by Holly Rayner
They ate close to the water, as each wave drew the ocean just ever so slightly further away. The food was delicious, but Matteo found he wasn’t tempted to crow over it and get her to express how impressed she was, as he only just now realized he’d done with women in the past.
Similarly, the night was clear and beautiful, but it didn’t matter. None of the trappings of wealth were important right now. All that mattered was her, and the way she was looking at him.
Dinner conversation was filled with a million trivialities that added up to everything. All the little details of his trip and all the little details of her life that had gone on without him only provided camouflage for expressing the things they really wanted to say.
He didn’t tell her he loved her—he would tell her that later. He would find some special day, all on its own, where it wouldn’t be wrapped up in their reconciliation and all that had come before it.
But even without saying it, he had a feeling that Josie understood.
After dinner, they took a walk along the water. It was all private beaches here, and none of the residents of the other houses within eyesight seemed inclined to enjoy the evening. They had the wind and the waves and the growing stillness of the night all to themselves. Matteo luxuriated in the feeling of Josie’s hand in his. He loved the feeling of it, just as he loved the feeling of the sand and the small waves that caught their feet.
This was exactly the night he wasn’t supposed to want anymore. He was supposed to want exhilarating nights full of clubs and parties and appearances at all the right places. He was supposed to want exactly what the TV show had offered him—groups of gorgeous women fighting over him.
He was glad he didn’t believe in all that anymore. He was glad he was finally able to admit to himself that he never had. All he wanted was this: Josie, the ocean, and the starry sky above.
By the time they got back to the mansion, night had fallen. The waiters had gone, taking their tent and catered picnic with them. Josie and Matteo were alone.
He didn’t want her to leave—he started walking with her hand in his toward the living room, thinking of the time they had watched a movie and how sweet it had felt to hold her in his arms. But Josie had different ideas.
“You want to head back out to the balcony?” he asked, as he felt her tugging him toward the master suite.
Her sly smile held no secret. “I don’t think we’re going to make it to the balcony.”
Chapter 21
Josie
Six Months Later
What a difference half a year made! Josie sat, drinking her morning coffee as she did every morning, staring out at the ocean from the balcony. Life was sweet with Matteo in it, for hundreds of reasons big and small. But the biggest reason of all, above all the conveniences and luxuries, was the man himself.
She had held out for a long time before officially moving in together. She was advised by nearly every person she knew that it wasn’t a good idea to rush into things, and her mother had been especially adamant. In fact, the only people who seemed to approve of the idea of Josie moving in with Matteo as soon as she wanted to were the ones who assumed she was in it for his money, and the sooner she was able to lock that down the better.
So she had kept her apartment for longer than she had wanted to, even though after only a few months she was barely ever there. She had only been officially living with Matteo here, in their seaside retreat, for about a month. But it had felt like home for much longer than that.
She would probably have moved anyway, even if it hadn’t seemed so easy and natural for her to move here. The changes in her career had left her with more than a little disposable income, and moving closer to the beach would always have been in the cards. It was maybe the strangest part of growing closer and closer to Matteo that she found her professional success mattered less and less.
Not that it hadn’t been a bonus. The prestige was fun to play with and use as she liked. But the sense of having to accomplish something, needing to do anything possible to be successful was gone. And with the pressure gone, accomplishing what she had set out to do seemed easier in every way.
Some days, she still wondered if Matteo had helped her. But he swore up and down that he had nothing to do with it, and she believed him. At no point in time in the last six months had a single thing he had said not turned out to be completely honest and accurate. And while it might still be early in their relationship, looking at the long run, Josie couldn’t help but indulge her own hope that this was how it would always be.
Her phone dinged, and she navigated over to the app that had drawn her attention. Her brow furrowed, and her mouth hovered somewhere in between a smile and a frown, unable to make up its mind.
“Matteo? Have you seen this?”
Half shaved and wrapped in a towel, Matteo came out to the balcony. “I’ve seen nothing but you this morning, just the way I like it. Why? What is it?”
Josie pointed at the screen, letting him read the headline for himself.
“‘Hotshot producer cooling his heels,’” he read aloud. “Who wrote that?”
“I don’t know, but look,” Josie said. She pointed at the picture, and realization spread across Matteo’s face. He laughed.
“So Lewis got what was coming to him. What for?”
Josie’s eyes were already beginning to scan the article. She paused to look up at her boyfriend and the razor in his hands.
“Go finish,” she said. “I’ll come with you.”
He did, and she followed him into the master bathroom, reading the article on the tablet as she went.
“He’s been arrested!” she said with surprise. “There’s a little confusion over the charges, but it looks like attempted blackmail is the biggest one.”
“Oh? Of who?”
Now it was Josie’s turn to laugh.
