Conklin's Foundation (Conklin's Trilogy) (47 page)

Tyler pulled my waist so I was pressed against him.  I tilted my head up to look into his smoldering eyes.

“Don’t play with me, Becs.  If you want to see Michael Buble
’, I will pay for it and take you. Don’t try and outbid me, love,” he said sternly then puckered his lips, giving me a sweet and tender kiss.  He kept his arm firmly around my waist as we walked off, not writing down a new bid.  “We have to give our bids some time, although I doubt anyone will pay over $4,000 for box seats to Michael Buble’,” he said trying to hold in his amusement.

We made our way around the room.
Tyler introduced me to many of his Chicago clients.  He periodically went back to the bidding station, making sure no one had out bid him.  I saw him scribble a few times on a few different auctions, and I was almost positive I saw him write over my bid on the Michael Buble’ tickets.

I rolled my eyes at his need for control. 

As Tyler was finishing up his bidding, I headed to find another drink and nearly bumped into the red headed tramp.

What is she doing here?

“Hi, Becca.  Lovely to see you again.  Did you come with Tyler?” she asked overly sweetly.  I ground my teeth at her perfect white smile and perfectly curled hair.  She wore a long, shimmery red dress, and I wished it looked trashy instead of fancy.

“We are in a relationship and it is Valentine
’s Day, so yes, Tyler and I are here together,” I purred, attempting to hold back my claws.

A smile escaped her mouth.  “Of course.  Tyler has never had a girlfriend for Valentine
’s Day.  I’m surprised he drug you to a family fundraiser,” she noted raising a brow.

“I asked him to bring me considering it is for a good cause.  I would assume you’d understand with the state your father is in,” I said flatly.

“My father isn’t a child, but yes.  Jude’s is a wonderful facility,” she said, her eyes becoming narrower.

Was she trying to make me feel stupid? 
I ran my tongue along the inside of my teeth, forcing myself to not say something I would regret. 

“Margo?  I’m surprised to see you here,” Tyler said clearing his throat, wrapping a firm arm around my waist.
  “How is your father settling in?”

“Hello, Tyler.  He wanted to be alone for the evening.  I think the move took a lot out of him.
  Thank you again for everything,” she said sincerely. 

Her eyes were watching Tyler’s hand on my hip as he absentmind
edly stroked his thumb back and forth.  I couldn’t help the satisfied smirk that spread across my face when she seemed to steam over the gesture.  Wanting to further mark my claim, I moved my hand to his chest, smoothing over his coat.  Her eyes followed my hand, and she shook her head, letting out a soft laugh.

“I’m going to go catch up with your mother, Tyler. 
Please save me a dance,” Margo flirted to Tyler, her eyes turning into slits as she brushed past him.  Her shoulder touched his, and she turned back to give a seductive grin.  I was damn near fuming, and thankful Tyler didn’t turn around to watch her walk away.  I didn’t like her tone or her miserable attempt to not be forward. That woman needed to back off.

Tyler looked at me with apprehension
as I watched her walk away.  “Becs I swear I didn’t know she was coming. Please don’t let her ruin our evening,” he begged.

I c
losed my eyes for a long second then opened them.  I wasn’t going to be jealous.  He was mine, and when I got the opportunity, I was going to let Margo know exactly that.

I leaned up and gave Tyler a tender kiss.  “No one is going to ruin our evening.”

Tyler smiled down at me, moving his arm from my waist to my back.  “Come on, let’s go sit down.  Dinner will be served soon.”

My stomach was in knots as we found our table again. 
I was full of nerves to eat dinner with the famous Lee Chino.  Fortunately, when we got to our table, Lee hadn’t arrived, and it looked like he might be a no show.

We sat down at our table once we refilled our drinks. 
It was intriguing to watch Tyler interact with clients in this type of setting.  He was friendly and easy to relate to.  He really held their attention and knew how to wheel and deal.  Maybe he did have more Conklin blood in him like Nathan and RJ. 

It was a turn on to see
Tyler control the table instead of sitting back looking like the wing man.  Every now and then I would feel his hand on my thigh, his thumb caressing me as he chatted with the two men.  Their wives obviously knew each other and were very kind to include me in their conversation, but I only half listened because I was so attuned to Tyler.

Once dinner was finished, the master of ceremony was going to announce the winners of the silent auction.
  Shockingly, Tyler won both the trip to Hawaii and the Michael Buble’ tickets.  I rolled my eyes when his name was announced and everyone clapped.  He gave me his ‘don’t mess with me’ eyebrow lift followed by his mischievous smile.

Margo was sitting with Mary and RJ
at the moment, and I couldn’t help but notice her eyeing Tyler while Mary jabbered.  What did she want from him?  Was it because he was finally happy and with someone else that she was going to finally show interest in him?  Well, it was too late.  He was mine, and I wasn’t going to let him go. 

Once the announcer finished with the silent auction,
music began to play and the party goers began to move around the large space.

“Want to dance?” Tyler asked, running his finger along my thigh.  He was
leaning back in his chair, his other arm resting on the table. 

Just as I was nodding my head to Tyler for a dance, Lee Chino decided to make his appearance.
  Tyler stood to greet him. 

“Tyler Conklin, so nice to see you.  Now I am really upset I missed dinner,” Lee said with a big smile.  He put his hand out to shake Tyler’s. 

Tyler gave him a grin and shook his hand.  “I’m sorry you missed dinner as well.”

“And Becca.  Wow, you have really grown up.  You were this big the last time I was at your house for dinner with your family,” Lee said with a smile
, holding his hand to his waist to insinuate how tall I was when he last saw me.  His skin was a dark complexion like a true Italian.  He was short with short dark hair.

