by J. Lynn
Whirling around, she didn’t wait for Madison or Chase to say anything else. She cut across the main room, hastily delving out smiles and kept going so she couldn’t be stopped.
She was ten feet from the entrance when she came to a complete stop and the air rushed out of her lungs.
Standing under the twinkling white lights was Chad Gamble.
He was dressed in a tux, dressed like he’d planned on attending, and God, he looked wonderful. His sky blue eyes scanned the room and landed on her.
She couldn’t move. The world around her ceased to exist.
With a look of determination, he strode toward her. He didn’t walk. Oh no, he stalked up to her.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
“Yes.” She shook her head. “I was leaving to find you.”
“You were?” He cocked his head to the side. “Why?”
“I need to talk to you.” She glanced around as she took ahold of his arm, hoping to move the conversation to a much more private area. “You made the donation.”
Bridget couldn’t glean anything from his expression, and he wasn’t moving. “I did,” he replied.
“Why?” She kept her voice low. “Chad, that was so much money and—”
“I love you,” he said, and loud enough that several people around them stopped and turned. A bit of blush filled the hollows of his cheeks. “That’s why I did it. May not have fully realized it at the time, but I do. I love you. And I can’t have my girl not having her job.”
Bridget stared at him, unsure she heard him correctly, but by then, they had gained such an audience and, by the expressions on their faces, they had to have imagined the same thing.
“You love me?” she squeaked out.
A half smile appeared. “Yeah, I do.”
Everything felt surreal, like she was dreaming. “Maybe we should go talk somewhere—”
“No. I want to do this here,” he said, dropping his hands on her shoulders. “I’ve been an ass the majority of my life. I didn’t want to get off the playground, you know.”
“What?”
He shook his head. “Forget the playground statement but listen. From the night I first met you, I knew I was never going to meet another woman like you. I should’ve found you after then, but somehow you came back into my life. I don’t know how. I really don’t deserve that kind of luck, and I sure as hell don’t deserve a woman like you.”
Tears were building in her eyes. “Chad…”
“I’m not finished, babe.” His blue eyes were dancing. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. I didn’t sleep with those women, by the way. Still didn’t do that, but that’s not the point. I did do a lot of things that impacted other people. I never took responsibility for any of it, but what I regret most was leaving your place on Christmas Day.”
Oh God, she was going to start bawling. “Chad, it’s okay. We can—”
“It wasn’t okay. I should’ve heard you out.” He let go, taking a deep breath. “And I never wanted to fix anything until now, and it has nothing to do with the contract. Fuck the contract.”
Bridget sucked in a breath, but it got caught.
“I want to fix things because of you. I want to be worthy of you.”
Tears sneaked out of her eyes then. “But you are, Chad. You are.”
A bit of the smugness eked into his expression. “Well, I know I’m great, but I could be better for you.”
Bridget laughed shakily. “Wow.”
“What I’m trying to say is that you’re the best fake girlfriend I’ve ever had.” Chad went down on one knee in front of her and the entire world. “I’m in awe of you.”
She froze. “What are you doing?”
“Holy shit,” Chase said from the sidelines.
“Shut up,” hissed Madison.
Chad shot his brother a wicked look and then turned his gaze back to her. “This may be crazy, but what the hell, right?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small black box, and Bridget felt faint as he cracked it open. An emerald set in a silver band winked up at her. “I love you, Bridget. I’m pretty sure you feel the same way about me, and screw the whole dating thing. Let’s get married.”
Blood drained from her upper body so fast she really thought she was going to topple right over.
Chad waited. “What do you say? Will you marry me?”
Oddly enough, Bridget’s entire life flashed before her eyes. Which was really weird, considering she wasn’t dying or anything, but it did. In an instant, everything she had ever been and ever would be collided. Her heart swelled. Happiness rushed over her.
Her eyes locked with his and the words came out. “Yes. Yes!”
There was a thunderous roar as Chad rose to his feet and slipped the ring on. It was a little big, but she couldn’t care about that in the moment. Looking up at Chad, she closed her eyes as his lips descended on hers in the sweetest, most tender kiss they ever shared.
“Holy shit,” she heard Chase say again, and Chad and her parted, laughing as they saw his dumbstruck brother standing next to Madison.
Wrapping his arms around Bridget, Chad lowered his mouth to her ear. “Thank you,” he said. “Thank you.”
She burrowed her face into his neck as she clutched his arms. “You do deserve me.”
He slid his arms to her waist. “Then show me.”
She so got what he was referencing. Grabbing Chad by the arm, she shot the director an apologetic smile. “Sorry about the circus. Really, I am.”
Director Bernstein looked as stunned as she felt, but she kept going, leading Chad out into the lobby and down the hall. They made a pit stop in the first room they found—a small storage room holding the wine for the Gala. It was chilled in there, but it was perfect.
Chad locked the door behind him and turned to her, eyes flaring a deep blue. “I need to hear you say it.”
Her heart fluttered. “I love you, Chad. I wanted to tell you that on Christmas, but—”
“But I acted like a douche, I know.” He came up to her and reached up, tugging her hair down so it was a mess of waves and curls. “I want to spend the rest of my life making up for it.”
