Tempting the Best Man - By J. Lynn Page 0,37

hers and slowly brought it to his lips. He pressed a kiss to her palm, and her heart flipped over. “I’m sorry, Maddie. I really am. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking to say that to you earlier. Getting it out of my system isn’t what I want.”

Her fingers curled around his. Confusion swept through her. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”

He drew in a deep breath. “I don’t even know what I’m thinking. Chad was spouting all this Oprah bullshit and some of it made sense—as insane as that is.”

“What?”

Chase smiled a little, and then his eyes met hers. “I want you.”

Madison’s breath caught. Hope was back, beating at her insides. With Chase, everything was like a roller coaster. Up. Down. Up. Down. “You said that earlier.”

“And I meant it.”

So much confusion still churned inside her, but her heart moved on, creating more space for him. The word that left her mouth pretty much sealed her fate. “Stay?”

Chase hesitated, his body going so still, so tense that she could feel the edginess rolling off of him. Then he sprang into motion, kicking off his shoes as he unbuttoned his shirt. It fluttered to the floor like a white flag.

Her heart was in her throat as her gaze flickered over the expanse of his well-defined chest, across the dips of his rock-hard abs. He was beautiful, something straight out of her fantasies. In the pale light of the moon, in the shadows of the cabin, she swept aside her reservations and fear. She existed on what she always had—her love for Chase.

And in an instant, she believed this was the turning point that had been building for years. There’d be no going back. And if she couldn’t prove that he wasn’t like his father, no one could.

Chase shifted onto his side, facing her with very little space between them. Neither of them said anything as she twisted toward him, their faces and bodies inches apart.

Slowly, tentatively, Chase placed his hand to her cheek. His fingers trailing along the arch of her face, down to her parted lips. She felt the light touch in every cell of her body and her response was immediate, consuming.

His fingers drifted down her throat, to the edge of her cotton shirt. A small smile played across his lips. “Do you know that seeing you in my clothes is a huge turn-on?” He edged his fingers under the collar, brushing them across her collarbone, and her toes curled. “I don’t know why that is, but it is.”

She wondered if he felt the same when she was out of his clothes. Then she remembered the hard length that had pressed against her in the bathroom and she went with a yes.

“What do we do, Maddie?” he asked, voice deep and husky.

Madison swallowed, her body joining her heart and already making up her mind for her. Before she even knew what she was doing, her body moved toward his.

Rising up on her knees, she placed both hands on his shoulders and pushed him until he was flat on his back. She straddled his hips, biting back a moan when she felt his erection straining through the rich material of his trousers, hot against the V of her thighs.

“Make love to me,” she whispered. “Please.”

Chase stilled and then his thick lashes lifted, his stare piercing her. He didn’t answer, but he placed his hands on her thighs, sliding them up to the hem of the shirt. His fingers bunched the material. There was a pause, a moment when the only thing moving was her pounding heart, and then he lifted the shirt up.

And that was her answer.

By the time the borrowed shirt joined his on the floor, her mouth was on his and his big, warm body was under hers. The kiss wasn’t soft or gentle. It was deep and scorching, a product of years of pent-up desire on both their sides. His lips swallowed her breathy moans as his hand landed on the small of her back and jerked her to his chest. The feel of his skin flush with hers swamped her senses. Chase kissed her like a man starved, possessed by need…need for her. Madison’s hands clutched his shoulders as he staked his claim.

A hand tangled in her hair. “If we’re going to stop,” he whispered against her swollen lips, “we need to stop now. Do you understand me?”

She shuddered as his teeth nipped at her bottom lip. “I don’t want to stop. Ever. Do