His Contract Wife, His Unexpected Love

CHAPTER 15

The kitchen smelled like warm bread and something faintly sweet when Lily walked in the next morning. She stopped at the doorway, surprised to find it wasn't empty. A man stood near the counter with his back to her, wearing a white shirt and dark jeans, his posture relaxed in a way that didn't belong to Ethan. He turned before she could step back, and his face broke into a wide, easy smile. He had Ethan's jawline but none of his edges, and his eyes were the kind that laughed even when the rest of his face didn't.

"You must be the new Mrs. Blake," he said, spreading his arms slightly like he was welcoming her to his own home. Lily blinked, not sure if she should smile or be cautious. "And you are?" she asked, keeping her voice even. He pressed a hand to his chest like he was deeply offended. "Adrian," he said. "The better-looking Blake, in case you were wondering." Lily felt the corner of her mouth twitch before she could stop it. She pressed her lips together and looked away.

He was already pouring her a cup of coffee without being asked, sliding it across the counter like they had done this a hundred times before. Lily looked at the cup, then at him, unsure whether to take it. "Ethan won't be down for another hour," Adrian said, leaning against the counter with both arms crossed. "So you're stuck with me." He didn't say it like it was a bad thing. He said it like he already knew the answer would be fine.

Lily picked up the cup slowly and wrapped her hands around it. The warmth of it settled into her palms, and she exhaled a little without realizing it. Adrian watched her with that easy look on his face, not trying too hard, just present in a way that felt natural. "He told me about you," Adrian said after a moment. Lily looked up. "What did he say?" she asked. Adrian smiled again, but softer this time. "That you were handling things well."

She didn't know what to do with that. It wasn't an insult, and it wasn't a compliment either. It sounded like something Ethan would say, measured and careful, leaving just enough out. Lily took a sip of her coffee and looked toward the window. The garden outside was catching early morning light, and the trees were still. For a second, the house didn't feel like a performance. It felt almost like a home.

Ethan appeared exactly when Adrian said he would, stepping into the kitchen with his jacket already on and his phone already in his hand. He stopped when he saw them, both of them at the counter, Lily with her coffee and Adrian talking about something that had made her laugh quietly. Something shifted in Ethan's face, barely visible, just a tightness around his eyes that disappeared as quickly as it came. "You're here," he said to Adrian. His tone was flat.

Adrian turned with that same easy grin. "Where else would I be?" he said. Ethan didn't answer. He moved to the counter and poured his own coffee without looking at either of them for too long. Lily noticed the way the air changed when he entered, like everything adjusted itself slightly. Adrian seemed to notice it too, but he didn't let it settle. "I was just getting to know your wife," he said. "She's funnier than you described."

"I didn't describe her," Ethan replied.

"Exactly my point," Adrian said.

The silence that followed wasn't uncomfortable for Adrian. He lived inside it like he owned it. But Lily felt it press between her shoulder blades, and she finished her coffee a little faster than she meant to. Ethan glanced at her once, his expression giving nothing away, then looked at his phone again. "I have meetings this morning," he said. He wasn't speaking to anyone in particular. He was already halfway to the door.

Adrian stayed most of the morning. He helped himself to the kitchen like he had grown up in that house, which Lily eventually realized he had. He told her things about the mansion in pieces, small stories dropped between silences, the kind that revealed more than they seemed to. He told her about the garden being planted after their mother died, how Ethan had ordered it quietly, never talking about why. He told her about the breakfast table, how Ethan never used to sit there at all until a year ago. He said these things lightly, without weight, but Lily caught every word.

"He's not easy to know," Adrian said at one point, sitting on the couch with his feet stretched out. Lily sat across from him, her legs folded beneath her. "I've noticed," she said. Adrian looked at the ceiling for a moment. "But he's not impossible," he added. "People just stop trying before they get there." Lily didn't respond to that, but she turned it over in her mind. It felt like something she needed to hold carefully, like a match that wasn't fully lit yet.

When Ethan returned in the late afternoon, he found them in the living room. Adrian was showing Lily something on his phone, and she was leaning slightly forward with interest. Ethan stood at the edge of the room for a moment, watching. He didn't interrupt right away. There was something about her face in that moment, the way she was almost smiling, relaxed in a way he hadn't seen before, that made him pause. It was quick, and then he stepped in.