Tempting the Best Man (A Gamble Brothers Novel) (Entangled Brazen) (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

Lissa looked absolutely stunning in her wedding gown. Strapless with a heart-shaped bodice, it was corseted around the waist and slim through the hips, and it floated around her legs like a spring rose blossoming. A fine layer of pearls had been added to the delicate chiffon overlay.

It was a beautiful dress for a beautiful woman, and if Madison ever got married one day, she wanted a dress like this: fresh but also classic.

Madison straightened the last pearl in Lissa’s hair and smiled. “You look amazing.”

“Thank you.” Lissa hugged her and then cast a fond look at their mothers. Both of them were clutching tissues like they were going out of style. “Do you think they’ll make it through this?”

“I hope so.” Madison grinned, stepping back so that Lissa had a few moments with one of the bridesmaids.

Retreating to the window in the room off from the reception hall, she watched the guests file up the pathway. Outside, Chad and Chandler hovered with a couple of friends from college.

Chase was nowhere to be seen.

Since she had said what needed to be said, he’d kept his distance from her. Which was what she had wanted, but her chest ached, and she was still so very hungry to just be around him.

When Chase had come in after she’d left him on the deck, he had said nothing to her. Didn’t even try to approach her once, and after the rehearsal dinner, he’d disappeared with his brother. Obviously he had heard what he needed to and now could rest assured. They were still friends. Everything was normal. The night of passion they shared was already a thing of the past. It was over.

Well, it would be over when she met with her superintendent.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she focused on what was going on around her. Mitch and Lissa deserved for her to be here with them, fully here and not just a shell of herself sulking over her own love life.

When it came time to prepare for the bridal march, she was nervous for Lissa and her brother, anxious over seeing Chase, and praying she didn’t trip on the hem of her dress.

Out in the hallway, she spotted his broad shoulders. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she manned up and went to his side, just like the other bridesmaids with their escorts.

As the soft melody played from the white-rose-decorated reception hall, she tapped him on his shoulder. He turned, his expression impassive, eyes a steely blue.

“You ready?” she asked, smiling until her cheeks hurt. She wasn’t going to do anything that ruined this wedding.

“Of course.” He offered his arm, and as she tried not to be affected by how the coldness in his voice stung her, she wrapped her arm around his. A moment passed and he said, “You look beautiful, Maddie.”

A pleasant flush swept across her cheeks and down her throat, almost mirroring the crimson Grecian-style dress. Her heart tripped over itself. She glanced at him and their eyes met for a fraction of a second before she tilted her head to the side, letting the stream of hair shield her face.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You look great, too.”

He took the compliment in the usual Chase fashion and nodded. Awkward silence stretched out between them and it seemed unbelievable that it had ever been any other way. To be honest, Madison wasn’t sure why Chase was giving her the cold shoulder. He was the one who wanted their night to be a one-night stand. He was the one who’d left. All she did was try and salvage a bit of her pride and tell him she agreed. What the heck more did he want from her?

Heart heavy, she lifted her chin as she heard the cue of the music. Before them, each couple entered the hall, smiling. And then it was their turn. From deep inside, she found the happiness and affection she felt for her brother and Lissa. The smile that spread across her face was genuine, even though her heart was breaking inside.

Because after this weekend, she really wouldn’t see Chase everywhere like before. A door would be opening this weekend for some while a door would be closing for her.

Each row was full of family and friends. Standing-room only, she realized, overjoyed to know that so many people loved her brother and Lissa. It did wonders for the melancholy that was threatening to rise up and swallow her whole.

The arm around hers tensed halfway down the aisle, and she glanced at Chase. His gaze was questioning and concerned.

But her smile remained throughout the romantic ceremony. Her brother was incredibly cute, turning into this clumsy, near–emotional wreck as he held Lissa’s hand and repeated the words that would bind them together, through sickness and health. And when tears filled her eyes, threatening to ruin all the hard work on her mascara and eyeliner, it was because of how truly in love Lissa and her brother were. Her heart swelled and ached at the same time.

