Page 18 of Broken Player

"Last question, but I reserve the right to ask more later if I think of any," I warned, and Yates laughed.

"Fair enough."

"What about…" I leaned across the table toward him. "Sex?" I whispered.

He chuckled. "What about it? I think if it happens naturally great, but there won't be anything in the contract specifically one way or another. If you fall in love with me, great. If you don't, that's okay, too. But while we're married, we're only with each other. Even if that means we're not sleeping together. When you're my wife, you're mine. When I'm your husband, I'm yours. Okay?"

I blew out a breath. "Okay, I like that."

He smiled. "Good. So, what do you think?"

I bit my lip, trying to process everything, but there was no way I could wrap my mind around it all in such a short amount of time. My mind quickly flashed back to Maddox again, but I shoved the thought of him away. He made his feelings toward me clear. Now it was my turn to move on and do what I could to save the ranch. I could do this.

"I think you've got a deal." I just hoped I wasn't signing a deal with the devil.

"Really?" he exclaimed, jumping up and pulling me out of the chair, wrapping his arms around me and hugging me against his chest. I had to admit he smelled good. He didn't excite me like Maddox, and truthfully his hug felt more like when Quinn wrapped me up in his arms, but it wasn't bad, and maybe I could learn to fall in love with him. I guessed time would tell since now I had at least a year.

He let me go and reached into his pocket, pulling out a massive diamond ring and dropping to one knee. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand, not sure what to make of this.

He flashed a lopsided grin up to me and took one of my hands in his. "I know this is unconventional, but don't the best love stories start out that way? This may be the only proposal you ever get if things work out like I hope, so I want to make it count. Ryan Knight, I just met you, and already I can tell you're an incredible woman, one I want to share my life with. Will you be my wife?"

My heart was pounding so hard I was surprised he couldn't hear it. My hands were tingling, and there was a ringing in my ears, but I felt myself nodding, agreeing to marry this stranger. He stood up, crushed me against his chest, and slid the giant sparkling rock onto my finger. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. He looked light and carefree, happy even. I wondered why he wasn't freaking out as badly as I was about this, but that was the least of my concerns.

"Now, what do we do?" I whispered, feeling like my whole world had turned upside down in one evening.

"We tell the world we're getting married, and we start planning."

"I'm going home tomorrow morning, and I'll tell my family then."

He nodded. "I'll tell my parents tomorrow as well. They'll want to meet you as I'm sure yours will want to meet mine. We can do that this weekend if that works for you. Yours on Saturday, mine on Sunday?"

"Yeah, that should work," I mumbled, my head still spinning.

"My mother will want to start planning right away, so you won't have to worry about a thing unless it's important to you. Like your dress or the cake flavor."

I perked up. "Ooh, I forgot about that. At least there will be cake."

Yates laughed his rich, warm laugh that made me smile. At least I knew enough to know I liked his laugh. He lifted thehand he still held and kissed the back of it lightly, obviously getting more comfortable being affectionate towards me. I had zero experience in this department, but I knew I'd have to learn quickly if we were going to convince anyone this was real. "Are you ready to get out of here? We've both got big days tomorrow. I've got the contracts in the car for you to sign."

He paid the bill, and we walked outside, waiting for the valet to bring his car around. "I think this is going to be really good, Ryan. I have a good feeling."

I wished I shared his sentiment, but I still had a lot of doubts. I wished I had longer to see if any other alternatives could save the ranch. Marriage meant a lot to me, and if this didn't work out with Yates, I'd have a divorce attached to me for life. My stomach turned, and I had to push the thought out of my head before it sent me into a panic.

I smiled weakly at him as he continued talking. I didn't think he noticed my unease. "Will you text me tomorrow and let me know how it goes telling your parents? I'll do the same."

Nodding woodenly, I reached for his hand, needing to grip onto something to ground me to reality. He grinned down at me, lacing our fingers together and tugging me a little closer to his side, so our arms were touching.

It's all for my family,I reminded myself.

For their future, it would all be worth it.

What the hell had I done? I stared down at the enormous glittering gem on my fourth finger, twisting it around and around. I imagined if I were ever going to get married, it would be to a man that understood a ring like this would never be something I could wear. I hoped he would know me better than that.

But this monstrosity was yet another reminder that I was in an impossible situation, and I had no choice but to keep moving forward. Once I signed my name on that dotted line, I saved the ranch. It’d lifted a weight off of my shoulders and replaced it with a boulder in my stomach.

I always imagined my wedding as a small affair with the man I loved. I didn’t care if it was fancy or at the courthouse. The most important thing in my mind had always been the groom, the man I was giving my heart to for life.

But here I was engaged to Yates, a man I didn’t even know. I didn’t even know simple things about him like his favorite food or what kind of music he liked. My sweaty palms were making it so easy to twist this ring around that I was worried it would fly off my finger. I planned on giving it back to Yates after our year was up. After I got a divorce.

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