A little warily, Jeremy looked at the two men, then at Fiona. “Are you going to be all right, Fiona? Do you need me to call someone and let them know you’ll be late or anything?”

She shook her head. “Honestly, Jeremy, I’ll be fine. It was just a coughing fit, that’s all. No lasting damage, except maybe to my makeup. And no, nobody will be missing me yet. It’s fine. Thank you so much, though.”

“Just give me a wave if you need me,” he said, backing away.

“Will do.”

With that, he morphed from concerned acquaintance back into efficient waiter in an instant and went back to looking after his tables and the patrons frequenting them.

Knowing that she’d now have to address the two men who’d caused her blush-worthy incident in the first place, she took yet another huge gulp of the icy water, then dabbed at her face with the napkin. Putting it down, she then turned to Blue Eyes, who still stood by her side, but had removed his hand from her shoulder, with a wide smile.
“I’m so sorry,” she said again. “Please excuse the state of me, I’m sure I must look terrible. Thank you so much, both of you, for coming to check on me, but I’m really fine. No Heimlich maneuver required. I’ll just finish my drink…drinks…and be on my way. Please feel free to go back to your meeting.”

Green Eyes stepped a little closer. “You look just fine, sweetheart, except for being a little flushed, but that’s no bad thing.” He shot an almost imperceptible glance at Blue Eyes, and Fiona had to wonder if she’d imagined it. And if not, what on earth did he mean by that, anyway?

Unable to speak, Fiona waved a hand to try to signal that she’d be okay, but unless the guy was a mind reader, he’d have no luck figuring that out. Blinking through the tears that marred her vision, her urge to hide underneath the table grew stronger.

Christ, it was only the hottie with the blue eyes. And, if she wasn’t mistaken, his sexy friend with the green eyes was also hovering close by, concern etched into his handsome features.

Managing to drag in a breath, she huffed out, “Thank you.”

Just then, Jeremy arrived with a carafe of water, complete with ice, and poured her a glassful. “Here you go, Fiona. Drink this. Are you all right? Anything else I can get you?”

Reaching for the glass and taking it up in a tentative grip, she took a tiny sip of the freezing cold liquid, hoping it wouldn’t make her cough again. She seemed to have gotten a handle on it, though her now-sore throat wasn’t at all happy with her. Taking several more tiny sips, she let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed that her mortifying bout was over. Then she moved on to bigger gulps, buying herself some time to think of something witty to say, anything to convince the three men looking at her that she wasn’t some kind of imbecile who couldn’t even manage a glass of juice without choking.

Unfortunately, her creative brain, which had been on fire up until she’d started lusting over the hotties, had taken its leave. So she decided to opt for the truth. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. My juice just went down the wrong way, that’s all. I’m fine, really. I’ll just finish my drink and be on my way. Thank you for the water, Jeremy.” She aimed a weak smile in his direction.

Blue Eyes turned to Jeremy. “Yeah, thanks, buddy. If you need to get on, we’ll keep an eye on her for a bit, make sure she’s okay. Don’t worry.”

Continuing to surreptitiously peer at the men over the rim of her glass, it hit her that this was the first time in months that she’d looked at a man with interest, much less two men—and at the same time! But, ready to snatch her gaze away if one of them happened to glance at her, she realized that it wasn’t surprising that the pair had attracted her attention.

The tailored business suits would draw the eye even on an ugly guy. But on these two, the fine clothing was practically an orgasm for the gaze. They sat opposite each other, and their angle to her meant that she had a view of both their profiles—lucky her.

The one to her right had very dark, almost black hair, with a bit of a curl to it, a long straight nose, a trimmed goatee and, if she wasn’t mistaken, deep blue eyes. It was hard to tell for sure from this distance and perspective.

The one on her left had lighter, shorter hair, stubble that by some magical feat still looked smart, and the most sinful lips she’d ever set eyes on. And speaking of eyes, she thought perhaps his were green. What she wouldn’t give to go and check both of them out close up, preferably naked.

Shocked at her own sudden lustful thoughts, she inhaled more than drank another sip of the juice. Unfortunately, it hit her throat all wrong and she almost slammed the glass down as she started to cough. She tried so hard to suppress the cough, eager not to draw attention to herself, that she made it worse. Snatching up the thick linen serviette from the table, she held it to her mouth as she spluttered in a most embarrassing manner, and tears began to roll down her cheeks. By now, she was sure that the whole damn restaurant was staring at her, and she wished the tablecloths reached the floor, like the ones in the restaurant upstairs, so she could hide under the table until she regained her composure.

Swallowing repeatedly to try to soothe her irritated throat, she gasped as a gentle hand laid on her shoulder, which set her off all over again.

“Oh God,” came a voice. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to make you jump. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. See if I could help.”

Just about to chastise herself for allowing her thoughts to meander so, she suddenly realized she was on to something. Closing her eyes and grabbing hard onto the trail of the train of thought she’d just been pursuing, she tugged it back into the forefront of her mind.

Yes! She opened her eyes. That was it. That was her angle. The wording would need work, serious refinement, but the basic idea was there. Treat yourself to a once-in-a-lifetime stay in the ultimate luxury hotel. Enjoy rooms, spaces and facilities fit for royalty.

Typing the snippet into the tablet’s note-taking app before she forgot it, she grinned. It was good—really good. Once polished up, expanded on and worked into press releases, sound bites, competition copy and advertorial copy, she was sure it would result in lots of coverage, not to mention bring in plenty of guests. The concept might even be used in TV, magazine and radio advertising. Now that would be seriously cool—a way for her to be famous, without being famous—her idea, her baby, up in lights!

Tapping in a few more notes, she saved her progress, then stopped to take a drink of the delicious fruit juice. It was then that she noticed that she wasn’t quite as secluded in her corner as she had been before. Two businessmen had settled down two tables away. Nothing unusual in that, except that as she allowed her gaze to linger on them, she quickly realized that they were, in fact, a little out of the ordinary. The majority of the businessmen and women she saw here were middle-aged or older, which made sense. They’d had longer to climb the career ladder, achieve higher positions, earn more money and therefore attend meetings or stay over in places such as the Totally Five Star.

These two, however, looked like they had less than a decade on her—late twenties, possibly early thirties. And the thing that made them the most unusual was the fact that they were hot. A subtle glance around the room showed her that she wasn’t the only woman who’d noticed them, either.