The Wager

by Rachel Van Dyken

  “Well, I’ll just average out the past performances and add this one in, fair?”

  “Fair.” He pressed into her and cried out. At her gasp, he stopped and then very slowly kissed her across the mouth. “Damn, I’m glad you married me.”

  “Stop stalling.” She moved against him.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Jake watched Char as she grabbed a glass of wine and met him on the back porch. Beth and Jace had gone for a walk by the river. Grandma’s idea, not theirs. But they humored her as most people did and said they’d be back later to make plans for breakfast the next morning.

  “So.” Jake clinked his glass with hers. “Where to for the honeymoon? I mean technically you were fired, so we could go for a whole month if you want.”

  Char giggled. “Just like that? We just leave tomorrow on the first plane anywhere?”

  “Yeah.” Jake leaned in to kiss her. “Just like that.”

  “But I don’t have a passport.”

  Jake shrugged. “So we can wait to go grab it and fly out of Seattle, or stay in the States.”

  “Hawaii.” Char seemed nervous as she looked away and took a sip of wine.

  “Can I ask why Hawaii?”

  She leaned back on her hands, the moonlight reflecting off her tan skin as she closed her eyes and exhaled. “My parents always promised they’d take me. First it was after high school graduation, but something came up, and then college, and, well… you can imagine. It was always an empty promise. And I’ve always wanted to go.”

  Damn, he loved her. He’d buy her Hawaii if it was possible. “Then Hawaii it is.” He kissed her cheek.

  “Kids?” Grandma opened the door to the back and came outside. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  She pulled out a chair and sat. “Now, I know my methods aren’t always sound.”

  “Well, there’s the understatement of the century,” Jake said.

  “Ass.” She narrowed her eyes. “At any rate, I would like to apologize.”

  “Really?” Jake leaned forward on his haunches and grinned. “For what?”

  “Everything.”

  “Which would be…” Jake prompted. “What exactly?”

  Grandma looked away and said in an irritated voice, “The fertility dance, but in my defense I had to be sure that you felt the tension.”

  “Oh, we felt it.” Char laughed and then noticing Jake’s irritated glance regained her composure.

  “And?” Jake eyed his grandmother.

  “The drugstore wedding gift.” She sniffed.

  “Right.” Jake swore. “Thanks for that.”

  “Oh posh. You needed to be taken down a few, or a lot. Tell me, did they use the sound system to bring the condoms forward? I was so hoping they would!”

  Jake ignored her and shook his head. “And what else, Grandma? What are you really apologizing for?”

  “Tricking you into getting a marriage license. But do you even understand the laws I had to break in order to get that done! The money that exchanged hands, the favors that were given!” She stood and began to pace. “Why, I had to donate to the damn Chamber of Commerce!”

  “My heart bleeds,” Jake said dryly.

  “And all because I was doing you two a favor.”

  After a few seconds Jake finally said, “You’re right.”

  “I am?” Grandma’s head popped up. “I mean, yes, yes I am, and don’t you forget it! Now, where’s that lovely sister of yours, Char?”

  “Oh no.” Jake grabbed his grandmother’s hand and directed her back toward the house. “Your days of meddling are over.”

  “But—”

  “Bed, now. And be sure to be alone or I’m grabbing the whistle.”

  “You wouldn’t dare disturb my sanctum!”

  “I would, and I will. It’s what you deserve and more.”

  Head held high, she stomped back into the house, her heels clicking across the wood floor the entire way down the hall.

  “Would you take it back?” Char asked from behind him.

  He turned and pulled her into a hug. “No. Never, not even a question. Would you?”

  “I’ve waited since eighth grade to be your girlfriend; may as well be your wife.” She winked and then kissed him soundly.

  Epilogue

  Airplanes.

  Every single ride for the past year had been filled with drama. At least now he could rest easy. He had his wife with him, not to mention Travis and Kacey, who at the last minute had decided to change their honeymoon plans and go with them to Hawaii.

