Tempting the Best Man

by J. Lynn

“I bet you’re going to tell me.”

  Chad took a long swig of his beer, finishing it off. “Because you have something that Father never had—the capacity to love. And you love Maddie too much to do that to her.”

  Chase opened his mouth to deny it, but damn if the words weren’t there.

  His brother started to back away, brows raised. “You aren’t going to taint her, bro. You aren’t going to screw her up. I think the problem here is that you’re not giving anyone credit, especially yourself.”

  …

  Madison had seriously considered camping out on the floor of her parents’ cabin, but the whole second-honeymoon thing just grossed her out. Most of the wedding party was paired up with the exception of Sasha, who was Lissa’s friend from Maryland, but it looked like she’d be entertaining Chad for the evening.

  That left her great aunt Bertha, and yeah, that was so not happening.

  Besides, she told herself as she entered the dark, empty cabin, I’m not a teenager anymore. She wouldn’t run from Chase. It didn’t matter that once again she had held her heart in her hands and he’d taken it, dropped it on the floor, and stomped on it. All she needed to do was make it through tonight and tomorrow, and then for the rest of the weekend, she’d have her own cabin.

  She changed quickly, grabbing the shirt Chase had dressed her in last night. A pang hit her in the chest when she remembered how sweet he’d been.

  Sweet and sexy, and it meant nothing.

  All he wanted was to have sex with her and get it out of his system.

  What a douche.

  Her hands trembled as she reached for the faucets. Sitting next to Chase for most of the night had been a practice in pure torture. Several times she wanted to turn and say something to him—anything. Or take her glass of water and throw it in his face. The latter would’ve made her feel better, at least for a few moments.

  But there was nothing to be said, and after this weekend, she would go back to her life and finally forget about Chase Gamble.

  Washing her face, she tugged her long hair into a ponytail and went to the bed, settling under the covers. Tonight she didn’t feel bad about him ending up on the couch rejected from the sixties. Served him right.

  Madison rolled onto her side, placing her back to the door, and squeezed her eyes shut. Mentally tallying up the e-mails she’d need to answer and phone calls to be made when she returned to work next week, she tried to bore herself into sleep before Chase returned.

  No such luck.

  When the moon was high, its pale light slicing through the wooden shutters, the door creaked open and his footsteps broke the silence.

  “Maddie?”

  Holding her breath, she pretended to be asleep. Way to act like a grown-up.

  The footsteps drew closer and then the bed dipped under his weight as he sat. Silence stretched out, taut and tense as her nerves. What was he doing? She was half afraid to find out.

  Chase’s heavy sigh overshadowed the pounding of her heart. A second later, she felt the very tips of his fingers brush back the strands of hair lying againt her cheek, tucking them behind her ear.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered, but she heard him. “I’m sorry for everything.”

  Her breath caught, reminding her that she had indeed been breathing. Madison wasn’t sure what his apology should mean. Should it undo everything? Should it just lay between them, a proverbial white flag so there was some hope for a friendship in the future, because there wasn’t a future without him, no matter what?

  And she wasn’t sure who was to blame the most for this catastrophe. Sure, Chase wasn’t innocent, but it was she—and the feelings that she’d brought into this—that complicated everything.

  Madison squeezed her eyes against the rush of tears and clamped her mouth shut.

  Chase hovered for a few more seconds and then the bed shifted as he moved to stand. Unable to stay quiet, to pretend that this wasn’t happening, she rolled onto her back. “Chase?”

  He froze, one hand planted deep in the covers beside her hip. In the darkness, his eyes looked black, his features stark, strangely open and vulnerable.

  She really didn’t know what she was doing. Her body was at war with her heart and thoughts, and ever since she was a child, she’d had terrible, horrific impulse control.

  She reached up, placing her hand on his smooth jaw. Instead of pulling away, he pressed his cheek into her hand and closed his eyes.

