Emma’s POV
The words sounded so venomous to me. Like they were filled with hate and spite.
Is this man okay? I thought to myself, trying to comprehend why he was having such an attitude with me. We’ve never spoken before for Christ’s sake. So why on earth was he talking to me like we were fighting? Like I was a slave and he’s my master.
There wasn’t anything that didn’t go through my head for the next couple of seconds as I tried to gather words to explain why I was late.
Yes, I acknowledged the fact that I was late. But he should have acknowledged and appreciated the fact that I showed up.
“Sit down,” he gestures towards the chair I was sitting on before for me to take a seat again.
He walks past me to take a seat opposite me and watches me as I sit down. I don’t look at him, but I feel his eyes on me, watching my every move.
“Hello, Liam,” I say to him, finally meeting his eyes. Of course, his gaze was already fixated on me.
“Hello, Emma. You look lovely today,” he replied to me with a slight smirk plastered on his lips. There was a brief twinkle in his eyes that screamed mischief, but it was wiped out in a second.
“As you already know, we’re getting married,” he continues with a serious look on his face. “Now the reason I called you here this morning is to discuss the terms of this marriage”.
“Terms?” I asked with a brow raised.
“Yes, the terms,” he replies while shuffling through some papers on his desk before eventually pulling out two papers that were stapled together.
“In the spirit of trying to maintain some normality in all this for you, I’ve refrained from having my lawyer in this room with us right now. However, if you decide to act up, I’ll have no choice but to get him involved,” he says while crossing his arms across his chest and leaning back in his seat.
Wow. This guy is full of himself.
The first encounter I had with him was about five years ago or so when I followed my dad to his dad’s office. They had some kind of meeting and I had to wait for my dad there. I saw Liam talking to some staff at the office that day and he sounded so rude and disrespectful but I decided to not think much about it because I couldn’t have known what caused him to speak to them that way at that time.
But now? Now I see that’s how he is. He’s arrogant and self-absorbed. His character was honestly appalling and I was not doing a great job at hiding my irritation on my face, hence his next words.
“Fix your face,” he tells me, sitting back up straight.
This man is unreal.
“Excuse me?” I asked with a raised voice.
“Kindly lower your tone,” he says sternly.
Okay, so he’s commanding.
“I won’t have you talk to me like that in my office. I won’t take such disrespect from you or anyone for that matter,” he continues with a deep voice that commands respect.
“Sorry,” I muttered. I don’t know why I apologized but I just found myself apologizing.
My cheeks were flushed and I felt embarrassed for some reason.
“Now, as I was saying,” he holds up the paper to read its contents. “The wedding is going to take place at my family estate in two months. Saturday the 11th to be precise. It's not going to be too big, but expect the press to be there. We’re going to be married for three years, and considering we’re going to be living together, having partners from outside would not be welcomed in our home”.
He paused to look at me. “Am I going too fast?” he asked.
I simply shook my head to signify a no and imply he should continue.
He nods. “Per my last statement, you’re allowed to have relations with whoever you want, but keep it out of my house, and I’ll do the same. Also, make sure to keep whatever you do out of the sight of the press. I’m not interested in them carrying out news of a cheating scandal. You won’t like the consequences of that, trust me”.
“Is that a threat?” I interrupt him with my question.
“It’s not a threat. I’m just stating facts,” he replies, looking me dead in the eye.
“What else is there?” I asked still maintaining eye contact with him.
“The last thing on here is to expect a lot of parties. I’m part of several high-class societies and that means we’ll be hosting several lunch and dinner parties, so, be prepared for all that,” he places the paper down. “Any questions?” he leans back into his seat again.
It was at that moment I began to take in his facial features and got to see how his face was shaped. With the way he backed the sun, it cast a shadow that gave off a perfect outline of his sharply chiseled jaw. He had beautiful, silky black, hair and gorgeous blue eyes that had a hint of green to them. His cheekbones weren’t well defined but they had an outline and his lips were the prettiest shade of pink I had ever seen on a man
I noticed he had a small scar on the left side of his chin and was wondering how that got there, but I was quickly pulled out of my thoughts when Liam called my name.
