Stacking the Deck (A Betting on Romance Novel Book 2) (22 page)

“Carter McIntyre? Is that you? Ho! How’s it been! And Brainy Beacon?”

Carter stuffed Liz’s bra into his pants pocket as Liz shot upright beside him, the back of her dress flapping wide. She brushed her hair behind her ear, in part, he surmised, to keep her straps from slipping down her arms.

“Dan O’Connell!” she gasped, a strained smile plastered to her features as she positioned one hand high on her hip and the other in a casual posture on the wall behind Carter. “What a surprise!”

“What are you two doing back here?” he asked. “Not already into the hard stuff, are we?”

“What? Oh! No!” Liz stuttered. “No. I, um, lost something. It rolled back here, behind the, ah, plant. I think. Carter was helping me find it.”

“What did you lose?”

“An earring...”

“My ring...” Their words stumbled over each other.

“I misunderstood you, Liz. I guess it’s a
ring
we’re looking for, Dan,” Carter said. Liz nodded earnestly.

“What did it look like?”

As Dan crouched down to peer behind the plant, Carter grabbed Liz’s zipper pull and yanked it up. She gasped and craned her neck, pulling at the hair he’d inadvertently caught in it. Dan stood up again. Liz’s neck was held tilted at a slight angle toward Carter, so he put his arm around her shoulder.

“Well, we don’t mean to keep you,” Carter offered.

“It really wasn’t a very special ring. I may have even left it at home now that I think about it,” Liz added.

Dan nodded and his eyes fell to Liz’s chest. “It’s good to see you again, Beth.”

“I go by Liz now, actually.”

“Liz.” He nodded at Carter, his eyes never leaving Liz. “Carter.”

“See you later, Dan.” Liz waved. She leaned toward Carter. “Can you please uncatch my hair?” she hissed.

“What? No ‘thank you?’” he teased.

She gave him a baleful look, so he slid the zipper down again. She yanked her hair free then held it out of the way as he slid the zipper up, the back of his fingers gliding over the smooth nape of her neck as he did so.  Her skin was incredibly soft.

Liz shivered and turned, her face flushed. “Well, that went well. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but where’s my bra?”

Carter pulled the strap from his pocket. He was somewhat disappointed when she snatched it from his hand and shoved it into her clutch. “Thanks. I think.”

“Better?” he asked.

“Actually, yes.”

“You don’t need that bra, you know.”

“You don’t have to tell me I’m built like a board, and nobody notices my chest anyway.”

“No, I was actually going to say you didn’t need any augmentation. Why do you wear that battle gear anyway?”

“Battle—? Oh. It covers...
things
.”

“Well, speaking from a man’s point of view, there are some
things
that don’t need covers.”

She stared at him then, that ‘I can’t believe you just said that’ look in her eyes. “I can’t believe you just said that!” she gasped. “That is so incredibly sexist!”

“Maybe,” he grinned without remorse. “But you like going commando, don’t you? I’m just saying you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. At least yours move. I think Valerie’s have been Botoxed. Have you noticed they don’t shift—at all? I’m tempted to knock on them to see if they’re hollow.”

Liz snorted indelicately and gave him a look. “Botoxed?

“Makes you feel a whole lot better about what they’ll be saying about your chest now, doesn’t it?”

“Who’s going to be talking about my chest?” she wanted to know, dragging her feet.

“Come on. Let’s get a drink. I think we’re just in time for the main course.”

“You’re drinking? But I can’t drive that motorcycle if—”

“Relax. I meant I want a soda. But you can have all you want, so long as you can still hang on at the end of the night.”

“A soda sounds perfect,” she replied as she walked toward the bar.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
____________________

Twelve years earlier…

V
ALERIE PURSED HER HOT PINK lips and stared at the bottle on the Whitmeyers’ kitchen floor as if willing it to keep rotating.

Nobody spoke.

Carter stood up. “I need a smoke. Can I bum a cigarette off anyone?”

Dan stood and pulled a pack out of his pocket and held it toward Carter. Virginia Slims? Carter fought not to roll his eyes. Jesus. Dan was such a girl. “Thanks,” he said.

He eyed the cigarette and folded it into his palm and headed to the door. Dan followed behind him.

Valerie jumped up from the floor. “You’re not actually going, are you?” she said. “I mean, come on, it’s
Beth Beacon
.”

Dan shrugged. “You wanted to play. I’m playing.”

Val looked around, flicked her bangs off her forehead. “Fine. Just don’t go catching any herpes cold sores or anything.”

Carter frowned. As if Valerie with her mongo hickey should be questioning where Beth had ever been. He looked to Dan.

In typical jock fashion, Dan was puffing up his chest. “Don’t you worry. I’ll make sure she enjoys herself.”

The other guys snickered and hooted.

Carter turned back to the door. Morons.

Dan laughed and caught up with him in the hallway. “Hey, Carter! Which door is it?”

They were alone. The door to the kitchen had shut again. The Whitmeyers’ back hallway looked like the set of Alice in Wonderland with black and white tile floors and doors up the wazoo. Carter looked toward the back door where the rain fell in sheets off the eaves. He gestured with the tip of the cigarette to the pantry and decided he didn’t feel like standing in the rain. He pulled out a lighter, lit up and took a few deep drags.

Dan chuckled and flexed his fingers as if preparing to play the piano or something. He wiggled his eyebrow at Carter and grinned. “Wanna watch?”

Carter coughed, cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”

Dan nudged him with his elbow. “Is that why you’re standing out here? Hoping to watch? Learn a few things from the master?”

