by Maggie Wells
He’d asked her a question, but it was one she didn’t want to answer.
Which was ridiculous, considering she’d threatened to do exactly what he was asking her to do. She was already putting her career on the line for a man. One who shouldn’t have any claim on her but somehow did from the minute she met him. After just one night with Danny, she knew they were right together. She knew it the same way she could tell if a shot was good the second it left her fingertips.
But she’d been wrong about one thing. She’d thought he was going to propose to her when he said he wanted to ask her a question. And in that magical moment, every princess fantasy she’d stowed deep down inside her sprang to life. It was a damn good thing she’d been speechless.
Idaho, for cripes’ sake. What does someone say to that?
But oh, she’d wanted him to pop the question. She’d wanted a poofy dress and a tiara and a bevy of woodland creatures to help her dress. She’d wear high heels so she’d tower over him as they said their vows. He’d like that, perverse as he was. She wanted a real wedding this time. She didn’t want to pretend fifteen minutes in a judge’s chambers was good enough for what she felt for him.
But dreams and reality didn’t always play out that way.
Being the industrious woman she was, she knocked her man out with a vigorous round of screw-’em-all sex, waited until he started to snore, then slipped out from under his tree trunk of a leg to reclaim the pages of the contract they’d tossed aside. Closeted in the bathroom, she read and reread the morals clause until she could recite it. If her hunch was right, a quickie ceremony at the courthouse might be just the ticket. And she’d do it for him. Otherwise, she might be saying hi-de-ho to Idaho soon.
She’d lain awake until he crept out of bed and shuffled off to the shower. Then she’d called Millie and Avery. They might not be cute, furry woodland creatures, but they would help her get her man.
Avery tossed the contract aside with a dramatic sweep of her arm. Pages fluttered to the ground all around her.
The commotion was startling enough to capture Millie’s full attention at last. Peering at the smug bohemian seated in the guest chair over the rims of red-polka-dotted glasses, she quirked an inquiring brow. “Well?”
The stretched neckline of Avery’s tie-dyed T-shirt slipped off her shoulder as she heaved the world’s largest sigh. “As much as I hate to say it, I think you’re screwed.”
Kate’s stomach plummeted to her feet. “There’s nothing I can do?”
“Just the one thing,” Avery said with grim twist of her lips. “You’re gonna have to buy the cow if you wanna keep him.”
Millie yanked her glasses from her nose and fixed their friend with her hardest stare. “For once in your life, can you cut the crap and just give a straight answer?”
Avery rolled her eyes, then turned her full attention to Kate. “The clause specifically states ‘inappropriate or immoral relationship.’” She shrugged, and her T-shirt slipped a little more. “If you buy into all that bogus morality crap created by misogynists and supported by a patriarchal establishment, there’s nothing inappropriate or immoral about marriage.”
Millie barked a triumphant laugh. She glanced up at Kate, her eyes sparkling with anticipation, then turned back Avery. “Thank you for not using air quotes.”
“Air quotes are always inappropriate and immoral,” Avery answered. Beaming up at Kate, she cocked her head. “So…think you’ll take the bull by the horns?”
Kate froze, her lips pursed and her gaze fixed on the rack of shoes mounted to her wall. She never left the pair Danny gave her here. They were too important to her. No, even though she had room on the wall for another half dozen pairs, she carried those sneakers back and forth each day in her gym bag, afraid to let them out of her care.
Was that why she wanted to marry Danny? Was it just a way of pinning him to her side? If she didn’t marry him and the administration followed through, would she be able to go too? Wolcott had always been her home. This was the place where she first became a champion. It was her safe haven when her playing days ended far too soon.
“Is it crazy?” she asked her friends.
“Yes,” Avery answered without hesitation.
“Shut up, you,” Millie admonished.
Avery sighed and pushed her hair back from her face. “Listen, I don’t believe a piece of paper is proof that two people love each other more than anyone else, but I have to admit it might be nice to see a shotgun wedding for the purpose of saving the guy’s reputation for once.”
