“She’ll probably meet us there,” I said. Everly tilted her head in confusion.
“I think they might want some, well, alone time before his show starts,” I said, trying to keep the topic appropriate. Everly’s eyes widened as she understood. The two were enjoying each other’s company quite often these days, and I had never seen Nick happier. I had a feeling he’d want to release a bit of tension before his exhibit.
“How many paintings is he putting up?” Belle asked.
“I think 15,” I said. “He might have added one or two.” It was hard to keep up with what Nick was doing these days. Our lives had become a whirlwind, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Can I put mine in it?” Abby asked. “Belle, you can put yours in the next one. Uncle Nick won’t mind.”
“We’ll have to ask Uncle Nick about that first,” Everly said. We finished up with breakfast and got ready to leave. Everly confirmed with Lacey that she would meet us at the gallery, and I smirked as Everly smacked my shoulder after making an inappropriate joke about them.
The gallery itself was in the very middle of downtown, a block away from Saint Padres. Everly stared at it as we drove past, but she didn’t give it a second glance.
I left the Giulia with the valet, and we walked up a long set of white marble steps toward the gallery. This was the finest art show Nick had ever been a part of. No doubt his nerves were on edge. I’d seen him a total wreck over much less of a turnout.
“People pay for this stuff?” Belle asked as we examined several intricate and odd statues outside of the entrance.
“You’d be surprised at what people pay for,” Everly said and glanced at me. I smirked, knowing she meant our 20,000 dollar date.
“Some things are just priceless,” I said, and grabbed Abby’s hand before she could rush into the gallery. “I know you’re excited to see Uncle Nick, but you have to be patient, okay? There are really important people here, so can you behave?”
Abby nodded.
“What he said,” Everly said to Belle. Belle grabbed Abby’s hand and entered the gallery.
Everly turned to enter, and I slipped her hand into mine. She paused and looked back at me.
“I haven’t had a kiss in nearly two hours,” I said. I pulled her close and kissed her before pushing a stray strand of her gorgeous hair from her face.
“We’re keeping track now?” She laughed and pulled me into the gallery.
“Someone has to,” I said. She pressed her bare arms against my gray suit as the air-conditioned room surrounded us. It was stark white, with giant paintings hanging on every wall and a separate area that focused on 15 familiar paintings. Abby and Belle were staring at one of them, their heads tilted as they oohed and ahhed at the bright colors.
“He really is talented,” Everly said.
“Did you think we were talking out of our asses this whole time?” I joked. She rolled her eyes and squeezed my hand.
“There’s a bunch of people here.” She glanced around the room and even craned her neck to get a better look. “Some really rich-looking people.”
“That’s why Nick was freaking out. If just one person buys a painting, it usually starts a chain reaction until they’re all sold out.” I realized there were several men and women dressed in clothes richer than mine that were all holding their spots in front of several paintings. “No one wants to be the first person, in case it’s a mistake, so they’re all just waiting for one person to make their move.”
“Why don’t you buy one?” Everly asked. “I mean, if it helps sell all of them, would it hurt?”
I shook my head. “Nick doesn’t want any more favors from me. He wants to do this all on his own.”
Lacey waved at us from across the room, where a very pale Nick was in the middle of a conversation with a world-renowned collector that I recognized from magazines. Everly waved back, but she didn’t let go of my hand.
We took the girls to look at all of the paintings, eventually meeting up with Lacey. A platter of champagne-filled flutes circled the floor, and we were on our third by the time the first purchase was made.
Nick looked as if he were about to throw up, and I made eye contact with him as the rest of the paintings were snatched up. I left Everly’s side for a moment to take a look at the purchase card. Next to each title was price listed and price sold, and beneath the sold section were 15 amounts, each well over half a million. I whistled and showed Everly.
“Did he expect that?” she asked.
“The listing prices were only half a million, so definitely not,” I said. We found Nick and offered our congratulations.
“Which one sold for the highest?” Abby asked. Nick pointed at one in the corner.
“I’ll show you,” Everly said and took Abby’s hand. Belle followed them, and Nick and I were left alone for the moment.
“I can’t believe it,” Nick said.
“I know, I didn’t think you were ever going to sell one,” I teased. Nick shoved my shoulder.
“Man, I was talking about you. I can’t believe you found a woman like her.” He gestured at Everly. “She’s a natural with Abby. I almost feel replaced.”
“No one could ever replace Uncle Nick,” I said, giving him a playful nudge. “You know that.”
“I know.” He shrugged. “I’m serious though, Maddox. She’s perfect for you and Abby. You really got lucky with her. I know it wasn’t easy, but you completed your family.”
I watched as Everly kneeled in front of Abby and discussed the painting. She was smiling as Abby spoke to her, as if Abby were her kid just as much as she was mine.
“You’re right,” I said. But instead of completing our family, Everly expanded it. She belonged with us, and we belonged with her.
