The Chocolate Seduction. Carrie Alexander

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      Mackenzie’s mouth pursed. “You haven’t been keeping up. I was promoted nearly a month ago, when you were jet-skiing in Mazatlan.”

      “Uh, wow. That’s fabulous. Congrats, and all that.” Sabrina wondered how her sister stood it, being so steady and reliable all the time. She really ought to offer the family’s heirloom ring to Mackenzie, except that…

      “And how is Mr. Dull?” Sabrina asked.

      “His name is Jason Dole. He’s—”

      “A deep snooze. A dead bore.”

      “You’re wrong. He might not be up to your Danger Boy standards, but he’s a good guy.”

      Sabrina rolled her eyes. “There’s that word again. Good. The kiss of death.”

      “Not for me. We’re alike. We get along.”

      “You wouldn’t be talking change if all you wanted was to ‘get along.”’ Ever since the divorce had turned their world upside down, Mackenzie had been resistant to change. She’d lived in the same apartment since college, worked at the same candy company as she slowly worked her way toward a position as the top Tootsie Roll. She had to be as tired of routine as Sabrina was of airports and train stations.

      “Look,” she said, nudging Mackenzie toward the railing again. Charlie and Nicole had continued to kiss. Aside from the slight ew factor—this was their middle-aged parents, after all—the couple’s affection was enviable. “Tell me you have that much passion with Jason and I’ll gladly dance at your wedding.” And even surrender the ring.

      “I can’t.” The admission came too fast. Mackenzie wasn’t nearly as resistant as Sabrina had expected.

      “Well, then, there you go.” Sabrina cocked her head. Charlie and Nicole were still kissing. She leaned over the railing and yelled, “Hey! You kids down there. Getta room, why don’tcha?”

      Her parents broke apart, looking around in surprise. When they spotted their daughters up on the balcony, they laughed and waved, calling hellos.

      Sabrina lifted her glass to them, then drained the remaining champagne in one swallow. “Mackenzie—I’ve got it. You and I need to switch lives.”

      “Oh, no. I’m not cut out for changing boyfriends with the seasons. And I can’t roller-skate.” Sabrina’s latest temporary job was as a roller-skating waitress in a fifties-theme drive-in restaurant in St. Louis, a city she’d chosen by poking her finger at a map in a travel agency’s window.

      “But we do need to make changes,” Mackenzie went on. She took a breath. Stuck out her chin. “I will if you will.”

      Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “What did you have in mind?” It wasn’t like her sister to be reckless, so she was forced to be cautious in response. One way or another, they always balanced each other out.

      “For your part, you’ll settle down in one city. Sign a real lease, not a month-by-month.”

      That wasn’t so bad. “You have to break up with Mr. Dull.”

      Mackenzie nodded. “I can do that. If you get a job—a job you like enough to stick with for at least a year.”

      “An entire year…” Sabrina gulped, then leveled a finger at Mackenzie’s round face. “Fine, but you have to quit the candy company.”

      “Quit Regal Foods? Why? I told you how I just got that big promotion.”

      “You’ve always talked about running your own fancy candy store. I know you’ve been saving for it. Why not crack open your nest egg? There’s no better time to go for it.”

      Mackenzie had paled, but she nodded. Reluctantly. “I’ll take the plunge if you promise to give up men,” she said, probably because she’d calculated that it was a safe offer which would never be accepted.

      Celibacy? Sabrina thought. That was absurd! Impossible! But she retaliated without voicing her doubts. “Only if you cut your hair.”

      “How short?”

      “How long?” Sabrina said at the same time.

      “Until you truly fall in love,” Mackenzie answered.

      Sabrina’s fingers clenched on the ring box. “Then you go above the ears.”

      The sisters stopped, momentarily dumbstruck by their careening conversation.

      “My hair?” Mackenzie whispered, lifting a hand to stroke the dark length of it.

      “No men?” Sabrina said, her voice faint and very far away. She couldn’t possibly. She loved men. She was addicted to testosterone.

      Mackenzie’s eyes sharpened. “One year to change our lives. I say we shake on it!” And bam, she stuck out her hand without taking the usual week to think over the decision.

      Sabrina wavered. “I…”

      “Chicken?”

      “Of course not. But what are the stakes?”

      “The journey is its own reward.”

      “Phooey. How about this?” Sabrina flung back the cashmere wrap and held out her hand, palm up.

      Mackenzie froze, staring at the worn blue velvet box which was familiar to both of them. Finally she reached out to flip up the lid and reveal the diamond ring that Nicole Bliss had removed from her finger the day of her divorce and stuck way in the back of her jewel box, saying she never wanted to see it again. Now and then, when their mother wasn’t home, the sisters had sneaked in to take the ring out and try it on. Sabrina had wanted to believe that her attachment to the ring was the usual girlish attraction to shiny jewelry, but now that it was hers, she knew it meant more than that. Romance, love, marriage—which she wasn’t supposed to believe in.

      “Grandmother’s diamond solitaire?” Mackenzie said, awed.

      “Mom gave it to me before the ceremony.” Charlie had presented Nicole with a new ring to symbolize their fresh start, so she’d passed the heirloom on to her oldest daughter.

      “But I’m not sure I want it,” Sabrina added hurriedly. “You’ll be getting married before me. I mean, I have no intention of ever getting—”

      “No, no, you’re the oldest.” Mackenzie gazed longingly at the ring. “You should have it.”

      “Ugh, I knew you’d be noble. That’s why I want to put it up as the prize in our bet. The one of us who most successfully changes her life in the next year gets to keep the ring. We’ll make the decision on our parent’s first anniversary—if they last that long.”

      Mackenzie laughed in disbelief. “That’s so—so—”

      “Sacrilegious? It’s only a ring.” Sabrina slapped the velvet box into Mackenzie’s palm, then impulsively tossed the champagne flute over the СКАЧАТЬ