Fool Me Once (Bad Boy Romance)

by Lexy Parker

  There was an eruption of cheers from the stands. It was an impressive crowd. It was the size of crowd I would have loved to play for. I took a deep breath, looking toward the dugout.

  “Guys, I have a big favor I need to ask of you. I’ve got a very special woman here with me today. She’s my reason for breathing, the reason I get out of bed every day and the very reason I pulled myself together after I opted to leave the league. Evie, would you come out here?”

  I could see the look of horror on her face. She was shaking her head.

  “Evie, please, come out with me,” I begged.

  I put on a heavy pout and turned to face the crowd. They caught on to my unspoken wish. They began to chant her name. I shrugged my shoulders when she pointed at me from behind the fence, promising me she was going to rip me a new one as soon as we were alone.

  She came out to the mound, her cheeks stained red as she glared at me. “This was not part of the plan,” she hissed.

  I shook my head, covering the mic with my hand. “No, but I needed you out here.”

  “Why?” she whispered.

  I pulled my hand off the mic. “Evie Flowers is the most amazing woman I have ever met. She is the one who helped me see I was not living my best life a year ago. Since I’ve met her, everything has changed. My life is a million times better and I owe it all to her—well, her and the rest of my friends and family back home, but mostly her. Evie, you’ve made me a very happy man, but I feel like something is missing.”

  Her eyes bulged as she looked up at me. “What?”

  “I want to be happier.”

  I reached into my jeans pocket and pulled out the small black box I’d been carrying around. Her hands clapped over her mouth. I dropped to my knee on the dirt mound. The crowd erupted into screams as the cameras focused on me and put us up on the jumbotron.

  “Evie, will you marry me? Will you make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?”

  Tears were streaming down her face as she nodded her head. “Yes.”

  I got to my feet and fist-bumped. “I don’t know if you all heard that, but she said yes!” I shouted before wrapping my arms around her and swinging her around.

  I stopped and slid the ring on her finger before pulling her in for a sweet kiss. The sounds of the crowd cheering echoed around us. The cheers were better than if I had thrown a no-hitter. Evie went to the dugout while I threw out the first pitch. Once it was done, I grabbed her hand and made our hasty exit. I could watch the game on TV, but in that moment, I didn’t care about baseball. I wanted to celebrate.

  “I can’t believe you did that!” she squealed once were in the back of the car I had hired.

  I laughed. “I wanted to do something big. I wanted to show you how much I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. You changed my life and I am so glad for it. I wake up every morning and see you lying next to me and think I’ve really hit the jackpot.”

  “You keep saying sweet things like that and you’re going to get lucky tonight,” she said with a wink.

  I watched as she held out her hand with the large diamond resting on her finger. “Do you like it?” I asked.

  Picking out an engagement ring had been much harder than I had thought it would be. I had looked at more than a hundred different styles. When I had narrowed it down to a few, I still couldn’t decide. I had enlisted the help of Terri. She hesitated to give me her opinion at first, but I had managed to get her to give me a gentle push in the right direction.

  “I love it. I can’t stop looking at it. I’m going to be one of those women holding her hand out and purposely using my left hand to give money to the clerk, or to open doors just so I can see the ring.”

  I laughed. “Good. I’m glad you like it. Next time, you have to help me pick a ring.”

  “Next time? We’re going to be doing this again?” she asked.

  I shrugged. “I’ll be buying you jewelry in the future. Our first anniversary, Valentine’s Day, your birthday, just because and so on. I’m going to shower you with diamonds. You are going to be dripping with bling.”

  She laughed, shaking her head. “Let’s not get carried away. I’m not a bling kind of girl.”

  “You will be,” I assured her.

  The car stopped in front of the restaurant I had made reservations at. We were escorted to our table. Evie stopped and looked around. “I think they got our reservation messed up,” she said, looking at the table set for five.

  I smiled. “Nope, this is ours. I invited a few special guests.”

