"What do you mean I'm not doing anything?" I say with a chuckle as I look at my little sister who has her arms crossed while she stares at me with a displeased look. "I've done the cake tasting, the suit shopping, and I've even picked out flowers. I feel like I've done plenty to help out with this wedding."

Julian chuckles, walking behind me to wrap his arms around my waist before pressing a kiss to my temple. "Baby, I hate to break it to you, but your sister's definitely done more for this wedding than you have. You only did those things because I wanted your input a bit for this thing and I also needed your suit to fit you on the day."

I turn to look at him with a glare that was supposed to show him that I was angry, but he just chuckled and gave me another kiss, knowing that I wasn't actually mad. I look over at Ivy, who was now giggling slightly as she sat down on the chair next to Jonah, who was typing something on his laptop. "Yeah, sorry, Mila, but I've definitely done more than you."

"Ugh, whatever. It's just a miracle that I helped even a bit and we all know that," I tell them as I sit down in my chair as my fiance walks into the kitchen to make sure my mother is doing okay with the cooking. "I hate planning events like these."

Ivy scoffs, running her hand through her boyfriend's hair. Jonah immediately smiles, looking up at her before wrapping his arms around her shoulder to pull her close. "Yet, you work for a non-profit that has fundraisers all the time."

"Uh, you think he plans those? He just gets the kids and volunteers ready for them and I delegate all the other planning to Nina," Julian tells my sister, making me turn in my chair to give him another glare. When he sees my face, he puts his hands in surrender before giving me a wink that makes me smile, breaking the anger I was trying to show him.

"You couldn't just give one thing to me? I don't want my sister thinking I'm completely incompetent," I tell him. My mother chuckles from her spot in front of the stove before turning towards me and leaning against the white countertops to look at us from our spots at the island.

"She doesn't think your incompetent, you just aren't too great at event planning," my mom says to me.

"She's right," Ivy tells me before looking down at her notebook to continue her studying for her Intro to Economics class. She was a freshman at the college that was about 20 minutes from Julian and I's house, but only 10 minutes from Jonah's apartment, which is where she usually stays on the weekends if she wasn't in her dorm. The two of them were doing great with their relationship and I knew that my sister was happy with him because she talked about him nonstop. Jonah was still Julian's assistant and he even helped me out from time-to-time since Home Our Community was pretty stressful at times.

It's been six months since Julian proposed to me and a year and a half since I started working for Home Our Community, which was thriving. We had 16 homes opened, which was three more than when I started there. We now had two opened in our city because we felt the need to add a second one. We had gotten loads more donations from sponsors and we were doing absolutely great. All the kids seem happy and I feel like Julian and I were doing a good job with running it together. I mean, yeah, we got into fights about a few decisions that the both of us made, but we were pretty good at compromise at this point.

My mom was still dating that architect, Theo, and they even moved in together last month since Ivy had moved into her dorm. My sister and I made it a plan to have lunch or dinner at the house every week to see our mom since I knew that it was hard that both of her kids were out of the house now. She seems happy though, especially since she got promoted to manager at her accounting firm and was majorly in love with her boyfriend. I knew they were taking it slow since this was the first serious relationship that she had been in since my dad died, but she seemed okay with everything. She knew that Ivy and I would step in if I saw that things were turning in a toxic or bad direction, but I don't see something like that happening with Theo.

"Now, tell me about this fundraiser, Julian. What's this one for? You're not thinking of opening another home so soon after the Seattle one, are you?" My mom asks as she walks over to stand next to her boyfriend, who was scrolling through his phone on some news site.

"No, trust me, we probably won't open any more homes anytime soon since we're already so busy. This fundraiser is to just get some more sponsors and to help up the budget for the support center. We're starting to get more kids coming in to just talk with Miles or to make some friends or to even sit in on the support groups, so we just want to make sure we're secure with our money," Julian tells my mother as he starts to open a wine bottle since we were currently celebrating the fact that our Seattle home was finally open after months of planning.

Before I even got involved with the non-profit, Julian had set up this community center for the organization where the volunteers could just hang out away from home and the kids were able to do things like paint or other hobbies. But now, I've expanded it into a support center for not only the kids in Home Our Community, but for others as well. We had support group meetings every Thursday to just talk about issues in the LGBTQ+ community or for people to tell their stories of what they have dealt with. Andrea was the leader on that since she was a licensed psychiatrist and I knew that she loved it since she got to work more closely with kids than she ever got to with Stigma.

"Well, Mila, how's working for the non-profit going for you? And be honest with me, I know you don't want to worry your mother, but I want to make sure my baby is okay," Mom asks me, gaining my attention. I look over at Julian, who looks equally as interested in what my answer is to the question.

