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The next morning, as Lily was pushing into her studio, stifling a yawn, her phone buzzed and she sighed, hoping to God it wasn't her assistant Grace, who taught the amateur classes first thing in the morning, calling in. But, although she prayed as she pulled up the text, it was, indeed, a text from her only employee saying that she'd be unable to come in, as she was suffering from a severe migraine. Lily didn't quite believe it, but sighed, texted back a wish for her assistant to feel better as soon as possible, and not so subtly implore her not to cancel for the long day they'd be facing together the next day. And even as she sighed, wishing she could have called in herself, even if she truly loved her job, Lily still smiled as Grace texted back that she was the very best, and would be back the next day with extra pep in her step.

"Fuck," Lily grumbled, even though she couldn't bring herself to be properly pissed at Grace, and headed immediately to her office to dump her bag and try to get herself together for the back to back morning beginners' classes. She knew she should be going over her books, and working out her fall schedule, not to mention think about how she could work her meditation techniques into the advanced afternoon session, but instead pushed into the main room after exiting her office, setting up the spare mats and getting prepped for the class she hadn't taught in the last six months or so.

She pasted on a smile as the first of the arrivals began trickling in, and although she recalled most of them from signing them up, after they provided their names upon shaking her hand, there were more than a few she was certain Grace had recruited herself when she drew a complete blank upon seeing them.

At five to eight, almost all the class had arrived, and Lily, trying to smile through her disappointment, started showing the newest sign ups, some of whom she know would quit practising her craft after their two month membership expired, where they could borrow mats and where to fill up their water bottles at the sink in the side room. She came back out, and froze, her eyes landing on an all too familiar face. "What are you doing here?" she asked blankly, feeling her heart thumping unevenly, her palms too sweaty, even as suspicion crawled up her spine in a tingly mess of nerves.

Harvey looked back at her. "I wanted to talk to you, see you," the traitorous bastard said softly, looking repentant and pathetic. Lily couldn't help comparing, in the privacy of her thoughts, the dejected looking man standing before her with the man she'd made plans to meet up with after work. Is it bad to prefer a gun-toting hunk to this? "I wanted to ap-"

"No," she said. "Not right now. I'm working."

Harvey pulled a face, and she braced for the confrontation that was sure to come. Braced for him to be stubborn, and pigheaded, like usual. Braced for the inevitable fight. But to Lily's surprise, her ex merely held up his hands, palms out, and shrugged. "Alright," he sighed, and shot her the wounded puppy dog eyes that had won her over before, too many times, in the past, to forgive his wrongs.

Lily held firm. She had way too much to worry about that day to get suckered into an impromptu meeting with Harvey first thing. And she was embarrassed he'd thought she'd just forget there were a dozen other people around to discuss their broken relationship with him right then. "You need to go," she said softly, with iron firmness, and Harvey nodded.

"I'm sorry," he said softly, but Lily was already turning away. She was past wanting to hear an apology.

"Goodbye, Harvey," she said with finality. She watched him head back out of her studio, forcing a smile that made her cheeks ache, and turned to her class. "Alright, is everyone ready to get started?" she asked.

By the time four o'clock rolled around, and Lily had dismissed her last class, she was wiped. Her busy night before, combined with her only employee calling in sick, had made Lily's day damn near unbearable. And when she at last waved her class out, she sucked in a deep breath, sank bonelessly onto the polished, light maple floors of the studio, and laid out spread eagle, completely wiped. She knew she had paperwork to think about, books to balance, and plenty of other work left over from the morning to accomplish, but all she could manage was to lay there and breathe, trying to relax herself and her tired body, and quiet her mind.

And five minutes after four, that's where Scorpius Malfoy, who'd been thinking of no one but the deliciously sexy, and altogether contradictory redhead all day, found her. Lying on the floor with her eyes closed, looking like she'd fallen asleep right there in her cropped leggings and tank top, hair sprawled all around her, face peaceful in rest. He moved over to where she lay and crouched down, watching one of her eyes crack open. "Scorpius?" she murmured, then both eyes snapped fully open and she sat up.

"Hi," he said.

