Page 7 of All Bets Are Off

Rex barked out a laugh. “They’re not so bad. Ryder is kind of funny when you get a few drinks into him.”

I tried to picture Zach’s stately father—the guy never met a two-thousand-dollar suit he didn’t want to wear once and throw away—cracking more than a polite smile. It was like trying topicture a Kardashian not posing for a camera. “Yeah, I’ll take your word for it.”

“He’s not a bad guy,” Rex insisted. “He’s a good father, too.”

“You have to say that. He’s your boss.”

“Listen, I never knew girls could be so much work until I got to see Ryder in action with his daughters. All that complaining I did about you when you were an angsty tween and pouty teen? You were a freaking angel compared to Ruby, Pearl, and Opal.”

I had to bite the inside of my cheek not to laugh at the names. Ruby, Pearl, and Opal Stone were Zach’s older sisters. They’d arrived in this world in two-year intervals, and Ryder and Cora hadn’t stopped until they’d finally gotten their coveted son.

Word on the street was that the sisters were bitter because Zach was obviously the favored child. Supposedly, they doted on him despite their annoyance with their parents. They also liked to publicly torture him as some sort of penance. I’d only heard rumors on that front, but I was still dying to see them in action one day.

“What could they possibly do that’s so bad?” I challenged.

“Well, Ruby likes dating hotel workers. Like … bartenders, janitors, and lifeguards.”

“So?” I was having trouble figuring out why that was such an issue. “Why can’t she date who she wants?”

“Because she’s a Stone,” Rex replied simply. “Her parents want to arrange marriages for them—well, at least if you believe what Zach says—and they refuse. That means that Ryder and Cora refuse to pay for weddings unless they approve of the husbands.”

That was the most antiquated crap I’d ever heard. “You have got to be kidding me.” I was incensed on their behalf, and I didn’t even know them.

“It’s a very weird setup,” Rex said.

“Are they that way with Zach?” I tried to picture it—he’d been photographed with showgirls and cocktail hostesses of the highest order for as long as I could remember—and shook my head. “There’s no way they’re exerting any control over who he’s with.”

“Oh, they have a ‘boys will be boys’ mentality with him,” Rex explained. “They think he’ll outgrow his current … proclivities.”

“You mean nailing anything that moves,” I assumed.

Rex grinned. “Actually, that’s me. He’s nowhere near as active as I am. Most of the time he likes to sit and brood. That’s not to say he doesn’t get a piece of action here and there. He’s just quieter about it of late.”

I shot my brother a dirty look. “I cannot believe you just said it that way. What is wrong with you?”

Rex merely shrugged. “I like what I like.”

“Don’t you ever want to settle down?”

Rex looked horrified at the question. “Absolutely not. Why would I want anything of the sort?”

“I don’t know.” I held out my hands. “I’ve started to think about it. A home to call your own. Maybe a kid or two.”

Rex immediately started shaking his head. “No way. I’m nowhere near wanting any of that. Why would I when this town is my oyster?” He waved at the blonde, who had the audacity to act shy even though I’d seen her adjusting her dress so it showed more cleavage only thirty seconds before. “I like my life, Livvie. If you don’t like yours, maybe now is the time to change it. You can go in any direction you want from here. You just need to decide what that direction looks like.”

I hated that he was right. I was at a crossroads. I had no idea what to do about it, though.

2

TWO

Getting called to my father’s office was never a good thing. Most of the time he ignored me—he had better things to do after all—and I preferred that. When he went out of his way to pay attention to me, that’s when I knew things were going to start sucking. Big time.

Ryder Stone was not a guy who ever wanted to sit across from his son and shoot the breeze.

How about those Raiders?

He doesn’t care unless he can make money off it. He prefers it when fans still have hope and bet even though most everybody knows the truth is they will lose.

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