The Bet (8 page)

Which she’d found extremely hot.

Needless to say he’d flown her down for the weekend as well.

It’s not as if Kacey was really going to be that realistic in this role, not that Jake would let her. After everything that had happened between them, it was safe to say that they needed to stay friends, lest he ruined both their lives for the second time.

“Jake?” Dad reached for the potatoes once everyone was seated. “How’s the office? Everything going well?”

No, he wanted to yell. Everything was not going well since Dad had retired, but it was imperative that Jake appeared in control. He shrugged and answered, “Not a problem.”

Grandma chose to make a grand entrance, complete with lipstick smeared on her face, and he couldn’t help but smell some sort of man-scent coming off of her in waves.

Always nice to know Grandma’s getting play while faking your own engagement.

“What’s this about the business?” Grandma could destroy a man with one harsh look.

“Nothing,” Jake said, diverting attention away from himself. “But you can ask about Kacey and my plans to wed.”

In that moment, Jake’s heart stopped as Grandma clutched her chest, wheezed, and then literally toppled out of her chair.

“Grandma!” everyone yelled on key as if to somehow revive her.

Jake fell to his knees and grasped her hand. She opened her eyes on cue. “I was playing the shocked grandmother. Did I do well?”

“Damn it, Grandma! Don’t ever do that again!” Jake swore fluently. Mom glared from her side of the table, but he was sure she was thinking the same thing, if not worse.

“I was an actress once,” Grandma announced once she was back in her chair.

Jake guessed that nobody really knew what to do except the obvious. Kacey gave him the
help a girl out
look and began to clap.

He followed, and soon the entire table erupted in applause.

Note to self:
Media should never sit in on family dinner
night.
Under no circumstances should that ever happen.

“So…” Grandma tossed the napkin on her lap. “You’re finally tying the knot, hmm? You kids always were so close to one another, can’t say I’m surprised, and you know what this means for your business, right?” Grandma elbowed him.

Jake dropped his fork, making a huge clattering noise in the silence.

“It means I’m growing up.” He faked a smile and shoveled more food into his mouth.

She knew. His conniving grandmother knew about the board members’ ultimatum. Shit. Kacey couldn’t find out that Grandma knew or she’d kill him, and then tell all to Grandma, who would then ruin his chances with the board, considering she still had pull with those old geezers. Hell, it wouldn’t surprise him if his grandmother was behind the board’s ultimatum for Jake to clean up his act.

Manipulative family members.

Well, at least he’d brought Kacey down for the weekend as he’d promised. What Grandma did with that was her issue. Not his. Whatever. At least now he could spend time doing what he wanted to do rather than worrying about Kacey at the house. Sooner or later his parents would catch on, but he’d be sure to get plenty of pictures with Kacey around town. Maybe he could sneak in the photographer to their reunion brunch. That would be the perfect setting for a photo shoot. He grinned.

Jake looked over at Kacey. She was smiling warmly at his mother. Is this what life would be like if they got married? It wasn’t as if it would be difficult, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it would be quite pleasant. A nice wife at home and then a mistress in town. The American dream come true. Speaking of mistresses… his cell phone went off.

“So…” Kacey reached across the table and grabbed Grandma’s free hand. “Where were you earlier? I looked for you.”

Jake swore he felt Travis kick him under the table and silently mouth
Sorry
. Kacey jumped out of her seat as if she was the next target.

“Oh honey.” Grandma swirled her wine in her glass, while Kacey longingly looked at the red liquid. “I was merely helping out our neighbor.”

Mother spewed the contents of her wine onto Dad's lap.

Travis began to choke on the chicken.

And Jake was left wondering what the hell kind of aliens replaced the family he thought he had been sitting with.

“Oh.” Kacey blushed. “That’s nice. What exactly did he need help with?”

Travis’s eyes bugged out of his head.

Grandmother played with the stem of her wine glass. “Oh, some of this, some of that.”

And suddenly Jake had a nightmare of what his grandma meant by some of this and some of that. As well as the inkling that he would never again look at his neighbor the same.

Where was Samantha when he needed her? If his grandmother was getting action, no way was he going to stay home tonight. He remembered that the earlier text had been a notification of an email.

As if answering his plea for help, Jake’s phone went off again. “I should take this.” He quickly left the table.

“Hey baby,” Samantha crooned. “How about drinks downtown in a half hour?”

