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

by Cheri Allan

  Valerie turned her back and snapped a couple more photos of the yard. “Seeing as you’re here, mind if I come in and take some indoor shots? ”

  Liz shrugged. “Knock yourself out.” She poured her own coffee and then felt guilty for being snippy. “Can I offer you a cup of coffee?”

  “Sure.”

  Drat. Liz reached for a second mug.

  “I’ve got a couple potential buyers I was worried about bringing over this afternoon, but I’ll be honest, I’m shocked at how good the place looks now,” Val stepped into the kitchen to take her coffee.

  Hmm. Apparently vampires drank it black.

  “Gee, thanks.”

  Valerie rolled her eyes. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d need a pat on the back, but nice job.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I think it looks good. And, trust me, I see a lot of not good.”

  “No, not that. The first part. Why wouldn’t I need a pat on the back? If you put your best efforts into something…”

  Val rearranged a couple of things on the counter and shoed Liz aside to take a picture. She shook her head pityingly. “You never could get enough attention, could you? Valedictorian? Assistant V.P.? Queen of Charitable Causes? Should I be thanking you for trying to steal my boyfriend back in high school? You want a pat on the back for that, too?

  “Who? I never tried to—!”

  Valerie lowered the camera. “Dan. And you so did.” She took another sip of coffee. “Hmm. Good stuff. I never used to like it black. And, don’t deny it. You always had a thing for Dan. But, you can have him now. He’s all yours.”

  “Back up the train. I have never had a thing for Dan.”

  Valerie repositioned Cookie Rooster and snapped another photo. “Yeah, right.”

  “I didn’t!”

  “Oh, please. You’ve been after him ever since you sucked face with him at Jenny Whitmeyer’s party junior year. And, don’t deny it. Everybody knows.”

  Liz choked on her coffee. “What? I never—!”

  “Tell me another one. He said you were so horny he had to physically pry you off him.”

  Liz felt the blood drain from her face before it roared back in a wave of humiliation. Dan? It had been DAN in the pantry? Oh, my God! And all these years she’d fantasized it had been Carter? No wonder Dan was so solicitous at the reunion dance!

  Liz thought back. She remembered it all so vividly. The tentative kisses, the deeper explorations… the unmistakable feel of something surging toward her, warm and heavy and unknown… and then he reached up to take her hands from his shoulders and held them at her sides…

  …he had to physically pry you off him…

  Oh. God.

  Her stomach roiled. How could she have been so wrong?

  Valerie took a swig of coffee and snapped another picture. “All these years, every time we had a fight all I’d hear was, ‘Maybe I’ll ask out Beth Beacon, she’s really into me.’ Well, have at it.” Valerie turned and raised one over-plucked brow. “You okay? You look kind of peaked.”

  “I’m…”

  “Whatever. Take him for all I care. You two deserve each other. He’s a dick and you’re desperate, so you make a good match.”

  “Excuse me?” Liz snapped back into focus. “I am not desperate. I’ve never been into Dan—especially now—and if I was horny it’s because I mistook your boyfriend for my… my…” My what? “…Carter.”

  “Your Carter?”

  “No, not my Carter, just Carter.”

  “Don’t lie to yourself; he’s never been just Carter.” Liz turned as Bailey sauntered in, a to-go cup in her fist. She flumped onto a kitchen chair. “Hey, Val, how’s the bat cave?”

  “Piss off, Bailey. You were never funny.”

  “Bailey!” Liz said, grateful for reinforcements; although, she could use a little less in the way of expository comments. “How’d you get in?”

  “Your brother. Do you guys not talk to one another? He’s out front installing some new coach lights. They look good, by the way.”

  “He is?”

  “Your brother’s here?” Valerie gasped.

  Liz shrugged. “Apparently.”

  Valerie looked like she was about to bolt. Or throw up. Hard to tell.

  Bailey pulled a Snickers bar out of her pocket, the scents of chocolate and sweet mocha filling the air. “You appear to have swallowed a lemon, Valerie, if you don’t mind my saying.” Valerie’s pink lips twisted in annoyance. “Do you have a problem with Liz’s brother?”

