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His reply was curt, and I felt the color of my cheeks flare up. Was this man challenging me? I tried again. “Okay… I would like to buy you a drink if that’s okay?”
“Thank you, but that’s quite alright,” he replied, not bothering to look up from his phone. “I am actually quite busy at the moment. I just flew in and am terribly exhausted since I worked through the flight. It’s okay, really. Don’t think too much about it. I am sure anyone would have done the same.”
While he spoke, he didn’t take a single look at me, and I realized that was the problem. He was a gorgeous man of means who probably had women constantly fawning over him. He had no idea what I looked like; this was probably just another day in the office for him. Fortunately, I was very aware of how attractive I was as well, and I planned to use that to my advantage as the elevator approached the top floor.
“Can you look at me, please?” I said, giving him a level look.
“Oh!” he said, jumping. “I am so sorry, that was rude of me; I am just super busy... bad habit.” He put his phone away and turned to face me for the first time since we had met. As he did so, I watched coolly as his face changed. It was almost as if he was seeing me for the first time. The elevator dinged right on cue, admitting us to the top floor.
I turned around and walked out slowly, smiling at myself as I did. I could feel his eyes on me as he stepped off behind me. I turned to face him and could tell I had all of his attention now. Good, I got him right where I want him.
“Please, would you let me buy you a drink?” I asked. He could tell from my eyes that I didn’t simply want to get him a drink. He could tell I wanted to spend time with him.
He narrowed his eyes at me, and I held his suffocating gaze without flinching. I wanted him to see how intentional I was, and I had no plan of accepting no for an answer. His pose softened, and he finally smiled, bleeding out some of that seriousness.
He remained silent for a moment, weighing options in his head. “Sure,” he said finally. “I will meet you down at the bar.”
I smiled and nodded, turning to walk toward my room. He did the same, falling in step beside me. I stopped at my door and turned to him. “Don’t stand me up. I will be waiting.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I would be a fool to stand up to a woman like you.” He nodded respectfully and walked down the hallway, stopping at a door close to mine.
I watched as he swiped his key card on the panel and then stepped into his room. I stepped into my room as well and leaned against the closed door. I could feel my heart thundering in my chest, beating with excitement. I felt thankful that I had not left for home earlier, after all.
Perhaps this was what fate wanted for me all along. With a spring in my step, I eagerly walked to my closet and began changing out of my swimsuit.
2
Michael
The flight down to Milan should have been a breezy affair. All I had planned to do was sleep through the eleven-hour flight since I had barely slept in the days leading up to this weekend. It was peak season at work and the wrong time to travel for frivolities.
Enzo, however, had called in a favor. We had been best friends since high school, and he had been a part of every aspect of my life up to this point. He reminded me of all the sacrifices he had made on my behalf. He also emphasized that it would be a severe breach of trust and harmful to our friendship were I to miss his father’s seventieth birthday party.
I had no choice but to agree and make myself available for the trip to Italy. I had spent the next few days after his call merging my work with my assistant and immediate subordinates, clearing as much off my plate as I could while delegating tasks to ensure the business didn’t suffer too critically in my absence.
The plane was barely airborne before I got a call from my assistant regarding an emergency. One of our biggest investors was having a meltdown with one of his portfolios and wanted to dump his entire group of stocks immediately. It took the better part of six hours to change his mind, along with many promises and assurances. A five-hour meeting with the board followed shortly after as we tried to make plans to ensure such an emergency never happened again.
The result was that I touched down in Milan feeling as worn as a wrung-out rag. I got a few minutes of sleep during the drive from the airport to the Hotel Cosmopolitano. All I wanted to do was get to my penthouse suite and spend the next two days doing nothing but sleeping before heading to Tuscany for the birthday party.
Enzo and his father had tried vehemently to get me to stay in their mansion in Milan. I had declined politely, not wanting to intrude on their family time. I loved Enzo and his father, but the old man had a penchant for talking about the war, and the last thing I needed was to stay up late in the night, listening to the same stories from the World War.
I called Enzo and informed him I had arrived in Milan and planned to come down to the villa on the day of the party.
“Come on, Michael,” Enzo pleaded. “Why do you want to throw money away at those fancy hotels when you could get the same quality - and even better - here for free?”
“Enzo, we spoke about this, man,” I replied, making my way to the reception. “I told you I’m not trying to disrupt family time.”
“Cazzate, Mike,” Enzo said. “You might as well be family.”
“Yeah, I know, but I already paid, alright? You’ll see me in two days. Try not to miss me too much.” I clicked off the line before he could respond. I was too tired for the usual back and forth.
I walked up to the reception and got the key card to my room, then got out my phone to text my assistant with instructions. I heard a soft scraping sound as I approached the elevator and was shocked to see a dark-haired woman flailing as she stumbled toward the ground.
I dashed forward and grabbed her around the waist as carefully as I could, not wanting to appear too handsy. The first thing that struck me was that she smelled absolutely divine. From her hair to her body, a tasty sweetness emanated from her. The second thing I noticed was how soft she felt. Her skin was supple in my grip, and I felt a pulsation in my groin.
I shook off the sensation and steadied her on her feet, asking if she was okay. “I’m sorry. Are you alright?” I asked. “You should be more mindful of your step so you don’t hurt yourself next time.” She seemed far too clumsy for my liking.
We got into the elevator together, and it turned out that we were both heading to the top floor. I tried not to look at the woman too much. I wasn’t about to go feral simply because some random woman I helped felt soft and smelled nice.
