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“L ily!” William said and stepped up to give her a big bear hug.

William sort of resembled a bear with his dark shaggy hair and full beard. The man was big, ripped, and stood over six feet tall. He always wore a permanent smile.

“Hi, Will,” she laughed and stepped back.

“This is my husband, Blake. Blake this is William, Michelle’s husband,” Lily said by way of introduction.

“Call me Will,” William said to Blake. “I can’t believe you’ve been married to our Lily for almost a year and we’ve never met.” William held out his hand to Blake and without hesitation, Blake gripped the man’s hand.

“Let me introduce you to the rest of the group,” William said, gesturing. “I’m sure you know Sara.”

Blake nodded and Sara waggled her fingers.

“We just ran into Maxwell Deckman. You hired him to be Lily’s bodyguard,” William said.

“Yes,” Blake said and held out his hand to Max. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“No problem.” Max returned Blake’s handshake, then turned away.

“What?” Sara hissed at Lily under her breath.

“I suppose Michelle or William didn’t tell you?” Lily whispered.

“No.” Sara glared at both people. William looked confused, but Michelle laughed.

“I haven’t had a chance,” Michelle said and crossed her heart with one finger. “I swear.”

Lily studied Blake’s face and found her husband only mildly surprised that the bodyguard he had hired was here at dinner with them.

But then again, William had recommended Max for the job and William and Max had known each other for years—even before she had dated Max.

“This is Michelle, my beautiful wife, my better half.” William smiled down at Michelle, who lightly slapped him on the arm.

“And that’s Jennifer and her brother Ryan. They work with Michelle and I,” William continued pointing to the last couple.

“This is Lily and her husband Blake,” William told the group, finishing the introductions.

Lily knew everyone except for the thirty-something-year-old woman, but her tall blond brother looked vaguely familiar.

When Ryan reached across the distance to offer his hand to Lily, she automatically shook it.

“Have we met?” Lily asked.

Ryan smiled wide. “We have.” The man didn’t elaborate and the moment for more questions passed.

Max stood quietly, he never was one for chatter. His storm-colored eyes moved over each person of the group and Lily wondered what he was searching for.

Blake pulled her back to his side and Lily let him. It was cold and she wanted to get inside out of the weather.

“Blake,” Jennifer said coolly.

It took Lily a second to realize that her husband and the pert blonde woman wearing black leggings and an oversized baby pink sweater knew each other.

“Jen,” Blake said and slid his arm around Lily’s waist, bringing her even more snug to his side.

“You two know each other?” Lily asked, glancing back and forth.

Blake looked guilty as hell and tightened his grip around her waist as if afraid she would bolt.

No, she wouldn’t run. She was Lily Snow, the granddaughter of Jethro Snow. She belonged to one of the wealthiest families in Washington.

The Snows never bolted.

“Jen is my ex,” Blake murmured next to her ear, for once keeping his voice low—as if that would take the power out of his words.

Ah. So that was what the tension was.

The air had turned frosty on Blake’s part and Jen looked downright hostile at her.

“Hello, ex.” Lily smirked and waggled her fingers.

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed—the woman was not amused. When Jen’s resentful gaze stabbed at her, Lily ignored the woman and slipped her arm around Blake’s waist.

“We should get inside before we turn into icicles,” Lily suggested to the group and tugged Blake up the set of stairs that led upward to Post Alley.

They walked past Kells Irish Pub and reached the Pink Door.

With a sigh, Lily entered the restaurant and walked down the wood staircase. The others filed inside behind them. The warmth of the room closed in around her, heating her cheeks, and Blake helped her slip off her jacket.

While they waited for the hostess, Lily pinched Blake’s arm good and hard.

“Ow.” Blake jumped slightly and rubbed at his arm, his eyes avoiding hers.

“Your ex?” she hissed at him.

“Yes. You have exes too,” Blake argued.

“You know I do, because I told you about a few,” she whispered, careful to keep her voice low beneath the hum of the room.

And Blake had told her nothing other than that he dated a few random women back in college. Jennifer seemed more recent.

Blake’s exes were in the past and Blake was her future, she reminded herself.

Plus, Blake was correct, she did have her own share of exes.

In fact, one of her exes—that she hadn’t told Blake about—was here, and Lily knew she had better come clean to Blake right now.

God forbid her husband find out about her relationship with Max from someone else besides her.

The waitress greeted them and as they reached the bottom of another set of stairs, Lily reached up, grabbed the back of Blake’s neck, and pulled his head down so she could speak against his ear without anyone hearing.

“Just so you know, I used to date Maxwell Deckman.”

“What?” Blake lifted his head. His eyebrows were lifted, his mouth open—the shock evident on his face.

“Yep, a long, long time ago,” she assured him with a pat on his cheek and kept moving so as not to hold up the group.

“Huh,” Blake huffed with a half snort. He didn’t sound amused at all.

“So, I guess we’re even. I didn’t know about your ex and you didn’t know about mine,” she whispered and wrinkled her nose, gazing up at him.

After giving her a strange look, Blake urged her farther down another set of steps as the waiter led them into one of the various rooms inside.

“I don’t know if I can cancel the contract,” Blake whispered, his voice lowered for her ears only. Which was new, usually he didn’t give a shit who overheard them. This was nice, really nice.

“It’s okay. It’s just a job and he’s just an employee.”