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.”

“Well, there’s a compelling argument for love,” he grumbled.

“I love you.” Desperation took over, fraying the edges of her voice. “It may not work, but then again, it might. This is our half-court heave.”

“A Hail Mary,” he corrected.

“The best play we have.”

“You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” He framed her face between his big, broad palms, and her legs turned to jelly. “I just want you to have everything you want to have.”

“I will,” she answered. “Just as soon as we get in there, sign that license, and get Judge Baxter to wave his ‘I do’ wand over us, I’ll have what I want.”

“Not even close.”

She shrugged, then turned her lips into his palm. “Anything else is just showboating,” she murmured against his skin.

“Kate, look at me.”

Feeling keyed up and languorous at the same time, she roused herself from her Danny-induced stupor and rocked back to stand on her own two feet. “Yes?”

“I promise I’ll do everything I can to stay.”

Wetting her lips, she slid her hand down into his and gave his fingers a squeeze. “Save your promises till we’re on the inside, big guy.”

Within minutes, they were signing their marriage certificate and a few extra autographs for the county clerk. Five minutes after that, they stood facing one another on a faded Aubusson carpet in Judge Baxter’s book-lined office. Danny had just taken her hands in his when the door flew open and Millie and Avery blew in with Mike in tow, the boss man looking shell-shocked.

“What are you doing here?” Danny asked the athletic director.

Mike blinked as if he’d been hoping the whole scene was nothing more than a dream, then shrugged. “Being your best man. Probably getting myself fired too.”

“Hush. This is America,” Avery said, thrusting a weary-looking bouquet between Danny and Kate. “They can’t fire you for attending a civil ceremony, can they, Judge?”

“No, I don’t believe that would give them cause, but this is an employment at-will state…” the judge began.

“You hush too.” Avery stepped back, gave Kate a critical once-over, then tugged the bottom of the bride’s T-shirt down so it covered her butt better. “Besides, we’re all on our lunch hours.”

Millie stared at Avery, clearly astonished. Then she burst out laughing.

“Oh, can it. All of you,” Avery blustered. “It’s the maid of honor’s job to do the flowers and the fluffing the train thing.”

Millie pounced. “Maid of honor? Who said you get to be maid of honor?”

“I’ve never been married. You have.” Avery flashed a smug smile. “You can be matron of honor if Kate wants you to.” She turned to Kate, wrinkling her pert nose in distaste. “But personally, I think having both might be a little pretentious for a civil ceremony.”

Kate looked at Danny, and he stared back at her, bewilderment etched into every handsome line on his face. Mike stepped up behind Danny and nodded solemnly to Judge Baxter. With some hushed squabbling about who’d hold the place of honor for Kate, Avery and Millie jostled until they stood side by side facing the bride.

Kate shot them an amused glance, then looked down at their feet. “I think Millie’s a half inch closer.”

“Only because she has gunboat feet.” Avery corrected the deficit, then tossed a triumphant glance at Millie. “There. We’re even.”

“Are we ready?” the judge asked. He pinned each participant with a stern stare, but the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement.

The cellophane wrapper on the grocery-store bouquet crinkled as Kate lifted it to her nose. She took one long sniff, then handed the flowers to Millie so she could reclaim her hold on her man. “I’m ready.”

Danny stared straight into her eyes. “Me too.”

* * *

“Trust me on this, you do not want to come in there with me,” Mike said firmly.

Calhoun’s bar was quiet midafternoon, but they still pitched their voices low so passersby wouldn’t overhear. “I had Judge Baxter look at the contract, and he agrees,” Kate said in a warning tone. “The way it’s worded, Danny would have grounds to fight termination for cause.”

Mike closed his eyes in a blatant and unapologetic attempt to find the handle on his patience, and Danny knew his old friend well enough not to be offended by it. Kate, on the other hand…

“Chancellor Martin may succeed in getting rid of him, but it’s going to cost him,” she continued, undaunted.

“It’s the old ‘cheaper to keep her’ bit played out in reverse,” Avery said, lifting her glass of scotch in salute.

They’d retreated to Calhoun’s immediately following the ceremony to sketch out a game plan. So far, all they’d agreed on was the fact that he and Kate were well and truly married. Everything else seemed to be up for debate.

“It’s my job,” Danny pointed out.

“You don’t have a job,” Mike countered. Lifting his beer in a toast, he smirked at the happy couple. “To the bride and groom. I hope somebody thought to bring shoes and rice. They may need them.”

“The shoes weren’t to wear,” Millie said, taking a sip from her daiquiri without looking up from her phone. “They were supposed to symbolize the groom taking over responsibility for the bride’s upkeep.”

Mike snorted and toasted Danny again. “Good luck keeping this girl in shoes. You’d better find a job real soon.”

“This woman can buy her own damn shoes,” Kate shot back.

Tired of his friend’s double-sided razzing, Danny plucked the beer mug from his grasp, returned Mike’s salute, and drained the contents for him in three long gulps. “Fine then,” he gasped, setting the empty mug down with a thud. “Deliver the message. Kate and I will share the happy news with Gene and Jonas.”

“Sounds like a pop group, doesn’t it?” Kate asked, her smile a mile wide.

Danny couldn’t help but smile back. She’d gotten her way, and her pleasure was utterly undimmed by their dank surroundings or their friends’ unchecked cynicism.

God, he loved that smile.

