An Opportunity Seized

by Donna Gallagher

  “Seriously, the Ibis? That’s where I’m staying. But you must have had other plans for the day. I don’t want you to miss out on anything because of me. If we are both staying at the same hotel, I could meet you any time.”

  Jason couldn’t miss the touch of pink that colored Antoinette’s face as she made her offer. She was just so gorgeous. So shy and unassuming, nothing like the prima donna he’d been expecting when first lumped with this assignment.

  “It would be my utmost pleasure to share a ride back to the hotel with you. To be honest, I’d really love the chance to chat with a compatriot, I’ve been missing the Aussie accent and feeling a bit homesick. You’d be doing me a favor. But there is one thing I need from you right now…”

  The look of apprehension was plain as day on Antoinette’s face, and Jason felt a little guilty as he watched her take a few steps away from him. Finally she looked up and faced him, those brown eyes of hers as big as saucers.

  “And what would that be?” she asked him, her voice soft and sounding a little unsure.

  Jason smiled broadly before he continued, “Your name, luv. You never told me what it was—I figure I deserve to know the name of the woman who takes the shirt off my back.”

  The sound of Antoinette’s giggle was one of the most beautiful things Jason had ever heard. It wasn’t loud and embarrassing or high-pitched—the type of noise that grates on your nerves—it was sexy, and her eyes took on a shine he hadn’t noticed before. They sparkled back.

  “Toni. My name is Toni, and I’m pleased to meet you, Jason.”

  Chapter Two

  Toni didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Maybe Jason was right when he’d said being the recipient of a bird’s dropping was actually lucky because she was not in the habit of receiving attention from men that were so drop-dead gorgeous. Yes, she’d had invitations from men before, but they were the ones who knew about her family’s wealth. Toni had never been under the misconception that any interest directed her way from members of the opposite sex—or the same sex for that matter—were more about what she had to offer than how she looked or her personality. But Jason didn’t know her and yet he seemed to be interested in her. Yes, she was feeling lucky—it was a terrible shame she smelled like a septic tank.

  And what were the chances they were both staying in the same hotel? Yes, Aussies tended to stay in and around Earls Court—she didn’t know why or when that had begun but it was fact. There were, of course, hundreds of hotels in this area, so it had to be a wonderful act of kismet, not just coincidence, that Jason was staying at the Ibis as well. Toni was not going to knock back this display of luck that had been sent her way.

  “Okay, we share the cab fare back. I go up and wash away this poo… I know it’s in my hair and thank you for not mentioning it,” she said and smiled, before continuing. “Then after I’m all shiny clean and smelling like a human again, I buy you lunch in the restaurant.”

  She was acting bold, forward even, but the excitement of what she was suggesting had Toni feeling empowered. She had just invited this sexy man—one she didn’t know from Adam—out to lunch and she had done this while covered in goose poo! Who knew I had it in me? Full of nervous anticipation, she waited for Jason to reply.

  “That sounds like a plan. I’ve been looking forward to riding in a famous London black cab and I can’t think of a better excuse to mark that off my to-do list. Let’s go,” her sexy hero replied.

  Relief washed over her as Jason agreed to her idea. She might have felt empowered by her boldness but she was still Toni, and opportunities like this didn’t happen to her. So, when Jason held his hand out to her again, she didn’t know what to do. This whole thing was starting to feel like some perfect dream come true. Handsome knight saves in-distress princess from disaster. What the heck! I might as well make the most of it. My good luck must have a time limit. That’s how it always goes in fairy tales.

  Toni placed her hand into Jason’s, trying hard not to think about the fact that his height put his nose right above her smelly, goose poo perfumed hair, and headed off to locate a cab rank.

  Jason’s hand felt warm and solid around hers. Toni fell into step beside him. The idea that she would follow him straight into hell if he asked crossed her mind as they made their way from the park to the main road. Squirrels ran across the path in front of them, unperturbed by their presence, reminding Toni of some sappy children’s movie with singing and dancing wildlife. She was being fanciful and she was enjoying every moment of it.

