The Dating Dare (Gambling Men Book 2)

by Barbara Dunlop

  It wasn’t all me. It was far from all me.

  I swallowed. “You’re changing yours just as much.”

  He shook his head. “Not as much. Not everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean I need a new house.”

  I gave another big swallow. Okay, that was pretty huge.

  “Are you sure? I mean, we only paid a couple hundred dollars for the paint.” As commitments went, sweat equity wasn’t nearly as serious as a mortgage.

  “I’m moving up,” Jamie said. “Or I’m moving sideways. I mean, I’m moving to where Jamie wants to live.”

  “Do we know where Jamie wants to live?” I asked.

  “We’re going to find out.”

  “Wow. That’s huge.”

  “I’m counting on your help.”

  The statement, along with his expression, made me nervous. My head started to shake all on its own. “I’m not picking out your house.”

  “You did a terrific job with my car.”

  My head shaking continued. “That’s crazy. It’s nuts. A house is a major life decision, maybe the major life decision. It’s a huge, long-term commitment. You have to pick it out yourself.”

  “I checked our stock portfolio this morning.” He paused. It seemed like he was going for dramatic effect.

  I wasn’t sure if I should take that as a good or a bad thing. Good, I had to think, if he was talking about it in conjunction with buying a house.

  Then again, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. He’d come up with the investment seed money without too much trouble. He probably also had a decent down payment waiting in the wings. The two things might have nothing to do with each other.

  “And...” I prompted.

  “And it’s up.”

  “Good.” I was relieved—more for Jamie than for me.

  I didn’t really have anything at stake in it. We’d already taken out the money for our clothes-buying binge. But Jamie still had his capital at risk. I knew that stocks could fall just as easily as they could rise. And we’d had an awfully good run of it lately.

  “Way up,” he said.

  I could tell he was toying with me.

  “Are we going to play this game all morning?” I asked.

  He grinned. “Remember Street Wrangle, the wireless company?”

  I did. “Yes.”

  “Remember how I said they’d inexplicably bought that property next to Newmister?”

  I remembered that, too. Jamie had speculated that the companies might be talking about a merger.

  “They merged?” I asked.

  There was a light in Jamie’s eyes that said this was big.

  I lost interest in my bagel.

  “They merged. The stock spiked. It’s set to split first thing Monday morning. Traders are lining up to get in. I’ve never seen buzz like this.”

  “But we’re already in.”

  Jamie held his coffee cup up in a toast. “We’re already in.”

  “Did we invest a lot?”

  “We were bold. We went with our gut.”

  My grin grew, feeling like it might split my cheeks. “Oh, I do like Jamie’s audacity.”

  “Will you help me find a house?”

  “I’m scared.” This situation called for me to be completely honest.

  “Don’t be scared.”

  “I don’t know the first thing about real estate. I’ll screw it up.”

  “You won’t screw it up.”

  I gave a chopped laugh of disbelief. There were a thousand ways for me to screw up a choice like this—from location to plumbing to the foundation to...well, everything.

  “Don’t be scared, Tasha,” he said in the gentlest of tones. “You’re smart and methodical. And you have great instincts. You have gut instincts that are incredibly impressive. Run with them. Be audacious.” He paused and seemed to be thinking. “Plus, I love your taste. You know you found me a great vehicle. Look at it this way, I just moved into a whole new housing bracket.” He smiled and reached out to give my hand a quick squeeze. “This is going to be fun.”

  I considered his words. They were heartwarming.

  I was on my way to being convinced, but I wasn’t quite there. “You have a warped idea of fun. This is going to be stressful.”

  “No, stressful is slapping pumpkin on a freshly painted wall and hoping it looks okay.”

  “Wait a minute. You were the one who picked out the orange paint.”

  “And you let me. That was very trusting of you.”

  “This is on you,” I said.

  I took a last bite of bagel.

  “I’ll take that risk.” Jamie finished his bagel and tipped back his coffee.

  We stowed the trash. Then we crouched down at opposite ends of a wall and started painting orange.

  Four hours later, our paintbrushes met in the middle of the last window.

  We both straightened up. We took a few backward steps and gazed around.

  I was amazed.

  It looked fantastic.

  “How did you know?” I asked him.

  “Know what?”

  “That it would look this good?”

  “I cheated,” he said.

  “Cheated how?”

  “I stole the idea from a decorating website, remember?”

  “Nice steal.” I couldn’t believe this stylish, sophisticated apartment was mine. Now I couldn’t wait to get going on the flooring.

  Nine

  “If you can do this without flinching,” Jamie said to me as we stared up the thirty-foot rock face, “then you can definitely pick me out a house.”

  We’d looked at three different houses on Thursday night. While I’d tried to drag Jamie’s opinion out of him, he kept insisting it was my choice to make. I’d been afraid to say I liked anything for fear he’d pull out his checkbook right then and there.

  “I can do this without flinching,” I said. I was excited about our climb, not frightened.

  Spending hundreds of thousands of someone else’s dollars? Now, that was frightening.

