Page 16 of Broken Player

"What do you recommend?" I asked him.

"The pork cheek mezzaluna is incredible. You've got to try it," he enthused.

"Okay, done."

Yates chuckled. "That was easy."

I lifted the glass of wine the waiter had just poured me and sniffed it expectantly. It smelled like alcohol. I really didn't get the fuss. "I think as you get to know me, you'll find I'm really not that difficult to impress."

His eyes glinted in the candlelight as he reached across the table and took my other hand in his. "I'm looking forward to getting to know you better, Ryan. I like you."

My cheeks heated up as I took a small sip of the wine and nearly spit it back into the glass, but I managed to choke it down. I set my glass down and slid it slightly further away. I'd had enough of that for a lifetime. I wasn't sure what to say back to him. He was nice enough, but I couldn't say I liked him yet. I didn't know enough.

"How about we start easy, then?" I proposed, smiling up at him. He wore an easy smile himself, and my hand was still clasped in his.

"Shoot."

"Favorite color?"

"Blue," he laughed.

I rolled my eyes, but I was still smiling. "Obviously. I've known you all of one day, and that's all I've seen you in. Even your car is blue."

"How about you?" he asked.

"Purple. The exact shade of the sunset after the sun has gone down, but before the stars come out. There's something about it that reminds me of magic."

He studied me for a minute, not saying anything. The waiter interrupted the intense eye contact when he dropped off our entrees. Yates let go of my hand, and we dug into our food.

As I bit into the little pocket of pasta, a flavor explosion happened on my tongue as the salty pork cheek popped out of its noodle cage. My eyes widened as I chewed. "Oh, wow," I breathed.

A smug smile crossed Yates's face. "Told you."

"Mmm," I agreed while taking another bite.

As we finished our dishes, I pushed my plate back and wiped my mouth on my napkin. I had to admit that it had been more delicious than I thought it'd be when we first walked in.

Yates cleared his throat. "Now that you've eaten, I have something I want to talk to you about," he began.

"Okay." I sat back, curious about where he was going with this.

"I'm not sure how to start this, so I'm just going to say it."

My stomach fluttered, and my heart rate kicked up, but I sat still and kept my eyes on Yates, waiting for him to start talking.

"Okay, so you know how my family owns the bank, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, the bank has been in my family for generations. Like your ranch, the bank is my legacy. My dad runs it now, but he wants me to take over. Also, like you, I don't know what I want to do for sure yet. There's a big part of me that wants to build something of my own. I do love business, but I don't love the banking business. Does that make sense?"

I nodded again, still confused about where this was going.

"I have a trust fund, but I can't access it until I'm thirty. I'd love to be able to get early access to invest in my own projects. I could show my family that I'm capable of running something I'm passionate about instead of what they want me to."

I furrowed my brows. "I understand that, but what does that have to do with me?"

He flashed me a small smile. "I'm getting to that. The amount of money in my trust fund is pretty significant. And that early access I was talking about? There's only one way to do that."

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