by Ju Ephraime
To say Daphne was taken aback was putting it mildly. She was not prepared for this. She knew she loved being with Wolfe and she had strong feelings for him, but marriage? She hadn’t thought so far ahead, and the incident at the dinner party had shaken her up, enough to make her realize she really didn’t know very much about Wolfe, his people, their customs, and everything that came along with him. She wanted to take a step back.
She was being bombarded with so many emotions all at once that she didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. Do we know each other well enough to make such an important decision? She didn’t want to turn him down in a cold, impersonal manner, but she couldn’t find the words that could convey her feelings to him without sounding cold. She took the stick lying next to his proposal, and wrote, I have to think about it.
She realized this was a bit too succinct when he just stood there looking at her as if she was a stranger.
“Wolfe, I do appreciate that you’d even consider me for your wife, but I’m only here on vacation. I have a business partnership back in the U.S. that requires my attention. One of my business partners is threatening to buy me out. I can’t make such an important decision lightly. My whole future is at stake here, and my business is everything I’ve worked my whole life for.”
“I know,” he responded. “Could you not manage your business from here? After all, you said you worked with the other islands; why not Martinique?”
“It’s not as simple as that. This will have to be discussed with my other partners. And I can’t do this now, not from here. I have to return home, as planned.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I came here to try to get over a failed relationship. I’m not certain I’m ready for marriage. Don’t misunderstand me; I’ve never felt about anyone the way I feel about you, not even when I thought I was so in love with my ex. I need to take the time to look at my situation more objectively.”
“Could you not be objective from here?” he asked again.
“No. I need to return home before I could think about living here. It’s imperative that I return home in order to secure my position in the company. I’m the only female in the partnership, and the industry is very male-dominated. I could be forced into a buyout.”
“I understand,” he said. He was not going to browbeat her into accepting his proposal. “I know you need time to think this through; it would be a big move and an upheaval for you. I will not pressure you in any way, but I want you to know my offer stands should you decide to accept it. Now, the ball is in your court. In the meantime, we will slow down and take the time to enjoy each other’s company. How is that?”
“Perfect!” I’m such a fool, Daphne berated herself. I love Wolfe to distraction, but I’m scared. I know so little about him. I made a mistake with Michael. I can’t afford to do it again. Like I told him, I need to examine this at home.
Their happy-go-lucky mood had undergone a drastic change. Wolfe withdrew into his thoughts, and Daphne didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The spontaneity, the openness that had been there between them from the beginning, had been replaced with caution, which was foreign to both of them. She realized her rejection—it really was a rejection, no matter how she tried to phrase it—had hurt Wolfe. He was a private man who seldom verbalized his thoughts, and to do all this talking and have his offer turned down must be hard.
Daphne felt she hadn’t had a choice. She couldn’t make such an important decision without careful thought, away from the magic of Wolfe’s body. She hoped he understood and would not let this ruin what was left of their time together.
Wolfe could tell Daphne was agitated by the way she was clenching and unclenching her hands.
He had planned on taking her to Grand-Rivière, but he was going to put it off for today; he was still reeling from her rejection of his proposal.
“Come here,” he said, extending his arms as they stood awkwardly next to each other.
She moved toward him, and as his arms closed around her, she felt whole again. She tilted her face to offer him her mouth, and he took it in a soul-wrenching kiss.
“Aren’t we going on a trip anymore?”
“No, I don’t feel up to it now. Let’s just spend the time here.”
They spent the entire morning on the beach, just talking. They talked about their work, their dreams and aspirations. They didn’t make love but just held each other, as if preparing for the separation they both knew was inevitable.
Wolfe left for work, and Daphne remained behind to try to collect her thoughts. It was very difficult to concentrate on any one thing, but she forced herself to remain on the beach for the rest of the day, and then she made her way back to the hotel in the late afternoon.
Her mood was very somber, but she tried to put a positive spin on things by telling herself this was what she wanted. Who am I kidding? I miss the old Wolfe. This more serious Wolfe was not to her liking at all. She was in such low spirits the bus driver questioned her.
“Are you not feeling well, miss?”
“I’m all right. Just a bug. It will soon go away.”
She promised to try and shake the gloom that seemed to be weighing her down. But her mood lifted, as if by magic, when she arrived at her hotel and received a message at the front desk from Wolfe asking how she felt about dinner and a play in the city.
She felt wonderful. That was how she felt. She called him on his cell to tell him so, but it went into voice mail, so she left a message.
Daphne went up to her room to relax until it was time to prepare for her date with Wolfe. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she somehow knew their relationship had entered another phase. She didn’t know whether it was good or bad, only time would tell. She was willing to give it a chance. Her days on the island were numbered, anyway. And, to make the most of her time, she was determined to keep negative thoughts away. She hoped Wolfe would do the same so they could get back to the way it used to be.
Wolfe was on time for their date. He greeted her warmly enough, but it was not the same. They had a good time at dinner, and as usual, the food was delicious. The main course consisted of matoutou, a local dish of rice and crab. Daphne tried a dish of fried ripe plantains sprinkled with sugar and served with ice cream and coffee. They kept the conversation light, trying to relax and be at ease with each other. Daphne soon realized it was not possible. They were trying to turn back the clock and feeling their way around each other, like strangers.
