Page 45 of Her Diamond Deal with the CEO

His eyes narrowed. Sally was on the lawn now, talking to Ondine. He watched them smile and laugh. All the staff liked her, and, having worked in hospitality, no doubt Ondine felt some kind of kinship.

But she was also a good person.

He felt a pang of guilt sharpen its point beneath his ribs. He hadn’t given a thought to what she would feel like waking alone. Nor had he considered talking to her about what had started in the pool house last night.

Do you just want to pretend it never happened?

No, he hadn’t wanted that. But he hadn’t wanted to have a conversation that might reveal that fact because he was a coward. Because he was scared of what he might say. Because he couldn’t admit to Ondine or himself that he wanted more than just one night with her. Wanting might lead to needing, and needing made you vulnerable.

But she was braver,betterthan him. When life knocked her down, she didn’t just get back up, she tried to do the right thing.

Remembering how he had tried to edit out her baby bump from the photos, he felt his chest tighten. He had told her he would take care of her and the baby, but did she think he was going to pretend that had never happened too? More likely, she thought it would be beyond him. And that was entirely understandable. He could hardly manage his own life. Mismanage would be a better description, he thought, remembering the moment when he’d jumped off the yacht.

The memory cast a shadow across his thoughts. He was such a mess. Who would want him in their baby’s life? His throat constricted. What if he was not just damaged, but damaging?

He pushed the question aside as he had done so many times before. This wasn’t about him. It was about Ondine and making her feel safe. It was time to show her that she could trust him, that he could do the right thing, and, reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone.

‘I thought you were on some kind of leave?’

Glancing up from his laptop, Jack stared blankly over to where Ondine lay on her side, watching him. They were lounging by the pool. Through the glass, the sun shimmered in a cloudless sky. But no blue in nature could match the beauty of Ondine’s eyes.

Eyes that were now fixed steadily on his face.

Shutting his laptop, he turned to face her. ‘Well, according to the WEC website, I’m currently “taking a short sabbatical to focus on personal goals”. So probably everyone thinks I’m in rehab.’

He unleashed a small, curving smile, hoping to distract her, but her blue gaze stayed steady because, as he already knew, Ondine didn’t get distracted easily. Lifeguard training, probably, he thought, his own gaze flickering appreciatively over her toned limbs. She was wearing another of those barely-there bikinis that theoretically should offer little to the imagination but in his case offered rather too much.

‘So what are you doing on that?’ she said, tapping the laptop. ‘Must be pretty enthralling. I’ve never seen you so focused. Well, you know, aside from—’ A flush of pink crept over her cheeks, and he felt his skin tighten. Yes, he knew—

‘It’s nothing, really. Just something I’ve been working on.’

‘Is that all you’re going to tell me?’

‘No, I just didn’t know if you wanted to get into the details.’

She rolled her eyes. ‘I think I can manage. Or is it a secret?’

‘No.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s not a secret.’ But he never liked to show people that he cared, and he did care very much about this proposal. Then he remembered the ache in Ondine’s voice when she told him about her parents, and her ex-husband, and he knew how much it must have cost her to share that with him.

Surely, he could share this.

‘It’s a kind of side project. A proposal to accelerate WEC’s transition from fossil fuels to renewables. We’re moving at a glacial pace, the whole industry is. But in five years’ time, energy will look nothing like it does now. Green hydrogen. Solar. Hydropower. Geothermals. They’ll be the present, not the future. Any business that doesn’t get that is going to be left behind. That’s why I want to push WEC to transition now.’

He saw a flicker of curiosity in her blue eyes like a wave out at sea. ‘Doesn’t sound much like a side project.’ She glanced at the laptop. ‘Could I read it? Would you mind?’

She wanted to read it. He stared at her in silence. Was she joking? But then she held out her hand. ‘No, I don’t mind. But don’t feel like you have to.’

‘I don’t—’

It took her just over an hour. At one point, watching her chew her lip, he said, ‘Honestly, you don’t need to read the whole thing—’ and she looked up, glowering at the interruption.

Now she closed the laptop. ‘It’s really good. I didn’t have a clue about renewables before, but you made it really accessible. And exciting. So what does your grandfather think?’

He shrugged. ‘It’s not that he’s resistant to change, it’s just that, for him, WEC has always been about oil and gas.’

‘Did you have a falling out? Is that why you walked out?’

Picturing that life-changing meeting with his grandfather, he felt his stomach churn with a familiar mix of regret and defiance.

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