The Bet (The Bet 1)

“I’ve spent more time with you than Jake this weekend. I think I can tell when you’re pissed, especially considering you’ve been straightening that stack of money for the past five minutes.”

Her hand froze over the money. She collapsed in the chair.

He wasn’t sure if he should scoop her up in his arms and kiss away her anger or just have it out right then and there.

“I want to punch you,” she said lightly, as if she was commenting on the color of the carpet.

“Okay…” he drawled “Now?”

“Now’s good.”

She made a lunge for him and slugged him in the shoulder. His balance was off, making him fall to the ground with a loud grun

t.

Kacey stayed on top of him, clearly unaware of how much he wanted to rip her clothes from her body and have his way with her on the card table.

“You were an ugly bully when I was little.” She punched him in the arm again. “And then you have the audacity to grow up handsome?”

Oh God, she was finally losing her mind. He had successfully pushed her off the edge.

“How dare you be anything but unattractive!” She pinched his arm.

He howled with pain. “What do you want me to do?”

“Apologize,” she ground out.

“For what?”

“For—” She looked down at her hands and whispered, “For saying I don’t matter.”

Travis groaned and put his hands over his face. “You heard that?”

Kacey nodded, still straddling him. She looked down and flashed him a smile. “It’s not a big deal. I just wanted you to suffer a bit.”

“Kace, look.” He grabbed her arms. “You matter, you know you do. If you didn’t matter…”

He couldn’t do it.

What was stopping him?

“If you didn’t matter,” he repeated. “Then why would I waste all this time picking on you?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I guess that’s the closest I’m going to come to an apology, isn’t it?”

“Absolutely.” He grinned.

“At least I got a few swings in,” she muttered, peeling herself away from him, even though his body begged her to stay.

“Yes, you did.” He got to his feet. “And who knows? Maybe I’ll wake up with a few bruises you can push tomorrow morning.”

“One can only hope.” She held out her hand. “Truce?”

Hell no. No truce, his body screamed at him; instead, like an idiot he shook her hand. Friends. He could do friends. He was an adult after all.

Kacey smiled and bent over to grab the paper money off the floor.

His eyes focused in on her butt.