The Weekend Surprise (The Cannon Brothers, #2)

by Jade, Ella

  “Your grandfather hired me. I couldn’t have planned that.”

  “After you put the bait out. Spencer was right about you from the beginning, but I was too stupid to see it. I defended you to my brother. And Coda? She believed you too. She went up against her husband, but he was right. I can’t believe it.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “How did I not see?”

  “I wanted to tell you, but I’m not even sure if he was really my father. I have nothing to back it up. What was I supposed to say?”

  “That there was a possibility you could be related to my sister-in-law.” When he stopped pacing, she saw the agitation in his eyes. “You could have asked for my help.”

  “I wanted to, but would you have believed me?”

  “You didn’t give me a chance to believe you.” He fisted his hands by his sides. “All you had to do was tell me what you suspected. Do you know how many times you could have done that? How many intimate conversations we had?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “What about us? Was any of that real?”

  “Yes.” Didn’t he know he was the most real part of her life? The best part? “You’re the only thing in all of this that I care about.”

  “How can I trust that? How do I know you weren’t playing me?”

  “I would never do that.” She reached for his hand, but he pulled away. “Please.” He had to believe her. “I didn’t plan this from the beginning. Things weren’t supposed to get this far. I wanted to see my sister that day and then I was going to walk away. I never expected to fall in—”

  “No!” He walked toward the door, reaching for the handle. “I can’t do this right now.”

  “Don’t leave.” Desperation settled in. The one thing she had never wanted to happen was unfolding right in front of her. She was losing him. Why hadn’t she told him the truth before this point? “What about everything we shared?”

  “You were so convincing. Was it worth your virginity to get close to Coda?” She heard the venom in his voice, but he was angry and hurt. He couldn’t mean the things he said.

  “Stop it.” She moved to stand next to him, looking into his eyes, trying to find their connection. They were distant and cold. “You don’t mean that.”

  “You were so sincere that first time. I bought your act. I thought it was real. You gave yourself to me and I...” His voice cracked as he waved his hand in the air. She’d never seen him so flustered and unfocused.

  “Everything that happened between us was real. This was always about the two of us. Don’t doubt that.”

  “I doubt you.” He glanced at the envelope with that stupid background check. “I doubt everything you’ve ever said to me.”

  “No,” she whispered as he walked out of her apartment, slamming the door behind him. “I love you,” she sobbed.

  She pressed her forehead against the door before turning and sliding down the thick wooden structure. This wasn’t the way this was supposed to turn out. She never meant to hurt him.

  Chapter 14

  As Tyler poured another drink, the banging on the door intensified. He didn’t want to be bothered tonight. Why couldn’t they leave him alone?

  “Go away!” he shouted.

  “Tyler, Coda and I are coming in,” Spencer responded.

  “It’s not like I can stop you from interfering in my life any more than you already have.” He downed the vodka and quickly poured another before they came in and took it away. He’d need all the alcohol he could get if Spencer was coming in.

  “Whoa.” Coda placed her hand on the glass and pulled it from him. “How many of these have you had?”

  “Does it matter?” He snatched the glass back from her, spilling the alcohol on Coda’s shirt in his attempt.

  “Watch it,” Spencer warned.

  “Sorry, Coda,” Tyler said. “You two should leave. I’m not in the mood for guests. Just go.”

  “We need to talk,” his brother said.

  “About the background check? I don’t want to talk about it.” He plopped down on the sofa. “Isn’t it enough that you were right?”

  “Did you open the file?” his brother asked.

  “Sammy played me.” Tyler poured another drink to replace the one he had spilled, trying not to think about the pain his girlfriend caused him. “I went to her apartment and asked her to tell me what was in it before I opened it. At that point, she knew I had her. She had no choice but to fess up.”

  “I don’t believe that,” Coda said. “I know she cares about you. She has serious feelings for you.”

  “Oh, Coda.” Tyler wasn’t sure how he should tell his sister-in-law what he had learned. “Sammy told me that, well...”

  “We already know,” Spencer said. “Coda went to see her mother this afternoon. She didn’t know I had run the background check. She had her own suspicions.”

  “No,” Coda said to Spencer. “I wanted to put your mind at ease.” She turned her attention back to Tyler. “I thought if I could find out about Sammy and where she came from, Spencer would leave you two alone.”

  “Spencer was right.” He snickered. “Isn’t it annoying that he’s always right?”

  “My mother told me that she knew of the Falcones from the neighborhood. My father had multiple affairs.” She sat down next to Tyler. “My mother suspected there was a child, but she had no proof. She had her own problems after my dad died, so she dismissed the neighborhood chatter as gossip.”

  Coda and her mother had struggled on a daily basis to survive. When her mother was diagnosed with MS, things got even harder. By the time Coda met Spencer, she was in a desperate situation.

  “She’d debated telling me for years, but she didn’t want to stir the pot, especially when she had no proof,” Coda continued. “It looks like the rumors were more than gossip.”

  “So Sammy could be your sister?” Tyler asked. “Unbelievable.”

  “I showed my mother a picture of her. She thinks she has my dad’s eyes.”

  “That’s not proof,” Spencer said. “We’ll need a DNA test.”

