The Dare (7 page)

"I'm sorry, but what does this have to do
with our national security?" The FBI agent took off his glasses and
groaned.

"Oh, it doesn't. I was just bored with all
the silly questions about kidnapping and death. So depressing! You
wouldn't happen to have any wine, now would you?"

Beth

I'd read the same stupid article at least
fifteen times before I finally realized I wasn't going to absorb
any information at all. The only helpful piece of information I'd
pulled from the two sentences I'd managed to repeat over and over
again was that there had been another plane crash in Europe.
Thanks, US Weekly. I really appreciate the terror you've just
invoked into my life. Not only was I sitting next to Jace, but the
plane could go down at any minute. Because, let's be honest, I
wasn't the luckiest girl around.

After all.

I'd just admitted to Jace he was my
first.

I was also thirty years old. Though he didn't
know that, not exactly. It wasn't as if I was wearing a sign across
my chest that said
Thirty year old virgin.

If they made a movie about my life, it would
consist of a pantry, full of cookies, chips, and soda, followed by
a Netflix addiction and a poster of
Vampire Diaries
in my
living room.

There would be no leading man. The secondary
characters would consist of cats and an aloe vera plant named
Waldo.

I closed my eyes and willed my mind to stop
thinking and just… relax. But his kiss had again reminded me of
what I'd been missing. Of what I'd clearly missed the night before
when I'd been eating cookies and throwing myself at him. It was
terrifying to think that I'd never been intimate with someone, and
that the one time I had, I couldn't remember it. At least I wasn't
boring anymore! I already knew people accused me of being boring on
account of what I did. It didn't help that it had been my nickname
while growing up.

Boring Beth. I hated that humiliating
nickname. Brett had called me Boring Beth when I refused to give
him a thank-you kiss after prom. When he tried again, I'd
threatened to poison him. Scowling, I put the magazine in the
back-seat pocket and tried to close my eyes.

"So… your first?" Jace whispered.

I opened my eyes. Yes, I was officially that
girl. The girl that opened her eyes when she should have kept them
nailed shut, the girl that said yes rather than no, and the girl
that, given the chance to kiss the same sexy man all over again,
would do it without hesitation.

He really did look like Thor.

He had to know that.

I was almost tempted to tell him that, but I
doubted that he needed to be reminded of his own good looks. He'd
grown into them too well. In high school he'd been smaller. Cuter.
Now he was beautiful. Muscle and sharp planes formed his body into
perfection.

Licking my lips, I stole a peek at him out of
the corner of my eye. He was leaning against the window, his hand
placed on his chin like he was in deep thought. Full sensual lips
pressed in a firm line as he continued to stare at the seat in
front of him.

I quickly looked away, and that's when the
full force of my choices smacked me in the head. I was on a plane
for Hawaii, with an almost-stranger, and I had no idea what the
heck I was going to do.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

Jace tilted his head toward me. "Pardon?"

"Why are we going to Hawaii? This is insane,
you know that, right?"

"It's not." He grimaced. "It looks like we're
taking a trip with family. It gives my publicist time to smooth
things over, and well, by the looks of it, Grandma isn't going to
go down without a fight. Things are better when she's not faking
strokes and tricking the clergy into fraud."

"Sound logic." I nodded. "But what are we
going to do once we get there? I only had a week of vacation when
Grandma called me to come to the wedding." Okay, so I was lying.
I'd taken two weeks off, but he didn't know that.

"So, your first?" he asked again.

Is that what he'd been in such deep thought
about? I instantly felt my face heat crimson.

"It's not up for discussion," I snapped.

"Fine." Jace turned in his seat, his eyes
appearing strained as he silently seemed to work through the
situation. "Call your boss when we land, explain the situation, but
don't tell the whole truth. Say you had a family emergency. Your
name wasn't leaked to the media, and I doubt anyone will be able to
tell who you are by the fuzzy pictures they were tossing everywhere
on TV."

"Okay, so that solves one problem, but what
about Grandma?"

"You called?"

