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Chapter 1
Amy
Amy heard the sound of his car pulling into the driveway from her bedroom. She hadn’t been listening out for him. It was just that the house was silent. It was always like that when her mom and stepfather went traveling. Amy kind of liked it. She liked the peace. She liked the space that the forty-acre piece of land allowed. She liked knowing that no one could hear her singing in the shower.
She headed downstairs with a nervous buzzing erupting all over her body. She hadn’t seen John since he’d been sent away to boarding school. Nearly eight years had passed since then. Nearly eight years had passed since she’d seen the first boy that she’d ever loved.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She could see the front door without anything obstructing her gaze. The car engine had stopped when she was halfway across the second floor hallway. She was sure that he’d be making his way up to the house. She watched as the front door started to push open. Her eyes were wide, waiting to take in the boy she had known and the man that he had become.
“Shit,” he grunted, throwing down the bag in his hand, which had just slammed into the small table by the side of the door. “Who puts a table there?” he moaned to himself. Amy was sure that he hadn’t seen her. His attention seemed to be focused on the bag that he’d just discarded.
“Hey,” Amy mumbled quietly, so that she could get his attention. He turned in surprise and caught her eyes with his own. Amy couldn’t believe how tall he’d gotten; he must have been at least six feet. His dark blue, stormy eyes hadn’t changed, though; they still held the same intensity and depth that they had always held.
Amy felt her lips trying to return the smile on John’s lips, but that stopped abruptly when his smile turned into a smirk. “So, you’re still here, then?” His eyes darted around her body, lingering around the cleavage area.
“Where else would I be?” Amy asked, confused. It had been a long time since she’d seen John, but they hadn’t parted on bad terms. She couldn’t understand why he was being so cold to her. They’d been best friends—at one point, she’d thought that maybe he’d be the one that she’d marry.
He shrugged and glanced back at the door. “I just figured you might have found somewhere for yourself by now.”
“Well, I’m still here,” Amy told him in an apologetic, “I’m sorry you’re disappointed” kind of way. “It’s been years since I’ve seen you,” she said, trying to turn the subject on to something friendlier. “I can’t believe you didn’t come back to visit.”
He snorted. “Like I had a choice about it,” he told her coldly. “You think I don’t know it’s been years? You think I haven’t counted the days since I left?”
Amy could feel her shoulders pushing back against the rest of her body. She wasn’t sure how to respond. It was clear that John was angry about being sent away, but that wasn’t her fault. “Well, it’s good to have you home,” she tried weakly. “I missed you when you left.”
“You missed me?” He sneered. “God, you’re so lame.” He turned his eyes back to the door. Amy followed his line of sight and noticed that there was someone standing outside on the porch.
“Who is that?” Amy asked him, because she couldn’t get a proper view.
“Stacy,” John said loudly.
Amy watched as the girl standing outside popped her head around the door. She was blonde. Amy felt bad for thinking it, but that was the only way she could think to describe the bubble-gum princess standing in front of her. “Did you call me?” she asked John, a seductive smile spreading across her lips. “Are you missing me already?”
“You might as well come in.” John tilted his head to gesture for her to walk over to him. “It’s not like there’s anyone around to say that you can’t stay.”
“What?” Amy asked in surprise. “Your dad won’t be happy with a stranger staying in the house. Not when he’s away.”
John laughed deeply and his shoulders shook. “You think you can tell me who I can and can’t have in my own home?” he asked her sarcastically.
“I’m not telling you anything,” Amy said firmly. The initial shock over John’s behavior was starting to fade and anger was taking its place. “If you want your dad to lose it, whatever.” She shrugged, turning on the stairs. “Was great to see you again,” she told him lightly and ironically, as she set off back up the stairs.
“Is that it?” he called after her. “Eight years and you’re not even going to stay down here for five minutes?”
Amy stopped and turned to look at him. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” She glanced over at Stacy, who was tapping at her phone screen f
uriously. “You obviously got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, and I don’t have time to take your crap.”
“You don’t have time to take my crap?” he mocked her harshly.
