Broken French: A widowed, billionaire, single dad romance

by Natasha Boyd

  I nodded.

  “Will you swim with me, papa? Please?” Dauphine came around me and gave her dad a quick squeeze and kisses on both cheeks.

  “Bien sûr,” he murmured. Of course.

  My charge then gave her grandfather a kiss on each cheek, and we made our way into the low slung white-washed clay building. It was dark inside with a large empty room and a cold fireplace. I took a huge inhale, thankful to be free of the tension at the table. There were single unisex restrooms off a small hallway and one was free. I made sure it didn’t have a hinky lock and then told Dauphine I’d wait for her.

  As soon as she’d closed the door behind her, another restroom door opened and Alfredo Morosto stepped out.

  I smiled politely.

  “Ahh, bella. I was hoping I would get a chance to talk with you.”

  “I’m just waiting for Dauphine.”

  “Of course, of course you are. You are even more beautiful up close.”

  I cleared my throat as I backed to the wall and folded my arms across my chest. “Thank you. They’re waiting for you at the table.”

  “Let them wait.” He stepped a tad closer and a hand reached out and I flinched, but he merely picked up a piece of my hair that had fallen from my bun and studied it. “Fascinating color,” he said as he immediately dropped it. “Real?”

  My heart thudded, and I smoothed my hair and tucked the piece behind my ear as he lifted his hand in an innocent gesture. Hurry up, Dauphine, I willed her.

  “So how long have you known Xavier? He’s a smart one, that. Passing you off as the nanny.”

  “I am the nanny.”

  “Of course, of course. But a man like him, so much judgment. I bet people are wondering. I’m wondering. Listen, uh, here’s my number. I always like to chat. I love to know what work the young Pascale is up to in business these days. I’m a fan, you know.”

  I frowned. “Are you asking me to spy on him?”

  “No, no, just … for us to be friends. Good friends. Friends who might do … favors for each other. Chat. There’s a lot in it for you. Information you might have access to. Think about it. Rumor has it he’s working on something big. Something I might be able to help with.”

  I scoffed and glanced at the door to the bathroom. “Why don’t you call him then.” My God. How long did a pee pee from a tiny bladder take?

  “You know,” he stepped a tad closer, and I had to resist a shudder, “I have an opening for a nanny at my home.” His fingers hovered over my shoulder, skimming my swimsuit halter string. “Just in case you were looking for something more … interesting. My kids are grown of course. But I’m generous. We don’t have to call it nanny. We can call it whatever you like.”

  I looked him right in the eyes and held his stare in a defiant challenge and utter disgust. I mean, seriously, what the fuck was happening right now? All I knew was I shouldn’t show fear. That suddenly became imperative. I thought I might wait for Dauphine in the main room by the fireplace and not this small private hallway.

  I moved.

  His hand darted out, stopping me by my shoulder. “You weren’t going to say goodbye?”

  I fixed him with a blank stare. “I didn’t realize there was anything good about it.”

  Surprise flashed in his eyes, and his face transformed from congenial to mean in milliseconds. “Quite a little icy bitch, aren’t you?” he hissed. “Do you warm up for the little nerd out there?”

  The bathroom door unlocked, and he dropped his hand, his face and demeanor melting into a harmless smile.

  Dauphine stepped out, pressing immediately to my side. Kids picked up on way more than adults ever did. And this guy was a threat. And not just to me. Protectiveness surged through me. For Dauphine. For her father.

  Putting my arm around Dauphine’s shoulder, I pulled her with me as I pushed past him.

  He stopped me again, this time slapping a card to my chest. The shock of his hand there caused me to stop, and I fumbled and grabbed it.

  “My number. I’ll be waiting for your call.” He winked and strode away, beating us to the door

  “Ugh,” I said.

  “I don’t like him,” said Dauphine.

