Girl on a Plane

by Cassandra O'Leary

  The waiter left them alone. Sinead pressed her lips together as nervousness hit. She folded and re-folded her hands in her lap and tried to think of something to say. It’d been a while since she last went on a dinner date. Not that this was a date. Or was it? Either way, small talk wasn’t her favourite way to pass the time.

  She glanced across the table at him. “So, Gabriel. I gather you’re some kind of businessman. What do you do exactly?”

  “I run an online travel company called Global Village. You might have heard of it?” He raised an eyebrow as if waiting for a big reaction.

  She’d heard of it, it was a major company. But she wasn’t overly impressed by his success or the fact he had money. He was a first-class passenger and she met men like him every day at work. Except most were not quite so good-looking.

  She gazed into his bluer-than-the-ocean eyes and stopped a sigh escaping her lips by a millisecond. Apparently those eyes had the ability to render her speechless. And reduce her insides to a gooey puddle of warm, liquid caramel. With an effort, she concentrated on the conversation.

  “Aye, I’ve heard of it. It’s a good website. You run the company? Must keep you busy.”

  “Yeah, to put it mildly. I started the company and built it to this stage. Now I’m setting up the Europe branch in London. It’s … flat out. It doesn’t leave much time for anything else.”

  “I feel the same sometimes. I obviously don’t run a company but I’m always on the go. Always arriving somewhere to be leaving again. It can be lonely.”

  Now why had she said such a thing? She didn’t want to sound like a sad old spinster.

  Luckily, the waiter returned with their tall, cherry-coloured cocktails and placed them on the table so they were perfectly aligned on red cardboard coasters. She raised her glass to propose a toast. What to say? To hell with it. She’d take a risk.

  “To Singapore, to typhoons and to meeting a handsome stranger.”

  A mischievous glint lit up his eyes as he raised his glass. “To Singapore, to typhoons and being stranded with a beautiful woman. Cheers.”

  They clinked glasses and she had the uncanny sense of having struck a bargain of some kind. Probably a deal with the devil. She swallowed a giggle and then she took a long sip of her cocktail. After a few moments, it began to work its magic. Her limbs loosened up and her head buzzed with pleasure. She needed to eat something, and soon.

  Gabriel snagged her with his gaze. “I’ve been wanting to ask, is there a Mr Mermaid Airlines? Someone you met on your travels or back home?”

  He drummed his fingers on the tabletop. He was nervous, even if he was trying not to show it. Could he actually be interested in her, not just playing a game?

  Her body couldn’t help but react. Her breath hitched again and she struggled to focus on keeping her hands steady.

  “No, nobody special. I’m based in London at the moment, but I don’t really know a lot of people there. I had a couple of fellas chasing me when I used to live in Melbourne and back in Dublin. But it’s been a while between drinks, you could say.” She took another long sip of her cocktail to illustrate the point. She was definitely thirsty.

  “I’m surprised no man’s put a ring on your finger. You’re quite the catch.”

  “Really? It’s sweet of you to say.” Her cheeks flamed and she probably had a silly grin pasted on her face. Which no doubt wobbled when Gabriel’s knee nudged hers beneath the table. Her blood pumped extra fast through her veins, heating every inch of her skin.

  “What about you? Is there a girlfriend or Mrs Online Travel Guru?” She managed to keep her voice steady, but hung on for his answer.

  He hesitated. “No. I don’t really … I haven’t done that before.”

  “You don’t mean to tell me you’re a virgin?” She was all wide-eyed with faux innocence.

  Gabriel spluttered and nearly choked on his drink. “Hardly! I just haven’t really gone in for relationships, a partner, whatever.”

  “Oh, right.”

  Sinead caught his drift and couldn’t help feeling disappointed. She’d hoped his answer might have been different, like he was looking for Ms Right. Then again, maybe he hadn’t met any suitable candidates. Although he must have his pick of beautiful, highly qualified women – a veritable temp agency of talent at his beck and call wherever he went around the world. Best not to think about it.

