Rachel Dyken - The Dare

"Pardon?"

"A real six days. No strings attached. Six-day vacation with food, drinks, fun, and…" I felt heat rising to my cheeks, "just six days. Six days of being a normal girl in a normal relationship with a normal guy." If the normal guy happened to look like you could break boulders off his abs.

"Stop saying six." Jace swore. "It sounds like sex, and I just watched you take off your shirt."

I felt my cheeks heat.

"And it makes me want to slam you against the wall and rip it from your body, so when you ask for six days, know that you're asking for a real six days. I'm not going to keep my hands to myself."

"Fine." My lower lip trembled. "I just want to be romanced."

"You want the fairytale," he said in a low voice.

"Yeah. I do."

"I can do six days," Jace whispered. "Just don't hate me on day seven, because I will walk away."

I snorted. "Easy, Jace. You aren't that irresistible. It's a risk worth taking. I want to put Boring Beth away for a while." Besides, he'd walked away before. What's one more time?

"Beth." Jace sighed. "You're not boring. Look maybe this isn't—"

A whistle sounded, and then Dr. Z opened the door. "Ready?"

Jace held out his hand to shake mine. I touched it, feeling the sizzle all the way down to my toes.

"Ready."

"This ship captain, did you pay him to curse the senator?"

"Of course not!" Grandma shook her head. "No money exchanged hands."

The agent took a long sip of coffee.

"However," Grandma paused, "there are other ways for payment."

The agent choked. "Ma'am, prostitution is illegal."

"I would never sell my body." Grandma shook her head vehemently "Besides, the captain's already tasted the goods. Past lover, you understand. He was only too happy to… aid me in my quest."

"Your quest for love?" The agent's eyebrows narrowed.

"Yes. Let's call it that. It has a certain ring to it!"

Jace

I'd just made a deal with the devil. I'd signed the contract in blood, and now all I had to do was live through the next six days. The good news? I could save my career. And Beth was right. She was the answer. I'd send a text to Rick as soon as I could.

As for giving her six days of a fairytale? I imagined it would be like babysitting, more or less. Lavish her with gifts, feed her, give her enormous amounts of wine, and wait for her to fall asleep at night. Okay, so maybe if I wanted to get arrested, it would be like babysitting. I just needed to keep her happy, repeat for six days, and home free. How hard could it be? To woo a woman? I wooed people on a twenty-four-seven basis. Then again, most people I wooed weren't ones I'd been pining for since I'd gone to my first dance.

The other issue would be that damn curse. I wasn't an idiot. I didn't believe in curses, but the man had been right. Thirty-two minutes ago we'd gotten to the island. And for thirty-two minutes, I'd done nothing but stare at Beth's mouth, watched her hands as she gripped her silverware, and closed my eyes when the breeze carried her scent into my personal space.

Shit.

Six days.

Less than a week.

I could do anything for a week.

"Jace." Beth's soft voice carried across the table. At least she didn't sound pissed anymore. "Did you hear anything I just said?"

"Sure." I sipped my wine.

"So you agree?"

"Absolutely."

"On the neck, don't you think?"

"Uh…" Well hell, that's where daydreaming got a person. "The neck is perfect."

"How long should it be?"

"Long enough." I was the king of vague. I could field questions all day long without actually giving an answer. Point, Jace.

"And color?"

"I think bright colors are the best." I nodded. "They seem to… attract attention." I gave her my best politician smile.

"Hmm, maybe you're right." She looked down at the paper in her hands and started scribbling. "Tomorrow good?"

"Sure." I leaned over to see what she was writing down. But she jerked the sheet back. "I need you to sign."

"What am I signing?" I asked, giving her another polite smile.

"You said you were paying attention." She handed me the pen.

"I was. I am."

"Good. Sign here."

I was ashamed to admit I signed, only because I didn't want to look like an ass.

Dr. Z approached the table. "I take it you filled out the information?"

"We did." Beth grinned.

"Fantastic." Dr. Z took the folder and pulled out the sheet I'd signed. Her eyes widened slightly. "How very brave of you two!"

"We thought so." Beth reached for my hand.

I had a bad feeling.

"A twin dragon tattoo! And on your necks! How lovely! The dragon is the symbol of being connected. It's rare for couples to be so committed upon arrival!"

"That's us," I said in a dry voice. How the hell was I going to talk myself out of that one? I'd signed the damn document. "Committed." I kicked Beth under the table.

She winced as Dr. Z examined the rest of the papers. "Alright, I'll just schedule the rest of your week and slip the paper under you door this evening. Your first session is with one of our newer therapists. She's absolutely lovely."

The sound of Dr. Z's heels clicking against the tile floor felt like a noose getting tighter around my neck.

"Tattoo?" I tilted my head. "You think you're funny, don't you?"

"You weren't paying attention."

"I was." Sort of. If watching her mouth move was paying attention, and memorizing her scent was my pop quiz. Yeah, I was paying attention.

"No, you weren't. We shook on it. Six days. I don't want you ignoring me, I don't want you texting. I want the fantasy. God knows, it's only six days." Her face fell a bit before she smiled to cover up her disappointment.

Shit.

