Page 43 of Tempted Hearts
I swallowed hard, ignoring his assumptions about us being a couple. For her part, Juliette seemed unfazed by his speech. So much for worrying about her reaction to last night. For all it appeared, she’d completely forgotten about the entire incident.
“Come. Come,” he said, ushering us onto the boat. “Signorina, if you’d like to change, there’s a small cabin just inside. Take your time.”
As Juliette disappeared into the cabin, Marco prepared the boat.
“There is fresh focaccia from Il Massimo, some fruit, and cappuccino,” he said, settling me into a seat at the stern of the boat. A table was set with the food he’d described. “I’ll take us out a bit, and then you can eat while the sea is calm.”
If Marco said anything more, I wouldn’t have been able to recall his words if my tenure depended on it.
Juliette had emerged from the cabin in a white bikini with a white, gauzy long-sleeved shirt/cover up, rolled to her elbows.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Curves in all the right places. The swell of her breasts more inviting than a boatload of fresh fruit and cappuccino. And I loved cappuccino in Italy.
I turned away, pretending to look out to sea as we pulled out. This had been one of the stupidest fucking ideas I’d ever had in my life. Morning sun glistened off the mostly calm water as I thought back a few hours ago to when I’d spied a sole boat in the water on my run, remembering Juliette’s words that first day.
It seems like the ultimate dream. Sailing on the Mediterranean. Although that’s technically the Ligurian Sea, of course.
She was as clever as she was joyful.
I turned to her, thanking whatever God was listening that two buttons on her shirt were now closed as she sat. Even so, it was going to be a long day.
“I tried to charter a sailboat,” I told her. “But this was the best I could do on short notice.”
“Are you kidding me? Cole, this is perfect. But I’m totally paying you back.”
I didn’t respond, because she wasn’t and would only argue with me.
“Marco said we should eat now, while the sea is calm.” We’d already anchored off. Before long, most of the focaccia and fruit, along with every drop of cappuccino, was gone.
We were off again, the table cleared and put away by Marco like he’d done it a million times, which I was sure he had.
Surrounded by turquoise water, the cliffs of the Vernazza coastline floating by, we traded superlatives about the other-worldly view.
“Have you heard from Parker yet today?”
I’d mostly kept my phone out of view, something I was in the habit of doing anyway, but since Juliette didn’t have hers, keeping it out seemed especially rude.
“I have. He and Delaney were planning on a visit to Pitti Palace today. Not sure what else is on their agenda, but it seems like they’re loving Florence.”
“Good. They deserve it.”
We talked about how she and Delaney met. How I met each of the guys. And then she mentioned the pact.
“I thought it was a joke at first.”
“Not even a little,” I said. “We all had our reasons for it. And maybe I always knew it wouldn’t stick. But I certainly didn’t think they’d fall like fucking dominoes, one right after the other.”
“Is it weird, now that they’ve all paired off?”
More than she knew. More than I would admit aloud.
“I guess. But it was inevitable, despite our pact to stay bachelors.”
“Why did you make it?”
She looked at me so sincerely, it would have been “old Cole” to brush the question off.
