The Bet

  It was like Leave it to Beaver threw up at the table. His father stood behind his mother, holding her shoulders, and both their heads were tilted with frozen smiles on their faces.

  Travis glanced at Grandma. At least she was acting normal, drinking her fourth glass of wine, bless her heart.

  Kacey’s hands were shaking. No doubt they were giving her something ridiculously expensive. Travis leaned over and nearly choked. He really shouldn’t eat in front of these people ever again.

  A house.

  They’d bought a house.

  And it wasn’t just any house. It was nestled quite nicely on Lake Washington, in prime real estate.

  “We thought you might want something close to downtown but not too close that you can’t enjoy everything Seattle has to offer.” His mother squeezed his dad’s hand, and they sighed simultaneously.

  Wescott patted Kacey’s hand. “It’s been in the family for years. Lots of homes, lots of investments, but it’s yours if you want it.”

  Kacey still hadn’t looked up from the deed.

  Travis didn’t know what to do, so he changed the subject. “Hey, is it cool if Kacey and I go start cutting the pie for dessert?”

  His mom and dad nodded in unison.

  He practically had to drag Kacey out of her chair. Once they were in the kitchen he very gently pulled the deed from her hands and made her sit in a chair.

  She promptly burst into tears.

  ****

  Kacey felt like such an idiot for crying. But since her parents had died a few years back, she’d always wanted to have a home. A real home.

  A home like the one Jake’s parents had just given them.

  And it was all a lie. She felt violently ill in that moment and placed her head between her knees, trying to take large gasps of air.

  “Hey, hey, it’s fine, it’s okay.” Travis rubbed her back. “Just breathe. You’re just having a panic attack. You’ll be fine. There’s my girl. Just breathe.” He rubbed slow circles around her neck until she finally calmed down and laid her head on his lap.

  “Wanna talk about it, Kace?”

  She shrugged. She didn’t really want to talk about it to anyone, least of all Travis. She still wasn’t sure what alien species had taken over his body to make him both gorgeous and nice, but part of her felt like she couldn’t completely trust him.

  After all, he did throw rocks when he was little.

  Kacey shook her head as another sob escaped her mouth. This house was full of so many memories. How many family dinners had they shared together? The food was always catered by her parents’ restaurant. Her mom and dad would drink wine with Jake’s parents, and then all the kids would watch Disney movies in the living room. And now that she was back, it was as if a huge chunk was missing. She sat in the same chair, talked with the same family she adored, but a giant piece was missing. She wasn’t sure it would ever be okay. Not after repressing the pain for so long.

  She shrugged. “I feel horrible. Your poor parents think it’s real and then to make everything worse, they give us this.” She hit the packet on the table next to her. “And it’s tempting, so tempting that I hate myself for it.” It was partially the truth. She did want it, but more than that, she wanted her parents to be alive.

  Travis sighed next to her. “You don’t need a man like Jake to give you what you want. Believe me, when you have the perfect house and tons of money, you still won’t be complete if the man you share it with is out paying whores to do things you would never do.”

  “Oh, I don’t know about that.” Kacey joked.

  “Kace! Jake isn’t worth it!”

  “No.” She laughed. “I meant things that strippers do. Pretty sure I know how to please my man. I could drive circles around those girls. I just need the right guy.”

  Travis tensed next to her. He cleared his throat and pushed away from the chair. He walked over to the counter and began cutting the pie.

  What was his deal lately?

  “Let me guess.” Kacey leaned over the counter. “Raspberry pie?”

  “How’d you know?” He smirked, his voice was hoarse.

  “It was the only pie your grandma taught you how to make, and if I remember correctly, you made it for your senior prom date.”

  “Ugh.” Travis carefully cut it into eighths. “If I remember correctly she spilled it on her dress and blamed me for making raspberries red.”

  “She always was such a charmer. What was her name again?”

  Travis chuckled. “Oh no you don’t. That’s just what I need. You digging up my past girlfriends and making fun of them. Besides, I don’t date girls anymore. I date women.” He eyed her up and down before slowly licking the fork.