  “Me neither.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Dauphine spent almost an hour swimming and making sandcastles before she jumped up and ran to her father strolling barefoot along the small waves lapping at the water’s edge. I’d texted the number he gave me, telling him to turn left and walk about fifty yards. He wore his dark sunglasses and held his shoes with one hand. He kissed his daughter’s head then stepped closer and looked down at our creation.

  I shaded my eyes to look up at him.

  The edges of his mouth tipped up into a smile.

  “You don’t look like you’re leaving soon,” he said.

  I followed his gaze to where I was buried to my waist. Dauphine had begun by making me an armchair dug into the sand. Then it had become a “mermaid throne.” And now I had a whole mer-village with mounds and walls built around me and over my legs. I had a stinky piece of seaweed draped across my head. My crown.

  “It appears so.” I raised my eyebrows. I didn’t add that I also had sand in unmentionable places.

  Xavier’s lips seemed to struggle before he let them go into a full-blown grin, revealing his gorgeous straight teeth and a devil’s dimple. I couldn’t help smiling back. I knew I looked utterly ridiculous.

  “She is the mermaid goddess,” Dauphine said with a happy sigh, drawing our attention. “She rules over this whole kingdom.”

  “Does she now?” he humored his daughter. He looked back at me. “You should have rented some beach chairs and an umbrella to get out of the sun,” he said, then frowned. “I apologize. I didn’t think of that. Also that my meeting ran long.” He pulled his wallet out and flagged down a beach attendant who was jogging past with an ice bucket. “Where’s your stuff?”

  I pointed over my shoulder behind us and he went to pick my beach bag up.

  “It’s fine—”

  “Dauphine.” He spoke over my head. “Swim with me and let the mermaid goddess rest in the shade?”

  She dropped the handful of wet sand and went shrieking into the water.

  “Hey,” I called. “A little help here?” I struggled to get loose in the sand, and when it was clear Dauphine hadn’t heard or simply ignored my plea, her father was suddenly crouching next to me and digging the sand from around my legs. God. He was far too close. His hand brushed sand and then skin as he dug me out. He froze for a moment, then took a breath and continued.

  I quickly took over and brushed enough off that I could finally wiggle free.

  He stood and gave me his hand. And in moments Dauphine’s kingdom was destroyed as I was pulled upright.

  “Here.” He dropped my hand and went around and brushed sand from my back before abruptly stopping and stepping back, thinking better of it.

  “Thank you,” I said and hurried past him into the water. “I need to wash off.”

  As soon as we had a place to sit, he gave me his wallet to put in the beach bag and draped his linen shirt over the chair next to me. I traded his wallet for a towel I handed him for the second chair. He laid it out and then perched on the edge and applied the sunscreen I handed him to his face and shoulders.

  From behind my sunglasses I feasted on watching him. His hair was unruly where he’d obviously dragged a hand through several times over. Maybe when he’d run out of coasters. Somehow, I’d never taken him for a nervous person. It didn’t jive with his business reputation. And I found seeing the vulnerable side of him did strange things in my belly. I sighed softly.

  It didn’t escape me that the three of us on the beach looked a lot like a family. And how much I liked it. Really, really, liked it.

  “Thank you for lunch,” I managed in a strangled voice to fill the silence. I looked around, desperate to look at anything rather than at him, and noticed the beach had emptied out somewhat. Dauphine tried
to do a handstand in the water and tumbled sideways.

  He cleared his throat, and I braced myself for him to ask me to put sunscreen on his back. My hands itched. I might die or accidentally moan out loud if I got to run my hands over that body. He didn’t ask, just tossed the cream back in the bag.

  “You’re welcome. I hope it wasn’t too tedious.”

  I lifted a shoulder. There were so many things I wanted to ask him. Like why he seemed so strained around his father. And about that Morosto character. “Tedious? No. Tense? Perhaps. Forgive me saying, but you … weren’t yourself.”

  He tilted his head slightly.

