A Bet Worth Making (Grayson County #2) (10 page)

“Obviously.” I threw up my hands. “So what’s the problem?”

She glared down at me. “The problem is that you’re from Grayson. And I refuse to get attached to someone from a town like this.” The temper leaked away and she stared at her feet, her bottom lip showing the barest hint of a tremble. “I’m not what you’re looking for.”

Jordan walked off, leaving me holding a beer that tasted a lot like defeat.

This girl had obviously been through hell losing her dad. She was clearly still grieving and pretty fucked up about it all. But the small town bullshit was really starting to grate on me. What the hell was so wrong with the damn country? I didn’t know why it stopped her from giving in every time we got close to acknowledging what was between us. But damned if I was taking it.

I spent the next hour making small talk with some hiker named Alice. She’d spent two months on the trail before wandering into Heritage and working the spring planting. Tomorrow, she headed back to the trail.

I knew why she was telling me that part.

We only had tonight.

That was usually my favorite line. But tonight, all I wanted to have was Jordan.

She was scared. I’d seen it when she’d ended our kiss. It wasn’t about wanting a platonic friendship. She was just as attracted to me as I was to her. But she was scared. Of what, I didn’t know. Country guys, maybe. She’d attached whatever it was to me, to us. But I couldn’t go back to friends, not after a kiss like that.

Someone clicked on one of the flood lights and I blinked into the sudden glare.

“…and that’s why I have to do this on my own,” Alice was saying.

Shit. She was still talking. I needed to end this.

“I’m going to see if Ford needs help with the firewood,” I said, rising and making for the edges of the circle before she could argue.

I found the dwindling pile of wood but no Ford. In case Alice was watching, I kept going, beyond the light of the gathering, stopping to pick up wood as I went. If I carried around an armload of firewood all night, maybe that would save me from further conversation.

I heard her voice before I saw her.

She stood off to the side, in the shadows, talking about the architecture firm she used to work for. I crept closer, trying to find a graceful entrance into the conversation, but then I heard Josh’s voice and I froze.

“…pretty impressive. Most girls I knew in Philly would’ve given up with that kind of pressure in the workplace. Not many female lawyers in the firms I interned at either. I think it’s a shame. Women have a lot to offer the corporate workplace.”

Fuck you, Josh.

Jordan replied with something about determination and using it all as fuel for starting her own firm. All I could hear was Josh’s smooth comebacks and the sound of my chance with Jordan slipping further away.

I dropped the wood in a heap, startling them both.

Jordan’s rounded eyes met mine in the firelight. “Casey?”

“What’s up, man?” Josh said, wary.

“Can I talk to my roommate for a minute?”

Josh muttered a goodbye and walked off.

Even in the dark, I caught Jordan’s glare. “That was rude. What the hell is wrong with you?” she hissed.

“Not me. You,” I said, stepping closer and trying my best to curb my temper. But just the sight of her was making me crazy. “So a country boy like me is immediately thrown into the friend zone. But a city boy like Josh, white collar type, and you’re available for whatever, right?”

Somewhere deep down I knew I sounded like an asshole. Maybe I could’ve put it better, but I wasn’t wrong. And Jordan knew it.

“Kiss my ass, Casey. I’m not interested in Josh. And it has nothing to do with the color of his collar.”

“Really? Then what’s your deal? You have a sad sack of an ex lying around somewhere? A flannel-wearing cattle farmer or a Monster Truck driver?”

“No.” That one word was a warning, but I was too pissed to heed it.

“Then I don’t get your deal with small town guys.”

“My ‘deal’ isn’t that complicated. I don’t have an asshole ex in the past and I don’t plan to. Country or not,” she added.

“And that’s clearly what you see me as?” I demanded. “An ex waiting to happen? Why are you so scared of me?”

“Look,” she said, her bangs feathering with her heavy breath. “I know you don’t understand. I don’t expect you to. But I have no interest in flings that result in someone getting hurt in the end. I’m doing what’s best for me. I’m keeping clear of the … baggage that comes with relationships that aren’t compatible.”

“Compatible, huh?”

“That’s right.”

“And you think we aren’t compatible. Because that kiss was compatible as hell. You can’t tell me you aren’t attracted to me even if I am from a small town.” Jordan opened her mouth then closed it again. I smirked, though I was anything but happy. “That’s the part you can’t stand, isn’t it?”

