Page 81 of No Ordinary Love

"I'm scared to assume."

She nodded somberly. "I'm staying. I talked to the Chancellor, and we're going to pretend I never resigned. Dad wasn't thrilled about that but understood."

I traced her face and felt like the universe had given me everything I could ever want.

"Amara, marry me."

She gasped and sat up. "What?"

I joined her and took her hands in mine. "I don't have a ring, but I'll get one, I promise."

"What? I don't care about a ring," she snapped.

"I know, but it's tradition." A deep sense of rightness washed over me at the thought of asking her to be my wife.

"So, myTesoro, will you marry me?"

She looked at me in confusion, and I felt the first sliver of panic slide through me.

She smiled wide. "Yes, Lucas, I will marry you."

I sighed in relief and leaned my forehead against hers. "For a minute there…."

"I love you. I want to be with you."

I hugged her and thanked the Gods for giving me this brilliant, loving, beautiful woman who made my life worth living.

Chapter 29

Amara

Ifelt like I was in a dream.

I was engaged to Lucas Covington, and we were going to get married. I couldn't believe this had happened. I just…couldn't wrap my head around it.

I called Basil, who was in town for Thanksgiving and told him. Gemma was with him, so she screeched in delight.

"Would you mind if we joined you for Thanksgiving?" Basil asked.

"What about your folks?"

"COVID."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Both of them?"

"Yeah. They're not experiencing too many symptoms, but they're testing positive, so they're out of commission."

Gemma had planned to spend Thanksgiving with Basil as her family was spread out this year and were not getting together until Christmas.

"Yes, of course. Come on over. Dad will be excited to see you both."

After that conversation, I texted Lucas again and wished him good luck with his board meeting. I knew this was going to be a tough one, what with Hugh planning a coup. The fact that Lucas seemed to not give a shit about his job as CEO had first worried me, and then I'd realized that he'd finally decided that he was more than his job. There was more to his life than running LPC. It was probably a lesson I should learn from him, as my identity was so closely tied to being an academic.

I called Jax and asked him what he was doing for Thanksgiving. He apparently was not going to see his parents because he'd had a blowout with his father, and the situation with his family was tense. So, I invited him over as well.

It was going to be a full house for the holidays, I thought gleefully.

Thanksgiving was one of my favorite holidays. The food, obviously, was the draw, but so was everything else. The family coming together, watching the football game, eating the leftovers until you were sick of turkey and gravy.

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