Chapter 14
14
Essie
“R
eady to cause a ruckus?” I asked as I flipped down the sun visor to check the mirror. It was a brisk September day full of glorious sunshine and I hadn’t been able to resist rolling down the window. My reflection showed I was a little windblown, but still appropriate for Sunday dinner with my soon-to-be in-laws.
“Hellion,” Brax warned. He had opened the passenger door for me to get out, but now he leaned into the triangle of space, one hand on the door, the other on the frame of the truck above my head. His large body blocked out the blue sky—and my exit.
“What?” I asked, blinking up at him innocently.
“I thought we were going to tell them the truth.”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Truth makes a bigger commotion than a lie, in my experience. And when the truth is we’re going to commit to a whole-ass marriage just for the chance to win a hundred grand and get Pirate a championship trophy? Yeah. That’s going to be a big ruckus. Your family is going to think you’ve lost your mind. Steady, dependable Brax in a sham marriage?” A slow grin spread across my face and I shook my head. “No fucking way.”
He stepped back to let me out. “My family isn’t the one I’m worried about. Your mom is going to crack my balls like walnuts.”
“Can you crack balls?” I tilted my head considering. “I guess if you squeeze tight enough, something is bound to pop, at least. Maybe?—”
“Don’t,” Brax cut me off. He did look a little green. “Not another word.”
I laughed. “This was your idea, remember.”
“It was Zack’s idea, actually. He gets the blame—I mean, credit.”
“Zack was high on painkillers. Guess we better call the whole thing off.” My tone was breezy and teasing, but I felt a little shiver of anxiety go through me. Did he want to call it off?
Brax smirked and captured my hand in his, tugging me along behind him past the bare-branched rosebushes and up the porch steps. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet already. ”
“My toes are toasty warm, thank you very much. Are yours? You’re the one with something to lose.”
He stopped so fast I nearly smashed my nose against his back. My toes teetered on the top step as I fought for balance. I grasped for his shirt—because goddamn it, if I was going down, I was taking him with me—but he looped one arm around my waist, hauled me flush against his body and up off my feet, and moved me back from the edge.
And I fucking giggled .
I couldn’t help it. I was a tall girl and solidly built. I had curves and muscles. Men did not simply lift me by a single arm and toss me around. Except for Brax Hale, apparently. Hence the giggle. For once, I felt small. In a good way. I loved my height, my curves, my muscles. But I also liked this. The feeling of someone else being bigger and stronger and in control of where he put my body. The knowledge of what he could do with my body, if he put his mind to it.
The thought of it sent a quiver of… something …deep inside me. Something hungry and a little wistful. I refused to call it lust. This man was going to be my husband. My fake husband. I would have to share a roof with him, if not a bed. There might be times when I had to actually hold his hand in public. I couldn’t be getting all quivery about him. I fucking refused.
He crossed his arms over his chest, studying me. “What is it you think I have to lose? ”
The question caught me off guard. Partly because I was still irrationally quivery, but also because I didn’t have an answer. On the face of it, I was the one with more skin in the game. My reputation, my career, my mom’s livelihood. If this went south, Brax wouldn’t get his fifty thousand dollars, but the money was never guaranteed to begin with. He wanted the money, but he didn’t need it. I doubted whether money was truly why he was doing this at all.
I looked up at the house. It was a big, rambling thing of solid pine beams. A house built to last, with an eye to the future. Prior generations of Hales had all added their own touch, leaving something behind for the generations still to come. One day Adam would, too. Ted had moved to one of the smaller cabins on the property, leaving the main house to Adam, Ben, and James. Someday, hopefully a long time from now, Lodestar Ranch would be inherited by all three brothers.
But the house would be Adam’s. Where he would raise his family.
I knew Brax was fine with that. Happy, even. He had always made it clear that the ranching life wasn’t for him. He loved the animals and was happy to help out when it was needed, but mostly he took care of the taxes and legal paperwork and left the day-to-day operations to his dad and brother.
Brax cared about Lodestar, for sure. And if Pirate was the winner we believed him to be, the stallion could make the ranch one of the foremost quarter horse breeders in the country. That was why he was doing this sham marriage, wasn’t it? For the ranch. For his family.
He had everything to gain and nothing to lose.
So why did it feel like he was the one risking it all?
I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I said, as much to myself as to his question.
“It’s going to be fine.” He moved toward the door. “I promise.”
