How To Propose Accidentally (Book Three): How To Propose Accidentally, #3

By Layla Valentine

I'll lie to her, I'll use her, and I'll… marry her?!
Sure, the proposal was accidental
But once I make her mine, can I really bring myself to let her go?

I'm a business titan, a legend around New York City, and I always get what I want.

With my latest venture – mining priceless lithium out of the ground - I'm bound to make a killing. But there's a catch: the curmudgeonly owner of the land won't budge and refuses to sell to me, no matter what I offer, and no matter what underhanded schemes I think of.

That is, until I learned this man has a hot-as-all-hell daughter, and she's the perfect person to help me get what I want—the land, the mine, and hell, maybe I can have some fun along the way.

I offered her the job of a lifetime at my company, turned on the charm, and made her want me. She'll be putty in my hands.

The snag in my plan was finding myself on one knee, with a ring in my hand. I sure didn't expect to end up accidentally proposing to her, but what if this is the sweetener my scheme needs?

After all the lies, deceit, the manipulation, will she accept my offer? Or scorn me, and dash the only hope I had at my dream business deal?

And what if… what if this all goes badly wrong?

What if I fall in love with her?

This is the third book in the How To Propose Accidentally series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Layla Valentine
• Release date: May 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201068110

Book preview

HOW TO PROPOSE ACCIDENTALLY

Book Three

LAYLA VALENTINE

Copyright © 2022 by Layla Valentine

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

CONTENTS

1. Rachel

2. Rachel

3. Oliver

4. Oliver

5. Oliver

6. Rachel

7. Oliver

8. Oliver

9. Rachel

Epilogue

CHAPTER 1

RACHEL

Wait. Wait. Was this guy actually serious right now? Was he actually down on his knees at my feet, holding up a ring with a diamond that was hardly more than a chip and claiming that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me? Claiming that he’d been happier this week than he’d ever been before, etc, etc, etc?

Was that actually happening?

Because let’s be honest, here, I’d had thoughts throughout the week that he was getting awfully cozy with me and going out of his way to make himself irresistible, sure. But I’d also had thoughts that he was doing it just because he had some business deal in mind, some big ulterior motive. That was exactly why I’d called Aiden and asked him to do research for me.

I hadn’t thought…

Marriage?

I had never particularly wanted it, honestly. I’d never been one of those girls who grew up planning her wedding or writing down what the perfect groom would be like or even thinking about what life would be like when you were attached to one person for the rest of time. I’d had way too much to think about in terms of taking care of my dad and that damned campground—and after that, my career. I’d hoped.

The idea of marriage had honestly never come up in my plans for myself. I just didn’t think I wanted to take the time to take care of someone else. Worry about their feelings and what they were doing with their life, worry about whether they were happy and what to do if they got sick.

And most of all, worry about what I would do if I gave my heart away like that—and they left.

And now, quite suddenly…

The entire world shifted, and I started thinking about it. Started thinking about having someone there every night when I went home. Someone in my bed every night to hold me. Someone to talk to whenever I was having a bad day. Someone to hold my hand whenever I needed some extra encouragement.

And then my world shifted again, and that anonymous someone became this man on his knees in front of me. This guy that I had spent a fairytale week with, going to museums in the middle of the night and coffee shops in the early morning, this guy who had closed down entire restaurants just so we could have dinner without a commotion. This guy who had taken me to bed again and again and made my body sing as he paid tribute to me, touching me in places no one else had ever touched, in ways no one else had ever touched me…

This guy that I hadn’t been able to get out of my head all week. This guy who had managed to worm his way into my affections, into my soul, and had then absolutely refused to get out again. This guy who, though I was suspicious of his motives, had become one of the things that I looked forward to every morning when I woke up.

The guy I’d been working so hard to protect myself from, because I didn’t know what his intentions were. Didn’t really even know who he was or what he wanted from me.

The guy I’d fallen for when I wasn’t looking. Because right then, sitting on the patio of that campy little Italian place that supposedly made the best lasagna in the entire state and staring at Oliver Smithfield kneeling at my feet, I realized that I’d gone ahead and fallen in love.

I hadn’t even noticed it. Because I definitely would have stopped it if I had.

Though, right then, I realized that I might not have been able to. I might have noticed it and tried to stop it… and completely failed.

Yes, I whispered, too shocked—at both his actions and my own revelations—to say anything more than that.

A moment later, he was on his feet and sweeping me out of my seat and into a dip, which quickly turned into the deepest, most passionate kiss I’d ever experienced in my entire life. And I was kissing him back, allowing myself to trust in this, to fall into this, to commit