“Do you love him?” Millie asked, her trademark rasp unnaturally gentle.
The answer shot out of Kate’s mouth like a bullet. “Yes.”
Smiling, Avery stood and smoothed her gauzy skirt. “I’ll go buy a bouquet of whatever the grocery store has.” She turned to Millie. “Judge Baxter still a season-ticket holder?”
“Will be till the day he dies,” Millie answered, reaching for the phone.
Bobbing a decisive nod, Avery gripped Kate by the arms and propelled her toward the door. “Go line up your groom. The clock is ticking on those forty-eight hours.”
Without another word, Kate yanked open her office door and sprinted down the hall. She dodged a couple of media types snapping pictures of the trophy cases, lifted a hand in acknowledgment as she zipped past Mack standing in the doorway to the bullpen, a smug smile creasing his face, and skidded around the corner that led to Danny’s closet of an office.
“Danny!” She caught the doorframe with her fingertips and let the laws of physics rein in her momentum. “I’ve got to ask…”
Kate trailed off as she scanned the tiny space. It was empty save for the sea of cardboard boxes cluttering the floor. The walls were covered in old team plaques and team photos. Decor that hadn’t been there the day before. The wall beside his desk was eaten up by a giant metal rack exactly like the one that hung in her office. But instead of shoes, Danny had ball caps—dozens of them. Each sporting a different team’s logo or mascot. Every one with the bill curved just so. Even the one with the rattlesnake appliqued to the front.
Closing her eyes, Kate curbed her impatience by conjuring the memory of the morning kiss Jim Davenport’s photo captured. The warmth of Danny’s mouth. The morning gravel in his voice. Those rough, ready hands curling the brim of his hat, getting it just how he liked it before pulling the visor down low over his brows.
Too late. They’d been caught. Game over.
“Hey.”
She turned and found the man of her daydreams slowing his steps as he approached, his hands buried deep in the pockets of his jeans. “Hi.”
The corners of his mouth twitched. “You come by to help me pack?”
Kate shook her head, trying to dislodge the lingering memory of that early-morning kiss, wishing she could shake off her nerves. Inhaling through her nose, she focused on him. Only him. That craggy, handsome face was her backboard, his smile the square she could bank on if she needed to, but the light in his eyes was her goal. She stared deep into their electric-blue depths, knowing it was time to take her shot.
“No. I came to ask you to marry me.”
Chapter 19
Every time Danny had his legs knocked out from under him, he’d always crashed to the ground. But the moment the quasi-proposal popped out of Kate’s mouth, he started flying high. It proved he hadn’t been crazy to make that extra stop after dropping Gene off at the hotel. While his agent was deploying career damage control, Danny focused on kicking his own ass into line. Staring at the breathless, beautiful woman standing stock-still in his office, he knew he’d made the right decision. Even if it came twelve hours too late.
Only a fool would think a woman like Kate would just up and move without a guarantee. A contract. A promise that he was in it for the long haul. Even if they ended up in Idaho. He smiled, picturing her in hiking boots and a cowboy hat. Maybe a plaid shirt with the snap pockets on the chest. Knotted at the waist. Just above her shorts. Not
athletic shorts, but the khaki short-shorts that hiking, outdoorsy women who lived in the Pacific Northwest wore, at least in his mind.
“Or not,” she said tartly, then tried to push past him.
“Hey! No, wait.” He caught her around the waist and pulled her close against him. “I haven’t given you my answer yet.”
“I take it back.”
He grinned, shifting to the left just enough to make their bodies align. “You can’t. It’s against the rules.”
“There are no rules,” she retorted.