  “There you are!” I heard Terri squeal about a second before she nearly knocked me over in her rush to get to her daughter.

  She threw her arms around Evie and hugged her close. I watched as the two of them talked at the same time, both of them crying and laughing as Evie held out her hand to show her mom the ring.

  “How are you here?” Evie asked, wiping her eyes.

  Terri looked at me, smiling proudly. “Your new fiancé flew me out. I watched the whole proposal on a livestream.”

  “You did?” Evie said, turning to look at me.

  I shrugged. “I know how close the two of you are and knew you would want her here with you to celebrate.”

  Just then, I heard my father’s deep voice and turned to greet him. He actually hugged me, shocking the hell out of me. My mom stood back, watching the two of us with tears in her eyes. When my father released me, I hugged her.

  “We should probably take our seats. We’ve already attracted a lot of attention,” my mom said.

  We all sat down, Evie’s hand in mine. “Thank you all for coming out here.”

  “I can’t say I’ll be flying anywhere else anytime soon,” my dad grumbled.

  My mom shushed him. “It wasn’t so bad. You did fine once the plane was in the air.”

  He scowled. “I don’t care. I don’t like flying.”

  “Thank you for coming out, Dad. I wanted you to be here to celebrate with us,” I told him, knowing how big of a deal it was for him to get on the plane, using a ticket I bought and staying in the hotel I paid for.

  I was excited to show them the city and it was going to start with a fine dining experience. It was a happy day and I wanted to celebrate with the people closest to us.

  “This menu,” my mother gasped. “Where are the prices?”

  I laughed. “Don’t worry about the prices.”

  “They don’t put the prices on the menu when it’s expensive,” my dad grumbled.

  “Dad, this is my treat for you. This is me thanking you guys for the past year of support while I got settled in and learned how to live a life I was very unfamiliar with,” I told him.

  He nodded, not arguing with me anymore. When the waiter came around to take our drink orders, I ordered champagne, prepared to make the night truly special. With our glasses full of bubbly, we toasted to new beginnings.

  I had booked rooms at the same hotel, making it easier for us to travel together. We said our goodbyes before Evie and I retired to our suite. She kicked off her shoes and walked to the fluffy white couch, stretching out her legs and holding out her hand for another inspection of the ring.

  “This is all so much. I can’t believe this is my life. I keep asking myself how I managed to snare a guy like you,” she said with a sigh.

  “Easy. You’re hot as hell and I wanted to have sex with you the moment I laid eyes on you,” I said with a laugh.

  She burst into giggles. “I remember your horrible come-ons. You were such a jerk. All I was thinking is why did I get stuck with you for a client.”

  I laughed again. “See, I was a broken man. You changed me. You whipped me into shape and made me into a pretty decent guy.”

  She gave me a scrutinizing look. “I don’t know. I think we’ve still got some work to do.”

  I grinned. “I’m up for doing anything you want. Mold me, baby, I’m putty in your hands.”

  She rolled her eyes and groaned. “Let’s agree to you never try
ing to use horrible phrases like that.”

  “You know you like it,” I teased.

  She scoffed. “You’re too sexy for your own good.”

  “Do you still have that sexy little nurse’s outfit?” I asked playfully.

  She shook her head. “Hell, no. That was an April Fool’s joke.”

  “You wore it the first time you agreed to have dinner with me,” I whispered.

  She smiled. “You remember that?”

  “Oh, hell yes, I remember that. April Fools is now my favorite holiday. You fooled me right into loving you,” I told her, leaning over to give her a kiss.

  “I’m going to let that little line slide because it was cute and clever,” she giggled, kissing me back with a great deal of enthusiasm.

  Epilogue

  Evie

  Six months later

  I swallowed the nerves that had been making feel jittery since I’d woken up that morning. I looked at myself in the mirror, my mother standing behind me, tears in her eyes. I smoothed my hand over the beaded front of the mermaid-style wedding gown I was wearing. My hair was styled up, thick curls hanging down the open back of the gown. It was like being in a fairy tale.

