She loved it here. Loved the easy, relaxed way of life on the island. She loved having the wild beauty surrounding her wherever she went. She loved working in the hotel and she’d already made some good friends here. The hotel staff, Sean and Melinda.
But mostly she loved being with Rico. For so long she’d yearned to be with him again and now it was as if she was living in a perfect dream world.
But the sad part about dreams was that eventually you woke up and the dream shattered.
A wind off the ocean buffeted her, waves crashed against the shore, sending spray into the air, and Rico’s boat creaked noisily as it rose and fell with the surging sea. Out on the horizon, dark clouds gathered, promising a coming storm, and birds in the tree behind her chattered as if in warning.
The wind kicked up, sending grains of sand stinging into her skin like tiny bullets. She hardly noticed since the pain around her heart went so much deeper.
What was she going to do without Rico in her life?
“I was looking for you.”
His deep voice coming from right behind her didn’t surprise Teresa. It was as if she’d conjured Rico out of thin air just by thinking about him. She hoped it would work that well in the coming years, but somehow she doubted it.
“You weren’t worried, were you?” She tipped her head back and shaded her eyes with one hand. “I thought I already proved to you that I’m not going to leave the island before the end of the month.”
He sank into a crouch beside her and reached out one hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. That one slight touch sent shivers of anticipation rattling through her body. He gave her a half smile and shook his head.
“You did,” he said with a nod. “You gave me your word. I wasn’t worried. I just wanted to see if you’d like to take a ride around the island.”
His hair blew in the ever-present wind, the white shirt he wore was open at the throat and the sleeves were rolled up. His black jeans looked worn and comfortable. He was also barefoot and, for some reason, that only heightened his sex appeal. The man was a walking orgasm.
“With you?”
He gave her another half smile. “No. With Sean.”
“Funny.” She nodded, held out one hand to him and let him help her up from the chair.
For the last week, Rico had been attentive, seductive and romantic in a way she hadn’t experienced since they were first together. Every day he had a new adventure for the two of them. They had spent one day out on his yacht, alternately swimming in the ocean and climbing aboard to dry off and make love. They’d had a romantic seaside dinner in the village and finished the evening off by dancing in the moonlight. One day he had even taken her treasure hunting for Tesoro topazes.
There had been picnics on the beach and lazy swings in the hammock. Long walks and sitting together at night in front of a fire built more for romance than warmth.
It had been a perfect week. Perfect in ways that made her miserable to think of losing Rico forever. But in all the time they had spent together, not once had he talked about the possibility of her staying. Not once had he hinted he wanted her to stay. And not once had he said that he didn’t want the divorce he had promised her.
So though she was being romanced, she had finally figured out that Rico was simply saying goodbye to her. A long, drawn-out, incredibly sweet and romantic goodbye.