Wolfe had Daphne telling him about her work in the U.S., and she took pleasure in telling him of her role in the business and gave him a brief rundown on her three partners. Her company arranged shipping to and from the U.S. between all the islands of the Caribbean Basin Initiative. They also had some domestic customers. They handled document preparation, routing and sometimes financing, everything to do with making sure the cargo arrived on schedule. Each partner worked in the area of his expertise, and hers was marketing.
He appeared to be interested in what she did and said that he understood her need and desire to continue her business.
He was curious to know who was managing her responsibilities while she was away, and she told him she had a very hardworking assistant, Gayle, who was her right hand.
“Could Gayle manage the business long-term without your being present?” he asked.
“I don’t doubt it,” Daphne said. “She’s been doing a pretty good job of things so far. I asked not to be disturbed unless it was an emergency, and so far, no calls. So I’m assuming things are progressing smoothly.” She sipped her wine. “What about you? Could you leave your work under the control of someone else? Foxx, maybe? I’d love it if you could visit with me in the U.S.”
“I do have an assistant, but I have not left the restaurants since Foxx and I took over from our dad. I doubt Foxx could manage both restaurants; managing one is a full-time job. Foxx and I have been able to pull it off because we share the responsibilities. Our strengths complement each other’s.”
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Wolfe called for the check, signaling the end of their evening.
F ifteen
As they left the restaurant to stroll along the street, Wolfe couldn’t help comparing his situation to Foxx and Therèse’s.
“My situation mirrors Foxx’s,” he said aloud.
“How so?” she asked.
“Foxx had a difficult time a couple of years ago with a woman he was in love with at the time, Therèse. Therèse decided she was more in love with her bookstore in England than she was with Foxx, and she ran off on him and left him with a broken heart. I didn’t think he would recover; for a while there, it was touch and go. I was expecting him to tell me any day he was going to England to be with her, but thank God, he didn’t. I wouldn’t have been able to make a go of the restaurants without him. Foxx is excellent at juggling numbers and organizing things. I am better at the hands-on stuff, like planning the menu and preparing the food.”
“That must have been tough on you.”
“You have no idea.”
Daphne thought she did. She was beginning to understand the dilemma he was in. He was about to go down the same path as his brother. Then a thought occurred to her. “Is Therèse a tall brunette?”
“Why, yes,” he answered. “Why do you ask?”
“I think she’s back on the island, and I think Foxx and I ran into her yesterday.”
“You are kidding me!”
“I kid you not!” Daphne said. “Foxx and I went into a café, and he spent the entire time talking to a gorgeous woman at the next table. Come to think of it, when he first saw her, Foxx had looked like he’d seen a ghost. He played dumb when I asked him about her, but soon after, he ended our outing and took me back to my hotel. He was silent the entire time on the drive back. It was freaky; Foxx is never silent. You know how he loves to talk and make silly jokes, but I couldn’t get one word out of him.”
“I had no idea,” Wolfe said. “Foxx didn’t say anything to me. I’d thought he had spent the entire day with you. I hope the Therèse trouble is not going to start all over again.” He seemed to shake himself. “So, what did you do the rest of the afternoon?”
Daphne smiled and sighed. “Read a book, thought about you, ate supper, thought about you, went to bed, thought about you.”
He grinned at her. “Poor darling, come here,” he said, pulling her into the entrance of a closed shop.
She went to him willingly, and he slanted his mouth over hers and gave her a kiss, like the ones she’d been missing for the past two days. She loved kissing Wolfe; he had the most kissable lips, and he knew how to use them. She became heated as she kissed him back with all the pent-up passion in her body.
Wolfe could feel her excitement by the way her breathing changed. She had evidently missed their time together. Was it possible that she needed him as much as he needed her? One of us must be sensible, though. He ended the kiss with some brief kisses to the corner of her mouth, leaning his chin against her head as he struggled to maintain his composure.
They arrived at the theater just as the second curtain call sounded. The play was a comedy that kept them both laughing, which lightened their moods significantly.
Wolfe found he had a difficult time keeping his hands off Daphne. His arm was around her, and he kept reaching out to touch her knee, her arm, or her cheek. He was happy to see her enjoying herself. It had seemed as though his proposal might have stolen the fun out of her.
He wanted to see her laughing and enjoying herself, so he was going to tame the beast and stop thinking about burying himself inside her.
It had been two days, and he was like a man starved. Their kiss on the street had not helped; it only served to put him more on edge. Now he was as stiff as a board. It was a miracle his cock didn’t rip a hole in his pants. The need to copulate was riding him like a monster, raging and clawing at his groin, but he had to fight it if he was to keep his promise to himself and give Daphne the space she needed.
Wolfe acknowledged Daphne’s skepticism about his offer of marriage. The sexually explosive nature of their first meeting did not lend itself to love. So, he had his work cut out for him, trying to convince her they could have a relationship based on love and trust. This type of reaction between two people did not happen every day, but he had to allow Daphne time to figure that out for herself. He didn’t know how he would get through the short time she had left without them going at it, but he would give it his best effort.
