Rachel Dyken: The Wager

Exhaling, Jake smiled. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

Kacey looked into his crystal green eyes. “For Grandma. I’m doing it for Grandma and for me.” Not for you, never again for you, Jake. The rest of the thought hung in the air. Suddenly the coffee shop seemed a much-too-small arena for digging up past demons. Kacey gave a shaky laugh and rubbed her sweaty hands on her jeans. Worried that he was going to somehow make it worse by smiling or offering a pity hug, she took a big gulp of coffee.

Jake pushed away from the table. “Right, okay. Well, thanks for being my fake fiancée .” He pulled out a three-karat ring and confidently slipped it onto her finger.

“B-but…” she stuttered. “How did you know my size?”

He smiled and rose from his seat. “A man could never forget those hands, Kacey.”

“No matter how many hands the man-whore has held?” Kacey asked sweetly.

Jake chuckled. “Absolutely. I’ll see you Friday morning, okay?”

Kacey sighed. “Okay.”

“Thanks, Kace…”

“Don’t mention it.”

Kacey watched in agony as the man who still held her heart whistled, thrust his hands into his pockets, and walked out of the coffee shop. Seattle’s most famous bachelor had just proposed marriage. Albeit a fake marriage, but it was still a proposal. She should be thrilled.

But it was hard to be thrilled when the love of her life, the boy who used to make mud pies with her and kiss her knees when she fell, thought of her as nothing but a way out of a crappy situation.

She suddenly wished she was at a bar instead of downtown Pike Place Market.

Don’t miss Rachel Van Dyken’s Eagle Elite series.

Also by Rachel Van Dyken

The Bet

Eagle Elite series

Elite

Elect

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Rachel Van Dyken

Excerpt from The Bet copyright © 2013 by Rachel Van Dyken

Cover design by Elizabeth Phillips

Cover photo © Renzo/iStockPhoto

Cover copyright © 2013 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

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First ebook edition: October 2013

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ISBN 978-1-4555-5420-1