  “Well?” I asked her, our eyes meeting in the mirror.

  “Sweetie, you look beautiful. This day, it’s so special and I know it is going to be perfect.”

  I turned my head to look at Mallory in the dark gray dress that was a similar style and the same color as the one my mom was wearing. She’d put up a hell of a fight when it came to colors, but I had been set on gray from the moment Dayton asked me to marry him. I’d given her hell, telling her I wanted pink and purple, nearly sending her into a fit. It wasn’t until we got to the dress shop and the clerk showed her the dresses I had narrowed it down to that she finally relaxed.

  “I’m not going to cry,” she said in a surly tone.

  I laughed. “Yes, you are.”

  She shook her head. “Nope and you better not either. You’ll smear your makeup and your hair will get messed up. You cannot tell anyone I did your hair. You will absolutely kill my credibility as an edgy stylist.”

  I smirked. “You’re afraid they’ll revoke your goth card if they see you looking absolutely gorgeous in that dress all pretty and fluffy,” I teased her.

  She groaned. “I’m only doing this for you. I will never in my life wear something like this again.”

  “I bet you will. You look gorgeous,” my mom said.

  Mallory smiled. “Thank you, Terri. It is a pretty dress and it isn’t horrible, I suppose.”

  “It is definitely not horrible,” I assured her, sliding my feet into the white satin heels.

  “Are you ready?” my mom asked.

  I nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be. I just know he is going to look amazing in that tux.”

  “Yes, he will. That is certainly a nice piece of eye candy you managed to snare,” Mallory said with a smile.

  “He’s all mine, and today makes it official.”

  “I’ll let them know you’re ready,” my mom said, taking one last look at me before she rushed out of the room.

  Mallory looked at me, beaming, happier than I had ever actually seen her. “I can’t believe you’re getting married.”

  I nodded. “I know.”

  “He’s a good guy. I’m insanely jealous, but I’m also insanely happy for you. I’m glad you’re sticking around. I don’t think I could have tolerated living in this town without you here,” she said.

  I laughed. “I know, I know, you hate Hope. One of these days, you are going to spread those wings and fly out of here, but I have a feeling you’ll be back.”

  She scoffed. “I doubt that.”

  The door opened and Dayton’s father appeared in his tux with a gray bowtie, with my mom right behind him. He looked incredibly handsome. It was only then I saw the resemblance between Dayton and his father. Dayton was a good six inches taller, but they had the same eyes and the same sturdy jawline.

  “Your mom says you’re ready to do this,” he said, smiling as he looked at me.

  I nodded my head. “I am.”

  “Can we have a minute?” he asked my mom and Mallory, who both nodded and quickly left the small changing room we were allowed to use at the hotel we were holding the wedding and reception in.

  “What’s up?” I asked, suddenly worried Dayton had changed his mind.

  “I wanted to personally thank you for helping my son. You helped him in a way his mother and I couldn’t. We tried for years to make him understand there was more to life, but it wasn’t until you walked into his life that he changed. He transformed into the man we had hoped he would one day become. He’s the man he should be now because of you. You have made us happy and proud parents and we are very anxious to officially welcome you to the family,” he said, his voice a little raspy with emotion.

  I used my fingers to fan my face. “You’re going to make me cry and then my friend is going to kill me,” I said with a small laugh.

  “I don’t want you to cry. You look too beautiful to cry,” he assured me.

  I took a few deep breaths and reined back the tears. “Thank you so much for your kind words. I’m looking forward to being a part of the family.”

  “Shall we do this?” he asked, curving his left arm.

  I nodded, looping my arm through his. “Thank you for stepping in today. I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would want to walk me down the aisle.”

  He smiled, tears shimmering in his eyes. “I am very proud to be the one to escort you down the aisle to my son.”