  We were on a field trip with Paul, the other instructors and the rest of our class. It was a graduation ceremony of sorts, although Jamie and I had already signed up for the next level of climbing class, as had most of the rest of the class. We weren’t qualified to undertake more than an uphill hike or a scramble by ourselves at this point.

  “Great,” Jamie said.

  “But you really do have to weigh in on the house.”

  We’d seen two more houses last night with the Realtor Emily-Ann. I’d liked the last one quite a lot.

  “Go through your safety check,” the head instructor called out.

  I made sure my watch was zipped into my pocket. I checked my harness buckles, my leg loops, rope orientation and carabiner. Jamie and I double-checked each other’s knots, then we waited for Paul to give us a thumbs-up. We both passed his check, and we were ready to go.

  I was going first with Jamie on belay.

  Each of three teams had chosen a different section of the rock face.

  I was ready.

  I was excited.

  “On belay?” I called back to Jamie.

  “On belay,” he confirmed.

  “Climbing,” I called.

  “Climb on,” he answered.

  I found my first foothold, flexing my toe. I’d learned most of the patterns on the climbing wall, and it was exciting to be trying something completely new.

  I was connected by a top rope that looped from the top of the climb back to Jamie. I trusted Jamie, and Paul was supervising, so I focused on the foot-and handholds.

  I dead-ended once and had to back down a few steps, but otherwise, I made it up without any mistakes.

  Whe
n I looked back down, Jamie was beaming and giving me a clap.

  He lowered me down, and I took belay while he climbed.

  By the end of the morning, we were all stripping off our windbreakers under the beaming sun. Paul and the other instructors had brought along a light picnic and some celebratory champagne.

  Jamie and I toasted each other in the fresh air, laughing at our accomplishments.

  He pulled me into an unexpected hug.

  I felt arousal buzz through me.

  “Now, that was adventure,” he whispered in my ear.

  “We are wild and exciting,” I whispered back.

  “Who wouldn’t want to point at us across a room?” he asked.

  “Or fall madly in love with us?”

  His hug tightened for a second.

  “Anyone who wants to take the long way home...” the head instructor said in a loud voice. Then he pointed. “There’s a trail from here that goes around the face. It leads to a viewpoint lookout. Farther up, you can get into Pebble Pond. Then the main trail loops around back to the parking lot.”

  “It’s all about the views,” Paul said.

  Most people were shaking their heads. Everyone was already hot and tired.

  Jamie drew back to look at me.

  “Game?” he asked.

  I was.

  In the end, six of us changed into hiking shoes and walked the two miles to the viewpoint.

  As Paul had said, the view was spectacular, sweeping green hillsides, spikes of evergreens, and snowcapped peaks surrounding a deep blue lake in the valley bottom.

  The rest of the group turned around there.

  Jamie wanted to keep going, and my exhilaration was giving me energy. I felt like I could hike all day.

  My exhilaration was ebbing by the time we made it along the narrow path to Pebble Pond.

  The picturesque and isolated spot was worth the hike, but I’d admit I was glad we’d be going downhill on the way back.

  “I like this,” Jamie said, gazing out at the blue-green water surrounded by towering rocks and lush grasses and shrubs. A few cedars clustered near one shore with a group of crows circling the tops, calling to one another in the silent wind.

  We were on a tiny stretch of pebble-covered beach. The smooth little rocks were quite a pretty mix of white, blue gray, amber, green and black. Some were solid colors. Some were striped. And some were mottled. It was easy to see how the pond got its name.

  It felt like we were all alone in the world.

  Above us, an eagle took flight from the cedar trees, then another followed, chasing off the crows.

  “Nature in the raw,” I said, quoting something I’d once heard.

  “My money’s on the eagles,” Jamie said.

  “They must have a nest up there. Chicks do you think?”

  “It seems late in the season. But they look like they’re guarding something.”

  The eagles swooped in tandem, and the crows scattered.

  The world fell silent again with the barest of breezes lifting the leaves around us.

  “I’m sweltering,” Jamie said.

  I guessed the sun was reflecting off the surrounding rock faces. We did seem to be in a pocket of still heat.

  Jamie stripped off his shirt.

  My mouth went dry, and my brain paused for a beat. To be fair, I was dying of thirst. But the brain seize was all Jamie—his abs looked like they’d been sculpted from marble. His pecs and shoulders were firm, smooth and rounded. His biceps bulged, and his forearms were thick and sturdy.

  I knew he had strong hands. I’d watched him work. But they looked stronger against the backdrop of nature.

  Then he reached for the button of his khakis.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” My stutter was mortifying.

  “Taking a dip,” he said, and dragged down his zipper. “Aren’t you hot?”

  I was hot. I was very hot. I was a whole lot hotter than I’d been two minutes ago.

  “Don’t look so worried,” he said. “I’m not getting naked or anything. Come in with me. You’re wearing underwear, aren’t you?”

  I was wearing underwear.

  I was wearing Tasha underwear, sexy but very beautiful underwear. I wouldn’t mind people seeing it.

