I turned toward the exit, and Evan stopped me, a hand on my arm. “X, wait. You deserve some happiness. Or at least some good sex. Not one of us will judge you for it.”

“I don’t need your permission,” I snapped and shrugged him off. He put his palms up and continued walking.

But there was no way to lie to myself. The idea of being alone with Josephine Marin on a boat, with the tension between us, was making me feel all sorts of things again. Physical things. Things I’d long denied myself. Now that it was decided she was staying an extra few days, a thrill pricked at me—that little tingle I got when I could tell I was on to something at work that was going to be a game-changer. A challenge that would be worth it. Maybe Evan was right. Maybe I did just need to get laid. Josie was no longer working for me, so I could mentally cross that off my list of reservations. If, if, we had a fling it would have a built-in expiration date, which was about the only way I could contemplate it.

And the chemistry between us told me it was going to be good.

Oh so, so good.

I stepped back as Evan opened the patio door and discreetly adjusted myself. Okay. I took a breath. I was going to do this. If she still wanted me, that was. My heart thundered with terror.

We walked outside, and I shaded my eyes in the afternoon sun.

“Great news,” my mother called. “Since you no longer need her on the boat, Josephine is going to stay here with me for a few weeks and help me with my foundation work. Isn’t that wonderful? You don’t mind, do you?”

Chapter Thirty-One

JOSIE

Xavier Pascale had mastered the art of keeping his face expressionless, so I had no idea what effect his mother’s pronouncement had on him. If any.

Dauphine came back to the table from throwing some leftover bread to the seagulls over the balustrade just in time to hear Madame Pascale’s pronouncement. “You will stay with me here?” she asked me, her eyes big and round. “But why you will not come back on the boat? Now you will stay here in France and not be with me?” Her tone told me she found this incomprehensible. Her eyes grew watery, her chin wobbling. “Papa told me he likes you very much. So now you do not have to go.”

“Um, I …” I looked helplessly toward Xavier.

Say something, I wanted to yell at him.

“Perhaps we’ll share Josephine,” Madame Pascale soothed her granddaughter. “She can help me and help your papa? Besides, I will be in and out of town.” She looked at her son, and I glanced between them. Evan, of course, was biting back a grin. It was as if he found Xavier’s predicament funny.