The Dare (9 page)

He leaned forward, touching his forehead to
mine. "There's more where that came from."

"You called me a continuous spectrum." I
grinned, feeling all warm and fuzzy all the way down to my
toes.

"It was a compliment."

His lips were so close I could almost taste
his peppermint gum.

"I know."

"Beth," he gently pushed me away, "stop
worrying about attracting things you don't want to attract." He
cleared his throat and ran his hand through his overly long blond
hair. Was he referring to himself? Was I attracting him? "Trust me,
the right guy will come along, and when he does, it will be
amazing. Until then, just keep shining. You're beautiful, you're
smart, and you have a lot going for you. Don't let yourself become
your worst enemy."

Stunned, I could only stare at him and wish…
that's what I was doing. I was willing or wishing him to say
screw it
and kiss me again. I wanted him to want me, and I
hated that I was so weak that I felt like I needed a person of the
opposite sex to affirm that I was attractive.

"Well!" Grandma strolled out of the bathroom
and swore. "Some people just can't handle dairy products, and
that's that!" Her eyes narrowed. "What's going on here?"

"Science lesson." Jace put his arm around me.
"A little ionic-bond lesson."

"Damn bonds." Grandma hauled her giant
leopard purse over her shoulder and winced. "I'll tell you about
bonds. The government makes you buy them, and then you wait years
—
years, I tell you!"

"And an economics lesson," I added. "What a
day."

"I'm a starved lion. And I about croaked in
that god-forsaken hellhole they call a bathroom. Let's go." Grandma
pointed to the doors and scurried away.

Jace chuckled and followed after her, leaving
me trailing behind the two of them. Why did he keep kissing me if
he wanted to keep me away? And why did I care? Thor was kissing me.
This was cause for celebration not contemplation. But, of course,
in true spinster fashion, all I could do was focus on the fact that
he'd told me I was a spectrum, and sadly that was one of the nicest
thing any man had ever said to me.

"Ma'am, what does Justin Timberlake have to
do with anything?"

"Justin Timberlake is the answer to
everything," Grandma said solemnly.

"How do you figure?"

After a long pause she answered, "Because he
brought sexy back."

"I'm sorry I didn't take a sick day
today."

Jace

So I'd kissed her twice. Big deal. I licked
my lips for probably the twentieth time, hoping, no praying, that
I'd still be able to taste her on the tip of my tongue. Damn, she
tasted good. I couldn't get her smell or her taste out of my
consciousness, and I really needed to be focusing on important
things like trying to get my career on track, rather than flushing
it down a shit hole.

With a haggard groan, I licked my lips. One
last time. Just to remember.

How many times had I kissed a woman and
experienced nothing?

Shameful, to admit when a man is so
ridiculously turned off by the female species that he stops
responding all together. That's what Kerry had done to me. She'd
broken me. And I hated feeling like a broken misused toy that no
longer functioned properly. It pissed me off and made me feel like
less of a man.

But Beth? She made me feel alive. Too bad the
things that make you feel alive eventually kill you. Drugs,
alcohol, bungee jumping. Okay, fine. I was being dramatic, but
still. Women were predators. They couldn't help but want to trap
men and eventually destroy the relationship in the process. Maybe
it was fear, but I imagined it was so much deeper than that.

Arranged marriage. That was my future. At
least in an arranged marriage I could pull the strings, I could use
it for my benefit. I'd have the perfect little senator-wife and I'd
have my dream.

The only problem? The longer I spent with
Beth and that damn grandmother, the more reality was pushed away
from the forefront of my mind. I needed to get back to the
mainland, and I needed to call Rick. Beth made me lose focus.

I never imagined myself a romantic. That
dream had been killed over ten years ago. I was so young and
stupid, naïve to think that Beth would remember the magic of our
kiss. The magic of the moment we'd shared. I'd fallen
head-over–heels. In exactly three minutes, I'd had our wedding
planned, while she hadn't been able to wait to get away.

