Not a Second Chance (4 page)

But seeing as none of that fun stuff was happening, it was best he leave ASAP before she tossed her wine in his face.

“Yeah, I don’t think he was
just
leaving.” Maya crossed her arms. “Though I know he wasn’t going to stay overnight.”

“Of course not,” Allison said. “I’m having dinner with you two—that’s my plan for the evening.”

“Until we saw each other at the bakery,” Sidney said. “Well, I saw her. She didn’t recognize me. And then—”

“Could we
please
not talk about this?”

Maya’s gaze flicked from Allison to Sidney, then back to Allison. “I don’t think your dinner plans were the only reason he wasn’t going to stay over. I remember how much you two fought at the end. Hell, I bet you wouldn’t be able to spend a night together without killing each other.”

“My thought exactly,” Allison said.

“I told her she’d probably stab me in my sleep. Isn’t that right?” Sidney patted Allison’s shoulder and smiled; she shook him off. “And she admitted she would. We discussed it back at the bakery. But I didn’t tell her what
I
would do.”

“I’m glad you two decided to have this conversation before you had sex,” Maya said. “Very sensible of you.”

“Sensible. That’s what I said.” He nudged Allison’s hip. “Well, we were talking about something slightly different when I used the word, but—”

“Sidney.” Allison held up her glass. “I am
very
close to pouring wine all over you.”

“White wine. That’s not so bad. Red wine on the other hand…”

She downed half her glass rather than dumping it on him. This was not the time to waste alcohol. How had she ever thought that sleeping with him was a good idea? Of course, she could not have foreseen
this
, although had she actually remembered her friends were coming over, maybe she would have. But had she remembered, she certainly wouldn’t have invited him back to her place. Instead, she might have suggested the washroom at Temptations—they could have done it there in five minutes.

Okay. She needed to stop thinking like this. Sidney was pissing her off. This had been an enormous mistake. That was all. Even spending another five minutes with him sounded like torture.

“Hmm.” Kristy smiled faintly and swirled the wine in her glass. “I agree with Maya. I bet you two wouldn’t be able to spend a night together without committing any crimes. And I’ll buy you dinner if you prove us wrong.”

“You’re joking,” Allison said.

It had to be a joke, right?

“Seriously,” Kristy said, her smile widening. “I’m pretty sure you can’t do it. If by some miracle you succeed, I’ll buy you both dinner. An expensive dinner. With wine.”

“So as a reward for spending the whole night with him, I get to have dinner with him? That sounds like a punishment, not a reward.”

“I can buy you dinner separately.”

“Not worth it.”

“Five hundred dollars,” Kristy said. “I’ll give you five hundred dollars, which you can split however you like.”

What?
Allison must have heard that wrong. Her friend was seriously offering her money to spend a night with her ex-boyfriend?

But everyone else was speechless too. So maybe she’d heard correctly. Sidney looked at her and raised his eyebrows, as if expecting her to explain this. But she couldn’t. It made no sense.

“Much as I would love to see this,” Maya said, “I don’t think you have five hundred dollars to throw around on stupid bets, Kristy.”

“Actually I do. I got some unexpected cash recently.”

Sidney turned to Kristy and held out his hand. “You have a deal.”

This was happening too fast. And it was all wrong.

“Wait.” Allison grabbed his hand and pushed it down onto the counter. “This doesn’t work unless we both agree. And I’m not agreeing.”

“Why not?” he said, pulling his hand out from under hers. “Five hundred dollars just to have sex and argue and try not to kill each other for one night? Sounds good to me.”

“You’d only get two hundred and fifty. If that. Maybe your share should only be a hundred dollars.”

“You know,” Kristy said, “when you put it like that, it does sound a bit too easy, even for you two. How about I give you five hundred dollars plus dinner—separately if you insist—if you spend the weekend together. Forty-eight hours.”

“Fine,” Sidney said. “But no more changing the bet.”

“One more thing. If you two lose the bet, someone has to buy
me
dinner. Well, Allison has to buy me dinner. But you don’t owe me five hundred dollars.” Kristy reached out and shook Sidney’s hand.

Forty-eight hours together? And Sidney wanted to do this? And Kristy was willing to blow five hundred dollars on it? Allison couldn’t wrap her mind around it all.

