The two brunets seemed to realise he was standing there then. They turned to him in horror.
“She’s only been here three days.”
“So, you’re an Aussie. By the way my name is Kyle,” he said and offered his hand. Donovan reluctantly shook it.
“I’m sure he’s got a full day of activities planned for you two.”
“Sure,” Jameson said sarcastically.
Great, not only was he an unwanted bodyguard, he was a poor tour guide. He just couldn’t get on this woman’s good side. He mentally stilled. Why did he want to get on this woman’s good side anyway? It was just a job he needed to complete. Sure, she was hot and interesting, but it wasn’t like he actually wanted her, right? “The day’s not over,” he heard himself say in response.
Jameson turned and glanced at him sharply, surprise etched across her pretty face. “Really?”
“Yes, really. You’re here to have fun, right?”
A slow smile spread across her lips until her whole face was lit up with joy.
“So how did you two meet?”
“We’re not together.”
“Oh,” Kyle said. Then his gaze turned longingly to Jameson. “Would you like to join us? We could always use another player.”
Player? As in singular! Did Donovan not exist? Kyle was out of his mind if he thought Donovan was going to let Jameson out of his sights. “We’d love to join you guys.”
The air around them seemed to still at his words. Kyle slowly turned to look at Donovan. “Great.” The frigid ice in his gaze had Donovan feeling a cold chill.
“Give us a minute, okay. We’ll meet you over there,” Jameson told Kyle and grabbed his arm, pulling him away from the two men. When they were alone she rounded on him. “Look, I know you’re the bodyguard, but don’t mess this up for me.”
“Mess what?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not buying it. You’re not stupid, and I would think that you, as a guy, would be above this.”
“Above what?”
“Cock blocking.”
He stared at her in horror. “What?”
“You know, when you block someone’s attempt to get with the person they’re interested in.”
“I am not cock blocking. I just don’t trust that guy.”
“You’re supposed to protect to me from bullets and knives, not hot men who might want to get me naked. Got it?”
“You think he’s hot? And you want to get naked with him?” She was supposed to be a genius. How could she possibly think getting naked with that scumbag was an intelligent idea?
Her gaze tightened and her face hardened. She was not pleased with either of his questions. “Look buddy, keep your opinions to yourself and don’t c—”
Donovan placed his hand over her mouth before she could finish. For some weird reason his dick twitched every time she said cock. He didn’t think it would be a good idea to let her say it again. “I got it. I won’t do that.”
One eyebrow arched. Great, she didn’t believe him.
“I promise,” he said as he lowered his hand.
Her gaze searched his face for a moment before it softened and a smile spread across her plump lips. “Good. Let’s have fun.” She turned and walked over to the small group gathered behind them.
The rest of the morning turned out to be a more enjoyable experience than he’d anticipated. There were moments where he was even having fun. He even managed to keep himself from gritting his teeth every time Kyle put his hands on Jameson. At some point Kyle took Jameson aside and they both pulled out mobile phones, exchanging numbers. Soon after that, the game came to an end. Turned out some of the group had an appointment and Kyle was one of them.
“Well, that was fun,” he said to Jameson as they made their way off the beach.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “By the way I have a date with Kyle tomorrow. He’s going to teach me to surf and then we’re going out.”
“Not by yourself you don’t.”
The glare she sent him was cold enough to chill the tropics. He ignored it. He had a duty to her and his employers. As much as she wanted to go out and spend the day with Kyle, he wasn’t about to let her out of his sight.
“We had a good morning at the beach. Now we’re headed to a brunch and it’s on me.”
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly as she tried to keep from smiling at his comment.
“You know I’m right. Plus, you can still spend the day with him. I’ll just be in the background.”
“Ridiculous. I’ll just call him and cancel.” She laughed.
She was outshining the sun. The thought flashed through Donovan’s mind as he stared down at Jameson’s face. Her smile was large, bright. It appeared to be overtaking her face. There could be no doubt that Michaela was enjoying their afternoon on the beach.
Coming to the beach had been a wonderful idea.
Even if she’d gone about it the wrong way.
But Donovan wasn’t going to admit that to Michaela. If he did, he’d never hear the end of it. Handling the woman was tough as hell without adding a big ego to the equation. Correction, bigger ego.
No, he definitely wasn’t going to mention it to her.
Chapter Three
Beauty on the Beach
She was like lightening in a bottle and even though it wasn’t supposed to strike twice, he kept feeling the sting of electric energy every time they got near one another. The first two days spent with Jameson were incredible—at least they were once she stopped giving him the cold shoulder. They explored many of the tourist spots within Sydney and even booked a few short trips to neighbouring regions. During that time, he’d discovered that Jameson was as energetic as she was intelligent. She was also quite determined. She wanted to experience all that the nation had to offer before she left. Even though he was usually worn out by the time they made it back to their suite, he wouldn’t want it any other way. Watching her he got a better understanding of why she’d been so opposed to being assigned a bodyguard. No doubt she was expecting him to interfere with her plans.
Despite his best intentions to do otherwise, there were some moments where he did in fact get in the way. Times like now.