When I'd told Grandma Nadine I'd help get
Jake and Char together, never in my wildest dreams had I thought
that I'd get pulled into the Titus-family drama. And not once, had
I thought I'd end up in bed with Char's sister. Especially after
all those years wishing for that very thing.

I stole a glance at her.

She was beautiful. But I was surrounded by
beautiful women, and none of them, not a single one, made me want
to fight.

She did.

And it made me pissed as hell that I had
somehow given her that type of emotional power over me. I'd done it
once with Kerry, let my guard down and found her in bed with my
best friend. But even with Kerry, I hadn't felt the sizzle I'd felt
with Beth.

Which was terrifying. Because if it was this
easy for me to want to be with her, then that meant she had that
much more power to destroy me, and the sad part was, I'd probably
let her, because even though I wanted to be that guy that was tough
as shit and didn't give a damn.

I'd always known that once I fell for someone
—
once I fell in love, it would destroy me
from the inside out. My mom had always joked that I wore my heart
on my sleeve. In my profession it helped. People genuinely trusted
me. They liked me. And in return, I tried to do my best for
them.

Them. I needed to keep remembering what I'd
been born to do. Lead others and sacrifice. At least, at the end of
the day, I'd still have my job. Logistics, voting, politics, they
were topics that, given the chance, would take over a person's
life, leaving no space for anything else. I needed my life to be
that way in order to be able to control things.

Groaning, I decided to put my mind to
rest.

For tonight.

I was going to focus on getting through
dinner. It would be hard enough fielding Grandma's ministrations.
I'd need all my energy for that woman. I swear, God had done a
number when He'd made her.

"We're here!" Grandma shouted as if we were
at the World Cup.

"Yay." Beth pumped her fist into the air and
gave me a tired smile.

Poor girl. She was probably just as tired as
I was. It wasn't as if that flight had been something made out of
dreams. It had been hell, hell on earth. And it truly had made me
question my desire to procreate.

"I'm so hungry I almost ate the
three-week-old candy I found at the bottom of my purse," Beth
murmured so only I could hear her.

"What? No sharing?"

"It had fur on it." Beth sighed. "Fifty-fifty
chance I would have died from some sort of fungus poising."

"More science." I sighed. "Hot."

"Fungus. Always hot."

"Where's the damn boat?" Grandma put her
hands on her hips and stomped down the dock, while I closed my eyes
and pinched the bridge of my nose.

Grandma yelled obscenities into the night
sky, but I wasn't paying attention, because Beth had somehow
managed to lean against my shoulder, and my shoulder had decided in
those brief seconds that it liked being leaned on. So I stayed,
paralyzed by her touch, debating whether or not I should put my arm
around her or just stand there like a limp idiot.

"You kids stay here. This is just…" Grandma
didn't finish; instead she continued yelling and walked off down
the beach, cell phone in hand.

Beth didn't move. Instead, she leaned further
against me while I closed my eyes and let the smell of the islands
permeate my senses. The air was thick with the humidity of flowers.
For the first time in two years, I felt semi-relaxed.

That is until a horn sounded in the
distance.

I blinked a few times as a boat. Scratch
that, it was more like a freaking yacht. Of course, when dealing
with Grandma Nadine what else could I expect? The woman didn't do
small, in any capacity, so if the Titanic suddenly rose from it's
watery grave and made it's way across the ocean to our destination,
yeah, I wouldn't even blink. A the yacht got closer it was harder
and harder not to look away. I'd always had a thing for them and
this one was beautiful. Stark white with its lights reflecting off
the water. I could retire on it and live comfortably for the rest
of my life. The side said Titus Enterprises, maybe we were having
dinner on it? . A man in a blue Hawaiian shirt pulled up to the
dock and waved us over.

"I think that's our ride," I whispered in
Beth's hair, shamelessly allowing myself a few deep breaths.

"Hmm..." she answered and started walking
down the dock.

I blindly followed, Hypnotized by the sway of
her hips as she made her way down toward the water.

The captain helped her into the boat. She was
tired, but I was at least still functioning.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Are you Jace Brevik?"

"Yes?"

