The Bet

Book 1: The Bet Series

by Rachel Van Dyken

Genres: Coming of Age; Literary Fiction; Women's Fiction

Synopsis

“I have a proposition for you.” Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus’ mouth. It’s been years since Kacey’s seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they’re engaged for her sake—so be it.

But Kacey wasn’t counting on Jake’s older brother Travis still being there. She calls him “Satan” for a reason: she’s never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis’ gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart … and Kacey’s more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear—she never should have accepted Jake’s deal.

Release date: June 25, 2013

Publisher: Forever

Print pages: 276

Sample

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 gray 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 green 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 hasn’t written me 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 nowadays. 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 Teresa roommate would take care of it 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 had 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?”

The guy should never try to be a lawyer. Kacey would be surprised if she had any self-confidence remaining by the time she left the coffee shop. As it was she was trying to decide if it was possible to bang her head against the coffee table hard enough to cause a concussion.

“Please,” Jake pleaded. His hands squeezed hers tighter. “Do this for me. Do it for Grandma. Hell, do it for you. You have to finish school, Kace, and since your parents—”

“Don’t you dare bring them into this.”

Jake swallowed slowly and released her hand. His fingers danced along her jaw as he turned her head so he could look directly into her eyes. “It’s only for the holiday weekend. How bad could it be? We used to be best friends.”

Used being the key word. He hadn’t even texted her since graduation.

“Heartless billionaire…,” Kacey mumbled. The guy had no shame whatsoever. What sucked was that she really did need to finish school, and she was about to default on her loans. All the money her parents left her had gone into the house and retirement, and well, it wasn’t as if Seattle University was a cheap school.

“Billionaire? Not yet, babe. Heartless?” Jake reached out and touched her face with his hand. “I think we both know the answer to that.”

Memories of his touch flooded her senses until Kacey felt like she couldn’t breathe. She had traveled that road one too many times with the man. First in high school and then again in college. She hadn’t thought that life would get in the way of the only man she had ever given her heart to. But Jake changed, and for that she would never forgive him. Kacey looked down at her lap and closed her eyes. How did he still have so much power over her? One touch and a bribe and she was ready to do exactly as he said.

True, she had always had a weakness for his grandmother, no matter how scary she was or was not. Plus, Grandma Nadine had been the only one to help Kacey get through the time in her life when she didn’t care if she died in her sleep or went on living. The dark years were just that. Dark. Kacey shuddered to think of how bad things had gotten. If Grandma Nadine was sick and Jake was really trying to help her, and if he followed through and paid for her remaining credits, it would be worth it.

“Only the weekend?” Kacey asked in a small voice. “And you say Grandma’s been all sentimental and not feeling well?”

Jake nodded. “She says she wants to see you, and I need my parents off my back about this whole press fiasco with that stripper. If I bring you home with a ring on your finger, all will be forgiven. Dad won’t think he needs to jump back out of retirement, and Grandma won’t shoot me. It’s a win-win. Besides, like I said, image is everything and I still want to have full control of my grandmother’s company at the end of the month. The board won’t go for it if I keep getting bad press. I need everyone on board. We’ll go our separate ways and I’ll fake a breakup, cry on TV, and well, then at least the board members who hate me will feel sorry for me.”

He didn’t wait for her to agree. Instead, he reached into his pocket. “It’s for more than just me. It’s for Grandma, Kace. She isn’t doing well. This may be the one thing that makes her want to keep on living.”

Kacey narrowed her eyes. Lying bastard. In his twenty-one years Jake hadn’t learned to lie better than that? His smile was tense, his breathing a bit ragged. But he had mentioned Grandma.

Kacey suddenly felt ill. She wanted to hop on the plane right now, but Jake didn’t know she and his grandma still talked. Nor did she want him to. “Fine, but Grandma can’t know about the student loans. Deal?” Kacey held out her hand, hoping Jake wouldn’t notice the slight tremble.

Exhaling, Jake smiled. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

Kacey looked into his crystal green eyes. “For Grandma. I’m doing it for Grandma and for me.” Not for you, never again for you, Jake. The rest of the thought hung in the air. Suddenly the coffee shop seemed a much-too-small arena for digging up past demons. Kacey gave a shaky laugh and rubbed her sweaty hands on her jeans. Worried that he was going to somehow make it worse by smiling or offering a pity hug, she took a big gulp of coffee.

Jake pushed away from the table. “Right, okay. Well, thanks for being my fake fiancée.” He pulled out a three-karat ring and confidently slipped it onto her finger.

“B-but…,” she stuttered. “How did you know my size?”

He smiled and rose from his seat. “A man could never forget those hands, Kacey.”

“No matter how many hands the man-whore has held?” Kacey asked sweetly.

Jake chuckled. “Absolutely. I’ll see you Friday morning, okay?”

Kacey sighed. “Okay.”

“Thanks, Kace…”

“Don’t mention it.”

Kacey watched in agony as the man who still held her heart whistled, thrust his hands into his pockets, and walked out of the coffee shop. Seattle’s most famous bachelor had just proposed marriage. Albeit a fake marriage, it was still a proposal. She should be thrilled.

But it was hard to be thrilled when the love of her life, the boy who used to make mud pies with her and kiss her knees when she fell, thought of her as nothing but a way out of a crappy situation.

