THE BATTLE FOR YOUR HEART

8 YEARS AGO

AMELIA walked into the guest room of Sagamore Resort, she dropped her black backpack on the king sized bed before slumping on it. Looking up at the white ceiling , She thought...Should she welcome Nicholas wearing Victoria secret's newly launched lingerie set she'd bought yesterday at the mall while thinking of him or maybe just remain in her birthday suit ?

A smile she couldn't stop bloomed on her face at the thought of Nicholas' expression when he walked in to see her naked. She had found it difficult to concentrate during her classes at the University of Columbia because he'd stayed on her mind. Since he had called her on Tuesday to tell her that he would be flying in from Florida for the weekend, the days seemed to have been moving at a snail's pace and so had the four-hour drive earlier from the University. It felt like a year had passed since she last saw him, instead of just 2 weeks.

Sitting up , she bent to take off her sneakers before standing up to remove her jeans, shirt and underwear. She stuffed her clothes into the backpack, stowed everything in the closet. Then hurried into the corner bathroom for a bathrobe. When she came back out, she dimmed the glass lamp on the bedside table. Moonlight shining through the sliding glass door across from her gave the elegantly furnished room a romantic glow.

Looking around the room , She couldn't help but think about how for the first time she and Nicholas would actually fall asleep in each other's arms and wake up together in the morning, like a normal couple , cooking and sharing breakfast together. Her dad was on a business trip until late Sunday. So this time around, she wouldn't have to sneak back into the living quarters of the resort before dawn.

More importantly, Nicholas' concern about them seeing each other as a conflict of interest while he negotiated to buy Sagamore Resort from her father no longer existed. The papers had been signed yesterday, selling the property to Nicholas' family company, Chesterfield group. They had taken over ownership of her dad's fifty-acre resort next month, so she and Nicholas were finally free to share about their relationship.

Amelia walked back in the bathroom, opening the window. Moonlight illuminated the steam rising from the hot bathtub on the left. She hung the bathrobe , twisted her long black hair into a loose topknot, then slipped into the rippling water. The stress from studying and agonizing over the business management exam she'd ultimately aced that afternoon melted away as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

Would Nicholas have more of Chesterfield's modernization plans to show her? What he'd shared so far was fantastic. Picture windows would provide views of the lake, trees, and mountains. Revamp the lobby , Invite new design elements into guest rooms.

Amelia's heart accelerated as she recalled Nicholas sitting across from her three weeks ago in the hot tub, telling her about his plans. His slicked-back dark hair had emphasized the chiseled angles of his mesmerizing face.

"Not only are we building larger decks on the cottages, we're also installing bigger hot bathtub s." He had shot her a lazy grin.

"You and I will definitely take advantage of them when we visit the new and improved Sagamore Resort next season."

"I like that idea a lot." She hadn't been able to stop herself from smiling. "But I wouldn't mind if you took advantage of me now."

"Come over here and I will," He smirked.

"Uh-uh," She had crooked her finger at him. "You come here."

As he had stood and approached her, water had trailed down his defined abs. The gleam in his brown eyes and the erection rising high on his abdomen had promised her one thing-mind blowing orgasms. She had begged him more that night and Nicholas had delivered amazingly.

Infused with the warmth of remembered bliss, Amelia sank deeper into the water. What they shared was perfect. But she knew her dad would be surprised to hear she and Nicholas were in a relationship, and that they were going to keep seeing each other. He had asked her not to become serious with anyone until after she'd turned twenty. She had only missed the mark by six months, and her father did like Nicholas .

At twenty-four, Nicholas was already an acquisitions negotiator for his father's company. He understood the importance of responsibility and would support her making college her main priority over him. It wasn't like they were planning to get married or anything. Surely, her father would understand why she had kept it a secret until now. She and Nicholas had happily and unexpectedly fallen in love and she hadn't wanted that to disrupt his business dealings.