  “This has been a wedding to remember, huh?” he said, his cheek rising against her hand as he gave a little smile. “And there hasn’t even been a wedding yet.”

  Then he placed his hand over hers and slowly brought it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to her palm, and her heart flipped over. “I’m sorry, Maddie. I really am. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking to say that to you earlier. Getting it out of my system isn’t what I want.”

  Her fingers curled around his. Confusion swept through her. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”

  He drew in a deep breath. “I don’t even know what I’m thinking. Chad was spouting all this Oprah bullshit and some of it made sense—as insane as that is.”

  “What?”

  Chase smiled a little, and then his eyes met hers. “I want you.”

  Madison’s breath caught. Hope was back, beating at her insides. With Chase, everything was like a roller coaster. Up. Down. Up. Down. “You said that earlier.”

  “And I meant it.”

  So much confusion still churned inside her, but her heart moved on, creating more space for him. The word that left her mouth pretty much sealed her fate. “Stay?”

  Chase hesitated, his body going so still, so tense that she could feel the edginess rolling off of him. Then he sprang into motion, kicking off his shoes as he unbuttoned his shirt. It fluttered to the floor like a white flag.

  Her heart was in her throat as her gaze flickered over the expanse of his well-defined chest, across the dips of his rock-hard abs. He was beautiful, something straight out of her fantasies. In the pale light of the moon, in the shadows of the cabin, she swept aside her reservations and fear. She existed on what she always had—her love for Chase.

  And in an instant, she believed this was the turning point that had been building for years. There’d be no going back. And if she couldn’t prove that he wasn’t like his father, no one could.

  Chase shifted onto his side, facing her with very little space between them. Neither of them said anything as she twisted toward him, their faces and bodies inches apart.

  Slowly, tentatively, Chase placed his hand to her cheek. His fingers trailing along the arch of her face, down to her parted lips. She felt the light touch in every cell of her body and her response was immediate, consuming.

  His fingers drifted down her throat, to the edge of her cotton shirt. A small smile played across his lips. “Do you know that seeing you in my clothes is a huge turn-on?” He edged his fingers under the collar, brushing them across her collarbone, and her toes curled. “I don’t know why that is, but it is.”

  She wondered if he felt the same when she was out of his clothes. Then she remembered the hard length that had pressed against her in the bathroom and she went with a yes.

  “What do we do, Maddie?” he asked, voice deep and husky.

  Madison swallowed, her body joining her heart and already making up her mind for her. Before she even knew what she was doing, her body moved toward his.

  Rising up on her knees, she placed both hands on his shoulders and pushed him until he was flat on his back. She straddled his hips, biting back a moan when she felt his erection straining through the rich material of his trousers, hot against the V of her thighs.

  “Make love to me,” she whispered. “Please.”

  Chase stilled and then his thick lashes lifted, his stare piercing her. He didn’t answer, but he placed his hands on her thighs, sliding them up to the hem of the shirt. His fingers bunched the material. There was a pause, a moment when the only thing

moving was her pounding heart, and then he lifted the shirt up.

  And that was her answer.

  By the time the borrowed shirt joined his on the floor, her mouth was on his and his big, warm body was under hers. The kiss wasn’t soft or gentle. It was deep and scorching, a product of years of pent-up desire on both their sides. His lips swallowed her breathy moans as his hand landed on the small of her back and jerked her to his chest. The feel of his skin flush with hers swamped her senses. Chase kissed her like a man starved, possessed by need…need for her. Madison’s hands clutched his shoulders as he staked his claim.

  A hand tangled in her hair. “If we’re going to stop,” he whispered against her swollen lips, “we need to stop now. Do you understand me?”

  She shuddered as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip. “I don’t want to stop. Ever. Do you understand me?”

  He stilled again, and then with a near-feral growl, he moved so quickly that in a heartbeat, she was on her back, open and vulnerable to him, and he hovered above her. Concentration marked his striking features, emphasizing his full lips.