“As entertaining as this sounds,” Maya said, “I don’t understand why it’s happening.”

“It’s not happening. I haven’t agreed.” Allison turned to Kristy. “What has gotten into you?”

Kristy whispered something to Maya, who covered her mouth with one hand and nodded.

Great. Now they were keeping secrets from her.

Sidney wrapped his arm around Allison’s waist, and before she could push him away, he whispered, “Don’t you want to have lots of sex and get paid for it?”

“I have no desire to be a hooker.”

He slid his hand down to her hip and caressed it lightly. “Lots and lots of sex with me? That doesn’t tempt you at all?”

She felt his warm breath on her ear, and that warmth spread to other parts of her. Yes, a weekend filled with good sex was awfully tempting. But…“The idea of spending so much time with you horrifies me.”

“I don’t have to talk,” he said. “Would that make it better?”

“I doubt you could manage to stop talking.”

“True.” He continued to touch her. Continued to stand far too close. “There are many filthy things I’d want to say to you. Many wicked things. And don’t forget, I know
exactly
what you like.”

Why did that have to make desire pool between her legs? Now the idea of forty-eight hours together sounded less than utterly horrifying.

She pushed those thoughts aside.
It would be complete torture
, she told her body.
And don’t you think otherwise.

On the other side of the breakfast bar, Maya and Kristy were having a quiet conversation of their own. Quiet except for Kristy’s giggles.

“So you won’t do it, Allison?” Kristy said, picking up her wineglass. “It’s just one weekend.”

“What is wrong with you two?” Allison shoved Sidney away and poured herself some more wine.

“I know why you won’t do it,” Maya said. “It’s—”

“Because it sounds like torture, and I don’t need money that desperately. The whole thing is idiotic.”

“You won’t do it because you know you’ll fail.”

Allison clenched her jaw. It might be a stupid bet, but those words still got to her.

She didn’t like being told she’d fail. When she was told she wasn’t good enough to pass grade eight piano, she’d passed grade eight piano without any problem. She hated every damn minute of practice, but she did it. When she was struggling a little with physics, her father told her it would be okay if she didn’t get an A for once because he didn’t think she’d be able to do it. But Allison still got that A. And then there was hockey…

“I could do it,” she said. “I just don’t want to.”

“Then prove it,” Maya shot back.

“Yeah.” Kristy leaned forward, her hands clasped on the counter. “Because I’m pretty sure you’ll never make it.”

“We did it all the time when we were dating,” Allison said. “I don’t know why we need to prove it
now
.”

“We didn’t really spend that much time together,” Sidney muttered. “You were always studying.”

“And you
should
have been studying. You were in—what was it? Fifth year? Sixth year? I can’t remember.”

“You can’t remember because you never gave a shit about me. I’m not sure you even knew at the time. Hell, you didn’t even recognize me today.”

“You look completely different.”

“Not
that
different.”

“And I did recognize you. Eventually.”

“Only because I told you we’d dated for a while, and you mentally went through the list of men you’ve dated.”

“And this is why my five hundred dollars is safe,” Kristy said to Maya.

“No. It’s not.” Allison held out her hand. “I accept your bet. We’ll make it. You’ll see.”

“I doubt it,” Kristy said, shaking her hand. “But I can’t wait to see you try.”

“Me too.” Maya grinned. “Forty-eight hours, remember. It’s six fifty-three now, so you’ve got until six fifty-three on Sunday.”

This was going to be so much fun.

Not.

*

Sidney wasn’t surprised Allison had agreed. She hated being told she’d fail and loved proving people wrong. He suspected her friends had said what they did because they knew it would get her to take the bet.

But he didn’t understand Kristy’s motive. Why the hell had she made that bet in the first place?

He’d agreed to it much faster than Allison because the thought of having lots and lots of sex—what else would they do with all that time?—had wiped all other thoughts from his mind. Plus, like Allison, he hated when someone said he couldn’t do something.

He hadn’t always been this way. Back in university, people had regularly told him he couldn’t do things, and he’d just laughed and usually proved them right. But when he finally moved out of his parents’ basement after everyone had given up on him entirely, he started to enjoy proving people wrong. He liked the look of shock on their faces when he defied expectations and actually accomplished something.