The way they kept gazing at each other throughout the ceremony stole her breath and when it came to that moment, when the words
You may now kiss the bride
were spoken, she realized that was what true love looked like.

Clutching the small white rose bouquet in her hands, she sniffed back tears.

Guests shot to their feet and cheered. Tears fell freely, and Madison choked on a small laugh as Mitch swept his arm around the waist of his new wife, dipped her low, and kissed her in a way a sister should never see her brother kissing.

As Lissa and Mitch parted, laughing and smiling at each other, Madison’s eyes met Chase’s. There was a world of secrets in his gaze, a world that had and always would be locked to her. She’d had the briefest, sweetest taste, and she would savor it.

…

Silverware clinked, nearly muted by the laughter and hum of conversation from the main table and the smaller round ones surrounding it.

Chase laughed at something Chad said as he scanned the rows of smiling faces. His eyes stopped on one in particular.

Maddie.

Damn, she looked absolutely beautiful. The crimson gown accented her alabaster skin and dark hair, not to mention it clung in all the places that had his blood racing to a certain part of his anatomy. Not that it had stopped racing to that place since he’d first laid eyes on Maddie this weekend.

God, he wanted to take her away, some place private. His fingers burned to skim the heart-shaped neckline. Watch the peaks of her breasts tighten under his gaze, feel the slight tremble as his hand slipped under the gown.

Chase shifted in his seat as he watched her from behind hooded eyes.

A small, tight-lipped smile crossed her delicate features and her eyes seemed to dance under the low lights and candlelight, but he knew something was up with her. He just wished he could figure out where it’d all gone wrong. He could have sworn when he’d gotten up that morning they were both finally on the same page.

Acid gnawed at his belly like no tomorrow. He tried to convince himself that it was an ulcer. Hell, an ulcer would be better than what really had his insides churning and spinning on themselves.

All night, Chase had tossed and turned like he’d drunk a bucket of coffee. Maddie’s words lingered with him long after they’d been said. He replayed them over and over again, analyzing them like an obsessive teenage girl. That’s what he’d been lowered to. Damn.

Chase leaned back in his seat, idly turning the stem of his flute of champagne.

The way things had been left between them wasn’t good, and it made him all kinds of itchy giving her the space she obviously wanted.

He felt like shit, unsure if it were something physical or more. Throughout the day, he’d convinced himself that when he returned to the city, there’d be enough going on to distract him. There was the responsibility of running his clubs to lose himself in; the plans to open a fourth, which meant a lot of meetings to occupy his time; and there were women…

Chase’s stomach soured at the thought, and he didn’t like it.

His gaze slid back to where she sat beside her parents. Shit. He needed to stop staring at her like a lovesick hound. Someone was bound to notice. Hell, people had already noticed, including Mitch.

Against his will and common sense, he was staring at Maddie again, practically willing her to look up and notice him.

And she did.

Chase sucked in a breath, barely aware that Mitch had stood and was giving a toast to his new wife. He wasn’t hearing a damn thing except the pulse pounding in his ears. A simple look from her and his body was already coming alive. He was hard as forged steel. Freaking ridiculous. Aw hell, it was more than that—this instantaneous physical reaction that just wouldn’t go away.

“To us!” Mitch cheered, holding up his champagne glass. “To our future!”

Madison raised hers, her gaze still locked with his. Her lips moved, mirroring the same words he murmured. “To our future.”

Chapter Twelve

Chase woke up Sunday morning, covered in a cold sweat. Either he was coming down with the plague or he was having withdrawals from the pollution and smog of DC.

Or it was something entirely different and it had a name.

Maddie.

He rolled onto his side, opening his eyes and squinting at the rays of sun seeping in under the blinds. One look at the clock, and he knew he didn’t have a whole lot of time to lie in bed. Mitch and Lissa would be leaving soon for their honeymoon in the Bahamas, and Chase wanted to see them off.

