The Bet (The Bet 1)

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 was at a bar instead of downtown Pike Place Market.

Chapter Two

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 blonde 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 have been Kacey, not that he would ever let her. He’d traveled that road with Kacey one too many times. They dated in high school, but 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 one another, 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 prostitute? 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 necessary.

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 rose 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…”