Page 13 of The C Agreement

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Beau laughed again. “No.”

“That’s what I thought.”

“Okay, so you called to say, you do want to go through with the bet?”

“Sure as hell do.”

He made a noise that sounded like he was sucking air through his teeth.

“Having second thoughts?” I asked. “Rayne thinks you made this bet with me so that if I win, you’ll be forced to open our restaurant. That it’ll give you the push you need to go through with it.”

“Did she, huh?”

“Or that you think I can’t do it, and then you’ll have a reason to get me off your back.” It wasn’t exactly what she had said, but it was close enough.

“So, who’s the lucky lady?”

“Huh?”

“Fucking Rayne.”

I froze because, unless Beau had cameras secretly installed at his sister’s house, there was no way he could possibly know what had just happened. I highly doubted she’d told him I’d stuck my hand down her pants and made her come all over my fingers.

I swallowed hard. “What?” I managed to say.

“Fucking Rayne,” he repeated. “She’s too smart sometimes.”

Realizing that Beau had jumped back to what his sister had said to me about him, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I heard a shuffle, as if he was getting out of bed and walking. “She’s right. Work has been…not so great lately. Every time I come up with a new menu idea, I get shot down by management. What’s the point of being executive chef if I don’t get to actually execute anything? I don’t even get to cook as much anymore. Considering that alone, I would rather be the sous-chef.”

“That’s rough.”

“Yeah. But I make good money, and I have health insurance. And with Em wanting to start a family—”

“What the fuck? You never said anything.”

“Yeah, I know. We’re not really telling anyone until we decide to start. Right now, it’s just talk.”

“Whoa,” I said, sitting further back in my seat.

Once Beau and Em had a family, things were going to change between us. And the restaurant would probably never happen.

“Anyway, I realized some things. Em also has a good job—one that can provide us with health insurance—and we don’t have children yet. I’m thirty-one now, no longer a young kid in my twenties, and if we’re going to do this, then the time is now.”

I held my breath. Maybe I wouldn’t even have to do the ridiculous bet. It almost sounded like he was ready to say yes tonight.

“So, now, all you have to do is win.”

I huffed out a breath and rolled my eyes. “We could do this without the bet, you know.”

“We could, but no. If you do this, it will show Em that you are serious about committing to our restaurant. She loves you like a brother, but she has her reservations.” He laughed. “No pun intended.”

I didn’t laugh. “Are you sure you’re not doing this just so I have to suffer?”

“That’s just a bonus.”

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