James's POV

My mind is still processing her question when I feel a rush of a person from the other side of room towards her. As soon as I realise who it is, my jaw tightens and I pull my fingers into a fist to stop myself from reaching out to push him away from her.

She looks like she has seen a ghost, her face is pale and I don't understand why because the last time I saw this dick, he was drooling all over her and she was all smiles. Now, she looks like she wants the ground to swallow her up.

"Oh, the two of you know each other?" Liam speaks up from behind, making Sam turn around as he keeps one of his arms around her shoulder, the sight pissing me off further while she keeps her eyes fixed on me.

I am not the kind of person who has a problem when she and her friends get affectionate, because if that would have been the case, Hale would've been the first one to get a good talk about he should stop pecking her cheeks or hugging her the way he does — where Lillian literally struggles to breathe. Actually that's not true either, even if I was that person, I wouldn't have imposed it on her life but I'm not, yet I can't stand the sight of this man touching her.

"Of course, Lee. You remember Beth and Gabe from Mom's barbecue last month?" Sam casually talks about her parents like he's old friends with them, which only adds on to my annoyance. Liam, however, is oblivious to it as he responds with a nod. "They are her parents."

"Owner of the Vince telecommunication is your father in law?" Liam looks at me in surprise.

Sam's eyes finally land on me, noticing the pissed off expression that for once is evident to the naked eye. The hope I had that he would let go of her shoulder upon seeing my reaction immediately goes into trashcan when the bastard just gives a light squeeze to her shoulder. She gives me a pleading look that I recognise as her asking me to keep it together. She doesn't want to create a scene, neither do I, but I wouldn't shy away from showing him his place if he crosses a line.

I offer the dick a warning glare before masking my emotions and turning to Liam, "Yes. Why are you so surprised?"

"Small world, that's all."

"Stop with the business already." Liam's wife, a petite woman with blonde bob cut speaks up as she approaches my wife. "Hey, I'm Grace."

I notice how very discreetly, she steps out of Sam's grasp and walks over to greet her, "Lillian. You have a lovely place over here."

She's too modest. This is a good place indeed, but it has no vibe like ours. Grace smiles at her. "Oh, it's nothing much. We come here once a year so this one can spend some time with kids and me peacefully."

"Speaking of kids," Sam pipes up from behind, his voice alone making me want to punch him. "Cece, Ken. C'mon here, you little munchkins."

As Liam's kids run from one of the room to the other, Grace turns to me, still smiling, "How are you, James?"

"Doing well, you?"

"Great, it's too surprising yet nice to see a familiar face away from the city," she speaks and I try not to grumble in response because I disagree.

This is one place in my entire life where I come to find peace and mourn my mother, yet somehow life has always tried to trick me and land me in situations that makes it so hard for me to keep my temper in check, something I've struggled always.

Sam kneels down to the children's height and grins at them. "Would you guys like to meet my friend?"

Friend? She's not even your acquaintance, you ass! I look at the way Lillian's eyes light up when she looks at the kids and the small smile on her face almost melts my anger away until Sam speaks up.

"Cece, Kev, this is Lillian." He turns to Lillian who smiles at them. "Lil, this is my niece and nephew."

"Oh, you're so adorable," she gushes, bending down a little to their height as she looks at Cece, who I assume is the older one. "I'm so sorry we didn't get you anything. We wanted to get chocolates but by the time I realised that we were already back at the house."

I know she's truly apologetic because she didn't want to show up without having something for the kids, but then I told her it was fine, so she decided she would send them stuff once we're back in the city.

"Hey, please, this one's already on the verge of cavities and I'm sure as long as Liam gets to drink his favourite wine, nothing else matters." Grace assures Lillian who relaxes with her words.

"C'mon, let's all get settled," Liam announces as we move towards the couches.

Lillian steps towards me, her eyes reading my face as she takes my hand and gives it a little squeeze. I don't think she understands how difficult it is for me to stand someone who's into her and thinks they deserve her more than I do, because that's something I consider often — whether I am worthy enough for her or not.

"Let's just get through dinner without a scene." She whispers to me and I nod at her. "Get done with your business talk."

She's right, I need to focus on what I'm here for. When we take a seat, Lillian shifts closer to me and my hand naturally goes to her exposed lower thigh as I give it a gentle squeeze which earns me a warning look, lightening my mood a little as a blush takes over her cheeks.

