“What are you doing in my room?”
She hollered in the room, making sure to leave the door open for fear of the unknown as she, angrily pushing forward, reached where Andre was sitting and grabbed the framed photo of her in a bathing suit away from his hand, hiding it behind her.
“Up, up from my bed! You’ll crease the edges. How did you even get into my room in the first place?”
Andre, with a coy smile, measured Colleen up close.
Good gracious, that body con stress she was wearing had his brain going haywire, flying in the direction of sinful and unapologetic. But he had come here this evening to render an apology for Gaten’s behavior last night. And although there was nothing remotely apologetic about her slim, curvy frame in that black dress, he knew seducing her into her own bed at this moment would only confirm all the despicable things she thought about him.
So, wearing his invisible good boy hat, Andre lifted himself from the bed just as she had instructed, quietly moving to the side to watch as she smoothened the edges.
When she was satisfied with the look of the bed, she whirled around to face Andre, eyebrows lowered and pulled close together, ready to give him a piece of her mind.
“Mr. Lourdes, do you have no idea what the words “good mannerism, respect, and privacy,” mean? Because if you had any idea what those meant, you wouldn’t come into my room in the middle of the afternoon, like a creep, checking out a picture of me in my bathing suit!”
She flushed while intoning the last words and Andre didn’t fail to notice that. The corner of his face crinkled and his mouth twitched.
How was he still smirking after that burst out? Maybe she wasn’t half as convincing as she wanted to be so she continued.
“I’ll only ask this once again before I call security to report you. How the hell did you get into my room?”
“Ohh Colleen,” he drawled, laughing it off. “There are some questions you needn’t even ask. Have you forgotten? I own the place.” He spread his arms to accommodate all that hubris gushing out of him. But she didn’t fail to notice that it was the first time he said her first name.
Desperately fighting the color threatening to creep up her cheek, she said derisively, “Do you have access to every room here simply because you own the place?”
“No. Just yours.”
“Either way, I am going to have to include that in the review I’ll be sending right after you get out of my room.”
Andre couldn’t help but let the laughter roll out his mouth. She was so cute when she got all worked up, trying to feign anger when really, she wanted to be here with him just as much as he did.
“Now, darling, that tone is very unladylike.” He said, turning to pace the length of the room.
“And it’s manly-like to come into my room uninvited?”
Stopping just outside the terrace, he turned back to look at her, regarding her for a brief moment before speaking, “I didn’t come here to argue with you, Colleen. Actually, I came to apologize for last night. And boy was I right to come here. You look like you’re about to fly off the edge.”
“I do not!”
He put his arm up in surrender. “Whatever you say, darling. But on a serious note, I am sorry about Gaten’s behavior last night. I think I missed the part where he is a complete douchebag. And a liar.” He paused for a moment, regarding her silence. “Surely you didn’t believe the Sophia thing?”
Colleen looked away. “There is no reason to care if Sophia exists or not.”
“Really? No reason at all?”
She eyed him warily. “If that’s all you came to do, you can leave now. Apology received.”
“Why, thank you! But that’s not all I came for. There’s one more thing I was hoping we could do.”
“What is that?”
He took a few steps closer to her. “It’s a Sunday-”
“And so?”
Andre laughed at her tenacity, carrying on anyway. “It’s usually quieter than normal in the resort on Sundays. By now, I would probably be watching from my terrace how the children build sandcastles on the beach while their parents try to cover their eyes from the nasty games of groping and kissing the adults were playing in the water. Make no mistake, Colleen, that is happening as we speak. But unlike every other Sunday, I couldn’t quite find the pleasure in watching them today.”
She remained quiet as he spoke. “And that is because I am bored. But not bored as in ‘I want to hang outside’ kind of bored. But bored because nothing I have thought of to relieve this miserable feeling didn’t involve you with me.”
Now she was speechless. All that tenacity suddenly abandoned her.
Traitor! Just when I needed you the most.
A chunk of spit went down her throat and her mouth immediately went dry. That is the kind of effect Andre Lourdes had on her and heaven’s help her, it was just as irresistible as he was.
“So, Ms. Caddell,” the coy smile was back. “How about I tour you around my resort?”
She blinked once. Twice. That probably had to be the most decent he had had to be in his entire life while making a request.
