12. Ryan

"Let's play twenty-one questions," Yates suggested after turning down the music. We were halfway to Dallas, and the ride had been quiet and awkward, much like our first car ride together to the restaurant. I'd been lost in my thoughts the whole time.

Perking up, I glanced over at him, watching his dirty blonde hair blow around in the wind. He really was handsome, but something was holding me back from feeling that spark with him. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but I suspected Maddox had something to do with it.

"Yeah, that sounds fun," I agreed. "You go first."

He shifted his grip on the steering wheel, so he had just one hand wrapped around it, and he propped his elbow up on the door, resting his chin on his fist. Suddenly, he sat up straighter and grinned at me before putting his eyes back on the road. "What's something most people think is true about you but actually isn't?"

I thought for a second. "That I'm a tomboy. People assume because I have a boy's name, and I work on a ranch all day that I don't like pretty dresses or smelling good or feeling feminine. They would be wrong." I chuckled.

"Well, I for one think I'm going to like you in dresses if this is any indication," Yates flirted, his bright smile making me laugh as his eyes roamed the exposed skin of my legs.

"Okay, my turn," I said, changing the subject. I tapped my chin, thinking. "How useful would you be in a zombie apocalypse?"

Yates burst out laughing. "Not as useful as you, I'd imagine." I smiled at him and motioned for him to continue. "Let's see. I'm in decent shape, and I can throw a solid punch, so if I had a weapon, I could probably do some damage. I'm not going to be good at the things you are, like growing food or fixing things. But I'd like to think I'd be a good leader and also a good planner. I think if it came down to it, we both have skill sets that would compliment each other pretty well."

I had to hand it to him, he convinced me that I'd want him on my team even if he looked like he'd never done any hard work in his entire life. As we kept asking each other questions, I felt myself relaxing in his presence. I had no doubt this game would help us get to know each other better, which would help us pull off convincing everyone that we were in love.

I turned to Yates. "I feel like I need to warn you."

He turned to look at me, his eyes narrowing slightly. "About what?"

"My sisters. My parents are the easy ones. My sisters, well… They're going to give you a hard time. Just prepare yourself," I warned.

Yates just chuckled and took my hand in his, resting it on my thigh. "I think I can handle your sisters. It's my mom you've got to be worried about." I could already feel the lump forming in my throat about tomorrow, but I shoved it down. That was tomorrow's problem. I already had enough to worry about today.

I spotted my sisters as soon as we walked into the restaurant. Justice waved her hand frantically in my direction. She was always so energetic, but usually, it was contagious. Charlie was the more serious sister and the one I was most worried about today. However, the glint in Justice's eye as Yates and I walked up to the table didn't make me feel good about her plans for this lunch.

"Hi guys," I said, sliding into the chair Yates had pulled out. "This is Yates." He nodded at Charlie and then Justice before grabbing my hand and pressing a kiss to the back. "These are my sisters, Charlie and Justice."

Yates chuckled before resting his arm across the back of my chair and scooting closer to me. He was taking this whole fiance thing really seriously already, and I was totally uncomfortable. I needed to get over it soon because I was sure my sisters would see right through it. Keeping that in mind, I took a deep breath and leaned closer to Yates, so we were almost pressed together. He smiled down at me and ran his thumb down my cheek, pressing a kiss to my forehead. He smelled good, but I felt indifferent. There was no spark. I didn't want to get closer or bury my nose into his chest like I did with Maddox.

My pillow still smelled like him, and at this point, I'd probably never wash it. Charlie was watching me with her eyes narrowed, and I shook off thoughts of the sexy rock star next door. I couldn't afford to give Yates and me away at this lunch. I needed him to help me too much.

After we all ordered our food and the waitress dropped off drinks, I braced myself. I knew we were about to face the inquisition that was my sisters. Charlie cleared her throat and folded her hands on the tabletop. "So, Yates. Why have we never heard a single thing about you until about two days ago?"