“No.” She hesitated. She hadn’t told anyone in the family about the job interview she had that afternoon, and she wasn’t sure that John was the right person to tell first. “I’ve got to go out later.”
“Whatever.” John rolled his eyes.
Amy opened her mouth to tell him that the eye roll wasn’t needed, but she refrained. He was clearly being a douche on purpose. He was obviously trying to wind her up, even if the reason behind why he wanted that wasn’t obvious. “I’ll see you later.” She turned back on the stairs and headed up them, so she could take refuge in her room.
********
Chapter 2
John
The house hadn’t changed in the eight years he’d been away. He’d been expecting a fresh coat of paint or some new furniture dotted throughout, but that wasn’t the case. The house had been perfectly preserved and fit the image in his memory perfectly.
“Baby, why are we even here?” Stacy asked when her phone stopped vibrating for the first time since they’d arrived.
“I told you,” John sighed. “I need to talk to my dad.”
“But,” Stacy frowned, “you heard your sister; he’s not here.”
“He’s away traveling for another couple of days,” John snapped at her. “And don’t call Amy that.”
Stacy’s eyes started to roam around John’s face. He could feel her investigating every small flicker and lip twitch that passed across his features. “You don’t want me to call her your sister?” Her eyes narrowed. She could tell that something wasn’t right. John could see her trying to work out the problem in her head, but he knew she’d never reach the right answer.
“No,” John said firmly. “She isn’t my sister, so don’t call her that.”
“But aren’t, like, your dad and her mom married?” Stacy asked with confused, puppy-like eyes.
“It doesn’t matter if they’re married,” John told her calmly. “Amy isn’t my sister. She’s never been my sister and she will never be my sister.”
“You really hate her, don’t you?” Stacy took in a sharp breath of air. “I mean, you really hate her.”
“Yes,” John told her without meeting her eyes.
“But, why do you hate her?” Stacy asked with childlike curiosity. “I mean, what could she have done with you away at boarding school?”
John shook his head. “It doesn’t matter why,” he told her firmly.
“I suppose.” She shrugged. “You know, with the way you described her to me, I thought she’d be prettier.”
John bit down on his tongue quickly, before it could vocalize his thoughts. It hurt, but the sacrifice had been worth it. Stacy was wrong about a lot of things. John had once spent an entire evening with her trying to convince her that dinosaurs really did exist. The night had ended with no victory on his part. The thing was, though, even with the dinosaurs included, she had never been more wrong than she was commenting on Amy’s looks.
Amy was beautiful. She was a sun-kissed goddess with hair the color of peaches and a smile sweeter than summer strawberries. She lit up the room without you even seeing her. She was the uplifting spirit that could always be counted on. She was perfect. And not perfect in one of those “flawed” kind of ways, but actually perfect; everything she was and everything she did, to John, was perfect. Or, at least, it had been, until he’d been sent away because of her.
“What are you thinking about?” Stacy leaned forward on the stool she’d sat down on. “You look like you’re causing yourself to worry.”
“I’m fine,” John lied quickly. The truth was that being back in his old home was more overwhelming that he’d allowed himself to think it would be. He’d been so sure that it would have changed, that the house he was returning to was no longer his home, but it was. It was his home and it was a bitter reminder of the family life he’d been forced to miss out on.
“If you say so.” Stacy looked back down at her phone. Her fingers started to jab the screen with a furious speed that suggested she was in the middle of an argument with someone. “So,” she looked back up from her phone with a worry-lined brow, “how long are we staying here for?”
“I don’t know.” John shrugged. “At least until my dad gets back, but maybe longer.” He took in her crestfallen expression. “Why?”
“I’ve just been invited to this huge end-of-year party on campus,” Stacy told him, her eyes filling with excitement. “It’s for all the last years.”
“Back at campus, that’s like a day’s drive.” He shook his head. “When is it?”
“It’s this Saturday,” Stacy told him hopefully.
John thought about the party. It was three days away. They would have to leave the day that his father got back. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it,” John told her after a minute. Her face fell and John could feel an argument brewing on the horizon. “I’m not saying no,” he told her quickly, as the icy winds of her fury started to raise goosebumps on his skin. “I’m just saying that I’m not sure.”
