Chapter 12

**Luke**



Luke paced the length of his room.

The muffled sounds of the shower coming from the bathroom.

He couldn't understand what happened back there.

He felt as if he had lost control of his senses.

The feeling of Amara’s sweat-soaked skin pressing against his was still very vivid In his head.

His mind must have been muddled because, for a fleeting second, he had thought of leaning up and kissing her full lips.

And he might have done that if she hadn't pushed him down.

He clenched his jaw and thought to himself *‘No it must be just a moment of distraction. I can't be attracted to her. I have Sasha and I love her, and Amara doesn't stand a chance in front of her.*

Sasha's beautiful face crossed his mind and he remembered their history.

She was his first assistant when he joined the company.

They were both new in the business. While he had just returned after completing his graduation from New York, Sasha was also fresh out of college.

Since they had to work together, they saw each other quite often.

And slowly, he grew attracted to her.

But he couldn't act on his feelings because his family would have never approved.

One fateful night, at a company event, they both got drunk and ended up having sex with each other.

When he woke up the next morning, she wasn't in the room.

He thought that they had both moved on from the incident.

But when he reached the office the next day, he received her resignation letter.

And another letter that expressed her feelings for him.

She was sorry that they ended up in such a situation that night because she had liked him quietly for so many years and wanted to confess but had thought better of it and maintained her distance but that night had made it hard for her to be in his vicinity and pretend like nothing happened between them.

The letter had touched his heart.

She had stated that he shouldn't worry about last night and she would try to forget it as well because she had decided to move to another city.

Luke had left everything and gone straight to her apartment.

When he saw the half-packed bags by her open door, he had reached out and expressed his feelings for her.

Of course, he didn't love her back then.

But he couldn't bear to let a woman who loved him this much go just like that.

He had decided to just have fun while it lasted.

But soon he caught feelings for her.

And that made it all complicated.

On one hand, he didn't want to leave her; on the other hand, he couldn't be with her because of his family.

His mother had been supportive of his relationship and they had managed to keep it hidden.

Everything was going smoothly until his grandfather asked him to marry a woman of his choice.

He declined but then his father talked to him in private, telling him how important it was for them to marry that girl into this family.

If she wasn't so resourceful, he would have fought tooth and nail.

But his father had reminded him that if he didn't marry her, his grandfather would ask Jason to marry her and that would have caused a great amount of trouble for their family.

So he agreed.

But he also made it clear to Amara that he wouldn't look at her as a man.

Even though he said that it was only partly true.

While she might be the exact opposite of Sasha, she was beautiful in a totally different way. She had a charm to her that pulled people to her.

No man would have been able to resist her.

When he suggested they sleep on different beds, it wasn't because he was disgusted or anything; it was because he was afraid he might actually end up doing something with her if they slept on the same bed.


And he couldn't do that to Sasha. Not after what she did for him.

He sighs and rubs his palm over his face.




_____^^_____



“Did you pack everything?” He asks.


Sasha is sitting on the couch with a scowl on her face.

She seems to be in her head because she doesn't respond to him.

He snaps his finger in front of her face to get her attention.

It works and she looks up at him with furrowed brows and asks, “You said something?”

He sighs and takes a seat beside her on the couch.

“You seem lost,” he says tucking some stray hair behind her ears.

“No, I was just thinking about something. Nothing big deal.” She answers with a reassuring smile but he knows she is lying.

“I know you don't want to go, but baby, you need to understand, we have to,” he tells her and she averts her gaze away from him.

She sighs and pulls her hand away from his hold before putting her face in her palms.

They both stay quiet and then she she looks up and turns to face him, “It's not that I'm worried about myself. I don't have anyone except you in my life; I go wherever with you. It's you I'm worried about. Your everything is here. Your family, your friends, your life—I don't want you to leave all this because of me.”

Liam considers her words and thinks about it.

She isn't wrong his whole life is here in Tennessee. And he doesn't quite know if he'll be able to adapt to the new changes but it was necessary.

He knows that once he goes away, there will be quite a stir in the city.

And his grandfather would definitely be angry at him, he might even give everything to Jason, although he knew his mother would not let him do so that easily.

“Sasha, I've told you countless times not to worry about it. I've planned everything. We already have a house and car there. We can have a fresh start and I've already transferred money into an account there. It took some time, as I didn't want them to trace us but it's all done now,” he says and kisses her lip lightly, a smile replaces her scowl.

“And if you have to worry about anything, worry about not waking our neighbors.” a mischievous smile graces his lips and he pins her down on the couch beneath him.