The Wager (The Bet 2)

“There’s the spirit.” Jake patted him on the back. “Now, I’m off to find your future wife; seems I have a girl to help walk down the aisle.”

“She trips, you get a black eye.”

“Noted,” Jake called as he left the room and went in search of Kacey. He found her, standing all alone at the back door porch entrance, waiting while the music played softly in the background.

Char was standing next to her and they were murmuring in hushed tones; that is, until Jake made himself known by clearing his throat loudly.

Kacey turned first, her eyes twinkling with excitement.

“I’ll just, uh…” Char pointed behind Jake. “Go stand over there, until it’s time to walk down the aisle.”

Char’s perfume floated in the air as she tried to walk by Jake. Not happening. He grabbed her around the waist and kissed her on the mouth. “You can’t just walk by me without saying hi.”

Char’s lips met his again. “Is this how we say hi now?”

“Yes.” Jake opened her lips with his tongue. “Hell yes.”

Pulling away, Char gave him a saucy wink and walked off.

He was still staring after her when Kacey said, “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“What?” Jake scratched his head nervously and approached Kacey. “What day?”

“You know.” She crossed her arms and nodded toward the section of the room where Char and the rest of the bridesmaids were sitting. “The day.”

“Still not following.”

She shrugged. “Call it puberty. You actually grew up and fell in love.”

“So I’m a man now?” Jake squinted.

“Congratulations.” Kacey laughed. “Oh my gosh! I bet you even have chest hair!” Jake winced. He’d always been the type of guy to manscape, and perhaps he took things a little far, what with his monthly facials.

He slapped Kacey’s hand away when she went to touch his chest. The brat.

“You ready?” he asked, changing the subject.

“I think so.”

“Good.” Jake laughed. “Prepare to be awed. In fact, prepare to cry. I heard you and Grandma had a good chat.”

“That woman can’t keep a secret to save her life,” Kacey grumbled.

“Well, I have Char on alert just in case.” Jake reached out and grabbed Kacey’s’ hands in his. “Kacey, I’ve known you since you were a little girl with pigtails. You were obsessed with Barbie and told me I should be your Ken. In fact, I’m pretty sure I played Ken more times than I’d care to admit.”

Kacey giggled.

“We’ve laughed together, cried together, yelled at one another, fought, hated each other…” Jake tried to rein in his emotions. Damn it, forget Kacey crying, he felt like losing it. “I broke your heart and never fixed it.” He licked his lips and let out a breath. “He did.”

Kacey reached for Jake’s hand and squeezed it.

“He fixed it, my brother.” Jake closed his eyes for a brief moment. “Kace, I took your heart, in college. I took it and I wasn’t careful with it. I was careless, young, stupid, you name it.” He released her hand and reached into his pocket to pull out the gift. “So here’s to me, returning the broken pieces so that he can have it all. Travis deserves it all. I wanted to mend what I broke, I wanted to fix what went wrong, but you know it’s kind of hard to do that, so here…” He held out the pin for her hair. “It’s a blue heart, a sapphire. Your something blue is also your something new.” He shrugged. “I’ve always loved you, Kace.” He tucked the pin in her hair and kissed her forehead.

Kacey slapped him on the shoulder. “Stop making me cry!”

“Sorry!” He pulled back and lifted his hands.

“Oh, come here.” Kacey pulled him in for another tight hug. “Thank you, Jake. For everything.”