Jordan huffed. “Fine, I’m attracted to you. But that doesn’t change what this is.”

I stepped closer. “Which is?”

“Convenient.”

She fell silent, clearly bracing herself for an argument. And I knew if I tried to have it out over this, it wouldn’t move her except to make her back even farther away from me. I bit my tongue on the rest and simply nodded.

“Fine, this is convenient. So what?” I asked finally. “I mean, don’t most attractions start with: you’re a girl, I’m a guy; we’re both here, let’s see where this leads?”

Jordan crossed her arms. “What’s your point, Casey?”

“My point is, you’re a girl, I’m a guy; we’re both here—”

“Okay, I get it.” She threw her hands up. “That’s lame.”

“Fine. My lines are lame.”

I stepped closer, and when she leaned away, I just leaned with her. My eyes bored into hers, searching for the answer to a question I’d yet to ask aloud.

“Casey…” she began and I was sure she was about to tell me to go to hell. To turn and march off, leaving me hanging less than a breath away from a kiss. Instead, she said, “Wait.”

Chapter Thirteen

Jordan

Casey hovered in front of me in the darkness, close enough for me to smell him; gasoline and earth and soap. The combination was sexy as hell, and a complete distraction right now.

He was asking me to sleep with him.

I knew what answer he wanted—what answer
I
wanted after that kiss earlier. But I knew once I gave it to him, there’d be no going back. I’d spent enough time pretending and resisting his charms already to know that sex with Casey wasn’t something a girl got out of her system after just once.

But I also knew myself well enough to know I wouldn’t be falling in love like some city girl with a cowboy fetish. No, if Casey and I got going, it would be nothing more than a fling. Not that I’d ever done the casual sex thing. But hey, Casey seemed like the kind of guy who could drive a girl to sexually explore.

Was I ready for that? Until now, I’d met that question with a firm, resounding no. Flings weren’t my style. Despite having very few boyfriends in the past, they hadn’t ever been just casual encounters. Then again, maybe a fling was exactly what I needed to distract me from the stress of everything right now.

Still, as tempted as I was, something in me screamed “bad idea.” But in this moment, standing toe-to-toe with this sexy, country mechanic with a quick tongue and eyes that pinned me, I wasn’t so sure. After four beers, I’d taken one look at the ridiculously sexy streak of jealousy Casey had tossed at me—and wanted only to jump his bones. The way he stared at me, like I was the solution to a particularly difficult equation, made my mind go blank.

The word “no” was on the tip of my tongue, but instead of speaking it, what came out was
,
“Wait.”

“Wait for what?” Casey asked, leaning in as if he could sense me wavering. “I’ve been waiting since the second I saw you. I don’t want to wait anymore.”

I searched for another argument, another excuse. My brain felt foggy. I needed space. Something I definitely wasn’t going to get, not now, not unless I shot him all the way down. And to do that, I’d have to go pretty low. Because the look in Casey’s eyes meant business.

And I wasn’t sure I had it in me to stop him a second time if he tried that kiss again. Truth be told, I wanted him. I wanted his hands on me, his mouth, his lips, his tongue … I wanted to know what it felt like to press my skin against his bare chest and down the sharp planes of his abs—

“Let’s make a wager,” I blurted, if only to buy time.

He blinked at me. “A wager?” I’d clearly caught him off guard. That made two of us.

“A bet.” I smiled now as the idea fully formed. It was an evil grin, but then it was an evil idea. “You said yourself that you couldn’t resist.”

“What sort of bet?”

I hesitated. Steering clear of lost causes and dead-end relationships was one thing. Betting against my own success was another. But … I couldn’t help myself. I knew enough about Casey by now to know how he operated. It was either this or walk out and never come back.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I bet the cost of my car’s repairs that if we go through with what you’re proposing, you’ll disappoint me in the end.”

Casey’s jaw went slack. “Are you being serious?” He stared back at me with disbelieving eyes. “You’re going to bet on our ... failure as a couple?”

“Maybe…” My confidence sagged. Bad idea, Jordan.

I braced myself for his explosive reaction. For fuming and stomping, maybe even cussing. Instead, he tilted his head thoughtfully. “Your car is deceased,” he said. “Can’t be fixed.”

“No, it’s not worth fixing,” I corrected. “At least not according to my bank account. But yours…”

“How much?” he asked.