  “Slow down, handsome.” Coda smiled at her husband. “We’ll figure all of that out afterward. Right now, Tyler needs us.”

  “I don’t,” he said, shrugging. He didn’t need pity. He’d spent months in a relationship with a woman he thought could be the one, only to find out everything was all about Coda. “I’m fine. It’s not a big deal. You guys don’t need to be here.”

  “Don’t do that.” Coda put her arm around his shoulder. “I know you like her.”

  I love her... “It doesn’t matter.” That wasn’t true, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud. Sammy mattered more than anything in his life. He’d never felt anything close to the emotions he experienced when they were together. That was why her betrayal had crippled him. He never saw it coming. “You should do whatever you need to regarding her, but I’m done.”

  “You don’t mean that,” Spencer said. “She hurt you, but she had her reasons.”

  “Now you’re on her side?” Tyler shook his head. He couldn’t keep up. The alcohol may have been impairing his senses, but he was emotionally drained. “You did nothing but doubt her.”

  “I’m on your side,” Spencer said. “I look out for my own.”

  The doorbell chimed, breaking the tension in the room.

  “God!” Tyler groaned. “Did you call Mom and Grandfather too? I need another drink.”

  Spencer ignored him as he answered the door.

  “Don’t you think she must have been afraid to tell you?” Coda asked Tyler. “She’s young and alone. Try to put yourself in her position. I know where she’s coming from.”

  “She should have told us from the beginning.” He finished his drink, feeling numb all over as the liquid slid down his throat. It was working. He didn’t want to feel anything anymore. “We could have avoided most of this mess.”

  “I don’t think you should be here right now,” Spencer said from the foyer. “It’s not a good time
.”

  “I wanted to check on him,” Sammy said. “He’s not answering his phone.”

  “Let her in, Spencer. She should join the party. I’m sure Coda has so many questions for her sister.”

  “Tyler, don’t do that.” Coda stood from the couch as Spencer came into the room.

  “Don’t do what? Call her out for the liar she is?”

  He watched as Sammy made her way into the room. She stopped in the doorway when her eyes connected with his. Damn her. As mad as he was, he was still so taken with her. All he wanted to do was hold her and make her tell him they were wrong about everything. She’d never lied to him. She trusted him as much as he had her. But that wasn’t going to happen. Nothing was the same now.

  He’d give anything for things to be right between them. Why couldn’t she have trusted him? How could she have let it get this far?

  SAMMY WAITED IN THE archway as Spencer stood by his wife’s side. The awkwardness of the situation set in. As much as she wanted to explain things to Coda, Tyler was her main priority at the moment.

  “What do you want?” Tyler asked.

  “I wanted to see you,” she said. “I didn’t like the way we left things.”

  “Really? I don’t like being lied to.” When he stood and stumbled forward, she realized he had been drinking. Spencer caught him by his arm.

  “Tyler,” Spencer tried to help him back to the couch. “You need to slow down.”

  “I’m fine.” He pulled out of his brother’s hold.

  “No, you’re not.” Sammy came toward him. “Let me help you.”

  “Now might not be the right time to talk to Tyler,” Coda said. “But I have a few questions.”

  “I know, Coda. I didn’t mean to go about this the way I did.” Sammy wished she could go back and change the way she had done things. “All I have to go on is my birth certificate, and my mother could have put your dad’s name on it. I didn’t want to disrupt anyone’s life or make a problem where there was none.”

  “My mother seems to believe what your birth certificate says.” Coda looked down as Spencer took her hand. “You must have thought it was true on some level. You came to our wedding.”

  “I came to the lobby of the hotel the night of your wedding out of curiosity.” Sammy looked at Tyler before continuing. “I wasn’t there to cause a scene or make trouble. I wanted to see you. If we really are sisters, I thought seeing you would be okay. I was never going to tell you or cause issues for you and your mom. I didn’t think that would be fair.”

  “After you got to know me, you could have told me,” Coda said. “We could have figured it out together.”

  “I was afraid you would think I was after something. The more time went by the harder it became. I decided it would be better if you didn’t know.”

  “You should have told me,” Tyler said. “I would have helped you tell Coda. Spencer shouldn’t have had to go to the trouble of finding all of this out the way he did.”

  “The last thing I wanted was to hurt any of you.” Sammy continued to stare at Tyler, hoping they would connect with one another the way they always had. She needed him to believe that he was the only one she was after. “I didn’t expect for things to turn out the way they did.”

  “You made mistakes,” Spencer said. “You could have handled things differently, but we’re past that now.”

  “Maybe you are,” Tyler said, and she detected the hurt and anger in his voice. “I’m not over anything.”

  “Sammy,” Spencer said, “would you be willing to submit to a DNA test? I can’t help you with my brother. That’s between the two of you. I would like to give my wife certainty before any more damage is done.”

  “What my husband means to say is, before anyone else gets hurt, maybe we could find out for sure before we move further in a relationship,” Coda said. “I like you, and I think you’re really good for Tyler. After talking with my mom today, my heart tells me you are my father’s daughter, but Spencer is right, we need to know for sure. It’s silly to guess.”