The sound from the door broke her thoughts and a man's voice came from inside the room clearly on the phone. Nicholas? Her heart drummed in her chest as she listened closely, No... it's not Nicholas.

"It's Sebastian Chesterfield, I have been trying to reach you."

Sebastian Chesterfield...Shit! The bathroom door is opened. Just as she shrank back into the bathtub, a stream of light came from the bedroom. Nicholas' tall, black-haired father walked closer to the bathroom , talking on his phone.

"I don't care what it takes. Just do it. No more delays." Sebastian unknotted the red tie from the collar of his white dress shirt and stuffed it in the pocket of the brown overcoat that melded perfectly with his dark suit. With his back turned to Amelia, temperature seemed to creep up with the warmth flushing into her cheeks. She couldn't let him find her bare-ass naked in the bathtub. If he came closer, she could dunk herself under the water. She would rather drown than have him discover her.

"I don't give a damn about what they do exactly as long as the papers are signed. Get it done."

Sign papers? What was he talking about?

"Dad, where are you?" Nicholas's bellow reverberated before she had the door opening.

Amelia watched him advanced towards his father while she tried to shrink back into the shadows farther still. "What the f**k did you do?" Sebastian slipped his phone into his pocket. "That's none of your concern."

"None of my concern?" Nicholas' muscles bunched and released underneath his navy sweater and jeans. "You working a side negotiation with the outlet mall developers on my deal damn well qualifies as my concern."

Side negotiation? No...They weren't talking about Sagamore, they couldn't be.

"First, you work for me, not the other way around," Sebastian's tone grew implacable.

"Second, this is about business and has nothing to do with whether or not you can bang the property owner's daughter with a clear conscience."

I gasped on hearing him , I quickly covered my mouth to avoid getting caught.

"Leave Amelia out of this," Nicholas shouted.

"I didn't bring her into it." Sebastian pointed at Nicholas.

"You did. I must admit, it was a smart move getting Amelia on your side. She was a big influence in swaying Robert Evergreen to come to the negotiating table. He signed the deal. We own the property. It's mine to sell. The Resort developers are happily going to pay my asking price." He smirked.

"Sagamore is my project Dad," Nicholas said.

"That has nothing to do with it. Because of my decision, we made money. Everybody got what they wanted. That's how it works," Sebastian shrugged.

"It wasn't your call. This was my acquisition," Nicholas raked back his hair with both hands. "I should have been the one handling negotiations, not you."

Amelia's heart thumped so hard , it felt as if her breastbone would shatter. "No!" Water sloshed in her face as she surged forward in the tub and into the light. She cared less about them seeing her or not at this point.

Disbelief made her tremble more than the cold as she crossed her arms, covering her chest. "You promised my father you would preserve Sagamore as a resort, Nicholas you showed me the renovation plans."

Sebastian's dismissive look replaced the heat in the water with a chill. He turned to Nicholas , blatantly ignoring her. "We're flying out to our property in Florida tonight. Productivity at the hotel there is low, complaints are high, and since no one else seems to be able to solve the problem, we are going to fix it. You're riding in the town car with me to the airport. You can make arrangements for the car company to pick up your rental before we take off. Hurry up and deal with her. We don't have all night." He strode into the cabin.

Amelia looked at Nicholas, "What's going on?" He snagged the bathrobe at the side of the bathtub , covering her naked self. "You're shivering."

She took Nicholas's hand and he pulled her out of the tub, but he didn't meet her gaze.Hot and cold prickles dripped down her spine with the water puddling at her feet.

"Is it true?" Amelia asked.

"Let's go to the bedroom." He tied the bathrobe around her.

"Answer me!" The force of the words burned her throat. "Did you sell Sagamore to the outlet mall developers?" She shouted.

"It's not that simple," Nicholas said as he raked his hand through his hair.

"It was simple enough for you to f**k me so I would vouch for you to my father," Amelia sneered.

Nicholas's jawline angled as he gripped her shoulders, "It's not like that."

