The Billion Dollar Playboy [#3]

Chapter 10

"Your father is going to kill me," Theo said as he and the woman he loved walked up the porch of the place he once called home.

Serena pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and giggled. "Just watch what you say and try not to squirm when he talks to you about us."

"How am I suppose to tell the man who acted like a father and mentor that I'm in love with his daughter?"

She blushed and ducked her head to hide it from him. "I love you, Theodore."

"I'll always love you."

"Theodore," Lloyd exclaimed as he pulled the front door open, "I knew that was you when I saw the car in my driveway."

Theo immediately paled at the sight of the aged man. "How have you been, Lloyd?"

"Great," he replied, glancing at his daughter. "Come inside, dear."

"Dad," she said, clutching the handle of her suitcase, "there's something I want to tell you."

"Can it wait for when you're in the house? We have to celebrate your birthday."

Serena glanced at Theo and took his hand in her shaking one before shaking her head at her father. "If he must run, give him a head start."

"What's going on?" Lloyd asked, glancing at their entwined fingers. "Theodore?"

"I'm in love with your daughter, Lloyd." Theo stole a quick breath and prepared himself to make a run for it. "I have been for awhile, and we've been together for a long time."

Lloyd's hazel eyes narrowed on the two hands as a low growl escaped him. "I'm going to give you three seconds to turn back around, get in your car and leave."

"Dad," Serena protested, tightening her hand around Theo's, "please just hear us out."

"You were a son to me," he shouted at Theo. "I let you into my home. What were you doing with my daughter that summer?"

Theo blinked hard. "Nothing, sir. I swear I never hurt her."

"Now I'm sir to you?"

"Dad," Serena sternly said, "none of this is his fault. We're just in love."

"I saw your story on the news," Lloyd said almost accusingly. "You won't break my daughter's heart."

"Please, Lloyd," Theo pleaded desperately. "Let me explain myself."

"You will come inside now, Rena," Lloyd demanded.

"I'm not going anywhere without Theodore," she argued, palming her father's heaving chest, despite his raging fury. "I love him, Dad. Why are you so angry?"

"He's only going to hurt you. I love him like a son, but if it came down to the two of you, I'd choose you over him."

"Lloyd, I can assure you I would never do anything to hurt Serena," Theo said, offering him a small smile. "She's all I want and need, and with your blessing, I'd like to propose to her."

Serena's eyes widened as she turned to look at Theo. He was dead serious. "Theodore, it's barely been six months."

"But I love you, sweetheart. And if you count" - He looked up at Lloyd and cleared his throat - "the other three months, you'd be looking at almost a whole year I have loved you."

"Theo," she started to say until her father interrupted her.

"Get off of my property, Theodore."

Serena rapidly shook her head and wrapped an arm around Theo. "Dad, please don't make him leave. I want to spend my birthday with the people I love."

"What's going on?" Kyle asked from behind the three as he stepped out of his car. "Dad, answer me."

"Did you know about these two?" Lloyd asked his son as he pointed to the couple.

"I've known for a long time," he confessed. "But I don't see the issue. If you want a good man for Serena, Theo is it for her."

"I can't accept this," Lloyd told the three of them. "Theodore is our family but to find out he could see my daughter behind my back and not come to me makes me feel betrayed. Serena, I thought you'd know better than to fall into the hands of someone five years your senior."

"I want Theodore for the rest of my life, Dad." She wiped a fallen tear when her father gave her a rueful smile. "And he wants me, too. For so long, I have only ever wanted him."

"Serena," Lloyd said through a deep sigh, "how could you have kept this from me?"

"I wanted Theodore to be certain of his feelings for me first."

Theo turned to the woman he loved more than life and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her tearstained cheek. "Baby, I'm serious about us. Please believe me."

"He's good for her," Kyle said to his father. "Let's give them a second and head inside, Dad."

Serena fell into sobs the second the two of them disappeared inside and tightened her hold around Theo. "Don't you ever leave me. I won't come back from that."

"Who said I'm ever walking away from you?" he asked, pressing his forehead to hers. "You're all I need, Serena, and one day I want to start our family."

"How soon can that be?"

He grinned. "Whenever I can get you back into bed. I've finally cleared my conscious, sweetheart, and I'm ready to be with you intimately again."

"You're such a hopeless romantic," she said, giggling. "But I love you so much, Theodore Wilder."

"And I love you, Serena. Fuck, baby, let's get married now."

"What?"

"Down at the courthouse," he said, a hopeful grin on his face. "Then we'll come back and have a special ceremony just the way you want."

"I don't care about a ceremony," she admitted, gripping his hands as she glanced at the car. "Let's go."

"You're sure about this?"

"I'm sure about us."