Opposites don’t just attract, they belong together.

I was the last person to lie to myself.

I tried in the past and failed. I found it to be a pointless activity that wasted a lot of time.

I sensed from the other day that something had changed between Summer and I. I’d relished it for what it was because of the newness, but I never stopped until today to acknowledge what I was feeling.

I was in love.

I remembered sitting in my room back at Princeton thinking I was so clever to come up with my rules of attraction.

I thought I was freaking Einstein coming up with my own theory that I thought was comparable to relativity.

The hot headed twenty year old I was figured that there was this thing that existed between two people and it didn’t have to have the label of a relationship if they didn’t want it to be.

It didn’t have to be the standard coming together where you hoped for love, or anything complicated.

Attraction, as I’d bottled it, would just be this intense feeling that connected you. I made up the rules to make it more exciting. Like it really was a damn game.

What I never imagined was the day, today, heading my way.

I used to laugh at my father when he spoke of love. I’d laugh at the absurdity of me, of all the people, finding one woman that would capture me that way.

That was something I didn’t really think could happen, but then I met her.

The beautiful angel who lay on my bed, tangled in my sheets with her gorgeous mass of hair sprawled out around her. The moonlight bathed her in its light and the stars serenaded her like the goddess she was.

I’d been sitting here on the window ledge watching her for over two hours. Watching her and thinking about life.

I didn’t deserve her. No one did.

There were just some women who were too good to live in the sphere of this earth with everyone else. Summer was one of them.

All this time she’d captivated me with her beauty inside and out.

No, we didn’t know each other long but we never needed to.

That was never an issue, even when we thought it was.

We just bonded and gelled, connected like we were meant to fit. As if we were made for each other.

I’d made love to her. That was what that was earlier, and all the other times that followed.

The feeling was something I wanted to commit to memory and keep locked away in my heart.

The reason why I hated relationships before was because I hadn’t found the right person.

She was it for me.

However, I was in a state of conflict with everything going on at Sullivan’s and the fact that I didn’t know what to do from here.

She shuffled and turned on her side. My spirits lifted when I watched her reach out her hand in her sleep searching for me.

The gesture brought a smile to my face.

When her hands came away with nothing her eyes fluttered open and she sat up.

A bright but sleepy smile filled her face when she saw me.

“Alex.” She cooed, slipping off the bed. She grabbed my t-shirt and pulled it on, sadly covering her gorgeous body.

I took her into my arms and kissed her when she made her way over to me.

“Hi baby.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re worrying like earlier.” She rested her head on my shoulder.

“I’m thinking.”

“At this time. it looks either really late or very early.” She giggled.

“It’s both.”

She lifted her head and looked at me.

“Move in with me,” I said before she could say another word. It was something I’d thought up a few weeks back. The time was right for me to ask now.

She started to laugh. “I’m here. I live here.”

“You’re here because I tricked you into thinking it was a live-in position. This is me asking you to move in with me, as my girlfriend.”

She blinked several times and her lips parted into a little O shape.

I hoped like hell I didn’t just scare her away. I just had to do something to show her how I felt.

“What?”

“Summer, please move in with me. In here, so this would be our bedroom instead of my room and this would we our place. Or if you don’t like it we can move.”

She looked at me as if she was trying to figure something out. “You’re being serious?”

“I’m way serious. Do you want to think about it? Please at least think –”

“Yes, and no I don’t need to think. My answer is yes.” She replied with an excitement I’d never seen in her.

“Yes, you’re saying yes.”

“I am.” She beamed.

“And you’ll be my girlfriend?”

“Yes… but, isn’t that against our rules.” She laughed. “That sounds dangerously close to a relationship.”

“It … is. Do you want it to be?”

“I do.” A blissful smile lit up her face.

“Me too,” I did. I truly did, wanting nothing more. She was everything to me. “Come here angel.”

When she threw her arms around me I held her never wanting to let go.

It was wonderful to feel like this.

As if I’d finally accomplished something good in my life.

I guess I just had to sort out all the other stuff now.

“Summer, if your skin glows anymore you’ll be brighter than the damn sun.” Eilesh complained.

“It’s the facial.” I told her giggling myself silly like a high school girl.

“No facial on this earth can make you look like that.” Eilesh shook her head. “Trust me I know. I’ve had them all. You guys have too much sex. There has to be a point where you have to stop.”

“We’re good, Eilesh.”

“Yes, I can see that. I can’t believe all the drama though. It’s ridiculous.” She brought her hands to her cheeks and shook her head.

I’d filled her in of the events of the my crazy dramatic weekend. Just the parts about Tom though and the fight with Alex.

It was the most excitement we’d had in a while and made good chatter for a Monday.

We were in the coffeehouse. I’d just finished work and decided we needed to meet and have some fattening food. I wanted to tell her about Alex, moving in with him and being his girlfriend in person.

“I think the whole Tom thing had to happen. Him coming was actually good for me. it was closure.”

Eilesh nodded in agreement. “Yes. You needed to see him again, and since that wasn’t going to happen on your terms it was good he came of his own accord. I wish I could have seen it all. I would have punched him myself if I could.”

“Me too.” Things unmistakably ended badly, and it was his fault.

I was still hurt by what he said, but my hurt would pass. I wasn’t going to allow him to take any more space up in my brain.

“So, I have some news for you, which I got just after lunch.”

My interests immediately spiked. Any news that Eilesh could have for me had to be job related in a really good way.

