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“You have been able to. That is why I told you to call me Lily. That is why I love you. I know I overreacted. But you didn’t live my life.” She held her hand up when he opened his mouth. “The last thing I wanted to do was bring shame on you or your family.”
“You didn’t,” he said.
“But when West found out he must have been livid.”
“He wasn’t. He has been more annoyed at me,” he said. “For the way I handled this. It was Thomas who looked into you, not West. When I got the information I went to West’s office and he was meeting with Laken. Neither of them was upset or mad at what they read. They were mad at me though for getting upset over it.”
“You had a right to be upset I didn’t tell you. I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t hiding it from you. If you’d asked me straight out I would have started to tell you, but you never did.”
“That’s right,” he said. “I never asked. I should have. I guess if I wanted to know I would have pushed more. But I didn’t want to push you away. I wanted you to feel as if you had control of the pace between us. I knew that you were skittish. You were insecure. I saw what Abby went through with West and was determined not to make the same mistakes.”
“Sometimes having someone give you an example isn’t always a good thing,” she said.
“So I’m learning. But it is who I am. I’m not someone to push all that much. Could be I just knew right away that you were the one and I didn’t want to do anything to lose you.”
She smiled softly. “I talked to Quinn last night. She told me that the reason she went to see our mother alone was because she didn’t want Max to find out. She thought she could handle it. That she didn’t want him to regret being with her and didn’t want him to know. That love makes you do stupid things. Like being held hostage by our mother. I suppose in my way I did the same thing, just not as drastic.”
“I think we both have to stop trying to think we know the answer of how something will turn out and talk to the other and work it out together.”
“I think you’re right,” she said.
He hugged her. “Want to tell me what is going on with your job now? Because I know something happened this week and you weren’t going to tell me. I can figure you out by texts too.”
She laughed and told him about Stella. How her boss was saying that she was only getting attention for dating him. That Lily had no right to take credit for work even though she was the one who did it.
“When Ray told me about Stella having a form of protection in the company, I started to realize that I don’t have much of a future there. I wanted to give a year, but I might not be able to. I was staying longer because you were so close by. Like you not wanting to run to West with things, I don’t want to be the new person causing problems by going to Aaron. I guess I just assumed they knew what was going on.”
“They probably do,” he said. “I want to tell you that you don’t need this headache and to quit.”
“I need a job,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’ll take care of me. I can take care of myself.”
He sighed. “I know you can. So I’ll just give you advice as your boyfriend. I can give you some legal advice if you need it too.”
“Right now I just want to make sure I’ve still got a boyfriend.”
“You do,” he said, hugging her again. He kissed her on the forehead. “I can’t tell you how happy I am we worked this out. Now I don’t have to worry about my mother flying here to patch it up. She threatened that earlier.”
She laughed. “You told your mom what was going on?”
“No. West ratted me out. What a jerk.”
“Or he was giving you a hand to work things out?” she asked. “I’d rather look at it that way.”
“I think you’re right,” he said. “As my mother said, family always sticks together. You’re my family too.”
She laid her head against his chest. “I didn’t know what it was like to have a real family until I was eighteen. Now I’m getting an idea of another one at twenty-four. Better late than never.”
“Yes, it is,” he said kissing her forehead. “You’re where you belong.”
EPILOGUE
Six Weeks Later
“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Braylon said to her on Friday morning.
She’d been staying at his condo more than her apartment, but it was fine. It was like he’d said before—she was where she belonged.
“The same to you,” she said.