  Kacey averted her eyes, mainly because the picture of him licking that fork was so erotic she nearly jumped across the table and assaulted him. Apparently this is what happens when you don’t have boyfriends, and the closest relationship you’ve had in the past year has been with your e-reader and a fictional duke named Henry.

  “So…” Kacey nudged him a bit with her arm. “Women, hmm? What women are you dating? I don’t see any of them here for family dinner night.”

  “There are no women.”

  Kacey’s heart hammered in her chest.

  “If you must know, there is one woman. One being the keyword.”

  She clenched her fist and cursed herself for bringing the subject up. “What’s her name?”

  “Oh no you don’t!” Travis placed the knife on the plate and grabbed Kacey by the shoulders. “That’s just what I need, you stalking the one woman I’m interested in.”

  Did he say he was only interested in one? Damn the man. Be unattractive! She wanted to yell. “C’mon Trav, you know me. What harm could I possibly cause?”

  “Junior year—” he began.

  “Forget I asked.”

  “—Junior year.” He held his finger into the air as he was making his point. “Somehow you discovered I had a crush on Ashley Willis. I still don’t know how, considering I’m a guy and I don’t keep a diary.”

  “No.” Kacey dipped a fork into the pie and licked the tangy berries off of it. “But you did moan her name one time in your sleep. But carry on.”

  He glared. “You told her.”

  “Okay, Trav, come on. I did nothing of the sort. I merely hinted that you had a tiny bit of a crush on her.”

  “Kace, making a poster with my face on it and heart stickers is a hell of a lot more than hinting. God, I don’t even think you know the meaning of the word discreet.”

  “Do to!” she argued.

  He walked around the table and pulled her into a tight headlock. “Do not!” She fought against him but was helpless. “Do you give?” he whispered into her hair.

  His hard-muscled chest was heaving behind her. Did she give? Oh God, what she wouldn’t give for something, anything.

  Ah! Red alert! What was she thinking? It’s Travis, Travis!

  “Travis!” she screamed, totally unintentionally. He released her and winked.

  “Come on, let’s take the pie in before they think you stabbed me or something.”

  “Close,” Kacey grumbled, though stabbing wasn’t necessarily what she had in mind. Rubbing his body down with berries and licking it off? Yes. Violence? Only that of a sexual nature.

  She needed to trip and hit her head or something to shake Travis’s smile and scent out of it before she lost her mind.

  “There you two are!” Grandma winked as they rejoined the family and began to enjoy the pie. “I thought maybe Travis was having a little encounter in there with you, little girl.” Grandma winked again. Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Kacey had taken a ginormous bite of pie, enough to begin to choke.

  It worsened when Travis lifted his hands in the air and said, “I was trying to be discreet.”

  Kacey glared.

  His entire family laughed, and she kicked at him again under the table. He moved his foot in time and then stuck out his t
ongue like a two-year-old.

  And really, maybe it was the sexual frustration, but she lunged for him, his chair tipped backwards and she straddled him, shoving pie into his beautiful face all the while screaming, “I’ll get you!”

  In her mind the family was cheering, when really everyone was completely silent.

  Except Travis who was yelling and cursing and spitting pie back out at her. Luckily they had hardwood floors instead of carpeting.

  Finally, when the pie was done, she wiped a berry off his face and licked her fingers. His eyes darkened, and for a minute it looked like he was going to kiss her.

  He leaned forward and reached up behind her. And suddenly she had hot pie all over her face.

  “I win, Kace,” he whispered huskily into her ear.

  Yes, yes you do.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Kacey checked her phone for the tenth time that night. Nothing, not even a text from Jake.

  What the heck was wrong with him? She was here helping him! And he had work? She didn’t buy it. She wasn’t stupid. But it did make her feel awkward when his parents kept giving her concerned looks.

