Page 11 of The Marriage Deal (Sunset Falls #1)

WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?

LILAH

“What’s in it for me?”

Briggs leans back in his chair as though taken off guard by my question, but it’s a legit question that any sane woman would ask given the man’s insane proposal. I’m still not convinced he’s not playing out his own version of cliff jumping in the presence of an ill prepared stranger—a.k.a me.

I’m most certainly ill prepared.

No woman agrees to sit for a job proposition over dinner only to have that job be marriage.

Still, I’m curious to see what he’ll say. How far he’ll take it.

Again, his green eyes drift slowly down from my own to take in the V of flesh the elegantly risqué cut of my red blouse allows.

I don’t take my eyes off his as they drift back up to my own.

“It would be easily believable, that I would be interested in you. You are an incredibly beautiful woman,” he pauses, and something unpleasant stirs inside me at his factual tone.

It’s explained when he adds, “even if you’re not my type. ”

I hide the sting of his words with a slight cock of my head. “You’re asking me to marry you while offending me?”

He leans into the table again. “Does it offend you?”

My eyes narrow. “What part?”

“That you’re not my type?”

“Why would you want to marry someone you’re not attracted to?”

“I never said I wasn’t attracted to you.” Damn, there’s that clench. “I said you aren’t my type.”

I feel my brow cock high. He doesn’t miss it.

I deflect the ouch of all that with a, “Let me guess, you like the ice queen. Cool and calm and composed. The kind of woman with a routine. Predictable. Boring.”

“Reliability is an attractive asset.”

“Of course, it is.” I huff a laugh, but we both know it’s too dry to be amused. “I’m none of those things. I’m a hot mess, and that’s putting it kindly. So,” I swipe my wine and take a hefty swig. “I think you’re barking up the wrong tree, buddy.”

“The town adores you.”

“Yeah.” I take a bite of my now cool alfredo. “That’s kind of what happens when you’re born and raised in a small town, and you don’t get caught streaking by someone’s Nan.”

“Does that mean you’ve gone streaking?” I swear, ice-green eyes twinkle.

“And skinny-dipping.” I lick my lips under the heat of his gaze to catch a dribble of sauce.

“If you ever manage to loosen up a bit, I highly recommend it. It’s incredibly freeing.

Probably one of the most freeing things I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing.

Aside from jumping off the cliff, that is. ”

“Mmm.”

I fight my grin. “Not exactly the wifey material you’re looking for, eh?”

My grin falters under the shock of his smirk. I want to squirm. My ovaries feel tickled pink under the sex appeal that positively radiates from the man. Then he cuts a strip from his steak and slides the whole piece into his mouth.

He chews, swallows, says, “You’re exactly what I’m looking for, Lilah.”

He cuts another strip. For all his cool composure and by-the-book ways, the man eats like a caveman. I kind of love it. And I don’t love that I do.

His next words snag my attention from the somewhat brutish and yet alarmingly attractive way he eats. “It’s the way this town loves you. The way they talk about you, that makes me want you.”

I bristle, but just slightly. “You’re going to have to explain that.”

“Consider the petition to get me out of Sunset Falls—”

“I’ve already told you that means nothing,” I cut him off.

“It means quite a lot, actually. It means that what I’m doing here will continuously be met with resistance. Legal and illegal resistance. People will undoubtedly vandalize, and I will respond as is due with legal repercussions I would much prefer to avoid.”

His eyes drill into my own, imploring me to understand in that cold way he has.

The way that feels iced over with a layer of protection I’m beginning to think has nothing to do with who he is, but rather the protection he feels he needs.

The man is a curiosity I have to admit I want to study. To unravel. To explore…

I drop my elbow to the table, chin in my hand. “You’re saying you want me to be a buffer between your business and the town.”

“Essentially, yes.”

I chuff a laugh. His eyes fall to my lips.

I ignore the buttery slip and slide that is the quickening of my heart and mutter, “I’m not sure your little plan will be as successful as you think.”

“I don’t make decisions based on a hunch, Lilah.

I don’t do business based on maybes. I analyze the data, take every projection and failure into account, and weigh the gains versus the risk.