“Oh God, what kind of news?”

“I found you a senior associate job.” She squealed.

“Oh God in heaven.” I gasped. “Eilesh you are amazing. Thank you so much.”

As usual we attracted attention with our girly giggles and over the top shrieks.

“No thanks needed my dear friend.” She was smiling at me but then I noticed an uneasy look dull the sparkle in her eyes. “Summer.”

“What? I’m so excited I could burst.”

“There’s a thing about the job that may be a problem.”

“Is it Ashfords?” I bit the inside of my lip.

“No. Consider yourself cleansed of that disaster. Okay so the job is at Morgan and Ackerman.” She smiled again.

My eyes widened to the point where I thought my eyes would pop out of my head. Sullivan’s were amazing, but a speck in comparison to Morgan and Ackerman.

“Morgan and Ackerman? Eilesh I would scream if we weren’t in here. I’m happy as in the kind of hills are alive with the sound of music happiness and excitement.

“Me too. I spoke at length with Chance Morgan himself when I saw the advert. I thought this would be a great opportunity for you so I lay all the cards on the table and told him all that had happened to you at Ashfords and the time out you had for your father. He read your CV, went as far as reading your thesis you did at George Town and is so interested he’s holding the position for you. It would literally be a meet up to sign the contract.”

I was so stunned I could barely talk. “That’s all amazing. What problem could there be?”

“The location.”

“But their based in Chicago.”

“Yes but they have offices all over the US and in forty different countries. When I saw the position I thought it was Chicago and it kind of is. But their looking for a Senior Associate to work at their office in Dubai. Someone who could live there for ten months of the year and come back to Chicago for their annual meetings. The want someone to run the place with a view to being senior partner in a years’ time. When I heard that and heard how interested and excited he was about you I had to at least run the idea past you. Summer it’s a great opportunity, but I know how much you love it here, and … how you feel about Alex.”

A feeling that I could only describe as anguish squeezed my heart as my spirits fell.

A suffocating sensation tightened my throat, squeezing out all the excitement I experienced moments ago.

We shared a minute of silence with me just staring at my friend in wonder and confusion.

Eilesh looked sad. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“No, don’t apologize. I…” I brought my hands up to my cheeks and whipped away a tear.

“Oh Summer.” She sighed.

“It’s fine. I’m fine and thank you. It’s amazing news and more than I could have ever hoped for, ever.”

“But Alex…”

I smiled at the thought of him. “He asked me to move in and be his girlfriend.”

Eilesh gasped. “Oh my God. That is… my timing sucks. It really does.” She frowned.

“No, it doesn’t. I have to think of my career right? So I should consider it.”

“No. It’s just an idea. Summer.. we could go back to the original plan and focus on Chicago.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Am I crazy for thinking of staying? It’s a really great opportunity.” It was fantastic and my career would be set for life.

But to leave here. Okay it wasn’t the fact of just leaving here. I had Eilesh here, and I knew wherever I was in this world we would always be friends. Location had never changed that and would never be a problem.

The essence of the problem was that during my short stay here I’d found something I wasn’t looking for and never expected to find.

Love.

Was it enough though to influence such a big decision?

“Chance gave me two weeks to come back to him.” Eilesh said quickly, probably seeing my thoughts rolling in motion. “He knew it would be a big thing to ask you to live in a whole other country so hey. We have two weeks.” She nodded.

“Two weeks.”

“So we can just shelve it to the back of the closet and I can look for something here as planned. You file it away, know it’s there as an option, but not your only option. Being at Sullivan’s has worked exactly the way we wanted it to. It’s the buffer. It shows trust regained.”

Okay, this sounded reasonable. It was an option that showed I had a chance. If Morgan and Ackerman could consider me then the door was open for other firms.

It just would have been nice to work with them.

I guess since I was already thinking this way it meant in my heart I’d already chosen.

“Am I being stupid, Eilesh?” I wanted to see what she thought. “I haven’t known Alex that long. Is it stupid to pass up such a chance? It just feels like I should find another way if I can.”

“Summer, I’ve known you for a very long time and the last thing I think you are is stupid. Feelings aren’t stupid, love isn’t stupid.”

“Love.” I whispered, savoring the way the word itself seeped into my heart.

“Yes, love. You love Alex.”

“I do love Alex.” It felt so good to say. “Long distance was a problem with Tom.”

“No sweetie,” Eilesh chuckled. “That was never a problem. It was used as an excuse. Any man who loves you will love you weather your right next to him or a million miles away. Which is why you’re filing away this job just in case you think you may want it and you see a way that you can make both work.”

“Thank you.” I nodded feeling grateful and relieved. I trusted her, and her opinion.

It meant a lot that she reasoned it out in that way because right now I couldn’t see much past Alex.

By the time that I got home my mind felt more at ease.

Alex had gotten all these brochures for the Bahamas and bought a bedside lamp for me, for my side of the bed.

The man was bursting with excitement as if I was something wonderful that had happened to him.

“Do you like the lamp? I swear I won’t complain about you reading before bed, and with this you can have the light on for as long as you want.” He bubbled, eyes gleaming and his handsome face beaming at me.

“I love it.” I hugged him.

We stood in his room.

Our room.

I rested my head on his chest and felt completely taken with the way that he held me and the soft kisses he placed on my forehead.

“Let me know when you’d like to bring your stuff in.”

“Anytime you want, Alex. I just want to be with you.”

That was the answer to everything.