The Bachelor Pact (4 page)

She'd happened on the day's mind-boggling revelations right in the middle of Victoria's Secret so she'd splurged on a whole array of sexy lingerie, including a black leather thong that was creeping into her nether regions. Then she'd dumped her dependable Volvo at the VW dealership, and bought her new wheels.

She cut off the engine and opened the door, grabbed the cake and juggled her packages in her arms as she maneuvered around the giant azaleas and teetered over the cobblestone steps to her front door. The Victorian house had been divided into a duplex that screamed with character, the ten-foot ceilings and latticework reminiscent of days gone by. Climbing vines of roses wound around the trellis to her bedroom window, reminding her of the set to Sophie's show. And the scene she'd caused with her ultimatum.

Chase sat in the metal glider amid the pots of pink geraniums and hanging baskets of ferns, sliding his big feet just enough to keep the porch swing in motion. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed his sexy mouth tilt in a tiny smile. Almost sympathetic.

Damn. She did
not
want sympathy, especially from a hottie like Chase.

Maddie dropped the packages on the wrought-iron table. Shadows hovered from the nearby trees, almost completely shielding Chase's face. He'd been watching patiently, she realized, the silent brooding outsider who never seemed to say much, but who always seemed to be around, filling the space with his bad-boy good looks and haunted expression. Keeping his distance as if he knew he wasn't really family, but hovering on the periphery of their lives as if he had no other place to go, as if no one else wanted him. But her family had opened its door and he'd been leaning in the middle of the doorjamb ever since.

Just like T. C. had for a while. A stray mangy cat she could handle. What she didn't need was another overprotective big brother trying to tell her what to do. "I assume Reid and Lance sent you. I'm surprised they aren't here themselves."

"They waited awhile. When you didn't show, they went looking for you."

Maddie rolled her eyes and sank down beside him.

His sharp gaze cut straight to her. "You all right, shortstop?"

She smiled at his use of her childhood nickname and reached for a beer on the circular table beside him. With a flick of her thumb, she popped the top and lifted the cold can to her neck, pressing it against her overheated skin. A shiver rippled up her spine at the sound of Chase's gruff breathing, or maybe it was the ice-cold can. A cacophony of crickets and frogs sang in the background. The faint scent of jasmine and honeysuckle and whatever kind of aftershave Chase was wearing sweetened the balmy air. Odd sensations stirred within her. "I've never been better, Chase."

His dark eyes narrowed perceptibly. "Maybe you should have some coffee or tea instead of drinking, Maddie, you—"

"I'm not twelve anymore, Chase."

His sullen expression said he disagreed. He probably still saw her as a gangly teenager. But she'd save her arguments for her brothers. "I'll let the boys make me some tea when they get here, it'll give them something to do," she said with a wry grin.

Chase's accepting nod eased the tension in her knotted muscles. She relaxed against the swing and watched him fold his big hands together and pop his knuckles, one by one.

Moonlight spilled through the cracks in the awning and streaked the jet-black strands of his hair. Finally he laid his hands on top of his muscular thighs.

Well-worn denim hugged his hips, distracting her from the sounds of a biker sailing by. "You threw Oglethorpe a real curveball tonight."

She grinned, remembering the time Chase had taught her to pitch. He'd spent all afternoon coaxing her to throw balls into a trash can, and she'd hit him as many times as she'd hit the can. One time she'd smacked him in the crotch. He'd walked bowed over for hours. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"He struck out. His loss."

"No, Chase, the man didn't even have the balls to swing." She stretched out her legs, kicked off her shoes and sighed as the warmth of Chase's laughter melted the last of the tension from her body. Then she began to push the glider with her bare feet, setting her rhythm to match Chase's. T. C. crawled up in Chase's lap, plopped into a contented ball and began to purr. Maddie bit her lip, surprised to see the cat take to Chase. He was usually wary of everyone but her.

Shaking off the oddity, she stroked his thick fur. "But I'm all right, you know. I'm sorry if I embarrassed Lance and Reid though."

His tanned knuckle bulged as he patted her hand. "They'll survive."

"I just hope Jeff's parents do. His mother's probably removing my name from every social list in Savannah as we speak."

"She is into all that stuff, isn't she?"

Maddie swallowed a sip of beer. "She lives for all those society functions."

Chase nodded, not quite meeting her eyes. Suspicions inched into Maddie's conscious. He'd said the boys had gone looking for her, but the show had aired at three, and she'd been gone for hours. Her heart fluttered at the disastrous possibility flitting through her head. "Chase, the boys didn't go to Jeff's, did they?"

The corner of his mouth twisted slightly. "Earlier."

Maddie dropped her face into her hands and groaned. "You went with them?"

He nodded again.

She peeked between her fingers. "Please tell me they didn't hurt him."

His feet pushed the glider with a little more force. "Scared him shitless, but Oglethorpe'll survive."

Maddie dropped her hands completely and chuckled. T. C. suddenly raised his head, stared at her, then leaped down and scampered behind the bushes.

"What are you going to do now?" he asked softly.

Maddie shrugged. "Focus on my career. Forget men."

"Ahh, Maddie." His hand brushed hers slightly, a tiny spark of static electricity jolting through her. Maddie frowned, momentarily stunned. As if he'd felt it, too, Chase pulled his hand away and stared at her bare feet, then his boots. A silence fell between them that seemed both comfortable and awkward at the same time.

The creaking sound of the swing lulled her as she studied the outline of his chiseled face. Dark stubble grazed Chase's square jaw, his nose was crooked where it had been broken at least twice in high school, and several stray locks of his too-long black hair tumbled down over his heavy bedroom eyes. A tiny jagged scar splintered his bronze complexion, roving from the edge of his hairline to within an inch of his left eye. She remembered the day he'd gotten the injury, wondered how many more scars he'd added over the years. Each one would tell a story...

