Chapter 1

EMMA

The sunlight pouring from the floor to ceiling window finally stirred me awake. Opening my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that I was lying on a firm but comfortable body, the soothing rhythm of a heartbeat filling my ear.

The heartbeat of Alexander Miller, the love of my life.

A slow smile curved my lips as I raised my head to look at his face. He was sleeping so peacefully, and he looked so beautiful doing so. God, how could a man be so beautiful?

And he was mine. He was finally mine.

It still felt like a dream. I'd loved him for practically all my life. Our families had been family friends, so I'd known him since I was a child.

I realized I was in love with him when I was 16 years old. That day, I confessed my feelings to him and asked him to be my boyfriend.

He laughed and told me not to say such things because he was like my older brother and I was just confused. From then, I watched him with different girlfriends but I never stopped dreaming that one day, he was going to love me like I wanted him to.

And that dream finally came true yesterday. I went to the club after finding out he was there. I'd pretended that I didn't already know he was there.

We'd talked for some time and drank a bit before he told me he was feeling tipsy. I'd offered to take him home and he'd agreed.

After helping him into bed in his apartment, I'd been about to leave when he held my hand. Looking into my eyes, he told me I was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. And then he told me loved me.

I could hardly believe my ears, but when I kissed him, he didn't push me back. A part of me had thought it was the alcohol speaking, but what happened next had proven me wrong.

Alex had made love to me in the gentlest and most passionate way. And I had given myself to him completely even though it was my first time.

Heat washed over my body as the dirty images rolled in my mind. Alex was still asleep, oblivious to the desire still coursing through my body.

To make everything better, tomorrow was my birthday, and to me, there was no better birthday gift than this.

With another blissful sigh, I carefully pulled myself off of Alex and got out of the bed. I wanted to make him breakfast before he woke up.

Bending down, I picked up my panties from the couch and pulled it on before picking up my dress from yesterday and doing the same. Afterwards, I stepped outside and made my way to the kitchen.

Looking through the kitchen, I frowned as I realized that Alex barely had any food commodities. I made a mental note to shop for some groceries for him later.

Luckily, I found some eggs in the fridge and decided to make an omelette. I was almost done when the sound of bare footsteps caught my attention.

I turned to find him at the kitchen doorway wearing nothing but his boxers. He looked so sexy that heat crept onto my cheeks. But my blush disappeared as soon as I saw his expression.

Alex wasn't smiling. I couldn't call the look on his face a frown either. It was just blank, and yet his eyes looked so cold.

I expected the first words out of his mouth to be “Happy Birthday in advance, Princess.” because he always loved to wish me early before anyone else could. Instead, he said something that made me freeze.

“This was a mistake.”

“Wh...what was a mistake?” I stammered, hoping he was referring to anything. Anything but the night we'd spent together.

Alex stared at me as if trying to say I knew exactly what he was talking about.

My heart sank. No. No. No. He couldn't mean it.

I quickly turned off the heat and walked around the counter to get close to him. He took a cautious step back which caused me to pause as my heart pounded inside my chest.

“Alex I... I don't understand. Yesterday, we...”

“Look, Princess, I'm sorry." He rubbed a hand on his face. “I'm so fucking sorry. I was out of it. I don't know what came over me, but this...this should've never happened.”

My heart squeezed so painfully that I nearly whimpered as I took another step closer to him. “Alex...But yesterday you told me that you loved me."

He stared back at me like I'd grown two heads. “I did?”

I stared at him, wondering why he sounded like he didn't remember. “Yes. You said that I was the most beautiful girl in the world and you loved me.”

Alex suddenly began shaking his head. “No. No, that can't be true. And even if I did say that, then I surely meant it in a different way. You're like a sister to me, Emma. I told you at the club that I wasn't feeling too well. That's why you brought me home. You should've stopped me. You shouldn't have let this happened”

His words made me freeze as I stared at him in disbelief. “What are you trying to say, Alex? That I took advantage of you?”