Epilogue
Everly
2 Years Later
I felt a lot lighter when I woke in the morning, despite having Maddox’s arm wrapped tightly around me. He was sleeping soundly, as he always did on the weekends, and I couldn’t remember the last time he had woken before me. All You Can Eat had its best numbers in years, and we were opening a specialty fish restaurant on the pier in just a few weeks. That project had been all mine, and I don’t think Maddox realized how special of a gift it had been.
I ran my finger down his strong arms, skin hard with muscle from working out with me nearly every day. It had taken a while to fall into a routine, but now it was impossible to break. He was constantly looking for ways to make our lives exciting, despite me constantly assuring him that our life was as perfect as it could ever be. But that’s what I loved about Maddox; he was always planning and looking toward the future. We complemented one another that way, as I was always reminding him to enjoy the present.
I still wasn’t sure how I had managed to find a man like him. I could leave it to luck, but it felt like something deeper. We were meant to be, and he was meant to be mine. I cuddled up against his chest, enjoying the heat radiating from his body that always seemed to be warmer than mine. His body was beginning to react to mine, and I wondered how much longer we had until Abby’s eventual interruption.
“Daddy! Everly!” her voice yelled through the door before she flung it open. Maddox’s arm tightened around me as Abby jumped onto the bed and pounced on us. I laughed as Maddox groaned in my ear. What perfect timing.
“It’s time to get up!” she said. Her blonde curls were past her shoulders now, and as a 5-year-old, she was talking nonstop. “We need to eat breakfast and then go to the park and then maybe the animal shelter because I heard that they do free adoptions on weekends and I was thinking that what we needed was a dog.”
“Oh, is that right?” Maddox said. I smirked as Abby continued planning our day. She had a love for planning things, a trait she definitely took from her father.
“A dog?” I asked. “Are you sure you don’t want another cat?”
Both Abby and Maddox shook their heads.
“Nope. One cat is enough,” Abby said.
“How about no dogs and we get rid of the cat we have?” Maddox suggested. He crawled out of bed and slipped a T-shirt on. “I’ll start breakfast.”
“How do we convince him to get a dog and leave my kitty alone?” Abby asked me as I leaned back against the bed.
“How about this?” I said, and attacked her with tickles. She giggled and tried squirming out of my grasp, but I held her body against mine.
“That’s not going to help!” she yelled. Maddox crossed the room and watched with a smile as I tickled her. He had a pensive expression, eyebrows drawn up and the side of his smile tilted upwards, but he didn’t say any words.
Abby and I joined him for breakfast, an omelet full of vegetables with a side of fruit. We’ve been eating healthy for a little over a year now, but every now and then, I’ve snuck Abby and Nick muffins.
“So, there’s a special event tonight,” Maddox said as we ate.
“Oh?” I didn’t know of anything.
“Nick’s art show had the most purchases of any art show this year. It’s been his most successful one to date,” Maddox said.
“And mine was in it!” Abby yelled.
“I remember, I was there,” I told her and turned to Maddox. “I didn’t know it was such a big deal, though.”
“I guess in the art world it is. So, they’re having a special dinner at one of the newest upscale restaurants downtown,” Maddox said. “He wanted to know if we’ll be there for him.”
“Of course we’ll be there,” I said. “Should I invite Lacey?” Lacey and Nick had been in a constant will-they-won’t-they battle for two years.
“I already extended the offer,” Maddox said. “She said they’ll meet us there.”
“So we can go to the park and the animal shelter and then get ready for this special dinner?” Abby asked.
“We can go to the park,” Maddox said. Abby groaned and finished her omelet. I snuck out a muffin from one of the pantries and handed it to her behind Maddox’s back.
We spent the afternoon with a picnic at the park, and I managed to convince Maddox to take us to the animal shelter for 10 minutes. He had planned on staying in the car, but Abby and I begged him to come inside with us.
We found a small shepherd mix puppy in the corner of one of the cages, and surprisingly enough, Maddox was the one who fell in love.
“We can make him shepherd pies!” Abby said. “Oh, please Daddy?”
“No puppies,” he said, but he eyed the puppy on our way out and asked a worker for an adoption application. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said to me, and we returned home to get ready for the dinner. I followed Abby into her room and helped her pick out a dress.
“What’s your favorite one?” Abby asked. I picked a red dress with gold lace and held it against her.
“This is perfect,” I said. “Now, what about me?” We took her dress and went into my closet, flipping through way too many dresses.
“What about this one?” she asked. It was a tight black dress with a soft brown layer across the chest and half sleeves. “It makes your eyes greener.”
I remembered what Maddox had once said about my eyes and nodded. We helped each other zip up our dresses, and I clasped a pearl necklace around Abby’s neck. I stared a moment at the special child, and my heart warmed that I had her in my life. Even though I’d not wanted children in my life, I’d never trade her for anything in the world. She’d shown me that life didn’t always give us what we thought was best, but rather what was best for us. I remembered the words of that silly song my mother had teased me about. Que será, será, indeed. Life had shown me what would be and I was grateful for how it had turned out.