  They found a cab on Buckingham Palace Road and Jason held the door for her as she climbed in. He sat opposite her in the back, facing her. As the driver wound his way through the congested roads of London, Toni couldn’t help thinking that for someone who had said they wanted to take a ride in a black cab, Jason did not take much time looking at the scenery or enjoying the ambience. Instead he chatted to her non-stop, their conversation easy and comfortable. He had a way of making Toni feel safe and like she was the full focus of his attention. This experience was new to her—in one short taxi ride, Toni felt more alive and comfortable being herself than she could remember feeling in a long time.

  “I can’t believe we’re here already,” she said as the driver pulled the car up to the door of the hotel. “I don’t think I looked out of the window once.”

  The sound of Jason’s deep, throaty laugh had her insides melting. It distracted her long enough that she didn’t have time to complain as he pushed the twenty pound note through the window to the driver saying, “Keep the change, mate.”

  “I thought the plan was that we were to go halves on the fare?” Toni finally managed to say after her insides had solidified again, as Jason helped her from the taxi and ushered her toward the front door.

  “I guess I’m just a chauvinist at heart.”

  Toni laughed at the playful tone in Jason’s voice. But the cheeky grin on his face as he waited for her to respond to his comment was enough to make her go weak in the knees.

  “Well, Mr. Chauvinist, I’ve been warned and won’t let you get the better of me again. I’m paying for lunch. Give me twenty minutes and I’ll meet you on level one.”

  Toni didn’t look back or wait for a reply as she scurried toward the lifts. “Twenty minutes? What was I thinking?” she muttered, as she stabbed at the lift call button more than once. “And what the hell will I wear?” As the elevator doors opened, she was mentally going through the articles of clothing still sitting unpacked in her suitcase, wishing that she had hung at least some of them on hangers when she’d checked in a few days before instead of just living out of her suitcase like she usually did. “Shower, wash hair, dry hair and iron something to wear all in the space of twenty minutes—this is going to be a hell of an achievement.”

  Jason watched her race away—he could see she was muttering to herself but he couldn’t quite catch what she was saying. He’d decided to let her go up alone—he wasn’t sure how she would react when she realized he had the room right next door.

  Yes, there was such a thing as coincidence, but he figured that bit of news might push even that concept to its limits, so decided to take the stairs instead. It would be good for him to check out the stairwell one more time, and the exercise would do him good. Not to mention that being in such close proximity to Antoinette in the taxi had taken its toll on his self-control. He needed time to pull himself together.

  The whole journey had been spent in a silent battle with his own desire. Her full lips, perfect for kissing, such a temptation. He’d tried distracting his war of wills by chatting about the places he’d visited. Of course, it had been a little unfair considering that Jason knew Toni had also visited them. He had followed her to each and every location—seen the points of interests she’d paused at the longest. But when he thought about it, they were also the places he would have been interested in if, in fact, this trip had been a vacation.

  You really should tell her the truth before this gets out of hand, said a voice
of reason inside his head and he would, as soon as the right time presented itself. Maybe after sharing lunch, this infatuation—or whatever it was boiling his insides to molten lava—would be resolved and he could explain that he had been hired by her family to keep an eye on her, keep her safe. Of course that was not part of his job description—he was supposed to keep a low profile, not let the target know of his existence. That was a curly one. Jason wasn’t sure how he would get around it, but he did understand that keeping it a secret, usually his forte, was not going to work in this instance.

  He reached the top floor and checked that Antoinette was not in the corridor before hurrying to his door and using the swipe key to gain entry, breathing a sigh of relief when the green light appeared on the first go. He’d already had to get the swipe card replaced owing to a malfunction and now would not have been a good time for a repeat problem. He needed to get in and out of his room then back to the first floor to meet Antoinette, without her discovering his secret before he had the chance to explain.