"Shit, what time is it?" she asked, rolling her shoulders, trying to work the stiffness from them. Scorpius stood with masculine grace then extended a hand to help Lily haul herself off the floor. She leaned into him for a beat, trying to absorb some of the strength that oozed off of the tall, built blond, and then stepped back abruptly as she recalled that morning.

"Just after four," he replied, smiling slightly. "Were you sleeping?"

"No," Lily said, hoping she hadn't actually dozed off as she'd meditated. "My assistant called in sick, and I've had a really long day, and I'm bushed," she sighed.

"Does that mean you're not interested in having dinner with me?" he murmured, slowly drawing her closer, one of his large, strong hands sliding around her waist. Lily licked her lips, knowing she should say no and go home for an early night after finishing her office work. But her stomach rumbled loudly, and she wouldn't at all mind spending a couple hours around Scorpius and properly getting to know him. Even if he's probably still carrying that fucking gun.

"Dinner sounds great," she admitted with a shy smile, then looked down at herself. "Let me just go change first." She went into her office, pulling out the fresh change of clothes she kept on hand for the odd time she had a meeting or had to dash out between classes to hit up the bank and didn't want to wear sweaty yoga gear, and changed quickly in the bathroom.

Once she was presentable, and had taken down her hair, convincing herself the massive dark red beast was acceptably tame without any fussing, she flicked off all the lights, powered down her computer, and made sure all the inner doors were locked as they should be. Scorpius was waiting for her by the front door and Lily smiled as his dark grey eyes roved over her teal blouse and snug dark wash skinny jeans appreciatively. "Ready to go?" he asked, and she couldn't help melting against him briefly, tilting her chin up and rising onto her tiptoes to kiss him lazily.

"Yes," she breathed, and groaned softly as Scorpius cupped her ass in both hands and kissed her harder. "I just have to lock up." The blond watched as she set the state of the art alarm, pulled the shades, and then double locked the front door. By the time she'd slid into his car, she'd all but forgotten that she'd had a crappy day, and the incident with her douche bag ex had all but slipped from her memory.

It was rather late by the time Lily got back to her flat much later that night, climbing the stairs hand in hand with Scorpius, still laughing at the bawdy joke he'd told her as he parked, feeling utterly relaxed and superbly buoyant after an awful day made good with a great dinner and the promise of a fantastic night to come with the sexy blond hunk in her bed. So when she reached the top of the stairs, feeling Scorpius join her a half step and seconds later, and saw the surly, wretched face of the last man on the planet she wanted to see, Lily felt her temper flare.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded for the second time that day, releasing Scorpius's hand to plant both fists on her hips.

But it appeared her ex was more interested in her accompaniment than Lily and her frustrated rage. "Who the hell are you?" Harvey demanded, glaring hard at Scorpius, his blue eyes roving over the well-built blond with accusatory disdain.

Scorpius's blond brows lifted. "Scorpius Malfoy," he replied without extending a hand to shake. "Who the hell are you?"

Lily watched Harvey flinch, as if he'd never been spoken to as such, and she had to bite back a smile, because she didn't think her philandering ex actually had ever been spoken to with such obvious dismissal. Harvey drew himself up to his full height, although Lily noticed he was still dwarfed by the hulking blond beside her. "I'm Harvey Denton Williams," he said, and then added, his nose tilting into the air, "the third."

Scorpius smiled slowly. "Damn, and here I was thinking I'd lucked out," he said, and Lily bit her cheek to keep from smiling as well, even as Harvey's brows drew together.

"Beg pardon?" he said pompously. Lily felt the urge to smile recede, because she was instantly reminded of exactly how insulting Harvey could be, and had no desire to have the man she was undeniably attracted to go toe to toe with him. Especially because part of her was still looking forward to having Scorpius spend the night again.

"Sorry," Lily said lightly, grimacing a tiny bit. "You had a good run of not meeting him, at least."

"That's your ex?" Scorpius asked, turning to look at Lily, and the redhead pulled a face, half begging him to simply not engage Harvey, half pleading for him to punch the bastard in the face.

"In the flesh," Lily sighed, then looked back at Harvey. "What do you want?" she asked again.