  They finally went to bed shortly after the pie incident, which she decided was one of those freak moments where you lose control of bodily function as well as logic and make bad choices. Kind of like when you’re drunk, which she wasn’t, because according to Jake’s parents she was carrying his love child.

  Damn Jake Titus.

  “Kace!” Travis strolled into the room, absolutely shirtless and wearing nothing but pajama pants. Was her tongue hanging out of her mouth? Oh God, she was beginning to sweat. Geez, at least turn the air on in this place.

  Averting her eyes, she managed an awkward laugh. “What’s up?”

  “Movie night.” He threw a pillow at her and went to the DVDs.

  “Um, is it naked movie night? I’m not sure I got that memo.” She looked him up and down when he turned around.

  “I’m sorry, does my masculinity frighten your prudish nature?”

  She snorted. “Please, I just don’t want to get last night’s skank on me. I hear diseases travel through too much skin contact.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’ll put on a shirt if you take off yours.”

  How tempting that was…. “Take off my shirt? So you can finally see my boobs? Oh gosh, Travis. Let me think. Give you the fantasy you’ve been dreaming of for years or keep my pride? Yeah, I think I’ll keep my pride.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself, but it really isn’t a slumber party if you’re not naked.”

  “What the hell kind of slumber parties were you subjected to as a child?” Kacey asked.

  Travis grinned shamelessly. “Only the good ones. Now seriously, go change into sweats. I’ll wait.”

  “Fine.” She hopped off, her heart beating erratically out of her chest. This witty banter had to stop. For crying out loud, they were adults! Not teenagers! She grabbed some short Victoria Secret shorts and a black tank and put on her slippers to make it look less… seductive. Not that she was seducing him. Her stupid skin betrayed her in the mirror as it turned a very nice crimson color.

  She really needed to start dating more.

  Taking the stairs two at a time, she went back down to the living room and saw Travis opening a bottle of wine, thankfully he had put a shirt on. She wasn’t sure she could handle any more of his glistening muscles that evening. “Thought you could use this, even though it’s not good for the baby.” He winked.

  “I would drink that whole bottle if I knew it wouldn’t get me completely drunk. I miss wine.”

  “Um, you haven’t had it for one night, and you miss it?”

  “Clearly, you underestimate my relationship with wine and what I do on the weekends when I’m by myself reading.”

  “You wild thing, you.” Travis nudged her and filled her glass to the brim. He should be sainted, immediately.

  Their fingers brushed slightly as he handed the wine over. His eyes flickered to her shorts, and he cleared his throat. “Those are nice.”

  “Thanks.” She inwardly smiled.

  “Are they shorts or underwear?”

  Was he being serious? “Shorts, you ass. Now what movie are we watching?”

  “Guess.”

  “Not in the mood, not near enough wine in my system for me to embark on such a strenuous activity.”

  “Ah, pregnancy brain, it does it to ya, it really does.” Travis got up and turned off the lights, then pressed play. “I thought you might want to watch a horror movie.”

  “Horror movie?”

  A cartoon popped up on the screen. Kacey blinked as the music came on, then nearly fell out of her seat. “Oh my gosh, we can’t watch this, Travis. I can’t watch this. It’s been forever and…”

  “Conquer your fears, Kace.”

  Kacey scooted a little closer to him, just in case some of the cartoons did in fact decide to pop out and devour her.

  He pressed pause and laughed. “Kace, really? I thought you’d be over this fear by now.”

  “It’s not a fear.” Kacey drank her wine faster. ‘”It’s a scary movie!”

  “It’s Alice in Wonderland.”

  Kacey shook her head a few times and drank some more wine. “Damn that Cheshire cat.”

  Travis held up his wine. “To conquering old fears?”

  Something shifted between them then. His eyes, though it was dark, seemed to be hiding something, as if he was talking about more than her stupid phobia. She leaned in, now completely relaxed from downing half her wine already and whispered, “To conquering old fears.”