The door to the kitchen opened behind them and John turned to see Amy walking in. She was wearing a three-piece suit, which had been tailored to show off her sexy, curved waist. Her soft, caramel cleavage was peeking through her blouse and John found it difficult to take his eyes away. “Sorry,” Amy said, as she looked between John and Stacy. “I didn’t you realize you were in here.”
John tore his eyes away from her chest long enough to notice the awkward look on her face. He felt a guilty pang swipe across his stomach. This was her home. This was the place that she’d grown up and he was making her feel uncomfortable in it. “You look good,” he cut into the silence that had dropped sharply.
A trace of a smile flicked across Amy’s lips, before her face stilled. “Thanks.” She gave him a little nod.
“Are you going somewhere special?” he asked, because she was walking over to the fridge with a look on her face that told him that the conversation was over without his intervention.
She nodded slowly. “Kind of, I guess”
“What do you mean, kind of?” He took in the way she was nervously running her hand around the bottle of water she’d pulled from the fridge. It was wrong, but the way her hand was sliding up and down the condensation-covered bottle caused his dick to stir to life. He moved his hand over his crotch with what he hoped was a casual glide.
“I’ve got a job interview,” Amy told him without seeming to notice the hard-on growing in his pants or the strategically placed hand covering it.
“Oh.” John frowned at her. The news was surprising to him, because he’d assumed that she’d take a position with his father. His father ran a very successful company, which did…something. The something had never been fully explained to the family. The only thing the family knew for sure was that it was better to not look too deeply into things. “Does Dad know?”
It was Amy’s turn to smirk at him. “Does he know about your girlfriend being here?”
“Right.” John nodded, although he was sure that his girlfriend being there and Amy taking a job away from the family company were on two different levels of wrong.
*********
Chapter 3
Amy
She wasn’t nervous. She wasn’t sure whether that was a good or bad thing, but it was a fact. The waiting room for the interviews being held was pretty full. Amy hadn’t bothered to count the heads, but she was sure that at least twenty people were sitting in the cramped, stuffy room. She didn’t mind too much, though. She’d gotten there early; she’d managed to grab one of the few seats in the room. She was going to be fine.
The door to the waiting room opened and she turned to see who was coming in. The guy standing in the doorway was in his mid-twenties. He was wearing an expensive suit, but Amy found her eyes being drawn to the soft dimp
les in his cheeks—which she was sure would deepen, should he smile. He called out her name and she stood quickly. Every vulture in the room turned to stare at the open space she was leaving behind as she walked over to meet him. The guy walked in silence in front of her, until he’d reached a room with a sign taped to the door that read, “interviews.” “I’m Liam.” He held out his hand so that she could shake it. “I’ll be the one holding the interview today.”
“It’s good to meet you.” She took his hand and shook it firmly. “I’ve been dreaming about getting a job here since I was just a kid,” she admitted as she walked through into the room. It was much bigger than the one she’d been sitting in, and it was totally empty except for the two of them, a desk, and a couple of chairs.
“Please,” Liam said, smoothly pulling out a chair and gesturing to it, “take a seat.”
“Thanks.” Amy smiled at him as she took the seat he’d pulled out for her. He pushed her closer to the desk and then sat down himself.
“So.” He smiled. Amy watched as his eyes took a stroll down her face and remained at her cleavage. She shifted a little in her seat, which seemed to move his attention back to the interview and her face. “Why is it that you would like to work with Green Corp?”
A thousand thoughts attacked Amy’s mind all at once. She mentally swatted them away, until she was sure that she’d found the right one. “I’ve had one of the best educations available to students in the world,” she began confidently. “I’ve spent time working on high-risk cases, which I’m sure you’ve seen from my portfolio?”
“Yes.” Liam nodded. “Your work experience is extremely impressive.”
“And, I know you need lawyers like me on your team. I’ve been trained in commercial law. I know the tricks that they’re willing to stoop to. I know how dirty they can play, and I refuse to do it. I refuse to be like them. I want to know that I’m leaving a world behind for the next generation. I don’t want to destroy it.”