  Person, I corrected. I wouldn’t mind a person seeing it. And that person was Jamie.

  Oh, boy.

  He kicked off his shoes, pulled off his socks and stripped down to a pair of black boxers.

  This was Jamie all right. It was all Jamie. There wasn’t an ounce of James left in this man.

  My hands twitched with an urge to reach out and touch him.

  But he started for the pond.

  I had a ridiculous desire to call Brooklyn and ask her what on earth she thought she was doing. If Jamie had been waiting to marry me in the nave of St. Fidelis, I’d have been sprinting down the aisle, desperate to get going on the honeymoon.

  “Come on, Tasha,” he called over his shoulder. “Live a little.”

  I was living.

  In this moment, I felt like I was really living.

  I pulled my T-shirt over my head. I kicked off my runners, peeled off my sweaty socks and stepped out of my pants.

  The pebbles were warm on my feet. They shifted as I walked to the shore.

  Jamie dived under, resurfacing with a whoop that echoed off the cliff walls. He sent ripples across the surface of the pond.

  “Cold?” I asked.

  “Refreshing.” He swiped his hand across his wet hair as he turned to look at me. He went still then, scanning me from my head to my toes.

  I was acutely conscious of my burgundy bra and panties set. It covered everything that needed to be covered. But it covered it all in sexy, stylish satin and lace.

  Jamie was definitely all Jamie today. And I was sure all Tasha underneath my climbing clothes.

  I waded determinedly into the water, ignoring the cold, acutely conscious of Jamie watching me.

  “Refreshing,” I said as the water hit my shoulders.

  Goose bumps came up on my skin.

  He cleared his throat. “You’ll get used to it in a second.”

  “I think you oversold the experience,” I said.

  He grinned. “Wimp.”

  “Hey, I just climbed a rock face.”

  “Want to climb another?” He looked meaningfully above us.

  “Dressed like this? Without equipment? I don’t think so.”

  “Live a little,” he whispered.

  “This is living a little.”

  In fact, it was living a lot. I was leading a hugely exciting Tasha life here. A month ago, I couldn’t have even imagined a Saturday like this.

  “Up there,” he said, pointing to a flat ledge about ten feet in the air. “I’m going to jump.”

  “Have fun.”

  “Come, too?”

  “Scramble up that little goat track in bare feet just to jump off a rock?” I winced.

  “Tasha...” he said, in the most cajoling tone I’d ever heard. He moved closer to me. “I know deep down inside your little heart is a wild woman trying to get out.”

  I looked around us. “This isn’t wild enough?”

  I was swimming in my underwear in early October.

  “Not wild enough for the two of us.” He waggled his brow. “It’s not going to kill you.”

  I looked up at the ledge.

  He was right. Jumping ten feet wasn’t going to kill me.

  I wasn’t scared. And it would probably be fun. I honestly didn’t know why I was so reluctant. Reflex, I supposed. Nat was used to saying no to anything that seemed weird or offbeat, anything she knew she didn’t know how to do, anything that seemed frivolous or silly or without purpose.

  Jumping off a ro
ck ledge into a mountain pond was arguably silly and without purpose. But it was also arguably fun.

  “Fine,” I said.

  Jamie looked surprised. Then he grinned. “Come on, Crazy Tasha.” He started paddling to the edge of the pond.

  “First I’m not wild enough, now I’m crazy? There’s no pleasing you.” But I followed him.

  “I’m crazy, too,” he called back. “In a good way.”

  He hoisted himself onto a space at the bottom of the rock face.

  He stood and turned, offering his hand to me.

  “There’s a foothold about two feet under the water,” he said.

  I reached for his hand and found the foothold with my right foot.

  His grip was strong around my hand. “Ready?”

  I nodded.

  Jamie hoisted. I pushed with my left. I pulled up with my free hand on the ledge, and in seconds I was out of the water standing beside him.

  Our wet bodies brushed together.

  I felt the glow of the contact right through to my bones.

  Our gazes hit each other. They held for a sizzling moment. But then Jamie looked away, up the side of the rock, finding a path.

  He marched away from me, then scrambled to the top.

  “It’s easy,” he called back.

  It looked easy. And he was right. It was easy.

  In minutes we stood on the edge of the face looking down at the deep, blue-green water.

  “Are you scared?” he asked.

  “Not really.” I might be a little nervous. Or maybe I was excited. Or maybe I was so fixated on the beauty of the man standing beside me, that I didn’t really care about the long plunge into the water.

  “By the way, did I tell you the latest on our stock account?” he asked.

  “What happened?” I couldn’t tell if it was good news or bad.

  “September Innovations posted their R & D results.”

  “Good?” I asked cautiously.

  We could stand to lose some money at this point. We could easily stand to lose some money. I knew Jamie hadn’t dumped our entire portfolio into September Innovations, a wireless technology company. But he had made a substantive gamble on them.

  “Come Monday morning, we’ll be able to watch the graph go up and up. You should think about buying a condo.”

  The suggestion took me by surprise. “We just redecorated my apartment.”