across the back seat onto my lap where she burrowed against my chest. I let my face fall into her thick, luscious hair and held her close, breathing her in deeply. My heart raced as I realized how nervous that small simple move to reach out to her had made me. And how relieved I was that she hadn’t resisted.
After a whirlwind taxi tour of the major sights inside the Calvi city walls, I had the driver drop us at a small restaurant in the port that employed its own fishermen who went out every morning. It was early afternoon, and Josie and I shared a bottle of rosé and I ordered a late lunch of bouillabaisse and Josie had fresh fish, rice, and seasonal vegetables.
Her fingers were halfway across the table, fidgeting with the stem of her wine glass. Without thinking I reached out and took her fingers in mine and found myself holding hands across the table, something I hadn’t done in years. Not since Arriette and I had first met.
It was so natural to want to touch Josie, to be with her. To laugh and to talk. She asked me all kinds of questions about my business, and I shared my work with the alternative energy project power plant that was currently being built near where I lived. I told her about the invention of microfilm that could withstand a cataclysm and last for two thousand years and how everyone wanted to record their technology or their industrial secrets and hide it on the microfilm in a bunker in Iceland in case the world ended. I wasn’t bragging. She was fascinated and I let myself talk.
I told her about my successes and also my failures. I told her about Arriette’s brother and how he’d felt like he deserved Dauphine’s inheritance from her mother. About how I always felt like he was a threat out there and that was why my security around Dauphine was always so high.
“Wow, would he hurt her?”
“I … I don’t know.”
Josie’s face grew troubled. “Has Dauphine met her uncle?”
“When she was small. I doubt she remembers him.”
“It might be worth showing her a recent picture, so she knows to sound the alarm if he approaches her.”
“I don’t want to scare her. But it’s probably a good idea.” I shook off a shiver. “Let’s talk about something else. What about you?”
“What about me?” She smiled, her eyes dancing. “I’ve already told you everything.”
“I doubt that,” I said. “What are your plans when you go back?” I asked.
The question hit the atmosphere between us like a meteor hitting Paris. Fuck.
Josie jerked like she’d been slapped, her eyes closing tight. Her fingers in mine moved to untangle, and I grabbed hold of them tighter. “Wait,” I said.
I needed to say something. To take it back. But … I wasn’t asking her to stay. She didn’t plan to stay.
Words and needs and demands and denials rose up and crashed silently around in my throat.
Her fingers went limp in mine, which was somehow worse. “It’s fine, Xavier. We’re both aware of what this is. Let’s …” Her voice wobbled. “Let’s just enjoy one more day and not think about after tomorrow.” She pulled her hand away slowly and I let her.
I still couldn’t speak, paralyzed as I was. Inside me, the words rose. I want more. But I left them unsaid, not believing them, and unable to drag them through the turmoil even if I did.
Josie pasted a smile on her face, her eyes bright with determination. “You mentioned caves and grottos. And private beaches tucked away in the cliffs?”
“La Revellata.”
“Perhaps we could take the boat there this afternoon?” She stood and came around to me. “I need to run to the restroom, but,” she leaned down, her lips close to my ear, “I have a fantasy of you fucking me in the ocean that I’d like to take home with me. Let’s do that instead of talk.” Her mouth slipped down to the side of my neck and her lips pressed against my skin, lighting it on fire. Then she stood and hurried inside, her summer dress floating around her curves, her hair cascading down her back.
I grabbed my wine glass and downed the contents, signaling for the check.
Chapter Forty
JOSIE
I’d thought the water was beautiful off the coast of Southern France, but here, off the coast of a rocky island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, it was almost fake. I leaned over the prow of