This was no order but Colleen couldn’t resist saying yes. After all, it was a quiet and boring Sunday. Nothing like a little bit of company to keep the spirit alive.
Mmmhmm, keep telling yourself that.
So she said yes to his request.
All smiles, Andre said, walking towards the door. “It’s a large expanse but don’t fret, darling, we won’t be walking.”
Together, they went down to the lobby where Andre had already booked a golf cart. The man was so sure Colleen was going to say yes so he already had it booked before it was cleared out. There weren’t many on the lease on Sundays and that was because he didn’t want to cause traffic in his own resort. That was solely his policy.
Before he started the cart, he handed her a tour guide manual that listed all the locations and places in Harbor Bridge Resort.
“My goodness!” Colleen muttered as she flipped through the pages of the manual. “There are three casinos here? This place is like mini Vegas. What didn’t you build in here?”
“A church.”
They traded laughter at his remark.
Andre Lourdes’ resort was the next best thing she had seen the entire year. The first best was Liz’s brother dropping to his knees, begging their mother to surrender the keys to his Harley after her police boyfriend had reported her son. All that dare-devilness and haughtiness went within a second when Pamela Parker threatened to toss the keys in Detroit’s harbor. Oh, it was a glorious sight.
They passed through the large expanse of the beautifully decorated compound, stopping at the golf course, tennis course, mini museum, aerial tramway, fantasy balloon flight rentals, and whatnot? The only thing she notably found the resort didn’t have was a church and a hospital. Even at that, they had a doctor who practically lived in the resort. Just in case.
Andre wasn’t half as bad at being a tour guide as he was at apologizing. In fact, he did a wonderful job showing Colleen around and explaining the various places of fun.
She had thought she would regret coming out with him but it turned out to be the exact opposite. It was exciting, in short.
On their way back to the lobby, she decided to strike a conversation.
“So, Andre-”
They were in the first name phase, she thought. So why act all lawyerly by calling him by his last name with honorifics attached?
“What do you do?”
He gave her a look. “You don’t know?”
Colleen rolled her eyes. Where did that ‘modesty’ ever go?
“Lourdes Aerospace,” he answered. “I am temporal CEO now following my mother’s death but prior to this, I was more of ‘the man behind the recent success of the company.’ You know, the deal breaker.”
She squinted her eyes at him. “Is that a title in your company or . . .?”
“It’s a title I gave myself.”
She laughed, shaking her head.
“What about you? What do you do?”
“Hmm,” she stroked her jawline purposefully. “Where do I start? Two years ago, I was working in an Architectural firm. Got laid off to balance the books. Now, I have three part-time jobs. I work in a bar, as a bartender, that is. At the art gallery, I basically hover around people, eavesdropping on their conversations and when I hear them appraise an art, I swoop in with all of my charms to try to convince them to buy the art. And lastly, I run a morning shift at a Starbucks downtown.”
Andre looked bemused. “That’s a lot of people you get to meet everyday. Must be fun.”
“Fun?” she almost choked out the word. “It’s the definition of hell.”
“How so?”
“Please, don’t even get me started.”
It was almost 7 pm when they arrived back at the lobby. Andre returned the cart to the rental man and tipped him off before escorting her up to her room.
When they were in front of her door, she suddenly felt reluctant to let him leave. Whirling around to look at him, she had a smile on her face, one that reached up to her eyes, and it made Andre’s heart flutter that he was able to get her to smile that way.
“I had fun,” Colleen said softly. “And you have a very beautiful resort.”
He smiled as well. “I had a first-class Architect draw up the plan.”
“Really? Oh, he did a wonderful job.”
“As do all first-class Architects, I presume.” He pinned his stare at her. “And he is a she.”
Just like earlier, Colleen was at loss for words. Except this time, something inside of her was pushing her to invite him into her room. But thankfully, before she could mouth those words, Andre said. . .
“I had a lovely evening, too, Colleen. You have got a big week ahead of you. I should let you rest.”
She tried to blink away the disappointment. But yeah, he was right. DESC officially kicks off tomorrow. She didn’t want to be caught sleeping halfway through a seminar.
He considered her features for a brief moment before saying his goodbyes. “Have a good night’s rest, Colleen.”
And he was out.
Once inside her room, Colleen leaned against the door trying to steady her hammering heart.
What the hell was Andre Lourdes doing to her?