Straight for the jugular. Classic Charlie. There was a reason she'd been top of her class in medical school. Charlie was a straight-up badass who didn't miss a single damn thing. She was sharp and witty, and I bet she saw straight through this ruse. But if I was lucky she'd keep it to herself. I shot her a pleading look, begging with my eyes to keep her conclusions to herself. We needed Yates even if she didn't know it right now, and I couldn't tell her. I hoped she trusted me enough to know I was doing what I thought was best.

Yates smiled and leaned closer to me. "Ryan and I hadn't had time to meet the families yet. It's been an intense year training under my dad to take over, and I haven't really had any spare time outside of the time I've spent with Ryan." He pressed a kiss to my temple again before he continued, smooth and confident in his answer. I almost believed him myself.

"But I was tired of staying away from her, so now we're meeting everyone and making things official."

Charlie nodded her head and shot me a glance that told me she didn't believe him, but she wouldn't say anything. I nodded slightly, and I knew she'd let this go for now, but it'd come up later. I just hoped when I asked her not to press me and to let me handle it, she'd do as I asked.

Justice flipped her long, wavy hair that was exactly like mine over her shoulder. "So, Ryan, Yates must be pretty good in the sack, right? Since he's the only one you've ever been with, right?" She leaned back in her chair and smiled evilly like she was proud of herself for embarrassing me.

My cheeks burned, and I had no idea what to say. "I'm confident Ryan doesn't have any complaints," he said smoothly, winking at her. I wasn't sure I'd ever actually seen anyone wink in real life, but I had to admit he pulled it off. Yates was smooth as butter and alarm bells were going off. I'd need to be careful with him. I didn't know him at all, and he was a little too good at messing with the truth.

"Now that you two have thoroughly embarrassed me, are you satisfied?" I questioned, glaring at both of my sisters who wore matching innocent expressions on their faces.

Justice patted her stomach. "I know I am. I'm ready to walk off lunch and do some shopping. Charlie?"

My older sister nodded her head, her eyes locked on me the entire time. "Great," I sighed, reaching for my purse to pay for lunch, but Yates stopped me, handing his card to the waitress as she walked by our table.

"I've gotta run, babe," he said before turning back to my sisters. "Ladies, it was great to meet you. I hope we can spend more time getting to know each other before the wedding." His eyes lingered on Justice, and her eyebrows shot up. I glanced at Charlie, who noticed it, too, narrowing her eyes at him again.

As he slid his chair back and stood up, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. "Hold onto my card and use it while you're out shopping for wedding stuff today, okay?" Yates offered, and I nodded woodenly. "I'll pick you up in the morning." Shit, I was really doing this—the lunch I'd picked at churned in my stomach.

With one last wave, he turned and walked out of the restaurant, and we all watched him leave. As soon as the doors closed, my sisters shot me matching what the fuck is going on looks.

I lowered my head, resting my forehead on the cool surface of the table. "Can we not right now?" I begged.

"Fine, but you're telling us what the hell is going on as soon as we get to the dress shop," Charlie demanded.

"Fine. You two know your way around here. Where do we even go for wedding dresses?" I asked.

Justice smiled, plucking Yates's black credit card up off the table where the waitress had just dropped it. "I know just the place."

We pulled up next to a gorgeous white brick building with modern black signage and deep green ivy climbing the walls. It was classy and elegant, and I knew if it weren't for Yates, I'd never be able to step foot in a place like this. If this was my only chance, I'd make sure to enjoy it even if I was a little sad that I'd have to waste this opportunity on a groom I had no interest in.

The sign read Love + Lace and the huge front window displays showed off stunning dresses in a variety of sizes. I couldn't wait to try some dresses on and wondered if I could convince my sisters to try something too, just for fun.

As Justice held the door open for Charlie and me, I stopped just outside the door, and Charlie turned around. "Aren't you coming? You can't get married without a dress, even if the wedding is a total sham."

