured since she hadn’t gone to the cops yet that she must be too scared to tell anyone what he’d tried to do to her.

She knew what he expected her to do. He expected her to take what he gave her. He expected her to cower. Just like she must have all those years they were together. He hadn’t even needed to use force during their marriage to get her to surrender her power to him. All he’d needed to do was look at her like she wasn’t worth a damn thing...and she’d believed him.

Well, she knew a hell of a lot better now what she was worth. And who she was.

Using his underestimation of her to her benefit, Chloe bit down on his palm as hard as she could. She tasted his blood in her mouth as he screamed in pain.

Taking her chance, she kicked behind her, hoping she was nailing his family jewels, and dove for the scissors.