Bet Me Read Online Free Page B

up her purse from the bar. "Let's go-"
    She walked away before he could say anything else, and he followed her, past a dumbfounded Liza and a delighted Bonnie, across the floor and up onto the landing by the door, and the last thing she saw as they left was David looking outraged.
    The evening was turning out
much
better than she'd expected.
    ----
Chapter Two

     
    Liza
scowled at the empty doorway. This was not good. When Calvin Morrisey came back in and spoke to David for a moment, it didn't get better.
    "Do you suppose it was the booze?" Bonnie asked.
    Liza thought fast. "I don't know what it was, but I don't like it. Why was he hitting on her?"
    Bonnie frowned. "It's not like you to be jealous."
    "I'm not jealous." Liza transferred her scowl to Bonnie. "Think about it. Min sends out no signals, he's never talked to her so he can't know how great she is, and she's dressed like a nun with an MBA. But he crosses a crowded bar to pick her up—"
    "It's possible," Bonnie said.
    "—right after he's talked to David," Liza finished, nodding to the landing where a red-faced David was now moving in on the brunette.
    "Oh." Bonnie looked stricken. "Oh, no."
    "There's only one thing we can do." Liza squared her shoulders. "We've got to find out what Calvin the Beast is up to."
    "How—"
    Liza nodded at the mezzanine. "He was with those two guys. Which one do you want, the big dumb-looking blond or the bullet head?"
    Bonnie followed her eyes to the landing and sighed. "The blond. He looks harmless. The bullet head looks like all hands, and I'm not up to that tonight."
    "Well, I am." Liza put her drink on the bar and leaned back. The bullet head was looking right at her. "The last time I saw a brow that low I was watching slides in anthropology class." She met his stare dead on for a full five seconds. Then she turned back to the bar. "Two minutes."
    "It's a crowded room, Lize," Bonnie said. "Give him three."
    David had watched
Cal
open the street door for Min and felt a flare of jealous rage. It wasn't that he wanted to kick
Cal
. He always wanted to kick
Cal
. The guy never broke a sweat, never made a bad business move, never lost a bet, and never hit on a woman and missed.
Your therapist warned you about this,
he told himself, but he knew it wasn't just his need to be first in everything. This time the jealousy had an extra twist.
    This time
Cal
had taken Min. Min who was good, solid wife material except for that stubborn streak which he could have worn down, she'd have come back eventually. But now—
    He stiffened as
Cal
came back through the door and motioned him over.
    "We're going to dinner,"
Cal
said, holding out his hand. "Ten bucks."
    He sounded mad, which made David feel better as he took out his wallet and handed
Cal
the ten.
    "Smart move not tipping me that she hates men,"
Cal
said.
    Then he was gone, and David went back to the railing and said, "I think I just made a mistake."
    "You, too?" Cynthie said, her voice sad over her martini glass.
    David glanced at the door. "So it wasn't your idea to break up with
Cal
?"
    "No." Cynthie stared at the door. "I thought it was time to get married, so I said, 'Now or never.'" She smiled tightly up at David. "And he said, 'Sorry.'" She drew in a deep breath and David tried not to be distracted by the fact that she was braless under her red jersey dress.
    "That's lousy." David leaned against the rail so he couldn't look down her dress since that would be crass, something Cal Morrisey would do. "
Cal
must be a moron."
    "T hank you." Cynthie turned back to watch the bar as Tony got up from the next table and walked down the stairs with Roger following. Her hair moved like TV hair, a dark silky fall that brushed her shoulders. "I'd love to know how
Cal
met that woman. I could have sworn he wasn't dating anybody."
    David considered telling her that
Cal
had picked up Min because of the bet and then thought,
No.
The bet had not been his finest hour. In fact, for the life of him,