  “Why don’t you do relationships? I haven’t had the best luck, but I still want to find someone special. Don’t you?” Hadn’t she always believed in honesty when dating? It was the only way to build a real relationship with a man. Sure, it hadn’t worked out for her so far, but she’d test out her honesty theory with Gabriel. Put it out there. Would it scare him off?

  “As a kid I saw first-hand what a bad relationship can do to a woman. I don’t want any part of it.”

  She was surprised he’d say something so honest. It must be something in the air tonight.

  Gabriel looked away from her for the first time since they sat down to dinner. His gaze darted around the restaurant. His posture was tense, from the firm line of his jaw to his raised shoulders and tendons pulling taut in his neck.

  She was tempted to jump the table and offer to massage him, to ease his tension. Instead she changed tack, hoping to steer the conversation back to more pleasant territory.

  “I’m sorry. Why don’t you tell me something fun you like doing? What have you got planned in London?”

  He chuckled deep in his throat but without humour. “There isn’t much fun stuff on my agenda right now, apart from having dinner with you. I’ve got a major office opening in London in a couple of weeks and it’ll be round-the-clock getting it up and running. I want to step back a bit soon. But it’s probably not going to happen.” He gripped his glass in a choke-hold then took a long sip.

  He sighed and crumpled in his chair, as if the weight of a thousand worries crushed his bones. “Honestly, the pace is getting to me. I love running my own company and it was brilliant a few years ago, when it was still growing in Australia. But now it’s taken on a life of its own. I’d like to have time to go surfing once in a while, you know?”

  She nodded. She’d never been surfing but she’d like to try it. There’d be freedom out on the ocean. And she’d always had a mermaid fantasy. So, she fancied herself as Princess Ariel. A girl could daydream. She was embarrassed to admit that’s why she’d wanted to work for Mermaid Airlines in the first place.

  “Apparently I now work twenty-four hours a day, whenever one of my staff has a problem they can’t sort out.” He shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.”

  She was surprised by his willingness to share, but she liked it. She liked him. He wasn’t quite as slick or as annoying as he seemed at first glance.

  “It’s okay, I’m interested. Why don’t you step back? It’s your company. Surely you can hire some people to help. I meet a lot of businessmen in first-class, sometimes we get talking. What puzzles me is why so many work themselves into an early grave when they don’t love it.”

  His eyes narrowed slightly, a crease forming between his eyebrows.

  Sinead toyed with the cherry decorating the rim of her glass. She rambled on. “It could be the chase, trying to reach the mythical state of having ‘made it’. I don’t know, the material things don’t mean much to me. There’s better ways to spend your time on this earth. Give me a beach any day. At least I’ll be on holiday in a few weeks. Thailand, here I come.”

  Anticipated pleasure flooded her body. The white sand between her toes as she strolled along perfect beaches, swimming in water as warm as a bath. She’d try all the exotic foods and shop for bargains at the night markets. It was all waiting for her.

  She snapped back to the here-and-now. Gabriel stared intensely into her eyes. It was a bit unnerving. What was he thinking? Had she overstepped his comfort zone with her pop psychology?

  “I’m so jealous. Thailand is amazing. Have you ever been
to Koh Chang? I reckon it’s one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Lonely Beach is my favourite spot. Soon I’d like to take some time off. I’d love to hang out there again.”

  The wistful tone in his voice caught her off-guard. Like a little boy lost, adrift in the big bad world. Exactly like her, half the time.

  “I’ve never heard of Koh Chang, but I’ll add it to my list. Still, I’ve got a few flights to get through before my holiday. Including a trip home to Dublin I could do without.” It already made her spine tense, even two weeks before the visit.

  “I know how that goes, believe me.” Gabriel looked so sad then, heartbroken even. His forehead creased in horizontal lines, jaw clenched so hard she swore she heard it click. But the way he closed his eyes, it nearly slayed her.

  She didn’t try to fill the awkward moment with words, but reached for his hand, surprising him. It surprised her too. His hand stiffened, then relaxed. He opened his eyes and gently squeezed her fingertips, rubbing his thumb across the back of her hand.

