Luca retrieved a basket and umbrella from the back of the car and soon they were on their way.

Eventually, they descended onto the pebbly beach and found an intimate spot at the far end, where Luca set up a beach umbrella and towels.

“You brought your swimming costume?” he asked and she nodded. She was wearing the one-piece under her summer dress.

Before she knew it, he was stripping and Colette gulped, trying hard not to stare. Few men in their swimwear looked like Luca did in his, and possibly even fewer without.

Folding her dress tidily on the blanket, she followed him into the water. He kept backing in while she walked toward him.

“Shouldn’t you turn around?” she laughed. “How will you know where you’re going?”

He winked. “I prefer this view.”

The water deepened and soon they were both treading hard to keep their heads above it. Luca pulled Colette close and held her in his arms. The sudden action caused her to laugh and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“I am so glad to be back,” he said. “I missed you.”

Colette searched his eyes. Did he really? He looked back at her, the depths searching hers.

“You do not believe me.”

“No,” she replied, sighing. “It’s not that.”

“Yes, it is. I can see it,” Luca answered. “What troubles you, my Colette?”

His Colette? She wanted to be.

They bobbed in the water, and Luca picked up her legs and wrapped them around his waist as he supported them both.

“Tell me.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat at his question. If she wanted the truth there was no better way to get it than to ask. And no better time than the present.

“That night on the boat, the phone call. You were very secretive about it.”

His brow wrinkled. “Secretive? I think I was just annoyed. You know how much I hate those things. I wish they had never been invented, and that Mr. Jobs had stayed working in his garage,” he added lightheartedly.

But Colette wasn’t to be dissuaded by humor. “Who was it?” she asked, surprised at her own insistence. But she needed to know. “On the end of the line that night.”

Luca shrugged. “My father. He and I... Let’s just say we do not bring out the best in each other.”

She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. She believed him. It wasn’t another woman or something he was trying to hide, like Annie had suggested.

He’d already told her that he worked in his father’s business more out of duty than anything else. So if the two men clashed, it made sense that a phone call interrupting a personal moment would put Luca out of sorts.