  “I’ll do whatever you want,” Sammy said. “I want to know for sure too. I thought I could forget about it, but now that you all know what I had suspected, I’d like to know if we’re related.”

  “I’ll set it up.” Spencer looked at Tyler. “Do you want us to stay?”

  “I want all of you to go,” he said. “I want to go to bed.”

  “I can stay,” Spencer said. “Make sure you get settled.”

  “I can walk you out, Sammy,” Coda said. “Maybe tomorrow would be a better time to talk to Tyler.”

  “I don’t want her to come back,” Tyler said, and his words broke her heart. “I don’t want to talk to her again or hear any more lies.”

  You can’t mean that.

  “Tyler,” Coda said. “You need to go to bed.”

  “Don’t come back here.” He stared at Sammy. “Don’t.”

  Even in his intoxicated state, there was a certainty in his voice that scared her. She may be getting a future with a new sister, but in the process she was losing the love of her life. That was a steep price to pay.

  She nodded as she tried to fight back the tears forming in her eyes. “I have to go.” She turned and headed for the foyer. Coda followed her.

  “Wait.” Coda grabbed her arm. “He drank a lot. He doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

  “He does, and I can’t blame him,” Sammy said. “Why are you being so kind to me?”

  “Because you’re my friend.”

  “I wasn’t completely honest with you.”

  “You did what you thought was right. I might not have gone about it the way you did, but you had your reasons. We’ll sort it out.” She squeezed Sammy’s hand. “We all make mistakes and do what we have to do. You were in a tough position. Tyler will see that.”

  “I don’t deserve the way you’re treating me.” Sammy didn’t want to get into anything until they had arranged for the DNA test, but she wanted Coda to know she never meant to hurt her. “I never expected to get close to you. I felt this connection. Maybe it’s because we’re both from the same place and we fell for brothers. I don’t know...”

  “Maybe it’s more than that.” Coda smiled. “Spencer will freak if he knows I’m getting my hopes up about this, but I’ve always wanted a sister.”

  “Me too,” Sammy whispered. “After we became friends and Tyler and I got serious, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want any of you to think I was after your money. I didn’t know what you knew about your dad’s past—how much your mom told you. I was trying to spare you any pain. I know how much your mom means to you, and I didn’t want to create problems where they didn’t exist before. I hope you can believe that.”

  “I do.” Coda hugged her. “We’ll figure it all out. Right now, you should go home and try to relax. I’ll call you when Spencer sets up an appointment for us. Knowing my husband, it will be done in the morning.”

  “Tyler’s never going to forgive me.”

  “You need to give him some time. He’ll come around. Maybe not as fast as you’d like.” Coda glanced down the hall and watched as Spencer helped Tyler to the staircase. “Those Cannon brothers can be a bit stubborn. Tyler cares about you. That’s why he’s so drunk. Give him a day or two.”

  “What choice do I have?”

  Sammy’s gaze connected with Tyler’s as he slowly took the stairs. She’d give anything to be the one helping him into bed right now, but she was the last person he would accept help from. And it was her own fault.

  Chapter 15

  July was hotter than usual, even for New York City. Sammy cranked up her tiny window unit, but the old thing wasn’t efficient, and the four-day heatwave proved to be too much for her air conditioner. It looked to be another long, hot night in her lonely apartment.

  She poured herself a glass of lemonade and settled on the couch with a book. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t concentrate on the words. After reading the same paragraph
four times, she decided reading wasn’t on her agenda tonight. Too many things were bouncing around in her head. She wanted to blame her lack of focus on the heat, but that wasn’t it.

  That morning, Coda had stopped by with the DNA results. Neither woman was all that surprised when the results came back with a 99.9 percent certainty that they were sisters. They had some major catching up to do. Sammy also had some mending to do, and they both decided taking things slow was the best way to handle their new relationship.

  Sammy had resigned from Cannon Advertising earlier in the week. It was the right thing for everyone. It wasn’t fair to Tyler or Coda that she show up there, not after everything that had happened.

  Coda didn’t agree with her choice, especially since Sammy had made the decision before the results came back. But Sammy couldn’t face the Cannons. Not Jack, not Spencer, and especially not Tyler. Every time she thought about him, she saw the hurt in his eyes and she heard the pain in his voice when he told her not to come back to his house. She figured the same went for the office as well. Jack didn’t like her decision. He told her to take a few days to think about it, but as the week progressed, Sammy realized leaving the agency and Tyler was best. They needed a fresh start apart from each other.

  She had to move forward. As exciting as the prospect of gaining a new sister and possibly a bigger family was, she still wasn’t completely happy. The most important part of her life was missing now. She wasn’t sure Tyler would forgive her, and she had no idea how to go about trying to ask for his understanding. Perhaps the best thing she could do for now was focus on a relationship with Coda, and maybe the rest would fall into place.

  A quick tap at the door pulled her from her thoughts. It was after eight and she wasn’t expecting anyone. She definitely wasn’t prepared for a guest. Her hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail. After her shower, she’d decided to throw on a pair of tiny cotton shorts and a tank top in an attempt to keep cool from the horrid temperature. She hadn’t even bothered with a bra.