Tempting the Best Man(28)

She remembered. “I was tired.”

“And you started talking about how big the moon was.” He sat back, grinning. And suddenly… God, suddenly it was five years ago and everything…everything was normal between them.

Her chest ached, but in a good way.

“It was like you’d never seen the moon before. Surprised you still don’t think it’s a ball of cheese in the sky.”

She threw her folded program at him. “I’m not five, Chase!”



He picked up the paper. “But you were that tipsy.”

Giggling at his comment, she grabbed the box of programs and realized it was empty. Scooting over, she reached into the other one and pulled out a dozen place-card holders. Disappointment swelled when she realized they’d be done within an hour.

Madison also remembered what she’d said to him last night as he held her so tenderly in his arms, which was proof that she hadn’t been that drunk.

She had admitted that she missed him—missed this. Just being together, teasing each other or sitting in comfortable silence. Back in the day, they could go for hours like this. It was why for the longest time, she believed they were meant to be together.

Seemed silly now and maybe even a little sad, but she didn’t want this moment to end. Most importantly, she didn’t want to miss him anymore.

…



Chase watched her stick the little cards into the holders, wondering what had caused the glimpse of sadness that had flashed across her face. The smile was back now, and she was telling him about the project she was delving into at work. He lo—liked her like this best.

He could easily see her with someone, just sitting around, shooting the shit, and still being incredibly sexy. Maddie had this ease about her, a natural charm that drew people in. Some guy was going to be a lucky son of a bitch one day.



The cold slice of air that came out of nowhere and shot down his neck was hard to ignore.

Pushing those thoughts away, he told her about the couple his manager had caught last weekend in the storage room. “Stefan got an eyeful when he went back to get fresh towels.”

Madison tipped her head back and laughed. “And this was at Komodo? Don’t they have to go through the employee lounge for that? How did they get back there?”

“One of the waitresses left the door unlocked.” He grinned as her laugh bubbled up again. “Stefan said they had their iPhones out and were filming the whole thing.”

“Wow.” She snickered. “Amazing multitasking skills.”

“Jealous?”

Her eyes rolled. “Yeah, there’s nothing more romantic than getting it on while someone is shoving a phone camera in your face.”

An image of Maddie under him, naked and writhing, getting it on with a camera, and then without the camera, flashed in his head.

Yeah, not romantic, but sexy as hell. It suddenly felt stifling in the small room, and he tugged at his shirt collar.

Maddie’s brows furrowed. “What are you thinking about?”

“You don’t even want to know.”

A sweet, hot flush swept over her cheeks, and she quickly returned her attention to sticking the cards in the holders. It didn’t seem possible, but the swelling between his legs was increasing. Jesus. H. Christ.



Chase stretched out his legs. Didn’t help. “So…”

She peeked up. “So what?”

“So when are we going to be doing this for your wedding?”

For a long moment, long enough to realize what a crap hole he’d just stepped into, she said nothing as she stared at him. Chase started to laugh it off, but then she spoke.

“I don’t know if I’ll get married.”

A real fucked up part of him shouted with glee and that was wrong, because she wasn’t his, she would never be, and he wanted her happy. And Maddie could never be happy alone forever.

“You’ll get married, Maddie.”

Flecks of green churned in her eyes. “Don’t patronize me, Chase.”

Leaning back, he held up his hands. “I’m not patronizing you. I’m just being realistic.”

She whipped a holder out of the box and slammed the card into the poor thing. “Can you read the future? No. I didn’t think so.”

“I don’t know why you’re getting so bent out of shape.” He reached over and swiped the card holder out of her hand before she bent it. “There’s just no way that some guy is not going to fall head over heels in love with you. You’ll have a big wedding like this, a great honeymoon, and have two kids…”

Damn, those words felt like nails coming back up his throat. And hell, they seemed to piss her off more.



Rising to her knees, she grabbed the stack of programs and placed them in their box. “I’ll get married when you get married.”