Kes and Amanda opened a bottle of bubbly and drank it between bouts of hungry lovemaking. An hour later they collapsed next to each other, a little sticky and a little tipsy.

Amanda propped herself up on her elbow and traced the taut ridge between Kes’s neck and shoulder. “I love this part on a man.”

“Do you?”

“Absolutely. But I’m hard to please. This muscle here”—she ran her fingers along the ridge again from shoulder to neck—“has to meet very strict criteria of thickness and length. And it must slant at a certain angle.”

The corners of his mouth twitched. “Just the left one or the right one, too?”

“Both. In a symmetric way.”

“What happens if one or both fall short of your specifications?”

“Bad things.”

“Such as?”

“Failure to activate the region in my brain that controls lust.”

“I see.” He gave her a smug smile. “Well, it brings me pride and joy that my symmetric shoulders are activating your lust region.”

“They aren’t activating it.” Amanda slid her hand down to his biceps. “They’re setting it on fire.”

His smile grew bigger. Then, suddenly, something snapped in his eyes, chasing hilarity from them and replacing it with a deeper, more solemn emotion. An emotion Amanda couldn’t quite decipher.

“What about me?” she asked, trying to regain her comfort zone. “Which part of me do you like best?”

“Every part. I like every part of you, Amanda.” His eyes burned into hers. “I like every single thing about you. Very much.”

Her stomach began to knot. This conversation was taking a turn she hadn’t anticipated. Or was prepared for.

“It’s the novelty.” She forced a smile. “It’ll wear off. If you stayed in Paris through September, I’d start getting on your nerves.”

“I doubt it.” He laid his palm on her cheek and began to stroke it gently. “I haven’t felt this way about anyone before.”

Oh God.

She peered at him. “How can you make such claims?”

“Because I know my heart. And I’ve dated enough women to recognize that anything I may have felt in the past is a fraction of what I feel now.”

“Kes, please—” she began.

“I’m in love with you.”

She shut her mouth and just stared at him. When she could no longer bear the intensity of his gaze, she focused on a spot on the wall.

He framed her face with both hands, urging her to look at him again. “Ma belle, I need you to say something back.”

She held his gaze. “You won’t like it.”

“Say it anyway.”

“OK.” She hesitated. “Do you want the short answer or the long one?”

“The long one.” He gave her a faint smile. “I think I already know what the short one is.”

“Nothing has fundamentally changed since we met in Deauville. All the reasons why I didn’t want us to date at the time are still valid.” She spread her arms in a vague apology. “I am who I am, and you are who you are. Besides, I don’t do the whole love thing anymore. I suck at it, and it’s pointless to persist in doing what you’re bad at.”

A sadness she found unbearable filled his black eyes.

“Let me add a footnote.” She took his hand and kissed it. “You are a fascinating person. You’re intelligent, funny, and humble for someone with your looks.”

He rolled his eyes as if to say, oh please.

“I mean every word. You’re freaking gorgeous, Kes. Just looking at you turns me on, even in public. It’s embarrassing, actually.” She paused and then added. “And you’re hands-down the best lover I’ve ever had.”

A slow, satisfied smile spread across his face.

He gathered her to him and planted a kiss on her forehead. “I can work with that.”