"You're right." I reached for her hand. "I'll do better. It's just been a long day." And if she kept saying six, I was going to six the hell out of her in a public forum.

"I know." Beth stared down at our hands.

I should have pulled back. I should have run. Instead, I placed my other hand on top of hers and whispered, "Why don't we go back to the room. I'll draw you a bath and romance the hell out of you."

Which also meant I was going to be rewarded with sainthood for not trying to seduce her the minute we were alone.

"I thought you were gifted with words?"

"Exhaustion. It's set in. Plus, I'm cursed. Don't expect perfection."

"Who said I wanted perfection?" She winked. "I just want the fairytale."

"Didn't we already have this talk? They're the same thing."

"No," Beth stood, "they aren't. And that's why you're so bitter. Some things aren't always black and white, Mr. Senator. Now romance me."

"Day one." I smirked.

"Day one." She agreed.

I held her hand the entire way to the hut.

****

"Sure, I'll dance with you." She put her hand in mine. I walked her to the dance floor, unable to take my eyes off her glistening dress or pretty brown hair. My cousin was going to kill me if I bailed on her, but the pull was too strong.

"You're really pretty." I pulled her into my arms and tried act smooth, even though I was pretty sure my hands were shaking. "What's your name?"

"Beth." Her head tilted back, enough for me to see her crazy green eyes. "What's yours?"

"Jace." My voice cracked at the end. Great, I'd just give away my age. No doubt she was a senior and thought I was about as cute as seventh grader with a cold.

"Thanks."

She leaned her head on my shoulder. At least I had my height going for me.

"For what?"

"The rescue." She laughed. And a part of me that had been dormant for a lifetime flared to life. God, she was beautiful.

"I'll rescue you anytime. Day or night."

"Is that a promise?"

Her smile was deadly. It made me want to kiss her, and the last thing I needed to be seen doing was kissing a girl from another school while I got my ass handed to me by the defensive line of the football team. It was their territory, not mine.

But I couldn't stop the words from coming. "Of course."

My head descended; she met me halfway. Our lips touched, and I kissed her hard. Harder than I'd ever kissed a girl before in my entire life. It was a hello and a goodbye kiss, because I knew it wasn't something I'd be repeating. She was way out of my league. As it was, I was playing with fire even kissing what I'm sure was the quarterback's girlfriend. But I couldn't help myself.

"Brevik," a male voice sneered from behind.

I pulled away from Beth and slowly turned to face, who I was sure, would be the largest kid in school.

Instead, it was the coach from the football team. Aw, hell. He only knew me because I'd unintentionally put one of his players out of commission for the rest of the season.

"Who are you here with?"

"My cousin." I swallowed nervously.

He peered around me at Beth and chuckled. "She doesn't look like your cousin."

"Not her." I ground my teeth together. "She's just… a friend."

Behind him, my cousin waved frantically.

"Look, I gotta run. My date needs me." Geez, it wasn't like I was getting secret plays from Beth or anything. I turned and gave her hand a quick squeeze. "It was fun."

She gave me a sad nod, and I walked away.

When I looked back, she was gone.

The sound of the alarm jolted me out of the dream. Why the hell was I dreaming about that now? I smacked the alarm clock with my hand and peeked over at Beth. She was sleeping like the dead, too beautiful for her own good, and I was horny as hell from that damn dream. I shouldn't have walked away. I should have gotten her number. Not that it would have changed a damn thing. People didn't date in high school and then get married right away anymore. At the time, I'd still believed in love at first sight. Hell, I'd thought it had been love; the rest of the memory was painful as hell. My therapist said my mind had somehow pushed the rest of the night out of my consciousness; he'd said accidents had a way of doing that. I was protecting myself. But from what? I wasn't sure.

When I'd woken up in the hospital, I was changed — everything had changed. My parents had said I wasn't the same, but I had no idea why. It had made me even more paranoid about pleasing them, about getting things right. Getting my career right.

Speaking of careers, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and was rewarded with a low-battery signal. I got up to grab my bag then remembered that I didn't have a bag. The same checked bag that had yet to appear.

My guess was that Grandma was holding it hostage. Or maybe Jake and Travis. Those bastards must have known. And how the hell did the woman have this planned a month ahead of time? A month ago I was saying yes to her scheme with Char and Jake.

A light bulb flickered on in the darkness of my brain.

I'd said yes.

That's where I'd gone wrong. I should have stayed far, far away.

Russia. I should have moved to Russia.

"Beth." I nudged her a bit.

She was lying on her stomach, wearing the outfit from the night before. She stretched, her shirt inching up on her body, exposing her flat stomach and a slight scar where her appendix had obviously been.

She moaned again and lifted her arms high above her head.

The shirt followed.

So did my eyes.

I blinked a few times, fascinated with how smooth her skin looked. I wanted to touch it — to hell with that, I wanted to lick it. Had I licked it the other night?

"Jace.

Her voice was low, sexy as hell, raspy. Shit, I was in trouble.

"What?"

"Do we have to go to couples' therapy?"

"Aw, sweetheart, backing out already? Where's your balls?"

"I don't want balls." She yawned. "I just want a damn charge. I have girl parts. I talk a big game. I use big words. Right now, I want a big-ass coffee and a big sleep."

"Stop saying big."