  “I don’t know what you mean.” Valerie set her mug on the counter and headed toward the slider. “I forgot to take photos of the garage. I’m going to go do that before I forget.”

  “It’s shorter if you go out the front door,” Bailey pointed out sweetly. Or, as sweetly as a mischievous fairy could be.

  “Why don’t you like my brother?” Liz demanded. “Or, do you have a thing against my whole family?”

  Valerie’s boobs inflated, straining the buttons of her satin blouse, as she took a deep breath then let it out again. “If you must know, and as painful as you will surely find this information, your brother and I have… a history.”

  “Oh my God!” Liz breathed. “You and John?”

  Valerie’s eyes flashed as she pointed a silencing finger at Bailey. “Not. A. Word.”

  “I can’t…” Liz managed.

  “Neither can I,” Bailey said, around a mouthful of Snickers despite Valerie’s laser finger directive. “You’ve been shagging Liz’s brother?”

  “We had a… relationship. Yes.”

  “Ew!” said Bailey and Liz in unison.

  “But it’s over now.”

  “Because she kicked me out.” All eyes turned toward the swinging door to the dining room where John stood, moody and brooding and looking at Valerie like she was a chocolate fountain at a diabetes fundraiser.

  “I didn’t kick you out,” she said. “We agreed we were moving our separate ways.”

  “We didn’t agree on anything,” John said, walking in and grabbing a coffee mug of his own.

  Liz scowled. My God, was this a diner or something? At this rate, she’d have to make a second pot.

  “I need to give my marriage another shot,” Valerie said, albeit weakly.

  “You’re divorced, Val. You’ve been divorced four years. Dan had his shot.”

  “He wants me back,” she said.

  “Wait a minute,” Liz interjected. “You just told me I could have Dan.”

  Valerie gave her the look of death.

  Wow. No wonder vampires didn’t want to look in mirrors. They’d scare themselves right out of immortality.

  “It’s complicated,” Valerie said, turning back to John.

  “He’s a drug addict and a jerk,” John spat.

  “We all have our faults,” Valerie murmured.

  John just stared at her like Heathcliff brooding over Catherine.

  Liz didn’t want to tell either one of them that things ended badly in Bronte’s world.

  No one spoke for another long moment, and then John let out a sigh and turned toward the door again. “Thanks for the coffee, sis.”

  The door swung shut.

  Bailey chewed her candy bar and turned to Val. “Aren’t you just a little ray of sunshine?”

  “Bite me,” Val said, walking toward the swinging door as well. “I’ve got work to do.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  ____________________

  Twelve years earlier…

  BETH SAT IN THE HEAVY oak chair in the back of the library, her heart in her throat. It had been three days since Jenny Whitmeyer’s party. Three days since she’d experienced the most magical, earth-shattering first kiss imaginable.

  Three days since she’d first started thinking she might, possibly, perhaps, summon up the nerve to ask Carter McIntyre to the junior-senior prom.

  It gave her goose bumps to even think about it—her! Who would ever
have guessed that quiet Beth Beacon would have the guts to ask a boy out on a date, much less the tall, dark and charming Carter McIntyre?

  She pulled a Twizzler from her backpack and bit into it on the sly—because food wasn’t allowed in the library—and chewed, her eyes closing as she was instantly transported back to that wonderful, amazing, possibility-changing kiss. It was hands-down her new favorite candy.

  She swallowed and took a deep breath, rubbing her damp hands on her skirt as she waited.

  And waited.

  “Sorry I’m late.”

  Carter came loping in, repeating the same three words he’d met her with every tutoring session since September and tossed his backpack onto the table. He shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossed it atop the backpack as well and pulled out a chair next to her.

  Beth caught her breath as his thigh accidentally brushed hers. She didn’t pull away. “It’s okay,” she said, reveling in the warm vitality of his leg touching hers. Did he feel it, too? “Why don’t we get started?”