A disembodied voice sounded from behind me. I
hoped I was imagining things, but by Jace's irritated expression, I
knew that prayer wasn't getting answered. With a slow turn, I faced
Grandma. She had wine in her hand and looked cheerful as all get
out.

"Did you need something?" Jace asked
smoothly.

"You're good." Grandma's eyes narrowed. "I'll
have to be more careful with you than I was with the other two. You
almost had me fooled, Jace Antonio Brevik."

Somehow I felt like I was in the middle of
some sort of silent battle where either Jace won and Grandma walked
away, or Grandma won and burned a hole through the plane and we
fell to our deaths.

"Anyway," Grandma's attention snapped back to
me, "I know this is such an inconvenience, but I have to admit, I
planned it."

"You don't say," Jace said in a dry
voice.

"I admit when I'm wrong." Grandma glared.
"And I was wrong to drug you."

"Drug?" I repeated in a weak voice. "When did
you drug us?"

"Honey, you should be more careful about who
you let give you drinks."

"Right." I bit my lip. "I should be weary of
eighty-six-year-old women with date-rape drugs? Is that what you're
saying?"

Grandma stretched to her full height. "I can
neither deny nor confirm your suspicions. But I will apologize. I
think my matchmaking ways have rattled this old brain. That being
said," her face fell, "all I ask is that you let me make it up to
you."

"We're not getting married." Jace
groaned.

"Oh you!" Grandma tittered, taking a long sip
of wine. "I'd like to take you out to dinner once we land, just the
three of us. And then you may both enjoy the rest of your week, all
expenses paid. Beth, I know how you enjoy hiking."

"You hike?" Jace asked in a shocked
voice.

My nostrils flared in irritation. "Don't
sound so shocked that I like exercise and nature, Mr. Senator.
Sometimes I get bored with all the white walls in my office. I like
getting dirty."

His eyes dilated.

On instinct I leaned in, my hand gripping the
armrest between us like it was the last barrier before I jumped
onto his lap and ripped his tie off. I'd always wanted to do that.
Attack a man and have wild crazy
—

"And, Jace," Grandma said, ignoring our
exchange, where I was daydreaming about taking advantage of him and
he was most likely assuming I was suffering an aneurysm, "eating
has always been at the top of your list. Don't deny it. You're
basically obsessed with fine wine and dining."

"Do you wine taste?" It was out of my mouth
before I could stop myself.

Jace's face lit up, the dimple at the corner
of his mouth distracting me from breathing. "My family owns a few
wineries near the Oregon Coast. I love it."

I'm so marrying him for his wine. Don't judge
me. Girls have needs.

"Interesting." I scooted closer, inhaling his
scent, allowing his wine-loving presence to wash over me, and then
in an instant, Jace jerked away from me and glared at Grandma.

"I see what you're doing."

"What?" Grandma examined her nails.

"She likes wine. I like wine. She likes
hiking. I like hiking." He rolled his eyes. "Oh look!" He laughed
dryly. "It just so happens I have a priest waiting to marry you.
And a special license! Well, I'll be damned." His eyes narrowed.
"You belong in a home."

Grandma's icy glare could have
single-handedly ended global warming. "The only home I'm going to
is the White House, and it's to be sure to secure your failure
should ever try to run for office."

"Try me."

"Already have."

"Guys." I placed my hand on Jace's chest and
let it shamefully stay there an extra few seconds while I gently
pulled Grandma's talons out of my arm.

Jace's face broke out into one of those
creepy politician smiles, you know the ones I'm talking about,
where you see too many teeth and the eyes get all small. "You're
right. Where are my manners? Let's try this again." He cleared his
throat, "I don't do relationships. I refuse to be played by a woman
who eats blood-pressure pills like candy and cheats at Bridge."

"Why I never
—
"

"I won't play your games, and now Beth knows
that as well."

"We all know that," the lady from the seat in
front of us chirped in an irritated voice.

"Drink your damn happy juice," Jace fired
back under his breath then crossed his arms. "Grandma, stop
meddling. Yes, we'll do dinner, and then this," he pointed at me
and her, "is done."

