Breaking Josephine (34 page)

“So this is a
Ferrari, right?”

“Yes, a Ferrari
FF. Why?”

“Just curious, I’m
not much into cars, but I’m guessing this isn’t something you can just walk
into a dealership and buy is it?”

“Not this
configuration, no. It was custom built to my specifications.”

My eyes widened as
I looked at Dex and looked back at the car. “And how much did this cost,
exactly?”

Dex smiled as he
looked over at me. “$394,000.”

I bit my lip and
looked out the window to hide my shock. If my eyes had been more open to Dex
and the richness of his life in the previous weeks, the BusinessWeek article
probably wouldn’t have been as much of a surprise, but I was thankful that it
was all the same. I watched the rolling hills pass with increasing speed, and
concluded that we were definitely not headed somewhere local for dinner. “Where
are we going exactly? I don’t know of any restaurants this way,” I said.

“Well, we’ll
eventually end up where you can order food, but it’s going to take a while to
get there.” Dex turned to me and smiled. “I wanted to show you a side of me
you’ve never seen. I hope you don’t mind.”

I smiled,
wondering what exactly that meant. I looked out the window and thought about
the magazine article. Then I realized where we were headed. “This is the way to
the private airport just out of town,” I said, looking over at Dex, my eyes
wide. “That’s the only thing out here. Is that where we’re going?”

Dex laughed and
leaned towards me, squeezing my thigh. “Like I said, it might take us a while
to get to our destination. But it’ll be worth it, I promise.”

I opened my mouth
to question him more, but closed it, deciding if Dex wanted to surprise me,
then I’d try and relax and let him. I trusted him and besides, I thought to
myself, I needed to learn to let go of my need to control everything all the
time. Sometimes letting someone else take the lead wasn’t a bad thing.

About ten minutes
later, we pulled up to the private airport, Dex punched in a code on the
security gate, and the gate swung open. We drove inside and drove up to a
small, waiting jet. Dex turned off the ignition and a man opened my door.

“Ms. Sinclair?
Here, let me help you,” he said, offering me his hand.

I turned and
looked at Dex but he just waved me on and got out of the car. I let the man
help me out and walk me up to the stairs of the waiting plane.

“We’re taking a
plane?” I asked, bit shocked as I turned back to Dex. “How did you manage to arrange
all of this in an hour?”

“Well,” he
replied, “I own the plane, and Malcolm here is my pilot so he’s on standby
whenever I need to go somewhere. So go on in and get comfortable, I’ll be up
shortly.”

I clamped my mouth
shut to keep from gawking at Dex and Malcolm and climbed the stairs. Half of the
cabin was outfitted in rich burled walnut, cream-colored leather swivel chairs,
and a full bar. The other half had what appeared to be a comfy pullout bed. I
sat down in a chair and waited for Dex. He climbed aboard a few minutes later
and before I knew it we had taken off and were making our way to destinations
unknown, at least unknown to me.

After what turned
out to be an all-night flight, I woke up in the pullout bed the next morning, in
pajamas Dex had brought for me, with sunlight streaming in the cabin windows.

“Good morning,”
Dex said, handing me a cup of coffee as I sat up. I rubbed my eyes and realized
we had landed. “Where are we?” I asked. “It felt like we flew for hours.”

“We did,” he said,
smiling. “Eight, to be exact, if you don’t count our stop to refuel. As soon as
you’re ready we can get out, our car is waiting.”

“Our car?” I
asked.

Dex laughed. “Yes,
our car. It’s only about half an hour to our destination. Here, I brought you a
bag if you want to change.”

I looked at the
new overnight bag Dex handed me, and opened it, seeing it full of clothes I’d
never seen and all of my toiletries and makeup from home. Judging by the amount
of clothes in the bag, we weren’t going back to Cannon Beach anytime soon. I
walked into the bathroom and rifled through the bag, pulling out a lovely aqua
sundress. I washed my face, ran my fingers through my hair and slipped the
dress on. I put on eyeliner and mascara and took a deep breath. Wherever we
were, and whatever we were about to do, I’d relax and enjoy it, I told myself.

I opened the door
to the bathroom and took Dex’s waiting hand. He led me off the plane and to a
waiting car. We both climbed in the backseat and the driver headed out of the
airport onto a small road skirting the edge of the ocean. I realized
immediately we must have flown across the country and out to the Caribbean. The
beaches were pristine white sand, the bright blue ocean sparkled like Dex’s
eyes all around us, and colors and sounds of the tropics greeted us as we
drove. We pulled up to an exquisite, small hotel, it’s giant iron gates opening
for our car. The gleaming white walls of the hotel, with it’s large wrap-around
balconies, melted almost seamlessly into the white sand beach. A man carrying a
tray of cocktails opened our car door, and offered me his hand.

“Ms. Sinclair? Welcome
to the Turks and Caicos, would you care for a morning cocktail?” I looked at him
as I stood up next to the car, looked at the fruity concoctions on his tray,
and burst out laughing.

“Sure, why not,” I
said, taking a drink and smiling. I turned to see Dex getting out of the car.

“Mr. Hartley,
always a pleasure sir. Your villa is waiting. May I unload the bags?” the man
asked.

