Chapter 89: Tangled emotions

Andreas’s POV

The morning sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, casting long shadows across the polished wooden desk. I sat there, staring at my computer screen, yet my thoughts were a thousand miles away, tangled in last night's memories. I had buried myself in work, thinking it would help me forget the sting of Ashley’s words, but they echoed in my mind, refusing to fade.

It was a mistake. I had said those words, and now I regretted them. Calling our kiss a mistake had seemed necessary at the time—a way to pull back the curtain on the tangled emotions I didn’t fully understand. But each moment since had only amplified my frustration and confusion. I missed the warmth of the hesitant smile that she usually gave whenever she saw me, the spark that ignited when our eyes met, and it gnawed at me, more than I realized that I cared to admit.

I was unable to bring myself to admit that I was feeling more than physical attraction for the woman whose very presence in