Tempting the Best Man - By J. Lynn Page 0,21
was there.
“Crap,” she muttered, hurrying down an aisle.
This wasn’t happening. They did not leave her. Tightening her grip on the water bottle, she barrelled around the corner, smacked right off a hard chest, and almost landed on her ass.
Chase snatched her arm before she ended up on her rear. “Whoa. You okay?”
Blinking, she nodded. “I didn’t know you were there.” She took a step back, ignoring the sudden increase in her heart rate. Her reaction was ridiculous. “Why are you here?”
He cocked his head to the side. “The group is moving on to lunch.”
“Oh?” Since she wasn’t bouncing around in that horrible truck, her stomach perked up happily.
A half grin appeared. “It’s a picnic, I hear, out in the actual vineyards.”
That sounded incredibly tasty and romantic. “Well, we better hurry, then.”
Stepping aside, Chase let her walk by. He followed behind her silently, and she wished he’d say something. Anything. But then again, she had no idea what to say, either. The awkwardness that had developed between them sucked. Proof positive why friends of any sort should never cross that invisible line… At least not unless they planned on crossing all the way.
When they reached the entrance, Chase swore under his breath. “Where in the hell is everyone?”
A horrible sensation snaked its way through the pit of her stomach as she glanced up and down the empty aisles. There was no sound other than Chase’s soft breath and her pounding heart.
“They didn’t…?” She trailed off, unable to accept what was happening.
“No.” He edged around her and pounded up the steps. Another loud curse and banging caused her to wince.
Madison found him at the top of the stairs, his hands on his hips. “Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”
“We’re locked in.” Disbelief colored Chase’s tone.
“You have got to be kidding.” She squeezed past him and tried the door, jiggling the handle. Nothing. She wanted to smack her head off the door but figured since her headache had finally eased, that was not a good idea. “They left us.”
Chase leaned against the cool cement blocks, closing his eyes. “They have to realize we’re missing. They’ll come back. Soon. It won’t be that long.”
Boy, she hoped so. She was already colder than a witch’s tit, but as five minutes passed and then ten, it wasn’t looking like a rescue was going to happen anytime soon.
Madison dropped down on the step, chasing away the goose bumps on her bare legs with her hands. “You know, I’m kind of offended that no one has even realized we’re not with them.”
He chuckled and settled onto the step above her, leaning forward and crossing his hands on his bent knees. His face was nearly eye-level with hers, so now she didn’t have to tilt her head to talk to him. “Yeah, it does wonders for your self-esteem, doesn’t it?”
“I bet they’re enjoying their lunch, too. Eating finger sandwiches, drinking club soda, and thinking, ‘Hmm, the group seems different, but oh, never mind, we have pickled eggs!’”
Chase’s deep, husky laugh warmed her belly. “This reminds me of something.”
At first, she didn’t know where he was going with that statement as she pulled the sunglasses off her head and placed them next to her water on the top ledge. And then it hit her.
Oh, for the love of all things holy in this world.
“You were seven,” he said, humor lacing his voice.
She lowered her head in shame. Chase had this wonderfully selective memory when it came to remembering the most humiliating moments in her life.
“And Mitch and I were going to the park to play a game of basketball and you wanted to go, but Mitch wouldn’t let you.” Another chuckle filled the pause. “So, you decided to retaliate.”
“Can we talk about something else?”
He ignored her. “By stuffing yourself in a chest in the tree house—what the hell did you hope to gain by that?”
Her cheeks burned. “I was hoping that you guys would come back and miss me, and then you’d feel bad for not letting me play with you. Yeah, I know, not the smartest plan, but I was a kid.”
Chase shook his head and a lock of dark hair fell forward over his forehead. “You could’ve killed yourself.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
“Except we thought you went to the neighbors’ house,” he added, frowning now. “Man, you had to be in that chest for hours.”
She had. Luckily it had a huge rusted-out hole in the side, but something had gone wrong when she had closed the