  Then he was on her. His mouth clamping down on the tip of her breast as he hastily worked on the buttons and fly of his trousers. Madison let out a strangled cry as her back bowed off the mattress.

  Flesh against flesh, she felt him hot and hard against her thigh, and she gripped his arms, placing tiny kisses all over his face and down his throat.

  Chase caught Madison’s chin, held her as his mouth plundered hers again, kissing her until she writhed and thrashed beneath him. He was in control. Part of her wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

  Some reality snuck back in, and she placed a hand on his chest. “I’m on the pill, but…”

  A wry smile tugged on his lips. “I got it covered.” He was off her, rummaging around in his luggage for a few moments before he returned with a foil package in his hand.

  Madison arched a brow. “Planning to get laid this weekend?”

  “Not really,” he admitted. “But I always have some with me.”

  There wasn’t any time to let jealousy seep in because her gaze dropped and her stomach hollowed as she watched him slide the condom on his thick shaft. Then his lips were on hers and he was guiding her back, stretching out over her.

  Amazed by the power in his body, she ran her hands down his ripped stomach and around his taut hips. His skin was like satin stretched over steel. Perfect.

  The taste of him was on her lips as the kisses slowed, turned tender as she felt him hot at her entrance. Rolling her hips, she moaned at the feel of him there, close but not close enough. She was so ready, had been ready for what felt like an eternity.

  Rising up on his elbows, Chase stared down at her. His eyes were a heated, vibrant sapphire, penetrating and intense as they locked onto hers.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered. “I want to feel you inside me.”

  “I couldn’t stop now, even if I wanted.” He kissed her, marking her with all the passion and yearning she had felt for so long. “I need this. Damn it, I need you.”

  And then he plunged into her with one deep stroke.

  Madison let out a keening cry at the feel of him stretching and filling her. None of her fantasies, none of the men she had been with in the past, had ever felt like this, because this…this was completion.

  He stilled, seated deep inside her. One hand came up, brushing the damp hair back from her forehead. “You’re so tight…” His voice was guttural, near animalistic. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded and then wrapped her legs around his hips. Chase tipped his head back, groaning, and then she rocked her hips up. The veins in his neck protruded, as they did in his arms. And then he started to move, slow and languid strokes that drove her crazy. The friction of their bodies moving together, the sounds in the otherwise silent cabin, heightened her pleasure.

  Lost… Madison was lost.

  For so long, he held back while she cried out for more, and when he finally gave it to her, she gasped as his hands clamped down on her wrists, holding her still. He thrust hard, her hips surging to meet his.

  Pressure built inside her, zinging through her veins like bottled lightning. It was too much—too intense. Her head kicked back, her body trembling.

  “Come for me,” Chase whispered against her neck. “Let go.”

  And Madison did. She came apart, shattering around him as she called out his name. Two quick, hard thrusts later and she felt him find his release, his huge body spasming over hers as aftershocks racked his body.

  When it was over, he eased out of her and onto his back, gathering her close so that her cheek rested above his pounding heart. Both of them struggled with their breathing.

  She’d never felt anything like that before and knew she’d never feel it again. Heaven.

  Madison closed her eyes. There was a good chance she’d regret this in the harsh light of the morning and after weeks, maybe months from now. But in a few years, she’d be able to look back and know that she’d had him, if only for one night.

  Chapter Nine

  Lazily, Madison stretched and smiled at the pleasant burn in her muscles. Last night… yes, it had probably been the best night of her life. No lie. After Chase had a few moments to recover, he’d flipped her onto her stomach, drew up to her knees and…yeah, like she said, best night of her life. And her body was already warming, readying for him again.

  Last night had to have been a turning point for them. The way he’d…the way he’d made love to her, it meant something deep, irrevocable, and perfect. She just knew it. Somehow they’d burned down those barriers without words. He had to see he was so much better than his father and he had to know that they were meant for this.