I winced as I told him the figure.

“What the hell? It would be cheaper to buy a new one!”

“I like that one,” I said. “But if you don’t want to—”

“Let me get this straight, woman. If I take the bet, you’re willing to be in a relationship with me. To sleep with me. All because you think, in the end, I’ll screw it up?”

I shrugged, pretending I hadn’t just felt a shudder of anticipation when he’d said the words “sleep with me.” “Basically. I mean, not just you. I might just as easily—”

“What the hell, Jordan? That’s … morbid. And crazy.”

My chin came up. “Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”

Casey backed away from me and paced the small space where we stood. He watched me, eyes blazing, the entire time. I knew I’d crossed a line with my crazy idea. It was selfish and awful and all about getting what I wanted out of this, Casey’s feelings be damned. But I was desperate. For a distraction. For something that made me feel good after months of nothing but darkness. I couldn’t bring myself to take it back.

I held my breath while I waited for his answer, my nerves jangling. Why the hell did I care this much what answer he gave?

He did a couple more laps, muttering to himself as he paced about things like “lost cause” and “Frank’s hand in everything I do anymore.”

Abruptly, he circled back and shoved his face in front of mine. “Did Frank put you up to this?” he demanded.

“What? No. This is all me.”

He sighed, dramatic and long. “What do I get if I win?” he asked quietly.

A ripple of equal parts shock and pleasure shot down my spine. I fought back a smile. “Um, I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t thought about that possibility,” I told him honestly.

He leaned away. I’d pissed him off again. But he was still here, so that was something. In the back of my mind, guilt poked at me like a sharp stick. Contrary to my initial impression of him that first day, Casey had turned out to be a nice guy. A pleasant surprise compared to the stereotype I’d constructed in my mind of small town people.

But there was something in me, the broken and betrayed granddaughter or whatever-it-was, that compelled me onward. And that brokenness screamed for at least the small comfort of smug rightness when, inevitably, one of us pulled the rug out and the dust settled.

I bit my lip. If I ever said that out loud, Gavin would beat me over the head. I was probably the only girl in the history of relationships to ever bet against her own happiness.

Casey’s eyes locked tightly on mine. His mouth parted and a light flashed in the depths of his deep-brown pools. “If I win, I get you.”

I tore my eyes from his mouth. “Wait, what?”

“If I win, if I don’t do anything to disappoint you by the end of … your project with Summer, I get you.”

I frowned. “What does that mean?”

“It means you stay.”

“For how long?”

“As long as it takes.”

“Casey, you’re being vague. That’s not how a bet works. You have define clear cut parameters—”

“Jordan, I don’t know how to be clearer. I’m falling for you, all right? Have been since that first night when you were hot as hell and pissed as the devil at me. I want a real shot at something with you here but you’re not making it easy.”

My eyes filled with tears and I blinked frantically to hold them back. It was the sweetest thing he’d ever said but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. “Casey, I … I’m going through a lot right now. There are things I haven’t told you about my family and what I’m dealing with.” I bit my lip and met Casey’s eyes, heart pounding. “I don’t have the capacity to fall in love right now.”

He huffed. “But you’ll make this bet to be with me?”

I hesitated, hating how mean it sounded but in the end, I was honest. “It’s how I know I won’t lose,” I whispered.

He leaned in, brushing his lips over the tender spot where my jawline met my earlobe. Goose bumps raced from my neck to my toes and every other tender spot in between. “I’ll make the bet if it means I can have you. And if I win, I get to keep you.” A couple more brushed kisses and then he whispered, “Those are my terms. Take it or leave it.”

I shuddered and goose bumps broke out along every surface he touched. He was playing dirty and he knew it.

My resolve wavered and I caught the words just before they left my lips. I stepped back, shook my head to clear it. “I’ll think about it,” I heard myself say.
What?
That wasn’t the answer I’d planned.

“Fine,” Casey said, stepping close once again, his breath hitting my face as he bent low. “You have twenty-four hours to consider.”

“Then what?” I challenged, but I swayed toward him, completely giving away how bad I wanted to just agree and get on with it. “If I don’t decide either way, what happens?”

“You’ll decide,” he said, and the threat in his words shot straight to my insides until I squirmed with arousal.

My breath caught and it took everything in me to turn on my heel and stride off. Wagering with Casey Luck was a gamble and the stakes were too high for my own good.