"Mom, I promise you, I'm so much happier with this job than I ever was a teacher," I tell her, completely believing everything I was saying. Don't get me wrong, I loved my job as a teacher because I loved those little devils more than anything and I loved working with Mia. But after working for Home Our Community for a while, I've realized that I really thrive with working with older kids. Sure, we still had some young children come to the center or even placed in some of our homes, but it was mostly teenagers. I definitely knew how to handle them better and how to speak their language.

"Well, that's good, I'm so glad," Mom tells me with a genuine smile. 

"Oh, by the way," my fiance says, turning to look at me. "I'm bringing home another TV from PRES. It's just a prototype right now, so it's not the greatest, but I was thinking we could put it in your office since yours isn't looking too good."

I nod my head, used to having his tech gadgets coming here whenever they were just being created or finished. PRES, formerly known as Light Impression, was still the company that Julian focused most on since he absolutely loved technology. He and his board of directors decided to change the name from Light Impression to PRES since it was shorter and so people knew that they didn't just sell cameras, which was the basis of the company, but it's not anymore. PRES stands for Print, Resolution, Electronics, Software to show that they dealt with lots more things than cameras.

"Yeah, that sounds good. How's the monitor coming?" I ask him, mentioning the other tech thing that they were coming up with, which was a curved monitor that was touchscreen and had the most amount of storage than any of the ones on the market currently. It was a little expensive, but it was definitely going to be on the top list of technology you need, Julian was making sure of that.

"Uh, it's alright. There's a few bugs, but we're working through them. You'll be the first one to have it and you know that," he tells me with a wink before turning back to the others who were talking. Just at the mention of his electronics, I'm reminded that my office was currently filled with tablets and phones and laptops and tons of other things that PRES has created over the years since Julian made it a rule that that was the only tech company we used in this house, not that I minded.

"No, I'm just saying, I don't get people showing up to class drunk or high because they're obviously not going to do any work if you're intoxicated. Trust me, I've seen it multiple times," Ivy says with a chuckle as she answers Jonah, who must've brought up the conversation.

"You're not doing that, are you, Ivy?" I ask, trying not to seem too worried that she might be smoking weed or something because I hoped that she wouldn't be an idiot and do any drugs when she knows that we got the addiction gene from our dad. My sister looks at me, her eyes softening when she could tell that I was a bit nervous. I know she's drank a few times before and I couldn't really help that since she was an adult now. I knew she was safe about it and hid it from anyone that could possibly get her in trouble.

"No, Mila, I promise you that I'm not doing anything having to do with drugs," she tells me, her voice softening as she talks to me. I nod my head as Julian wraps his arm around my shoulder, kissing my temple before leaning down to whisper into my ear again.

"She's smart, she wouldn't do that," he reminds me. I nod, looking up at him with a smile before grabbing my wine glass and taking a long sip. My fiance chuckles before grabbing the glass from my hand and setting it down on the counter in front of me as he watches my mom move about the kitchen, knowing exactly where everything is since she usually cooked whenever she was here.

"Mila, what's in your hair?" Jonah asks me and my hand automatically moves up to touch my hair and sure enough, there were a few strands that were stuck together. I move over to the mirror that was hanging on one of the walls in the living room before looking at myself. I see the dried blue paint that was stuck in my hair that must've gotten stuck there yesterday while Bradlee, one of the volunteers at Home Our Community, and I messed around with the paint.

"Oh, it's from yesterday. We're starting a mural in the support center and I must've gotten some paint in my hair," I tell him before walking back over to the counter to lean against it.

"Ooo, a mural? What's it of?" Ivy asks.

"Bradlee drew it for us since he has a background in art. It says Encourage, Lift, and Strengthen one another. For the positive energy spread to one will be felt by us all. For we are connected, one and all. And it has a bunch of designs intertwined in it. It's really cool, you'll definitely have to see it once it's done. It'll look great," I tell them, remembering when Bradlee had shown me the outline. It's beautiful and I know the kids will really take to it since we're putting it in the support group room since that's the place where we really need some positivity since we talk about a lot of negative things in there.

"That's gonna look amazing," Mom says, tasting her creation that was still cooking in a pot that was bringing a wonderful scent to the kitchen. "but, Mila, go wash that paint out of your hair. Why didn't you shower when you got home yesterday?"

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know. Julian and I were busy."

I notice the blush that immediately rises to my partner's face at the memories of what happened as soon as I got home yesterday. Let's just say, we got pretty busy for hours and there was absolutely no time to shower since I would just end up dirty by the end of the night again. Ivy glances at us with a curious look. "What were you two doing? I called you yesterday and you never answered."

I look up at Julian who was hiding his face by the tablet that he held in his hand, searching through the security cameras to not make it obvious of what we were doing. I smirk at my little sister, who immediately hides her face in her hands when she realizes. "Oh, we were definitely doing something."