Alex's jaw tightened for a second before he shook his head. “Of course not. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that this should've never happened. We're practically family, Princess. You're like a little sister to me.”

“But I'm not!” I hissed, finally having had enough of him repeating that after we'd just spent the night together. “We're not family, and I'm most definitely not your sister! And you may still see me as a little girl but I'm not.”

I blinked rapidly, trying to hold back the tears that were burning my eyes. I'd woken up with so much happiness and dreams, but all that had been shattered in a matter of minutes.

Finally managing a semblance of control, I straightened and pursed my lips as I looked at Alex.

“Don't worry. You don't have to feel guilty or obligated or anything. We can both pretend that last night never happened.”

With that, I walked past him into the living room and grabbed my purse where I'd tossed it last night.

A part of me screamed for him to call me back as I walked out the door of his penthouse, but he didn't.

As soon as I was outside on the street, I felt my phone vibrating in my purse and pulled it out, seeing my best friend's name flash on the screen.

“Girl, finally!” Celia's voice boomed through the phone. “Where the hell are you? Your parents called me last night and this morning, and I've been making excuses for you.”

Hearing my best friend's voice finally made the tears spill down my face. I need a hug badly.

“Celia," I croaked into the phone. “Please come and pick me up.”

༺❀༻༺❀༻༺❀༻

When I told Celia what had happened, my best friend had been furious and had been ready to go fight Alex on my behalf but I stopped her. After all, this wasn't Alex's fault. It was my fault for dreaming too much and never accepting the reality that Alex would never love me.

The hardest part was going home and pretending like everything was fine.

“Emma, sweetheart!” my mom called as I stepped through the door.

She immediately pulled me into a hug, warm and full of so much love it almost broke me all over again. “I know you didn’t want a party this year, but your dad insisted. He says 23 is a big number. A Jordan year or something like that so he's planning a small family gathering for your birthday tomorrow.”

“I hope you don't believe your mum,” My dad said, shaking his head in amusement from the couch. “All of it was her idea.”

An abashed smile stretched my mum's face as she looked at me. “You don't mind, do you? It'll be nothing huge. Just family.”

I had asked them not to plan anything and I would have argued about it, but at that moment, I felt no urge whatsoever to engage in any long conversation.

“Okay.” I merely responded.

“Okay? Yes!” my mother squealed for a moment, but she soon frowned as she scanned my face. “Is something wrong, dear? Are you okay?”

I immediately forced a smile on my face and lied. “I'm fine, mum. Just tired. Celia and I stayed up long last night.”

My mother looked skeptical but nodded. “Alright, dear. Why don't you go and sleep more then?”

I nodded, grateful for the escape.

The following evening, my mother fulfilled her promise of my birthday party being a small family gathering. Family included aunts, uncles, and cousins who weren't really blood related but who I'd grown up around and loved as such.

When finally it was time for the party, I had to put on a smile for everyone when all I truly wanted to do was lock myself in my room and never come out.

“You look gorgeous as always, cousin,” said Tessa Miller as she walked up to me, eyes lighting up as she scanned my outfit. She looked effortlessly radiant, just like always.

She was the sister of Alex, and seeing her made me think of the man I'd been trying so hard not to think of since yesterday.

Despite everything, I'd been waiting for him to call me and tell me all this was just some bad joke but he never did. And now he hadn't come to the party.

Tessa must've seen my eyes roaming around because she chuckled and placed a hand on my shoulder. “If you're looking for my brother, he's not here yet, but I'm sure he'll be here soon. You know he has never missed any one of your birthdays.”

I forced a smile on my face for her sake. If only she knew what had happened. For the first time, I didn't think Alex was going to come.

But right then, I froze as my eyes fell on the entrance. Alex had arrived. But he wasn't alone.

A gorgeous redhead was clutched on his arm, leaning her body into him as they walked inside.

I was still trying to process everything when Alex made an announcement that shattered every ounce of hope I had left.

“Good evening, everyone. This is Natasha Rivers. My fiancée.”