"You look a little different, is it your hair?" Sam asks, drawing her attention to himself and sucking my happiness away with that.

"Yeah, I just got it today. Wanted to try something new, so." She shrugs, probably not realising how much it actually suits her and how beautiful she looks.

When I saw her for the first after the haircut, I literally froze because it just makes her blue eyes pop out more, I don't know how but it just does. Lillian, anyhow, is gorgeous even if she fails to acknowledge it. The proof is Sam drooling all over her, and I know he isn't the only man in her life to do so. She always plays it down when I ask her why didn't she ever date in school, or even college but I know there were more than a couple of people who asked her out, but she just wasn't into it.

I wake up every morning and thank my damn stars for being a lucky bastard that she happens to love despite my flaws. After Grace gets us both a drink of our choice, Liam looks at me, gesturing to take his lead.

"We'll go get some business out of the way," Liam clears his throat as he stands up and I turn to Lillian.

"I'll be right back," I tell her and she gives me an encouraging smile as she leans forward to place a kiss on my cheek, making me smile.

She's just trying to keep my mood in check, and I can't say it's not working. When my eyes land on Sam, he's noticing our actions and I grin at him tauntingly. See, ass, I'm the one she loves, not you.

Liam leads us to a room at the back, what looks like a study and I gulp down my drink, which makes him raise an eyebrow at me, "You don't seem to like Sam much."

"No offence, but there's not much to like."

He chuckles at my words, "He's young, and probably doesn't understand much about relationships. Excuse his behaviour if he pulls off anything displeasing."

"I don't think I have much choice with Lillian in the same room to keep me in check." I shrug, being honest, making him shake his head at me. "So, you were mentioning increasing the investment, so I suppose the debts are increasing?"

He sighs, "See, it's not like the company is going under but I'd rather take the measures now than regret couple of years later, you know?"

"Absolutely, planning ahead is always a smart choice," I say as we take a seat on different sides of the desk, "You do know that with the investment increase, the role in decision making would also go up?"

"That's actually what I wanted to talk about," he says, turning on his laptop as he opens a file, "I understand that's how it works conventionally but don't you think Clark Enterprise already is engaged enough? We'll be more open to suggestions and engagement, of course, but the final call should ideally be our own."

His words confuse me as I continue to look at what he's proposing because this actually sounds absolutely absurd. "I don't think you understand, Liam. With the increased share, the money at stake is ours, so how can you still make the final call?"

"I'm not saying that you won't have a say in the matter, but Clark, you've got to agree that ideally our company knows better with what they're doing."

I want to point out that if they really knew what they were doing, they wouldn't be in a debt but that's now how you play it in the business. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I settle back in the chair, going through it in my head before shaking my head.

"That can't be it, I mean, it's a ridiculous assumption on your end too. You can't have the best of both worlds."

He doesn't look fazed by my words as he sighs, "Look, I didn't want to bring this up but this is exactly what your contract with Vince is like. You have the major holdings, yet it's their board calling the decisions, in fact your father is the only one majorly involved over there."

His words immediately make my jaw clench as I stare at him. He must've been waiting to use that card in case I didn't agree with his terms, but what surprises me is how much does he know about this. This isn't public information, in fact, only Gabriel and his board's aware of the contract.

"Hold on, that's completely different. Our contract with Vince is nothing like yours, there are a lot more things that go under it, and you all of people should be aware about that. Also, how do you even know this stuff?"

He shrugs at my words, "Your father in law doesn't hold his liquor well, which is why I was surprised to know you're related, because he didn't mention it. I just assumed you were doing them a favour, but it makes sense to know you're sleeping with his daughter so in-laws and all."

He only angers me further as I try not to break the glass under my hands as I glare at him, pushing him to rethink his words and he sighs, rubbing his forehead against his palm.

"Alright, I apologise, shouldn't have said that, but just understand the plight I'm under. We know how to run the business and you only care about profits, which I promise you will be there."

"No offence, Hudson, but if you knew how to run the business, you wouldn't be using your tactics of borderline manipulation to get a deal done, especially when you're away on a vacation with your family," I speak, my tone clipped because why the fuck should I hold back when he isn't. I'm not the only who needs him, because it's clear he needs the investments more than our company cares for the profits.

"That's a low blow." He breathes, but just earns a shrug in return because I'm just balancing the playfield.