"Isn't it? Like your father said, you got what you wanted. Right?" Amelia looked at the man in front of her expecting an answer from him.

His silence filled in the gaps.He had used her. How could she have been so stupid? She had fallen for him but he hadn't loved her at all. She was probably just a naive college student who happened to be a property owner's daughter to him.

Anger and hurt washed over Amelia She wrenched out of Nicholas' grasp,"Get away from me. I never want to see you again, I hate you."

Nicholas opened his mouth to say something but closed it , looking at Amelia one last time , he turned and then walked out of the room.

Amelia fell on her knees crying as soon as Nicholas was out of the room. How could he? She gripped the bathrobe on her chest as her heart felt so painful at that moment.

Ring! Ring!! Ring!!!

She stood up , wiping her tears on hearing her phone ring , bringing out her backpack out of the closet to take her phone out. She then cleared her throat before picking the call.

"Hello,"

"Hello , please is this Miss Amelia Evergreen?" The person asked.

"Yes, I am," Amelia frowned on hearing the question.

"Your father has been hospitalized in our hospital due to a heart attack, I will forward the address to you,"

NICHOLAS' POV

Morning sun rays shine through the wall of blue-tinted glass in the hotel suite bedroom warmed my bare chest as I stared out at the ocean. I tightened the towel around my waist, then rubbed my hands back over my damp buzz-cut hair.

I sighed , it's been five days already at the Kaani Beach hotel, and I still couldn't fully relax. So much for vacationing in Maldives to relieve my stress. I tried zoning out on the beach, but I couldn't stop mulling over business. Too much had gone on during the past few months.

First, my brother, Williams had been in a minor accident when his plane skidded off a runway. William survived but had suffered from temporary amnesia as a result.

Then, the lodging and restaurant investment firm I and William owned, NW International, experienced a near miss with a bad hotel deal that I spearheaded.

I took a long, meditative breath. If they had signed off on that disastrous investment, it would have been solely my fault, not William's. Instead of doing due diligence in investigating the pros and cons of making an offer, I had been caught up in trying to outbid our father, who was also competing against us to buy the same property.

The idea of our father beating us had fucked with my head to the point where I had missed that a shoddy contractor had been involved with a construction project at the property. Luckily, William insisted on delaying the decision and had remembered the major issue he had spotted before the crash in the hotel's newly constructed restaurant.

Disquiet raged inside of me, I should have been focused on protecting NW International, not charging ahead to beat our father at all costs. That type of thinking cost him his relationship with Amelia too. Eight years had passed, and I still couldn't forget how I lost her.

I had been more concerned about my father taking Sagamore out from under him and selling it to outlet mall developers than how it had affected Amelia and her father. Since then, I had vowed never to lose sight of how my actions impacted people, especially those who are close to me.

But what was that saying-something in regard to the apple not falling far from the tree? Maybe I was more like my father than I ever wanted to admit.

Bed covers rustled behind me , I glanced over my shoulder to see the dark-haired woman I picked up last night sat up on the king-sized bed, holding the tangled white sheet and comforter to her chest.

"Come back to bed." She released the covers, revealing her bare breasts and more of her smooth skin. She flipped her tousled hair and coyly smiled. "If you're stressed out, I can make you feel better."

Last night, her deep brown eyes had snared my attention-along with some jerk berating her over a table mix-up at the Cuban Italian restaurant where she worked. She had handled it professionally, but vulnerability had briefly shadowed her expression.

I had wanted to hit the guy for being an asshole but I flirted with her instead, wanting to brighten her mood. When her shift had ended, we had gone to a bar down the street from the restaurant. I hadn't planned on sleeping with her, but something about the woman heightened his attraction. I can't seem to place a finger on what was it?

"Thanks, but I have to get going."

Shit... I have forgotten her name. Jenny? Julia? The tall, pretty woman stretched and got up. "Your loss." She plucked her clothes from the right side of the bed. Her hips swaying seductively, she sauntered into the bathroom in front of her and shut the door.Water ran in the shower.