  Who would ever have thought Jake would be going on a honeymoon? With his brother? And the girl he used to make fun of? Not to mention his wife. Good Lord, his life was like an epic melodrama.

  At least Grandma wasn’t coming.

  He laughed nervously as he took off his sunglasses and helped Char carry her bag into the terminal.

  “What’s so funny?” she asked.

  “Nothing.” Jake sighed. “It’s just the last time I flew, Grandma showed up and decided to join me on the trip. Life was never the same.”

  Char laughed. “Admit it. You’re glad she intruded.”

  “I’ll take it to my grave,” Jake growled, kissing her across the mouth.

  “None of that.” Travis said from behind them. “Not until you’re in your honeymoon suite, and even then I’m just going to pretend you guys are playing checkers or something.”

  “Right.” Kacey shook her head. “Because people do that on their honeymoons.”

  Jake snorted and pulled Char against his chest and kissed her forehead.

  A few photographers took pictures, but he was used to the media; he didn’t really think anything of it. Until the photographers started in on them.

  “Hey.” Jake waved his hand in the air. “Not now, guys.”

  They continued snapping, then ran past Jake and Travis to another group.

  “Whoa.” Travis looked at the running photographers. “They actually listened.”

  “Senator, is it true? Sources say you were with a prostitute the night your fiancée left you?”

  Jace broke through the crowd of photographers and came toward Jake and Travis.

  “Mr. Senator!” A reporter ran toward Jace.

  With a curse, Jace turned around to address the media. “No comment. Now if you’ll just excuse me.”

  Jake and Travis created a bit of a bubble around Jace as they all walked away from the reporters. Soon, airport security was on it, pushing the media back.

  “Shit.” Jace’s jaw clenched. “I need to disappear for a while.”

  “Did someone say disappear?” a female voice asked from behind them.

  A resounding groan came from every single one of them as they all turned to face Grandma.

  She held a credit card in her hand and slipped by every one of them. “Yes, I need three tickets to Maui. Kihei? Is that what it’s called?” Grandma turned. “Kacey, dear, where are you honeymooning?”

  “Lie.” Travis said under his breath just as Char answered, “Kanaapali.”

  “Of course!” Grandma turned back around. “Three tickets to there. Yes, I’d like to use my miles.”

  “This is a joke, right?” Jake said.

  “I wish.” Travis sighed. “It’s like she knows how to appear out of thin air.”

  “Wait.” Char pushed by Jake. “Why three tickets?”

  Grandma waved behind the group. “Beth, dear? Come here. I need your ID.”

  Char watched in shock as Beth approached, a not too happy look on her face.

  “What’s she got on you?” Jake asked. “Dirty pictures? Embarrassing moment? Drunken text?”

  Beth squinted. “Drunken text.”

  Jake pointed at Travis. “Some people aren’t the brightest crayons in the box. He fell via drunken text to Grandma.”

  “Two words.” Travis held up two fingers. “Mating Dance.”

  “Touch�
�.” Jake sighed. “So what is it, Beth? Hmm?”

  She bit her bottom lip and looked at Grandma, and then her eyes glanced toward Jace. Both of them looked away immediately.

  “Oh no.” Jake groaned. “Listen, Beth, if there was Benadryl involved—”

  “Drugged.” Travis shook his head. “It happens to the best of us.”

  “Grandma drugged you?” Char asked.

  Beth tucked her hair behind her ear. “Not exactly. I just, uh, well, she—”

  “Beth!” Grandma yelled loudly enough to draw the attention of people around them. “Come on, don’t dally, we don’t have all day! You too, Jace, get your handsome self over here. You just let Grandma take care of everything.”

  Jake sighed. “It’s like waiting for the storm to hit. No matter how many times you scream ‘Hurricane, take cover!’ the poor unsuspecting victims just stare at the sky in awe.”

  “Grandma has that effect on people.” Char linked her arm with his.

  “I can’t look away,” Travis said. “It’s like watching a car wreck. You know you should call 911 and help, but damn if you can’t manage to do anything but drive by slowly and gape.”

