Three days too soon, the coach returns.
We packed our bags the night before and, at my insistence, stacked them by the door. Elmir refused to let me help the footman load up. So getting them ready to go was the least I could do.
As the footman begins loading the bags I wander back out through the kitchen, already like the ghost of another forgotten queen—one of many to float through this world, enjoy its pleasures, and then be swept away. I grab my elbows, looking out over the pool, remembering Elmir floating in it the afternoon prior. The sun glistening off his perfect, wet, and deliciously n***d body. So delicious looking that I had to take a bite…
“Are you all right?” he asks softly. I didn’t even hear him join me outside this time.
“I wish I didn’t have to leave,” I admit.
His han
