LukeEven though I cherished every single second I spent with Sophia, those seconds were moving quicker than I wanted. All the money in the world couldn’t compete with the inevitability of time. With each passing minute, the hard conversation came closer to us, threatening to split us apart again.After hearing Sophia tell me that she loved me and being with her, behaving like a normal couple, I knew I couldn’t go back to Qatar without her. I would do anything to convince her that being together was the only choice for both of us to live a happy life.I regretted our month-long breakup but concluded that it was necessary for us to realize how much we needed each other.Sophia wasn’t who Mother imagined I would be with, but she was the only choice for me. While Jaabir would fight me more, he had an expiration date for being on the council. I had the rest of my life to deal with the fallout if I broke it off with Sophia for good.The warring thoughts flew to the front of my mind as I aw
Luke“They’re called swings,” she said. “Come on.”She flashed our tickets to the ride operator—we’d picked the unlimited ride voucher—and she sat down in one of the chairs, buckling herself in.I sat next to her, unsure of what the ride did. The swing sagged when I sat down, and I tested the chains by pulling on them. “Are you sure this is safe?”“As safe as we’re going to get,” she said.I frowned. I wanted Sophia safe forever, but I couldn’t allow her to think I was a coward. I sucked in a breath and buckled myself in, pulling the strap tight. Due to the long chain, I was able to move closer to her. Making sure she was securely fastened to the chair, I was able to release the breath lodged in my throat.The ride operator came around to each of us and visually checked that we were buckled in. I wished he would have tested to be doubly sure, but I wasn’t going to show my fears to anyone, especially Sophia.He started the ride, and we slowly rose into the air. I gripped the chains of
SophiaMy words echoed in my mind as Luke’s face fell. The lovely family across the way entranced me enough that I blurted my question out without thinking.Have you ever thought about starting a family?I might as well have asked him if he wanted to screw on this table and make a few babies that minute. What if he didn’t want to have children and I had backed him into a corner with that question? I didn’t even know if he wanted to be with me. Now, he probably thought I was forcing myself on him and demanding we have kids. I was still young, and nothing about our future was set in stone. I was such an idiot.“I just meant…” I trailed off, my mind scrambling to bring back the serene smile on his face instead of whatever he was thinking at that moment.He blinked and then his hand shot across the table and enveloped mine. “No, don’t take it back. I was a little surprised, is all.”“I didn’t want to imply that I—we—shit,” I said, shaking my head.He squeezed my hand. “Until you came into
SophiaShoving away all the “what ifs” for the remainder of our time at the amusement park, I fell even more in love with Luke. We played a ton of different games, ranging from group to individual ones. I kicked his ass on a lot of them, determined to flip the gender roles and earn him a big stuffed animal. Luke accepted my gifts like the gracious king he was, but I knew it bruised his ego a bit to have me win them for him.When it started to get dark and the lights on the rides burned into my retinas, Luke suggested we head back to my place.I agreed, even though I wished we could have stayed at the amusement park a little longer.Denying the inevitable could only last so long. I had to pull up my big girl pants and get the conversation over with. That would give Luke two days to figure out what he wanted.***“Are you all right?” Luke asked as we stood outside my apartment. He held two bags of takeout Chinese food that I barely remembered ordering. I was too in my head about what I
LukeI never intended to be the downer of the day, but Sophia’s admission about the phone call from her possible future employer completely blindsided me. For once, I didn’t curb my reaction. It put a wrench in my plans for sure, but I should have been more reserved. I didn’t care that Sophia had moved on with her life in a month. If she never worked again, I would think something was wrong with her.The job offer itself didn’t bother me, but why did she feel she needed to lie to me? Were my intentions unclear to her? I wasn’t against her taking the job if that was what she wanted. Perhaps I had completely miscalculated the entire situation. Without being honest and forthcoming to her, she felt she needed to keep a part of her life hidden from me.If there were a way to feel more terrible than I already did, it would be caused by leaving Sophia in Dallas while I returned home empty-handed.My reaction had terrified her.I tried to make up for it by brushing it off, but I knew I came a
LukeI sat on the bed next to her. “I need you to get dressed.”She shoved her hair off her face and turned to the alarm clock on the side table next to the bed. “What time is it?”“Three,” I said.“In the morning?” she asked, more confused than ever.“Just, please trust me,” I said.“Luke, I don’t understand.”I helped her out of bed. Turning on the light in the bathroom, it gave us enough illumination to navigate the bedroom. Injuring her before arriving at our location wasn’t in the plan.“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Why are you dressed like that?” The more she asked, the fewer excuses I gave her. She would find out when we got there. I feared if I gave it all away too soon, she might refuse to come.I had chosen a good time because in her sleep-delirium, she was quite pliable and went along with helping me get her dressed.While I would have wanted to make it a formal affair, I wasn’t going to have her freeze to death. The temperature at night in Dallas put frost on the windows, s
SophiaIn the past, I had worked into the wee hours of the morning on a regular basis. Living on coffee and other caffeinated beverages was my thing. After a month of not working, my sleep became precious to me.Luke waking me up in a panic drew forth terrible thoughts in my mind. Was there a fire? Or a burglar? My building was safe, but no place was completely safe in our day and age.Luke’s lack of information worried me. After he refused to talk to me about the job interview, I thought for sure he would be on a plane back to Qatar. Initially, I thought his early morning wakeup call was to do just that, but I was mistaken.My mood improved only slightly when the cold air blasted me as we left the building. We were really doing this, whatever “this” was.In the past, Luke had surprised me by taking me to unexpected places, but this little jaunt took the cake.From the way he woke me up, it seemed like an emergency. Questioning him got me nowhere, but asking him the right question got
Sophia“I did,” I said before he could say anything else. If I could have the upper hand in any part of this conversation, it was going to be at this moment. “None of this is traditional. I want you to at least pick the ring.”Without any hesitation, Luke grabbed the middle ring. It was the one I would have chosen for myself.He slipped it on my finger, and I held up my hand.“Beautiful,” he said.“I know,” I said, glancing at him. He wasn’t looking at the ring. He stared right into my eyes.The world around us fell into darkness, and I was only able to focus on Luke. A month ago, if anyone had said I would end up in a jewelry store with Luke, I would have said he or she was crazy. But being in the moment with the love of my life, I wondered why we hadn’t made it there faster. All of the family and political drama seemed like nothing compared to the feeling of happiness zipping through my veins.Luke kissed me again, a small peck on the mouth. Gerard excused himself to bring the bill