24. Chapter Twenty-Four – Lily
Lily
I close my office door behind me with a deep sigh and lean my back against it. It’s been a day full of meetings and I’m just ready to go home, kick back and sit in silence.
My last meeting of the day was with our marketing department about a possible timeline for the live event idea we had and I’m not sure why, but whenever I meet with them, the meetings seem to drag on forever and drain all my energy.
Glancing at the clock right over my desk, I sigh and bump the back of my head against the door. No wonder.
It’s already an hour past the time I usually end my day, but there’s still work to be done. There might be no fires to put out after spending two weeks in Tokyo, but I absolutely have work to catch up on.
So, after taking a deep breath, I sit down behind my desk and plug my laptop back in to at least answer some e-mails when I hear a soft knock on the door .
“Come in,” I say loudly, not looking up from the e-mail I’m in the middle of reading.
Felix pops his head in and grins when he sees me. “Hi.”
“What are you still doing here?” I ask, shaking my head at him disapprovingly. As much as I know it’s expected of me to work longer hours, I’ll be damned if that extends to him. He deserves his rest.
“You know, just finishing up a few things,” he says inconspicuously and opens the door further to come inside. “I got something here you need to sign.”
“Okay.” I hold out my hand look at him, confused. Why is he making such an issue of this?
“What is it? Your time off request?” But before I can get an answer out of him, he’s already out the door, shouting a quick goodbye over his shoulder as he heads into his well-deserved time off.
I look at the stack of papers in my hands curiously.
“What the—?” I flip through the pages quickly and jump up, pacing my office as anxious bile rises in my throat. “What the fuck?”
“Oh, great. Felix made it,” Kayla’s voice comes from the door, and I stop in my tracks, my head shooting up at her.
“Why are you asking me to sign my own contract again?” I ask, frowning and even more confused when Millie suddenly appears next to her with a giddy grin on her face.
“Oh, we’ve added a clause. You know, page twelve, section eighteen. ”
“It’s somewhere around the middle,” Kayla adds, her grin so wide that I can tell something’s up. Millie is the giddy one of the two, not Kayla.
What the hell?
“What’s going on?” I ask them, but quickly flip to the page, my eyes flying over the page.
“What the—?” Right between the clause outlining the non-disclosure agreement and the section on my compensation, there’s a two-sentence paragraph added:
“CEO Lily is permitted to engage in personal relationships with CEOs of other companies, provided that she strictly refrains from disclosing any proprietary or confidential information related to the company. Additionally, she is prohibited from attempting to acquire any sensitive or proprietary information from her partner.”
“What the—?” My eyes dart between the two of them, mouth agape. “How did-”
“We know,” Kayla says with a wide grin, making my blood run cold. He did what?
“How-?”
“You know Adam called us to a meeting for lunch today,” Millie continues what Kayla started, explaining as though they are real-life sisters ending each other’s sentences, even though they share no DNA—maybe a few brain cells, but no DNA. “Such a sneaky guy, right? ”
Kayla continues, “He even had Felix review your contract beforehand and knew it would be okay. And then he still asked us for permission.”
“So we would have been assholes if we said no, and then he was going to ask you out anyway. So here we are, setting it in stone, so to speak,” Millie takes over again, making a motion to the contract in front of me. “Everything else is the same as your old one, but in case you’d like to look it over, take your time.”
I don’t know what to say. My cheeks are red from heat, and my eyes dart between the two of them.
“You should have told us,” Millie scolds me with a pout and I shake my head.
“Seriously, did you really think we’d say ‘No, you can’t date a friend of our boyfriends, how dare you?’” Kayla asks with a chuckle.
I take a deep breath, trying to wrestle the chaos that my thoughts are into a coherent sentence.
“I never looked at it like that, you know.” I cross my arms in front of my chest. “I just figured as long as I didn’t ask you, you couldn’t say no, and then I wouldn’t have to hate you.” I take a deep breath. “And it wasn’t my main issue, anyways.”
“What was it?” Millie asks curiously and narrows her eyes at me. Oh, she’s actually angry that I didn’t talk to them. Fuck. I hadn’t really considered that to be an outcome.
“Our reputation,” I mumble and both of them freeze .
“What?” they shout in unison, and I look down at my desk, not able to meet their eyes.
“So many companies already don’t take us seriously, because we’re all women. I didn’t want to fuel the fire.”
“Oh fuck that.” Kayla starts pacing the room angrily. My heart is beating into my throat as I watch her stomp from one side of my office to the other. I’ve never seen her this emotional.
“We started Siren’s Talent so nobody could tell us what to do. And we sure as hell didn’t start it to please random sexist executives at other companies.” She stops in front of me, and I shrink under her hard gaze. “Fuck them. And fuck you for thinking we’d give a fuck.”
“Sorry.”
“We love you, Lily, but 'sorry' alone doesn't cut it. You’re part of the Sirens family now,” Millie adds from behind Kayla. “Act like it.”
She might not show her anger as obviously as Kayla, but I can still feel it exuding from her so I shoot both of them an apologetic glance.