“I should have called and cancelled, made up some excuse.” Jameson said the words under her breath, but her voice was just loud enough to carry on the air. She did not sound pleased and he couldn’t blame her. Who wanted a six-foot plus bodyguard watching your every move when you were on a date?
As he walked to the beach he tried to think of when he’d watched over a client on a date. He knew it must have happened before, but he couldn’t clearly remember such a situation. The best he came up with were business diners and those were not similar, which meant he was swimming in unfamiliar waters.
This was going to be awkward to say the least.
They reached the boardwalk and in the near distance he could see the dark, rolling lines of the ocean. He grabbed Jameson’s arm and pulled her to a stop. Lips parted, eyes wide with surprise, her gaze snapped to his. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes. Sorry about that. I just wanted to talk to you before we got there. I’m going to do my best to stay in the background, but should anything happen, I’ll be beside you immediately, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
She smiled. “Relax, Donovan. I might not like you, but I trust you. I know you’d never let anything happen to me.” Then she winked and turned to head off to the beach. In the background stood a lone figure waving her forward, Kyle. He stared at the man’s silhouette without really seeing it. He was still focused on Jameson’s words. They were the truth. She didn’t have to like him, but he did require her trust to get his job done to the best of his abilities, and he was going to protect her, even if it cost him his life. So why was he momentarily dumbstruck by her smile and statement?
He wasn’t sure why she affected him, but he knew one thing. He couldn’t just let her walk away without saying something. He jogged the few feet t
o reach her. She turned to him, her doe-like brown eyes wide with surprise and gleaming with pleasure. Her full lips were parted and moist with a slight sheen. Donovan had spent every minute of the last two days with Jameson and he’d never seen such a look of open excitement before.
She was really looking forward to learning how to surf. Either that or she was really happy to see Kyle.
He hoped the former was the reason for her pleasure. He lifted his head and looked out at the few bodies dotting the beach. The sight of her “surfing instructor” caught his attention.
Regardless of the reason for her joy, he was happy to see her smile.
The woman had come clear across the globe to enjoy Australia. And he planned to see that she did just that.
“I know this place that serves a great, late breakfast.” As he said the words he watched her turn and look at the ocean behind them and the man waiting for her. It wasn’t lost on him that he was asking to what could be considered a date when she seconds away from walking into the arms of another man. He told himself that it didn’t matter because he wasn’t actually asking her out.
He was just taking Jameson to get something to eat.
“Same place as yesterday?” she asked. He followed her gaze to find that Kyle was walking toward them, no doubt curious about why Jameson was taking so long to arrive. She watched him for a moment before turning back to Donovan.
“Nope. Better.”
“Oh. So what do they serve?”
He smiled at her. He was expecting the question since the woman hated the idea of doing anything that wasn’t Australian while she was in the country. As she’d informed him once, she had no intention of going home with regrets. “They serve everything, but they’re known for their traditional breakfast. To sweeten the deal, I’ll throw in dinner.”
Her eyes lit up with pleasure. “That sounds great, Donovan. I’m really looking forward to it.” She glanced back at Kyle. “Well, then it’s a date.” She flashed him a smile and waved goodbye before taking off and running the rest of the way to Kyle.
Donovan was man enough to admit that some of the pleasure he felt resulted from the excitement on her face at the thought of their date, the other portion was because Kyle wasn’t too happy to see him.
Maybe he was biting off more than he could chew taking her out, but he couldn’t help it. Donovan tried to keep his eyes off of her luscious backside as she ran across the beach. He found it was an impossible feat. Her bottom was just too perfect to ignore.
* * * *
“Ready?” Donovan asked as he knocked lightly on the connecting door to Michaela’s room. The sound of a body moving through the room and something crashing to the floor drifted to him. He threw the door open and stepped into the room with his gun held high.
Wide brown eyes stared at him in surprise. “
What the…” Jameson stuttered as she took large, deep breaths.
Donovan took in the fact that she was standing by herself and unharmed before sweeping his gaze around the room and checking the area to capture the intruder.
“Donovan, I’m alone. I just dropped my suitcase.”
He glanced at Jameson to find her kicking the suitcase on the floor. Several articles of clothing had fallen out of it and were strewn across the floor.
“I, uh, wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing,” she said lamely as she regarded him.
Understanding that Jameson was okay, Donovan finally truly looked at her. And felt something close to panic assail him because of what she was wearing. Jameson was all curves in a skin tight, slinky red dress that shimmered with every move she made. It hugged her plump figure, letting a man know exactly what he could be getting his hands on by the end of the night. “What the hell are you wearing?” he yelled after realising that he was staring.
She glanced at him in surprise before looking down at herself. “What? This is the dress I’m wearing for our date tonight.”
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Hearing Jameson call their evening together a date while wearing a sinfully sexy dress was hell on his self-control. He wanted to walk across the room, take her in his arms, and… “God, don’t… go… there.”
“What?”
“Nothing. Are you ready?”
“Almost. I just have to put on my heels.”
