The Bet (The Bet 1)

“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.