“A couple of the other girls on the show say that he was blackmailing them with their interviews. I’d heard that he hadn’t been doing well since they weren’t able to get anyone to replace you, but I didn’t think he would stoop that low.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Matteo grumbled.
Josie shot him a look through the mirror before turning back to look at the tablet. “Anyway, I don’t know if it’s going to hold up in court. At least, this article isn’t sure. But it looks like there are a bunch more—”
“Oh, are your Tweetogram followers sending it to you?”
Another laugh, another pointed look to the mirror. “You know it’s not called that. You created a social network, you should probably know the big social media platforms, shouldn’t you?”
Matteo concentrated on shaving. “I know they’re not mine. Anyway, which was the one that you have 12 million followers on? Or is it 13 million? I know the 12 to 13 million hump is hard to crack.”
“Oh, are you mocking me Mr. Big Shot? It’s 12 million. And if I take a picture of you like this, I bet I’d get over that 13 million hump real quick.”
Matteo struck a pose, still only three quarters shaved and still dressed only in a towel. “Go ahead. Let the world see the real me.”
She held up her phone, snapped a picture, and his playful posing expression turned to shock.
“Wait, you’re really posting that?”
Josie shook her head. “No, that one’s just for me.”
His smile returned, and his razor fell to the countertop. He turned, rushing to her, picking her up and planting a kiss on her lips.
“Stop!” she squealed. “You’re getting shaving cream on me!”
Josie didn’t mind, though. She never would.
Chapter 22
Matteo
Matteo was amazed and delighted at the change that had come over Josie in such a short time. It had been less than half a year, and already she had come alive. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been before—she had always been alive to him—only now the woman that he had first glimpsed all those months ago was visible to the whole world.
She
was glowing as she got ready for the day. And it wasn’t because of what they had just done—though that certainly helped. She was a vibrant, beautiful woman.
And she was his.
Not that she didn’t also belong to the world, in a certain way. Josie’s career had exploded, and Matteo knew why. She was more genuine in her photos now—more real. Even putting on a façade she had practically jumped off the page before, but now that her words and actions reflected more of the honest truth through every part of her life, her career had skyrocketed. Quite deservedly so.
And with that had come a certain amount of fan adulation. Matteo could admit that he had been a little bit anxious at first. Josie, though, had figured out how to enjoy the attention without feeling like it had to change her in some way. And he was proud to say that he had followed her lead.
His girlfriend had reveled in being her true self—and that included her public persona. Her posts and pictures were witty and cutting. “Irreverence” was the word used most often. It was the bane of her publicist at first, but luckily the woman soon figured out it was good for business. For every handwringing hypocrite that criticized her, there were a thousand more new fans ready to take their place. And Josie’s reputation grew and grew.
“Are you going to lay there all day, or are you going to get ready, too?” Josie’s voice brought him back to the moment.
She’d caught him staring. That happened from time to time, and he didn’t avert his gaze. He wouldn’t apologize for looking at the most beautiful woman he had ever met.
“Oh, I think I’ll just lay here. I’m sure the charity will run itself.”
She arched a perfect, delicate eyebrow. “Oh? Are you working on that today?”
He hadn’t been planning on it, but as he said the words, he knew it was true. He nodded as she found her way over to the bed to lay back down next to him. “Seems like a good way to spend the day.”
She kissed him, with a smile on her face. The charity hadn’t been her idea, but she had been almost as enthusiastic as Matteo when he had decided to launch it. Something to do now that the reservations app had been launched, but before he began work on his next big tech venture.
“I’m sure the seagulls will appreciate it,” Josie said between kisses.
“Mmm,” he replied. “And the dolphins.”
Another kiss.
“And the tortoises.”
And another.
“And the sharks.”
They would have gone on like that, thinking of creature after creature that their newest endeavor would benefit, but they were interrupted by a knock on the bedroom door.
“Sir?” The voice was unmistakable, and even if it weren’t, the eagerness in his tone would have been.
“Don’t you have better things to do? I swear I gave you better things to do.”
“You did, sir. But there is this great opportunity, and you weren’t answering your phone…”
Matteo gave Josie another quick kiss before he responded. “Back patio in ten.”
When he got to the back patio, Josie by his side, Matteo found George to be every bit as excited as he had anticipated. The man just never stopped working. One of these days he’d have to find a woman to convince him that there are better things in life.
“Okay, so I know the last show didn’t really pan out, but I still think there is a great potential in TV for you. And there’s a producer—a different producer than last time—who has come to me with an idea. It would focus on your lives, and your love, and your charity work… All the things that people love about you.”
Matteo turned to Josie. “Oh? Is that what they love about us? Not my striking jawline?”
“Not my acerbic wit?” she replied.
They were smiling, and they’d broken George’s stride. But he picked it back up.
