Chapter 221

Aria’s POV

The kiss was electric, shooting sparked throughout my entire body, starting with where Liam’s lips were pressed to mine. In a flash, his arms wrapped around me, his head tilted, his lips started to part, coaxing mine open as well.

As we kissed, falling so easily back into each other, one of his hands reached up and cupped my cheek, adding to the tenderness of the moment.

This wasn’t a touch borne of passion, that I could feel that too stirring inside of me, the desire I felt for Liam. Now, this kiss here and now was more about restoring our growing connection to one another.

He was the father of my children, my husband and life partner.

Things were messy right now, and who knew what the future held. There was always a chance he was still lying to me about everything, and the moment I turned on the news tonight, I might see proof of that betrayal.

Or… perhaps the opposite was true. Maybe Liam was earnest and he would prove true. He would protect my heart from now on, never betray me by finding love or marriage elsewhere.

It could have been the view and the romantic moment filling my head with silly hopeful notions, but I wasn’t so sure. Liam and I had a life and a family, and had been building to a forever together. I had known the pressures he had been under thanks to Markus.

Was it really so hard to believe that he would take desperate measures to try to stop the bombardment of drama and stress for himself, our family, and the team?

The exhaustion likely had made him weak, lowering his inhibitions, and making him more susceptible to his father and Joanna’s influence.

It wasn’t a great excuse. He should have confided in me so we could have worked forward to a solution together, especially when the plot he picked meant sneaking around behind my back. Engaged to Joanna! If I had a time machine, I would go back just to kick him.

But… even with that. With everything.

He was still my husband, still the man I loved…

The man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, surrounded by our family.

Because of this, I could hold on, enjoy this, and wait for Liam’s devotion just a little longer.

Our kiss ended as the hot air balloon descended. Liam seemed shocked, his mouth slightly slack, his lips, kiss-red. But he also seemed pleased, with hope and love bright in his eyes.

That expression lasted for the rest of the day, including on our drive back to the house, and then all through dinner. William and Joe took notice of it, and everyone seemed in better spirits.

Things started to feel like how they’d always been once more.

We were healing. As a family, we were moving forward.

After dinner, Liam and I both spent time with the kids, until it was time for them to sleep, then Liam and I sat up alone, talking until it was far too late.

Walking upstairs, we both seemed hesitant to part, though it was late enough to sleep and too early in our rekindling to be sleeping together. I wasn’t ready for that yet, and I believed he could tell. He was being very cautious with me, keeping his hands to himself.

It was me who leaned in and kissed him once more. Nothing too deep, this time, just a soft peck.

“Goodnight, Liam,” I told him.

His smile was bright, filled with hope. “Goodnight, Aria.”

I turned from him first and entered my room. I felt the weight of his gaze until I closed the door between us.

Liam’s POV

I felt like I was walking on air, my heart taking flight. After so long of being worried the worst would come to past, and Aria would leave me, she threw me for an absolute loop and decided to kiss me instead.

I wanted to take credit, the perfect date with a hot air balloon worked! But I knew, in my heart, that Aria had simply made the choice to forgive me, at least for now. It was only thanks to her and her ability to continue to see a future with the two of us together that we found our way to each other once again.

With excitement for the happiness to come, I watched Aria’s door for a long moment even after she had disappeared behind it. Then, smiling to myself, I turned and headed to my own room.

For the first time in such a long time, the future seemed filled with hope. Yes, Joanna was still a thorn in my side. She wasn’t going to give up the money from the will easily. And thanks to the publicity of my engagement to her, there were many social tangles that would need to be unraveled.

When the truth would eventually come out with Aria and I being married, I was certain there would be more than one voices of confusion and concern.

Yet none of that mattered when on the plus side, Aria and I were together again, and our family felt like it was growing stronger once more.

Things weren’t perfect by any measure. Everything was a big mess that needed sorted through. But that kiss…

No, those kisses…

I could die a happy man right now knowing that Aria still wanted me, and was still willing to take a chance on me, even with my many egregious mistakes.

I would be indebted to her for the rest of my life. But I would find ways to make it up to her. Whatever I had to do to prove my love to her, I would do. For the rest of my life, I would do it.

That night, I didn’t sleep a wink, too excited about everything to come.

Then, just as the sun started to lift in the sky, my phone rang.

Who would possibly call this early?

Seeing the name and number on the phone screen, it took me a long time to place it. Even when I did realize the name belongs to one of the shareholders of the team, I was still confused about why he was calling me.

It had to be some kind of emergency.

Restraining my panic, I answered the phone, “Hello?”

“Liam. What the hell is this?” the shareholder said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“How could you embarrass Joanna in this way? She is your fiancé. When we elected you president of the team, we assumed you were an upstanding man, not a cad. Not even a week after putting the ring on Joanna’s finger, you’ve already moved onto another.”

My stomach dropped. “Sir, I really don’t know what this is about…”

“Turn on the television,” the shareholder said. “See your shame for yourself.” Then he hung up.

Confused, I reached for the remote and turned on the television on the other side of the room. I flipped on the news, then froze.

There was a photo of Aria and I, our arms wrapped around each other, kissing.

Someone had seen us. Someone had snapped a picture.

And now the whole world thought that Aria and I were having an affair!