Page 4 of The C Agreement

Em and I groaned loudly, but Beau and Cade ignored us. The two of them had been betting and daring each other to do things since middle school.

“I bet,” my brother started again, “that you can’t abstain from sex for a whole month.”

My eyes darted over to Cade.

He laughed and shook his head. “You’re right; I can’t. I’m not betting on that.”

Beau leaned forward. “What if I made it worth your while?”

Sometimes, their bets were just to prove to the other that they could do it, but other times, they put up cash or other items of interest as the prize.

Cade lifted his beer to his mouth. “I don’t know, man. Unless you’re going to give me a million dollars, I don’t think it’s worth it. You know how much I like sex. You know how much Ihavesex. I mean, would you go a month without getting laid?” he asked Beau, glancing at Em to drive his point home. “I mean, would you go a month without getting laid?”

Beau narrowed his eyes in thought as he looked at his wife before turning back to his friend. “Okay, that’s fair. I don’t even like going a week—”

Em snorted. “A week? How about two days?”

Beau picked up her hand and kissed the back of it, but he didn’t take his eyes off Cade.

“I don’t like going a week, so how about this?” Beau smiled almost sinfully. “If you can have sex with the same person for one month, starting tonight, I will open Blaze with you.” He checked his watch. “It’s the third, and March has thirty-one days, so the bet would end on April third. Do you think you can handle that?”

Cade hissed, and I sucked in a deep breath.

My brother was the head chef at a popular restaurant in St. Paul, and Cade was a world-class bartender and manager at another high-end restaurant in Minneapolis. Cade had been asking my brother to start up their own restaurant together for years. He was so determined that he’d even named their place Blaze, but Beau almost always told him no. Occasionally, he’d get amaybe someday in the future.

To say I was shocked that my brother would offer Blaze as a prize was an understatement.

And apparently, Em thought the same thing because she said, “Excuse me, shouldn’t we talk about this?”

Beau looked at his wife. “You’re always telling me it’s a good idea and that I’d get to make the recipes that I want to make if I had my own place.”

“I know, but I wasn’t prepared for you to suddenly change your mind like this.”

He shrugged. “Cade has to agree to itandwin the bet, so it might not even happen.”

“But how would he prove it?” I asked.

“Great question,” Em added.

Beau shrugged. “I trust him to tell me the truth.” He looked at his friend. “You wouldn’t lie when it involves something as important as our careers or futures, right?”

“No, I wouldn’t.” This was the first thing Cade had said since my brother had brought up the restaurant, but I couldn’t figure out what he was thinking. His face was stoic.

Beau smiled. “Good enough for me.”

“Still, you should talk to the woman he chooses to sleep with to see how many nights they’re together or something,” Em said. “I know it wouldn’t mean he didn’t sleep with someone else, but it would make it less likely.”

My brother rubbed his chin. “That is a thought. But we have to see if Cade agrees or not.” He smiled. “I’m heading to the restroom. I’ll give you a minute to think.”

“I’ll go with you,” Em said and slid out of the booth behind my brother.

When it was the two of us, I asked, “Do you want me to leave too?”

“No.”

I turned in my seat to face him. “Do you want to talk about it? You haven’t said much.”

Cade’s brow furrowed. “I think I’m in shock. I never thought Beau would give Blaze a chance, much less base his decision on a bet.”

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