She put up a token resistance. He’d give her credit for that. And hot damn, the way she wiggled felt good. So good. And right. Things had been…sticky between them the night before, and not in the usual way. She’d expected a proposal, and he’d flubbed it. Then he was stupid enough to think that by letting his actions speak for him in the language of sex, he’d somehow prove how much he loved her. It wasn’t until she’d slipped out of the bed to hide in the bathroom that he realized sometimes a guy just had to say the words.
“Yes.” The furrow he loved so much formed between her finely arched brows. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could get another word out, he kissed the frown away. “Yes, I want to marry you.”
Kate blinked. “You do?”
“Yes. Yes, I do.” He brushed her hair back, letting the sleek strands slide through his fingers. “And for the record, I wanted to ask you last night.”
She cocked her head, her eyes gleaming gold with challenge. “And you chickened out?”
Danny laughed, more than happy to concede the point to her. “I chickened out.” He trailed his thumb over her cheekbone, then tipped her jaw up a fraction of an inch. “You’re so much braver than I am.”
“About time you realized that.”
This time, he didn’t rise to take the bait. “I’ve known it all along. That’s why I fell for you. And exactly why you’re way too good for a guy like me.”
“Wow, you really have seen the light.”
Refusing to play along, he held her gaze. “I’m unemployed. Every relationship that’s meant anything to me has failed spectacularly. I can’t tell you where I’ll end up, but I’m enough of a selfish bastard to ask you to give up everything you’ve built to come with me.”
“Danny—”
“You deserve so much more, Kate, but you offered, and I’m gonna take it.” Releasing her abruptly, he dropped down on one knee and reached into his pocket. She gasped, and her hand flew to her mouth the second she saw the ring box. “I was a fool to blow my chance to ask you last night, but I’m not stupid enough to choke twice. Yes. My answer is yes.”
He flipped open the lid on the box to reveal the round-cut diamond he’d chosen. “The guy called this one a ‘halo setting,’ but I thought it looked like the rock was a ball dropping through a hoop.”
Tears filled her eyes. Her fingertips trembled against her lips, but still she didn’t say anything.
“If you don’t like this one, there are some shaped like little footballs.”
“Marquise cut,” she whispered at last.
“Whatever.”
Her tears finally broke the barrier, spilling over her lashes and streaking down her cheeks in twin rivulets. His heart seized, even though he knew—or hoped—that they were happy tears. For the love of God, she was the one who did the proposing. Taking her hand in his, he gave it an urgent squeeze. He tried to clear the lump from his throat, but his voice was still little more than a rasp. “Hey, don’t do that.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“You asked, and I said yes. You shouldn’t be crying. Isn’t there a saying about no crying in basketball?”
Kate sniffed and gave him a wobbly smile, but at least there were no more tears. “It’s from a movie. And they were talking about baseball.”
Danny shrugged, then looked up at her from under his lashes. He hoped to look appealing but had a sinking sensation he might just look pathetic. Still, he needed to use every down he had to score this. “Do you want this ring?”
Without hesitation, she nodded. “Uh-huh.”
He waited for her to make a grab for her prize. When she didn’t, he pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it fervently, watching her face for a clue as to how he could set the play in motion again. He followed her gaze to the ring box, then back to him. Finally, it snapped into place. “You want me to ask you?”
Kate looked away briefly, and a rosy blush colored her cheeks. When she answered, she spoke in little more than a whisper. “Yes.”
Relieved and excited to have put his thumb on the issue, he grinned as he kissed the back of her hand again. Gazing up at the woman towering over him, he held her hand firm in his grasp. “Kate Snyder, will you marry me?”
She started to nod but stopped abruptly, her eyes narrowing. “Do I have to change my name?”
A laugh burst out of him. Leaning back, he stared up at her, thoroughly amused by the strategic play of her agile mind. “Only if you want to, but I’m not paying to have all those trophies redone.”
“I don’t think they do that.”
“Just making my terms clear.”
“And if we get married, I get an equal say in where we end up?” she persisted.
Danny snorted. “Equal say? You’re the only one with viable employment options. I’m the one who’ll end up making the Shake ’N Bake every night.”