  Holy moly. Tingly pleasure ran from her fingertips to the most surprising places.

  She stared at his hand resting on hers. It was hot and heavy and manly. The pull between them was compelling. When she raised her chin and their eyes locked across the table, there was something there. A real connection.

  She was almost one hundred per cent sure.

  Well, at least sixty per cent. Sinead slowly withdrew her hand from Gabriel’s.

  The food arrived, carried by another black-clad waiter. He placed the dishes on the table with a flourish of his hand, as if to say voila. Sinead glanced at him as he backed away without a word, trying not to disturb them. So efficient and silent, some sort of dinner ninja.

  She didn’t want to disturb the mood with Gabriel. She looked up into his eyes. His gaze had a weight to it. A demanding gaze. Intense. Burning right down to her soul, or some such nonsense.

  He hid there, behind those eyes. A vulnerability most people wouldn’t see, which made him all the more appealing. Mad as it was.

  Perhaps this wasn’t a harmless flirtation after all, for either of them.

  So soft, so sweet.

  Gabriel meant to say something, but he was barely coherent. The feel of her hand in his, skin to skin, it had been magic. Intoxicating. She’d scrambled his brain like eggs with one touch. But it was only a fraction of the contact he wanted, of what his body demanded. And she’d touched him first. She’d reached out to him.

  Who knew why he was talking about his childhood or his overwhelming business schedule. He never talked about those things. With anyone. His weaknesses. In business it was best to conceal any vulnerability. Half of the trick to his success was the veneer of capability and strength, the smooth shell he showed to the world. Normally he wouldn’t allow the shell to crack, especially with a woman he’d just met.

  He’d cut the conversation short, before he revealed too much. Who cared about half a lifetime of poverty or a sick mother now he was successful? No woman ever had, and he had no reason to think Sinead would be the exception to the rule.

  She watched him closely. It had him on edge. Did she want him to make the next move?

  “Should we eat this dinner or let it go cold?” His weak attempt at a joke eased the tension between them.

  A hint of amusement made Sinead’s lips twitch. “Definitely eat it. I’m actually ravenous.”

  The possible double-meaning to her words had him staring at her mouth, as she licked along her plump lower lip.

  An instant kick of arousal charged through him in response. Lucky the table covered his reaction as his body stiffened. He had to get a grip, they were in a public restaurant.

  He wanted to stand up and grab her, then push her hard up against the wall behind them. Kiss those lips, strip her bare and explore her body until she begged for more. To make her his. He gripped the edge of the table until it made an angry red crease in his palm.

  Bloody hell. What was that about?

  He’d never had such a strong reaction to a woman, especially someone he hardly knew. And he wasn’t a Neanderthal.

  Sinead reached for the serving spoon. She served the food from shared plates in the centre of the table.

  Gabriel was having a meltdown and she was fine, going about her business, serving dinner. His skin still tingled where she’d touched him. He tried to compose himself. Breathed in, then out.

  He was the one who knew how to control any given situation. Throw him into a room with a bunch of business executives and CEOs in a crisis and he’d have them hanging on his every word, looking to him for advice. Now he was in real danger of losing control.

  What would it mean, to totally lose control when he was with a woman? He’d never got close, never really let go. There’d been flirting and fun, but this was something else.

  A plate of food appeared in front of him with a clunk, and snapped his attention back to her. She’d served him a mixed plate of the meals they’d ordered and it smelled sensational. He ate automatically, the spoon moving from the plate to his mouth.

  She looked at him, a glint of laughter in her eyes. “So, there’s a sign in the bar advertising karaoke later. I’d like to give it a try. Do you want to join me?”

  “Karaoke? Really?” He sighed and leaned back in his seat, ruffling a hand through his hair. “If you’re into it, okay.”

  She grinned. “You sound sooo excited.”

  “It’s fine. I’d like to hear you sing.”

  Right then, he would have done anything to extend the time they had together. He’d even sing karaoke. Without his own hotel room, he’d be stuck hanging around in the bar or the foyer all night anyway.