"And Beth Lynn?" He pointed to Beth who
looked absolutely dead on her feet.

"Yeah…"

"Great!" He clapped his hands together. "I'm
your captain. Your grandmother is going to follow in the next boat.
She said something about needing to use the restroom again, so I
was given the go-ahead to drop you kids off so you can eat."

"Food." I grunted. "Fine, how far away is
it?"

The captain gave me a funny look then
answered, "Things are only as far away as you allow them to be. Now
sit back and relax. There's rum punch in the back. Help
yourself."

"Alcohol." I nodded. "Score."

"Right, because that hasn't caused us any
problems in the last twenty-four hours," Beth joked sleepily.

Ignoring her, I grabbed two paper cups and
went to the little mini-bar at the back of the boat. Filling both
cups to the rim with the pink juice, I grabbed a bag of Maui Chips
to share with Beth and returned to where she was sitting.

"Eat." I handed her the chips.

"Food!" She snatched the chips from my hands
and opened them.

"You respond like this to all types of food,
or is it just junkfood, like chips and cookies?" I laughed.

Beth closed her eyes and slowly placed a chip
on her tongue then closed her mouth and started chewing. Who the
hell ate chips like that?

"All food," she said, still chewing. "I love
salt."

Well, that explained the weird chip
placement. She reached for another chip and did it again. I swore
and looked away. What the hell was my problem?

I lifted the rum punch to my lips and took a
sip. The liquid was cold and sweet, but not too sweet. It had a
hint of ginger and basically tasted like heaven after that
flight.

"It's pretty." Beth sighed, drinking her
punch.

"What is?"

"The sky. The hotels. The water." Beth
pointed to the shoreline as all the hotels of Waikiki Beach lit up
the dusk night sky. "I've only been here once. I promised myself
I'd come back after graduation, but then I got a job, and you know
how that goes. Ten years later you wonder why you haven't ever
taken a vacation."

I snorted. "Know what that's like."

"Anyway." Beth cleared her throat., "I've
been thinking."

"That can get you into trouble."

"I know." She played with the half-empty cup
in her hands, twirling it around a few times before leaning back
against her seat. "I know this situation isn't ideal. I know you
have a lot going on. But, I think this is what I needed. A
vacation. To get away for a bit. I'm just sorry that you got drug
into it."

I threw my head back and laughed. "Honey, it
was my own damn fault. I actually said yes to Grandma." Shrugging,
I continued. "I was, uh, supposed to hit on your sister and get her
to like me. There was a certain wager going on between Grandma,
Kacey, and Travis. They wanted someone good for Char, and Grandma
wanted to win the wager. Clearly, Grandma succeeded. Jake and Char
seem happy."

"So you are still a white knight, sweeping in
just in time to save the day." Beth sighed.

I, in turn, panicked. "What do you mean?
White knight?"

"I remember." She broke a chip in her hand
and popped it in her mouth. "Senior year. You were at prom with
your cousin."

My palms got sweaty all over again as I
rubbed them on my pants and waited for what was next.

"You swept in and danced with me when I was
pouting all by myself."

I laughed. "Believe me when I say, there was
nothing white-knightish about your rescue."

Her face fell. "What do you mean?"

"Truth?"

She nodded. "I thought you were really
hot."

The sound of Beth's laughter filling the
crisp night air may as well have been a damn explosion inside my
chest
—
I would have been happy to listen
to her laugh all night.

"Thanks." She smiled. "That made my
night."

"That's a shame." The word were out of my
mouth before I could stop them. "Because as far as compliments go,
it was pretty shitty. I hope that you've been told that you're more
than hot. I hope guys use the big words with you. You're a big
words type of girl."

Beth's smile tightened; she shrugged and
looked away. "Char says Jake gives good compliments. It's
sweet."

With a frown, I set down the cup. "You don't
seem convinced that it's sweet at all. If anything, your entire
body just slumped further into your chair, and your shoulders fell
forward. Don't you like Jake?" Personally I thought he was a
spoiled ass, but he was working on it, and I respected him for
that.