“You can’t cook worth a damn.”
Knees aching, he tried to glare at her, but the smile on her face told him he’d come up short. “You know I’ve had this knee scoped three times, right? You’re going to have to seal the deal, or we’ll need a winch to get me back on my feet.”
She pulled a face. “Maybe I should look for a model in better condition.”
“Like you have any room to talk.”
“True,” she conceded.
“Take me as I am?”
“It is a pretty ring.”
Taking that as his cue, he released her hand and pried the ring from its velvet bed. The platinum setting gleamed under the fluorescent lighting. The diamond shone, but not as bright as the pleasure in Kate’s eyes. “It’s a simple yes or no question,” he nudged.
“Yes.”
Her long, graceful fingers shook as he slid the ring home, and a surge of pride pumped through his veins. He turned her hand over to press a kiss to the center of her palm, then gently curled her fingers in. “Good. Then it’s settled.”
His joints creaked as he rose to his feet, but every second of pain was worth it. Kate threw herself at him, winding her long limbs tight around him and burrowing into him as if she wanted to crawl into his skin. He smiled as he kissed her, wondering if she didn’t know she’d gotten under it the first time they met.
She kissed him hard but sweet. He tipped his head to part her lips, and she met him there, her tongue matching his stroke for stroke. God, he loved this dance they did. The tenderness tempering unapologetic need. The perfect meld of give and take. Power and surrender. Like football, life was a game of inches that made up yards, and yardage converted into points. Now that he knew he’d have her by his side, Danny had no doubt they’d find a way to win. As a team.
*
“Stop dragging your feet.” Kate took hold of his arm and started hauling him up the courthouse stairs.
“This is idiotic. We are not doing this now.”
“I asked you to marry me, you said yes, and I have a pretty, sparkly ring.” She gave his arm another yank, knowing damn well if he truly decided to dig in, she’d never be able to move him. “We have to do this now.”
He allowed her to pull him to the doors, then screeched to a halt. Gesturing to their reflection in the glass, he shook his head. “Look at us, Kate.”
She did as he asked. It must have been her fairy godmother’s day off, because she still wore the same yoga pants and “Nothing but Net” T-shirt she’d left the house in that morning. Danny was only marginally better in blue jeans and a
polo shirt. They both looked haggard from the nearly sleepless night.
“I want to do this right.” He spoke low and soft in her ear. “Unlike some people, I’ve never been married before.”
The comment felt like a low blow, so she fell back on defense. “You should have told me you were a virgin that first night. I would have been more gentle with you.”
His lips curved, but she closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to see him smile and laugh her off. Not when she was fighting so damn hard to save him. Save them.
“You were gentle enough,” he assured. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter when he pressed two fingers to her jaw and turned her face toward his. “Kate, look at me.”
“Don’t smile,” she blurted before she could stop herself.
“What?”
“I’ll look at you, but don’t smile. You can’t smile. This isn’t a joke.”
“And here I thought you were trying to convince me this is the happiest day of my life.”
She chuckled. She couldn’t help herself. The man’s humor was darker than an eclipse. Rather than risk looking at him, she let her head fall forward. Her forehead came to rest on his broad shoulder. She had a hard time suppressing her own smile when he wrapped his arms tight around her.
“I want us to have a real wedding, with our friends and families there.” His voice was gruff, but his hand was gentle as he smoothed the ends of her hair against her back. “I don’t want to sneak off like we’ve done something wrong. We haven’t done anything wrong, Kate.”
“We got you fired.” Lifting her head, she searched his eyes. “It may not be wrong, but we can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s right. All you have to do is let me make an honest man out of you.”
“Ha-ha.”
“We can still have a wedding. I want one too. We can have it next week, next month, or next year, but if we want to have a snowball’s chance in hell of slipping through this loophole, we need to do this today. We can’t risk having the marriage license and termination papers dated the same day.”