  She watched him, her pulse thrumming through her veins, as he burrowed, head bent, inside his backpack for his trig text then thumped it on the table in front of them.

  Oh, she ached to touch his hair.

  They reached for his text at the same time, their hands colliding.

  Beth gasp-laughed and yanked her hand away and then berated herself for being so jumpy. How would she ask him out if she couldn’t even touch his hand without panicking, for goodness sake?

  He smiled at her, that winsome flash of a dimple that had her insides doing flip-flops, and opened the book to the next lesson.

  Beth licked her lips. She could still taste Twizzler.

  Carter raised one eyebrow questioningly. “Aren’t we going to start?”

  Beth coughed and fluttered to pull out a notebook for working out problems, her face growing warm. “Yes. Of course,” she said, thankful she knew the drill by now. She glanced at the page he’d opened to. “Ah, yes. Oblique triangles and law of sines. Okay. Basically all this is doing is allowing you to find…”

  Thirty minutes later Carter was jiggling his knee, frowning at the notebook and glancing at the clock on the wall as Beth’s face flamed in embarrassment.

  She bit her lip, frustrated with herself. No wonder Carter was confused! She’d started to describe the law of sines, gotten it mixed up with the law of cosines for a few minutes, caught herself, backtracked to the law of sines and thoroughly lost him along the way.

  He ran a hand through his hair and looked at her. “Maybe we should try again next time.”

  “No! I mean, of course we can, but I know you’ll get it. It’s my fault for not explaining it right to begin with.” Crap! Now look what she’d done! Why couldn’t she have just paid attention and not let her mind wander off to places it had no business wandering? And here it was nearly time to go!

  “It’s okay, Beth.”

  But, it’s not okay!

  She felt her pulse racing as he started to shove his text into his backpack.

  Ask him! Ask him now! The prom is in less than two weeks! If you don’t ask now, it’ll be too late!

  Just suck it up and DO IT!

  “So,” she said, her hands visibly shaking as she closed her notebook. She tucked them in her lap under the table and swallowed, sure that Carter must be able to hear the pounding of her heart in her chest. “I hear a lot of people are getting excited about the prom.”

  Carter tugged at the zipper of his backpack. It caught a little and he had to lean in and yank it. “The food should be good,” he said.

  Beth nodded. Jenny’s parents owned The Old Mill Bar & Grill in town and were catering for the prom. “The Whitmeyers sure threw a great party the other night, didn’t they?”

  Carter glanced at her, a funny twist to his mouth. “It had its moments.”

  She sucked in a deep breath as he stood to leave and stood, too. “So, Carter… I, um, was wondering… if … like, as just friends… if you thought it might be fun to go, I mean, together. To the prom, I mean.”

  She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even feel her heart any more, as she stood completely paralyzed, waiting for his reply. She felt as fragile as a piece of glass, wondering if those moments in Jenny Whitmeyer’s pantry had meant as much to him as they had to her. His answer would surely tell her.

  His lips tilted, in that wry, winsome way he had and he turned to grab his jacket. “I can’t. Missy Green already asked. That’s why I was late.” He smiled wider and shrugged into his jacket. “But you don’t have to have a date to go. There are plenty of guys going stag. Maybe I’ll see you there?”

  “Right,” she said, straining to hold it together, straining to appear indifferent even though she felt completely and utterly shattered. “I’ll think about it.”

  “Okay,” he said. “See you next time.”

  “See ya.”

  And, then he left, and she broke into a thousand brittle pieces, vowing then and there that if she ever pulled together the shards of her broken heart, she would never, ever let it be in charge again.

  Because, it was too easily led astray by charming rebels—and stolen kisses in the dark.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  ____________________

  LIZ SPRITZED THE HALLWAY mirror with window cleaner and began to wipe it with a paper towel. The potential buyers Valerie had brought through the prior afternoon had certainly seemed interested. And why shouldn’t they be? Liz had done a huge amount of work since coming home, and despite the fact that her personal life was quickly going down the crapper, she was stunned at how good the house looked.

  She spritzed again.

  She shouldn’t think of it that way.