What was wrong with her? She'd never wondered about Chase Holloway's scars before. Must be the aftermath of breaking up with one man. You suddenly noticed all the others.

As if he sensed her watching him, Chase raised his head and met her gaze. His jaw tightened, the fine lines at the corner of his mouth crinkling into that killer smile. But his charcoal-black eyes turned a smoky hue that Maddie didn't recognize. She swallowed, astounded by the intensity of emotion hidden in their depths.

Emotions like pain and hunger and need.

Emotions she'd never seen before because she hadn't been looking. Because he was her brothers' buddy. Off-limits to her. Unavailable. Just as she had been to him.

But no more.

She was a free woman. A
fully grown
free woman. And Chase was a free man. The sexiest free man she'd ever known. Good grief, what was happening to her?

She was supposed to be forgetting men.

And Chase Holloway was no man to tangle with. Talk about notches on a bedpost, he probably had to
replace
his bedposts every six months. No, Chase was too much like a brother to her for a relationship. But he had given her some pretty good pointers about boys when she'd been twelve.

"You know, Maddie, you don't have to forget men completely, I'm sure there's a nice guy out there who wants to settle down."

Gracious, he was just as barbaric in his old Southern values as her brothers.

"You know, you're right, Chase. Forgetting men was a little extremist. Maybe I'll just forget marriage."

His dark eyes widened.

"I can play the field, date lots of guys."

"I didn't mean—"

"After all, I want to get my business off the ground before I even consider another serious relationship."

"But—"

"I need to try a lot of men so I'll know when I've found the perfect one."

"I don't know—"

"Sure, it's the same as shopping; I try on several different styles of shoes before I buy a pair."

"Shoes?"

"And it took me at least a dozen different fittings to find a bra that suits me." She could have sworn his dark cheeks flushed before his gaze fell to her breasts. "I may not be model beauty, but I'm not bad either. At least I've developed a few curves."

"Uh, I can't argue with you there."

Maddie yanked her skirt up to mid-thigh. "And I do have nice legs, at least several men have told me that."

"What men?" The glider squeaked as he shifted and tugged at his collar.

"Lots of men, you know guys at school, nightclubs, construction workers."

"Maddie, you need to watch out—"

Maddie cut him off with a hiss. "I realize you're more experienced than me, Chase, but I'm not a kid anymore."

He raised a brow, his patronizing expression irritating her even more.

Maddie pursed her lips. "As a matter of fact, I'm a pretty good kisser if I do say so myself. Maybe I'm a little rusty from only kissing Jeff though." She angled her head sideways to study him. When he simply stared at her in disbelief, she snatched the edge of his shirt. "All right, see for yourself. If my kissing isn't up to par, maybe you can give me some pointers."

Then she jerked his mouth to hers and kissed him like the earth was about to come to an end.

Chapter 3

Chase's hands moved automatically to hover at Maddie's waist as she plunged her tongue into his mouth. Reminding himself that this was Maddie kissing him, he tried to set her away from him, but she seemed intent on driving him wild with her innocent seduction. Or test.

Whatever it was, his body was on fire. About to spontaneously burst into flames from the heat building in his loins. She traced a fingernail down the side of his face and scraped his beard stubble. The simple erotic sound made his body harden. Finally, she broke for air, sipped at his upper lip for a delicious moment, then pulled back and gazed at him. The heady scent of her exotic perfume suffused him, muddling his brain even further.

"Well?"

Well, hell.
He narrowed his eyes, faintly aware his pulse had kicked in overtime, and his breathing sounded rough in the stillness of the night, almost as loud as the purring sound close by. The cat? No, a car motor.

A car motor!

"Well, Chase, what do you think?"

He glanced over the giant azaleas and saw Reid and Lance stalking up the sidewalk.
Double hell.
How could he possibly explain why he'd been kissing Maddie? And try as he might to deny it, he had kissed her back. Excuses tumbled through his head—
listen, guys, your baby sister here wanted some pointers.

Yeah, they'd love that.

"Chase, do you have some suggestions on how I could improve my kissing technique?"

Improve?
"Uh, no. I... your... B-brothers."

He stood, knowing if Lance and Reid had seen him, he was a dead man.

* * *

Maddie spotted her brothers, instantly sizing up their moods—their downcast heads, the frowns, the camaraderie of male hormones dominating her porch—not a good sign. To top it off, Chase had had to be so damn patronizing. The boys' gazes swung to her new car, and she sighed.

Not only did she have to deal with her meddling, macho, overprotective brothers and convince them that she had survived the breakup, but she'd also have to convince them a convertible was safe enough for a single female to drive alone at night in the city, and if they'd seen her kissing Chase... Boy, she had her work cut out.

Reid and Lance practically tripped over themselves trying to hug her.

"Hey, sis, you okay?" Lance asked in a gruff voice.

"Where the hell have you been?" Reid jammed his hands on his hips and glared at her. "The show was over hours ago. We've been out of our minds with worry."

"Where did you get that car? Is it a loaner?" Lance asked.

"Whoa, slow down." Obviously, they hadn't seen the kiss. Thank goodness. Maddie pointed to the shopping bags. "I stopped by the mall and the bakery. Then the car dealership." When they started to protest, she held up a warning hand. "The VW is mine, guys. I bought it on the way home."

Lance's shaggy eyebrow shot up. "You bought it?"

"You can't be serious," Reid said. "What if you have a wreck—"

Maddie rolled her eyes in disbelief. "This from the guys who drove motorcycles with bumper stickers that read bad-ass boys drive bad-ass toys."

"But that's different, sis, you're a girl," Lance bellowed.

"Newsflash, boys—this isn't the dark ages anymore. Women can actually vote, we've even flown in outer space."