Weeks flew by in a blur for me. Being the new COO of James Enterprises certainly kept me busy, often times Cameron finished work before I did -- which was saying something for the neurotic business man who worked all hours of the night. Some nights he would just lounge on my couch and watch me work, and other times I wouldn't get much work done thanks to the insatiable man I fell in love with.

I currently was filing some reports on the Kipman deal we were closing next week, when Bradley creeped into my office. "Hey Bradley, what's going on?" I asked placing a couple papers into their corrective files. Bradley looked nervous as he leaned against the front of my desk.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a nervous chuckle. He was fiddling with a picture frame of Cameron and I that was placed at the front of my desk. I loved that picture, it was a candid one I took a while back when we were in Hawaii. Cameron had been lounging beside me in a cabana reading a magazine and I leaned in a kissed him, he didn't look surprised he just embraced it by deepening the kiss and I snapped the memory to keep forever.

"Your mom is downstairs" he said with hesitation.

I stopped and frowned, falling backwards into my chair. "What?" I asked, running my fingers through my wavy hair.

"Cameron had her blocked from calling the office, but she's downstairs pestering Lucy at reception to let her up"

I had been so happy with Cameron, had gotten into this amazing routine of working and living with him. And of course my mother would come in like a vulture and try and ruin everything for me. She had lost her money and her husband, so now she was crawling back to the only thing she knew -- me.

"I can call security if you--"

I cut him off. "No, I'll handle it"

"Are you sure? Cameron told me to let him know if she ever entered the building, but I thought I would tell you first seeing as it's your Mom"

Bradley began fiddling with his argyle tie that hung too short on his blue work shirt. He had tucked his black slacks into chunky black boots and accessorized it all with two brightly colored watches on one arm. He once told me he was too lazy to replace the batteries when they died, so he took to just buying a new one when they died. But he loved them so much he wore them even when they didn't work.

"Thanks Bradley" I said, giving his arm a squeeze as I walked past him. "Give her hell!" He shouted back at me, earning a chuckle from me. I had told Bradley majority of my issues with my mother, minus the issues with Maxwell. What I told him was enough for him to dislike her.

Cameron was on the phone when I past his office. His calm demeanor told me it wasn't a business call. He played with a pen, twirling it around his fingers, and I could see the laugh lines around his eyes even from where I stood. It was happy Cameron, and something I treasured deeply. If I could spend my life just making him smile, then I would die a happy woman.

Cameron caught my eye and his smile widened. I gave him a small wave and crinkled my nose, he chuckled and winked before I continued on to the elevators. The pair of us were so busy during the day, sometimes we rarely saw each other. But when we did, we made sure to show the other just how much we cared. Small smiles and waves from across the office were sometimes all we could manage, but we more than overcompensated for the lack of communication when we got home.

The lobby at James Enterprises was practically empty. I wasn't surprised seeing as it was three o'clock in the afternoon. I walked around the rounded reception desk in the middle of the lobby, Lucy; the older woman behind the desk looked ready to pull her hair out. "Where is she?" I asked without stopping. She sighed and pointed across the lobby to a seating area, and I found her arguing with security.

"Let go of me, do you know who you are dealing with?!" she practically screeched across the marble lobby. I shook my head and quickened my pace. My mother looked terrible, her dress was dirty and falling off of her and she clutched her designer bag to her chest. Her hair was greasy and matted to the sides of her head and old makeup was caked onto her face.

"My daughter is the chief officer of operations! I can have you fired for this!" She screamed as a security officer tried to pull her towards the exit. I rolled my eyes at the gall she had to even mention me. I had half the mind to let security drag her outside kicking and screaming. But I knew she was like a rodent and would keep coming back if I didn't deal with her.

"Mother stop" I said walking up to the scene.

"Oh Avery!" she cried out, but I could see through her facade and took a step back.

"Do you know her, Ms. Montgomery?" One of the guards asked. I sighed but nodded my head. "I've got her, thanks" they nodded their heads and headed to the office in the back of the lobby. I could see Lucy out of the corner of my eye looking over with intrigue. She was always a nosy woman, in her late fifties with greying red hair. Bradley and I always cracked jokes at her expense on our way out for lunch. She was the type of woman who needed to know everything about everyone, and my wailing pathetic mother was probably the most entertainment she has had in months.

"What do you want?" I growled at her, crossing my arms across the expensive tan work dress that Cameron had bought me. In fact he supplied me with more than enough, but every time he ripped apart some of my clothing he went out and spent a fortune on something new. It was a cycle I think he took pleasure in.

"I wanted to see you" She whimpered. I could tell her tears were fake, I could tell everything she would tell me would be fake. I already knew all she was here for was money, something I would not be giving her.

"Like hell you did" I snorted "You lost everything because you're a stupid bitch, so you come crawling to me because society probably turned their backs on you" I was pretty proud of myself for standing up to her.

"I lost everything because of you!" she shouted, her voice escalating. Hell this whole conversation was escalating , and I saw nothing good coming from it. I could not stoop to her level, and I was secretly wishing Cameron was watching me on the security footage and would come rescue me from this nightmare.

"You lost everything because you were selfish. You let money take over your life, and married a man who brainwashed you into thinking the most heinous acts were normal. Maxwell lost the company because he couldn't manage it and lost all of his investors money"

My mother was steaming. Has she been a pot of water, she would have boiled over by now.

"And he lost his life because he tried to kill me, he tried to kill your own blood and you stand here blaming me" I was surprisingly calm in the face of my devil of a mother, I hadn't moved an inch since I started this conversation. "You deserve what you got" I said softly and turned to walk away, my mother had other ideas.

She grabbed my arm and twisted me around to face her. I saw her arm raising out of my peripheral, and I wanted to laugh that my mother even had the audacity to try and hit me. My hand caught her's only inches from my cheek. I gripped it tightly, painfully so. My mother whimpered and looked for someone to help her.

"Come near me again, and I'll have you thrown in prison" I said releasing her arm "And don't bother trying to contact Tommy either, he said he would rather go back to Iraq before seeing you again"

I turned around and was shocked to see Cameron leaning against the receptionist desk, two security guards at his side. I thought he would be angry that I came down here to deal with her without him, but his face said anything but.

I could hear my mother crying and calling my name as I made my way over to him. Two steps in and I tuned her out. The security guards left Cameron's side to deal with my mother, and he pulled me into his arms. "Are you okay?" he asked, rubbing his nose against mine. I inhaled his scent and immediately relaxed.

"I am now" I whispered, tugging at his Armani suit to connect my lips with his. He was my home, he was what I needed to be truly happy. And that was something he took pleasure in giving me. He loved to make me happy, and I him. His lips were soft, they gave me the sweet satisfaction I had needed in that moment.

Cameron pulled apart, wrapped and arm around my waist and led me back to our office. In the elevator he pressed his lips to my temple. "I'm proud of you, Sweetheart" he whispered into my hair.

I smiled and laid my head against his chest and whispered "I love you"