No Deal Breakers

No Deal Breakers

Copyright 2014 Amanda Clark

Published by Amanda Clark at Smashwords

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"You made this decision as much as I did,
we’re both adults here. Will you please come out here and discuss
this with me?" Brian sighed and rested his head against the
bathroom door. "Please, Aria. I promise I won’t hurt you, but we
have to talk about this. We made a commitment, and we need to live
it out."

"No, we don’t need to live it out, we can get
an annulment. It was a stupid idea, and neither of us thought
through it. I don’t know why you’re pushing this, we can put this
behind us and both just move on. You know what they say, what
happens in—"

"If what you’re about to say has anything to
do with things staying in Vegas, save it. Neither of us were
drinking, at all. Yes, it was a thoughtless decision, on both of
our parts. But, believe it or not, I believe marriage is important
and sacred. I’m not giving up before we even give it a shot. I
don’t believe in divorce, especially without cause—"

It was her turn to cut him off. "You need
cause? How about; we’ve known each other for just a few hours!
How’s that for cause?" She had a point, but he just couldn’t give
up on this. He could tell she was scared and desperate from the
moment he met her.

She didn’t seem desperate for a husband or a
free hand out, but she seemed scared to death and desperate to
escape something, or someone. As her husband, it was his
responsibility to help protect her from what or whoever it was that
had her running scared. Regardless of how they ended up in this
union, he would care for her and protect her. He made vows to her,
and intended to keep them. Brian Harris was a man of his word.

"Look, I know this is crazy, but I have
never, ever taken the easy way out, and I don’t intend to start
now. We need to at least talk about this, face to face, not on
opposite sides of a door. Just come out and talk to me, I swear
I’ll stay on the other side of the room and I won’t touch you. We
need to figure this out." Brian plead with her, he couldn’t count
how many times he’d begged her to come out of the bathroom in the
last hour and a half. It was coming down to a battle of the wills,
and if Brian Harris was anything, it was stubborn. He smiled as he
thought of all the times growing up his mother had said, "Brian
William-Eugene Harris, I swear you are the most stubborn thing God
ever created!" Yep, he could do stubborn.

"When you’re ready I’ll be here, waiting.
I’ve got as long as it takes." He said as he walked across the room
to give her some space, and find a seat. He deliberately sat down
in the chair farthest from the bathroom and on the other side of
the table, he wanted to make her as comfortable as possible, and he
needed her to know that he wasn’t a threat to her. He laced his
fingers together behind his head, and leaned back in the chair
thinking about Aria’s behavior.

When she approached him, she was confident,
and secure. Frankly, he actually wondered for a moment if she was a
prostitute when she came up to him. He shook his head at that
absurd thought. With as terrified as she was of him the second they
got in the taxi to head to the wedding chapel, he knew better. He
was actually relieved to realize that she was shy around men, and
not the aggressor he originally mistook her for. It could have been
really awkward for her to try to make a sale, when he just wanted a
wife. She was flirtatious and talkative, until they were alone. The
second they got in the cab the shutters came down, she scooted to
the opposite end of the seat, and she would flinch away at the most
innocent of touches. He thought for sure she was having second
thoughts, after all, who marries someone they just met? He gave her
several opportunities to back out, but she kept insisting that it
was what she wanted. That’s why he was so shocked that the second
they were back in his room she locked herself in the bathroom and
demanded an annulment. She was like a frightened kitten, and that
broke his heart. She reminded him of Julia right after….he shook
the thoughts off, not wanting his mind to go down that path. What
was he thinking? Who proposes to and marries a stranger? Brian
Harris did, apparently.

He heard the bathroom door click open, and
went rigid. Was she going to talk to him, or dart for the door? He
was putting on a tough façade, but truth be told, if she really
wanted to go, he’d let her. Overbearing wasn’t really his nature,
there was just something about her that called to him to protect
her from the moment he saw her he was drawn to her.

She came around the corner and perched on the
edge of the low dresser that held the television. "Okay, let’s
talk." She said, barely above a whisper, he noticed her eyes
darting between him and the door, before finally settling on her
hands. He immediately relaxed his posture and slumped down into the
chair to make himself look less intimidating, and spoke as gently
as he could.

"Good, that’s a start. I gave you ample
opportunity to change your mind before hand, and you insisted that
this is what you wanted, so why back out now, after we’re legally
married?"

She continued to stare at her hands, wringing
them together in her lap. "I don’t know." She mumbled.

"Okay, fair enough, so what made you say yes
in the first place?" Her head snapped up at that, her chocolate
eyes searing into his, she chewed on her thumbnail as she mulled
over her answer.

"I don’t want to talk about it. I think I
just realized how crazy this is, I don’t even know anything about
you. I don’t even know your full name, birthday, favorite color, or
how you take your coffee. I’m just realizing this was a really bad
idea."

