Tempting the Best Man - By J. Lynn Page 0,6

are you saying, Maddie?”

Frustration rolled off her as she ran her hand across the buttery leather of the car seats in long, languid strokes that made his dick twitch. “Lissa has a lot of pretty friends. Not the Banks twins, but still.”

Chase nodded and then reached up for the sun visor, pulling out his own sunglasses. “She does.”

“So, like I said, you and your brothers are going to have fun.”

“Maybe.” He reached across the seat, tapping his fingers off her forearm to get her attention and point out the long rows of grape vines slicing through the valley on his left. Immediately, she jerked back, and he raised his brows, kind of offended. “Touchy?”

“No. Sorry. Too much caffeine.”

Then it struck him. Sometimes Chase forgot that their relationship wasn’t like it used to be, and damn if that didn’t suck.

She cleared her throat. “So, when are you guys going to get married?”

Chase barked with stilted laughter. “Good God, Maddie.”

“What?” Her frown pulled the corners of her lips down. “It’s not an insane question. You all are getting up there in age.”

Shaking his head, he laughed again. He was twenty-eight, not an old man. Chad, his middle brother, was thirty, and his oldest brother, Chandler, was thirty-one. None of them approached marriage with open arms. Not after seeing what it did to their parents. Or, in reality, what his father did to his mother. It was why the three of them had practically grown up in the Daniels’ household.

Maddie leaned across the seat, punching him in the thigh with a little fist. “Stop laughing at me, jerk.”

“I can’t help it. You’re funny.”

“Whatever.”

Grinning, he took the next left to the private road leading up to the vineyard. “I don’t know about marriage, Maddie. You know what they say about us.”

“Who’s going to take a risk on the Gamble boys? Or take a ‘gamble’ on the Gamble boys.” She gave a small shake of her head. “We aren’t in high school or college anymore, Chase.”

His gaze drifted from the sleek line of her thigh, up to where the buttons of her blouse parted, revealing a tantalizing swell of breast.

“Yeah,” he said, focusing on the road. His knuckles ached from how tightly he was gripping the stick shift. “We’re definitely not in school anymore.”

There was a quick grin before she turned back to her window, appearing to soak in the rolling hills, but then she had to go there. “You’re not like your father, Chase.”

“You of all people should know that I’m exactly like my father,” he snapped back, voice harder than he’d intended.

Maddie’s gaze swung back to him, her cheeks paling and then flushing. Her mouth opened, but she clamped it shut and turned back to the window.

He groaned. “Shit, Maddie, I didn’t mean it like—”

“It’s fine. Whatever.”

Fine and whatever were words he knew were code for pissed off. They were the same words his mother had used time and time again when his father didn’t come home at night or disappeared on an unexpected business trip.

Chase cursed again.

Driving up the winding road, he fought the urge to apologize. It was better this way. For several years, Maddie had been nothing more than Mitch’s kid sister. Yeah, he was protective of her, but that was a given. That one night, so many years ago, had mucked up things between them forever. And if Chase knew anything, he knew there were no do-overs.

Just like there had been no do-overs for his parents.

…

On the way into the main lodge, Madison did her best not to stare at Chase, not to get drawn into that swagger of his, fall into the web he had no idea he was weaving just by being next to her. So she stared straight ahead and ignored him.

An elderly couple inched their way down the pathway, their hands joined together tightly. The looks they shared were so full of love that Madison felt a pang of envy. That was the kind of love she had dreamed of as a little girl—love that didn’t dull after the decades but only grew stronger.

The woman’s thick-soled shoes slipped on one of the pebbles. Her husband easily caught her arm, but her purse dropped off her other arm, spilling the contents along the white stones.

Madison rushed forward, kneeling down as she quickly scooped up the lady’s belongings.

“Oh, thank you, dear,” the old woman crooned. “I’m getting terribly clumsily in my old age.”

“It’s no problem.” Madison smiled, handing the purse back. “Have a nice day.”

Returning to Chase’s