"Ew, Miles! Just go wash your hair," Mom says with a roll of the eyes along with a disgusted look. I chuckle as I grab Julian by the tie and pull him with me up the stairs. When we reach the bedroom, he closes the door before leaning against it with a sigh as he glares at me. I take a step back, holding my hands up in surrender as he moves towards me quickly before grabbing my waist to pull our bodies flush against one another. I go to say something, but I'm interrupted by his hot lips attacking mine. I moan against his mouth as his tongue runs against mine, effectively cutting me off from saying anything.

I pull on his tie again to bring our chests together before I let my hands roam against his torso that was covered in a black dress shirt and when I go to take it off, he disconnects our lips before grabbing my wrists tightly. I give him an innocent smile as he looks down at me, his cheeks still red from blushing. "Can you not tell your family that we had sex all night yesterday?"

I chuckle, nodding my head before going to kiss him again, but he moves his head away to not let me. I gasp lightly, wanting to touch his lips again, but I'm trapped against his body as he stares down at me. "I won't tell them anything else, just kiss me, please."

He shakes his head, making my bottom lip stick out in a pout before he chuckles. He leans down to trap my lip between his teeth as he stares into my eyes that were filled with lust and love. I smile to take my lip back from his teeth before pressing our lips together again, this time running my tongue over his as he lets go of my wrists to slide his hands down my sides before gripping my ass in his hands. When we pull away, he sets his forehead against mine as he breathes out lightly. "I'm gonna fuck you so hard tonight."

"You better," I whisper to him, moving to take his tie off since I knew he was going to change from his work clothes. I move away from his body, not wanting either of us to get too worked up just yet. We still had people here that we had to see until they left for the night so I walk away from him to go into our bathroom to run my hair underneath the sink water to hopefully get the paint out.

After about 15 minutes, he's changed into dark blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt and my hair was almost completely dried from me running a towel over it. He gives me a smirk before opening our bedroom door and escorting me back to the kitchen where my mom was starting to serve food. We both grab a plate before moving to the couches along with everyone else and turning on a movie as we begin to eat.

"This is very good, Nancy," Theo tells my mom with a smile. I watch as she returns it, patting his hand lightly before turning her attention back to the TV. He stares at her for a bit with a soft smile before looking around and when we make eye contact, I smile at him with a silent nod. A blush creeps onto his cheeks as I try to thank him for being so nice to my mom and he nods back to me before we both turn our attention back to the television.

We all finish our food and then pile our dishes into the sink that I would probably do tomorrow. We all get comfortable on the couches with our partners as we continue to finish the movie. Once the credits start to roll, everyone stands up to stretch. Ivy lets out a sigh as she runs a hand through her hair before grabbing Jonah's hand to pull him off of the comfortable couch. "Well, we better get going. It's getting late."

I nod my head, walking over to her and giving her a hug. "I'll see you later?"

"Of course," she tells me before going over to hug Mom, who was starting to slip her shoes on since she was probably growing tired. Theo comes over to me to shake my hand before thanking us for a good night and shaking Julian's hand as well. Jonah comes over to us, giving me a hug before turning to his boss.

"Are we working tomorrow?" He asks, chewing on his gum that he must've popped in during the movie. Julian looks at his watch to figure out what the date was before looking back up at his assistant.

"I don't know yet, just stay close to your phone," Julian says as we all move out of the living room and kitchen into the foyer as everyone starts to slip on their jackets since it was pretty cold out tonight.

"Alright," Jonah says, moving over to my sister to wrap his arm around her shoulder before escorting her out of the house and into his car as they whisper about something. We say bye to everyone as they start to leave and then close the door once they all start to drive away. Once my fiance turns the lock on the door, he turns toward me with lust-filled eyes and rushing towards me again. I squeal as he picks me off of my feet before twirling me around.

His laugh reaches my ears as he sets me back on the ground, purposefully letting our bodies rub against one another slowly. When my feet are back on the floor, he wraps one of his hands around the back of my neck before connecting our lips in a deep, passionate kiss that leaves my knees weak. I let my hands roam across his toned chest again, feeling his tight abdominal muscles against my palms as my arms move down. He doesn't disconnect our lips as he unzips my sweatshirt before letting it fall onto the ground at our feet.

"Julian," I whisper against his lips as I can feel his growing length against the bottom of my stomach since he was slightly taller than me. He smiles against my mouth before lightly biting my bottom lip and tightening his grip on my throat. He pulls away from my face, letting my lip fall back to my mouth as I trap it between my own teeth, staring up at him.

"Let's go upstairs," he whispers to me before grabbing my hand and pulling me up to our bedroom, lightly placing me against the bed as the night started to get wilder as it was just the two of us in this huge empty house with many, many places to do whatever we wanted.

***

Just a small introduction to inform you on how everyone's doing. But prepare for the drama this book is going to have ;)