"You don’t have to talk about it, if you
don’t want to. But, I will listen without judgment, when you’re
ready to. I married a stranger too, you know. We both knew this was
crazy when we agreed to do it, but we did, and we’re married now.
My full name is Brian William-Eugene Harris. I was born on July
third, around five in the morning. My momma still holds those
thirty-two hours of hard labor against me." He chuckled at the
thought. "My favorite color is the deep blue of the sky just before
dawn, when it’s just starting to lighten up. I take my coffee with
cream. Real cream, not that powdered stuff, and I drink real coffee
not instant, and not decaf. We have the rest of our lives to get to
know every little detail about each other. How about you? Full
name, birth date, favorite color, and how do you drink your
coffee?"

For the first time since they met, she
giggled. A real giggle, not a forced flirtatious one, but an actual
giggle. It made his heart lighten just the slightest bit. Maybe
this would work after all. "Let’s see, my full name is Arianna
Rochelle….Harris, but I prefer to be called Aria. My birthday is
December twelfth. My favorite color is green, and I drink my coffee
black and strong."

"Green? What sort of an answer is that? What
kind of green? The color of moss on a tree? The color of spring
grass? The color of my nephew’s diaper?"

She rolled her eyes, "I don’t know, just
green I suppose. I’ve never really had to think about it beyond
that. Definitely not the diaper though." They both laughed at that.
"Look, you’re a really nice guy, and handsome too, I’m sure you
have no problems at all finding women to sleep with. You could have
a new one every night if you wanted, so why tie yourself down to
just one? Surely there are easier ways to have your…needs met than
to saddle yourself with a wife."

Brian was stunned. Is that really what she
thought of him? That he just wanted a wife for his physical needs.
"Is that what you think? That I married you for sex?" She dropped
her head again.

"Well, why else…yes, that’s what I
think."

"Well, I’ll have you know that I have no
intention of sleeping with you, at least not until we both know
each other, and are both ready to do so. I wouldn’t sleep with a
woman I don’t know and love, even if she is my wife. I have no
intention of having a different girl every night. I want one girl,
for the rest of my life, to be my first and my last. I meant it
when I said I take marriage seriously. Regardless of how this
marriage started, it is a marriage and I intend on respecting it as
such. I would never force you to do anything you were uncomfortable
with, or pressure you into anything you didn’t want. We can cross
all of these bridges when we come to them.

"But, know that I married you because I want
someone to share every aspect of my life with, not just my bed.
Which you won’t be sharing until we’re both ready for that. This is
a partnership, Aria." He could feel himself getting angry as he
thought of what she thought of him. She just sat there, staring at
him as if he’d sprouted another head.

"I’m going to take a shower; we have an early
flight in the morning." He decided that they both needed some
space, and in the confines of the tiny hotel room, that was the
best he could do.

Aria watched in stunned disbelief as Brian
gathered his shaving kit and pajamas and padded off to the
bathroom. Did he really mean what he said? Did he really intend on
taking her home and not sharing his bed with her? No way could she
get so lucky, luck wasn’t something that was ever on her side.

What would posses a man to marry a woman he
didn’t intend to sleep with? What was wrong with him? Surely
something had to be wrong with him to marry a stranger and just
take care of her without any strings attached. He did say he
wouldn’t sleep with her until they were both ready. What if she was
never ready? Could he live with that? Would he even want her when
he found out who she was?

Definitely not, especially if he was a virgin
like he hinted at. No one would want her after who she had been.
She didn’t have a choice but to go home with him, he had made that
clear. She sighed and looked at the door.

He had given her a choice. She could walk out
the door now and disappear from his life forever. She realized that
he was giving her her space, time to think, and a choice. What
other choice did she have? She thought over her options, as far as
she could tell she had two: find a shelter and hope they had a bed,
not likely since she didn’t have any children, and she'd more than
likely end up back where she started, or worse, or move to Iowa and
live with Brian.

He had offered to take her home with him and
live as husband and wife, and according to him that meant taking
care of her and caring for her needs. Maybe she could do that. He
seemed nice enough, and honestly, he was her best option. No way
would anyone think to search for her way out there. She’d get a job
and earn her own way, she’d cook and clean, and make him so happy
that she was around to help that he wouldn’t want to get rid of
her, even when he realized she couldn’t be the wife he needed, even
when he found out how damaged she was. She would save as much money
as possible, just in case he got tired of the platonic marriage and
kicked her out. She could make it on her own when that
happened.

Brian came out of the bathroom dressed in
blue plaid pajama bottoms and a heather gray long sleeved t-shirt.
As he went around the room tidying his things she took the time to
really look at him. He was several inches taller than her, probably
around six feet; he had dark brown hair, slightly shaggy, but
otherwise well kept and professional looking, and the most
beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen. He was certainly easy on the
eyes, but not overpowering or intimidating in anyway, not like the
men she knew, he carried himself with confidence, but he wasn’t
arrogant. He looked up and caught her staring at him; she felt the
heat flood to her cheeks and ears as she went red at being
caught.

"Did you mean what you said? That you could
be married to me without expecting sex?" She just had to know, if
she was going to do this she needed to lay out her boundaries
now.