There was also a hidden agenda.

Chase wanted to see Maddie, and he hoped he could corner her before she left for the city. They needed to talk, and with the wedding celebrations over, it would be the perfect time to do so. No distractions. No family or friends lingering around to overhear the conversation. No way for her to escape.

Kicking off the sheets that were twisted around his hips, he stood and stretched. It had taken until the wee hours of the night, but Chase had finally figured out what had Maddie running scared. She’d claimed she just wanted to be friends now, but he was calling bullshit on that. If that were the case, she wouldn’t have been so offended when he’d suggested hooking up. And she wouldn’t have been his little shadow for the last several years.

No. She was lying. Lying to protect herself, and he got that. After all, he’d done nothing to show her that he felt any differently than what he’d been saying all these years, that he was no better than his father. If anything, he’d proven she was right time and time again. The first time had been the opening of the nightclub.

Stepping under the hot spray of the shower, he cursed. Remembering how delectable she looked in her black dress that night, staring at him with those wide, innocent eyes, and he was hard as a rock.

He had wanted her then, had come so close to taking her right there on the couch in his office. Her brother hadn’t been the only thing that had stopped him. Maddie had deserved better than that. But when he pulled back and came to his senses, he couldn’t believe what he had almost done. So the next day, like a total ass with good intentions, he’d apologized to her and claimed that he’d been drunk.

Then he’d gone out with every woman who looked nothing like Maddie, just so he could get her out of his head. He’d masked his desire to be near her as something brotherly, when in reality—which he could admit to now—it was a need to be with her.

Placing his hands on the wet tile of the shower, he tipped his head back and closed his eyes. Deep down he’d always known how much he cared for her, that it went beyond affection and into the realm of the big L-word, but he never accepted it, never dared to even acknowledge it.

But now he did, and there was no way he could let her go.

Showered, changed, and determined as hell, he headed up to the main cabin, not surprised to find his brothers and most of the Daniels family there.

Mitch and Lissa were busy saying good-bye while fending off smartass comments from Chase’s brothers. His eyes scanned the crowd of waiting people, searching out the face he needed to see most.

But he didn’t find her.

Turning to Mr. Daniels, he frowned. “Where’s Maddie?”

“You just missed her,” he said, looking over his shoulder as Lissa laughed loudly. Mitch had picked her up and was twirling her around. “She said her good-byes and left for the city.”

Acid boiled in his stomach. There was no way Maddie would’ve left without saying good-bye to him. No way. But she had. Maddie had left.

She had left him behind.

Oh, hell no.

…

Chase hadn’t wasted a moment after the happy couple departed for the airport. Hopping in his car, he took off after the little witch. It should’ve only taken less than an hour to get into the city, but luck had not been on his side.

There was an accident on the toll road that delayed him by forty-five minutes. Then two lanes were closed as he neared the beltway, and another damn accident on the bridge. When he finally parked his car in the garage behind the Gallery, he’d killed the engine and all but ran to the entrance. She could run from him, she could hide all she wanted, but she would see the truth. They couldn’t be friends.

It wasn’t enough. It could never be enough.

Maddie had one of the smaller apartments on the lower floors, and he was too impatient to wait for the elevator to come down, so he took the stairs, bum-rushing them like a lunatic.

He didn’t care.

All he could think was that Maddie had left without saying good-bye. His Maddie would’ve never done that. She would have stayed and screamed at him. Railed at him. Hell, even slapped him in the face. But no way would she have run unless she was scared and not angry.

Heart pumping, he pushed open the door to the fourth floor, nearly plowing into a young couple with their ankle-biter dog.

“Sorry,” he muttered, hurrying past them. Reaching Maddie’s door, he stopped and banged on it like he was the police about to rain down hell on someone. “Maddie? It’s Chase.”

No answer.

Growing irritated with the minx, he rapped his knuckles on the door, seriously considering kicking it in. He doubted she’d appreciate that.