For some reason, I felt like crying. I wasn't
really sure why. I mean, I agreed with every single thing he'd
said, but that didn't lessen the sting or make me feel the
rejection any less.

But the thing about women and how we think?
Regardless of what a guy said about not wanting commitment or the
stability of a relationship, deep down, every girl imagined that if
he just found the right one, he'd change his ways. So hearing that
he'd met me, kissed me, slept with me and still wasn't willing to
change his ways? Yeah, it stung.

Maybe Jace wasn't trying to reject me, but
that was what it felt like. It felt like the final nail in my
relationship coffin. If I couldn't perk a politician's interest,
really what did I have going for me? I swallowed thickly and gazed
up at Grandma.

"Beth? Do you agree?"

Her eyes held magical powers. I could have
sworn I felt her reach into my brain and touch the truth with one
of her bright red nails. So I looked away for a brief moment before
nodding, giving her my best fake smile. "You know me, Grandma. I'm
all about my career. Settling down really isn't in my future."

"Well." Grandma slumped. "If you're both
sure."

Jace reached for my hand. "We are. And we
appreciate the effort."

Okay, suddenly I wanted to punch him in the
face.

"Jace," I said in a sickly sweet voice.

"Yeah?"

"If you don't stop speaking on my behalf, I'm
going to use your body as my own personal Frankenstein experiment
when you're sleeping, got it?"

He pulled back and smirked. "Got it."

"Well," Grandma sighed loud enough to wake up
every single child under eight in the back of the plane, "I guess
what's done is done. And again, I'm so very sorry for the
inconvenience. We'll be landing around dinnertime. I've already
apologized to the kids for crashing their honeymoon. They've agreed
to take your bags back with them to the hotel while we go have our
peaceful dinner, then we can meet them there for a nightcap."

"Fine." I smiled tensely.

"Ta-ta." Grandma waved and walked back down
the aisle.

With a sigh I slumped back against my chair,
trying to look at the positive side of things. Just because Jace
didn't want me didn't mean I was a loser. It just meant I was…
single. Still single. Did it mean I was bad in bed? Possibly. It
also meant that I was probably a terrible kisser. Who could blame
me when my practice had been with Vampire Lover and McDonalds'
Employee of the Month?

"She's up to something."

"Jace," I swore, "stop being so…"

"So what?"

"So… suspicious. She apologized. We get a
free vacation. Leave it at that."

"But
—
"

"I'm going to sleep."

"Okay." He sounded disappointed.

I wanted to see the look on his face. I
wanted to dissect every single look, every touch, every sigh, but I
knew in the end the equation would still equal out to be zero. No
matter how many tallies I put in his favor, he still wouldn't want
what I had to offer.

Because in the end, I wasn't even sure what I
had to offer, except for my heart. And for thirty years
—
even that hadn't been enough.

"You mean to tell me he wanted to be
kidnapped?"

Grandma nodded. "Yes, that's correct."

"And he wanted to be rufied?"

"Of course."

"And he asked you to give him some time
before you revealed his location?"

"That's what I'm saying."

"Did you murder Senator Brevik?"

"Oh honey, if I'd had murdered him. I
wouldn't have gotten caught
—
that's
why I'm here."

"You're here because you got caught."

"I let you catch me. To give him time."

"Fine. I'll bite. Time for what?"

"Love."

Jace

Once the plane dropped down in Honolulu, I
was beyond ready to lose my cool. The little girl in front of us
had, for the past hour, chattered about school, life, her mom, her
gas
—
really anything that she'd thought
might interest us. But the real kicker had been when Beth had
started coloring with her.

And I'd been left to watch.

I'd watched her hands glide over the
paper.

I'd watched her delicate fingers as they held
the color blue.

I'd watched when her face lit up from the
praise the little girl gave her.

And then I'd ruined it by scowling when the
little girl gave her a high five, and I'd been left out.

Irritation pierced me in the chest. And I was
ready to lose my damn mind over it. Every time I tried to imagine a
reason for me to be upset that Beth wasn't giving me attention, the
more upset with myself I became.