  “Only God can help them now.” Kacey sighed.

  All four of them stared at Jace and Beth as Grandma bought them first class tickets to paradise. Well, it would soon turn into hell, as most of Grandma’s plans involved pain, humiliation, manipulation… On second thought, Jake grinned.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  He shrugged. “I imagine this feeling is what Travis had when he watched Grandma pull the little strings of our lives together.”

  Travis laughed. “You mean smug beyond belief?”

  “Yeah, that.”

  “Still feeling it,” Travis admitted. “Good to know she’s moved on to her next victims.”

  Travis and Kacey walked off toward security, leaving Jake and Char alone.

  “Do you think of us as a train wreck?”

  “Nah.” Jake winked. “I think or at least I’d like to think I’m not stupid enough to ignore you forever. Sooner or later, we would have ended up together. With or without Grandma.”

  Just then Grandma walked by and snorted. “Shmuck.”

  “Or not.” Jake laughed.

  “I love you.” Char reached up and kissed his lips. He’d never tire of her, ever. Maybe his Grandma knew him better than he knew himself. After all, it had taken a hell of a lot of plotting for him to pull his head out of his ass, and he knew, sooner or later, he’d have to thank Grandma all over again for her manipulative ways.

  About the Author

  Rachel Van Dyken is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of regency and contemporary romances. When she’s not writing you can find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching The Bachelor.

  She keeps her home in Idaho with her husband and their snoring boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers! You can follow her writing journey at www.rachelvandykenauthor.com.

  Please see the next page for a preview of THE BET

  Chapter One

  Present Day

  Kacey searched his eyes for any hint of amusement. He couldn’t be serious, not Jake. Jake never took anything seriously. She quickly raised her hand to feel his forehead and inwardly shuddered. Why God had blessed such an arrogant man with the face of a movie star was seriously beyond her realm of understanding.

  But there he was, a regular Adonis, staring back at her as if his eyes didn’t make mortal women uncomfortable.

  “Are you drunk?” she whispered, leaning in closer, all the while cursing the expensive aftershave floating off him.

  Jake slapped her hand away. “No, I’m not drunk. Geez, Kacey, you’re acting like I’m propositioning you for sex or something.”

  “That’s the example you come up with? Sex? Really? Because to be honest, Jake, this is so much worse!” Her hands shook as she tried to level her breathing to a normal pace. At this rate she was going to have a full-on panic attack.

  “How is this worse?” His voice rose a few octaves as other patrons of the coffee shop looked in their direction.

  Kacey leaned back against the leather chair and groaned.

  “I’m dead serious, Kacey. It’s the only way to convince them.” Jake leaned forward, his bronzed muscular forearms flexing against his rolled up sleeves as he rested his hands across the table.

  “You do realize your parents have known me since I was three? Furthermore, I’m convinced that your mother would be able to see right through us. And don’t even get me started on that grandmother of yours.”

  Jake’s stone face cracked into a smile.

  “Don’t laugh! I’m serious, Jake! The woman should have worked for the FBI.”

  “It’s her eyes.” Jake shrugged. “They always get me.” He shuddered. “But you’re getting off-topic, Kacey. I’m desperate.”

  “Oh, wow. Well, when you put it that way, how could I turn you down? You’re desperate! Romantic man you are not. I have no idea how you managed to become the city’s most eligible bachelor, and at twenty-one. Impressive.” She shook her head in disbelief.

  “Really, you don’t know?” He leaned forward, his biceps tightening beneath his grey button-up shirt, ready to burst through at any minute. His clean-shaven face held a hint of a five o’clock shadow, and his dark hair fell in waves across his forehead. Clear hazel eyes gazed back at her, and she couldn’t find the strength to look away from his lips as his tongue ran across them.

  Crap. She was actually sweating just looking at the guy. It didn’t help matters that this was the first time she had heard from him since the incident. Not that this was the time to bring that up.

