Book 2: Wish Come True Series
Excerpt: Fair Game
Heroine’s point-of-view
Bumping shoulders with Jared, I gazed directly into his chocolate brown eyes with a grin playing on my lips. “You’re dancing with me tonight. I’m sans boyfriend. Haven’t been on a date in two months. Pitiful, I know. But you’ll do as a dance partner for one night.”
“What makes you think I’d agree to dance with you?”
I chose to ignore him. Guess the hot dress wasn’t going to be enough. Why did he always have to be such a cocky bastard? Jordan insisted her brother was an okay guy most of the time, but I seemed to bring out the worst in him. Which is why I knew I had to challenge him to a drinking contest; in order to force him to dance with me. How else was I going to fulfill my promise to Jordan? One thing was certain—Jared was too arrogant to back down on a challenge from a woman.
Especially if that woman was me.
He would think he had the win in the bag. Lucky for me, I had a conniving bartender on my side which almost guaranteed my success. The waitress appeared with my order. I placed two shots in front of Jared with a beer chaser, and then was careful to select the red rim shot glasses for myself, along with a beer.
“If I down these before you, Jared, you have to dance with me all night,” I said, brushing my long auburn locks over my shoulder, staring at him in challenge.
“And if I win?” Jared asked, looking down his perfectly straight nose at me. “What then?”
“Winner’s choice,” I said with a grin. “But don’t waste too many brain cells thinking about your prize, baby, because you’re not going to win. Save ‘em for learning all that medical stuff they’re teaching you in school.”
Jared snorted and prepared for the race as everyone at the table began chanting. The poor sucker didn’t know what I had in store for him. Maybe one day I would tell him the truth. But for now, I needed to concentrate to make sure I pulled off my scam. No use getting too cocky myself.
Everyone at our table shouted my name to Jared’s dismay.
“Jerk.” Jared called out to his best friend JT. “You’re supposed to have my back.”
JT smiled broadly. “This is me having your back. Why wouldn’t you want to dance with a hot babe all night; even if she is your sister’s best friend? Nobody here knows that. They’ll think you’re the bomb. Leah looks fine tonight.”
Jared flipped him the bird and nodded to Jordan to count down. I smiled inside at JT’s words. Was he trying to butter Jared up to the idea of dating best friends? So Jordan wasn’t the only one working to clear the way to their dating openly. Wishful thinking! Getting Jared on board with his sister dating his best friend would require a miracle.
Until the two of them worked out the fine details, I was willing to help them have some time on the dance floor without Jared becoming suspicious. What could he say when they got down and dirty if he was doing the same with me—even if dancing with me was against his will?
“Three. Two. One. Go!” Jordan shouted.
Before Jared had even tossed back his first shot, I was gulping my beer laced with two iced tea shots. The mixture tasted a bit odd but was pretty easy to slam. Jared shuddered through his second shot, as Joe had predicted, then made up time with large gulps of beer. In the end, the winner was a close call, but the table voted unanimously for me. Advantage female.
“You cheated!” Jared slammed his glass on the table. He laughed out loud from the shock of losing. “I want a rematch!”
“I didn’t cheat!” I said with a smirk. “I drank two shots and a beer. We never said what order it had to be in.” Nor did I specify what we were drinking. “Drinking them together gets rid of the gag reflex at the end of the shot. Bought me at least two or three seconds, wouldn’t you say? I needed the edge to beat that big mouth of yours. You’re mad because I outsmarted you. I won fair and square.”
Jared scowled at me and crossed his arms over his chest like a child; a really big, adorable child, with a sexy, pouty lip…but like a child none-the-less. Ha! I bested him in the challenge. Glancing toward the bar, I found Joe smiling with two thumbs up, and I acknowledged him with a sassy grin and slight nod of my head.
“I won fair and square.” I stood and held my hand out to Jared. “Now come pay the piper like a good little boy. No pouting. I want to have fun.”
Jared stood and headed towards the dance floor as I turned to Jordan with a raised brow that said ‘you-owe-me-big-time’.