“Of course, thank
you,” Dex said, turning to look at me.

“The Turks and
Caicos? You flew me to the Turks and Caicos for a date?” I said, still
laughing.

“Yes,” he said
smiling, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. “I thought you needed
a vacation. It is the Fourth of July. What do you think?”

“I think it’s
lovely,” I said, looking all around me. “This hotel is beautiful. Have you been
here before? They seem to know you.”

Dex laughed
softly. “Well, they should, I do own it after all. Come, let’s go. I’ll give
you a tour.”

I closed my eyes
and took a deep breath, recognizing I was walking into Dex’s other world, the
part of his life I’d never seen. I smiled thinking that here he was, showing me
off, and letting me in, letting me in to this other part of his life, and
letting me discover more about him, and more about us at the same time.

After giving me a
tour of the hotel, we walked to one of the private villas on the edge of the
beach. Dex unlocked the door and let us in. I appreciated the minute we entered
that this wasn’t a hotel room available to rent, this was Dex’s home in the
Caribbean. Although more relaxed than Hartley Manor, the style was still Dex,
still masculine, minimal, and powerful, just like him. We walked out onto a
veranda and a table set with steaming coffee, fresh pineapple, and croissants
greeted us. We sat down and had breakfast, listening to the waves of an ocean
half a world away from Cannon Beach break on the shore.

After eating, I looked
up at Dex and asked, “So why are you letting me into this part of your life
now? Why take me halfway around the world to show me one of your hotels?”

Dex set his coffee
cup down and looked at me. “I didn’t take you here to show you my world and
flaunt my wealth, if that’s what you’re implying. I took you here to show you
your world, Josephine, to show you what you have access to now that you’re a
Blackstone. You can do anything you want, go anywhere, explore any part of the
world. You could decide to move to Switzerland and run a ski lodge, or open up
a restaurant chain back in the States, or you could come to the Caribbean and
run a boutique hotel. Or even buy Sam out of the Red Barn and run it yourself.”
He paused smiling to himself.

“What’s so funny?”
I asked.

“I was thinking of
Sam, when I told him you were actually William and Colin’s half sister and
inheriting a third of the Blackstone estate,” Dex said, his eyes shining.

“You told him
what?,” I asked, my eyes wide, “When?”

“When you were
sleeping in the hospital. He joked that maybe if you bought him out of the
restaurant you might be able to get Macy to show up to work on time, being her
boss and all,” Dex said, laughing.

I smiled. “Now I
understand why Sam wasn’t concerned about me showing back up at work. Well,
when we get back, I’ll have to thank him,” I said, looking out at the ocean,
smiling.

Dex took my hand
and I turned back to look at him. “Look Josephine, you have the means to do
anything you’d like. I want you to. I want you to explore the world and figure
out who you are—who you really are—without the trappings of your
past, your mother, your father, or anything getting in the way. You need to
figure out what you want, not what anyone else wants for you, or what you think
you should do. That’s what I was hoping you’d understand by coming out here.”

I reached out,
taking Dex’s hand. I looked at him, looked at the man who I’d known for less
than two months but who had completely changed my life. The man I couldn’t
think of ever being without again.

“Thank you,” I
said. “Thank you for knowing that I needed to get away from Cannon Beach, away
from Oregon and everything I knew. You’re right, I need a break to get some
perspective and to figure out what I want to do next.” I paused, smiling at
Dex. “But I do know whatever I do, I want you to be a part of it. I want us to
be together. I love you.”

Dex smiled, squeezing
my hand. “I love you too,” he said. “And I was hoping you’d say something like
that. How about we go relax and enjoy the ocean?”

“That sounds
wonderful,” I said, standing up. I went into the villa, found my new overnight
bag and found a new, gorgeous white bikini. I put it on and ran out the door
and out onto the beach, not waiting for Dex to catch up. I looked up and down
the beach, at the pure white sand, at the beautiful blue water stretching for
miles into the distance, and laughed. I felt freer than I ever had in my entire
life. I waded into the water and felt the warmth of the Caribbean ocean, the water
covering my feet with their salty embrace.

As I walked
further out and felt the waves break into my body, I thought about how I
finally knew the truth about my life, knew where I came from and why I grew up
a stranger to my own identity. I understood in that moment how much stronger
than my mother I’d become as an adult. As I stood there in the ocean, I let the
rest of my anger at her go and let the waves wash it away from me. I thought
how thankful I was for finding Dex and how thankful I was that we had the
courage to push past all the lies and deception and trust our remarkable feelings
for each other. I felt satisfied and at peace, knowing I’d handled everything I
uncovered in Cannon Beach with a strength I didn’t know I possessed, satisfied
that I weathered it all like the waves crashing into me as I waded through the
ocean, waves crashing into but never breaking me, never breaking Josephine.

Recently admitting
her passion for contemporary romance extended past reading till 2:00 am on a
Tuesday night, Marie traded in her day job as a lawyer for writing fiction
full-time. While her clients miss her, she couldn’t be happier.

When she’s not
writing she’s spending time with her three daughters and her husband in
Atlanta, Georgia.

Find out what
she’s reading and what she’s writing next at goodreads.com and mariestewart.net.