  “I’m sorry. Perhaps I was wrong,” I backpedaled. “I don’t know you. I don’t know how you normally act—”

  “No, you’re right.” He let out a sigh and looked toward Dauphine who was now trying and failing to do cartwheels in the shallow waves. “I don’t see much of my father. And he wants me to invest in something. And of course, he chose the most high profile place to meet.”

  “Yeah. It’s a nice beach club. Seems like it’s been there a while.”

  “Since the fifties. Before that the only exciting thing to happen were the allies landing right here.

  “Wow, really? We only hear about the beaches at Normandy, but I guess they came from all sides.”

  He grinned. “There wasn’t much here. A local family built some small bungalows. Then they added a community table in the sand and invited passersby to join them. Brigitte Bardot … you know her?”

  I nodded. The sexy French actress of many a black and white movie.

  “She was filming here. The movie Et Dieu …Créa La Femme. And God Created Woman.” He chuckled huskily. “My grandfather used to tell me the story. The whole crew ate here every day. And after that, in 1955, the family got a business license and it’s been Le Club Cinquante-Cinq and full of,” he gestured with his hand, “the rich and famous ever since.”

  “Including you.”

  He shrugged with a smile tugging his lips.

  “So, it’s the oldest of all these places I see up and down this stretch?”

  He chuckled. “Oh no. The Tahiti is the oldest by just a few years. And at the Tahiti, like many beaches in Europe … clothing is optional.”

  Heat crawled up my neck.

  He smirked, and if I wasn’t mistaken his angled face was currently looking at my body. Really looking.

  I felt the gaze, even though I couldn’t see his eyes. Or did I? Was this the worst kind of wishful thinking? I cleared my throat. “Cool story. Well, lunch was great.”

  “The food was. It always is. Our company though …” he shook his head and looked toward his daughter.

  “You don’t trust that Morosto guy?” I took a chance, though I was pretty sure I was right. I also wanted to make sure he also got the same bad vibes as I had. Especially if he had to do business with the guy.

  Xavier turned back to me. Then took his sunglasses off, his blue eyes landing on me with startling intensity.

  It was like suddenly being under an alien refractor beam. I didn’t know whether he was going to beam me up or fry me on the spot. Breathe, Josie.

  “I didn’t know he was coming. It’s bad for my business image to be seen talking with him. He’s … he doesn’t have the best reputation. I saw you exit the building right after him, you looked disturbed,” he said in a low voice. “Did he say something to you inside?”

  I hesitated, wondering whether to tell him, or if it would cause more drama. Drama he obviously wanted to avoid. Who wouldn’t? “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

  Xavier’s jaw tightened. “What did he say?”

  “It doesn’t matter. It was stupid. I almost laughed at him.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “No. I could handle it. I got the impression he wanted me to tell him things about you, yet I know nothing. But for what it’s worth I hope you don’t have to do business with him.” I lifted my chin. “In fact … please don’t.”

  Xavier regarded me steadily. “I don’t intend to.”

  My chest warmed. “What about your father?”

  “What about him?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, my answer lame because I didn’t want to verbalize my true theories.

  He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, you do. You could tell when I was tense at lunch. I can tell that you have far too many opinions floating around in that head of yours.”

  “Too many opinions?” I responded archly. “What? For a woman?”

  He let out a short and amused growl that had the effect of flipping my stomach upside down. God, imagine that sound in a different context.

  “You know what I mean,” he said.

  “Fine. You want my opinion? I think the only way your father knows how to have a relationship with you, now that you are an adult, is through business. Apart from that, I don’t think you have anything in common. Maybe not even then.” I bit my teeth together hard. Shut up, Josie. “Like most parents, they can make you feel twelve years old again, no matter how much better and stronger of a person you’ve become.”

  Xavier’s eyes narrowed, and he puffed a short breath of surprise through his nose. After a moment, he spoke. “All he wants is a way to make more money, no matter how unethical. He wants people to think he has my ear. Which is why he chose this very public place. He thinks I’m an easy mark.”

  “Are you?” I asked, my voice soft.