Amazing how those words turned her on more than anything in this world. “Then start making up for it now.”
“Oh, I like that. Bossy pants.” His head dipped and he kissed her—kissed her in a way that was so different from before, as if he was telling her that he knew he had her, and he was never letting go. “Think you can handle marrying a player?”
Bridget slid her hand between them, finding where he was already ready for her. “As long as he’s a player only on the field, yes.” She cupped him and smiled when he moaned against her lips. “You think you can handle me?”
In a split second, Chad had her flipped around, her back pressed against his front. “What do you think?” His breath was hot in her ear as he slid a hand up her thigh. “No stockings. I have to say I agree.”
Her panties were gone before she could even say a word. They ended up down by her ankles and she stepped out of them.
“That’s my girl.” He kissed the back of her neck. “That’s my soon-to-be wife.”
The sound of his zipper coming down almost had her coming right then. There was no other warning. He slid into her, his rhythm hot and furious, relentless and beautiful, as he guided her neck back, bringing his mouth to hers. Both were panting, their hips rocking into each other as he took them to a soul-shattering release that left them breathless.
When Chad spun her around to face him, he kissed her deeply and held her against him, every so often dropping a kiss to her cheek and then her eyelids.
“I guess I do have to thank Miss Gore,” Bridget admitted when she could speak again.
“What for?” Chad straightened the hem on her dress and then pressed a kiss to her throat.
She smiled up at him, her heart swelling so fast she was sure it was going to burst. “For you.”
Chad cupped her c
heeks. “You’re right, but I’m the one who needs to be thanking her. She brought you back into my life. Let’s never tell her, though” he said, kissing her lips. “She can come to the wedding, but God knows her head can’t get any bigger. She doesn’t need our help.”
Bridget laughed as she looped her arms around Chad’s neck, happier than she ever believed possible—with Chad Gamble of all people, a player on the field and a reformed one off. And all because of the publicist from hell. Funny how things worked out.
“Agreed,” she said, smiling.
Chad dipped his head once more and based on the way he was kissing her, taking her into him over and over again, they wouldn’t be leaving the wine room anytime soon.
Acknowledgments
A special thank-you goes out to Liz Pelletier and the team behind Entangled Brazen for loving the Gamble Brothers as much as I do, and to Kevan Lyon for being the awesomesauce agent that she always is. And to my publicist Stacey O’Neale, thank you for all the hard work you do. Thank you to my friends who’ve always been a huge support—Stacey Morgan, Dawn, Lesa, Cindy, and so on—and to my family and husband.
None of this would be possible without all you readers out there. I owe you the biggest thanks in the world. Every one of you amazes me. Thank you.
Unleash your inner vixen with these Brazen releases…
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After Lacey Garrity’s wedding day goes horribly, adulterously wrong, she shucks her straight-laced life and accepts a reckless challenge from sexy boxer Galen Thomas, her best friend’s older brother. The dare? Take him on her honeymoon instead, but will running away with the enemy lead Lacey to love?
No Flowers Required by Cari Quinn
A night of passion is all down-on-her-luck flower shop owner Alexa Conroy wants, but when she propositions a sexy stranger, she gets more than she bargained for. Dillon James isn’t who he says he is. Will saving her company be enough to protect their love from Dillon’s lies?
Wrong Bed, Right Guy by Katee Robert
Prim and proper art gallery coordinator Elle Walser is no good at seducing men. She slips into her boss’s bed in the hopes of winning his heart, but instead, finds herself in the arms of Gabe Schultz, his bad boy nightclub mogul brother. Has Elle’s botched seduction led her to the right bed after all?
Seducing Cinderella by Gina L. Maxwell
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Did you love Chase and Maddie? Keep reading for a sample of their story,
TEMPTING THE BEST MAN.
Madison Daniels has worshipped her brother’s best friend since they were kids. Everyone thinks she and Chase Gamble would make the perfect couple, but there are two major flaws in their logic. 1) Chase has sworn off relationships of any kind, and 2) after blurring the line between friends and lovers for one night four years ago, they can’t stop bickering.
Forced together for her brother’s wedding getaway, Chase and Madison decide to call a truce for the happy couple. Except all bets are off when they’re forced to shack up in a tacky 70’s honeymoon suite and survive a multitude of “accidents” as the family tries to prove their “spark” can be used than for more than fighting. That is, if they don’t strangle each other first…
Chapter One
The ivory invitation with its elegant calligraphy and lacy embellishments felt more like a humiliation time bomb just waiting to blow up in Madison Daniels’s face than a beautiful wedding announcement. Man, did she have a problem.
Mitch, her big brother by three years—her only brother—was actually getting married this weekend. Married.
She was totally happy for him. Thrilled, even. His fiancée, Lissa, was a great gal, and they’d become quick friends. Lissa would never do her brother wrong. A Hallmark movie could be based on the two. Met freshman year at University of Maryland, fell madly in love, got great corporate jobs straight out of college, and the rest was history.
No, Mitch and Lissa weren’t the problem.
