By the time we moved outside for photos, I was grateful that I had the sun shining on me to keep me awake. It was an exhausting day, though. I would have gone straight back to the hotel room if I didn’t have Tyler and the kids in town with me. Plus, our families had come for dinner and to spend some time in this amazing city, and I couldn’t let everyone down.
As we wrapped up the day, I slipped into a sweet summer dress and sandals as I had my car take me to our restaurant for dinner. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I was so excited to see everyone when I walked into the back room and saw the excitement everyone had while enjoying such a beautiful place.
“Summer!” Faith exclaimed as she ran up to me and hugged me.
“Well, hello there little lady,” I said as I hugged her back. “This is one amazing dress you have here.”
I was beyond surprised to see that it wasn’t just our family there, though. Patrick, Amy, and Rebecca were there. Robert and his fiancée were there. The room was packed with our friends and family. What I expected to be a fun dinner with just family had turned into an all out party with so many of our friends in attendance.
“Thank you. Daddy and I went shopping and picked it out for today.”
“I love it.”
“Thomas got a special outfit too,” she said as she pointed to Thomas who was playing with Tyler and laughing at the end of the table.
I waved at them and then at my parents who had gotten up from the table and were heading my way. My mother and father looked so excited to be there with me, and our relationship had grown a lot over the last year.
Learning responsibility had been a bit hard for me, and although I was admittedly really angry when they had first kicked me out of the house, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. Not only did I learn to take care of myself, but I also learned so much about what I valued and what I really wanted in my life.
Their tough love approach had been painful for them. It was probably more painful for them than it had been for me, but I was very grateful that they had the strength to do it. Since being involved in Faith and Thomas’ life, I’d started to realize just how hard being a role model for kids was. Obviously, I wasn’t their parent, but I felt a little taste of that pressure, and it only made me more grateful for what my own parents had done for me.
“You look so pretty, Mom,” I said as I gave her a hug and kiss. “Did you go shopping already without me?”
“You know I had to get a special dress for tonight,” she said as she started to tear up.
I didn’t understand why everyone wanted something special to wear for this dinner. Sure, I was excited to have everyone together, and I’d put on a cute summer dress too. But it was getting a little suspicious that everyone was saying they bought their dresses for this event.
“Dad, you look pretty handsome too,” I joked so as not to leave him out of the conversation.
“Baby girl,” he said so seriously that I was a little worried something was wrong and he was about to tell me horrible news. “I just want to tell you how proud I am of you. You really are showing what a wonderful woman you are, and I love how you have turned out.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I said as I gave him a hug.
“We are going to go sit down,” Mom said. “You know Tyler’s parents are really nice. Have you gotten to meet them yet?”
“Not yet, I’m really nervous about it.”
“You better head over there then. I know Mrs. English was really looking forward to meeting you. Tyler was telling them all about you, and he couldn’t say enough nice things. I really do love that guy. He’s so perfect for you.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I said suspiciously as she and my father went back to their seats.
I motioned to Tyler that I was going to go talk to his family, and he got up and met me over there. He grabbed a hold of my hand and pulled it up to his lips for a little kiss before introducing me to his mother and father.
“Mom, this is the amazing Summer Edwards that I was telling you all about,” he said very gallantly.
“It’s so nice to meet you, young lady. I have heard so many things about you, and I’ve seen all your ads. I can’t believe my shmuck of a son managed to land such a beautiful woman.”
I was pretty sure she was teasing, but it was an odd way of referring to her son.
“Thank you,” I said without knowing what else I could say to that.
“You are beautiful,” his father said to me as he shook my hand and then pulled me in for an awkward hug.
“So my parents have never been to Barcelona, and I sent them on a tour today. Why don’t you guys tell Summer about some of the things you say. Maybe she can decide what we should go see later this week when we have time,” Tyler said as he left me there with his family.
I was a little pissed off that Tyler had disappeared so quickly and basically thrown me to the wolves. They were nice people, but it took me a little bit to get to know their sense of humor and realize that they weren’t always being serious with me.
Mrs. English went on and on about every site they saw while on their tour. To be honest, I was too exhausted to hear most of what she was saying. At one point, I was pretty sure I’d even fallen asleep while she was talking.
I was startled awake by a loud clanging noise that seemed to be coming from the front of the room. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on when I saw Tyler standing in front of everyone on one of the chairs.
He banged a knife against a glass until everyone stopped talking and sat down in their seats. I had no idea why he was making so much noise and trying to get everyone to be quiet.
“Summer, can you come up here?” he asked as he pointed at me and motioned for me to come stand with him.
He got off the chair and put the glass and knife down before looking out at everyone with a huge smile. Thomas and Faith were standing right next to him and had the biggest smiles on their faces that I’d ever seen from the two of them.
“What’s going on?” I asked skeptically.
“You’ll see,” he whispered to me before turning toward our family. “As many of you know, I’ve been in love with this lady for a long time,” Tyler said as he smiled at me. “She might have taken a little longer to fall in love with me, but I think she came around in the end.”