  He stood and tossed his sunglasses on the chair. “Not even close,” he said and turned to walk down to the water.

  “Wait,” I burst out.

  He turned, his eyes narrowed.

  I sat up.

  “Yes?”

  “Did you need sunscreen on your back?” I asked. Ohhhh, I did not just ask that. I did not. Fuck.

  His head cocked to the side, his eyes giving away nothing.

  “Never mind.” I waved him away. Go, I willed him. Just pretend that never happened.

  He narrowed his eyes, like he knew every thought in my brain, and turned away, and my entire body almost collapsed in relief as I watched him walk to the water. His muscled back tapered into those turquoise swim shorts that made his bronze skin glow even darker. I closed my eyes, even though they were hidden behind my sunglasses, in a massive dose of willpower as if that would help inoculate me against being attracted to him or something.

  For another half hour, father and daughter played in the waves while I watched from the shaded comfort of the beach chair. I couldn’t believe how I’d just spoken to him about his father. But to be fair he’d asked for my thoughts. If he didn’t like them, that was on him. Still, my insides were all sorts of messed up. Every time we actually had a conversation, the line between boss and employee blurred, and he was always cutting it off before it went further. It was as if he forgot sometimes. Which made me think despite Evan being his friend and being surrounded by people, Xavier Pascale was … lonely. Perhaps it was by his own design. I wasn’t a psychologist, but I had a feeling that deep down where he refused to acknowledge, he was yearning for a connection. I wondered what his late wife had done to him to cause him to bury his heart so deep.

  Dauphine suddenly came running up toward me. “Come. I need you to play Jeu de Loup. It’s not fun with just me and Papa.”

  “I don’t know the game.”

  “One person is the, um … le loup …” She twisted her lips sideways as her brow furrowed.

  “The wolf?” I offered, the word popping up from the depths of my brain.

  “Yes! One person is the wolf and the others must try to get away. And when the wolf bites them, they must become the wolf.” She clapped and shivered as she explained.

  “Come here,” I said and dried off her face and shoulders and reapplied some sunscreen.

  “Good. You will play?”

  I glanced out to the water. Her father was swimming freestyle in large powerful strokes parallel to the beach as he waited for her to come back.

  “Please. Papa s
aid yes. And he said I can be the wolf first.”

  But what happened when her dad became the wolf? I shivered. “It sounds like the game of tag, but with biting.” An image of Xavier catching me and biting me flew into my brain, and I kicked it out so fast I had to shake my head. I didn’t need an X-rated film reel in my head while there were children present, thank you very much. Things were already bad enough.

  “You don’t bite, silly.” She looked sympathetically at the alarm that must have crossed my face. “You just take, like so.” She grabbed my wrist. “Say yes. Please. It’s not scary, I promise.”

  That was debatable. I chuckled. “I don’t know how anyone says no to you. I honestly don’t.”

  “Me neither.” She shrugged like it was the most confounding thing.

  My chuckle turned into a full laugh. “All right. Here, put some more sunscreen on me.”

  After a rudimentary swipe, Dauphine took my hand and dragged me to the water.

  “Now, it’s perfect,” Dauphine said, her eyes bright. “He is swimming and he does not know I am coming to catch him. I will make him the wolf!” She slowly made her way forward, hoping to intersect him. I saw the moment his head turned sideways for a breath, and his eyes found me and then immediately darted to Dauphine. She must have seen him spot her because she let out an excited squeal and went rushing forward. There was a flurry of splashes and then a triumphant Dauphine squealed again and yelled something that probably meant, I got you. And then she was swimming madly toward me.

  “Oh, no, you don’t,” I said as she tried to use me as a human shield, the form of her father fast approaching under the water like a shark. But she grabbed me like an octopus and then thrust me forward with her feet.

  “Ow!” I half yelled and laughed, adrenaline spiking as I tried to swerve out of the way of the oncoming predator, but she practically pushed me on top of him. I screeched as a hand shot forward and grabbed my waist, our bodies sliding together.