  Sinead leaned toward him, then waved her hand at him. “Gabriel, you have something on your face. Here, let me get it.”

  He was spellbound when she reached over and traced the tip of her index finger across his lips. Shuddering under her touch, he closed his eyes for a second. When he blinked his eyes open, her lips were parted. Her cheeks were flushed a gorgeous shade of pink. A stop sign? Maybe he should back off.

  If she regretted touching him for a second, what would she think if she could see inside his head? If she knew exactly what he’d been imagining doing to her, she’d probably run straight upstairs without him.

  She sat back in her seat. “You had a little curry on the corner of your mouth.”

  His heart had some kind of malfunction as she raised her fingertip to her own lips and licked the curry off her finger. Slowly. Painfully slowly.

  Everything pulsed and throbbed. Bugger and damn. He was so close to losing control of the whole situation.

  As a distraction, he ordered another round of Singapore Slings from the passing waiter. Then he flicked through his saved phone messages. He was using any excuse not to look at her face again. Not yet, when his brain was stuck in slow-motion. Replaying Sinead sucking her finger between glossy lips and licking it clean. The finger she’d swiped across his own mouth. The intimate act sent his nerve endings wild. Then he looked up to find her eyes locked on his face.

  “Aren’t you hungry?” She glanced down towards his mostly untouched meal.

  His voice cracked. “You have no idea.”

  Picking up his chopsticks, he ate. But he barely noticed anything he tasted. All he wanted to taste was her, for dessert.

  Sinead shook her head at his offhand comment, but really, she had no bloody clue what he was thinking. A couple of times during dinner, she’d seen something in his eyes, like desire. Then it retreated behind his cool facade. Not Mr Grumpy from earlier in the day but a different Gabriel. She guessed it was his businessman ‘game face’. Why he was showing it to her, she wasn’t sure. He was so hard to read.

  If only she could control her body’s response. Her heart pounded beneath her breasts like a wild animal thrashing against a cage, fighting for release. When her fingertip made contact with his lips, so slight a touch, desire flared inside her. She wanted his kiss on her lip
s, on other parts of her body. Everywhere.

  It’d been an age since her libido raged through her body with a will of its own. Her body demanded to be touched. By Gabriel. Immediately.

  What a pity her brain was busy hosing her down from the top.

  The man was ignoring her in favour of checking his phone messages. It was certainly a blow to a girl’s ego.

  The waiter delivered two more cocktails to their table with a clink and a bow. Thank goodness. She needed to cool down. It might not be wise to drink so much so quickly, but she needed to take the edge off the hormonal rush whipping through her body. She was mad. Of course the alcohol would make her want him all the more. But still, she drank. Anyway, it gave her something to do with her mouth.

  She sucked the cocktail through her straw and rolled it around her tongue. “Mmm, delicious.” Cherry flavour laced with a hint of something naughty.

  Gabriel sighed and she didn’t know what to make of it. Was he disgusted with her for drinking too much?

  “Sinead, what would you say if I told you you’re not the sort of woman I usually take out to dinner?”

  She froze. Was he saying she wasn’t good enough for him? The bloody hide of him.

  “What do you think I’ll say to such a question? I’m perfectly good enough for any company, including yours, thanks very much. I may be a working-class girl from Dublin, but I’ve a brain in my head and I’ve made a good career for myself. I didn’t expect to hear snobbery from an Aussie like yourself.” She slammed her glass down on the table for emphasis. Her head spun from the impact. She was a little tipsy.

  “No, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m hardly a snob. You’re refreshing. You’re real. Not like some of the women I meet at business functions. They’re always preening and pouting, putting on a show. I can’t stand it.”

  Right. So he was slumming it with her? She straightened her spine. Gabriel Anderson may be rich and handsome, but he wouldn’t make her feel bad about herself. He’d put a pretty spin on it, but she wasn’t fooled.

  She wasn’t any man’s fool. Not anymore.

  He’d killed the conversation. Idiot. Gabriel pressed one hand to his temple as he leaned on the table.