“I just came for a smoke, man. That’s all.”

Dan laughed and pulled a Chapstick out of his pocket. He smeared it over his lips.

The beer from earlier churned in Carter’s gut. Maybe he’d go outside after all.

Dan shrugged. “I’m game if you want to.” He gestured toward the pantry and leaned closer. “I’ll bet little Beth in there will like it, too. She’s all into learning, that one. What do you say we give her an education she won’t forget?”

Carter blew out a long, measured breath, the menthol of the cigarette cool in his throat.

“I don’t think so,” he said.

Dan shrugged again. Smacked his lips. “I would have thought you were more adventurous than that what with your Rebel-Without-a-Clue jacket and all.” He laughed again, a low chuckle. “My mistake.”

Carter dropped his cigarette and wordlessly ground it out with his heel as Dan reached for the pantry door.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
____________________

“T
HANK YOU ALL for coming tonight!” Valerie beamed from the podium. She wasn’t exactly behind the podium, Liz noted somewhat cattily, more lounging against it, no doubt to allow the audience a fuller appreciation of the designer knock-off column dress she wore. Liz watched as Valerie slid one leg out the side slit of her dress in a feat that seemed to defy gravity considering how far she had to lean the opposite way to maintain verticality. “It was getting a little warm in here with all these hot bodies, so I had the management crank up the A/C,” she cooed, fanning herself with a wine menu she’d snatched off a table and smiling silkily at the men in the audience.

Truthfully, Liz was stunned at the turn-out. Nearly half their class was probably in attendance, which just proved that either her class hadn’t made it far in life and were still milling about Sugar Falls, NH, or there were more of them scared of Valerie than just her and Carter.

“It just so happens we have none other than our valedictorian—Beth Beacon—here tonight, so let’s give her a hand and invite her up to tell us what she’s been up to these past ten years!”

Liz blanched and swallowed her bite of dinner roll as half-hearted applause filled the room. “I don’t think anyone’s that—”

“Oh, Beth, don’t be shy!” Valerie crooned, eyeing her like the wicked witch she was. “We’re all old friends here, aren’t we? And if our valedictorian doesn’t have anything to crow about, we’re in sorry shape, aren’t we? Come on!”

Liz pushed back her chair and nodded to her classmates as she stepped up to the microphone.

“Hello, everyone,” she smiled, her eyes skidding over the crowd. Carter caught her eye and thrust his chest out, presumably to remind her not to slouch. Liz pushed her shoulders back slightly and nodded as he gave a thumbs-up.

“So, you want to know what I’ve been up to,” Liz said, hating Valerie for putting her on the spot like this. No doubt it was the vile woman’s way of trying to make Liz look like a fool.

Valerie wanted a few words? Fine. Liz could handle this. She turned a warm smile toward her former classmates. “Well, I think you’ll find the life of a valedictorian isn’t so different from anyone else’s.

“Like many of you, I went to college, earned my degree and found a job. Or two. The first one doesn’t really count, I don’t think, because the interns were making almost as much as I was, if you know what I mean.” Some small chuckles from the audience encouraged her.

“I’m sure many of you have married and started families. I, on the other hand, have had eight cats, which isn’t the same, I know. Except one cheated on me with the family next door who lured it away with luncheon meats, so maybe some of you
can
relate to that. I hope not!”

“Oh!” Valerie interrupted. “Even her cat left her! Oh, Beth, that’s so sad!”

“It was a terrible shock,” she said dryly, “but I’ve recovered. Anyway, it’s good to see you all again. I know the alumni committee has worked hard to put together a great evening for us, so I won’t keep you from it. Have a terrific night, everyone.” She waved and stepped from the podium.

“Hold on,” Carter strode toward her.

“For those of you who might not recognize him, may I welcome the man voted Mostly Likely to Smuggle a Keg to Graduation, Carter McIntyre!” Valerie cooed into the microphone as Carter body-blocked Liz in the aisle.

“Where are you going?” he demanded under his breath.

“Back to my table,” Liz said.

But Carter grabbed her elbow and pulled her toward the podium again. He leaned toward the microphone. “Liz glossed over a few things, so I’ll take the liberty of filling in the blanks.”

“Carter? What are you—?”

“First of all, did you know she graduated from Stanford with high honors? That’s where she earned her master’s. Now she’s Assistant Vice President of Ames & Reed Consulting, one of the most respected business consulting firms in the Midwest.”

“Carter, please,” Liz murmured uneasily.

“Not only has she volunteered at the local animal shelter for years—which explains all the cats she’s rescued, rehabbed and found homes for—she also organized a collaboration between area businesses and the local
Homes for All
chapter, which earned her a key to the city.”

Liz stared at Carter. She’d only been making small talk the other night. Catching up. But now that he repeated it, it sounded so boastful. “It wasn’t actually a key to the city,” she corrected, leaning toward the microphone herself. “Just a letter of appreciation from the mayor’s office. Really, not a big deal.”

“Well,” Valerie choked into the silence. “Maybe we need to nominate Beth to sainthood.”

“She goes—” Carter began.

“—by Liz now,” finished Liz. “And technically, you can’t be sainted until your dead.”

Valerie’s wilting look said that could be arranged. “Well,” she said, “enough reminiscing. We have a short video presentation by Kat Dailey and Rich Emerson, our former yearbook editors, giving us a trip down memory lane, and after that, our cover band,
My Generation
, will be playing until midnight. They’re taking requests, so stick around! Ready, Kat?”