Killian shouldn't have been surprised to find Emma sitting at his usual table outside of the café the following morning at ten-to-six, but he was.
"Do you ever sleep?"
"That's what the copious amounts of coffee are for," she explained, holding up a cup that was steaming away.
Killian snorted out a laugh as he dropped down into the seat opposite hers. "How long have you been here?" he asked, lowering his gaze to take in her appearance.
Emma had pulled her hair back into a neat braid that fell over her left shoulder and crowned it with a pair of dark sunglasses. Her ears were once again glittering away, this time, with what looked like the same diamond stud in each of her piercings. She had ditched her usual t-shirt again that morning and was wearing a white shawl over what appeared to be a low-cut, blue camisole decorated with pink flowers. Emma also looked wide awake and ready for her day, not like she'd crawled out of bed only moments ago and had struggled to sleep all night because she couldn't decide what to wear for their trip, unlike him.
"Not long," she told him honestly, "I just clean up really well."
"Yes, you do," he threw back at her. The words had escaped his mouth before he'd even had time to think them over.
"Wow, someone woke up with a shot of confidence this morning," Emma drawled. She paused to sip her coffee before she added, "I like it."
"Thanks," Killian mumbled to the tabletop, as Carlos hurried over to them with a set of menus and a cool glass of orange juice. "So, uh… what's your recommendation for breakfast today?" Killian asked, hoping to distract her from his faux pas. "Anything special I should try?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm going for something light this morning," Emma said, setting down her half-empty cup to offer the menu her full attention. "If we're spending the whole day in Nice, then I don't wanna fill up on breakfast. They have some amazing food places around the city to keep us going."
"How about the poached eggs?" Killian suggested.
"Do you even eat eggs?" she teased gently.
"Of course! Who doesn't eat eggs?"
"Who doesn't drink coffee?" she challenged, and Killian snorted out a small laugh at the look on her beautiful face.
"Touché."
After placing their orders with Carlos, the pair sat in silence for a moment, just allowing the early morning sun to warm their faces as they took in the breathtaking views that surrounded them.
"I finished working on my project last night," Emma suddenly declared, startling Killian out of his silent musings. "I finally finished working on this piece I'd been stuck with for weeks, and I think it's because of this place. This village! It's just – it's so inspiring: don't you think? It makes you feel like if this tiny little village can last for this long - thrive for this long - under these conditions - then we can definitely finish working on whatever it is we've been struggling with because we were never really struggling to begin with. Not really. We just kept finding excuses to put it off – work, school, life, fear – anything and everything to stop us from reaching that milestone because we were worried about what would come next. But the truth – the truth is now that it's over, I'm not scared about what comes next. At least, not the way I thought I would be. I'm excited to see where my life takes me next because if this tiny little village can cling to this mountain for so long, supporting so many people, then it makes you wonder just what you could be capable of too if you stopped putting things off and actually committed yourself to your responsibilities."
Killian watched as Emma lifted her head just a fraction to meet his eyes and then shook it ruefully. "Sorry, I have no idea where that came from," she explained, and if he wasn't mistaken, she looked a little bashful as she turned her eyes down to her coffee cup.
"Don't be," he assured her. "That was… beautiful - and incredibly inspiring. And now I might be slightly ashamed of just how little of my goals I've achieved during this vacation."
"I'm sure you'll get another chance to be more productive soon," she told him, and Killian nodded his head in agreement because somehow, he had a feeling that she would end up being right.
Carlos appeared just moments later carrying almost identical plates of poached eggs and toast for them, although Emma's plate had a small bowl of fruit balanced precariously on the side. Their server set each one down carefully and asked if they needed anything else before he hurried back into the café.
Killian busied himself with spinning his plate around to his preferred position, but his attention was quickly stolen away from his food by Emma's next question.
"You don't like your eggs runny?" she asked, watching him carefully from her side of the table.
"God, no!" Killian shuddered a little at the thought. "They're all slimy and yucky when they're undercooked. How can anyone eat their eggs like that?"
"How can you eat eggs like that?" Emma demanded, as she poked one of his with her knife and watched it intently. "What are you gonna do, mash it up to spread on your toast?"
"No. Of course not. I'm just gonna eat it the normal way. Why? How else does anyone eat eggs?" Killian challenged, because he was pretty sure most people ate them the same way he did – by slicing off a piece of egg and toast and eating it together.
"Like this," Emma explained.
She cut into one of her own poached eggs, allowing the yolk to flow freely across her toast and down onto her plate. After slicing off a small chunk of the bread, she twirled it neatly through the yellow mess, then popped it into her mouth. The borderline-pornographic moan she followed it with was absolutely obscene, and Killian was certain that it wasn't the food that was suddenly making his mouth water.
"Want some?" she asked, clearly catching the hungry look he was sure would be filling his eyes when she'd finished swallowing down her bite.
"Uh… no… no, I'm good," he said, shaking his head a little in an attempt to clear it before he focused his attention fully on the plate in front of him.
Emma seemed to sense the sudden change in his mood as she allowed a comfortable silence to settle between the two of them while they made a good dent in each of their meals.
"So, uh… where do you think we should go first?" Killian eventually asked, as he pushed his empty plate away from his chest.
Emma took a moment just to finish her own meal, making a show out of drawing the last of the bread through the last of the yolk spilled over her plate. She chewed it slowly with a look of absolute pleasure on her face before she finally answered him.