They left the play and made their way back to her hotel. Instead of dropping her off, as had been his custom, he drove to an overlook. They sat in silence at first, admiring the beauty of the moon on the dark ocean. Then he asked her about her home in America. She hadn’t said anything about her home, only her business.
“Which state do you live in?”
“I live in Connecticut, in a town called Eastport in a small ranch home I bought when I turned twenty-one with the proceeds from a trust fund my maternal grandmother had set up for me. I have no siblings, and as you already know, my parents are deceased. My dad was a doctor and my mother, a college professor. I love reading and traveling, especially to Europe. I’m a terrible swimmer, but I love the beach. The sound of the waves against the shore is very relaxing to me. "
What Wolfe really wanted to know was whether or not she had someone waiting for her back home, besides the ex-boyfriend, but he didn’t know how to bring up the subject without appearing jealous.
Suddenly, Daphne turned to him. “What were you doing about sex before you met me? And don’t tell me you were a saint because I won’t buy it. You have too healthy a sexual appetite to have been alone.”
“Believe it or not, I have not been in a steady relationship for two years and counting. The restaurants seem to occupy all my time. And when the business with Foxx and Therèse happened, I needed to be there for him.” He shrugged. “When Foxx hurts, I hurt.”
“I know you two are very close. As a matter of fact, your entire family seems very close-knit.”
Wolfe blinked. “We are a close-knit family. I’ve never examined it before; I just took it for granted that we are always supportive of each other.”
He shifted in the seat. “What are your plans for tomorrow? Would you like to spend a couple days exploring the rain forest or going to Grand-Rivière, as we were supposed to? We can pack a hiking bag for you. You did say you have sturdy walking shoes, right? You will need them to navigate the trails.”
“I do have a pair of walking boots. They’re fine for trail hiking.”
“Okay, we have a date tomorrow. We’ll leave early, so be up at the crack of dawn. I’ll be waiting for you in the lobby about 5:00. Pack a change of clothes because we’ll be spending the night.”
The next morning, they set off on their trip to the rain forest along the Route de la Trace, carved out of the mountainside by Jesuit monks. The place was practically untouched by civilization and offered a privileged few the opportunity to see unspoiled nature at its best. They stopped off and wandered round the Balata Gardens, where over a hundred species of tropical plants were displayed in their natural setting.
Daphne was exhausted by late afternoon. She was thankful she didn’t have to make the long drive back. Wolfe had made reservations for them at a B&B, which was twenty minutes from the trail. After a tasty dinner, they retired to separate rooms, sticking to the unspoken plan of spending time getting to know each other without sexual encounters.
The occasional kisses they exchanged made it very difficult for Daphne, who wanted to continue as things used to be. But the decision to keep sex out of their interactions was Wolfe’s, and she wanted to stick to it, even if it was practically killing her. She wanted him, no, needed him. Now that she’d had a taste of it, she wanted it more and more. But more than anything, she missed the spontaneity of their coming together. Now, every move was calculated and strained, but this was the way Wolfe wanted it, and she conceded to him. She’d found that, if she took her mind off the sex, their time t
ogether was wonderful. She enjoyed getting to see more of the island and Wolfe at the same time. He was an excellent host, considerate, protective, and very proud of his homeland.
The following morning, they swam—or rather, Wolfe swam, and Daphne paddled—at a public beach where the sand was black and the water nice and shallow. They left the beach mid-afternoon and stopped at some of the local sight-seeing spots. Soon, it was time to return to the city.
The drive back was very relaxing, full of laughter and teasing. This was a side of Wolfe she didn’t see much. In no time they were pulling into the hotel parking lot. Wolfe gave her his signature kiss, promising to return in time to take her to dinner at his other restaurant on the south side.
Wolfe drove away from Daphne, feeling torn. This platonic arrangement was not sitting well with him, but he was determined to see it through. Keeping away from her body hurt like the devil. He was in a lusty fog every time he was around her. When he’d made the decision to keep their relationship platonic, he hadn’t been prepared for the assault on his senses. This had never happened to him before, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. He was in a perpetual state of arousal, and being with Daphne only made the situation worse. He didn’t know how long he could keep this up, but he intended to give it his best effort.
He arrived at his home to find Foxx waiting for him. “What’s the matter?” Wolfe asked, dropping his gear in the mudroom.
“I have a problem.”
“What sort of problem? Don’t tell me it’s about a female because I’ll have no sympathy for you. Tell me it’s something else, the restaurant, anything other than a woman.”
“Not a woman. Why would you think that? It’s the restaurant. You have been neglecting it, chasing after Daphne, and it’s beginning to show. Last evening we had to make do with the same menu as the previous day. The customers didn’t notice, but if this keeps happening, they will, and we may lose our best patrons. They are used to having something different every night, and they come to see what we’ll surprise them with. I cannot keep covering for you; it’s taking a toll on me and the staff.”