Tempting the Best Man - By J. Lynn Page 0,9

problem.”

She was going to kill her mother.

“I’m sorry.” Chase drew up straight, and at over six feet tall, that was a lot of looking up to do. His voice was firm. “We cannot share a cabin.”

Ouch. Sharing a room with Chase wasn’t on her list of things to do, but damn, she wasn’t the worse possible option.

“Money is not an issue,” he continued, eyes darkening to a navy blue—a sure sign his temper was about to make an appearance. “I can pay double or triple to get two rooms.”

Okay, now that was just insulting. She glared at him. “I agree. There’s no way I can stay with him.”

Chase cut her a look.

The clerk shook his head. “I’m sorry, but there are no other rooms available. It’s the old honeymoon cabin…or it’s nothing.”

Both of them stared at the clerk. Madison had a sinking suspicion Chase was about to grab the man, turn him upside down, and shake him until room keys fell out. She could get behind that.

“Rooms should become available Friday morning, and we will ensure both of you are first in line, but unfortunately, there isn’t anything I can do.”

Madison ran a hand over her hair, stunned. Rooming with Chase? There was no way. Between gawking at him in close proximity and wanting to beat him over the head when he opened his mouth, she was going to go insane.

The days leading up to the wedding were supposed to be fun and relaxing. Not a trip into crazy land. And her mom—her nutso, matchmaking mom—had a hand in this. She was going to bury that woman in a bomb shelter.

Madison peeked at the still-silent form of Chase. A muscle worked in his jaw like he was grinding his molars down to the gum. This was horrific for her, but for him? God, he was probably ready to make a bid for the clerk’s room. No doubt this would put a major crimp in his woman-seducing plans.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Chase twisted away, placing his hands on narrow hips. He swore under his breath. “All right, give me the damn keys.”

Madison flushed. “Look, I can—”

“You can what? Room with your mom, who’s on a second honeymoon with your dad? Or maybe you’d prefer to room with one of the other couples and ruin their romantic weekend?” A note attached to two keys dropped into his open palm. “Sleep in your car, even? We don’t have a choice.” His eyes met her wide ones. “We’re stuck with each other until Friday.”

Chapter Three

“Oh, man, you two are not going to make it to the wedding.” Mitch leaned back in his chair, eyes glittering with amusement. “No way.”

Madison sighed.

“Why?” her mother asked from the end of the table. “They’ll do just fine.”

“They’ll kill each other,” Mitch said with a laugh, and then he sobered. “They might actually kill each other.”

Turning her eyes to the glass ceiling, Madison struggled for patience. “We aren’t going to kill each other.”

“I wouldn’t make that promise,” Chase muttered, speaking for the first time since they’d left the front desk.

God, she was two seconds from jumping on his back like a monkey and strangling him. But then he strode off, glancing over his shoulder at her.

“This train is leaving for the cabin now if you want a ride.”

Trailing after him, she muttered, “Who hasn’t had a ride?”

Chase stopped dead in his tracks. “Excuse me?”

“I said”—she gave him a saucy smirk—“who hasn’t had a ride?”

He levelled her with a pointed look. “I can think of a few people.”

Wow. He went there. She refused to allow herself to blush again. “Bet you could count them on one hand, too.”

“Possibly,” he murmured and started walking again.

The trip to the cabin—all the way toward the edge of the property, near the thick walnut trees at the mouth of the Blue Ridge Mountains—was silent and awkward.

The moment she’d made the crack about his sex life, she’d regretted it. Saying things like that only reinforced his misguided belief that he was just like his father. It was the thing she never got about him. She knew deep down that becoming like his unfaithful father was Chase’s own personal nightmare, but he did nothing but barrel down that path with a different girl every week. She skirted around a thorny rose bush leaning into the path.

He’d been that way since high school—maybe not as bad as Chad, but Chase exemplified the playboy lifestyle.

And the fact that Chase was an equal opportunity bed jumper