“Come back soon,” he said, bending down to her, his face close to hers. She was shocked to realize that she would have kissed him if he dared, but she was relieved that he didn’t. It was just meant to be a simple dinner between new friends, but she wasn’t sure what it was now. It had the potential to be something dangerous and wonderful. She wasn’t ready for that and he knew it, and all the reasons why. “Take care of yourself,” he said.

“I will. You too,” she said. “Life can be dangerous, more than you know. Be careful, Mike. I’ll be back for another banana split, and I want to find you here.” She had a terror of people disappearing now.

“You will,” he promised. He stood back from the car, and she waved as they pulled away from the curb. He hailed a cab and thought about her all the way back to his apartment. She was magical, and the evening with her had been amazing, and nothing like what he thought it would be. It was all so simple and easy because she was, and he suddenly believed what they said about soulmates. But how could that be? He was a senior CIA agent, and she was one of the richest women in Europe, and possibly the world. There was no way it could ever be more than what they’d just shared. Dinner at a diner, burgers and a banana split. He felt like a kid as he ran up the stairs to his apartment, three at a time. He hadn’t done that in years.

Chapter 6

Theo flew back to Paris the morning after her dinner with Mike at the diner. She used the card he had given her the night they met for his email address, and sent him an email to thank him. She really had had a lovely time, maybe more than she should have. She felt guilty when she thought about it on the flight. She was so attracted to him, and felt such a strong connection between them. It felt like a betrayal of Matthieu each time she thought about Mike.

But she was also well aware now of what Matthieu had been up to in Moscow with the actress. She had only discovered it after his death, so they had never been able to talk about it. She was sure he would have told her that it didn’t mean anything to him. It wasn’t the first time it had happened. He wasn’t a constant cheater, but he had had his forays into infidelity from time to time, and he was very French about it. As far as he was concerned, as long as he didn’t love the girl, it didn’t matter. But it did to Theo, and it mattered now. She still felt like a married woman, and wondered how long that would last. For five years or ten or a lifetime. Even after his death, she considered herself married. But she had never felt as powerful an attraction as she had to Mike. She wasn’t even sure how much they had in common. They came from different backgrounds. He was a lawyer, an interesting, educated person with a varied history. He seemed very understanding about human foibles, and the vagaries of fate.