“I think we should diversify,” his mother said on his voice mail.
This was something she’d been saying for a while. Diallo Corporation had built one of the strongest names in beauty and skin care, but his mother—and chief operations officer—thought that they, like Facebook, had to constantly innovate in order to stay relevant and profitable. He’d just about fallen out of his chair when she’d mentioned Facebook, but he kept an open mind. She wanted them to take on something else, maybe hair care, she wasn’t quite sure, but something that would keep Diallo Corporation profitable, visible and on the list of the Fortune 500.
His mother wanted this, but it was up to Kingsley to find out what that next thing was. He already had an idea but wanted to discuss it with her when he was back at home and behind his imported mahogany desk, not when he was about to be naked in his small house more than a thousand miles away from the nearest Diallo.
He sent her a quick email in response.
I agree. Will talk more about this when I get back in two weeks. In the meantime, relay all communications regarding this matter to Carter.
His brother, Carter, didn’t have an official title at the company, but he was jokingly called the Magic Man. Along with Kingsley, he knew how to transform nearly any idea related to Diallo Corporation into something viable.
After sending the email, Kingsley groaned and rolled the beginnings of tension out of his neck. He’d only been on the island a day and a half, barely a fourth of the time he usually spent away from his family responsibilities. He wasn’t going to let business get in the way of his time off. He pulled off his swim trunks and tossed them in the laundry basket on his way to the shower.
A long time ago, he’d learned to be strict with his vacation time. If he wasn’t, no one else would be. His family could talk to him at any time about personal matters, but he was strict about company affairs. Not now. Never here.
Kingsley allowed the steaming water to wash away the remnants of his irritation about his mother’s voice mail. He soaped his body from head to toe with body wash, easing the seawater from his skin, then used the washcloth to scrub himself until his skin stung and all he could smell was the mandarin orange scent. He rubbed himself down to pure sensation, the water on his skin, the heat sinking into his muscles, the anticipation of how good Doe Eyes would feel under him.
Truly, he had no intention of seducing her on the snorkeling trip. But his body didn’t believe what his mind was saying. He hardened at the thought of her, an inexorable arousal that left him winded.
He pressed his palm against the tile while steam rose around him, water running down the muscles of his back, his butt and his thighs. No, he had no intention of making a move on her. But he wanted. Oh, he wanted. And it was with that want sizzling through his veins that he allowed the greed for her to move his hand low and squeeze the breath from his lungs until he was painting the tiles with the hot spurt of his satisfaction. Breathless from the water that still ran over him, the release only made him want the real thing even more.
Kingsley hissed as he touched his sensitive flesh and imagined her mouth. Her body. Her everything.
He groaned and dropped his forehead against the tile, not even the least bit satisfied by his self-delivered orgasm.
Tomorrow, the devil at the back of his mind said. Tomorrow you can have her. Kingsley groaned again, and the sound echoed back to him, torture and pleasure, in the enclosed room.
* * *
The next evening, he wasn’t sure she would come. Yes, he had invited her. Yes, she wanted him. But there was no certainty. So when he got to the lighthouse, the other three people set to go on the snorkeling trip already waiting down by the beach and having their own pre-sunset party, he only half-expected to see Doe Eyes.
But she was there, wearing a one-piece swimsuit, jean shorts and a short-sleeved shirt partially unbuttoned over it all. His breath stopped at the sight of her, then started again. She stood at the base of the lighthouse, talking to one of the vendors selling coconut water and smoothies. The straps of a backpack hung from one of her shoulders.
She was early by nearly half an hour, the sun barely beginning to fall toward the horizon. The bright sunlight haloed her with the bowl of the green coconut in her hand, as she took occasional sips from the straw sticking up from the coconut. The vendor, old enough to be her father and missing several teeth, laughed when she said something, and she made a face before joining in his laughter.
Damn. She was so gorgeous. Body sleek and compelling in the shorts that barely contained the splendor of her behind. It was hot, much warmer than even the previous days, and the winds weren’t nearly as strong. Sweat lined her forehead, the soft skin of her throat. From where he stood, Kingsley could even make out the swell of her breasts under the loose, short-sleeved shirt and bathing suit.
Okay, now he was being creepy.
He cleared his throat and took a single step toward her, still keeping a respectful distance. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so ridiculously horny over a woman, a near stranger at that. He shoved his hands in his pockets, as much to appear casual as to hide the beginnings of interest his body already showed.
“Doe Eyes.”
She looked over her shoulder at him, still laughing, then turned back to the man to say her goodbyes before sauntering over to Kingsley with the coconut in her hand.
“Don’t you think it’s a little ridiculous to keep calling me that?” But she didn’t look offended in the least. Instead she looked amused, smiling again in a way that teased, not open and friendly but with a corner of her mouth pressed between her teeth as if she was keeping part of her amusement to herself.
“Until I know your name, I think that suits you just fine.”
She shook her head and opened her mouth like she was about to say something, maybe even her name, but something over his shoulder must have caught her eye because she gasped. Kingsley turned. All he could see was the restaurant, the view of the water and the sky turning to a fiery amber.
“This place is beautiful...” she said with breathless wonder.
Her face glowed with the excitement of what she saw, her eyes widening and the curve of her mouth unfurling to shape a real and complete smile for the first time since he’d met her.
“It is very nice.”
“I...I guess I just haven’t been paying attention.” Her eyes were still focused on the lowering sun and the colors streaming across the sky. “I’ve had a lot on my mind,” she said in a low and faraway voice.
By the look on her face, all those things that had occupied her thoughts just got burned away by the flaming splendor of the sky. She was gorgeous. And watching her, Kingsley wondered if at any point during his many trips to Aruba whether he’d ever taken the time to appreciate the beauty of the island like this. But the setting sun was nothing compared to the woman with her wide doe eyes, drinking up all the colors flaring overhead.
The others going on the trip—Carlos, Steven and Annika—were down on the beach, sipping their beers and talking around a small fire they’d made in the sand. Their boat was anchored in the small cove nearby and sheltered from the rocks. They were waiting for Kingsley to return with the woman he’d told them about. But he could afford to let Doe Eyes appreciate the sunset for a few more minutes.
“We can go closer,” he said.
She murmured something that might have been her assent, and he guided her carefully toward the overlook with a plaque detailing the history of the lighthouse and the ship that had smashed itself to pieces on the rocks more than a hundred years before on its way somewhere else.
Doe Eyes leaned against the railing, watching the sky and occasionally blindly seeking the straw in the coconut with her mouth. For the