It was an awesome surprise that Tyler had gotten all of our friends and family together and, suddenly as he continued talking, I started to realize what might actually be going on. My hands shook with excitement, and I started to cry before he had even managed to say any of the important stuff.
“Oh, my God,” I said as I was taking in the moment.
“I haven’t even asked you anything yet.” He laughed and then turned back toward the group of our friends. “Okay, so I love this girl, and I happen to know that my two beautiful children love her too and well, we decided that we wanted to ask you something.”
Tyler pulled out a box from his jacket, but he didn’t get down on one knee yet. Instead, Faith came up to me and quietly urged me to come down closer to her.
“I wanted to know if you’d like to be my dad’s wife,” she said softly as she put a necklace around my neck.
She didn’t wait for me to respond before taking a step back and pushing Thomas forward. Thomas was already in tears as he pulled out his own necklace for me and put it around my neck. He wrapped his arms around me and held on tightly as he tried to say something through his tears, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Take a deep breath,” I said softly as I kneeled down in front of him and tried to help him calm down. “You are doing a great job. I’m so excited for this necklace, and I love you very much.”
“I love you,” he finally managed to say before going back and standing behind his father.
I was in tears by the time I stood up, and so was everyone else around me. My mother was barely able to see as her makeup streamed down her face. Patrick was sniffling like a toddler himself, a
nd both Amy and Rebecca looked like they were about to have a total meltdown as they jumped up and down with excitement.
When Tyler finally managed to get down on one knee and pull out the ring, the room erupted with so much excitement that I couldn’t help laughing a little. It was such a surreal moment like something right out of a fairytale, and I took in every last detail of it.
The smell of pasta from the kitchen, the lights as they flickered around the room and even the slight shake in Tyler’s hand as he held the ring up and prepared to say what he had obviously planned out for a long time.
“I’m so lucky. Not many men can say they have been lucky enough to find a true love in their life, and I’ve been doubly blessed. I love you so much. You are truly an amazing woman, and we would like to know if you would be part of our family. So without further ado, will you marry me?”
My eyes were fogged up from the tears and makeup running together. Tyler looked like he could hardly see from his tears, and both of the kids were crying so hard that I just wanted to pick them up and hug them.
“Yes,” I managed to say. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
Tyler slipped the ring on my finger and then grabbed a hold of me and spun me in a circle. As he sat me down, I felt the little hands of Faith and Thomas wrap around me, and the four of us hugged for what had to be five whole minutes. I couldn’t believe how absolutely perfect my life was turning out. I could have never imagined being in this moment with this man and his two beautiful children. I was beyond blessed to have them in my life. At one point in my life, I would have said I didn’t deserve this much happiness, but now I was just grateful to have it in my life.
“Let’s party,” Thomas said so loudly that it made everyone laugh. “I’ve been waiting to dance all day long.”
“Yeah, let’s party.” Tyler laughed as he pulled me onto the tiny dance floor in the corner of the room, and we started dancing to the restaurant music. “I’m so happy you said yes,” he whispered softly into my ear as we moved together to the music.
“I love you,” I said never more sure of anything in my life.
“And they lived happily ever after,” Faith said proudly from the side of the dance floor.
THE END
Dear reader - don’t stop now! It’s getting even better!
Did you like this novel with Summer & Tyler? If you did, I am sure you will love my books “The Billionaire’s Fake Marriage” and “The Deal”, which also feature a lot of the characters from this story. For your reading pleasure, I’ve attached samples of these books on the next pages!
Plus, as a special gift to you I’ve included a new billionaire romance that has never been published before. It is called “Uncovering The Truth” and one more surprise. Enjoy!
Preview of “The Billionaire’s Fake Marriage”
Chapter 1
Lilli
“There’s a guy looking at your ass from that window.” Anna laughed as she pulled me back into the Uber. “You should give him a little show.”
Anna was the kind of friend that could convince anyone to do something crazy. She was fun, carefree, and wild beyond her years. I had only recently connected with her, but she had really spiced up my partying life.
“He’s probably already getting a pretty damn good show. I don’t have on any panties,” I said with a giggle.
For fun, I wiggled my ass back and forth while I continued to lean into the car window and talk to my girlfriends. My legs were wobbly from our evening of drinking and dancing, and I used the time to gather my focus before I had to walk into my house.
“Oh, you’re naughty. Let’s give him a real show,” Anna said as she jumped out of the vehicle and wrapped her arms around me to give me a giant hug.
I had lost my balance as she swung the door open and was barely standing when she wrapped her arms around me. Anna was shorter than me, but she still managed to lift me off the ground. Her arms stayed locked around my waist, and my skirt pressed up toward the crest of my ass. I glanced up at the window as she spun me around and saw my handsome neighbor standing shirtless in his bedroom, watching us. I could only imagine what he was thinking as he looked down at our silly group of girls making so much noise after our night of partying on a weeknight.