  Any control he’d regained over his rampant sexual desires with the stair climb and corridor dash quickly returned when Jason realized he could hear the water running in the shower next door and with that thought, his mind filled with erotic images of Antoinette—or more precisely, a naked Antoinette in the shower. He could almost feel the texture of her skin under his fingertips, could see the water cascading over her rounded tits and down her body like a heavenly waterfall, tempting him to explore its exotic path.

  For God’s sake, man, pull yourself together, he chastised his overstimulated mind, but it was of little use. He was rock-hard, his cock already leaking pre-cum thanks to his vivid imagination and the memory of those lush breasts confined by that modest bra he’d glimpsed as he’d cut the T-shirt from her body. Reminiscing over the sound of the ripping fabric was also not helping soothe his current state of arousal. There was only one thing he could do and as Jason stripped his clothes from his body and headed for his own shower, he had his hand firmly grasped around his erection, pumping vigorously.

  “I need to take the edge off,” he said loudly, as if the empty room would be of interest to his thoughts or actions. Leaning forward with one hand against the bathroom tiles for stability and still pumping his cock with the other as the cool water rained down on his back, Jason let go—gave his imagination free rule.

  He pictured them both together under the running water. Imagined Antoinette’s hands wrapped around his aching shaft, stroking him up and down until his balls were drawn tight and ready to explode. He gently pushed her to her knees and encouraged her to take him with her mouth.

  The fantasy of her kneeling before him, lips parted, ready to take him into her mouth was enough stimulation to have him spurting cum onto the shower wall and spilling over the fingers he had gripped around his cock. Three more pumping strokes and he was spent.

  Jason’s legs gave way and he let himself sink to the shower floor for a moment while he regained composure. It had been a while since he’d had sex, maybe a month or two, but he didn’t remember anything real or imagined that had resulted in him losing his load quite so quickly—or forcefully.

  Finally sure that he would be able to use his legs again, Jason stood and turned off the stream of water. He grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall next to him and quickly dried himself off. Wrapping the smallish square of cloth around his hips, he gathered up the dirty clothes and tossed them out toward the chair in the next room singing out, “He shoots, he scores,” as the clothes hit the target.

  It was only a few steps to get to the drawers beside his bed to find clean underwear. Jason grabbed a collared shirt from the wardrobe and a pair of jeans that lay strewn over his bag, as he tried to make sense of what he was about to do.

  He was an experienced soldier, one of the select few who had made it through the demands of commando training. He’d had more than enough tours of duty in extremely high risk areas under his belt before he’d resigned his commission and joined Haven Security. He was not new to this kind of assignment—it should have been a piece of cake—and yet he had broken protocol.

  Spending time with Antoinette Grimaldi was going to cause him problems—exciting and enjoyable complications, he was sure—but he understood that a whole heap of trouble was headed his way if he wasn’t very careful. The Grimaldi contract was an important one for the newly established Haven Security and he really should not have been doing anything that could risk it. But what was even more disturbing was that Jason had already decided that he couldn’t care less. He needed to meet Antoinette and share a meal with her at the very least. There was something about this woman that intrigued him, enticed him—and that was a situation Jason had not encountered for a very long time.

  Chapter Three

  Deciding on the floral A-line dress, Toni gave herself one last look over in the mirror. Even though she felt that the flare over her hips made her look a little bigger than she really was in that area, she loved the bright pattern and the fabric was cool to wear. She’d only just managed to get everything done in the tiny amount of time she had given herself. Her hair was nearly dry and hopefully would not frizz, her makeup was minimal, as usual, and her one concession to vanity and excess—the beautiful strappy, red Manolo Blahnik sandals—were comfortable on her feet.

  It’s just lunch, no big deal. She had tried to convince herself more than once. But there was no hiding the feel of the thousand butterflies that had taken up lodgings in her stomach as she made her way back down the lift and headed for the restaurant.

