Page 45 of Adoration: Isn't What It Seems (Love Isn't What It Seems 2)

“Ah, shit,” I muttered, my emotions finally getting the best of me as I added through sniffles. “I’m sorry too, Layla. It’s been a rough two weeks. I shouldn’t have flipped out like that.”

She sniffed on the other line and made me realize we were all having a hard time with losing Lena.

“Layla, please don’t cry. I… I just don’t have energy for a date right now,” I tried to explain and justify my behavior, but I really didn’t have a valid reason to behave like that towards her. “I’m trying to get some kind of routine going with Brandon. But you should go on the date if you like that guy. Then you can tell me all about it.”

She sniffled. “I miss them.” Her voice was a soft whisper. Layla hated being emotional and this statement alone showed how much she cared.

“I know,” I mumbled through my own sniffles. “I miss them, too. I’m sorry again. You go on that date, and then, call me the next day to tell me all about it. Ok?”

“Ok.”

“I have to go,” I told her. “I need to finish up one thing before leaving and I have to pick up Brandon on time. I’ll talk to you later.”

I remained still with my head in my hands, seconds stretching into minutes. Where was the old me? Two weeks and I felt lost, drained, and exhausted. I could put my head on the desk and close my eyes. Selfishly, I wanted to go home alone and not worry about fixing dinner, or giving Brandon a bath. I was so exhausted, mentally and physically. I didn’t want to do anything. I just wanted to sit and enjoy the quiet.

Chapter Twenty-One

Alexander

Liberty was on the phone and didn’t realize I stood in the doorway. It was wrong of me, but when I heard her mention a double date, I remained still. Since the funeral, I kept my distance, ensuring to give her enough time to come to terms with the loss.

The defiance and spark in her eyes was replaced with sadness and exhaustion. She rarely smiled anymore, even with Maxim around. I wanted to take care of her, make it all better for her, but I knew she wouldn’t accept it. So I schemed to force her to accept my help. There was no chance of me ever getting over this consuming need for Liberty’s body, heart and soul. I stopped fighting it. Let chips fall where they may once she found out it was I that forced her mother to sell her company. But before that happened, I wanted to make sure she was taken care of.

I had my men obtain a copy of her sister’s will, assets, and gather all the information and status on Brandon's custody. In terms of assets, there wasn’t much to speak of. Her secretarial company dissolved with her and her husband’s death. Their life insurance policy barely covered their funeral expenses. Brandon’s custody would be evaluated in the courts even though her sister appointed Liberty as his guardian.

So I put my best men and attorneys to work. I would tie her to me forever by offering her a secured opportunity to keep her sister’s child. If I had to bribe people to transfer the case to a judge I knew and owed me a favor, I would do so. I was adamant about tying Liberty to me, ensuring she and her nephew were taken care of.

Although I wasn’t sure if my primary concern was Liberty’s well-being or if I was feeding my obsession with her.

I finally started to understand my father and his obsession with Lily Smith. I was willing to do anything to have Liberty.The end result justifies the means, right?

My lawyers inquired into the terms that would allow Liberty to become Brandon’s sole and permanent guardian. They thought the chances were slim, considering Liberty didn’t even hold British citizenship.

Short of her marrying a British citizen before her court date, I don’t think she has a very good chance of becoming his permanent guardian,my lawyer told me and my decision was made.

Whether it was my excuse to tie Liberty to me forever or I truly wanted to help her, it was up for debate.

So while Liberty struggled with the sudden responsibility of a child, I set my plans in motion. I would use her determination to keep her nephew as my ticket to make her my wife. Liberty and I fit together. The whole journey my father and her mother started came to closure with us and this attraction between us. We were like gravity, and although we didn’t know it, from the moment she was born the world shifted to bring back together what our parents started.

I loved everything about her… her dedication to people she cared about and her determination to succeed.

She was beautiful, with that dark hair sprawled down her shoulders and her back. Her fingers held on to a few pieces as if trying to hold on to sanity.

I wanted those fingers in my hair, her hands around my neck as she held on for dear life while I made her mine. What was it about this woman that always made my cock stiff? I wanted to make her milky skin flush with desire, that pale skin that was in such contrast with her dark hair.

I winced. I really was a bastard. The woman was grieving and I couldn’t stop imagining her naked underneath me.

She pulled her hand again through her hair. I wondered if she even realized she was doing it. It seemed to be her nervous, fidgety habit. Since her sister died, she did it even more.

“I know what double date means.” Her voice sounded agitated as she answered whoever was talking on the phone.

There was a silence and I wondered if she’d go. Truthfully, I couldn’t believe she didn’t have men throwing themselves at her feet. She had the kind of beauty that shone within her, and her physical appearance matched it.

Her lush lips just invited the images in my mind that made it painful to stand. And those hazel eyes quickly became my fixation. I wanted to see them in the heat of passion as she climaxed under me. Just the thought of it was enough to make me jerk off and spill within minutes, like some teenage boy. She didn’t even realize her eyes changed shade, reflecting her emotions. When she was mad, her eyes became darker, the shade of a deepest forest. When she was sad, they turned a lighter shade of green, when she laughed they shined and glimmered.

Just the thought of her on a date with another man made me want to punch my fist through the wall, which was ridiculous. I knew I was too old for her, over fifteen years her senior, and she was completely enamored with Callen. But the bastard in me didn’t care. I wanted that adoration she had for her ex-fiance transferred to me, and keep it on me for the rest of her life. Even by scheming, lying, and cheating.

I really needed someone to hit me with a bat on the head. Maybe my sanity would come back. I spent entirely too much time thinking about Liberty Rain Smith. And if she ever found out how I forced her mom to sell her business, she’d turn her dislike for me into hate. No, when she found out… because I knew eventually she would find out.

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