After All This Time: Love or Money Read online

  After All This Time

  Love or Money

  Brittainy Brown

  BB Romance

  Contents

  After All This Time:

  Free Book Offer

  Book Description

  1. A Surprise For Emily

  2. Overdoing It

  3. Getting Ready

  4. Handling It

  5. Changes

  6. The Birthday Bash

  7. Birthday Bash 2

  8. At The Surface

  9. Making Up

  10. Hiding Secrets

  11. The Run-In

  12. Stood Up

  13. The Fear Of The Unknown

  Untitled

  14. Overlooking The Guilt

  15. The Confrontation

  16. The Confrontation

  17. August Dinner

  18. Double Dinner

  19. A Surprise For Emily

  20. The Morning After

  21. Learning To Adapt

  22. Emily Has A Thought

  23. The First Confrontation After Break Up

  24. Charlotte’s Secret

  25. A Coincidence

  26. The Night Of Surprises

  27. Charlotte Meets Emily

  28. Her First Heartbreak

  29. Voices Across The Room

  30. Confusion And Epiphany

  31. The Fix-Up

  32. Reconciliation

  33. The Best Partnership

  After All This Time:

  Love or Money

  By

  Brittainy Brown

  Copyright @ 2018 Brittainy Brown

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  For permission requests, write to [email protected]

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  Book Description

  Young, beautiful Emily Larry almost has it all. But she’s not there yet. Sure, she has the fairytale romance with a too-good-to-be true boyfriend, Liam Benjamin who thoughtfully buys her the best shoes ever -- and she has a dream job. But there are still places for Emily to go professionally. Liam and Emily are both lawyers in a powerful city firm. So when Emily’s career skyrockets, Liam understand that she has to take the opportunity as it comes.

  Being okay with his girlfriend’s success is a little easier said than done, however, especially when said adorable girlfriend makes standing him up a thing. Both of them have busy careers, but they’ve always made the time for each other before. Liam kicks himself, but some small part of him wishes his girlfriend weren’t quite so successful.

  Chasing ambition after a huge legal victory, Emily buries herself in her work so deep that Liam can’t reach her and begins to feel forgotten. She takes on extra work to prove herself with the firm that has already praised her.

  When Emily finally realizes her folly and what - or rather who – is really important to her, will Liam still be there to understand?

  A Surprise For Emily

  “Congratulations, darling. Sincerely, I wouldn’t have asked for another lady in my life… you are everything a man could need.”

  Emily smiled as she and her boyfriend toasted her success. She knew she deserved this major success at her place of work, she had worked her ass off.

  Liam put his glass on the stool beside the bed and moved closer to her, kissing her on the side of the neck while she giggled uncontrollably. They were in a suite at Beacon, in Washington DC, to celebrate her grand breakthrough at work.

  Emily knew she was lucky to have a man like Liam. Even though they both worked at the same law firm and she had achieved this huge success, he had been incredibly supportive. She was indeed lucky to have him, other men would have been jealous of her success but not Liam, he was her rock.

  Liam stood up and took up the glass, half-smiling.

  “Close your eyes baby.”

  Emily eyed him suspiciously. “Why?”

  Liam scoffed, shook his head. “Seriously, you want to ruin the whole surprise by being stubborn?”

  Emily smiled. “Come on Liam, you know surprises always make me sweaty!”

  He smiled and brought out a parcel, laying it on the table.

  Emily was confused. When did the parcel get into his hands, when did he bring it in? She hadn’t seen it with him when they were kissing earlier.

  “Liam, what’s in that parcel?” she asked excitedly.

  “Well, you’ll have to find out,” he replied, smiling.

  Emily tore open the parcel and gasped as she brought out a pair of red heels. “Jimmy Choo...” she breathed excitedly, flinging the shoes she was wearing off her feet and bent down to wear the new shoes.

  She sat on the table and Liam helped her adjust the heels as she flung her hands in the air excitedly.

  “Oh my God!” she screamed, caressing the shoes on her legs, “these are beautiful... so beautiful.” Then she stood up carefully to maintain her balance and threw herself on Liam.

  “Darling, you are the best in this whole wide world. I don’t know what I would have done without you,” she cried as she clung to him.

  Liam laughed. He knew exactly what would thrill her. Emily wasn’t someone that would be impressed by a diamond ring or, a car, or most clothes. The only thing that would impress her is shoes - and not only shoes - designer heels!

  Though they worked together they had different disposition about things. While Emily loved everything that had to do with fashion, especially shoes, he was not the fashion type. He would spend all his money on books or technology if he could.