"Old Town, definitely. It's usually quieter than the promenade and much prettier, in my opinion. I loved walking through the streets there. The buildings were just so bright and colorful. They even have an open-air market with plenty of places to eat and drink – Oh, and the best Italian ice cream in the world."
"Italian ice cream?" Killian asked, looking a little skeptical. "In France? Isn't that a little odd?"
"Oh my God!" Emma gasped dramatically, "Do you mean to tell me that the movies have lied to me all this time, and I can't get Chinese food outside of China?"
The smile that wormed its way onto her face was nothing short of smug as Killian shook his head in resignation.
"Good point, very well made, Miss Emma."
"Thank you," she threw back at him, nodding her head in a small bow.
"Then we shall head to Old Town first and get some Italian ice cream while we're there."
"Sounds like the perfect day to me," Emma sighed, pushing back her chair and finally standing from her seat.
As she did, Killian's jaw dropped a little when he got his first good look at what she was wearing. The thing he'd assumed was a blue camisole was actually a long, flowing summer dress with a slit that rose to the middle of her thighs and a hemline that seemed to be much longer in the back than it was in the front. She'd added a pair of white strappy sandals, and suddenly, Killian was feeling painfully under-dressed in his jeans, polo shirt, and white sneakers.
"Wow, Emma, you uh… you look amazing. Did you do all of this for me?" he asked suddenly, hoping that he might finally get an answer to the date question that had been plaguing him for days!
But Emma simply laughed off his compliment and shook her head a little.
"Don't flatter yourself, Killian. I'm just trying to get as much wear out of these summer dresses as I can before I have to return to the cold and wet terrain of England."
"Well, if you ever need an excuse to wear it again, it gets quite warm in New York City in the summer," he told her, as he tossed a few Euros down onto the table and then used his empty glass to secure them in place.
"Is that your way of telling me you're gonna miss me?" Emma teased, from somewhere just behind him.
Killian turned round to face her, and it took his brain a moment to catch up with the conversation. He was a little thrown by just how small and delicate she looked while wearing such an obviously feminine dress. Even though she was still the same person, there was something about seeing Emma in a summer dress that made her look vastly different from the strong, confident woman who had worn denim shorts when she'd thrown her book at him.
"Uh… yeah, I guess," he finally said, inclining his head towards the street. "I mean, without you around, who else is gonna nag me about my odd eating habits?"
"'Nag?' Seriously? With all the words you could have opted for at that moment, you thought 'nag' was the appropriate one to use?"
"What's wrong with nag?"
"Nothing," she chuckled, before adding under her breath, "If you were born in the seventies."
"I… I was – But it was the late seventies," he threw back at her, because it felt important she know that.
Emma's giggles of delight filled the air around them as they made their way through the small village and down towards the parking lot on the outskirts of the settlement.
Killian spotted the car he'd rented almost immediately. With such short notice, the company he'd used only had a few options available for him to choose between. Knowing that he'd be paying extra for the lateness of his request anyway, he'd splashed out on something a little nicer than he'd usually have chosen.
"Fancy," Emma told him, as her eyes settled on the convertible parked in the middle of the space.
"How do you know that's ours?"
"Because it's empty, and the other car has two men sitting inside of it looking way overdressed for a day trip up here."
Killian squinted a little into the distance to try and see what Emma could see inside the second parked car.
"You might need to invest in some glasses soon, Grandpa," she teased.
"Are you gonna call me that all day?" he asked, as one of the doors opened and a man dressed in a pair of dark slacks, a short-sleeved button-down, and a hastily tied tie stepped from it.
"Maybe," she threw back at him, shrugging her shoulders as she did.
Killian didn't have time to think up a comeback. He was thankfully distracted by the man that was rapidly approaching them, looking a little nervous.
"Mr. Jones?" the man asked, his French accent curling around the two words to give them a kind of life Killian had never experienced from his fellow New Yorkers before.
"That's me," he confirmed, pulling his wallet out of his pocket to show the man his ID.
The rental agent scanned the license briefly before he held out a set of keys. "We emailed all of the documents to you, as requested, and we expect to pick the car up from this spot at the same time tomorrow morning. If it's not here, then you agree to pay another day's rental, and that will automatically be deducted from your card. There are no refunds."
"I understand," Killian promised him. "We'll bring her back on time and in excellent condition for you."
The man nodded his head firmly and then dropped the keys into Killian's palm before heading back to the car where his friend was waiting for him. The agents had already driven away by the time Killian had caught up to Emma, who was busy examining their rental for the day.
"I figured we should at least make the trip in style," he explained, pressing the button on the key fob to unlock the car.
"I'm glad I decided to tie my hair back this morning," Emma mumbled, pulling open the door on the passenger's side to slip down into the leather of the seat.
Killian closed it softly behind her and then hurried around to the driver's side. The moment he had the key in the ignition and the engine purring away in front of them, Emma reached out to fiddle with the radio, searching for some kind of music to accompany their drive.
Killian's eyes flicked down to the stick shift between them but ended up straying over to the bare skin of Emma's thighs, which were exposed by the way her dress had fallen open.
"Whenever you're finished staring, Mr. Jones. At this rate, we'll miss all the good lunch menus."
"I wasn't staring!" he protested, his eyes flying up to meet her own.
"Yeah, you were," she chuckled, but thankfully, she didn't seem offended, so Killian took a couple of deep breaths in and out, slid the car into reverse, then eased it out of the parking space and onto the open road.
Thanks for reading and reviewing.
(Emma's dress is an affordable steal from SHEIN, for anyone who wants to know, and you can find pictures of it on my Tumblr account if you're interested.)