Across the hall, a door opened to an apartment Chase knew had been up for lease. The superintendent stepped out, covered in paint-splattered overalls.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Gamble?” he asked, using a cloth to wipe his hands.

Only then did he realize he really did look like a madman beating on Maddie’s door. He lowered his hand and cleared his throat. “I was looking for Maddie.”

The superintendent smiled fondly. “Miss Daniels isn’t home. She’s out with the realtor, checking into some townhomes across the river.”

Chase’s heart tipped over heavily. “A realtor?”

He nodded. “Yeah, Miss Daniels called me yesterday, letting me know she was planning on moving. Something about getting out of the city. I hate to hear that she’s leaving, since she’s such a great tenant, but I hooked her up with a realtor we use. Seemed like she wanted to do this fast.”

None of it made sense. His brain outright refused to believe it. She adored the city and loved the fact that there was next to no commute to work. She would never leave this city. It wasn’t her—unless…

As he stared at the superintendent, disbelief gave way to a pain so real he was surprised he hadn’t dropped to his knees. The knowledge sunk in slowly, twisting his guts and turning him inside out. She wasn’t just gone. It was more than simply hiding from him.

She was determined to leave him before he had a chance to really ever have her.

…

Madison sat at her desk Monday morning, frowning as she scanned through the hundred e-mails she’d missed while at the vineyard. Nothing too important, but she clicked on the first one and started to methodically read through it.

Having no idea how much time had passed, she glanced up when Bridget placed a steaming latte on her desk. She smiled. “Thank you. I so need this.”

“I can tell.” Bridget sat on the edge of Madison’s desk, holding her drink in one hand and fiddling with her pens with the other. No doubt she’d separate them by color. Blue in one holder. Black in the other. “You look like you haven’t slept in a week.”

Self-consciously smoothing a hand over her low ponytail, she winced. She’d already filled Bridget in on what had happened at the wedding and her plans for the future.

“I met with a realtor yesterday afternoon and we checked out some townhomes in Virginia.” She paused, hating how hard it was to even say those words. “I was out pretty late.” And she also hadn’t slept well last night. She loved her apartment—she loved the city—but this had to be done. There was no way she could stay this close to Chase anymore, risk running into him out with one of his turnstile girlfriends. It would kill her.

Bridget shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re moving.”

She shrugged as she ran her finger over the thin scratch in the desk’s surface. “I think it’s time for a change in scenery.”

Her friend looked doubtful. “And it has nothing to do with who shares the same apartment building as you? Or the whole tempting the best man?”

Madison flushed but said nothing.

“I know it’s hard for you to see him, but Madison…moving away?” Bridget sighed. “I’m not sure that’s the right move to make.”

She had her doubts, too, but she’d made up her mind. “I need a fresh start, Bridget. And the only way I’m going to get that is by getting away from him as much as I possibly can. If I have to keep seeing him, I’m never going to get over him.”

A sympathetic look crossed Bridget’s features. “What are you going to do about family functions?”

“Other than hope he doesn’t show up?” She took a sip of her latte. “Deal with it? I don’t think it will be so bad when I’m not seeing him every freaking day.”

“Hmm. You know, for some people, distance makes the heart fonder.”

“Yeah, well, those people need to be hog-tied and shot.” Madison set her drink down on her desk and toyed with her mouse. “It’s a drastic move, I know, but I need to do this.”

And she did. Like she’d just told Bridget, she’d never fully get over Chase if she had to keep seeing him; hearing about his exploits; and, at times, witnessing them. Moving out of the city would help.

All in all she didn’t regret what had happened during the wedding. That night was something she’d cherish for a long time, probably for as long as she lived. And maybe one day, she’d find that kind of passion again. Her chest ached at the thought and a hard lump formed in the back of her throat, but she couldn’t force someone to love her.

“Well, at least the wedding was beautiful, right?” Bridget said, returning to the desk she shared in Madison’s office.

