He might think himself damned, but with each passing second Kim could only see the good, the honor in Diego. And fall deeper into love with him.
Only being in love was just as horrible as she remembered it to be.
Not that she didn’t enjoy the attention he showered on her. She had never been so pampered in her life. Forget pampered—no one had ever even so much as cooked a meal for her.
She walked on white beaches every day, swam in the infinity pool that edged from the villa into the ocean, napped for an hour every afternoon. The third day after their arrival Diego had even taken her on a hot air balloon ride over the island. It had been the most wonderful time she’d had.
He had shown her the exotic flora on the island, the place where construction had begun on a house for the teenagers he was bringing over. They had even seen Miguel and the other kids playing soccer on a vast expanse of untouched land.
Anything she asked for, she had it in a few hours—like the state-of-the-art camcorder she had requested.
He even had Miguel watch over her when he was busy, and the little punk seized her laptop every day after an hour, as though she was on the clock.
It had taken a couple of days but she had gotten over her panic about her company. Her staff were experts at what they did; of course they could manage without her for a couple of weeks.
She should feel on top of the world. And she did in those split seconds when she could stop obsessing and let the tight leash she kept on herself go.
Her day, from dawn to dusk, was spent wondering why he didn’t kiss her again, what was stopping her from crawling into his bed—wherever it was that he slept. She was tired of waiting for him to make a move when all she wanted was to surround herself with him.
She wanted him, and she was pretty sure, from the way his hungry gaze ate her up, he wanted her. Tonight she would...
All her intentions disintegrated into dust when he walked onto the terrace. With his BFF in tow.
Jealousy burned like a blaze in her chest. She trembled from head to toe. The strength of it was feral. It pummeled her muscles into action and she got up in a sudden movement that made her lightheaded. She clutched at the wrought-iron railing.
Just the sight of him with Marissa was enough to burn a hole through her heart.
* * *
For the first time in over a week Kim had no appetite for dinner. Even though Anna had prepared everything the way Kim liked.
She smiled and nodded, answered with yes or no for the first half hour, pushing her food halfheartedly around on her plate. The other woman—or was she the other woman in this case?—was nothing but polite, inquiring after Kim’s health, how she was enjoying her stay on the island.
There was only so much Marissa could do to squelch the awkwardness while Kim stayed resolutely mute. But what could she say?
She felt such an influx of emotions—jealousy roped with guilt that she had destroyed this woman’s life with one single action, a hot rush of anger toward Diego for subjecting them all to this—she was literally stupefied into speechlessness.
Eventually Marissa switched to Portuguese, and Kim was almost grateful for the snub. She waited another ten minutes before she excused herself and fled back to the terrace.
Loneliness churned through her and she suddenly missed Liv with an ache. She needed her irrepressible twin so much right now. Because her life was in tatters if this was how being in love was going to feel.
A soaring high one minute and a gut-wrenching low the next.
* * *
It was early evening the next day when Diego found Kim walking along the beach, a couple of miles from the villa. He made a quick call.
This part of the island was even more untouched than the other side. Pristine white sands, turquoise waters—he loved this view. This island was the one thing he owned that gave him the utmost satisfaction and joy at what he had achieved in life.
It was a place with nothing but sky and acres of land around him. The one thing he had craved for so long. Somewhere that wasn’t a ditch to call his own. Now Miguel, and others like him, could enjoy the freedom that came from knowing their very lives didn’t depend on their ability to throw punches and fight dirty.
Not that he had ever stopped. Now it was just for different things.
Today the view didn’t hold his interest. And he had a feeling the quiet contentment he had felt over the past week or so had been more to do with the solitary figure half a mile in front of him than his success in purchasing the island that he had wanted for so long.
To break that spell he had brought Marissa. He could have caught up with her on his next trip to Rio. But he knew she’d wanted to see the island. And he was loath to change anything in his life just because Kim was in it now.
That was the only way to keep this in check. Only Kim had looked as if he had slapped her last night.