He wasn’t even hiding the fact that he was watching us. The light in his bedroom was on, and the curtains were wide open as he stood there with a mischievous smirk on his face. I’d only been back home for a couple of weeks, but a handsome neighbor was certainly one of the perks of being back under my parents’ roof. He was mysterious and much better looking than any of the men I normally hung out with. I estimated he was a few years older than me; okay, actually he was probably ten years older than me, but that didn’t matter for the flirting we were doing.
“He’s still there,” I said to Anna as she sat me down. “But I’m too drunk to stay out here any longer. I’ll see you girls later. I need to get to my bed.”
“Bye Lilli,” Amy yelled from the other side of the vehicle. “Be good, or don’t be good and just go over to that hot guy’s house.”
“See you when I see you,” Rebecca added.
“Are you sure you don’t want to make out and really drive that guy crazy?” Anna asked. “I bet he’s already ragging hard just looking at your ass.”
“No Anna.” I laughed. “I think I’ll pass. I’m not into torturing the poor guy. Plus, I don’t really want to kiss you. No offense.” I giggled as I tried to steady myself against the car.
“Okay, but don’t say I never offered.”
“I promise I won’t say that.”
“Goodnight super-hot neighbor dude,” Anna yelled out as she blew him a kiss.
I reluctantly turned toward the window and waved apologetically as I shook my head at how loud Anna had been. It was three o’clock in the morning. She wasn’t just going to get the hot neighbors attention; she was going to get the attention of the whole damn neighborhood. My upper-class Chicago neighborhood wasn’t exactly a hot spot for late night party girls. Most of my neighbors worked and had families, and one had even mentioned that I seemed to be ‘having a lot of fun’ when they ran into my mother at the grocery store.
My neighbor’s slight grin turned into a full blown smile as he closed his curtains and turned the light off in his room after I waved at him. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who got upset about the noise my friends and I made when coming home from our nights in the town. Over the last few weeks he hadn’t come to the window very often, but occasionally I’d seen him glancing out the window to see what the commotion was. He almost never had a shirt on, which was really how he got his nickname “Hot Neighbor”. I appreciated the ripples of his abs every time I saw him.
He had a scruffy shadow of a beard and a deep olive skin tone. His short brown hair was always messed up like he didn’t have a care at all. I had no idea what he did for work, but from what I heard from my parents, he traveled a lot and had some unusual hours. My hot neighbor was definitely older than I was, but I couldn’t really tell by how many years, and I liked that mystery. I had never actually met the man, only flirted from a distance with quick glances through our windows. He was the perfect fantasy guy.
From what I could figure, my neighbor was gone for long periods of time, and I assumed he was doing top-secret work, or at least that’s what I thought about when I fantasized about him. I’d asked my mother about him, and she said he never had people over, and she’d seen him loading up a single suitcase on several occasions. I’d seen him go out jogging before but never at the same time of the day, so his schedule wasn’t something I could figure out in the short time I had been home. He did tend to stay up late, though, and I’d seen his lights on at all hours of the night, but I hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to him yet.
“Okay get going,” I said to the girls as I tapped on the roof of the car.
The car slowly took off, and I turned to walk inside. I could barely keep myself upright as my heels wobbled in the
cobblestone of my parents’ driveway. My mother had insisted on putting the rocky stone into our driveway instead of a regular cement slab. She obviously hadn’t been thinking about how hard it would be for me to walk in at three o’clock in the morning with my 4-inch heels and a plethora of alcohol in my system.
The five martinis I’d been sipping on all night long were rushing through my blood stream as I tried to unlock my front door. The key flopped around in my hand, slipped through my fingers, and was decidedly uncooperative as I spent at least five minutes trying to get into my house. It was a good thing my parents were heavy sleepers, or I’d surely have heard an earful from them with all the noise I was making.
As the key finally slipped into the lock, I looked up at the neighbor’s window just to make sure he hadn’t seen that debacle. There were no lights on so I couldn’t tell if he had seen me or not, but I hoped he had not. The last thing I wanted him to see was me fumbling and nearly falling as I’d tried to make it into my house; that wasn’t a very ladylike picture at all.
I slipped my heels off as I ascended the wooden stairs of our grand foyer and then walked down the hallway toward my room. Our house was much larger than it needed to be. My parents had their master bedroom on the main floor and never even came upstairs now that all of us kids were older. The upstairs consisted of four very large bedrooms, all with their own bathrooms and walk-in closets. Mine was on the east side of the home and faced the hot neighbor’s house.
I flipped the light on as I walked into my room and then quickly turned it back off so my neighbor couldn’t see into my room as easily. I wasn’t sure if he was still up or if he even cared to look in my room that night, but to give myself the upper hand, I left the light off. My fingers slipped around the smooth blue curtain that covered my window as I pushed it open. In the dark of my bedroom, I had a clear view into the master suite of the hot guy’s house. It was dark also, so I assumed he had gone off to bed.
Bedroom Rodeo: A Billionaire Romance Page 18