Nevertheless, I think his words over, what he's offering and what can be put at stake to actually strike this deal because if the profits go up, it would double the revenue, there's absolutely no doubt about that.

"I'll offer you a deal, you make the final call on the decisions with my team's engagement, but you sign a clause that if the company goes under with my money, you'll owe me every penny back with double the interest."

He looks taken aback by my words but opens his mouth to speak nonetheless, "Double?"

"Yup." I nod, standing up because I'm done with this conversation. "Or, you let it settle on mutual engagement and decisions. The choice is yours, you can have a week to discuss the decision with your board and give me a call before next weekend."

"You won't settle for anything else?" He arches an eyebrow as he stands up and I smirk at him.

"Nope, too bad you can't sleep with me."

He laughs at that, and I internally relax because Liam is one of our biggest clients, and I don't want a minute disagreement put a dent on our business equation.

"You'll be hearing from me in a week." He extends his hand for me to shake so I do just that.

"Sounds good." I grin before opening the door and stepping out.

My annoyance with Sam now mixes with Gabriel because that man needs to hold his tongue around other clients. I respect him as my father in law, but he's yet to gain my respect as a person because it never settled well with me that he married off his daughter to save his business, even if he later, much later gave her a choice to leave me. It shouldn't be a choice later, she should've had the choice in the beginning, even though I'm grateful for the bond we share now.

I know how the fucked up rules of society piss her off, but she never holds it against her parents because she's too kind to love them. That woman is too damn much for our screwed up world.

When we reach the living room, Lillian is sitting with Kevin in her lap while Sam seems to be talking animatedly with Cece. It pisses me off that he's good with children because I know it magically earns him points with her. He says something which makes Grace laugh, his eyes moving to Lillian who flushes, making me frown and curious to know.

I take a seat by her side and she looks back at me with wide eyes, a little surprised, "Hey."

"Hey, good?"

She nods, grinning as she points to the kid in her lap, "I made a friend."

"Did you now?" I smile, looking at Kevin who has the same grey eyes as his father as he looks at me with them. "Hey, Kevin. I'm James."

"Jim." He giggles. "My friend is Jim."

I frown amusedly at his words and Lillian looks surprised, "Kev, do you have another friend named James?"

He immediately nods, "Yes, Jim! You my friend too."

Lillian's grin is so wide as the little boy reaches out for my arm and she gives me an encouraging nod to hold him so I very carefully, just to keep that smile on her face intact, take the kid from her lap and shift him to mine. The things I would do for her!

"Oh, wow! Is that a first?" She looks at me, her eyes wide with excitement and I offer her a confused look. "Are you holding a kid for the first time?"

"Oh, yes, definitely." I chuckle, looking at the child who seems to be looking at the two of us with his finger in his mouth so I gently pull it away. "It isn't very nice to do that."

"Why?" He pouts, and Lillian waits for me to answer.

"Just isn't, like imagine that you've touched a surface that had germs and you forgot to wash your hands afterwards, so if you put the finger in your mouth, the germs will infect you."

He scowls at me but then processes the words, nodding before pulling his hand away from his mouth. I turn to Lillian, raising my eyebrow as to how did I do and she gives me a proud look. I didn't think she could be proud of me for talking to a child, but apparently she's also full of surprises.

"I want one." She whispers, pouting as she continues to look at me and I shift Kevin on my other leg as I try not to lose my balance on him at her words.

"Lil," I start, reading her expressions because I know how true those words are. "Not now, love, but in a few years, I promise."

I am just not ready. She knows she isn't either, but it's something she fails to acknowledge when she gets overwhelmed, like right now being in the presence of two absolutely adorable kids, she wants one of her own too, one of ours. I want that too, but when the two of us are ready for the responsibility.

"I know, a few years, but just promise me you won't keep repeating that every few years. We'll figure it out eventually."

"Promise." I kiss her, and she gasps in my mouth before I pull away, realising that we're in company.

Our conversation was so shushed that I completely forgot that it wasn't just the two of us. But Grace and Liam don't seem to mind either, Sam on the other hand, is glaring at me as he clears his throat, picking up Cece to keep her in her mother's lap.

"You remember prom night?" He turns to Lillian, grinning as he steps towards my side on the couch, reaching his hands out for Kevin, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all," I let him pick Kevin, aware that he's pulling an asshole move right now before he turns to Lillian again, waiting for her response.