Leave it to my sister to not pull any punches. "Who said it was a sham?"

Justice raised her hand unhelpfully. "Me. I said it's a sham."

"Me, too. I don't know who you think you're fooling, but we know you better than that."

I followed my sisters inside, not really sure what to say. We were immediately greeted by a saleswoman that I was incredibly thankful for because she took the heat off of me.

"Welcome to Love and Lace. I'm Katie, and this is my shop, so you let me know if there's anything I can help you with." She looked at the three of us. "So, who's getting married?" she asked with a cheerful smile on her face and sparkling eyes. It was obvious she really loved this wedding stuff.

I slowly raised my hand, trying to look happier about the whole betrothed thing than I felt. "That'd be me."

She clapped her hands a couple of times, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I've already got about five dresses in mind for you. Follow me." Katie spun on her heel and strode to the back of the shop. My sisters and I looked at each other before hurrying off to follow her.

Katie was moving quickly around the store, pulling dresses off of racks and piling them over her arms. "What's your name, bride-to-be?" she shouted at me from across the shop. I was glad we were the only ones in here shopping.

"I'm Ryan."

"Well, Ryan, why don't you go get undressed in one of the fitting rooms and I'll bring you in the first dress to try." She turned to Justice and Charlie. "You two take a seat on the sofa over there," she pointed to a gray velvet tufted couch facing a circular platform just outside the fitting rooms. I moved toward the rooms, pulling the door closed behind me and stripping down to my underwear. I was glad I thought to wear a strapless bra for this.

Katie knocked on the door with her knuckle. "Ready for dress number one?" she asked.

"Hand it over," I said, reaching my hand out of a crack in the door and pulling the layers of tulle and satin inside. This dress took up almost the entire room, and I had no idea how the hell I was going to get it on by myself.

"Katie?" I asked, a little bit breathless just from wrestling this thing into the room.

"How can I help, Ryan?"

"Can you come in and help me, please," I asked, turning a little bit red at the idea of a stranger seeing me in my underwear. But I didn't want my sisters to see me until I had the dress on. Like I said before, I wanted to have fun with the experience.

"Sure, honey." Katie pushed her way into the room and started sorting through the fabric layers like an old pro. In about two seconds flat, she had created a tunnel for me to burrow into and hope that I'd somehow pop my head out of the top. I was glad I'd asked for her help because before I knew it, she was expertly zipping up the back of the dress. I already knew I wasn't going to choose this one, but I still wondered how the hell I'd ever pee in it if I had picked it.

"Ready?" Katie asked.

I nodded, and she opened the door wide, giving me enough room to squeeze through. My sisters both watched without saying anything as I walked past them and stepped up onto the platform. There were mirrors on one side of it, and I looked at myself from multiple angles. The dress itself was beautiful, but it was just not me. It was too poofy, and I was no princess.

Justice shook her head, and Charlie pursed her lips. "This is definitely not the one. You look ridiculous," Charlie said.

"She's right. Thank you, next," Justice agreed.

I laughed and stepped down, walking over to where Katie held open the door. She quickly helped me out of the dress, and I stood studying myself in the mirror while I waited for her to bring in the next dress. She knocked again before she stepped inside, holding a much smaller lace dress. I liked it immediately and hoped it would look as good as it did on the hanger.

"This wasn't part of the original five I pulled for you, but after seeing you in the last dress, I think this could be the one ." Katie said the last words reverently, almost like the dress was more important than the groom. I guess in her world, maybe it was.

I couldn't argue with her on the choice of dress, though. As she helped me step into the soft white lace, I pulled the dress up my body, and it skimmed all of my delicate curves. I had more muscle than most women, and my curves were more subtle, but this dress highlighted every single one. I didn't think I'd ever felt more feminine.

When I stepped out of the dressing room, I heard audible gasps from both of my sisters, and I knew this was the dress. When I looked into the mirrors behind the platform, I traced the lines of my body, studying the fitted silhouette of the dress, the sweetheart neckline and thin straps, the way the lace fell into a mermaid skirt with a short train. It was perfect.