“I’ll try. Alright?” I say and reach for the contract again, flipping it to the last page.
I know Millie said to take my time, but I trust them. So I click my pen to sign it, noting that their signatures are already on it.
“Wonderful. Then it’s official,” Kayla says, extending her hand to me. Confused, I shake it .
“Congrats on the new boyfriend. He’s waiting for you downstairs.” Both of them burst into giggles as I immediately jump up and grab my jacket and bag and hurry out.
“See you on Monday,” they shout after me, but I barely even realize I’m just leaving them standing in my office.
An elevator ride has never felt so incredibly fucking long.
It feels like we stop at every damn floor to let people in or out, and I’m growing increasingly antsy, fingers tapping against my sides as I will the goddamn elevator to get me to the ground level.
Did he really do all this for me?
He seemed pretty resigned to the possibility of ending things after Tokyo.
Then again, how dare he not respect my wishes?
But was it really what I wanted? The answer is no. And deep in my heart, I know that’s why he did it, even though I told him it couldn’t last past Tokyo.
My heart is racing, and despite my attempts to calm down, I’m just getting more nervous.
Finally, we stop at the ground floor, and it takes everything in me not to push my way through the people who need to leave the elevator before me and elbow them aside to get into the lobby.
But when I finally step out of it, I don’t need to search for him long. As soon as I turn to the lobby, I see him.
It’s not like anyone could miss him, with a giant bouquet in his arms and a smile that could light up the whole building. I shake my head at him, swallowing past the emotional lump in my throat and blinking away the tears welling up in my eyes as I approach.
“You sneaky little—” I start to say as I get closer, but before I can finish, he’s lowered the flowers, his hand at the side of my face, and tilts my head to press his lips against mine, stealing the words right out of my mouth.
This scene is like straight out of a movie.
The butterflies in my stomach are in full flight, and I wrap my arms around his neck, matching his kiss with equal fervor. When he breaks the kiss, both of us are breathless, and without a word, he quickly takes my hand pulls me after him until we’re outside.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Good thing I didn’t ask you anything.” He grins at me over his shoulder as he continues to drag me somewhere.
“A bit presumptuous, don’t you think?” I raise an eyebrow at him, relieved at how easily we fall back into our banter. He ignores me as he comes to a stop at an inconspicuous black car, opening the door for me.
"I told you not to talk to my bosses."
"Good thing I didn't. I talked to my friends."
"Who happen to be my bosses."
He shrugs and shoots me a sheepish smile, motioning for me to get into the car.
“Come on, get in. I’m taking you on a date. ”
I shake my head at him but comply. But not without getting another kiss as I walk past him.
“Good thing I’m really hungry,” I tell him with a wink, and he bursts into laughter. My eyes widen when I see the iced coffee in the center console.
“My bribery attempt,” he says as he closes the door behind him and nods at the coffee. “If you’d said no to the date, I would have tried to bait you with it.”
“Good thing you’re very convincing yourself,” I say, still reaching for it and taking a hefty sip. “Nice and strong, just how I like it.” The car starts and it feels like only now my brain is starting to catch up with the past fifteen minutes.
“You got my coffee order from Felix?”
“Of course I did. There’s nothing I wouldn’t have done to get you on this date,” he admits with a sheepish grin. The driver merges into traffic, and I unbuckle myself to scoot over into the middle seat before buckling myself back in and instinctively laying my head on his shoulder.
“Is this okay?” Adam asks suddenly, sounding unsure. “I know it’s a lot, but I came back from Tokyo and realized I couldn’t let you go without a fight. As bad as I imagined it in Tokyo, reality turned out to be so much worse.” He clears his throat, and I set down the coffee, turning in my seat to face him as well as I can on this backseat.
“I really like you, Lily. Really, really like you. I want to take you on more dates and to go to sleep with you by my side. And I never want to have to imagine another day that you’re not mine. Will you let me date you for real?”
I look at him with glossy eyes, reaching for his hand and taking it in mine.
“Yeah.” I beam up at him and it’s like the weight of the world falls off his shoulders. “Holy fuck, definitely.”
He grins right back at me, contentment washing over his face as he lifts his arm to put it around my shoulders. Like a magnet, my head returns to its spot on his shoulder, and I take a deep breath.
Peace washes over me, all the tumult of the past weeks melting away as his lips press against the side of my head.
“Good,” he says softly, his breath feathering over my hair. “Because it would have been really fucking embarrassing if you didn’t.”
I chuckle against his shirt, knowing I’m probably leaving a makeup stain on it, but I don’t care.
“I’m glad you did. As much as I want you, I might not have had the courage and could have spent the rest of my life wondering about the one that got away.”
“Well, good thing I’m not letting you get away,” he says softly, and I sigh contently.
“Now, where are we going anyway? I hope it’s nothing fancy because I’m not feeling very fancy right now.”
“What do you have in mind?” he asks, meeting my gaze when I look up at him .
“A whole bunch of cuddling,” I say, lifting my hand to count off my points. “Some takeout food and a good movie. How does that sound?”
“It sounds perfect,” he says, pressing another kiss to my head. “Your place or mine?”