The Pairing (The Proposition, #3)

The next morning, Fabrizio and Theo’s fellow tourists congratulate her for spending the night with Florian. In Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Theo and Kit laugh like old times as they admire the village’s beautiful sights, food, and citizenry. They sneak down to a private cove and share a meal of cheese and cherries. Theo recalls how her love and curiosity toward food began with the French recipes Kit’s mother cooked. As her and Kit’s palates expanded, they dreamed of opening a bistro named Fairflower. She also recalls how Kit came out as bisexual to her when he was 14 and how she did the same four years later. She suggests that they take off their outer clothes and swim in the ocean together. Kit is surprised because he’s normally the spontaneous one, but he agrees. Theo sees a quotation from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion tattooed on Kit’s shoulder: “surpasses all jewels” (105).

Theo and Kit meet a beautiful fishmonger named Paloma, and she invites them to join a group of her friends for a picnic dinner on the beach. Theo feels more at home in Saint-Jean-de-Luz than she has anywhere besides her valley in California, but this easy sense of peace vanishes when she sees Kit kissing Paloma.