Page 79 of Worth the Risk

I waved him away. ‘Don’t worry, Damian, I’m not stepping down. I’m stepping away for the ninety days my position allows me. I see Harry over there, chomping at the bit for his chance. You’re welcome to it, mate. You all need a taste of what it’s like to run this company without me.’ I stood up and laid my hands flat on the table. ‘I give you three months to come to your senses, and I expect a lot of grovelling when you do.’

I walked down the length of the conference table to stunned murmurs. Damian blocked my way. After a long stare, he held out his hand.

I clasped it, renewed emotion moving through me. When he stepped back Aunt Flo took his place, her gaze sombre. With a strained smile, I leaned down and kissed her cheek. ‘Give ’em hell while I’m gone.’

‘You can count on it.’

As I straightened she grabbed my arms, and, looking deep into my eyes, she smiled. ‘Godspeed. Don’t come back without her.’

Sucking in a deep breath, I walked out.

Leonie

Vacations in paradise sucked.

Vacations in tropical paradises where couples canoodled everywhere sucked even harder.

Purchasing a first-class ticket to Maui to celebrate the sale of La Sirène to an anonymous buyer, and my decision to not only remain in the South of France but also open a new office in Montenegro had seemed like a fabulous idea at the time.

But I didn’t account for the harrowing misery that tracked me to the Pacific haven.

I fooled myself into thinking that, because I’d managed to put Adam in my past, I’d be able to deal with losing Gideon.

This pain was a million times worse. I couldn’t breathe, blink or speak without missing him. And the pain seemed to multiply by the second.

Even my stubbornness had folded under the weight of my agony.

The moment I returned to my hotel room, I was checking out. Maybe returning home, busying myself with opening the new office would take my mind off this never-ending torment.

At least it’d save me from being slapped in the face with the stupid lovey-dovey shit going on around me.

But I was damned if I left the island a complete loser. I’d failed abysmally at love. Again. But I planned to make this surfboard my bitch even if it killed me.

I flattened myself on the board and paddled furiously for the quarter-mile my instructor suggested. When a decent wave came along, I tightened my core, got onto my knees and, with a deep breath, rose to my feet, bending my knees for maximum stability.

My position held for all of five seconds before a stronger wave tossed me into the sea.

I gave up, rubbing helpless tears and salt water out of my eyes.

The sun was rising on another glorious Maui morning. Time to leave paradise.

I staggered onto the shore, dragging my surfboard behind me.

‘Giving up already?’

My breath punched out of me as misery knotted itself tighter. I blinked at the apparition. Except ghosts didn’t look this virile. This heartbreakingly gorgeous.

This painfully real.

I greedily devoured his face, his body. His bare feet. His white T-shirt moulded to his body and his hair tossed about in the early-morning breeze.

I wanted to charge him, wrap every inch of my body around him. But he was the same man who’d broken my heart long and savage weeks ago. ‘What are you doing here, Gideon?’

‘Waiting for you.’

My heart lurched. I managed to bite back the why before it spilled out.

His face looked drawn, and a strained smile played at the corners of his lips. ‘You shouldn’t give a shit about me but I’d really like you to ask me why, Leonora.’

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