I chuckled. “I appreciate your blind allegiance, but you have no idea if I’m good at my job.”

“You’re extraordinary. I’d stake my life on it. You are passionate about everything you do. Interested. Curious. Talented, if the sketches Dauphine has shown me are anything to go by. You can draw out the exact detail in a façade that makes it what it is. And top of the class student.”

I raised my eyebrows, flushed with pleasure. “A top student? And how would you know that.”

He took a breath, and then looked me in the eyes. “I have your college transcripts. I make a habit of thoroughly investigating everyone who comes near my family.”

“That sounds lonely,” I fired defensively, not sure how I felt about him looking into me. It made sense given his position. It’s still didn’t feel right.

“It is lonely.”

Somehow that deflated me. “So, you knew everything about me. Why bother asking?” I asked tightly.

“Because those were facts. But there was no story. You’re the story, Joséphine.”

He picked up his glass and sniffed the new wine. In Charleston, I used to find that pretentious. But Xavier swirling and inhaling wine was sexy as all hell. Maybe it was just the confident way he sat, leaned back, legs slightly splayed. Candlelight and the glow from the overhead twinkle lights played across his features. Maybe it was the way he held his glass. And the fact that we were sitting on a rooftop on an island in the middle of the Mediterranean. But more than that, it was his presence. His intellect. And the way he was clearly a successful and important businessman, and yet he was looking at me like I was the most fascinating creature he’d ever encountered. It could go to a girl’s head.

After he took his first sip of the new bottle and didn’t spit it out or wince in horror, I assumed it was probably excellent. Not that I’d expected otherwise.

I took a mouthful and slow swallow. Wow. It was. “Mmmmm.”

Xavier cleared his throat. “Um, what was that?” he asked, his voice rough.

“What?”

“That face you just made. That small sound especially.”

“I made a sound? The wine’s so good, I guess. It conjures up images of lying in a dark field, staring up at a starlit sky surrounded by the scent of blackberries.”

“You have a way with words.”

“Ha. Not usually.” I gave him a small smile.

He set his glass down. “I don’t suppose while you are lying there inhaling the blackberries and staring at the stars I am between your legs, pushing up your dress and tasting you?”

I choked. “What? Oh my God.” My voice came out in a breathy squeak. The faint buzz and warmth of the simmering chemistry between us flared like a struck match and spread throughout my lower belly.