As I’ve weighed the risk and reward of Fire Falls Ranch and Resort, and Fire Falls Estates, I have weighed the risk and reward of naming you, Sunset Falls’ favorite, as my wife. ”

I squint at him, looking for cracks in his perfect composure. No surprise, I don’t find any. “You’re serious. You’re actually serious.”

“I very rarely joke.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me,” I mutter. I shake my head, blow out a breath, and suck back on my wine. “In your analysis of risk and reward in marrying me, tell me why the pros outweigh the cons, because I know there are cons.”

“There are most assuredly cons.”

I roll my eyes at his quip and the teasing lip-twitch that follows. The man is an enigma I’m not sure my tenacious self is equipped to decode. Still, as I mentioned I am quite tenacious, so I’ll undoubtedly try.

“Briggs,” I warn.

He laughs, smooth and rich and a little disconnected. A little cool. Like him. “The pros: you’re beautiful, easy to look at, nice tits.”

My jaw pops open. I can’t believe he said that.

My face heats with outrage or something far, far worse. I realize I want the man to be attracted to me. I just don’t know why I’d want a crazy thing like that.

Briggs laughs, far warmer and more real this time. It’s utterly captivating.

He leans into the table as though he’s going to share a big secret with me. “That, little lunatic,” he points a finger at the blush that scalds my face, “is my version of payback for the jump.”

My slack jaw snaps closed and my wide eyes narrow. His laugh deepens. It’s warm and rich and delicious, and frick sakes, I prefer it cold and disjointed for the health of my own limited sanity.

I lean in and hiss, “People are looking.”

“I want them to look. Want them to see how enamoured I am with my beautiful soon-to-be wife.”

My blush only turns hotter. “I haven’t agreed to marry you.”

“You will,” he says confidently. Too confidently.

“The pros and cons, Briggs,” I remind him dryly.

“The pros are obvious. The townsfolk will warm to me with you at my side. The people trust you, trust your opinion of people.”

They shouldn’t. They wouldn’t if they knew of Michael.

Briggs continues, “You will help me ease this town into the future it faces, because without this future a slow death is inevitable. You’ll not only stand as my wife, but as the face of this project.

You’ll make the transition of Sunset Falls from barely a blip on the map, carried only by a struggling, hovering-on-bankruptcy winery—” I gasp in surprise at the revelation.

Briggs continues, “to a thriving town with more than fresh paint on stressed businesses. With the development of Fire Falls Estates, the migration of people with money seeking a slice of something slower and sweeter than the city has to offer is inevitable. With that migration and precision ads, the news of Fire Falls Ranch and Resort will spread. It will bring tourism and wealth to Sunset Falls, and that will give this town that pretty dot on the map you want, Lilah.” His eyes never leave my face as he speaks.

“All this is made exponentially easier with you at my side, making the town see me not as the outsider who is changing everything, but as the man so enamoured with one of their own, he’s dumping loads of wealth into the town she loves. ”

“You’re a little scary, Briggs,” I say quietly.

His brows pull together, head notching back in surprise. “Why?”

“Just the way you’ve thought about going about this, manipulating the town.”

“I don’t view it as manipulation. I’m going to do what I’m going to do regardless.

In fact, I view it as saving the people money.

Jim Santiago is threatening legal measures to stall production.

I can assure you it will only stall it a short time, but in that time, he’ll lose the home he’s had in his family for three generations, as well as the small savings he’s amassed for his retirement.

He will leverage all he has in a battle he can’t possibly win.

There are many Jim Santiago’s in Sunset Falls, Lilah, and not one of them is capable of facing off with me. ”

The way he says that, with such cool confidence, like he really doesn’t care either way—it’s unsettling.

“Because you have money?”

He blinks once. “I do.”

“And a legal team?”

“Highly capable and on retainer.”

I swallow hard and nod once. “I know the town needs this. If I didn’t believe that with all my heart, I would be standing with Jim, fighting you.”

“The only reason Jim wants to fight this at all is because he’s afraid of change.”

“Change is scary.”

Goodness, his green eyes are so deep. “Change is necessary for growth.”

His eyes dip to my frown as I study him. I tell him, “You’re kind of cold, you know?”

“I’ve been told.” There’s something in the flash of his eyes that tells me this man isn’t cold at all. That he’s a blazing fire under a carefully constructed sheet of ice.

I pull in breath that trembles in my lungs. “Say we do this; how does it work?”