He should say no, he really should. After all, he had a fake
fiancée
now. He couldn’t be seen downtown with another woman this early into his plan. His mind made up, he was just getting ready to turn her down when she began talking about how badly she wanted and missed him.

“I’m wearing a new dress, baby. It’s tight in all the places you like. Come on! Just for a few hours, Jakey. I’ll make it worth your time.”

“Be there as soon as I can.” He ended the call and went back into the dining room. “Sorry guys, work emergency. One of the faxes didn’t go through, and I have an early morning call from overseas. I’m going to have to run back to the office and make sure everything’s ready to go.”

The lie flew so easily from his lips even he was surprised, and slightly alarmed that he could be so devious to his own family.

Kacey tilted her head, her eyes narrowing. “Can’t you fax from here?”

All eyes turned to him.

He began to sweat. “I wish I could, but I don’t have the number, and the papers are at the office.”

Kacey still didn’t look convinced. What had he ever done to her to earn her mistrust?

Slept with her? Abandoned her afterwards? Yes, there was that. “Kace, I’m sorry, babe. You know how I was looking forward to spending time with you tonight. But we’re still on for brunch, right?” He gave her his most devastating smile, hoping it would work.

She looked down at her plate. “Okay, well, drive safe.”

Free at last! He tried to keep himself from running out of there. Bestowing a kiss on Grandma’s cheek first, he made the rounds and bolted out of the house, ready for drinks and a much needed night full of sex.

Chapter
Twelve

Travis knew his brother was lying. What kind of fool falls for that type of crap? But sure enough his father, upon Jake’s exit, sighed and said, “I just wish I wouldn’t have retired. He seems so stressed.”

“Must be the strippers,” Kacey mumbled under her breath so only Travis could hear. He choked on his chicken for the second time that night.

“Travis, honey, be careful to chew your food before you swallow!” his mother scolded. Kacey took his mother’s scolding as a hint that he needed help cutting his chicken. Smiling sweetly, she reached across his plate, her arm brushing his, and cut his chicken into tiny manageable pieces, then poked the fork into one of the pieces and lifted it to his lips.

“Here comes the choo-choo train!”

Obviously, Kacey wasn’t frightened by Travis’s murderous glare. The rest of his family looked on as if it was completely normal for her to be feeding him like a small child.

Then again, he had played the dog when they were little.

And he did have headgear when he was fourteen.

It was also possible that his mother knew he’d named his bunny after Kacey.

She looked up, her eyes shining with humor.

Damn. Travis opened his mouth, and a small bite of chicken swooped in. Kacey giggled. “You’re welcome.”

He shook his head but ended up grinning like a fool when she picked up a second piece. It was still hot, and she blew on it to cool it off. He found himself so damn distracted by the way her lips pouted over his chicken that it took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to take her on his family’s dinner table.

Ah, lust by chicken. How humiliating.

Travis looked longingly at the table again. Maybe if he just pushed all the dishes to the ground. Too bad she wasn’t wearing a skirt. What was wrong with him? Was he really weighing his options here on where best to screw his brother’s
fiancée
?

His parents would be livid.

Grandma, however, would probably applaud then take pictures for the scrapbook. Though he wasn’t so sure that scrapbook would be legal, considering its pornographic nature.

Grandmothers made grandsons so proud at times.

Travis sighed and quickly grabbed the fork from Kacey’s hand. He couldn’t take much more.

“So, Kacey…” His mother shoveled more food into her mouth, chewed, swallowed, and winked. He groaned. She didn’t know how to converse over dinner and eat at the same time. It made for very long dinner conversation and even more torture for everyone around them.

“…I was just wondering…” She took another sip of wine.

He eyed his dad, trying to give him a private message of stealing his mother’s plate and wine so she would spit it out faster.

“…Are you guys going to move into Jake’s place once the wedding is over, or buy something new?”

His dad elbowed his mom.

What were they getting at?

Kacey looked to Travis for help. He gave a slow shake of his head.

“Uh,” Kacey said as she pushed food around her plate. “The thing is, I have a really small apartment, so Jake’s would be best, but I kinda don’t want to live downtown.”

“Perfect!” His mother clapped her hands and nudged his father. He jumped out of his seat, grabbed an envelope, then brought it over to Kacey.

“Just consider it an early wedding present.”

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.