“Emma,” he raised a brow in amusement.
“Yes,” I said a bit startled
“I said, do you have any questions?” I see a smirk appear on his face yet again but this one stays on longer and I know it’s because he could tell I was gawking at him.
Shit.
I look down in embarrassment and try to hide how red my cheeks have gotten but it doesn’t work because I hear him let out a small laugh.
My God, his laugh was heavenly.
“Alright then. That’s all there is to discuss for now,” he says while rearranging the stack of papers on his desk.
I simply nod and stand up, heading to the door as fast as possible.
“Emma,” he stops me in my tracks as I’m about to wrap my fingers on the door handle.
“Yes,” I turn around.
“I’ll have my assistant reach out to you on any more updates,” he still has that smirk plastered on his face.
He’s enjoying this. He’s enjoying making me feel this way.
“Okay,” I say and leave hastily.
What just happened? I think to myself as I rush out of the building.
Emma’s POVOne month down, one more month to go.It's a month until my arranged wedding, and I’m anything but calm.Considering Liam’s parents are doing this for the public eye, a lot has been going on concerning the preparations. According to his father, ‘nothing must go wrong’.Honestly, I’m surprised his parents are involving me in the planning at all. Considering the circumstances surrounding this wedding, I thought I was just expected to show up to the venue in my white dress and repeat ‘I do’ after the priest then move into Liam’s place.To be fair, it’s Liam’s mum that has been carrying me along in everything. She’s a sweet person and, for some reason, she treats me like her own daughter. I guess it’s because she doesn’t have a daughter of her own.Her face literally lights up when discussing the wedding plans with me, and it does make me smile, even though I’m not in the least bit excited about getting married to her son.It’s been three weeks since Liam last spoke to me. Ever
Emma’s POV“I’m so sorry,” I repeated, stepping back a bit.He doesn’t look like the type to hit a lady, but I wasn’t taking any chances.He looked pissed, very pissed, and I honestly couldn’t blame him. I had just made him pour coffee all over what looked like a four-thousand-dollar suit.“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he growled at me, his eyes piercing into mine. “Are you blind?” he continued his questioning. “Weren’t you taught not to use your phone while walking?”That last question hurt a little. He was speaking to me like I was a kid, raising his voice a little higher after each word, and it made me feel so little and helpless.Yes, I was wrong to have bumped into him and drenched him in coffee, but he had no right to be speaking to me in such a manner.“I said I was sorry,” I retorted.Snapping at him was unintentional but it was needed.He seemed taken aback by my response but growled back. That’s right, he growled at me like a dog. Honestly, I found the whole situation f
Emma’s POV“Is anything the matter, dear?” Mrs. Henderson asked, looking concerned at my reaction.I quickly comported myself and told her everything was fine.“No wonder a lot of cooking was going on in the kitchen. I was beginning to think you all ate for a hundred in this household,” I said with a laugh to shift the conversation from the fact that I had to attend this dinner with Liam.“Oh don’t be silly, Emma. We’re not animals,” she replied, laughing. “Considering the plans for this dinner are last minute, do you have something to wear or would you rather my stylist got you something?” she asked, bringing us back to the conversation I was avoiding.It was a last-minute thing, but I did have something to wear, fortunately for me.“I have a dress at home I could wear, thank you,” I offered her a smile.“You’re welcome, darling. Also, feel free to invite a guest of your choice. I reached out to your parents, but they said they couldn’t make it,” she said. “Something about them not b