"Of course." She smiles at him genuinely, and I try to keep in check, reminding myself that there isn't an evil bone in her body that would make her be rude to someone unnecessarily.

"It was so funny, honestly, Grace," He turns to his sister-in-law, when I know he's only beginning this conversation on my account as he continues, "We went to same high school, and were always kind of friends but someone beat me to it when I wanted to ask her for prom, so we obviously ended up going with different people."

"You wanted to ask me for prom?" Lillian scowls at him, and I call bullshit right there, because he's just making it up to impress her. "I had no idea."

"Yeah, I did. But then I heard from someone that you already had a date, so I never got the chance," He gives her a sad shrug. Sad, my ass! He's a manipulative dick, that's all. "So, anyway, somehow we ended up spending the prom night together. Her date got drunk within first half an hour, and mine found her best friend to hang out with."

"Oh, god. Don't remind me." Lillian laughs, "Honestly, it was embarrassing on his part, but then I was glad Sam was there."

My fist tightens because I know she's just sharing her experience but to know that they share a memory like that only makes me feel more insecure than I've ever felt in my life. I try to keep my emotions aloof as I look at her smiling at the memory but then my eyes move to Sam and he has that taunting smile on his face.

"It was a pretty good night, won't you agree?" Sam asks and Lillian's smile falters a little, finally catching onto the intention behind his words as she gives him a small smile and a hesitant nod.

Her reaction makes me frown, because just a minute ago she was all smiles and laughter, and now she subconsciously scoots closer to me, her hand finding mine as she gives it a light squeeze. Fuck, what the hell is going on her mind, or better, what the hell happened at prom night?

I can't even recall mine, and the idea of it seems absurd now but for Lillian it was just three years ago, reminding me of our age difference which really is just that, a damn number. But suddenly I want to know what's going on in her thoughts.

She has told me about the two guys she's been on a date with, and that never included Sam. But from the looks of it, prom night sounds pretty much like a date to me. Fuck, did something happen between the two of them? My thoughts seem to take over as I retract my hand from hers and she gives me a look of disbelief, surprise taking over her face.

Before she can speak, Grace announces, "Dinner's ready, let's eat."

Everyone makes their way to the dining table and I do the same as I stand up but Lillian holds my hand back. She scowls at me, "What's wrong with you?"

"What happened between the two of you?" I ask and she immediately shuts up her mouth making me fist my hands as I look away, a curse leaving my mouth. "You guys made out, didn't you?"

"God, no." She whisper-yells, "It was just a peck, a kiss, that's all."

I close my eyes at her words, turning around to leave the space and join others but she doesn't let go of my arm again, "James, it was nothing, it meant nothing."

"Do you really think I care about that?" I try not to raise my voice. "We've talked about it all, every damn thing from our past and you never cared to mention it? You said he just asked you out, and you never went on the date but that sounded like a damn date to me."

"It wasn't," she pleads, "It wasn't a date, we just spent some together and he kissed me, but we never went on a date, and nothing more happened. Honestly, I didn't even remember the kiss until he brought that night up right now, that's how little it means to me. C'mon, you know me better than that."

Her words only piss me off further, because how the hell can you not remember kissing someone? I raise a look of doubt as I read her face, "Do you really want me to believe that?"

"Yes, I really want you to believe me after five months of our marriage, actually I shouldn't have to convince you otherwise."

With that she walks towards the kitchen as I stare at her back. Fuck! How the hell is this day going so much worse than I imagined? Silently I make my way towards the table and all of us together set it up before sitting down to eat.

Lillian and I barely exchange a word over dinner, her words clawing at me as Sam's mood seems to be lighter by the second. I really want to punch the hell out of him. He has absolutely no idea who he's messing up with. After dinner, Liam offers to do the dishes as Grace brings out dessert.

"I made chocolate chip balls with vanilla icings." She grins, going around the room as I stand on the corner watching Lillian play with the kids as Grace offers her the dessert.

She picks it up with a stick before her lips wrap around it in the most seductive manner as she gently bites on it and licks her lips, making me gulp as she compliments Grace. Just then I feel a presence behind me, already aware who it is so it naturally makes me want to dig a grave, especially when I was appreciating how sexy my wife is.

"She really knows how to use those lips of her, doesn't she?" He taunts, his words making me freeze as I take a threatening step towards him, glad that we have no one's attention.

