But this was all meant to be fake. Nothing more...
But something else is driving me and my emotions, and I can’t place it. I am feeling things I’ve never felt before. I never wanted this, but now that I have it... I don’t want to let it go. I don’t want to let Josie go...
What am I thinking?
Do I trust my gut or my heart?
I don’t know anymore. And that doesn’t happen to a Penmayne. And certainly not me.
Damn it, Victor.
This girl has got me. It’s undeniable, even to me.
Fuck.
I swim over to the shore and pull myself out of the water. I can’t keep going while my thoughts are plagued like this. I feel heavy. Demotivated. I just want to be alone with my thoughts.
The water drips around me as I start to make my way back inside the villa with my towel wrapped around my waist.
And I can sense Josie watching me from the villa. She’s watching every step I make. She’s somewhere up there in some window or something – I just know it.
I can feel her eyes on me.
It’s like a sixth sense.
I can sense that girl like no one else.
I want to see her again.
I want to kiss her again.
I want to make love to her.
Fuck, how long can we stay under the same roof without all this falling apart?
52
JOSIE
Well, it appears like Victor and I are the only people out here on the lake. It’s actually probably the truth – I’ve not seen anyone else during my entire stay here at the villa except for one or two hikers far in the distance as I sunbathed yesterday.
“There really is no one out here, isn’t there?” I ask Victor as we drift out into the middle of the lake on the boat. He’s currently captaining it. Yeah, of course he is in charge - the proud man wouldn’t dare let me control it.
“No, there isn’t,” he says without even a look around.
“You knew about that, didn’t you?” I ask him.
Victor smiles at my question. He absolutely knew there would be no one else around tonight.
“It’s a special place out here,” he says seriously. “So very private. I spend my days getting mobbed outside coffee shops, so I always relish the chance to go out in nature and just be me.”
“Yeah, I love it here,” I whisper. “I never want to leave. I don’t want to go back to reality.”
“I like it better when you’re here with me,” he adds.
I look up at him. He practically sparkles in the slowly descending nighttime. The dying sun is behind him, illuminating his outline with a golden glow. As always, he’s so damn tall and mesmerizing and just so annoyingly... charming.
“I like it too,” I manage to squeak out. “I like being with you.”