King and Yara

Chapter 8 (King): Unrequited Interest

Copyright © 2024 by GroveltoHEA

If you threaten or corner a wild animal, they'll often fight back. Basic survival skill. If they're feeling trapped, if they're confronted and can no longer evade or run away, they're left with no option but to fight their way out of a situation.

I love you.

Although I'm not an animal, those three little words backed me into a corner I never wanted to find myself in again and I fought my way out, hurting Yara in the process. When I'd told her I hadn't fallen in love with Carmen and the pictures were the extent of it, that had been the truth. While my team and I were flying to the meetings with Stephen and his team, when my mind should have been on the five hundred million reasons for keeping my head in the game, I'd found my thoughts returning to Yara and the breathless I love you from two weeks earlier. Neither of us had spoken about it since; we still slept in the same bed, but there was a distance there now that hadn't been there before.

I both hated that distance and was grateful for it. We'd gotten too deep. Too serious. I needed to step back in a way Yara couldn't miss because I knew exactly what would happen if I tried to talk about it with her: I'd cave to the impulse that had made me hesitate and almost, almost say those words back to her before I stopped myself.

I love you, too.

Words I'd sworn would never cross my lips again. So, sufficiently panicked at the thought of falling into that trap again, I'd considered my options. I'd thought about sleeping with someone else, possibly even Carmen -- she'd been subtly sending out signals on the calls we'd had leading up to the on-site negotiations, and she was calling me directly about questions that would have been better asked of my legal team, which is where I immediately directed her. I knew what she was angling for and up until I got on the plane, I thought maybe I'd go there at some point during the negotiations, not because I wanted her but because it would have been a step that would ensure Yara never said those words to me again. And if she never said them again, it meant I'd never be tempted to say them back.

But when I actually thought about getting naked with Carmen, I knew I couldn't fuck her for several reasons -- first and foremost being the disgust that churned in my gut when I thought about going there with her or any woman who wasn't Yara. Even thinking about it made me feel guilty, and I felt as if I'd crossed so many lines even contemplating it. Then my brilliant mind came up with the brilliant idea that I could make it appear as if I'd gone there without actually having done a damn thing. The press was always around me, looking for a juicy story...

She was a reaction, Yara. Conveniently close at hand and I wasn't thinking clearly. I was just...not handling things well.

That was the truth. I wasn't handling things well. Yara's I love you made me finally realize just how deep our feelings for one another were.

With my first wife, I fell for her the instant I met her. Told my best friend that it was like getting struck by lightning, slapped in the face and thrown into icy water all at the same time. The feelings for Runi hit me fast and hard, like a shock. Looking back, I should have realized that none of those things I'd compared my feelings to was actually pleasant. But I was in love with Runi, no doubt. She was pretty, sweet, smart, a little bit shy, a definite homebody and not into partying. I felt ready to settle down because of her and she was the type of woman I wanted to build a family with. Looking at Runi, I saw my future.

Honestly, partying late, getting up early to put in a full day and going out again had grown tiresome. I wanted to come home and be surrounded by people who I loved and who loved me. Home was going to be my happy place where I could care for my family and we could relax and laugh together. Runi was my dream girl, and after we were married, she remained that way.