“We’re going to be late,” Maddox called from the living room, pulling me out of my daze. I held Abby’s hand as we walked down the stairs. Her shoes had slight wedges to them, and I was teaching her how to walk without an awkward wobble in her step. She was getting the hang of it better than I had at her age.
“Wow,” Maddox said as he saw us. I self-consciously played with the strands that curled around my ears. “You both look beautiful.”
“We picked out each other’s dresses,” Abby said. “We’re ready!”
We all climbed into Maddox’s new family car, a sleek black Jaguar, and Abby and I took turns singing as Maddox pulled onto the highway.
It wasn’t long until I realized we were passing by downtown, and heading toward the pier.
“I thought you said we were going to be late?” I asked.
“I just have to check out something first,” Maddox said as we pulled into the parking lot for the restaurant’s newest location on the pier.
“This couldn’t wait until afterward?” He left the car, and Abby hopped out. “Should we wait?”
“No, it might take a while. Just come in. Apparently they finished the second floor earlier today,” Maddox said. I gasped; the second floor of the restaurant was my pride and glory, an upscale, fine dining experience on top of a casual fish restaurant with the best views of the ocean in all of Seattle. Forgetting all about Nick’s dinner, I gleefully joined Abby and followed Maddox into the restaurant and up the stairs.
What I found made me trip over my feet.
An empty room with a single table in the middle greeted me, with three chairs and a single rose in the middle. The room was lined with beautiful candles that were shaped like giant statues inside metal basins, and the windows were pushed wide open and looked out over giant, powerful waves of a high tide. I realized the door to the kitchen was half opened, and that the kitchen itself was lit with at least a dozen chefs preparing food.
“What’s going on, Maddox?” I asked. “Is the celebration here?”
“No,” he said. ‘There is no celebration; I just wanted a night to ourselves.” He gestured at the three of us and pulled me toward the window. The fresh sea breeze danced around my hair and covered my skin in faint goosebumps.
“Just us?” I asked.
“Just us, my family,” he said. “Everly, my whole life I thought I had everything figured out, and each time something unexpected happened, I always had a plan. I planned for everything, but I never planned to fall in love.”
I blinked away tears.
“And the moment I saw you at that auction, I knew I was going to fall in love with you. But for the first time ever, I didn’t have a plan for that. I didn’t know what I was going to do. So for a while, I just let myself fall in love and prayed that you would fall in love with me. We’re already a family, you, Abby, and I. And now, I want to make it official.”
Abby held something behind her back and moved in front of Maddox. She held out a box with a giant golden bow around it and opened it. A diamond ring sat on a bed of flowers, silver on top of silver, and sparkled beneath the night sky.
“Will you marry me, Everly?” Maddox asked. “Or, should I say us?”
“Please?” Abby asked. I fell on my knees and pulled her into a hug.
“Yes,” I said and kissed Abby’s cheek. Tears were on both of our faces as Abby handed me the ring. It slid on perfectly.
Maddox grabbed my hand and helped me stand.
“Think you could say yes to me as well?” he asked, and I laughed.
“Yes,” I said again, and he pulled me into a kiss as Abby held my hand. In that moment, I knew what true happiness was.
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BILLIONAIRE’S VACATION
By Claire Adams
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 Claire Adams
Chapter One
Christian
&nbs
p; I tapped my fingers against the edge of the couch as I waited for them to finish the final sound check and whatever other miscellaneous things that they were doing. I thought that they would get all that done while I was still in hair and wardrobe, but apparently, they weren't aware of how valuable my time was. I should have charged them extra.
“All right, I think we're ready,” Kelly, the interviewer, said, dropping into a seat to my left and giving me a winning smile. As though she needed a smile like that with legs like those. I watched as she carefully crossed her long, tanned, muscular limbs in front of her and carefully arranged her navy skirt. When she leaned toward me, clearly trying to appear friendly for the cameras, I caught a glimpse of a lacy, black bra beneath her gray shirt. Maybe she wasn't quite as straight-laced and prim as she appeared to be.
I smiled back at her, albeit more predatorily than anything else. I was so going to bag her by the end of the night no doubt. No woman could resist me for too long, though the small portion of the chase was most of the fun.
“All right, everyone, we're live in three, two, one!”
“Rolling!”
Kelly turned toward the cameras, giving her viewers her classic grin. She was a pretty girl, no doubt. Half the reason the viewers watched her was because she reminded them of who they wanted to be. Young. Successful. Sexy.
“All right, everyone, we're here on The Latest, bringing you the best in entertainment interviews and gossip. And tonight, we have a very special guest for you: Christian Wall!” There was clapping from the studio audience, and even though I hated interviews like this, I forced a charming smile on my face. Time to put on my best façade and give them what they wanted. Sounded like the cadence of my life story.
The thing was, even though I wasn't the sole owner of Sunrise Real Estate, I was the face of the company. I loved working press conferences, and I loved going out and talking to people who were looking to buy houses and helping them find their dream homes. I'd had the chance to be on a number of reality TV shows where I helped sell homes to couples looking in various cities that we operated in, and that was always worth all the fuss.
Daddy Boss (A Boss Romance Love Story) Page 48