The Bet (The Bet #1)(26)

“It’s fine.” But it wasn’t. In fact everything would have been going in an entirely different direction if Travis hadn’t barged in on them.

Maybe it was for the best. After all, he knew it would only lead to him hurting her again. He wasn’t really a one-girl kind of a guy. But she provided something so tempting he had trouble pulling away. Maybe it was memories of their friendship together. Or the way she smiled and teased. He shook his head. He really should have gotten laid tonight. Things would have been so much easier.

He kissed her one last time on the forehead and let himself out of the room, grinning smugly as he passed his brother in the hall. Apparently his older brother was going to play chaperone. Fine with him.

He stopped before going into his room. “She’s sleeping. I’m sure she’s tuckered out after all that excitement.” With a wink Jake stepped into his room and slammed the door, enjoying immensely the sound of his brother’s curses all the way down the hall.





Chapter Fifteen




Kacey wished she could disappear into the covers when her cell alarm went off at 8:00 a.m. What in the world had she been thinking last night?

Obviously she wasn’t thinking, just drinking and grabbing the first guy next to her. Well, not the first guy, the only guy. The hottest damn guy she’d ever seen in her life.

All Titus men should be shot, that much was clear.

He kissed her first, didn’t he? No, she leaned in first, but what did he expect her to do? With all that wine in her system? And the way he was looking at her? His eyes piercing through her, his scent floating off of him. It would have taken extreme self-control to push the man away, and she’d been running on fumes by the end of the night.

Two more days.

She only had two full days, and then she could return to her boring life and forget about Travis. Even the idea of it made her heart clench a little, but that was silly.

She hurried through her morning routine, grabbed her running shoes and sunglasses, and ran toward the front door.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Travis called from behind her. Crap.

“If you must know, I’m going running.”

She refused to turn around. It was too early to deal with his perfect face.

“I’ll join you.”

“No!” Kacey yelled before she could stop herself. “I mean, you don’t have to. I’ll be perfectly safe.”

Travis cursed. “Believe me, I couldn’t care less if some homeless man picked you up off the street. I just have to talk to you. Hold up, let me grab my shoes.”

She nodded her head, still not making eye contact, and ran out the door to stretch.

“Ready?” Travis called five minutes later. She turned and nearly stumbled.

“Sure, yeah, let’s go. Fine.” Snapping her mouth shut, she closed her eyes and imagined a world where perfect male specimens weren’t looking at her the way Travis was. Though his eyes looked more angry than anything else.

“Hope you can keep up,” she called behind her as she set the pace.

Travis laughed. “Please, I ran a marathon last week. Pretty sure I can keep up.”

She clamped her mouth shut and scowled.

“So…” He ran up next to her, not even breathing heavily, even though he was keeping quite a fast pace. “…you and Jake.”

Crap, crap, crap, crap.

“Yeah?” She glanced at him nonchalantly.

“Don’t do it.”

“Do what?” Kacey asked.

“With him, don’t let him in, Kacey.”

“What, did you nominate yourself my protector?”

“Somebody has to protect you!” He grabbed her arm pulling them both to a stop.

“Oh, really? Is that what you were doing last night? Protecting me? Because it sure as hell felt like something else. Thanks for clearing that up.” Kacey pushed him away but he grasped her wrists.

“You know that’s not true, not that it matters, considering you kissed my brother in the same hour.”

“Believe what you want, and for the record, Travis…”

His head popped up.

“It was a drunken mistake. It never happened, okay?”

His nostrils flared as he cursed and looked at the ground. “Right, so what happened between you and Jake was another accident?”

“Again, none of your business. Just leave me alone, Travis. Go find someone else to torture, alright? I need to get my run in before I go to the stupid brunch.”

“If that’s what you want.” He looked back down at the ground then cursed, running a hand through his thick hair. “You’re going to get hurt, you know that, right?”

Kacey sighed. “I’ll get hurt either way, Travis. Just depends on which brother I decide to give that opportunity to, don’t you think?”

He was silent.

It was all the answer she needed.

Nodding her head, she turned in the opposite direction and began to run. Tears threatened to pour down her face. But over what? Over Travis? Over Jake? She didn’t even have feelings for Jake! He was a selfish bastard, but Travis? Travis could be real. Or could he? The trust wasn’t there, but it had seemed lately they had been two different people, and then…

…Then he said something that made her heart turn to ice. He knew about Jake and Kacey, about them going separate ways in college, of course, but the fact that he would throw that back in her face, as if she was some sort of whore and only afterthought material made her want to shoot him. How dare he say that? Even in anger, it wasn’t acceptable.