Forty-Five.

Lily’s POV

After what happened with Alphonso, I wasn’t sure that I was ready to become close with someone else, especially not when I was pregnant with someone else’s child.

“I hope you don’t think this is something more than friendship,” I blurted out seemingly out of nowhere at Julian.

He frowned and then chuckled, but when I didn’t laugh along with him, his smile dropped and he became serious.

“I hope that I haven’t really given you the wrong impression of me,” he stated. “My daughter just never stops talking about you, and I thought it would make her happy if you and I got to know each other, but if that’s not okay with you, I could take a step back.”

I mentally face-palmed myself, so much for setting boundaries and making a perfectly good situation awkward.

“No, you aren’t,” I chimed in quickly in an effort to make the situation less embarrassing on my end. “I just didn’t want to seem like I was giving off the wrong impression or coming off in a way that made you think that I…”