My actions only make him smirk further and I close my eyes momentarily. This is what he wants, he wants to push me to the edge, bring out a reaction so that Lillian would be pissed. One thing she's asked me in a long while is to keep it together tonight, so I'm going to give her that wish. He's just playing games with me because he knows she can never love him the way she loves me, the way she's with me.

Good talk, James!

I return his smirk with my own before full on grinning at him. "How sad must it be for you that with those lips, she only screams my name at night?"

His smirk falters before turning into a scowl and with that, I leave him alone and make my way to the woman who has my heart. I can't believe that I doubted her trust even for a second because if she says she didn't remember it, she didn't. There's no debate about that. My insecurities can run deep, but I trust Lillian more than that.

When I reach her, I kiss her bare shoulder and she jumps a little, looking at me, "I'm sorry for being a dick earlier but can we please leave now? This has been torturing enough."

"So, you believe me?" She raises her eyebrows and I nod.

"Shouldn't have questioned you in the first place. I really am sorry."

She nods, sighing before standing up and turning to Grace, "Thank you for having us tonight, but I'm afraid we'll leave now. I feel super tired."

Grace nods, grinning and Liam enters the room as well. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah, you'll let me know about the contract?" I remind him and he nods, shaking my hand.

Lillian smiles at everyone including the kids, and waves at them. Sam does the same from a distance with a tight lipped smile as we leave, making me smirk.

Once we're in the car, she turns to me, "What did he say to you, or you said to him?"

"Nothing important." I assure her and she looks at my face for a minute before sighing.

"How did the deal go?"

I shrug, "As well as it could've gone, I just want some peace now."

"If you want to be alone, just let me know, alright? You won't even know I'm in the same house."

I sigh, my hand going to her thigh as I rub my hand up and down before settling it. "That's not needed, but thank you."

When we get back to the house, we change into clothes for the night after taking a shower. Once she steps out of the bathroom, I get up from the chair, and move towards her and she frowns at me.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, c'mon there's something I want to show you."

She doesn't protest as I take her hand in mine and lead her towards the stairs at the end of the hallway. It creaks a little under our footsteps but once we reach the attic, her eyes lighten up at the realisation and I grin, having waited for her reaction since morning.

I open the window before carefully using the extra ladder to step out on the roof of the house and she gives me a look, "James, you're going to fall over."

"You wish!" I chuckle. "Give me your hand, okay?"

"If I break a bone, it's on you."

I ignore her words as I step out completely and then tell her to climb up. After she takes my hand, she stumbles out on the top and I tighten my grip on her waist because if she does slide down and falls over, she'll break more than a bone.

"God, you and your stupid obsession with rooftops." She grumbles, making me grin widely as it reminds me of the time we had sex on our apartment's rooftop. I had offered the balcony but then she wanted to be more fun, so we climbed up.

The only difference is that our rooftop back in the city is pretty damn luxurious. Here, this is more close to the heart. I pull her between my legs and tighten my arms around her as I kiss the nape of her neck.

"Look up."

She turns around to frown at me but then I nod eagerly and her neck arches as she stares at the sky, a very audible gasp leaving her as she takes in the beautiful stars that you won't ever see in the city. There's half a moon and her face slowly splits into a smile as she looks back at me.

"This is so beautiful, James." She whispers and I can't help the overwhelming emotion that rushes through me at her words, because I absolutely agree, there's nothing more beautiful than having the love of my life in my arms, under a star filled sky and my heart feeling like it would burst with emotions.

"Yes, it is." I whisper as I kiss her and she reciprocates with the same emotions, making my love for her grow each second she leaves me with this speechless emotion.

We sit in silence for a long while until her eyes meet mine, sadness clear behind them, "How do you feel?"

"Like my heart is getting fixed and broken all at once. I miss her, terribly but I cannot word how grateful I'm to have you here with me."

She sighs, giving me a small smile, "Do you ever want to go visit her?"

I know what she means, I know exactly what she means but I've never entertained the idea because I've been running away from it for a decade now but as she proposes it, and to know that I have her by my side, I nod.

"Next year, we'll go?" She offers, somehow always knowing what's on my mind. "I love you."

"I love you." I tell her, my heart feeling so heavy and light at the same time and I know there's no other way to explain it than through the love I hold for two women in my life, one who sits right in front of me and the one I know is always there for me through her encouraging words in my head.

•••
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