“Good morning,” Liam said, walking into the bedroom with a breakfast tray filled with coffee and pastries and a bundle of magazines tucked under one arm. “Coffee, croissants, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair,” he said. “They were out of Town & Country.”

The truth was, she had tried to forget about him. The morning after the photo shoot, she got on a plane and vowed to stay away from New York for as long as possible. But then, three days into her time in Kenya, Liam showed up at her campsite.

“This is madness,” she said, trying to be angry but overwhelmed by happiness at the sight of him.

“It is madness,” he said with a grin. “My first vacation in ten years? I should have done this a long time ago.”

“Liam, I’m serious. You can’t be here. You have to go.”

He looked her in the eyes and said, “Tell me honestly you’re not happy to see me and I’ll leave.”

She couldn’t. “But you have to end things with my sister.”

Still, she resisted her insane lust for him. For about a week. She ultimately gave in on the darkest, hottest night of the trip. They had outrageous, mind-blowing sex in her mosquito-netted bungalow, an experience she hoped would help get him out of her system. But afterward, breathless and spent in his arms, she had the alarming certainty that the night was just the beginning.

She hoped her feelings would fade. She believed they would; she always lost interest in men after a while, be it two weeks or two months. She warned him of this and begged him not to tell anyone about what was going on.

“What if we lose interest in each other once we’re back home, in the real world?” she said. “I don’t want my sister to get hurt for no reason.”

“These feelings started in the real world,” he said. “I’m never going to want her the way I want you, Paulina.”

Still, she’d changed her mind about pushing him to end things. “Please, just wait. You might get things out of your system—we both might. Don’t do something permanent for what could be a temporary . . . fever between us.”

That strategy had been a mistake.

Now Elodie, heartbroken, was becoming a shut-in. Celeste refused to take her calls and didn’t come to the city for their mother’s birthday. Paulina felt such guilt and shame that she and Liam avoided being seen in public together. He’d been patient but it was wearing thin.

He waved a magazine at her. “I want to celebrate with you tonight,” he said, climbing back into bed. “At a restaurant. In public. Like a normal couple.”

“I’m not ready.”

“Paulina, it’s time. I love you. Elodie will get over it, but not if we continue to slink around like criminals.”