Liam’s POV “Shit,” I winced, stepping back a bit. “Sorry,” she paused, looking up at me with sincerity in her eyes. “It’s fine. Continue,” I muttered back. Her hands felt so soft against my skin. The warmth of her touch was sending chills up my spine, but she didn’t need to know that. She didn’t need to know the effect she was having on me, so I kept my face as straight as possible. She was short. Not too short, but the type of short I’d like my woman to be. Her head fell directly below my chin and, for some reason, all I could think of was pulling her closer to myself, so my chin could rest on the top of her head. Considering our proximity, I could practically hear her heart thumping so fast as though it was about to fall out of her chest, and the thought of the effect I was having on her made me smirk a little. She had shiny black hair that had hints of brown in it like it had been highlighted, and it smelled of a mixture of lavender and honey. Looking down at her, I could see
Emma’s POV ‘Oh my goodness!’ I screamed internally as I raced out of Liam’s room. I made my way to the start of the staircase and ran down as fast as I could, nearly tripping over myself in the process. Truth is, there was no point in me running because he and I were still going to end up in the same car anyway. That didn’t matter to me right now, though, because all I knew was I wanted to get as far away from his room as possible at that moment. Liam and I kissed. At least that’s what I believe would’ve happened if Lilian hadn’t knocked on the door. I could feel the hotness of his breath against my face and his hands were beginning to find their way to the sides of my waist, wanting to pull me closer to him. My hands were still resting on his chest from where I had laid down the knotted tie, so we were practically in the perfect position for the kiss to happen. I mean, we were so close to each other that even a toothpick couldn’t fit in the gap between us. That’s how close we we
Emma’s POV I was shocked. Liam kissed me. I didn’t realize when I started kissing him back though, all I know is that our lips started moving in sync. It was a brief but passionate kiss. I know this was all for show, but I couldn’t help but think there was some real feeling to it. It felt like he’d been wanting to kiss me for the longest time. His lips moved softly and gently against mine, and they fit into mine like they were made specifically to be kissed by me. As we kissed, I ignored the world around us. I knew cameras were flashing everywhere, but I couldn’t care less. I was so engrossed in the kiss it made me forget where I even was, but before I knew it, it was all over. “Hope you enjoyed the show,” he said, smirking at the reporter before grabbing my hand to place a kiss on it and letting go of it. “When did this happen? Who is she? What’s her name? When’s the engagement party?” the reporters kept hurling questions at us with their cameras flashing brightly. Thankfull
Liam’s POV “Six o’clock,” I read out the time from my watch to myself. “Cindy, please forward all calls I get this weekend. I need some time to myself,” I said to my assistant as I shut my laptop and began making my way out of the office. “No problem, Mr. Henderson,” she replied. “Would you be coming over for the dinner this evening?” I asked before heading out of my office door completely. “No sir,” she said, making her way to arrange my desk. “I have a date tonight,” she continued. “Oh, okay,” I said, amused. “Have fun,” I ended the conversation and headed down to my car. Considering the time, I had to leave immediately if I was going to be able to pick Emma up on time. I told her eight o’clock and, from the way I said it, if I showed up even a minute late, I’d look very stupid. I began my drive back to my house when I saw an incoming call from Ryan. “Hey man, what’s up?” I asked as soon as I picked up and set my phone for him to see me properly. “Yo, so I needed to confir
Liam’s POVI looked at her from head to toe, taking in the details of her entire outfit. She was wearing a long black corset dress with a high slit in the front that had ruffles on the side. She had light makeup on, and her hair was done into a messy bun with two strands dropping from the center of the hair, falling on either side of her face, and she accessorized with gold jewelry, from her earrings down to her shoes that brought out the sparkle of the hazelnut color in her eyes.She looked stunning, and I’m sure the expression on my face was saying it for me because she looked down at her shoes as her cheeks started turning a darker shade of red as each second passed by.“You look amazing,” I finally said, looking her in her eyes, reaching behind her and shutting the front door.“Thank you,” she said shyly, unable to keep eye contact with me.“Are you ready to go?” I asked.“Yeah,” she said, finally looking me in my eyes.“Alright, let’s go,” I said, turning around.“Oh my God,” she