Unwrapped by The Billionaire by Joanna Nicholson

Author:Joanna Nicholson [Nicholson, Joanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: PPI
Published: 2017-12-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

It was a cold November evening as she jogged through the Jardin des Tuileries, but early enough that the winos, drug addicts, drug pushers, and prostitutes hadn’t yet reclaimed it. Although the city’s authorities had been promising to clean up the park, they had other things on their minds as continuing budget cuts slashed the number of cops they had on hand to keep the place completely safe and clean.

Amanda didn’t mind. It was far more beautiful than some of the parks near her home in London. And though tourist season was pretty much over, Paris was already putting up Christmas lights – flooding the park with a cacophony of blue and white sparkling lights.

Arnaud hadn’t liked it and had suggested that she jog elsewhere, but she refused. It was close to where she lived and she actually knew some of the park’s regulars by name. Even some of the cops who vanished a little past sun down would wave at her as she did her laps, giving her a sense of security.

Joggers also joined her, sometimes, not put off by the language barrier that came up between them. They weren’t there for conversation, after all. The evening was otherwise perfect.

With most of the tourist hordes gone and the rest either shopping or clubbing, she had the park mostly to herself. She could let her body run on automatic while her mind went into the silent, almost Zen-like calm that was her sanctuary. Not for her the boring practice of sitting meditation. She had to move!

A man jogged past her at full speed and a part of her wondered if he was training for a race, or something. Giving herself a mental shrug, she got off the Terasse du Bord de L’eau path and cut across the grass to make a beeline toward the carousel at Q Park. She almost didn’t make it.

Strong hands grabbed her from behind and tried to drag her to... she had no idea where. Her self-defense training kicked in – she screamed her head off, hoping to attract attention. It made no difference to whoever it was that gripped her arms from behind.

Amanda slammed her foot down and was rewarded by a high pitched scream. She shot her elbow back, but was disappointed that she failed to make contact. She spun to face her attacker who was backing off while favoring their right foot.

Amanda stepped forward and angled herself for a back kick, hoping to kick the person’s stomach. She missed. Slamming her raised foot down, she whirled to deliver a roundhouse kick to the head. She missed again. But she did manage a whack at the other person’s shoulder.

The figure rolled to the ground from the blow, making it hard to make out details. In the dim light, Amanda could make out blue jeans and a red parka, the hood of which covered the person’s head and obscured their face.

Amanda turned the left side of her body toward the attacker with her arms held out and her hands clenched into fists.

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