Kim put on one of the dresses Debra had left for her. It was royal blue with a deep neckline, clinging to all of her perfect curves. Robert ran his hands down her body in the dress.

“You feel amazing,” he said.

“Most people won’t be feeling me, they’ll be looking at me,” she teased.

“You look amazing too. Sexy. You must take that one. It’s nearly the same shade as your exquisite eyes. It was as if it was made just for you.”

Kim looked at herself in the mirror. “Yes, maybe you’re right.”

“I am right.”

“Debra will be back soon. What are we going to do?” she asked.

Robert smiled. Kim didn’t know that Debra had helped him organize this entire meeting. Even the store wasn’t real. He’d ordered all of the dresses and stocked the place just for this, all so he could take her in this fitting room. He’d chosen that exact blue color for her dress. It was an expensive exercise but well worth it. He felt weak from what had just happened. Weak and oh so happy. He could see that Kim felt the same way.

“I’ll sneak out just now, before she comes. Don’t worry,” he said. “Are you enjoying the trip?”

“Robert, you’ve been so generous. You didn’t have to do this for us. You’ve made Derek and my mother so happy. How will I ever repay you?” Kim said.

He pulled her back onto his lap where he sat on the bench in the fitting room. He kissed her again, and the same surge of sexual tension pulsated in him. What was it with this woman?

“You’ve already paid me back,” he said. “Do you know how sexy you are? I look at you and I’m immediately hard again, wanting you again. I’ve never felt like this before. I immediately ache for you when I’m away from you, Kim. This... this, what just happened... this was amazing.”

Kim was suddenly shy. She was the mother of a young boy—how could she reconcile that with this wild woman she became around him, a woman who just let a man tie her up and take control of her body like that in someone’s store? A woman who enjoyed it more than any sex she’d ever had before? It was like she had a split personality, as if she were two different people. But she had to accept they were the same woman. They were her. She was this woman, and all these different sides were her.

“Okay. I need to go.” Robert kissed her and went out the door of the fitting room.

Only after he was gone did she wonder if she would see him again. She was sad she hadn’t asked him. She missed him already.

Kim could hear someone knocking at the front door of the store. She went out to check, and there was Debra.

“Sorry I took so long,” she said after Kim let her in. “Some small thing with Robert’s hotel in Tokyo. But it’s all sorted.” She looked at the blue dress Kim was wearing. “Well, that certainly suits you.”

“Do you think so?”

“Of course, you must take it. You look stunning.”

“Okay, let me go back in and change and we can be off.”

Kim put her top and shorts back on. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips red from kissing and Robert sucking them. Her hair was mussed, and her eyes were sparkling. She looked like a changed woman, but then how could she not be after what she’d just done? She was embarrassed to think Debra had noticed. She wondered what she was thinking.

She sheepishly came out of the fitting room, and Debra was waiting. She took the dress from Kim’s hands and packed it tidily in a box and slipped it into a shopping bag.

“So how much is it?” Kim asked.

“Oh no, it’s part of the trip, remember? All expenses paid,” Debra said.

Kim smiled. Robert again, she thought. Always Robert.

They left the store and headed back to the mansion. They were silent for quite some time. Kim was still embarrassed Debra saw her so flushed and happy.

“I think,” Debra said, trying to break the awkwardness between them, “people often see the wrong side of Mr. Miller. He’s really not the person he pretends to be. I think sometimes even he’s not aware of that. You know, I’ve known him since he was a young boy.”

“Really?” Kim asked, suddenly very intrigued. “What was he like?”

“He was such a good child. His mother often said how lucky they were to have him. He was brilliant in school, always well behaved and so loving. He adored his parents as much as they adored him. Even in those awkward teen years, he was never embarrassed to kiss his mother and father when they arrived for a visit at his boarding school, even in front of his friends. Love was more important than anything else, even his ego.”

“He must have been devastated when his parents died if they were so close,” Kim said.

“He still is. It knocked him so off track; it’s hard for him to find his way anymore. This is why he does all of the things that he does. All of his wild parties for days, even weeks, on end. His drinking and casual relationships with women. He’s been so lost, and he’s been in so much pain. It’s been difficult for me to watch. I care about him quite a bit.”

Kim could see how much Debra cared about Robert. She felt horrible hearing all of this, and she began to cry. She could feel the pain young Robert must have felt when he was told the two people he loved most in the world were gone in an instant. That he was now all alone in the world.

“You know, it’s easy to judge people,” Kim said. “A person could look at Robert and see him for this superficial rich kid. He told me how he wasn’t happy, and I thought he was being selfish or making fun of me and my scrimping, always-having-to-work life. He made me angry when he said all of that. Now I feel bad when you’re telling me this, Debra. I kept pushing him away, sure we were just too different, that we could never be together. ”

“All of us judge others by what we see, by what we know from our own lives. You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. You’re only human,” Debra said.

Kim smiled. “Despite how I’ve been behaving, I do care about Robert.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Kim. I need to confide in you. Him meeting you has been the only thing in these last three years that has given me any hope that Robert can be saved before it’s too late. Despite what you think, you have been good for him, and I’m happy about that.”

“But, Debra, even you can see we’re so different from each other. How could it ever work?”

“Don’t be deceived by what Robert shows the world. Robert’s parents came from a similar background as yours. They were working-class people who were very successful. Robert always respected that about them, immensely. You’re not some odd anomaly that he’s toying with to waste some time. You’re the sort of person he respects the most. And I can assure you, his feelings are real. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Kim, Robert is in love with you, desperately in love with you. You should not doubt that. I knew it as soon as he met you. I could see the change in him. He might not have known for some time, but I knew.”

Kim looked out at the passing scenery, the ocean in the distance, the banana trees in long lines. She felt bad for what she had put Robert through, how she had judged his behavior and used that to push him away. But did we always behave as our hearts and our real honest spirit wanted us to? Of course not—she knew that as well as anyone. She had been running away from the best man she had ever met when her heart told her she should be running to him.

They pulled up at the mansion. Kim could see her mother and Derek attempting to play tennis with the butler, Jorell, and Garon, who had developed an attachment to her son. It looked more a game of chasing after the ball than one of proper tennis, but even from this distance Kim could see all of them were laughing.

“I like you, Kim,” Debra said. “I think your mother is great, and Derek, well, I think everyone in this house has fallen in love with your adorable son.” Debra watched the tennis court with Kim. “Maybe this time, with Robert, I mean, you can risk it a bit. You can let him into your heart. I know your ex-husband has made you frightened of men, but I’m telling you honestly, Robert is one of the good guys. Give him a chance.”