"We need to talk," Harvey said, his slightly unfocused and bloodshot gaze meeting the redhead's, and moved in close to her, seemingly writing Scorpius, and whatever threat he might pose, off entirely.

"We don't have anything to talk about," Lily said firmly, and swallowed, trying to hold her temper and simultaneously get herself together.

"Yes we do," Harvey said, stepping closer, reaching to grasp her wrist. Lily jerked her appendage away, seeing Harvey's blue eyes dart to Scorpius. "You still have a bunch of my stuff," Harvey said.

"Should've thought about that before cheating on me," Lily snarled.

"Lily, please," Harvey said, and reached for her shoulder this time. Lily felt the tension in the hall rise as she flinched back out of reach into Scorpius, who had gone still and tense.

"Don't touch me," she said darkly. Harvey's mouth twisted as, behind her, Scorpius put a calming hand on her hip.

"Well obviously you're still all fired up," he said coolly, stepping back again. "I'll let you know when I'm available to collect my belongings," he added, then shot Scorpius a darkly calculating look. "Hopefully by then, you'll be willing to talk about this, and about us, Lily," he said.

"Don't count on it," the redhead said, chest heaving as she tried to contain her temper, furious that her night ahead was surely ruined. "Sorry about that," she sighed, looking up at Scorpius with a dejected sigh after Harvey had ambled back down the stairs.

"It's fine. You were perfect, but I'll admit, I can't think of a single reason you'd want to date that man."

Lily chuckled darkly. "I'm beginning to realize that," she agreed softly, and looked down, biting her lip indecisively, unsure if she actually wanted to ask him to come inside and spend the night with her yet again.

"Are we going inside?" Scorpius murmured, and Lily looked up when she felt his hands, rough and strong, cupping her face tenderly, tilting her chin up.

The redhead smiled slowly, hands roving across his shoulders before her left hand descended beneath the neck of his tee, her right sliding up into his soft blond hair. Scorpius grinned, then bent enough to kiss her gently. "Let's go inside," she breathed after he broke away several long moments later. Lily was panting and groaning her need for him, feeling his arousal and wanting the tall sexy blond she'd met entirely by accident more than ever.

"About time," he said, and five minutes later, when they'd stripped and managed to find her bed, and Scorpius had buried himself in her sweet, hot pussy, Lily had forgotten entirely the unsettling interludes with her ex. She was simply lost in the euphoria of being together, the same as her blond haired lover, and Lily may have even forgotten her own name by the time morning came.

Lily headed into work the next morning, after bidding a very sexy and thoroughly nonverbal goodbye to Scorpius, feeling entirely over her recent relationship drama. In fact, she felt utterly buoyant, and quite sated. Hell, she might even be downright chipper. Note to self, abundance of orgasms administered by a sexy blond hunk will make your face hurt from smiling too much. But Lily couldn't stop smiling, all through the day, and wondered just when she was going to see Scorpius Malfoy again.

Two hours later, the redhead glanced up from her ledger, sure her eyes were going to cross with the sea of numbers that were making a headache form at the back of her skull, at the brisk knock on her office door. When she spotted who the intruder on her bookkeeping was, she almost choked. Mrs. Harvey Denton Williams II, the fiercely intimidating woman who Lily had thought would one day be her mother in law stood in her doorway, dressed in a flawlessly tailored, and utterly expensive, Chanel suit, her Louis Vuitton handbag nestled into the crook of her elbow, her Jimmy Choos tapping impatiently on the laminate wood floor. "Holy shit," she breathed, wondered why on earth Harvey's mother was coming to visit her.

The woman, who Lily was positive had never much liked her, smiled tightly. "Hello, Lily. Shall I assume that was meant as an invitation to enter?" she asked haughtily, sweeping into the room and perching herself on the edge of the chair across from Lily's desk.

It hadn't been, at all, but the redhead nodded blankly. "Uh," she said, trying to be polite despite her massive amounts of confusion and surprise. "No offence, Mrs. Williams, but why are you-?"

"Here?" the dark haired, blue eyed woman drawled, and smiled tightly again. "To discuss the recent events concerning you and my son." Lily's brows shot up, because that sounded like Harvey had gone crying to Mommy about his breakup, and in turn, Mommy had come to save the day. Though how she thought she could fix things for Harvey, Lily wasn't sure.

