Page 40 of Hot in the City
Sinead chatted as they entered the main building, walking by his side, holding his hand. “This place is so cool. The architecture. All the curved lines. The glass and steel. Wow! It’s like the Louvre had a baby with the new aquarium. Oh, but you’re going to adore our room on the island too.”
He grinned, then turned a sideways glance in her direction. “So, it’s an island resort? That’s where we’re staying?”
Sinead narrowed her eyes at him. “Yes. But no more sneaky hints for you, my love.” She reached up and kissed the edge of his jaw.
Just that small touch had him aching for her. And he suspected she knew it. The way she smiled, then bit her full lower lip had him wanting to bite her in return. His wife loved to tease him. He loved it right back, of course.
Sinead tugged on his hand, as a concierge appeared out of nowhere to check their passports and direct them to the dining area. “Right. I think we need some dinner. I hear there’s a brilliant menu at this place.”
Another staff member in an all-black uniform was scurrying around with their bags, getting them ready to check through to their jet. Gabriel took Sinead’s hand in his, and led her through to their table, apparently also reserved in advance. The concierge made sure they were settled and provided with menus.
Gabriel helped Sinead into her seat, taking the opportunity to kiss her temple. She was stunning, his wife. Funny too. Always so thoughtful. He couldn’t believe his luck most of the time. People told him he was a lucky bastard, and one look at Sinead proved it was true.
Sinead sighed, tilting her head to one side. Looking him up and down. “So, I might have organised a little something special this weekend for a reason.”
He shuffled his leather upholstered chair closer to the white-clothed table, leaning in over a tea-light candle. “Is that so? Can I take a guess?” He was the one teasing now. He had a pretty good idea what was going on.
She raised her gently curved eyebrows, her pale eyes twinkling with mischief. “Ah, this could be fun. Okay, guess away.” With a wave of her hand she told him to proceed.
“It’s a special occasion, right?” He pressed his hand to his forehead, feigning one of his infamous migraines. That was it. A migraine. Not just any old headache. A headache that had literally changed the course of his life.
“It’s the anniversary of the weekend when we met, five years ago. When I got chatting to you after our plane was grounded. There was that typhoon and, coincidentally, right after meeting you, I had the mother of all headaches.” If he implied she was the source of his migraine, what of it? He could tease her, too.
Sinead’s narrowed eyes were the only warning before she stomped on his foot under the table.
“Ow!” He grabbed his foot in one hand, rubbing the sharp pain away. “You’ll pay for that, Irish.”
She leaned back in her own seat and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. This move never failed to rouse his baser male interest. He could have kissed her. He could have torn her dress off her, right at the table. But a quick glance up at her eyes told him she hadn’t quite forgiven his thoughtless comment.
On the other hand, her lips were definitely pouty. Pouty but kissable. He straightened up and mentally talked himself down from hauling her into one of the private bathrooms for a pre-flight quickie.
Not yet. I need her alone. Naked.
She sighed, as if she’d decided to put up with him, but under sufferance. “You were supposed to say something about how you met the most beautiful flight attendant in the world, and you fell in love, irrevocably. Forever. And how I didn’t let you get away when you tried to be a noble idiot, saving me from a fate worse than death, in other words, a relationship with you.”
“Right. That. I knew there was something I’d forgotten. My beautiful Irish goddess. The absolute best thing in my life. Thank you for saving me from a life as a lonely, noble idiot.”
Now, Sinead grinned, her gorgeous secret smile. She also let her little high heeled shoe drop off her foot, and the delicate instep of her bare foot slid up the inside leg of his jeans. He couldn’t help staring when her pink tongue licked along her lower lip, in that way she had when she was about to say something ridiculously cheeky. His blood thundered through his veins. That quickie was looking like a real possibility. Until they were rudely interrupted.
Simon, his travel company’s concierge, cleared his throat from somewhere to his right. Gabriel shifted in his seat, dragging his attention away from Sinead’s mouth with some difficulty.
Simon nodded at them both, then explained what was happening in his no-nonsense way. “Sir, I’ve been notified that your flight is almost ready to depart. Sorry to delay your dinner, but the chef can provide your meal on board the jet. There’s a minor storm predicted en route so we want to stay ahead of it.”
“Ah, of course. Lead the way.”
Gabriel rose and extended his hand to Sinead. She squeezed his palm, then reached up on his toes so she could whisper in his ear, “A storm coming. Remind you of anything?”
Remind him of anything? Only the best one-night stand of his life. One night that never actually ended. Because the weekend he met Sinead in First Class on a flight that was grounded in Singapore, a storm turned out to be the thing that brought them together. Holed up in a hotel room, touching, kissing. Making his head simultaneously ache and spin with the implications of that old cliché: love at first sight. Or, love at first flight, in their case.
He kissed the spot under her left ear that always made her gasp. She responded to his touch like she was on fire, like she couldn’t burn without him. Her cheeks flushed pink, her full lips parted. Like she couldn’t get enough.
Yes. That. That was what he remembered. What he’d never forget.
Somewhere over the east coast of Australia
Sinead stretched her legs out in front of her, taking turns to rotate her ankles in little circles. The habit was ingrained after years of working as a flight attendant because no-one wanted swollen cankles upon landing in some exotic location.
She’d kicked off her shoes a few minutes after take-off, rubbing her feet on the plush carpet like a contented cat.
