“What made you decide we should try scuba diving?” Pollyanna was asking him the afternoon of the next day. Again, she had on her usual shirt, beach shorts, and flip flops as well as her larger-than-life bag, the sight of which was somehow endearing itself to him for some strange reason.

“Teleios has one of the best seascapes in the world,” he answered smoothly. “I wouldn’t want you to miss out on it just because you didn’t know how to scuba dive.” But this was a lie. He figured that with her covered head to toe, he would be less prone to jumping on her.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

When she came out of the locker room, Kyr had to take a deep breath and make a special effort not to speak. Her diving suit, which indeed covered her head to toe, also emphasized her curves to perfection. It not only made him want to fuck her, but it also had every red-blooded male in the vicinity ogling her.

Damn it to hell.

“I’m ready for my lesson,” she told him cheerfully. Her eyes darted behind him, and she waved.

He turned and saw Chris – good, old Chris, who was just as much a flirt as Abram was – and his deadly look was enough to have the younger man hurriedly looking away and diving into the practice pool.

Looking back at Polly, he asked with deceptive casualness, “You’re certain you can do this then? You’ll be twenty feet underwater, and the pressure can be disconcerting. You won’t be able to hear anyone inside your suit, and you might find yourself struggling to breathe.”

But Polly only laughed, saying, “I know what you’re doing. You want me to back down so you’re going to say I’m acting like a kid?” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Not gonna happen, Master Kyr.”

Idiot. His lips compressed. Stupid, naïve, goddamn idiot. He was jealous, dammit, and was too proud to admit it. Couldn’t she see that?

But because he valued his pride, Kyr forced himself to grit between clenched teeth, “Have fun, then.”

Settling down on one of the lounge seats, he watched Pollyanna walk towards Chris. Weren’t her hips swaying too prominently? He remembered how it was one of her favorite ways of seducing other men, remembered how she would laughingly admit to him that she did it just because she liked seeing him jealous.

And he had let her do it, Kyr thought with grim self-loathing, because back then he had allowed love to turn him into a wimp.

Jaw tight, he forced himself to stay there and watch Chris and Pollyanna talk. He wanted to punch the younger man every time Chris touched her, never mind if it was necessary. He wanted to haul Polly back to his side every time she smiled and laughed at whatever the jerk said. She was supposed to find him – only him – funny, dammit.

A sultry brunette in a bikini blocked his view suddenly. His first instinct was to roar at her to get out of his way, but he managed to control himself. If Pollyanna could have fun with Chris, then there shouldn’t be anything wrong for him to have fun with other women, was there?

And so he did.

The hours passed, and Kyr deliberately kept his attention on the women around him. They had come flocking to him as soon as they realized he wasn’t going to turn anyone away, and soon it was almost like he was ruling his own harem.

Not once had he allowed his gaze to stray towards where Pollyanna was, even though he kept her figure in the periphery of his vision. He knew the moment she resurfaced, the moment she went back down diving. And he heard her goddamn sweet laugh. He was furious at her for laughing, but he was even more furious with himself for being so unreasonable about it.

As for the women, all of them grated on his nerves, and it took all of Kyr’s patience not to have security remove them from his sight.

He was disgusted at the way all of them seemed to compete with each other. Why couldn’t they be more like Pollyanna? Her naïve assumption that everyone was destined to be her friend was dangerous, but it wasn’t irritating.

At the four-hour mark, Kyr could no longer take it, and he stood up, excusing himself abruptly. If he spent one more second with those airheads, he was certain he would end up killing them.

As he walked away, he was stunned to hear a familiar voice calling out to him. He turned, and it was Polly.

“What is it?” he demanded, not liking the seemingly desperate way she had rushed out of the pool and practically ran to him. “Did Chris do anything to you?”

Chris, who had been about to join them, immediately beat a hasty exit at the billionaire’s words. Used to being the object of hatred of jealous boyfriends, he knew when to make himself scarce. But he was grinning as he hurried to the employees’ quarters, thinking, who would have imagined that Master Kyr would end up falling for someone like Polly?

Pollyanna was already shaking her head even before he finished speaking. But instead of answering him, she said in a small voice, “I’m sorry you were bored waiting for me to finish my lesson.”

Kyr was stunned.

“If you’re going somewhere else, maybe I could go with you instead? I don’t really need the lessons, you know. Or I could take them when you’re at work. But if you’re free, we could do what you want and---”

“Stop,” he said harshly. She looked at him in miserable silence, and his guilt flayed him. The entire time Pollyanna had spoken, the truth had hit him, and it wasn’t a pretty one. He had let his memories with her get to him, and he had ended up pushing Polly away, even punishing her, when she hadn’t done anything at all.

He looked at Pollyanna, saw the stars were still in her eyes, but this time they were also made hazy with tears. Without a word, he hauled her to him, his arms closing tightly around her small, curvy body. She hugged him back without a word, and when he felt the telltale shake of her shoulders, he said gruffly, “Don’t.”

“D-don’t want?”

“Don’t cry.” He rested his chin on top of her shoulders, oblivious to the way everyone was gaping at the mind-bogglingly sweet picture they made. “You don’t want those other girls to see your ugly cry face, do you?” Her shoulders shook again but of laughter this time.

She also surprised him by tightening her arms around his waist, prompting him to ask curiously, “What is it?”

“Just glad you chose me over them,” Pollyanna mumbled against his chest.

Ah.

He pulled away, and when she glanced up, he returned her surprised look with a scowl. Didn’t she know it was extremely unfair of her, saying the sweetest things out of the blue? Taking hold of her hand, he pulled her close to him again and led her out of the diving facility.

“Where are we going?” she stammered.

“Somewhere private, so I can kiss you.”

She stumbled over her feet.

“Also…what do you want to do tomorrow?” Kyr didn’t look at her as he spoke. “Anything you want, we’ll do it.” As an apology, he added silently because he knew she wouldn’t get it if he said sorry.

“Anything?” she repeated uncertainly.

He nodded.

“Then…” She whispered her request, which stunned and puzzled him.

“That’s it?”

“Uh huh.”

He said finally, “Then so be it. Come to my house at six in the morning, and don’t worry about the farm. I’ll have someone help out your godparents tomorrow.” He paused. “Are you really sure this is what you want?”

She answered him with just another shy, awkward look, but the stars in her eyes were shining even more brightly now, and Kyr thought, I’m going to be in deep shit tomorrow.