Page 102 of The Exception

“About an improper relationship. Reporters sniffing around.”

“The fuck?”

“I want to loop Pierce in on this. We need to get our story straight before the next board meeting,” Jasper said, sounding entirely too responsible. I was coming to realize that maybe I didn’t give him enough credit.

“Pierce will tell you the same thing I will. There is no story.” I gripped the phone tighter, wondering why this was the first I was hearing of it. “Lily and I reconnected long after her employment with the Huxley brand ended. We fell in love and got married.”

Jasper and Sloan shared a look.

“Yeah,” Jasper said. “You see…” He scrunched up his face. “That doesn’t sound terribly romantic.”

Maybe not, but those were the facts. “I don’t need to justify my relationship to them.”

I was already calculating ways to take them down. Lily was my wife, and if they insinuated anything improper, anything that would hurt her or her reputation… I clenched my fists, seething. I would put their publications out of business faster than they could say “Lily.”

Jasper rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”

“What?” I asked. What had I missed? I’d been so focused on protecting Lily that I hadn’t paid enough attention to the conversation.

Sloan groaned. “This is just like the cold, heartless billionaire thing all over again.”

“How?” I asked. “Doesn’t my marriage prove that I’m warm and loving?” That was kind of the whole point. Well, that and securing the additional shares.

“You’re telling us to feel a certain way without showing us why. It would be like saying Scrooge had suddenly decided to become generous and loving without showing us his donations or his visits with his family. Or his generosity toward Tiny Tim and his family,” Jasper said.

“So now I’m Scrooge?” I dragged a hand through my hair.Fuck me.

“It was merely an example,” Sloan said, as if she hadn’t just called me a selfish, uncaring bastard. Was this truly what my siblings thought of me? “Jasper’s merely trying to say that you can’t just slap on a wedding ring and tell everyone you’ve changed. You have toshowthem.”

“What do you want me to do?” I seethed, feeling attacked. “Fuck my wife on the conference table in front of the entire room?”

“Is that an option?” Jasper asked.

“No!” Sloan and I shouted in unison. I tried to take a deep breath, desperately resisting the urge to reach through the screen and strangle him. Thank fuck Lily was still inside the château. No way I wanted her hearing this conversation.

I dragged a hand through my hair, though it snagged on all the dirt caked in it. “I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know how to prove that our relationship is real. I don’t see why I should have to. Nobody questioned your marriage to Jackson, and it was fast.”

“Graham.” Sloan softened. “Jackson and I had history. And our marriage didn’t have the ability to drastically reshape the company.”

I sighed.This again?“She’s my wife. And I prefer to keep my private life private.”

“We get that,” Jasper said. “But we’re your family. You can’t keep shutting us out.”

Was that how they felt? Was that what they thought I was doing? Was I?

“Give us something to work with,” Sloan said. “We know this is difficult for you, and we’re willing to do the heavy lifting. But if we’re going to present a united front to the board, you’re going to have to give Jasper and me a little more to go on. Especially, if you want to dispel any doubts about the legitimacy of your relationship and put them to bed once and for all.”

That was what I wanted, wasn’t it? And I could see how patient my siblings were with me. How hard they were trying.

I thought about what Lily would do. Tie me up and make me use my words. I almost groaned aloud at that image, because god, I was so hard for her. All the fucking time.

We hadn’t had sex again—yet. But it felt like we were working up to it. And honestly, waiting—painful as it was—was kind of fun.

I was a patient man. I’d play Lily’s game. I’d work on my communication skills every damn night if that’s what she wanted.

“Graham?” Sloan prompted in a gentle tone.

I shook my head as if to clear it. “Right. Okay. What do you recommend?”

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