"This is the one, Ry," Justice breathed, her hand on her heart.

Charlie nodded her head in agreement. "Sham wedding or not, this dress was made for you."

"Shh! We'll talk about that later, Charlie. Knock it off," I whispered back harshly, my eyes darting over to where Katie was hanging up the dresses she'd pulled off the rack. I hoped she hadn't heard. I didn't know how well-known Yates was, and I couldn't let the reality of our engagement get out.

"I'm going to go change, and we can get out of here," I said, hurriedly stepping down and moving into the fitting room. I took out my phone and snapped a quick picture, sending it to Quinn since he couldn't be here with us, and he sent me back about a hundred heart eye emojis.

I slipped the dress off and hung it up gently, afraid that my rough, calloused hands might snag the lace. Carrying the dress up front, I handed over Yates's credit card, and just like that, I had a dress.

"Who's ready for margaritas?" Justice asked.

Charlie and I both raised our hands and laughed. I followed my sisters to Charlie's car, and we made our way to her condo. We were all staying here tonight since I didn't get to see my sisters very often, and both Charlie and Justice managed to get tonight off of work.

We all changed into swimsuits and blended margaritas, which we carried down to the community pool. After we settled into side-by-side lounge chairs, they started in on me. I was grateful I'd been able to hold them off as long as I had.

"Okay, Ryan. What the actual hell is going on?" Charlie asked. I could hear Justice slurping her margarita on my other side. They sandwiched me between them so there was no escape.

"Can you guys trust me when I say I can't tell you? I've got it handled, and I promise everything will make sense in about a year. Until then, I need you to just let it be," I begged.

"Fiiine," Justice whined. "But, you owe us one hell of a story next year."

"Deal," I said quickly.

Charlie sighed sadly. "I honestly thought if you ever got married, it'd be to the boy next door, Maddox?"

Justice nodded vigorously. "Yeah, the bassist for Shadow Phoenix. He's so damn sexy. I can't believe we grew up next door to him.

I sipped my margarita to avoid talking about the guy I'd been hopelessly in love with for more than half of my life. Right now, I was thankful for tequila and sunglasses.

"Do you remember Ryan had the biggest crush on him? You guys were inseparable," Charlie reminisced.

"I remember," Justice said, lowering her sunglasses to waggle her eyebrows at me.

"Yeah, yeah. Make fun all you want, but he was pretty awesome as far as best friends go," I said.

"Don't let Quinn hear you say that," Justice teased.

"Anyway," Charlie continued. "I remember the day I was convinced you guys were going to grow up and get married. It was the day he dared you to climb the huge oak tree by the barn. Do you remember?"

I nodded. "I was terrified, but a dare's a dare. I had to do it."

Charlie laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like you. You climbed up the tree, and you were fine until halfway up, a squirrel popped out of nowhere and scared you so bad you let go of the branch."

Shuddering, I took another sip of my frozen drink. "I hit the ground, and my arm shattered in three places. I still have the scars from where the bone popped out of my skin," I said, tracing the tiny discolored spots on my forearm.

"That's not the part that had me convinced, though, because honestly, you never turned down a dare as a kid," Charlie pointed out. "The part that had me convinced was how Maddox acted when it happened. He forced mom and dad to take him to the hospital, and he slept on your bedroom floor for almost a week. I think he felt bad and he was so worried about you he wouldn't leave your side. I was convinced he loved you even then, at twelve years old."

A tear slid down my cheek at the memory. I hadn't thought about that in years, but she was right. He stayed with me, and every time I cried out in pain because I moved in my sleep or couldn't get comfortable, Maddox was there stroking my hair and telling me it'd be okay, that he'd always be there for me. I guess that's why it hurt so much when he broke his promise to me and left.

"I guess it just wasn't meant to be," I whispered, and thankfully, my sisters dropped it.