  ****

  Travis knew it was a double meaning for him. He really did need to conquer his old fear and actually kiss the girl, and once and for all, get it out of his system. Great, now he had that damn crab singing Kiss the Girl in his head. Swell.

  He sighed, surely that would make this blinding attraction go away. God, it was hard enough watching the movie sitting next to her, breathing in her scent, let alone viewing her shapely legs.

  He wanted to run his tongue up and down her thigh until…

  Stop! He needed to stop, or he was going to have a serious problem staying comfortable during the stupid cartoon. And then she’d probably assume cartoons somehow turned him on. That’s just what he needed, for her to think Alice in Wonderland made him horny.

  He reached for the wine bottle twenty minutes into the movie, only to find they had nearly finished it. He blamed Kacey. She was drinking it like water, not that he could blame her. One dinner with his family was likely to do that to a person, especially when Grandma had a tendency to flaunt her liaisons.

  He still couldn’t figure out why Grandma seemed to be doing so well. She was supposed to be bedridden, ill! Instead she was sneaking across the street to see the neighbor.

  Oh, that mental picture did wonders for his aroused state. Consider him officially turned off.

  The music started up, and it was the part where the Cheshire cat appeared for the first time.

  He looked at Kacey to gauge her reaction.

  She closed her eyes.

  “Kace,” he whispered. “Open your eyes. The cat isn’t going to magically float into the living room.”

  She peeked behind her hands then reached for the last bit of her wine, downing its contents and handing him her glass. “More.”

  Far be it for him to deny her anything. He went in search of another bottle.

  The minute the cork was out, Kacey held out her glass, still not taking her eyes off the TV. She really did have a weird fear when it came to that dang cat. To her credit, she didn’t scream like the last time, which would have been when she was fifteen, but she did inch closer and closer to him until her thigh was touching his.

  Sweet torture.

  He began drinking to keep his hands and lips occupied, and as the credits flashed, he realized they had finished two bottles of wine.

  Kacey, however, looked wired. “We have to watch someth
ing happy to get rid of those mental images.”

  Travis shook his head, feeling way more relaxed than he should, his arm draped around her, pulling her closer. “What do you want then?”

  What he meant to say was Well, what do you want to watch then? But he was slightly drunk and a little loose-lipped.

  She shrugged, snuggling closer into his body. His arm, once on her shoulders, caressed her back, moving lower and lower until it grazed her butt.

  “Kace?” he asked again. She hadn’t moved, and the room was spinning, partially from the wine and partially from his lust-filled state.

  “Hmm?” She looked up. God, she was beautiful, and so damn close to him he could nearly taste the wine on her lips.

  “Your call,” he said, lowering his head to hers.

  “This means nothing,” she whispered against his lips. “We’re drunk, and it means nothing,” she repeated as her hands tangled in his hair.

  With a moan he shook his head.

  “Right, nothing.” He licked her lower lip, tasting the red wine then running his tongue along the bottom of her jaw.

  She arched her back, and he pulled her closer. His control was hanging on by a single thread.

  When his lips grazed hers, she opened her mouth to him. All hell broke loose. He hadn’t expected her to taste so good, to feel so ripe, to feel perfect in his arms, to moan his name.

  His tongue tangled with hers. Kacey ran her fingers up and down his biceps then tucked her hands underneath his shirt, peeling it off his body.

  “Told you naked slumber parties were more fun,” he said between kisses.

  She giggled and reached for her own shirt. No way in hell he was going to miss watching this. He leaned back mesmerized as she began to strip, and then… the lights flipped on.

  “Grandma!”

  “Travis! Kacey!” She put a hand over her heart.

  Oh God, this was it. His grandma had just seen him getting ready to screw his brother’s fiancée. He was going to be the reason for her death. He just knew it.

  She tilted her head. “Kacey, that brassier is quite charming. Pink. Now why don’t I have any pink lingerie?”

  Travis hid his head in his hands, praying to disappear.

  Grandma shrugged. “You kids be sure to clean up now. Don’t want Jake coming home and seeing remnants of your lovemaking.”