So he understood why Allison had taken the bet, even though spending a weekend with him was probably the last thing she wanted to do. Frankly, he wasn’t looking forward to most of the next forty-eight hours either. Just the sex.

His eyes slid down her body. The buttons on her shirt taunted him; he’d had them undone not long ago, and now she was covered up again. He wished he could see what was underneath, wished he could hear her response as he brushed his hands over her skin. And he would—but not right now.

Sidney walked over to the cupboard he’d seen Allison get the wineglasses from earlier. He pulled out a glass and poured himself the rest of the wine, which wasn’t much.

“Does this mean he has to come out for dinner with us?” Allison asked.

“Of course,” Kristy said. “That’s what spending the weekend together means. You have to spend every minute together.”

“Surely you don’t mean
every
minute.”

“Fine. You don’t have to shower together.”

“No?” Sidney slipped his arm around Allison’s shoulders. “Sounds like—”

“Get away from me.” She kicked his shin.

The weekend sure was off to a great start.

“Since Sidney’s having dinner with us, maybe I’ll ask Grant to come,” Kristy said.

“Yes. Please do.” He had no idea who Grant was—presumably Kristy’s boyfriend or husband—but another man sounded like a good idea.

“So I’ll be the only one without a date,” Maya said.

“But you’re seeing Les tomorrow.” Kristy grasped Maya’s arm and shook her rather enthusiastically. “That’s exciting, isn’t it?”

“Who’s Les?” Allison asked.

“The latest guy Kristy’s been trying to set me up with.” Maya sighed. “I wish she’d give up. No half-decent guy will go on more than three dates with me, so what’s the point?”

“I am
not
giving up,” Kristy said. “You’re a great person, and the perfect guy will come along soon. I’m sure of it.”

“The so-called perfect guy is probably an ax murder.”

“You need to work on your positive thinking.” Kristy picked up her purse. “I’ll talk to Grant, then call the restaurant and change our reservation.” She headed to the balcony.

Maya hadn’t been this pessimistic ten years ago—Sidney remembered that much. But ten years was a long time. And as he knew all too well, it only took one person to totally alter your perspective on relationships. In his case Allison.

And somehow, he’d agreed to spend the weekend with her.

“You’re really calling Sidney my date?” Allison said to Maya.

Maya rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Better to say ‘date’ than ‘the guy you’re being paid to spend the weekend with.’ I’m too lazy to say that every time.”

“I don’t blame you,” Sidney said. Though “date” did make him wince a little. Well, there was one thing he and Allison could agree on. “So how will you and Kristy know if we’re actually together all weekend?”

“Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that,” Maya said. “Considering I don’t really want to put a video camera—”

“If there’s a video camera involved, I’m backing out of this.” He did not need anyone seeing the things he hoped to do to Allison.

“Guess I’ll just have to take your word for it.”

“Don’t trust Allison,” Sidney said. “She tends to lie.”

Allison glared at him. “It’s not like you always tell the truth.”

“Tell me when I lied. I’m really interested in hearing this.”

“I’m interested in hearing when Allison lied.” Maya rested her elbow on the counter and raised her wineglass to her lips. “Do tell.”

Allison’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “No. And Sidney, you better shut the hell up. As best you can, which probably isn’t very well.”

He decided to stay silent until they headed to the restaurant, just to surprise her.

Kristy came back and sat beside Maya. “Grant’s coming, and I called the restaurant. Everything’s settled.” She smiled. “So what are you doing these days, Sidney?”

He kept his mouth closed, though it seemed a little rude.

“Allison told him to shut up,” Maya explained.

“Huh?” Kristy looked confused. “It’s going to be awkward if he doesn’t talk at all.”

“Maybe. But this is already quite amusing, don’t you think?”

“Well, I can tell you what he does,” Allison said. “He lives in his parents’ basement and plays poker, and he’s in debt because he’s not very good.”

Okay. This really wasn’t going to work. “I’m an electrician.”

“Yeah? That’s cool,” Kristy said. “Grant’s an engineer. You can talk about…technical stuff I don’t understand.”