  Emily put the shoes back in the box and sat beside him, still excited about her latest additions.

  “Thank you so much, Liam,” she started, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You’ve been with me every step of the way. There is absolutely no way I could have done this without you. You are my rock Liam and I bless the day I met you.”

  Liam smiled, caressing her cheek.

  “You are the most industrious lady I have ever known, and winning that case just crowned all the effort you’ve put in. So you don’t need to thank me at all.”

  “No, no, Liam, baby, I need to thank you. Do you know how many times I canceled our dinners? Do you remember how often I had to come home late? Yet, here you are, still with me, by my side.”

  Liam smiled. Of course he remembered, but they both did such.

  “Baby, I’ve done the same occasionally. We’ve both had to put in extra hours or stay late at work... so, it’s just something that we have come to understand about the nature of our jobs.”

  Emily sighed and nodded. He was right, they both understood the nature of their work, so there was no problem when one of them had to cancel dinner or either of them had to cancel at the same time or get home late. But Emily knew, even though this was quite common between them, she had usually been the one who always had to bail. But thankfully, all the efforts paid off and now, here she was.

  “What are you thinking?” Liam asked, sipping his drink.

  “Just how lucky I am to have you,” Emily replied, leaning closer to bring her lips to his. It was a soft and passionate kiss, but it ended quickly as their phones beeped at the same time and they had to part.

  “It must be work,” Liam said, reaching for his cell, which was on the other couch. The only time their phones would ring or beep at the same time was calls or messages from work.

  While Emily searched for her phone, he was already scrolling through the text. His expression changed quickly as he read through the text. He looked disappointed.

  “What is it?” Emily asked as she saw Liam’s face fall, still searching for her phone.

  “I’m not up for the partnership,” Liam said, throwing his phone onto the bed.

  “I’m so sorry baby.”

  “Yea. It’s okay.”

  Emily was frustrated. Where did she put her phone? Baby, please can you call me? I can’t find my phone.”

  “Sure,” he replied, taking his phone and going to recent contacts. Her phone vibrated somewhere under the stool and Emily found it on the floor, it had dropped when she was getting excited about her new shoes.

  Liam sighed. He had wanted that partnership and now, it had gone. He studied Emily, whose face brightened up immediately.

  “Oh my God! I got it! I got it!” she shouted, dancing and jumping.

  Liam was confused. “What?”

  “I’ve been nominated for the partnership!” she shouted.

  Liam's heart did a double flip. “You?”

  She nodded excitedly. “Yes...”

  Overdoing It

  Liam was speechless. This was something he had been working towards for months and now his girlfriend had been nominated for it instead. He couldn’t believe it... but as a man, knowing he needed to be happy for his successful girlfriend, he stood up with a smile and walked over to her, putting his arms around her.

  “I have no idea how you do what you do, but you are the best of the best...”

  Emily smiled, resting her head against his chest.
“Thank you, Liam, I know how much you wanted this.”

  “Well, at least you got it, you deserve everything baby and I am so super proud of you.”

  “I just can’t believe I’m one of the nominees, I mean, I am not even the right age,” she said, pulling away.

  “So, what are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I don’t think I deserve it, I think someone else needs this more than I do.”

  “Stop it, babe, you’re one of the most hardworking people in the firm and everyone knows that. Whoever nominated you apparently knows it too, and you deserve the promotion, so enjoy and stop stressing yourself, okay?”

  Emily sighed and nodded. “Alright thanks, love. I need to go to the bathroom.”

  “You want me to join you?” he asked in a breathy voice, kissing her neck, which made her laugh.

  “No babe, go get us more wine, I’ll be out in no time.”

  They kissed and she left for the bathroom while Liam remained behind.

  Emily sat on the toilet seat with a sigh. She had no reason to have come in here, she just needed some time alone to think about this latest addition to her success. Being one of the nominees was a dream she never thought would be a reality. It was just too big for her to handle. She brought out her phone and began to scroll through her messages again. She had a list of the rest of the nominees.

  “Kate Kruger, Nancy Whales, Josh Newton, Martin Lawrence...” these were big lawyers at the firm, successful people with many years of experience on her. why would she be included, she was a complete nobody... well, maybe she got lucky a few times but she was still a nobody compared to the others on the list. Everyone on the list had graduated from Harvard, Vermont, Georgia or Stetson. All apart from her.

  She sighed. The message said there was going to be a meeting with all the nominees tomorrow, a meeting with many of the people she had always looked up to at work. She needed to look her best. Quickly, she stood up, flushed, washed her hands and left the bathroom.

  Liam was still in the bed, playing with his phone.

