Act surprised, act surprised, act surprised' Aldo thought to himself
as he walked to the hotel lobby. He had spent hours researching how to
create a meet cute 'unintentionally'. Now that he was marching into
the lobby on one of the hotels he owns he suddenly felt nervous, like a
teenager meeting his crush. He planned this out himself why was his
mind acting like this? The plan was simple and everything was ready.
He called Julia earlier and found out where Sarah was staying, drove
there before Sarah returned, got rid of his guards so he could appear
more approach able and stood in an inconspicuous position. He was
constantly monitoring the revolving doors. As soon as she walks in all
he would have to do is call out to her like he wasn't expecting to see
her , make small talk and then invite her to dinner –all while acting like
he had work to do here.it shouldn't be too hard to come up with
something, I mean, it is his hotel after all.
As he sat, eyes fixed to the front door, repeating the plan to
himself, he failed to notice the person he was waiting for walk through
the door. Sarah walked into the hotel lobby and made her way to the
elevators. She got in and took out her phone to check the message she
had just received. As soon as she read it, she rushed out the elevator
and back to the lobby. She walked to the receptionist and talked to her
for a bit. She was about to leave when she spotted from the corner of
her eye a figure that was quite familiar. Taking two steps back, she
tilted her head and caught his gaze. "Mr. Accardi?"
His stern face seemed to relax when he saw her, realizing that he
had messed up the first step. She gave him a sweet smile, which he
took as an invitation and walked towards her. "Fancy to run into you
here, Miss Etoundi." He knew what he was doing because as soon asthe last two words fell off his tongue she responded. Waving her hands
frantically she said,
"Oh no. Sarah, just call me Sarah."
To which he nodded and said, "Well then you should call me Aldo."
"Noted. Are you meting someone here? "She asked, glancing at the
spot where he was sited, it seemed that he was indeed alone.
"Not anymore it seems. Is this where you are staying? Mr. and Mrs.
Canossa couldn't come up with better accommodation for their
wedding planner?"
"Oh no, not them, me. I love Julia and justino but I'd rather not
know their families think of me." She responded quickly. Then, as if she
had been hurt by his remark she continued, "Besides this is place is
really nice. The room is comfortable, it's easy to find, safe and the
customer service is great. Although I feel like I might as well loose an
arm paying for this, it's worth every penny." She was spending
thousands of dollars every night and this man sounded like this, wasn't
he making he look cheap?
He seemed to have understood her reasoning but he dint intend to
clear up the misunderstanding. Instead he smiled and asked "you sound
aggrieved is this your hotel?"
"Uh, what. I'm I not allowed to admit that it's good if it not mine?
And why do you sound like it couldn't possibly be mine? You don't
know me like that?" she said sounding even more unsettled than
before.
"I do actually" he thought to himself. He gave a low chuckle, an
intoxicated little laugh. For a second Sarah forgot that she was trying to
fight this man. He then bent forward like he did this morning only, thistime, she could see his face and she did not try to break eye contact
with him. "So, is it yours? "He asked again staring deep into her eyes.
God knows how much he wanted her to say yes. If she did he would
immediately transfer it to her name and give her as a wedding gift. But
he may have failed to realize how powerful his aura was, it kept her in
place. She wasn't breaking eye contact, not because she is so tough but
because she couldn't bear to move before his eyes commanded her to.
She couldn't even move her eyes talk less of mustering up the guts to
lie to his face.
"no." she managed to squeeze out.
"Had a long day?" he switched the topic without moving. She just
nodded.
"Me too. Want to grab a drink?" he asked moving back to a straight
pose.
Sarah finally got space to breathe. "Nope, no alcohol, not even a
drop. My head is still pounding from last night. Mmph my poor liver"
She sighed holding her head with one hand and rubbing her stomach
with the other. "I haven't had dinner though, want to grab something
to eat?"
"My place? Tell me what you want to eat it'll be ready by the time
we get there." This was even better now he could get her to go home
with him, again.
"I don't know, it is kind of late and I really want to go to bed."
"You can sleep over. I'll have the help prepare a change of clothes
and pajamas. And I'll bring you back tomorrow" he assured her.
She smiled, "ok I'll just let reception know."
As she made her way towards reception an evil smile crossed his lips, if
he wanted to hurt her, the reception of his own hotel couldn't possible
help her. He couldn't help feeling that her ignorance was adorable.
The two left the hotel together after opening the door for her he
looked around, he had an eerie feeling that they were being watched.
He shook it off and went in.
As soon as the car drove off, a figure emerged from the shadows in
the rear end of the parking lot.