Dumped My Cheating Ex. Now I'm Sleeping Next to a Billionaire CEO novel Chapter 1096

Teresa never expected to win a Technology Innovation Award at the summit. For someone who had been out of the workforce for over twenty years, starting over in her forties as a homemaker, it felt like a miracle. She stared at her name on the trophy, and her eyes immediately filled with tears.

It didn’t say she was someone’s wife or someone’s mother. It was just her name. Teresa.

All the composure she had built over half a lifetime crumbled in an instant. She couldn’t hold back. The moment she stepped into the lounge, she ran straight into the arms of the man waiting for her.

“Andrew... I did it. I really did it...”

She held onto Andrew, crying from the flood of emotions. All those endless nights in the lab, the times she broke down in frustration over research papers she couldn’t understand, all of it melted into tears that finally spilled over.

Andrew looked at her with so much tenderness. He gently stroked her back, like he was comforting a child.

“Teresa, you’re incredible. You earned this.”

He lowered his head and kissed the tears from her cheeks, one by one.

“This is just the beginning,” he whispered.

“You’ll win more awards. You’ll stand on even bigger stages.”

His voice was deep and warm, every word searing itself into her heart. Without Andrew’s encouragement, she never would have dared to take on a project like this alone. He was the one who had pulled her out of her lowest moments. He gave her confidence, motivation, and the courage to start again. He gave her a second chance at life.

Teresa looked up at this gentle, elegant man. She couldn’t hold back her feelings any longer. Rising up on her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, fiercely and without hesitation.

...

Outside the glass window, Emmy stood frozen, eyes wide in disbelief at what she was seeing. In her memories, her mother had always been so poised and reserved. Even after more than twenty years of marriage, she had never seen her parents hold hands, not even once. That polite, distant feeling between them had made Emmy, as a little girl, think that was what marriage was supposed to be.

But now...

The elevator doors slid shut. Inside, the air turned warm and electric. Almost before the doors had fully closed, they were in each other’s arms again, kissing like they never wanted to part.

When they reached the penthouse, they swiped the key card and slipped inside. Coats, ties, and high heels trailed from the entryway to the plush carpet. They tumbled onto the soft bed together.

Andrew’s glasses had vanished somewhere along the way. The usually thoughtful look in his eyes was now replaced by something deeper, more intense. But even then, just before things crossed a line, he managed to hold himself up, fighting for control.

His voice was rough. “Teresa… what about Emmy…”

Teresa’s cheeks were pink, her arms around his neck, her breath coming quick and shallow.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered. “Emmy texted me earlier. She said there’s a celebration at her lab, they’ll be out late. I told her I’d see her tonight, maybe stay over at her place.”

That was all Andrew needed. He reached for a small packet from the nightstand and tore it open, still thinking of protecting her, even now. At their age, love and responsibility went hand in hand.