My phone started ringing , I picked it up from the bedside table...William , Seriously? Didn't he have something better to do than to call him at seven in the morning?

I tapped the answer icon, "Yeah?"

"We need to discuss something," He replied.

"When you say we need to discuss something, that usually means there's an issue. You're on problem-solving duty on your own for another week. I'm on vacation. Remember?" I rounded the bed and entered the half-empty walk-in closet that contained casual clothes, a designer suit. I snagged a pair of jeans from a hanger and put them on.

"Wait a minute. It's Saturday. I thought Emily banned you from working on weekends?"

William snorted, "Banned? I'm not banned from doing anything."

Bullshit...I sneered before walking back out, "Let me speak to her."

"Why?" He asked.

"I would like to tell her good morning."

"She's sleeping."

"Where? She must be in another city. You wouldn't be allowed to make this call if Emily were around," I sneered.

"Fuck you. I don't have to ask her for permission to call my beloved brother," William released a brief chuckle. "She's downstairs in the kitchen, and the rule is no working on the weekends we have set aside for quality time."

Quality time? A snicker escaped my mouth. Yeah, Emily was definitely whipping William into shape. Good for her. That phrase hadn't been in William's vocabulary before he had met her.

"There's no need for you to get defensive. Or is that short leash you're on feeling a little too tight?"

"Keep laughing. It's not so short that I can't kick your ass," He retorted.

The shower stopped in the bathroom catching my attention. "I'm not alone. Give me twenty minutes and I'll call you back, and what's the problem anyway?"

"Echo Pines." William hung up.

Echo Pines Lodge . . . the cabin retreat in northern Georgia? My good mood dissipated as I slipped the phone into my jeans pocket. Of course there were issues with that place. Like I had tried to tell Williams before the accident, the plan to buy a boutique mountain retreat in general was a bad idea.

We needed to concentrate on building our current investment portfolio instead of adding on the responsibility of being a management company, but Williams kept insisting they should pursue it. Not even temporary amnesia had taken the notion from him. Echo Pines was now firmly on William's radar.

The woman emerged from the bathroom wearing the same dress from last night. She'd tamed her tousled hair into a sleek ponytail. Rosy gloss highlighted her lips. "Would you mind?" She turned and pointed to the open zipper at her back.

As I closed the dress, her name snapped into place, "Do you need me to arrange a ride home, Jessica?"...Nailed it.

"Thanks, but I have to get going," She faced him. Her wink and mischievous expression confirmed she'd deliberately used the same response I had given her earlier.

"Okay then," I shrugged.

She retrieved a pair of stilettoes from underneath the bed and slipped them on. "There's a café up the street that serves excellent coffee. You are welcome to join me if you have the time."

"Duty calls. I have got to do some work," I declined.

"On a Saturday? Too bad, but I understand. I have to put in my share of weekends too, at the restaurant."

As they walked out into the living room, she paused , looking around to take in the view she had missed yesterday night. The look in Jessica's eyes conveyed her thoughts.

The room was sumptuous. Expensive. She picked up her beige purse from the couch, "What did you say you did for a living again?" Well I hadn't.

"I'm in real estate."

"Oh, so you're a Realtor?" Interest heightened in her expression. I could tell that she was summing him up in dollar signs. "You could say that," It wasn't a complete lie. NW International invested in hotel and resort properties, along with restaurants and technology related to the industry.

She smiled as she glided one of her hands up my bare chest to his nape, "You know, I get off early tonight if you want to meet up again."

"Sorry, I have to take a pass."

From the understanding look in her eyes, she heard what I wasn't saying aloud. Our time together had ended.

"I should go, then." As she let herself out, she glanced back before closing the door. An image of another, similarly dark-haired woman with flawless naturally bronzed skin flashed in his mind. Amelia...But Amelia's eyes were a unique shade of grey and her smiles had held genuine warmth.