Double Dare

Caroline looked startled. "Good grief, I didn't think you would be able to get somebody to go out there this quickly."

Abby smiled. "I think it was a tempting project for him, and I didn't want to waste a minute on this one." Her mind drifted then she added, "If something's worth doing, then do it and enjoy. That's my motto."

Caroline sat back in her chair and looked at her with a curious glance. "What is it about you, Abby? You've been different recently."

Abby scooped up the last of her Danish pastry. "I'm enjoying life, that's all," she replied. It was the simple truth.

* * * *

Zac stood by the window in his hotel room, sipping his breakfast coffee in the morning sunshine. It was going to be another hot day. He had a lot to do, but all he could think about was Abby's arrival. It was as if she had planted a deep sense of yearning inside him, one that he couldn't shake. You're well and truly hooked, face it.

He picked up his phone and read the text message she'd sent him the night before, smiling.

Soon. I want you so much. Let it be soon. Abby.

He set the phone down and looked around the room, hoping that she would like the suite. He wanted them to share a weekend that she would always remember, no matter what happened on Monday. He strolled toward the dressing table and glanced down at the box he had placed there. He had procured her two gifts. A small token of his feelings for her, and something that he hoped would fulfill her secret fantasies of being watched. He'd got so turned on when she'd confessed about her desire to be watched, just thinking about it now made him hard.

He shook his head, smiling wryly. "Abigail Douglas, you're a downright liability."

* * * *

The architect phoned shortly after Abby got to her office. He was a keen energetic sort. She'd read about his work for other restoration projects throughout Ireland and thought he sounded a likely candidate. His reactions on visiting the site reassured her that he was the man for the job. He was as fired up by the proposals as she was. She asked him to describe the place to her. His lilting Irish accent and heavily descriptive words about the castle floated her across the sea to the romantic haven.

"Tell me, do they get much snow there in the winter?" She tried to keep her voice as professional as possible.

"Snow?" He sounded unsure how to reply, as if he was afraid that it would go against the project if he said the wrong thing.

"I'm sorry. Castle in the snow, it's just an image I have. It's personal, not really important."

The architect sounded relieved. "Yes, there's usually a few smatterings of snow in the early part of the year, through to the spring."

Abby took a moment to enjoy the thought of it before she picked up the list of questions she wanted to run through with him, and transferred herself into a more business like mood.

After the call, she found herself trying to remember what her life had been like just a couple of weeks before. She'd become more adventurous at work, and in her private life. The sensual aspect of her nature had only been partially formed two weeks back. It had been fully realized through her union with Zac. He had somehow freed her and enabled her to explore that side of herself. She smiled out at the London skyline.

"The cat who has got the cream," she whispered to herself.

She spent the early afternoon updating the accounts constantly and completed her summary report on the investment portfolio, one eye on the clock. She was striving to complete her duties and reach her goals, but she knew deep inside that the desire for completion was an extension of the desire for fulfillment in her private life. She wanted the sense of physical realization that pervaded her other life, she wanted the clarity she felt when she was with Zac, the heightened awareness of every living breathing moment that he brought to her with his presence.

By mid afternoon she'd got the documentation finished. The meeting was scheduled for first thing on Monday and she'd laid the ground for the presentation that she was going to give on their work with the account. She was pleased with it, despite the truncated time she'd had on the account. She had more than proved her value. She picked up her weekend bag and got ready to leave the office for the airport. Now for her personal reward: Paris, and Zac.

As she passed down the corridor she heard a sound from Ed's office and paused outside the door. He must have made it back for the weekend. She tapped lightly, opened the door and walked in. As she did, her footsteps ground to a halt. Ed was there, and so was Penny. She was sitting on the desk, her skirt around her waist, her thighs spread. Ed was sitting in front of her looking at her crotch with wide eyes, his fingers probing, like a schoolboy carrying out an experiment over a Bunsen burner.

Abby bit back the rising laughter. The litmus paper must have been turning blue, by the look on his face. Penny looked completely ridiculous. Her jacket had fallen backwards and the sharply angled shoulder pads stood out on her back like twin humps. It was a travesty, seeing a sexual act performed with such a lack of grace.

They both turned at the sound of the intrusion and Ed's mouth fell open.

Abby turned on her heels immediately and walked out, shutting the door quietly behind her. She darted past the reception—luckily for her empty, because she was beginning to chuckle aloud—and headed for the elevator. When she was safely inside it and the doors shut, she dropped her bag and leaned back against the wall, thankfully alone. Even as she walked from the building she had to quell her amusement. She could finally stop worrying about Ed assuming they were more than friends.

She hailed a taxi and as she got in, she realized that she probably would have noticed something between Ed and Penny earlier on, if she hadn't been so distracted. Ed had been different, he hadn't been pursuing her as usual, but she hadn't taken it into her consciousness fully.

"Heathrow airport," she said to the driver and settled back into the seat just as her phone bleeped.

It was Ed.

"What is it, Ed? I'm just on my way out of town."

"I'm sorry, Abby."