Plus One

Chapter Seventeen

"Hey, beautiful," Troy said, sitting down on the end of the dock.

She'd snuck out of the villa, hoping for some time alone, but she never minded Troy. He was like an extension of herself.

"Hey. Isn't this gorgeous?" she said, dangling her feet in the water.

They had a view of the multicolored villas stacked side by side off the coast. Thomas's yacht was anchored in the distance. It was nearly sunset and the tangerine light bathed everything in sight. She'd already gotten tons of beautiful photographs. It seemed like you could point your camera and close your eyes anywhere in Portofino and get a great picture.

"It is. This place is pure magic," Troy said.

"When you're in love, any place can be pure magic," she said with a smile. She bumped her shoulder against his. "You and Thomas...getting pretty serious, huh?"

Troy blushed, then nodded. "He told me he loves me."

Sophie gasped and threw her arms around him. "Oh, honey, I'm so happy for you. He's wonderful."

He caught the tears spilling from her eyes as she looked away.

"Soph."

She cleared her throat. "Yeah?"

"I want you to stay away from Ian. Do what you have to do to break things off with him."

"I...I can't."

There was still a part of her that was holding out hope, hoping that Ian would come to his senses.

Choose me, she wanted to say to him.

Troy shook his head. "He's hurting you. You're much too thin, you have dark circles under your eyes..."

"That's hardly his fault."

"Don't defend him."

"I'm not. I just..." She sighed. "I love him."

It was the first time she'd said the words out loud and as soon as she said them she wished she could take them back. It was as though she'd revealed her greatest shame, brought it out into the light.

"Then tell him," Troy said.

She shook her head. "If he can be...how he's being with Elise...then he doesn't love me. I feel humiliated enough."

"He's a bastard."

She nodded. "I know."

"What about Eric?"

She smiled, gently splashing her feet. "He's a lovely man."

"But..."

"There's no but. He's great."

"So...are you going to maybe see him after this is all done?"

"He wants me to. I...told him that'd be nice."

Troy frowned. "You don't seem terribly excited by the idea."

"Honestly? I don't want anything to do with love and men...any of it. I just need to be alone. As soon as I'm done working for Ian, I think I might just go off somewhere by myself for a good long while."

"What about me?"

She smiled at him. "You have Thomas. And I can't even tell you how thrilled I am about the two of you. As soon as I met him I knew you two would be crazy about each other."

"What happened? You and Ian seemed so happy that night we all went out together."

"Ian's under a lot of pressure to find a wife. And I'm not someone he wants to marry, so—"