“Nice to see you again,” I said kindly, looping my arm through Tyler’s.  I didn’t like the vibe this guy
was giving off.

“Congratulations on your work in Miami.  I had lunch with your father the other day
, and he informed me you were working with Edna Enterprise the last five weeks,” he said calmly.

I nodded my head and said thank you, wishing Tyler and I could get to the dance floor.  Just to make life more interesting, Margo decided to come and stand by Chino, taking his arm.  I looked skeptically at her display of affection, afraid to look at Tyler and see what his expression might be.

“Tyler, I am very excited to start business after our meeting last Thursday,” Chino said, ignoring Margo’s presence.

So he
did meet with Chino last Thursday. Why was he so afraid to tell me he was out late for work with him? 

Tyler’s eyes became hard.  “We haven’t finalized anything yet.  I prefer we keep all business plans on a low profile
, and in doing so, discuss them in a more appropriate manner.”

I looked up at Tyler and his jaw was clenched.  His eyes met mine
, and he gave me his famous smirk then continued talking to Lee. He actually didn’t seem fazed by Margo’s presence with Lee, but was more irritated that I found out who he was with last Thursday instead.  More reason for me to believe he was done with her.

“I hate to interrupt
, but Lee, you promised me a dance,” Margo said, giving Lee’s arm a gentle tug.  He gave her a sly grin and then turned back to Tyler and me.

“That I did, lovely.  Excuse me.  It was wonderful to see you all grown up, Becca.  And Tyler, I look forward to meeting with you again soon.”

Tyler gave him a hard nod, then took my hand.  “Sounds like a plan.  I promised my Becs a dance too,” he said, giving me an adoring smile.  I blushed at his endearment then peeked over at Margo.  Tyler’s remark had affected her as well, and I couldn’t have been happier.

Tyler
led me to the dance floor and wrapped an arm firmly around my waist and took my hand. 

“Did you plan for the DJ to play a Michael Buble
’ song the second we walked on the dance floor?” I teased, as the singer’s deep voice rose through the speakers.

Tyler grinned down at me, “Maybe…”

I smiled and snuggled in close to him, smelling his sporty cologne on his neck.  It was so intoxicating.  I ran my free hand up the nape of his neck and saw Margo watching us as we danced.  I loved how Tyler didn’t react to her obvious attempts to get his attention tonight.  Maybe they weren’t obvious, but she sure pissed me off.

I brought my attention back to Tyler, happy to finally feel I had the u
pper hand and I wanted to focus on us instead of Margo.

Tyler ran his hand down my
spine and began to hum the song that was playing against my ear.

“
Close your eyes,

Let
me tell you all the reasons why

I think you’re one of a kind.

H
ere’s to you the one that always pulls us through,

Always
do what you got to do,

You
’re one of a kind, thank God your mine
.”

“And you say you
’re not romantic,” I flirted, pulling my head back to look at him.

His eyes were as soft as his voice when he spoke.  “I was supposed to play this for you on Christm
as.”

“And you were supposed to make me a playlist,” I added.

“I was… maybe I will just sing all of them to you,” he murmured.

I giggled and held him close again, enjoying the soft lyrics he sang into my ear.

“
It’s your beauty that betrays you,

Your smile gives you away. 

Cause you’re made of strength and mercy, and my soul is yours to save. 

I know this much is true, wh
en my world was dark and blue,

I know the only one who rescued me was you.
”

I closed my eyes and listened to the words.  I felt the exact same way about him.  He rescued me
just as much as I rescued him.  “Becs I want so much with you,” he said, breaking away from singing.  “I want to be the center of your world like you are mine.  I want to wake up to you every morning, be married,” he said with a fading voice. I took a sharp breath when I looked at him.  He had never said anything about our future. I had only planned it all out in my head.  I tilted my head up to kiss him, but before I could he whispered against my lips, “I want to make babies with you.”

A
shiver went down my spine.  Tyler never seemed comfortable with kids and hearing his confession gave me an uncontrollable warmth throughout my entire body.  I always wanted a family of my own, and I would have been willing to give that up for Tyler, but knowing now he wanted the same things as me made my heart completely magnetize to his.

“I want that too, Tyler,” I said with a shaky breath.

He pulled my body as close to his as he could, kissing me gently and tenderly.  It must have been easy for him since my mouth was still hanging open from his wonderful proclamation.

He pulled away and
continued to murmur the song in my ear:

“When your love pours down on me,

I know I’m finally free. 

So I tell you gratefully,

every single beat in my heart is yours to keep.”

It was as though we were
the only two on the dance floor; my prince charming was sweeping me off my feet at the ball, cocooning me from all of our past baggage.  We finally had conquered what our hearts desired.  Full-blown trust and faith fluttered through me for Tyler, and I knew he was the one.  I always knew, but for whatever reason, tonight seemed to lock in my feelings.

The song ended and a more upbeat tune start
ed to play. Tyler held onto me longer as though everyone was still slow dancing with their partners.  I kept tracing circles on the nape of his neck with my fingertips, enjoying his hand firmly holding my other hand in between our chests.  I could feel his heart beating for me, our pulses intertwined.

Tyler pulled his h
ead back to give me a soft kiss then said, “I have to go talk to RJ quick. Meet me back on the dance floor the next slow song, okay?”

“I look forward to it,” I said calmly, my eyes doughy with warmth and affection for the man I loved.

Tyler kissed my cheek and guided me off the dance floor and back to our table.  He then made his way over to RJ who was standing next to the bar, his eyes fixated on Tyler with his hands in his pockets.

Before I sat down, I noticed Margo walking into the bathroom.  Feeling extremely confident and fearless, I headed to the bathroom after her.  It was time I put her in her place, letting her know to back away from my Ty.