Jameson bent forward and Donovan’s cock twitched in reaction to the sight of her full bosom almost popping out of her dress top. If Jameson wasn’t totally lacking experience with men he’d swear she was teasing him on purpose. The fact that she wasn’t made her even more attractive. She was sexy without even knowing it. That was pretty damned hot.
“Found them,” she called and lifted up a pair of gold, strappy shoes. He looked at the length of the heels and arousal flushed his body. “Uh…”
“I’ll be right out in about a minute, maybe two.” She looked up at him and fluttered one hand, telling him to go back out the way he’d come in. “Wait! Quick question, are we walking or driving to our destination?”
He knew a loaded question when he heard one. “Why?” he asked cautiously.
She gave him a sheepish grin. “Well, I can’t walk through the city in these. Just wondering if I should rethink my outfit.”
His gaze landed on the shoes in question. A whole evening with Jameson wearing that dress and in those heels! He was headed to hell in a hand basket and didn’t know whether to be upset or pleased. “Keep the shoes. We’re driving.”
Hours later, Donovan still wasn’t sure if the evening was pleasurable or painful. He did however know that he never should have let Jameson drink so much. She’d surprised him, getting them two tickets to an aboriginal dance show at the Sydney Opera House that was unique, breathtaking and memorable. The dinner afterwards was comfortable and the food was delicious. All in all the night started off well. Things started to go haywire at the nightclub.
Jameson spent most of the night on the dance floor. Donovan didn’t dance. This meant he sat at the bar watching her like a hawk. A few of the more amorous males out noticed just how closely he was watching her when he’d felt the need to pull them off of her and teach them a few manners.
Donovan thought he’d watched Jameson the whole night, but apparently he hadn’t done so closely enough. One moment she was sober and the next she was drunk. What was most bewildering about the occurrence was the fact that he’d purchased each and every one of her drinks, so he knew exactly what she’d had.
Lightweight, he thought with a sigh as he helped her into her bed.
As usual, Jameson fought him. “No, I can’t go to bed, not like this,” she mumbled as she lifted herself onto her elbows.
He stared down at her in exasperation. Nothing was easy with her. “You have to go to bed. Just lie down I’ll bring you some water and painkillers. You’re going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning.” He pushed on her shoulders until she fell back onto the mattress and pulled the covers over her. He stepped away, thinking that would be the end of it. He should have known better. He wasn’t able to take more than two steps when Jameson slid out of the bed. Standing on unsteady feet she glared at him. “I wish you would stop ordering me around.”
“I’m only doing this to protect you.”
She looked around the room before her gaze settled back on him. Although it wasn’t entirely lucid, there was a wealth of intelligence there. “We’re alone, so you can stop now.”
Jameson was right. Technically, he’d fulfilled his duties, but he wasn’t going to leave her alone as she was. That would make him an absolute bastard. “I know, Jameson,” he replied as he walked over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and manoeuvred her back to the bed. “Just lie down and rest while I get some water and aspirin for you. Okay?”
“Are you putting me to bed?”
“Yes,” he said exasperated. All this close contact with all that exposed skin was hell on his control. He needed to get away from her as soon as possible.
“
Does this mean I get a good night kiss?”
Looking down into her rich, mahogany eyes he couldn’t ignore the attraction between them. A small kiss, he told himself as he lowered his head. He lightly moved his mouth over hers, but it wasn’t enough for either of them. She moaned his name and draped her arms around his neck at the same time that he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. Donovan feasted on Jameson, tasting her, tasting himself, and the unique flavour that was a mixture of both of them. He pulled her even closer, until their hips were aligned and started to rock against her when Jameson broke off the kiss to moan against the column of his throat, “Donovan, please.”
He came back to himself immediately and was horrified by his actions. It was supposed to be a small kiss, a peck really, but he’d damned near molested Jameson and it didn’t matter that she’d been into it. She was intoxicated and he was supposed to know better. He pushed lightly at her shoulders and took a step back, placing some distance between. Once he got his breathing under control, he helped her get back into the bed. “I’ll be right back,” he reassured her and walked away.
When Donovan returned he found that Jameson had ignored him. She was standing beside the bed. As he stepped into the room the little red dress that had been teasing him all night slid to the floor. A hard jolt of need flashed through him as he stared at Jameson’s barely clothed body. “Shit. What are you doing?”
She stared at him like he was stupid and speaking gibberish. “I told you, I can’t sleep like that. I sleep in the nude,” she muttered as she kicked her dress across the room.
He watched the gown slide across the carpet in dismay and swallowed thickly. Jameson hooked her fingers into the string sides of her panties. He was across the room in a flash. He placed the glass of water and painkillers on the bedside table and grabbed her hands, stopping her from dropping her panties.
Donovan was a man, a live, breathing, heterosexual one. He didn’t think it would be smart to let her take them off. He was already hanging on by a thread. Just the sight of Jameson wearing only her lingerie sent his libido from zero to sixty in one second flat. He was aroused and didn’t trust himself to keep his hands off of her if she was naked.
Sun, Surf and Sex on a Beach Page 3