to Tokyo, playing a diplomat’s wife to perfection. Dining at Michelin-starred establishments, staying at exclusive spa resorts, mingling with the upper echelons of society, living the high life.
She would’ve rather camped in the Pyrenees and eaten hawker food and gone without pedicures than have her every move watched and scrutinised by people who almost wanted her to slip up so they could spread gossip or leak it to the press. Just as they had during her divorce.
She’d grown oblivious to the constant watching after a while, had pretended it hadn’t bothered her, but it had taken its toll.
She’d spent the bulk of her life under a microscope and the fact that she was here, staying in a funky hotel under a pseudonym, flirting with an adventurous guy so far removed from the men in her social circle, was so freaking fantastic she wanted to shout it to the world.
Or do something crazy, something impulsive, something so far removed from her past to render her a new woman.
Grabbing his hand before she had second thoughts, she looked him straight in the eye.
‘You know something? I’m pretty sure this concussion is worsening. Maybe you should walk me to my room after all?’
If he was surprised by her forwardness he didn’t show it. A consummate performer. Then again, a guy who looked like him probably had women throwing themselves at him every day of the week. What was one more?
‘Sure, no worries.’
He stood and held out a hand and as she stared at it she had a moment to change her mind.
Would she really go through with this? Invite a guy she barely knew back to her room? Have sex with him? Her first one-night stand?
‘I’ll just leave you at your door …’
His hand wavered but before he could lower it hers shot out and grabbed it as she surged to her feet, wobbly, off balance for a second before he steadied her.
She wanted to explain why she was doing this, wanted to give him a clue as to what this meant for her, but how to do it without sounding like a naïve moron?
‘Ava, don’t worry about it. If it’s easier I’ll leave you here—’
‘I’m a prime minister’s daughter and I’m four weeks out of a lacklustre marriage to a politician and I’ve spent my life doing the right thing and saying the right thing and I’m sick of it and I want a little adventure of my own and—’
‘Shh …’
He placed a finger against her lips and she exhaled, embarrassed by her blurted admission.
Taking a deep breath to quell her mortification, she risked a quick glance at his face. If she saw pity, she was out of here.
Instead, his understanding had her swaying unconsciously towards him, her body recognising on some subconscious level what her mind only just realised.
This guy was special.
‘You don’t owe me any explanations.’
He lowered his finger, traced a path along her jaw, under her ear, across her collarbone, lingering in the hollow there.
‘I think you’re amazing and if you want me to spend the night with you, the pleasure is all mine.’
Ava would’ve melted into a puddle of lust there and then if not for his strong arm sliding around her waist, supporting her as they strolled towards the lifts.
She didn’t speak. She couldn’t, not with her throat constricting and her diaphragm heaving and her pulse pounding so hard she could barely hear herself think.
When they reached the lifts he squeezed her gently and she automatically snuggled into his side.
‘You sure about this?’
She hadn’t been sure about taking an economics major, she hadn’t been sure about marrying Leon and she sure as hell wasn’t sure what she’d do next career-wise but if there was one thing she was sure of tonight this was it.
‘Does room 1620 answer your question?’
She held her breath as he guided her into the elevator, hit the sixteen button and brushed a soft kiss across her lips.
‘Perfectly,’ he said as they stood like silent sentinels, watching the panel counting down the numbers from twenty-seven to sixteen, and when the elevator pinged and the doors slid open on the sixteenth floor she could’ve sworn she experienced an adrenalin rush no jump off a bridge could ever hope to reproduce.
CHAPTER THREE
ROMAN had exactly sixty seconds to extricate himself from this situation and make a run for it.
How many times had he aborted a jump due to risky conditions? Or rescheduled a climb for another day due to changeable, unfavourable winds?
Too many to count and right now he had that same churning in his gut telling him something wasn’t right.
He knew what it was. Despite her forwardness Ava had vulnerable written all over her. And he’d had a gutful of susceptible females, considering the major reason he’d fled to Australia was to get as far away from one as possible.
Not entirely fair, as Ava had more strength in her little finger than Estelle had in her entire passive-aggressive body, but fresh from another emotionally draining bout with his moody mother left him with little impetus to fall headlong into another potentially fragile situation, even if it was for only a night.
Ava practically bounced along beside him as they traversed the long corridor to her room, oblivious to his dilemma.
For that was what he was facing: lose himself for a night in a wild, passionate encounter guaranteed to refresh or give the woman beside him another reason to doubt herself if he ditched her at her door.
She’d do it too, probably rehash their pool encounter at length and come to the erroneous conclusion that she’d said or done something wrong to drive him away.
He’d hate that, for he could see she’d already had the life squished out of her. Being a prime minister’s daughter would’ve been hell, not to mention a politician’s wife, and the fact she’d gathered enough courage to invite him back to her room for a one-night stand spoke volumes.
A month out of a divorce, she needed to test the freedom waters. It had nothing to do with getting laid and everything to do with asserting a femininity he’d hazard a guess had been battered.
He’d seen mates go through divorces and one word summed them up. Ugly. How much harder had it been for Ava, with the added pressure of her family name?
The right thing to do would be to walk her to her door, kiss her goodnight and wish her a happy life. The last thing she needed was a guy who made an art out of escapism, who’d outrun an Olympian at the first sign of anything deeper than casual.
And Ava needed deeper. She needed a good guy to nurse her through this tender period, a guy to build her confidence, a guy to be there for her.
He