  “Fine.” Kacey told her heart to stop beating so fast and closed her eyes again. “Jake, it won’t ever work. Why don’t you get one of your stripper girlfriends to do it for you?” And please, for the love of God, leave me alone. Too many memories stared back at her through his eyes, and she wasn’t sure she could stomach it. Not after hearing that the restaurant her parents had owned just opened up two new locations, one of them in Seattle. The wound seemed to open all over again. She shuddered and let Jake continue to plead his case.

  “Um, because they’re strippers?” Jake lifted his hands into the air and shook his head. “Do you want my grandmother to die? Because I assure you, that will do nothing more than cause another stroke.”

  Kacey paused. “Another stroke? As in she’s had a few?” Is that why Grandma Nadine hadn’t written her in a month?

  Jake winced. “Yes, it’s been getting worse.” He ran his hands through his thick hair. “Will you help me or not? I’ll pay you—”

  “You’ll pay me?” Kacey snorted. “Just like you pay your strippers? Why do I feel like I’m getting nothing out of this?”

  Jake grinned. “Wow, I hate to pull out the big guns, but you owe me.”

  “I owe you?” Kacey repeated. “Oh, please tell how I owe the great Jake Titus a favor. I’m dying to know, really.” She raised her eyebrows and tapped her manicured nail against the cup of cold coffee.

  “Fine.” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Fifth grade, you wanted a dog. Your parents said no. So I, being the good friend I am, went to the store and bought you one.”

  “Doesn’t count,” Kacey interjected. “You named him after yourself.”

  “He had dark hair,” Jake argued. “Besides, you slept with him every night.” His grin was shameless, and Kacey wanted to punch him in the face for it.

  She opened her mouth to say so, but he interrupted her.

  “Eighth grade—”

  “Oh, Lord.”

  “Eighth grade,” he repeated with a wink. “You had a crush on Stevenson Merrit. I, being the friend that I am, told him that you were the best kisser in the entire school. You guys went out for a year before you dumped him for greener pastures.”

  “Ah, so that’s how you refer to yourself now da
ys. Greener pastures.” Kacey smiled patronizingly.

  “Yeah, well, it’s true.”

  “Not good enough.” Kacey sighed. He was so close she could smell his shampoo. A spicy masculine mix of mint and cinnamon that teased her senses with visions of a man she would never have again. Scratch that. Never had in the first place.

  “Fine.” Jake shook his head. “I didn’t want to have to do this.”

  Feigning boredom, Kacey merely stared back and waited.

  “Your first year of college, you had a fish, named him Stuart. Ugliest fish that ever lived.”

  “Hey!” She glared. “He was my best friend.”

  “Who you also left at school for two weeks, assuming your Mother Theresa roommate would take care of him for you.”

  “She always did hate that fish,” Kacey grumbled.

  “So who took your fish in?”

  Kacey looked down at her hands.

  “Who took in the fish, Kacey?”

  With a large sigh she answered, “You took in the fish, Jake.”

  “So I win. And again, you owe me. Plus, do you really want my grandma to die? The very same grandma who helped you win homecoming queen? The one who actually wore your macaroni necklaces? It really is quite simple. Just do it for the weekend and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  Refusing to answer him, Kacey stared at the coffee table and licked her lips. Maybe if she looked pathetic enough he’d just leave her alone. Just being in the same room with him was enough to cause her heart to clench.

  “Kace,” Jake groaned. “You have no idea how important my image is to me.”

  “Wow, so not helping your case,” Kacey snapped.

  “I need this.” Jake reached across the table and grabbed her hand. His hands were always so large and warm, as if by holding them, he could take away all her pain. But she knew the truth, those same hands had destroyed her, ruined her, and in the end, those selfish hands never handed back her heart. “I’ll pay off your student loans.”

  “How do you even know about my student—”

  “I know everything.” He winked. “It’s my job to. Come on, you need to finish your senior year of college, Kace. It’s been three months since graduation. Do you really want to be left behind while everyone else is out there making something out of themselves?”