  Jason was standing by the entranceway and as Toni’s eyes met his, the butterflies stopped. A sense of peace descended over her. There was no explaining why this happened. It just did. Toni was not one to ignore a sign from the universe and with a smile now firmly planted on her face, she walked confidently toward him. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting? I’m not sure what I was thinking giving myself only twenty minutes to shower and change.”

  “No, perfect timing. I just arrived myself,” Jason replied. “And from where I’m standing, I’d say the timing was just right. You look gorgeous, Toni. Let’s get a table. Shall we?”

  Toni took up the offer Jason had extended her, placing her arm through the crook of his, allowing him to escort them in.

  “I did have just enough time before you arrived to get the waiter to save this table for us. I hope that’s okay,” Jason said, as he pulled out a chair and indicated for her to sit down.

  The table was tucked away at the back of the restaurant, quite intimate and very private. Toni was pleased with the choice. She hated to be the center of attention and sitting with someone as handsome as Jason, she figured plenty of eyes would have been on them.

  “This is fine, thank you, but I warn you, I’m paying for this lunch. Don’t you dare try and break our deal,” Toni replied as she sat down.

  “I promise I will be a good boy, at least on this occasion.”

  The waiter arrived before Toni could reply, but Jason’s comment about being a good boy did not correspond with the devilish look on his face. It had given Toni goosebumps thinking about him acting like a bad boy. Toni tried to control her emotions by taking a sip of the water the waiter had just poured.

  “Are you ready to order?” the waiter asked.

  “Give us a few minutes, would you, mate? We haven’t had a chance to look at the menu yet,” Jason answered. “That is, unless you’d like to order a drink first, Toni. I’m going to have something soft at this time of the day, but if you want something alcoholic, go right ahead. With the morning you’ve just had, I certainly couldn’t fault you for wanting something a little stronger, maybe, a nice green cocktail?” Jason gave a chuckle, and Toni’s tummy did a flip-flop at the sexy sound.

  “No, I went off that color just recently. I think I will just get a Diet Coke for now,” she replied then could have kicked herself for ordering the diet variety in front of Jason.

  “Goodo, then make that two Die
t Cokes. We’ll order when you bring back the drinks,” Jason told the waiter.

  Toni picked up the menu to give herself something to do other than stare at Jason. She couldn’t decide what to order. She really wanted to try the roast of the day with Yorkshire pudding and gravy but her subconscious was pointing to the salad offerings.

  “Hmmm, I’m not sure what to try…” she said.

  “I’m going for the roast with all the extras,” Jason replied quickly, putting the menu face down on the table. “Have you tried Yorkshire pudding yet?”

  “Not in London, but I have had it in Australia. What I should be eating is a salad. Maybe a roast is a bit heavy for lunch. I should really be watching my weight.” Toni felt the heat on her cheeks the moment the words had left her mouth. What had possessed her to make such a comment in front of Jason? Seriously, the guy does not need to be reminded you’re fat, stupid. Way to go. She always managed to put her foot in it when she was out socially. It had been the bane of her life, her awkwardness. She couldn’t even bear to look Jason’s way. She was so embarrassed.

  “Rubbish, luv. Take it from me…there is nothing worse than watching a woman push rabbit food around her plate when a bloke’s getting stuck into some good grub. Have the roast if that’s what takes your fancy. Maybe after lunch we can go and see some sights, walk off the food together, if it makes you feel better.”

  He was so charming and such an Aussie, the way he spoke. Toni couldn’t help grinning at Jason’s comment about rabbit food. She really was not a fan of salad—give her a good meat dish and potatoes any day. She also really liked the idea of playing tourist with him. Yes it was fun being away from under her family’s influence, but it was a little lonely. So when the waiter returned, Toni did order the roast and was happy to see the smile and conspiring wink Jason gave her as she did.