"Recent events," Lily repeated slowly.

"Yes," Cordelia Williams said and forced another smile. "It has come to my attention that you and my son are no longer together."

Lily nodded. "Correct," she said when the woman merely looked at her.

"It has also come to my attention that my darling Harvey was, shall we say, straying from his commitment to you."

Lily's brows lifted. "Correct," she said again, wondering what this woman was getting at.

"And that you in turn were unfaithful to him."

Lily's temper flared at that. "Yes," she said, face stony. "Though I'd like to point out it was a single event, as opposed to your son, who had been 'straying from his commitment to me' for months previous to our breaking up."

Cordelia Williams forced a smile that didn't reach her cold, calculating blue eyes. "Duly noted, Lily," she said with remarkable condescension. "There's no need to be defensive, dear, it makes you seem like you don't regret your actions."

Lily grit her teeth. "I don't," she said, and watched the other woman's dark, well manicured brows lift. "So why are you really here, Mrs. Williams? What do you want?"

"Harvey made a mistake," she said. "He's too sweet, oftentimes for his own good, but I am here to remedy this whole unfortunate scenario. I've persuaded my son to see reason and end his silly affair with the little waitress, and he's fully on board with working through the issues that no doubt have arisen between the two of you." Lily frowned, because surely she wasn't saying she was making Harvey try to get her back.

"You shouldn't have wasted your time," the redhead said coolly. "I have no desire to date your son again, Mrs. Williams."

The other woman smiled, looking smug. "Of course not. Harvey isn't a stupid man, Lily. You'd be his fiancee, of course, not merely his girlfriend." Lily couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. This bitch is fucking insane!

"Yeah right," she gasped through her laughter as the other woman, mouth pursing slightly, regarded her coldly.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked haughtily after Lily's giggles had subsided.

"Do you really think I'm going to take back the scumbag who cheated on me for two months when he can't even propose to me himself, and sends his mother to inform me?" She snorted, leaning back in her office chair. "Again, I'd like to say yeah right. Yeah fucking right."

Mrs. Williams smirked. "Lily, you are failing to see reason." Lily waited to hear her ex's mother explain more of her 'reason'. "Of course my son would propose to you in earnest, and I'm sure he'll buy you whichever engagement ring you like from Tiffany's and take you to whatever setting you'd find most romantic for it," she said dismissively, waving a jewelled hand. "And all you've got to do is apologize for breaking his heart."

Lily choked. "Me apologize?" she snarled, temper flaring dangerously now.

"You cheated on him, Lily. He was, is, heartbroken." Lily imagined it was only when his formidable mother told him to be that Harvey felt anything remotely close to heartbreak. "But Harvey is willing to look past that if you are in return."

Lily shook her head. "You're wasting your time," she said firmly, privately thinking Harvey and his mother might be stupid and crazy if they thought for a second she was going to get back together with her douchebag ex. "It's a definite no."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes. "Because you're being difficult, or because you've already moved on?" she asked frostily.

"Both," Lily snapped. "Goodbye, Mrs. Williams," she added crisply.

The woman rose, sniffing. "You're a fool, Lily. Harvey is a good man, and he loves you, and he would offer the sort of security any girl would kill for, and yet you have the nerve to simply say no? I always knew you weren't good enough for my son."

Lily shot to her feet as the other woman turned away, stomping to the door. "You're the only fool here, Cordelia, because that coward couldn't even dump me and spent two straight months cheating on me with a nineteen year old waitress. He doesn't love me, and I'm not dumb enough to believe it even if he came here himself instead of sending his Mommy to do his dirty work for him. If that makes me not good enough, then I'll be fucking horrible for him."

Mrs. Williams cast her a disdainful look. "If you think for an instant a wealthy, socially adept husband isn't going to have his mistresses, Lily, you're a naive little fool."

The redhead glared, lip curling. "If you're content with a man who'd rather fuck a teenager than you, for something like money and security, then you're a pitiable fool," she snapped back, but Mrs. Williams merely swept out of her office, leaving a frustrated and offended Lily with her bookkeeping once more.

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