“I’m sure they love all those things too. You know they do. But the producers are all on board with you getting control of the final cut, showing the world exactly what of your lives you want them to see. They would see as much or as little as you wanted, and the only stories that would make it to the screen would be what you wanted them to be.”
Matteo smiled and looked at Josie.
“What do you think?” she asked him playfully.
“I think I’ve already gotten everything out of reality TV I could possibly want.”
Josie leaned in and kissed him.
“So, that’s a no?” George asked, his voice brimming with disappointment.
“Yes George, that’s a no. The rest of the world sees exactly as much of this side of us as we want them to see—nothing at all.”
Epilogue
Josie
Two years went by in a flash. They were by far the fastest two years of Josie’s life, but they were also the happiest. Two years of success—greater success than she had ever dreamed. But more than that, two years of love. Two years of Matteo, and their life together. Two years of quiet mornings, and loving nights. Two years of dining out, and dining in, and saying everything, and comfortably saying nothing. Two years of sailing, and charity balls, and discussing their work and projects, their dreams and hopes.
How many of her hopes had come to be arranged around Matteo? How many of his hopes had come to be arranged around her? She didn’t know—she only knew that it felt natural for it to be that way.
They spent most of their time in Miami, in the house that he had bought. It had turned out to be a wonderful purchase. While Josie knew that most people in Matteo’s league of wealth often like to switch from house to house, she was gratified that he seemed so settled and at home here.
The beach was a big part of it. They liked to go out in the morning and dip their toes in the water. Their neighbors must have been either absent or late risers, since they always had the beach to themselves.
The feel of Matteo’s hand in hers and the feel of the salt water on her cheeks were inseparable now. In so many ways, Matteo reminded her of the ocean. She could always feel him, somewhere out there. He was steady, and deep, and true. He was full of life and always pulling her toward him.
So it was only right that the charity they launched together had done so much for the oceans. Constructing innovative new prototypes of machines to help clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch was one that Matteo particularly like to tell his techie friends about. There were more endeavors the charity funded that were less flashy but still extremely important: research into biodiversity, saving aquatic species from invasive species, large-scale oil spill cleanups, lobbying for stricter environmental protections. They funded labs to better understand rarely seen species and learn how to fight the diseases that threatened them.
There was also the fun stuff that Josie lent her face for—big events for raising awareness and children’s days at the aquarium. Events that her publicist had loved and Josie had enjoyed more even than she thought she would.
Not that she had much time. In between making as much time as possible with Matteo—while he himself had to arrange his busy schedule as he flitted from one project to the next—Josie found herself doing less modeling than she had originally envisioned when she moved to Miami. But that didn’t bother her.
She liked the balance in her new life and kept modeling as a part that she enjoyed and continued. She took the jobs she liked, and only the jobs she liked. She brought visibility to designers whose work she believed in while ignoring the big corporate clients with their piles of money and greedy expressions. From time to time she lent her reputation to get rising stars who deserved the spotlight more attention. She enjoyed that almost as much as she enjoyed being a part of their vision, and a part of their art.
But despite all of that, the last few months she had felt restless. She didn’t know why—everything in her life was so perfect. She had tried to express it to Matteo from time to time, and he had listened attentively. But when it came to describing exactly how she felt, she found she couldn’t pinpoint the crux of it.
It bother
ed her, this little concern in the back of her mind. There was a tiny part of her that feared that it was going to grow if she couldn’t figure out how to stop it. And it would pull her whole life down as it did. But if she didn’t know what was wrong, how could she fix it?
So she tried not to fixate on it. She tried to just continue doing all of the things she loved, and enjoying the man she loved, and mostly it worked out all right. It was working out all right now, as she sat with her tablet on the balcony off the master bedroom, the sea breeze gently tossing her hair, scrolling slowly through the portfolio of a designer she was considering posing for.
And then the phone rang.
Josie smiled, as she always did when Matteo’s ring tone spilled out of her phone.
“Hello, love,” she answered. “Are you in San Jose yet?”
“I’m not going to San Jose.”
Josie felt her brow furrow slightly. “Did I get that wrong?”
“Nope,” he said. “You didn’t. Don’t ask me where I am, I can’t tell you.”
“What?”
She could hear the suppressed excitement in his voice as he answered, attempting a mock serious tone.
“Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
Suppressing a smile, she tried to match his tone. “Anything. What’s the mission?”
“I need you to go to the closet and pack a bag. Enough clothes for three weeks.”
“Three weeks? Three weeks in the tropics, or three weeks in Alaska?”
“Three weeks!” was his only reply.
Josie started to giggle and stopped herself. “Three weeks in the tropics and Alaska. Got it. Then what?”
“Then go downstairs.”
Click.
