The Dare (The Bet #3)(45)
Author: Rachel Van Dyken

"I imagine," Grandma looked thoughtfully into the mirror and fluffed her hair around her face, "it leaves you exactly where you’ve always wanted to be."

"Stuck on an island with a lying politician?" I joked. "Sorry, Grandma, that was never my fantasy as a little girl."

"Of course not, sweetie. That was mine." She winked. "Your fantasy has always been the white horse, the fairytale, and the happily ever after. No story is ever the same. How boring would that be? To always have a happily ever after? How unoriginal." Grandma tucked my arm in hers. "I want magic."

The tears threatened again.

"I want mischief." she continued. "I want madness. I want red dresses and red lipstick followed by starry nights and fireworks. And Beth, I think you do too."

"You think I want madness?"

"I don’t think it." Grandma patted my hand and started walking away. "I know it. So what are you going to do? Are you going to risk it all for him? Or are you going to walk away from an opportunity to do the one thing that fairytale books don’t teach."

"What?"

"Fight for your man."

"I thought he was supposed to fight for me?"

"How can he when you won’t even show up for the battle?"

My eyes narrowed as Grandma sauntered off toward the crowd. I wiped my tears, pinched my cheeks, and followed. Jace lifted his head and gave me a breathtaking smile. With the ocean crashing behind him, he looked like some sort of Greek god on vacation. Smile still in place, he stalked toward me, his muscles glistening in the sun.

"Holy Thor," I whispered. "I’m going out guns blazing." I smiled to myself. Good Thor, I’m going out with a fight.

The number of steps I took? Three.

The number of seconds I waited before my lips touched his? Two.

The amount of time it took for Thor, god of Thunder to respond? One.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on for dear life as he lifted me in the air and twirled me around.

"What was that for?" He set me down, his blue eyes sparkling.

"My fairytale isn’t over yet." I kissed his mouth again.

"Who said it was?"

I shrugged.

His forehead touched mine. "I gave my word. I don’t go back on my word."

"I know that now."

"I’m sorry about… everything. I’ll find a way to fix it. I swear."

"Even if you don’t." I shrugged. "The fun’s in the adventure, right?"

"Right." He cupped my face and kissed me lightly across the lips. "But you deserve more."

"I have more," I answered honestly. "And it’s time you realized you can have more too."

With a deep breath, I took a step around him and joined everyone else for drinks, wondering how in the heck I was going to survive another three days without getting my heart broken. Because after making the decision I’ve made, I was going to fight until I couldn’t fight anymore. And if he still walked away in the end, I would let him.

Chapter Twenty-seven

"Interesting logic. Trickery and then seeds of wisdom." The agent nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, I’m not so bad." Grandma shook her head. "Had I set them to their own devices, they would have taken years to get together. Now look at them."

"Right. Look at them. Both missing."

"I didn’t say I had all the kinks worked out. I am eighty-six."

"So you keep saying."

Jace

"I’m going to hell."

"Say hi to Jake when you get there." Travis slapped me on the back and ordered a beer.

We’d decided on going to a luau instead of doing a typical bachelor or bachelorette party. After all, the only things we needed were pictures, and it was easy enough to convince the parents that I wasn’t interested in that sort of thing.

Beth seemed relieved.

Beth… Just thinking her name got me aroused in all the wrong places. It made me want her, not just physically but emotionally, which was ridiculous. I was three days into our relationship, and it was a fake one at that. And here I was, drinking my sorrows away and lying to not only my parents but the world.

"For what it’s worth," Travis slid a beer toward me, "Grandma’s two for two."

"Yeah, not helping." I took a long swig. "I’m still going to hell for lying to everyone, and I doubt Jake will be there, considering he’s fully turned over a new nauseating leaf."

"Right?" Travis laughed. "It’s like he’s a new man."

"What about you?"

"Me?" Travis’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I’ve always been the good one, no changing necessary, other than being so humbled by Grandma that I was an embarrassment to not only myself but society."

"Ah," I winced, "that’s encouraging."

"Sorry, your best bet is to marry her, fall in love, and produce as many great-grandchildren as possible."

"Never." I pushed the beer away, suddenly feeling sick to my stomach, "You know I can’t, Travis. You know I don’t want to be vulnerable like that again. You know I don’t do commitment."

"Did you and Jake trade brains?" Travis leaned in, "or are you high?

I pushed his chest and rolled my eyes. "Please."

"It was two years ago, Jace. Move on. Let yourself be happy."

"I know how to let myself be happy. I just choose to do it without a woman by my side."

"Because you secretly prefer men?"

"Are we done here?" I rose, but Travis pulled me back down into my chair.

"Look, I know it’s only been three days. We can easily fix the marriage so that it’s not legal. Your parents won’t know the difference, but to the world you’ll still be married. You can go your separate ways once you land in Portland. Beth can go back to her really fun life playing with diseases and start herding cats. And you can go back to your insanely large penthouse and big-screen TV."

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"Marriage isn’t so bad, and I know you like Beth. Hell, everyone knows you like Beth. And I, for one, know you could love her."

"Oh, this I gotta hear. After three days? Did Grandma slip something in your drink?"

"Easy, Viagra." Travis patted me on the back. "Before the wedding, you and I went golfing. It was freakishly hot, so we called it a day and went to get drinks."

This story wasn’t going to end well.

He smirked. "I asked you about the one that got away."

"I think Grandma’s calling me." I stood.