All Chapters of FALLING FOR MR SNOWFLAKE: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

JAKE It had been days since the board ambushed me with their ridiculous ultimatum, but the irritation still lingered.The silence of my office did little to soothe it. The skyline glittered outside my floor-to-ceiling windows, the city restless and alive, but all I saw was the reflection of their smug faces around that damned table. Marriage. I hadn’t built Ryland Global with a ring on my finger. I’d built it with sleepless nights, ruthless decisions, and a spine strong enough to take every hit and keep moving. And now they wanted me shackled because investors needed a bedtime story to sleep through their anxieties. I leaned back in my chair, loosening my tie with one hand, the other drumming against the mahogany desk.My phone buzzed once. Lily’s name lit up the screen, but it wasn’t a call—just a text: One step at a time, remember?My chest tightened, the sharp edges inside me softening. One step at a time. With her, that had meaning. With her, the chaos made sense. I was just about

LILYThe office had never felt so quiet. Not in the good way, not the productive hum of keyboards and phones ringing.Because everyone could feel it. The air between me and Jake Ryland. I avoided his gaze like it might burn me. Slipped out of meetings the second they ended. Timed my coffee breaks when I knew he’d be locked in calls. If I had to pass documents to his desk, I did it quickly, my voice clipped, my eyes fixed on the folder, never on him. And he noticed.Every time I dared a glance, he was watching me. Not openly, not enough for others to point it out, but I felt it. His eyes lingering too long when I typed, the pause before he spoke to me in front of the team, the way his jaw tightened when I kept my answers short.It wasn’t just me, either. The others picked up on it. Whispers spread like static. Did something happen? Why is she so distant? Why does he look ready to bite someone’s head off every time she walks past?I buried myself in work, desperate for the numbers and re

LILYI left his office feeling like I’d walked out of a storm and into glass — the air bright and painfully clear, and every shard reflecting a piece of what I’d just done.My legs felt weak and steady at the same time. I hadn’t planned to say yes. I’d gone in determined to protect him, to protect myself. I’d wanted to be the sensible one. Instead I’d let him hold me hard enough for the world to feel smaller for a moment. I’d let him ask. I’d said yes. The word still hummed in my ears like a secret I wasn’t sure I deserved.The hallway felt narrow and absurdly loud. People pretended not to notice, pretending I was just another assistant carrying a stack of reports. I wanted to tell them. I wanted to shout it down the hall — that I’d just promised to be with him, that I’d walked out of his office and belonged to someone who would fight for me. But I didn’t. We’d agreed on careful.One step at a time.Henry was waiting by the elevators, leaning against the marble with his usual lazy grin

LILY By the time I got to the office the next morning, caffeine had replaced sleep, and I was pretending my brain wasn’t still echoing with Jake Ryland’s voice. " Let’s get married. Secretly. " Now, sitting at my desk, staring at a spreadsheet that looked like it was written in another language, I was seriously considering that maybe I was hallucinating from lack of rest. Because no sane billionaire CEO just blurts out “let’s get married in secret” like a line from a bad soap opera. Except Jake wasn’t a soap opera. He was real. “Good morning, sunshine.” Henry’s voice broke through my thoughts . He appeared beside my desk with a paper cup in one hand and an eyebrow already raised. “You look like someone who either committed tax fraud or had a very eventful night. Which one should I congratulate you for?” I sighed. “Neither.” He leaned on the edge of my desk. “Then it’s worse. Spill it.” I pressed my lips together. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” “Lily,” he

LILY The plane hummed softly, a low, steady sound that filled the silence between us. Jake was seated beside me, his jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up, one hand loosely clasping mine over the armrest. We hadn’t said much since takeoff. Outside the window, the world stretched in shades of blue and white — clouds rolling like waves, the faint outline of mountains glinting in the distance. Aspenridge. The place where it all began. “I didn’t think we’d come back here,” I said quietly, watching the horizon. Jake’s thumb brushed my knuckles. “You didn’t think I’d let our story end where it started, did you?” A soft laugh escaped me. “You mean in a snowstorm, with me half-frozen and you pretending not to be a billionaire?” He smiled at that. “I wasn’t pretending. I was hiding.” “Same thing,” I said, but gently. “Maybe,” he said, his voice lower now, “but I’m not hiding anymore.” Something in my chest fluttered painfully. I turned back to the window before he could read t