The Billionaire Of Coral Bay. Nikki Logan

      Dealt with them and redressed them. WestCorp thrived on knowns.

      ‘Do you, really?’ she asked, tipping her glance towards him, apparently intent on placating him with conversation. ‘When was the last time you did something truly new to you?’

      Part of the reason he dominated in business was because nothing fazed him. Like a good game of chess, there was a finite number of plays to address any challenge and once you’d perfected them the only contest was knowing which one to apply. The momentary flare of satisfaction as the challenge tumbled was about all he had, these days. The rest was business as usual.

      And outside of business...

      Well, how long had it been since there was anything outside of business?

      ‘I went snorkelling today,’ he said, pulling off his mask.

      ‘That was your first time? You did well, then.’

      She probably meant to be kind, but all her condescension did was remind him why he never did anything before learning everything there was to know about it. Controlling his environment.

      Open ocean was not a controlled environment.

      ‘How about you?’ he deflected as the drag of the water dropped away and they stepped onto toasty warm sand. ‘You don’t get bored of the same view every day? The same reef?’

      She turned back out to the turquoise lagoon and the deeper blue sea beyond it—that same blue that he loved from the comfort and safety of his boat.

      ‘Nope.’ She sighed. ‘I like a lot of familiarity in my environment because of—’ she caught herself, turned back and changed tack ‘—because I’m at my best when it’s just me and the ocean.’

      He snorted. ‘What’s the point of being your best when no one’s around to see it?’

      He didn’t mean to be dismissive, but he saw her reaction in the flash behind her eyes.

      ‘I’m around.’ She shrugged, almost embarrassed. ‘I’ll know.’

      ‘And you reserve the best of yourself for yourself?’ he asked, knowing any hope of a congenial day with her was probably already sunk.

      Her curious gaze suggested he was more alien to her than some of the creatures they’d just been studying. ‘Why would I give it to someone else?’

      She crossed to their piled-up belongings and began to shove her snorkelling equipment into the canvas bag.

      Rich pressed the beach towel she’d supplied to his chest as he watched her go, and disguised the full-body shiver that followed. But he couldn’t blame it on the chilly water alone—there was something else at play here, something more...disquieting.

      He patted his face dry with the sun-warmed fabric to buy himself a moment to identify the uncomfortable sensation.

      For all his success—for all his professional renown—Rich suddenly had the most unsettling suspicion that he might have missed something fundamental about life.

      Why would anyone give the best of themselves to someone else?