having other people make decisions on her behalf. ‘I wasn’t sure exactly when, but seeing that picture of you in the newspaper...’
‘For God’s sake!’ He tried hard to temper his voice. ‘What the hell does some half-baked picture in a sleazy tabloid have to do with anything?’
‘It’s made me realise that it’s time for me to take the next step.’
‘Next step? What next step?’ Javier raked his fingers through his hair and wished she would settle on one topic and stick there. He felt as though the carpet had been yanked from under his feet and he didn’t like the feeling. ‘Of course you can’t go to bloody France! It’s a ludicrous idea!’
‘You can do what you like with whoever you want to...er...do it with, Javier, but it’s time for me to get back into the dating scene, meet someone I can share my life with.’ She tried to visualise this mystery man and drew a blank. ‘I feel like my youth has been on hold and now I have a great opportunity to reclaim it.’
‘In France?’ He laughed scornfully.
‘That’s right.’
‘And what if you’d never seen that picture?’ He stopped just short of doing the unthinkable and telling her that he’d never met that woman in his life before and had no intention of ever meeting her again. Because his head was too wrapped up with her.
Unthinkable!
‘It was just a question of time,’ Sophie said truthfully. ‘And that time’s come.’
‘You’re telling me, after the sex we’ve just had, that you want out...’ He laughed in disbelief and Sophie wanted to smack him because it was just the sort of arrogant reaction she might have expected.
‘I’m telling you that the time has come when it has to be more than just the sex. So I’m going to find my soulmate,’ she added quickly.
‘You’re going to find your soulmate?’ Javier hated himself for prolonging this conversation. As soon as she had started kicking up a fuss about that picture, he should have told her that it was over. He didn’t need anyone thinking that they had claim to him. Never had, never would, whatever he had told her about a woman coming along who could tame him. Wasn’t going to happen.
Except... She hadn’t been trying to claim him, had she?
She’d just reasonably asked him if there was anything going on with the airhead who had been dripping off his arm at a forgettable gallery opening and, instead of laughing and dismissing the idea, he had returned to his comfort zone, dug his heels in and stubbornly refused to answer.
And it was too late now to do anything about that.
Not that it would have made any difference, considering she had been making all sorts of plans behind his back.
For the best, he decided. So he’d become lazy but in truth the itch had been scratched a long time ago.
‘Fine.’ He held up both hands and laughed indulgently. ‘Good luck with that one, Sophie. Experience has taught me that there’s no such thing. I’m surprised given your past that you haven’t had the same learning curve.’
‘Just the opposite.’ She felt nauseous as she watched him start heading for the door. ‘Life’s taught me that there are rainbows around every corner.’
‘How...kitsch.’ He saluted her and she remained where she was as he strode out of the kitchen.
And out of her life for good.
* * *
From Spain to France.
When you thought about it, it was a hop and a skip and it made perfect sense. He had had no input in Sophie’s company for over three months. He had delegated responsibility to his trusted CEO and withdrawn from the scene.
He’d done his bit. He’d taken over, done what taking apart had needed doing and had put back together what had needed putting back together. The company was actually beginning to pull itself out of the quagmire of debt it had been languishing in for the past decade, and it was doing so in record time.
It was a success story.
He’d moved on and was focused on another takeover, this time a chain of failing hotels in Asia.
He was adding to his portfolio and, furthermore, branching out into new terrain, which was invigorating. By definition, branching out into anything new on the business front was going to be invigorating!
He had also just had a good holiday with his parents and had persuaded them to let him buy them a little place on the beach in the south of France, where they could go whenever they wanted to relax. He had pulled the trump card of promising that he would join them at least three times a year there and he had meant it.
Somehow, he had learnt the value of relaxation.
So what if he hadn’t been able to relax in the company of any woman since he had walked out of Sophie’s life?
He’d been bloody busy, what with his latest takeover and various company expansions across Europe.
But he was in Spain.
France seemed ridiculously close...
And he really ought to check, first hand, on the progress being made in the Parisian arm of a company which, all told, he part-owned...
And, if he was going to go to Paris, it made sense to drop in and see what Sophie was up to.
He knew that she had been working there for the past six weeks. It was his duty, after all, to keep tabs on the company. Everything was easily accessible on the computer, from the salary she was pulling in to where she lived and the apartment she was renting near Montmartre.
He was surprised that she hadn’t headed off to more fulfilling horizons, leaving the running of the company to the experts, as her brother had.
His decision was made in moments. Already heading away from the first-class desk, he walked briskly back, ignoring the simpering blushes of the young girl who had just seen him.
A ticket to Paris. Next flight. First class.
* * *
Sophie let herself into her apartment, slamming the door against the fierce cold outside.
She was dressed in several layers but, even so, the biting wind still managed to find all sorts of gaps in those layers, working their way past them and finding the soft warmth of her skin.
Her face tingled as she yanked off the woolly hat, the scarf and the gloves, walking through her studio apartment and luxuriating in the warmth.
She had been incredibly lucky to have found the apartment that she had. It was small but cosy, comfortable and conveniently located.
And Paris was, as she had expected, as beautiful as she remembered it from the last time she had been there nearly ten years ago.
She had wanted to leave her comfort zone behind and she had! She had climbed out of her box and was now