“There you go again. Always making promises you can’t keep.”
He looked at me, his expression inscrutable. “I think I’ve kept my promises pretty damn well, actually.”
“What promises—” I began, but he had already reached around me, opened the door, and nudged me through it before I could get another word out.
Voices and the scent of garlic and tomatoes wafted from the kitchen. That meant Ted was making his old standby of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread. My stomach growled as we walked down the hall.
Everyone else was already there. Adam, James, and Ben laughing as they threw together a salad. Zack on a barstool, his crutches resting against the counter. My Mom—who was not a regular attendee of Sunday dinner at Lodestar, but didn’t seem at all suspicious when I told her we were invited—spread a thick smear of garlic butter to a loaf of French bread while Ted stirred a large pot of bubbling pasta sauce. Over the clank and clatter of dishes was the constant hum of people chatting and teasing.
My mom looked up. “You two came together?”
My mouth went dry.
Because this… this was what Brax had to lose. This was what he wanted. He had probably imagined this moment in his mind. Imagined what it would feel like to bring a woman to Sunday dinner and give them the good news that she was going to be family. Hale men took marriage seriously. Ted had raised his sons in the legend of his own love story with their mother. Of course he had imagined this.
He sure as fuck never imagined it would be me .
And there was no fucking way anyone in that room was going to think it was good news that it was.
I looked at Brax. His gaze slid over my face, searching. The corner of his mouth hitched in a quick half smile. And then he took my hand, threading our fingers together, and turned to face the room.
“We’re getting married,” he said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
The hum and clatter promptly ended on an audible whoosh as if they had collectively sucked up all the oxygen in the room. I felt a little lightheaded from it.
And then everyone talked at once.
“Oh, my god !” James shrieked as she rushed at us. “Congratulations! ”
Mom pressed her hands to her cheeks. “My baby. Oh, my goodness.”
Oh, shit. They thought this was real? Never in a million years would that have occurred to me. “ Brax ,” I hissed.
He lifted our linked hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss to my knuckles, his blue eyes laughing at me. “It was your idea to tell them all together. I suggested a group text from the top of a mountain, remember?”
“Because it never occurred to me they would think it was real.” Panick squeezed my voice into a squeak. How the hell was I supposed to know they’d entertain the possibility we were in love? I tried to reclaim my hand but he held on tight.
“This isn’t real?” Mom demanded. Her hands went to her hips as she split a glare between us. “Is this some kind of joke?”
“Oh, it’s real,” Brax assured her. “We’ll say our vows before a judge. It will be a legally binding marriage.”
“For a few months, at least,” I added.
Mom’s glare intensified. “That’s not funny, young lady.”
Now we were back on familiar ground. My mother loved me with every cell in her body, but she absolutely believed she knew best how my life should be run and wished I would step aside and let her handle it. “Mom—” I started.
But Brax squeezed my hand hard enough to silence me. “No one is taking this more seriously than Essie. In all fairness, this was my idea, and she took a fair amount of convincing.” He went on to explain the rules of the competition, and what winning would mean to Pirate’s career…and mine. “But even so, Essie had one condition. That if we win, the money goes to you for the purchase of Sweetie Pie.”
My mom made a shocked sound of protest. “I couldn’t?—”
“Let me be clear,” Brax said. “This isn’t a gift. It’s an investment. We believe in you and the restaurant. And, selfishly, I happen to like your pies and don’t want to see it change hands or, god forbid, shut down. This is the chance of a lifetime for Pirate and Essie, but she won’t do it if you don’t agree.”
“Oh, honey.” Mom’s eyes were suspiciously shiny as she pulled me into a hug.
I stared, slack jawed, at Brax’s smirking face over her shoulder. I had been prepared to argue, to fight, to hold my ground. Then he had swept in and made me look like a hero. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Grateful? Annoyed? Both?
“I love you, Mom,” I said. “So much. Please let us do this. For you and for me and for Pirate.”
She pulled back and wiped her eyes. “All right, baby. All right.”
“Essie,” Ted said.
I turned to face Brax’s father with a nervous gulp. But he looked at me with a kind smile and more than a hint of mischief in his bright blue eyes.
“I can’t say I saw this coming.” His large hand engulfed my shoulder and gave it a fatherly squeeze. His gaze shifted to his son over my shoulder and then back to me. “But I can’t say I’m disappointed, either. Welcome to the family, darlin’.”