  She rolled over and reached for the warmth of his body and found…nothing.

  Her eyes snapped open.

  The spot next to her was empty, but the scent of woods and something wild lingered on the pillow and twisted sheets.

  Madison turned to the couch, but that, too, was empty. A deep sense of foreboding took root, and she scrambled off the bed, clutching a sheet around her. She checked the bathroom, but he wasn’t there, either.

  He’d left without saying anything.

  Her heart turned over painfully.

  Okay. She was being stupid. He could be doing anything. Getting them breakfast or walking outside, enjoying the clean morning air.

  Hurrying over to the window, she parted the blinds, wincing at the bright glare. The deck was empty. As far as she could see, there was no Chase. Turning around, she shivered as her gaze drifted over the bed. He didn’t leave her, not after a night like that. There was no way, because that…that would be like working it out of your system. That would be like getting what you wanted and then bailing, like guys did on one-night stands.

  Last night wasn’t a one-night stand.

  Her gaze travelled to the couch again, then to where her suitcase was near the small closet and then…her eyes darted back to the suitcase.

  Coldness seeped into her bones.

  His luggage was gone.

  Heart pounding, she crossed the room and threw open the closet door. Two of her dresses and her bridesmaid’s dress hung in the closet, but all of Chase’s stuff—his tux, his dress shirts—were gone. As were his shoes, and she knew if she checked the bathroom, his stuff would be gone from there, too.

  Madison stood in front of the closet until she realized she was shaking.

  He’d left her.

  He’d actually left her.

  In a numb, painful daze, she went back to the bed and sat on the edge. Her throat burned and her eyes stung, but she clamped it down, pushed it all down. Minutes turned into an hour and still he didn’t show.

  He really had left her.

  Her brain had a hard time processing it, but the evidence was clear. She was a fool. Last night she had given in to her body and her heart, and it had come back and bit her in the ass.

  Maybe she should’ve listened to him. He’s warned her—had been warning her all along. He said he was like his father, and he’d proven it.

  And he’d demolished her.

  …

  Chase wanted to strangle the clerk by the time the man had handed over the key to one of the new cabins. He had made Chase wait for damn near a half an hour while the cabin was cleaned, which put him seriously behind schedule.

  Taking his stuff to the new cabin, his eyes gazed at the regular king-size bed with satin sheets. Sheets he could easily see Maddie spread naked upon. That made him think of last night and his cock hardened. He was ready for round three…and then round four.

  But he needed to shower first. Although he loved the lingering scent of vanilla—of Maddie—the last thing he needed to be doing was running around smelling like he’d just had sex with Mitch’s little sister.

  Last night had been amazing—Maddie had been amazing. And it was more than sex. It was that connection, that whatever-it-was that went beyond an orgasm. It was something more—special. Once in a lifetime kind of shit. None of the women he’d been with had felt like that, and in that moment, he knew none of them would.

  Now he sounded like he’d been watching Oprah reruns.

  But…but it had to mean something. And he was tired of fighting the need to find out what that “something” was. Tired of denying what he really wanted—had wanted for far too long. Maddie was more than Mitch’s little sister. More than the little girl who’d shadowed him for years. She was everything to him. And he was more than his father’s son, too, because he knew deep down he could never hurt Maddie. Not after last night.

  And now he was just realizing that?

  He’d mucked up things yesterday with that God-awful offer, but last night…

  It had to be a new beginning.

  He took the fastest shower of his life and then headed back to the lodge. There was a tiny florist shop in the back, and he picked up a dozen roses. Tucking them under one arm, he grabbed a slice of cheesecake from the in-house bakery before making his way back to the Love Shack.

  Chase was hoping Maddie was still asleep. He had a real good idea of how to wake her, with his hands, fingers, and then his tongue. Maybe some cheesecake afterward, but knowing her, she’d probably knock him over to get to the good stuff. No one got between Maddie and the sweets.

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