“Let Martin know we’ve gotten married, and see if that smooths things over a little,” Danny said, buying in to her enthusiasm. Why not? They were already all in. Might as well hope they’d turn the right cards.

“I keep trying to remind you all that we’ve already made your termination public. Even if he wanted to back down, he can’t now. It’s out there.” Mike snatched Danny’s beer off its cardboard coaster and returned the favor. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he placed the empty mug back where he found it, then slid off the bar stool.

“He was one of those guys who spent the fourth quarter moping on the bench if you were down a few points, wasn’t he?” Kate asked, nodding to Mike.

“Yes,” Danny replied.

“I was not,” Mike refuted at the same time.

Clapping a hand to his friend’s shoulder, Danny looked him straight in the eye. “Thank you for coming today.”

Mike gave a jerky nod. “You didn’t need to send Thelma and Louise after me. I wouldn’t have missed it.”

Danny opened his mouth to tell him that he hadn’t sent anyone after anybody, but Kate stopped him with a firm hand on his thigh.

“We know that,” she assured him. “But it was more fun to send the Despotic Duo in.”

Avery sniffed at the implied insult. “I’ll have you know that we honored every one of the rights granted to him under the Geneva Convention.”

“Except this isn’t wartime, and he was kidnapped and transported, not taken prisoner,” Millie interjected, setting her phone aside with a sigh. Looking up at Mike, she tapped her fingernail against her glass. “I’m not sure you should bother much with Chancellor Martin. I think we need to take this to a higher authority.”

Mike cringed and closed his eyes. “Why do I have a feeling I’m going to hear something I can’t unhear?”

Millie cocked her head, her eyes unfocused. Danny could practically see the wheels turning in her head. Conscious that he’d most likely already put his friend at risk, he held up a hand to stop the calculating woman from saying anything more.

“Go,” he told Mike, nodding toward the door. “Go tell him. If nothing else, you can claim you tried to warn him about whatever idea Thelma has wriggling away in that steel trap of a mind.”

Millie scoffed and lifted her glass as if she were sipping mai tais on an island terrace and not watered-down premix in an off-campus dive. “I’m Louise,” she informed him primly, then took a gulp big enough to give an Eskimo brain freeze.

Mike nodded and stepped around Danny to plant a polite kiss on Kate’s cheek. “You were a beautiful bride,” he mumbled as he took off for the door before any of them had a chance to recover.

“Good thing he’s not an umpire,” Avery observed. “You guys would be so screwed.”

“Referee,” Kate corrected.

Her friend leveled her with an arch stare. “You say referee, I say frustrated ex-jock who’s into zebra cosplay.”

“God, I love you guys,” Kate blurted, reaching for Avery’s and Millie’s hands.

“Wow. Drunk on half a beer,” Millie murmured, but her eyelashes fluttered a little faster.

“You are the best friends I’ve ever had.”

“Stop,” Avery groaned. “You’re not supposed to say this stuff until you’re kneeling in front of a toilet and one of us is holding your hair back.”

“I mean it,” Kate argued, leaning in. Her knee brushed Danny’s, and he could almost feel the earnestness wafting off her. The three women exchanged some kind of telepathic message with a few darting glances, and then Kate sat up straight and reached for her beer. “Now tell me, what are we going to do to save Danny’s bacon?”

At that moment, a long shadow fell over the table. Kate looked up to see Ty Ransom looming over them. “Hey, Ty.”

He lifted his chin in greeting. “Did I hear that right?” He cast a wary look at Danny, then turned his attention back to Kate. “Did Mike just call you a bride?”

“He did.” A hot flush rose in her cheeks. “I’m sorry I didn’t invite you. It was kind of a…spur-of-the-moment thing.”

Ty nodded as he digested the information, then lifted his highball glass in salute. “Congratulations. And good luck,” he added before taking a hefty slug of the amber liquid.

“Look at us. We’re nothing but a bunch of day drinkers,” Avery commented. “You’d think we were in college or something.”

“Did I also hear you say something about saving Coach McMillan’s bacon?” Ty prompted.

“Wow. No need to fit this guy with a Miracle-Ear,” Avery muttered.

Millie shot her a quelling look, then turned to look at Ty. “Yes. They’re invoking his morals clause, and we’re trying to figure out a way to get them to let him stay.”

Ty fixed Danny with an unflinching stare. “Seems to me you’ve already figured it out.”

Danny bristled. “Hey, getting married was her idea.”

Kate leapt into position to set the block. “It was my idea.”

Ty shrugged. “Well, congratulations, Danny Boy. You have your leverage.” He leaned down and brushed a soft kiss to Kate’s cheek. “Just make sure you use it to get what you want too,” he added before wandering into the gloom of the bar, his uneven gait more exaggerated than usual.

Millie leaned in. “Things are not going well there,” she confided.

“Oh no.” Kate twisted in her seat, trying to spot Ty again. “With Mari, you mean?”

“With a lot of things,” Millie answered, an ominous note deepening her voice. Straightening on her stool, she slapped the sticky tabletop with her palm to draw their attention back to her. “But that isn’t today’s problem. Today, we will take the case of McMillan and Company versus Wolcott University to the airwaves.”

“Taking to the streets!” Avery crowed, thrusting a fist into the air.

“To the National Sports Network,” Millie corrected. “The sports media version of The People’s Court.”

Avery nodded, lifted her glass high above her head, and shouted, “Power to the people!”