"She didn't need to do anything except for being herself." It was Adam who replied to him.
Scott looked at Adam who was busy gazing at Stella with a lovesick expression. His company had worked with Levinson's Corp. before and that is how he knew Adam in person. He knew that Adam had always maintained a distance from women, whether he was at business meetings or some big corporate events. For the cold hearted CEO to actually fall in love with a girl, that too his boring high school best friend, shocked him to the core.
He still had his jaw hanging down, touching the floor, when Stella couldn't take it anymore and pointed it out to him.
"Close your mouth before a fly gets in." Stella stuck her tongue out at him.
"I still can not believe it." Scott raised his hands up in the air in frustration. He still couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"Not my problem." Stella replied as she played with lapels of Adam's coat.
"Well, if you are like her family then that makes you mine as well." Adam gave him a faint smile.
"What?" Scott came out of his thoughts. "Then I should thank the little one here." He continued after a pause, pointing his chin towards Stella.
"Coming back to the business, the contract can be signed the day after tomorrow. I will ask my PR team to arrange for a press conference. All the big news channels will be invited." Adam added with a straight face.
"That's good then." Scott replied as he stood up. "It is nice working with you, just like always." He extended a hand towards him, giving him his signature lop-sided grin.
"The pleasure is mine." Adam shook his hand firmly, not bothering to get up. It's not like he could even if he wanted to, Stella refused to move from his lap, and there was no way he would do something to disturb her.
"I will take my leave now. You guys carry on." Scott added.
"It's almost lunch time, and it looks like you guys have a lot to catch up with. So, why don't we have our lunch together." Adam spoke up looking at the girl in his arms.
"It's a good idea. As long as she doesn't mind." Scott replied, his eyes moving towards her direction. For some reason, Stella refused to look at him. He could tell something wasn't right with her. And knew that if he could tell that, Adam could too.
"What do you say sweetheart?" Adam murmured softly, rubbing the back of her head.
Stella only nodded her head in a yes.
Adam looked back at Scott and shrugged in response to his questioning gaze. Both of them had the same question going through their minds at that moment. 'What happened to her mood? Wasn't she fine a minute ago?'
"What are we waiting for? Let's go then." Adam stood up with Stella in his arms. She didn't even resist and let him carry as she buried her face in his chest.
The two men walked towards the door with Adam leading the way. He stopped right before the door.
"You sure you want to go out like this?" He asked Stella. He wouldn't mind carrying her all the way to his car, but she definitely would. He knew her too well.
Stella came out of her daze and shook her head sideways.
"Alright." Adam replied before putting her down on her feet.
The trio headed downstairs, walking side by side.
Once they were in the underground parking, Scott excused himself and made his way towards his car. He asked his driver to follow Adam's car all the way to the restaurant because he would be leaving for his hotel from there.
"Sorry, I had to inform the driver." He spoke up once he settled down in the backseat of Adam's Maybach.
"It's alright." Adam replied to him, before turning on the ignition.
Twenty minutes later, a black Maybach pulled up before the entrance of a lavish restaurant.
As soon as they stepped out, they were greeted by the manager of the restaurant, who had an average height, but it didn't lessen his charm. Adam had left him a message when Scott went to have a word with his driver, letting him know about their plan.
He bowed his head in respect and greeted the trio before guiding them to their private room on the top floor.
After the trio settled down, a waiter came inside the room with their menus. He stood quietly at the side as the trio decided on their food.
Everyone ordered a couple of dishes. Adam didn't forget to order Stella's favorite dessert before passing the menus back to the waiter and telling him about their drinks.
The waiter bowed and left the room.
As soon as he left, Scott stood up from his place and walked towards Stella. He couldn't take it anymore.
"What happened to you little one?" He asked her as he got down on one of his knees, not caring about the branded pants.
"Look at me." He lifted her chin up with his fingers to make her look at him as she refused to do so herself.
Stella finally looked at him with her teary eyes and jumped from her chair and hugged him. She broke down in tears as she wrapped her arms around his neck.