Page 29 of Adoration: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 2)

“Liberty,” Callen called out to me. It was past nine in the evening and I was still elbow deep into manuscripts trying to sort through them all. I lifted my head and found him smiling, carefree against my office door. Sometimes I swore he had no worries in the world, like his company wasn’t sinking and needed desperate and immediate saving.

“Yes, Callen,” I finally answered him, feeling tired.

“Why are you working so late?”

“There is tons of stuff to get done.” What kind of question was that?

“Do you know what today is?” he asked me with the little twinkle in his eyes and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Thursday?” I answered, wondering what he was getting at.

“No.”

I frowned. “It’s not Thursday?”

He chuckled. “Yes, it is Thursday. But that is not the significant part today.”

I rolled my eyes. “Ok, I give up. What’s today?”

He watched me with a mischievous smile around his lips. “Give up so easily?”

It was hard to guess what he would come up with. Callen was always full of surprises. I stood up and walked over to him, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“I wouldn’t call it giving up,” I muttered against his chest.

“I missed you this week,” his voice was gentle against my hair. I avoided him all week. It’s been a hard week, for both Lena and me. Mom took her life a year ago this week; it was hard to come to grips with it. I wanted to spend the time with Lena or alone. I missed mom so much, it hurt so much to not be able to just call her and hear her voice. All the little things I took for granted, I could no longer do them because she wasn’t around anymore.

“Did you miss me too?” Callen asked, his voice eager.

“Yes.” I knew I said it wrong when I saw a slight line between his brows.

“What’s wrong, Livy?”

“Nothing,” I forced a happy smile to my lips. “Now, tell me what’s today?”

I placed a gentle kiss against his lips, the taste and softness familiar.

“We’ve known each other for ten months,” he replied with a grin. “And we’ve been dating exactly six months.”

I blinked in confusion. Has it been that long already? How did it go so fast? I knew the significance of six months. I told him if we last six months, I’d take our relationship to the next level. I’d sleep with him. Till now, we kept it platonic, never going past kissing and touching. He was only my third serious boyfriend.

My desk phone buzzed, startling me out of my memories, and I quickly picked up the phone.

“Hello,” I answered.

“Miss Smith,” Alexander Caldwell’s voice reached me through the headphone. “I want to see you in my office. Now.”

With the powerful demand in his voice, I swore my temperature instantly rose to a dangerous degree. Callen never caused such reactions out of me, even when we disagreed on things. I stood up and walked furiously into his office.

I barged in without knocking. I was about to point out his bad manners, but when I saw at least six men staring at me, I immediately shut my mouth and plastered a fake smile on my face.

I’ll give him a piece of my mind later,I promised myself.

“Miss Smith,” Maxim’s cheerful voice with a gleam in his eyes greeted me. He knew exactly what I was going to do. “How nice to see you.”

I ground my teeth, trying to keep words to myself.

“Sit down, Miss Smith,” Alexander commanded me. “And take notes of the discussion.”

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