She suddenly wished she were at a bar instead of downtown Pike Place Market.

JAKE TITUS THRUST his hands in his pockets. Damn, she looked good. He hadn’t expected his response to be so strong. After only a few months, he had expected everything to feel exactly the same. Unfortunately, it didn’t. It felt damn difficult. The woman was walking sin, curvy where guys loved it the most. Her outfit had only enhanced her curves and made lust shoot straight to the wrong places for any man sitting in a coffee shop.

Kacey’s long brown hair boasted honey-blond highlights, and her deep brown eyes seemed to set everything off beautifully. Add to that the cutest two dimples on God’s green earth, and he was ready to throw her onto the table and have his way with her.

If anyone could take him off the market it would be Kacey—not that he would ever let her. He’d traveled that road with Kacey one too many times. They’d dated in high school, but had soon figured they were better friends. Or maybe it was that he couldn’t keep it in his pants? It was probably a mixture of both, but who really dates only one person in high school?

The final nail in their relationship coffin happened after a drunken night in college. They had slept together. It had been a good night except for the fact that he would never forgive himself for the pain he caused her the next day. But what was he supposed to do? Say “thank you”? Screwing his best friend hadn’t been the wisest of choices. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize it until it was too late. He was her first.

Leaving Kacey had been one of the stupidest and yet most necessary things he had ever done. They were still kind to each other, but the friendship was never the same once they slept together. What had always been rumored as a way to increase the bond between two people ended up being the catalyst that ruined a lifetime of friendship.

They avoided each other as much as possible for the next few years. At his graduation, he gave her a quick hug and never looked back.

Nor had he ever apologized.

Not that it was entirely his fault, but still.

Just seeing her again haunted him, but it was a necessary evil.

The board of directors had insisted that if he didn’t clean up his image, the company would suffer. According to them, it already had. But how was he supposed to know that the girl he was sleeping with just happened to be a stripper? It was Seattle, after all, and she was beautiful. He hadn’t thought she would go to the media, or that photographers would be conveniently outside the W Hotel downtown after a late-night escapade that he still couldn’t fully remember. The real kicker had happened when his mother called and said his grandma had suffered a stroke because of Jake’s whoring around. Clearly it wasn’t his fault his grandmother had a blood clot, but still.

A week later, his grandmother had called him and given him an ultimatum. Bring Kacey to see her before she died—her words, not his—and all would be forgiven. She was so insistent that Kacey come home for Labor Day weekend that Jake couldn’t say no. It just happened to work out that a photographer from The Seattle Times would be visiting family in Portland as well. She promised to take some pictures of the two of them together in the plane, as well as some great shots of the giant rock on Kacey’s finger.

Jake grinned. Sometimes he was so brilliant he scared himself. What could possibly go wrong? He was next in line to be CEO of Titus Enterprises. It was worth a pretty penny, and once he cleaned up his image, his grandmother would not only back him but would give the board the extra push they needed to make him one of the youngest CEOs in the world.

Kacey would understand. She was just that type of girl. All he needed to do was logically explain to her why it was in her best interest. After all, not only would it help business for her to be seen with him, but he was practically investing in her future.

If anything, she should thank him!

His cell phone rang and he checked his watch. Jake shook his head. He’d spent way too long convincing that gorgeous girl to be his fiancée. Now he’d have to stay at the office longer than planned.

With a shrug, he walked to his Range Rover and jumped in. Finally, he could stop stressing about his grandmother and the business.

“I’m sorry. Could you please repeat what you just said? It sounded like you said you were engaged.” Char sat across from Kacey at their favorite restaurant in Belltown.

“Yup.” Kacey sipped her wine, though she briefly contemplated just taking the whole bottle and downing it. “That’s what I said.”

“To Jake?”

“Yup.”

“Jake Titus?” Char clarified, taking a healthy gulp of her wine.

“That very person.” Why couldn’t Kacey stop shaking? It was one weekend. She could do one weekend. Geez, it wasn’t as if she had to do anything but pretend to be in love, and attracted to him, and excited, and…

So basically she wasn’t going to act at all. She just had to make sure her heart didn’t get broken into a bazillion pieces by the billionaire himself.

“I can’t do this.”

“Of course you can’t do this,” Char repeated, her voice rising a few octaves. “Do you have any idea what that man did to you in college? Are the memories still fuzzy? Because I’m pretty sure he slept with you and then pretended like it didn’t happen.”

“I know.” Kacey’s voice was shaky. “But in his defense, I never tried to talk to him either…”

“Don’t defend the devil, Kace. Seriously. You guys were best friends your whole lives! Remember? I was the third wheel. I saw your love drama play out quite nicely and then get run over by a truck that night. Don’t do it.”

Kacey knew what Char was saying made sense, but… “I already told him I would.”

“Then get out of it!”

Kacey shook her head and said in a small voice, “I can’t.”

Char’s eyes narrowed. She took three deep breaths, then motioned for the waitress.

“Yes?” the waitress asked.

“We’re going to need tequila, stat.”

“Char, this is hardly the time for tequila,” Kacey protested.

“Really? You just got engaged to the most famous bachelor in Seattle in order to play n. . .