  “Oh! That took a while,” he said as she got in.

  “Yea, sorry, this is a lot to take in. So, baby, I think I need to go do some light shopping you know?”

  Liam raised an eyebrow and was about to say something when a knock sounded on the door.

  “Come in please,” Liam called and a waiter came in carrying serving trays. Emily looked surprised.

  “What’s this for, Liam?” She asked.

  “For us to celebrate your nomination, babe!” he replied, directing the waiter to set things down.

  Emily took a deep breath while grabbing her bag. “I’m sorry, love, but this isn’t necessary, besides, I have to go get new shoes and a new suit for the nominees’ meetings tomorrow. I have to impress them.”

  Liam gasped. “New shoes! What about the shoes I just got you?”

  “Yea, babe, I love them but I can’t wear them to the meeting, they’ll attract too much attention. They don’t scream ‘serious lawyer,’ do they?”

  Liam looked disappointed, but covered it up. “It’s okay sweetheart. I’ll just wait for you...”

  “No no, no, eat as much as you can, please don’t wait for me, I’ll catch up with you.”

  Quickly, she kissed him on the cheek and left the room.

  * * *

  Liam was left alone in the room, staring at the food he had ordered. Soon, three hours had passed.

  He shook his head and checked the time again. It was getting dark fast. He thought about calling her, but kicked against the idea. He had just spoken to her thirty minutes ago and the last thing she’d said was that he should call her back later, she was busy.

  One thing he knew about his girlfriend was that, once she was nervous about something, she was bound to overdo it. He remembered the first time she had invited him over to her place for lunch, she had ordered three different kinds of food because she wanted to impress him and she didn’t know which he would actually like. That afternoon, a lot of food was wasted. So he knew what to expect and was not surprised when she came in some minutes later with three bags from the O’lay Clothing store.

  “Baby, is this a bit of light shopping?”

  Emily took a deep breath as she put the bags down, one after another.

  “Yea, I know baby,” she replied, removing her shoes. “I just decided to buy everything since I couldn’t decide. “

  Liam shook his head and walked towards her. He held her by her shoulders.

  “You always do this anytime you’re nervous, you know that...”

  “I just don’t know what to wear and I thought I should buy it all and I...”

  “Sh!” He shushed, massaging her shoulders while placing tender kisses on each.

  “We’re going to choose one out of these outfits and then we’ll return the rest.”

  Emily‘s face fell.

  “But baby, what if...”

  “Okay, we’ll take two, you have so many new clothes at home! “

  She nodded. She knew he was right. She didn’t actually need all these clothes.

  “Okay, if you promise to go with me.”

  “Sure, why not. Now, let’s go through them and select a couple.”

  Getting Ready

  Liam stretched his arm towards the half of the bed where Emily was supposed to be but he only touched an empty space. With difficulty, he opened his eyes and realized that she wasn’t in bed at all.

  That was strange. Perhaps, she went to the toilet. He thought, and turned to his side. Checking the time, he realized it was just a few minutes after five AM. He was glad that he still had time to sleep.

  They’d gone back to Liam’s house the previous day, Sunday, so as to get ready for work that morning. They always spend time at each other’s apartment.

  He checked the time again, what could she be doing in the bathroom to have taken her that long?

  He straightened up.

  “Baby!” he called out, but there was no response.

  Out of curiosity, he checked, opening the door of the bathroom, but it was open, and no Emily.. Reluctantly, he gathered his blanket up with him, rubbing his sleepy eyes to stay awake.

  “Where could she be this early morning?” he thought to himself before leaving the room. He thought probably she was in the kitchen. He checked but still didn’t see her. Soon, he came back to the room, picked up his phone and called her.

  It rang for a while before she picked up. It sounded like she was on the road.

  “Hi, babe,” she said.

  “Where are you, babe?” he demanded. “Are you in the car? Where are you going?”

  “Oh, didn’t you see the note that I left?”

  “What note? What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, I left a note, check the bedside table or maybe it dropped to the floor.”

  “Okay, but since I’m calling you, where are you?”

  “Well, I’m on the way to work, I didn’t want to wake you up and...”

  “Baby! It’s not even six yet and your meeting wouldn’t start till nine!”

  “Yea, I know, but you know, that Monday traffic can be so unpredictable and I don’t want to make any mistakes… I gotta go, love, kisses.”

  Liam shook his head as the call ended. He threw himself back on the bed, put the phone on the bedside table and then pulled the blanket over him.

  * * *

  Emily shifted uncontrollably in her seat and checked the clock for the hundredth time that morning, it was just a few minutes past seven and she was still the only one in the conference room.