And a wedding held deep in Northern Virginia’s vineyards definitely wasn’t the problem.
Not even her semi-lunatic parents, who owned and operated a very profitable online store called DOOMSDAY “R” US and would likely be hawking gas masks to the guests, were the problem. In fact, she’d take an asteroid with “Earth’s My Bitch” emblazoned on it and headed her way over this.
Her gaze dropped to the invitation, down to the list of attending bridesmaids and groomsmen, and winced. She blew out a slow breath, stirring the long strands of brown hair that had escaped her messy twist.
Right across from her name, separated by a few innocent dots and written in crimson ink, was the name of the best man: Chase Gamble.
God hates me. That was it. Well, she was the maid of honor, and any of the other Gamble brothers would’ve been fine as best man. But oh no, it had to be Chase Gamble. He was her older brother’s best friend, confidante, homie, whatever—and otherwise known as the bane of Madison’s existence.
“Staring at the invitation isn’t going to change a damn thing.” Bridget Rodgers leaned a plump hip against Madison’s desk, drawing her attention. Her assistant was a study in how a fashion disaster on some people could work for others. Today, Bridget wore a fuchsia pencil skirt paired with a purple peasant shirt sporting large polka dots. A black scarf and leather boots completed the look. Mysteriously, she actually looked good in what should have been a clown’s costume. Bridget was bold.
Madison sighed. She could use a little bold right now. “I don’t think I can deal with this.”
“Look, you should’ve taken my advice and invited Derek from the history department. At least then you’d be having wild monkey sex instead of lusting after your brother’s best friend during the whole wedding. A man who’s already rejected you once, might I add.”
Bridget had a point. She was crafty like that. “What am I going to do?” Madison asked, glancing out the window of her office. All she could see was the steel and cement of the museum next to her building—the Smithsonian, which always made her chest swell with pride. She’d worked hard to become one of the privileged few who got to work for this amazing cultural institution.
Bridget leaned down into Madison’s face and caught her attention again. “You’re going to put on your big-girl panties and deal with it. You may have a secret, undying love for Chase Gamble, but if he hasn’t recognized your awesomeness by now the man is clearly mental and so not worth this angst.”
“I know, I know,” Madison said. “But he’s just so… infuriating.”
“Most men are, sweetie.” Bridget winked.
“It’s fine he’s not interested in me. Disappointing, but I can deal. And I can even forgive him for changing his mind the one time we almost hooked up. Well, sort of.” She laughed without much humor and stared at her best friend, willing her to understand. “But he’s constantly poking at me, you know? Teasing me in front of my family, treating me like a kid sister, when all I want to do is shake him…and get him naked.”
“It’s just one weekend—how bad can it be?” Bridget asked. She was trying to add the voice of reason to what was going to be the worst weekend of Madison’s life.
Dropping the invitation on her desk, she leaned back in her chair and sighed, idly contemplating calling the history department.
Ever since she could remember, there was Chase. Always Chase. They’d grown up on the same block in the suburbs of D
C. Her brother and Chase had been inseparable since, well, forever. Which meant, being the baby of the family, Madison had nothing better to do as a kid than follow behind Mitch and his friends.
She’d idolized Chase. It was hard not to with his masculine beauty, easy candor, and downright illegal dimples. As a boy and into adulthood, Chase had a fierce protective streak that could make a girl’s heart do a little flutter in her chest. He was the type of guy who would rip off his shirt in the middle of Snowmageddon and give it to a homeless person on the street, but there’d always been this raw, dangerous edge to him.
Chase wasn’t the kind of guy anyone messed with.
Once in high school, a boy had gotten a little too frisky with her in his car parked outside her parents’ house, and Chase had just been leaving when he’d heard her muffled protests as a hand went somewhere she didn’t want.
After that run-in, the guy didn’t walk right for several weeks.
And the occurrence pretty much cemented a puppy love that just wouldn’t die.
Everyone and their mother had known she had it bad for Chase throughout high school and the first two years of college. Christ, it was a well-known theory that wherever Mitch and Chase were, Madison wasn’t too far behind. Sad as it was—and it was pathetic—she had attended the University of Maryland because they had.
Everything changed her junior year in college, the night he’d opened his first nightclub.
After that…she did everything in her power to avoid Chase. Not that it worked or anything.
One would think in a city as overpopulated as Washington, DC, she’d be able to avoid the rat bastard, but oh no, the laws of nature were a cruel, unrelenting bitch.
Chase was everywhere. She’d rented one of the smaller apartments on the second floor of the Gallery, and weeks later, he’d bought one of the penthouses on the top floor. Even on family holidays, he and his brothers had seats at her parents’ dinner table, since they treated the Gambles like a flock of sons.
Working out at the gym, he’d be there pumping iron early in the morning while she did her daily pretend-run on the elliptical. And when he got on the treadmill? Oh, wow, who knew calf muscles could be so sexy? It wasn’t her fault that she stared and maybe drooled on herself a little. Had maybe fallen off the elliptical a time or two when he’d lifted his shirt, revealing abs that looked like someone stuck paint rollers under his skin for crying out loud, and wiped his brow with the hem.