Madison nodded. “It was a wedding to remember, for sure.”

“Sounds like a Hallmark card.” Bridget laughed as Madison went back to thumbing through her e-mails. “You should write that one down. It would make for a corny—oh, holy crap.”

Looking up, Madison frowned at her friend. “What?”

Bridget’s blue eyes were wide. “Uh, take a look for yourself.”

Confused, Madison followed Bridget’s gaze and her mouth dropped open. “Oh my God…”

Through the glass walls surrounding her office, there was no mistaking the dark head prowling directly toward her or the broad shoulders squared with intent and determination.

Chase.

What was he doing here? Why? There wasn’t any time for her to come up with those answers, because her door flew open and Chase stood there, tall, dark, sinfully sexy, and a whole lot pissed off.

Madison started to stand, but her legs were too weak. “Chase, what are you doing here?”

Fire lit his eyes as they landed on her. “We need to talk.”

“Uh, right now?” She looked around her office helplessly. “I think it—”

“It can’t wait,” he all but growled. “We need to talk now.”

Bridget started to stand. “I think I’ll give you guys some privacy. There are other desks out there I’m sure need organizing.”

Madison was already on her feet, smoothing her hands down the cotton of her skirt. Over Chase’s shoulder, she could see plenty of her co-workers staring from their cubicles. This was going to get awkward. “No. You don’t have to leave. Um, Chase and I can—”

Before she could finish her sentence, he was in front of her. Without saying a word, he clasped her cheeks and brought his mouth to hers. Too stunned to react at first, she froze as his lips pressed, slowly demanding that her mouth open to his. Then her body melted into his embrace, into the kiss that quickly deepened.

He pulled her against him, lifting her onto the toes of her shoes. He kissed her with all the passion and desperate yearning she had carried with her for so many years. The way his arms trembled against hers reached deep inside, shattering the freshly built walls around her heart.

When he pulled back, he kept his arms around her. “Why…why did you do that?” she asked.

A small half grin played across his face. “Sorry. I had to get that out of the way first.”

“Wow. I need popcorn for this,” Bridget murmured.

Madison flushed from the roots of her hair to the tips of her curled toes. Somehow, she had forgotten that her friend was still standing there…plus an entire room full of people watching from the outside through the glass walls. Pulling back, she shook her head. “Chase…”

“Let me explain something first, okay? Before you run off or start arguing with me.”

“I—”

“Maddie,” he said, eyes glittering.

“You better let the man talk.” Bridget sat back down in her chair, folding her arms. “I cannot wait to hear what he has to say.”

Madison shot her friend a death glare, but it looked like she wasn’t going anywhere. Neither was he. “Okay,” she said.

Chase took a long breath. “There’s no way around saying this, other than just coming straight out with it. I’ve been an idiot—an ass. Time and time again, I’ve done the wrong thing by you.”

Her mouth dropped open.

“And this whole time I’d been trying to do the right thing by not being with you. I didn’t want to betray Mitch by hooking up with his little sister. I didn’t want to somehow mess up our friendship, either, because you have been such a huge part of my life.” He took a deep breath. “And I never wanted to be like my father—to treat you like he treated my mom. And it was stupid—I get that now. Chad was right. Father never loved our mother, but it’s different for me—it’s different for us. It always has been.”

The whole time he spoke, he never looked away from her. She opened her mouth to say something but he rushed ahead. “But all I’ve managed to do is screw things up. That night in the club…I wasn’t drunk.”

Madison shifted uncomfortably. “I know.”

“It was a lame excuse, and I’m sorry. That night—I should’ve told you how I really felt. And every night thereafter,” he said, taking a step forward. “I should’ve told you how I felt the night in that damn cabin, too.”

Her heart swelled as hope grew in a tangle of emotions she could never unravel. All of this seemed surreal. Tears rushed her eyes as she reached behind her, grasping the edges of her desk. “And how do you feel?”