  The music started playing, indicating it was time to go. I took another deep breath and stood at the doorway, watching Kale and Mallory walk down the aisle together. I could see Dayton up front and literally lost my breath. He was incredibly handsome and debonair in the tux. I rarely saw him without his baseball cap, but when I did, I always got that little jolt of excitement in my belly.

  “My God, he is handsome,” I whispered.

  His father laughed as we started our journey down the aisle littered with rose petals. Dayton had met a new friend who’d recently moved to Hope and found love as well. His little girl, who had the prettiest curly brown hair I had ever seen, had stepped in to act as my flower girl. She was grinning at me from her spot up front. I couldn’t wait to have my own little girl one day.

  We stopped in front of the pastor before Dayton’s father officially gave me to him. I turned to face Dayton and saw the love in his eyes. I felt warm and tingly, like I could conquer the world with the man beside me. I knew he would always be beside me. He was nothing like my father. Dayton would be the guy holding my hair back if I was puking in the toilet, the guy making me ginger tea when I didn’t feel well. He would move heaven and earth to be by my side and help me through whatever came my way.

  “Hi,” he whispered.

  I smiled. “Hi.”

  “I like your dress, is it new?” he teased.

  The pastor cleared his throat, drawing Dayton’s attention. I couldn’t stop smiling. My cheeks hurt I was smiling so big. The pastor dove into his rather long-winded speech. I mostly tuned out the words, focusing on Dayton’s face and thinking of our future together, imagining what our children would look like. Would they have my blonde hair or his black hair?

  “Evie?” I heard my name being called and blinked.

  “Yes?” I said, turning to look at the pastor.

  “Do you have anything you’d like to say to your future husband?” he asked.

  I cleared my throat. “The only thing I want to say to him is I love him. I love him with my whole heart. I will always love him, no matter if he has two working arms or one,” I said, earning a small laugh from our guests. “He is the only man I ever want in my life. He is my rock and I cannot wait to begin the rest of our lives together.”

  The pastor nodded and turned to Dayton. “Dayton, do you have anything you’d like to say to your bride?”

  Dayton grinned. “O
h, there’s a lot I want to say, but I don’t think all of it is appropriate for mixed company,” he said with a wink.

  There was loud laughter behind me. I shook my head, knowing it was part of his personality. Ever since he’d left the game, he had been a lighthearted spirit, finding joy in just about everything. It made every day with him a little brighter.

  “I want you to know, I will never leave you. Ever. It would take a pack of wild elephants to drag me away from you and even then, I’d give them hell,” he said, grimacing as he looked at the pastor. “Sorry. Heck. I would give them heck. I’m in this. I’m all in. I don’t care what comes at us, I’m by your side. Come hell or high water—sorry again, Pastor—I’m with you. You’re not getting rid of me.”

  I could feel the tears streaming down my face again. The man had a way with words that brought me to tears almost every time.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  He winked. “That’s not the right words, but that’s okay, because I’m not done yet. You are my best friend in the whole world.”

  His friend Kale cleared his throat loudly behind him. Dayton turned to him and shrugged a shoulder. “Sorry, Kale, she’s a lot prettier than you.”

  Kale harrumphed, earning more laughter from our friends and family. Dayton turned back to look at me. He’d managed to make me laugh and cry in the span of three seconds. I just knew that’s how the rest of our lives would be. He would make me laugh through the tears and that’s exactly what I needed and what I wanted.

  “Anything else?” the pastor asked dryly.

  Dayton pretended to think about it. “Only that I love her.”

  The pastor nodded. “If there is nothing else anyone would like to say, I would very much like to pronounce you husband and wife!”

  Dayton flipped up my veil and smiled at me. His thumb reached for me, wiping away the tears. “Your makeup is on point,” he whispered.

  I burst into giggles. “Thank God, because I’d look a mess right now if it weren’t. It’s going to take a sandblaster to get this mascara off.”