  Getting dumped by Grant was a good thing. Okay, so he hadn’t dumped her, just admitted he’d only wanted to get in her panties. But, the end result was the same: she now knew their relationship wasn’t what she thought it was and, more importantly, wasn’t what she wanted.

  It all boiled down to the fact that she had a pattern of horribly misjudging men.

  She’d spent more than a decade fantasizing about the kiss of the wrong man. And while Dan was a surprisingly good kisser for being such a schmuck, he wasn’t The One. Grant, not as big a schmuck as Dan, clearly wasn’t The One either. And Carter? She’d built him up to be something he never was, judged him on something he might not have done and pushed him away at the very moment he’d started to open up to her.

  Pandora’s Universe: 3

  Liz Beacon: 0

  Maybe Carter was the one for her and maybe he wasn’t, but she’d promised him six weeks to figure it out.

  Liz wiped the last streak from the mirror thoughtfully. Carter was taking her out for dinner later. Maybe she’d gain some personal insight then.

  She jumped in surprise when the doorbell rang. Good grief. She’d have to buy that man a watch. He was nearly two hours early! Still, her heart was beating in happy anticipation as she opened the door.

  “Hi, gorgeous!” she said.

  Liz froze. Her breath stopped dead in her lungs.

  “Wow. I didn’t expect a welcome like that.”

  The man on her front stoop was tall, good looking—and blonde.

  “Grant!” she gasped. “What are—? What a surprise!”

  “Can I come in?”

  “Of course!” She stepped back as he entered the living room.

  A slight furrow creased his forehead as he turned to her. “I know this is unexpected.”

  Liz swallowed and shut the door before Eddie made a dash for it. “You could say that.”

  Grant bit his bottom lip, met her gaze for one brief moment and then stepped toward the living room. “So,” he said, “I see you’ve been busy.”

  “Busy?”

  “Painting.” He looked back at her. “I see you’ve been painting.”

  “Oh. Yes. The front door, most of the downstairs, the kitchen… Yes. I’ve done a lot of… painting.” And crying and g
nashing of teeth and second-guessing…

  “Looks nice,” he said.

  Liz nodded and set her cleaning rag on the window sill, determined to scrape together her dignity. “Can I offer you a drink?”

  “Sure. That’d be great.”

  “Great.” She stared at him, unmoving for a moment before she remembered she was supposed to be doing something and gestured toward the kitchen.

  Liz led the way through the dining room and the swinging door to the kitchen, her mind running in circles. What was he doing here? Hadn’t they broken up? Or, at least, hadn’t she?

  She poured him a glass of iced tea without asking what he wanted and handed it over.

  “Thanks,” he said. He gestured toward the cabinets. “The place looks terrific, Liz. But, I’m not surprised. You do have an eye for color.” He sipped his drink and smiled over the rim. “A woman of many talents.”

  Liz gripped the edge of the counter she was leaning on and tried not to snap like a bow string. “Why are you here?” she blurted.

  “After your call… When you didn’t return my messages… I was worried. Ethan told me you planned to delay your flight back.”

  “Just through the weekend.” She looked out the back window. “I need a little more time to wrap things up here.”

  “I had hoped you might need me.”

  Liz frowned and looked back toward him. “Need you?”

  “Is that so surprising? You’re always there for me; I thought I’d return the favor.”

  “I don’t understand.” Didn’t we break up? Didn’t you just want to do the wild thing? Am I genetically incapable of communicating with other people?

  “The last we talked you sounded… upset. Confused. Not yourself at all. I knew you were out here on your own, and when I heard you were extending your time off... I took the earliest flight I could manage. So, here I am.”

  “Yes. Yes, here you are.” Liz let go of the counter and paced toward the back door. “The question is: why?”

  Grant crossed the room and took her cold hands in his. “Why? You even have to ask?”

  “Um, yes?”

  “Because of what you asked me, Liz! As soon as you hung up, I realized we haven’t been honest with each other. I haven’t been honest with you. I needed to apologize... in person. I needed to make you understand.”