The Bet Read Free Page A

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…”
    “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 nice and do him a favor. Again, Exhibit A: HE LEFT YOU!”
    “Keep your voice down!” Kacey hushed her friend and offered apologetic smiles to the people staring at them from their booths. “It’s only the weekend.” Besides, Char had no idea Kacey was still in so much debt from school. She had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes about her graduation claiming she was only a class short, not seven.
    “Right.” Char snorted. “If I know Jake, and I think I do, this isn’t just for the weekend. He has something up his sleeve. The more handsome they are, the more manipulative. Believe me.”
    The tequila was placed on the table, and Char took a shot before saying anything more. “Besides, just because you agreed to this farce of an engagement, he’s going to be thinking he can put his hands all over your hot body.”
    Kacey rolled her eyes. “He dates models and, apparently, strippers. Look at me, Char. Do I look like either? I’m not a whore. I’m not going to let him take advantage of me.”
    Char grunted. “Hmph! Haven’t let anyone take advantage of you since that night and you know it. You’re still hung up on him and it’s taken you all of college to get over it! And now you’ll be back to square one.”
    Ignoring Char’s obvious slight to her inability to trap down a man, Kacey looked away and huffed. Her fingers touched the edge of the tequila bottle, and