Page 26 of Love in Times of Contempt

"You're lucky we're here." Ana followed him; he stopped in the middle of the room and dropped his bag on the floor. He gazed around the space. "I just arrived a couple of days ago, and Liam is on his way."

"Yeah. He texted me a few days ago and mentioned he'd be here today."

"Hello," Ely said as she came into the house.

Ana tore her attention away from Alex to admire Ely's entrance, and she had to press her lips together not to smile. Ely walked with confidence, her cover up open and waving behind her. The soft curves of her belly and hips echoed her steps with small earthquakes on her flesh, and her eyes shone with mischief. Curious, Ana studied Alex's reaction. All he did was lift an eyebrow and sweep a look up and down Ely.

"Hi," he said, his voice neutral.

"I'm Ely." She extended a hand forward. "Ana's best friend. Also known as Elena Castillo, the new Manager of Social Impact for Jump Cannon Productions."

Ely had said her name and position full of pride, and with the Spanish pronunciation of her name. Alex was slow to respond, but his hand came up to shake Ely's. He didn't say anything.

"You're Liam's brother," Ely added, explaining for him. He nodded once. Ely arched an eyebrow.

"Well, you're staying here, right?" Ana asked, breaking the silent battle building between them. "Ely is taking the guest room but we have another room with a bed, it's just not as finished."

"If that's okay." Alex bent to pick up his bag.

"Of course it's okay." Ana pointed the way with a head slant. "Come this way."

"I'm going to change," Ely announced.

Ana showed Alex his room; he decided he wanted to rest a bit, so she left him. When Ana checked her phone right before showering, she saw Liam's response.

Liam: WTF? omw

She shook her head for the thousandth time at his abbreviations, a smile on her face nonetheless.

Liam opened the door to his home and it struck him— his life was very different to what it had been eighteen months ago. Where it used to be a safe but lonely place, now three people were in it: his girlfriend, her best friend and now employee, and his brother. There was love, life… and conflict.

He'd pressed his lips at the thought, but they relaxed into a soft smile when the first person he saw was Ana.

She happened to be walking from the rooms to the kitchen. She caught sight of him and the relief on her face made his heart flutter. She needed him. She found comfort in him.

She detoured and came to him, instead. She hugged him when he closed the door behind him.

"I'm so glad you're here." She reached up to kiss him. "Did you get my text? He's still in his room."

He left his small suitcase and the bag full of promotional gifts on the floor, before grabbing her by the waist.

"I saw it when I got in the car. He didn't tell me he'd come… did he say anything?"

"That he wanted to talk to us about working for the company."

"Okay," he began, before Ely interrupted them.

"I just caught my bosses necking. Do we have an HR department I can report things to?" Ely gave Liam a humor-filled smirk. "Hi, Liam."

He let go of Ana to give Ely a quick hug. "So you met Alex."

"Yeah, he makes an impression," she said, pulling her smile to the side.

"I wasn't trying to." Alex's words cut into the space.

They all turned to stare at Alex, who crossed his arms, and whose face remained impassive and unimpressed. If Liam wasn't mistaken, his eyes were sweeping the room, looking at his paintings on the walls, but showing no reaction.

"It's good to see you." Liam refused to spend too long thinking about how he'd hugged Ely but not his own brother. "We weren't expecting you."