*Andrea*
A man in black trousers and a white bottoms-down shirt stepped in, “room service,” he said. I pulled away quickly from Alejandro and turned my back on him, a wave of embarrassment settling over me.
The man who does the cleaning seemed to have noticed he didn’t knock. “You could have knocked,” Alejandro said, disappointment etched in his voice. “I’m deeply sorry,” he said. I quickly turned to spy on him and saw his head bowed with hair covering his face.
Alejandro told him it was fine, and he left the room.
We should have locked the door. I couldn’t bring myself to blame the room attendant entirely. Alejandro and I didn’t go back to kissing and mooching. It was already time for the scheduled meeting.
“You should try calling him again,” I told Alejandro, who was fiddling with his phone. “You think he would want to talk to me?” He asked. I swallowed a lump in my throat. I honestly didn’t know. Lucas was the last person I wanted to talk about, but seeing Alejandro drown in self-pity, I couldn’t just watch him without trying to help.
“It doesn’t matter. At least you tried.” I said. He wrapped a hand around mine, and the little touch sent sparks down my spine. “Anna,” he called my fake name slowly and squeezed my hands softly.
I nodded reassuringly.
He was about to dial Lucas’s number when the car pulled over in front of a magnificent skyscraper with lots of shiny glass and metal. People hurried around. The company’s name was written in large letters on the top, and though I couldn’t see it, I could already guess the name.
We stepped out.
“I’ll call him after the meeting,” Alejandro said. “Alright,” I said, and we started walking towards the entrance of the building. “I did a little research, and I think everything should go smoothly if they agree with the terms prepared by the legal team,” I said, switching to work mode.
Alejandro took long strides, and I hurried to keep up with him. A man in a neatly ironed blue suit walked up to us. “Everything will go well,” Alejandro said. We stopped walking when the man stopped in front of us.
“Mr. Costa?” He called, and we nodded. “This way.” He said.
We walked behind him. He seemed to be in a high position as all staff bowed respectfully at the sight of him. He stepped into the elevator.
We finally stopped in front of a door. The man knocked twice before stepping in. We were greeted with a room full of people. Alejandro walked to his designated seat. I sat beside him.
A bald man sat on the head of the table. He stroked his beardless chin and stared at us, “Mr. Costa. I’m afraid there might be a little change in our deal.” I straightened, though Alejandro didn’t move, nor did his facial expression change.
“What changes?” He asked.
“You aren’t the only one who wants to construct a park.” He said. “We were approached by someone else who seemed to have more in store for us than you had stated.
“But you already agreed to this,” I said. Everyone in the room turned their attention toward me, “and it would be wrong to back out now,” I stated.
“We never signed any contract, nor did we know Mr. Costa.” The man asked. Alejandro smirked but didn’t say a word.
“We are not saying we won’t invest in your park. We are saying that we would invest with the one with more installed for us.” He said. “Isn’t that correct?” He asked, and the five other men around the table nodded in agreement.
“Who might this person be?” Alejandro asked.
The blade man, referred to as Mr. Jordan, phone beeped. He turned the screen to see who was messaging him. “He is here.” He said.
At that moment, the door opened, and a man in a black suit walked in. “Mr. Blonde?” I called before I could stop myself. His eyes widened slightly when he saw me, and then he smiled.
“Welcome, Dave Shaw.” Mr. Jordan greeted, and he walked to his designated seat. “Mr. Shaw, here is Mr. Costa, who wants to construct a park too.”
After leaving him at the show, I thought I wouldn’t see him again. But it seems we were going to keep meeting. Mr. Blonde had his eyes on me.
Mr. Jordan was speaking, but I couldn’t hear a thing.
Maybe I should tell him to withdraw. But why the fuck was he going to listen to me? It’s not as if we were friends or anything.
Sigh.
I felt my neck burning and turned to see Alejandro sending me a slight glare. I smiled sheepishly and turned, one hand on my lap. “Well, Mr. Shaw here is giving us fifteen percent profit.” Mr. Jordan said.
I flipped the file on my hands and scanned through some lines. Mr. Jordan was investing three hundred million dollars. I didn’t quite fully understand how things worked, so I settled on listening as they discussed and chipping in whatever was needed.
I felt Alejandro’s hand slip into my hand, and I froze. He kept a straight and spoke when needed. My face grew warm. I knew we shouldn’t be doing this, but it seemed right.
The meeting continued. No one knew our hands were intertwined under the table.
The meeting ended without any conclusions. Alejandro didn’t want to lose, and neither did Mr. Blonde. “We are holding a dinner party by 8 pm today.” Mr. Jordan said, extending an invitation to us.
“But do we need him to invest?” I asked Alejandro when we were going back to the hotel.
He went on to explain why we needed it. He concluded by saying, “We will have more visitors. Mr. Jordan has a lot of connections.”
I didn’t ask more questions.
All afternoon, we spent time in the suite working behind the screen. Alejandro decided it was time to stop when the sun had gone down. I excused myself to get us snacks. “We have room service; you don’t have to go,” Alejandro said, but I refused. “I want to take a walk,” I said.
Alright. “I’ll call Lucas now.” He told me. I think it was the perfect time to leave. Knowing he was on a call with Lucas and I was here with him didn’t sit right with me. I felt Lucas would see me through the phone. Lucas would tell Alejandro that I had come to him on purpose.
“I hope you have a nice chat with him,” I said before excusing myself from the room. I would go far.
I have always wanted to take a walk around the hotel, and Alejandro had promised to come with me. I walked to the garden at the top of the building.
“They say the view here is magnificent at night.” A familiar voice said behind me. I turned, “I didn’t know you’d be here.” He said.
“Mr. Blonde,” I called. I shook my head, “Mr. Shaw,” I corrected myself.
He had a smile on his face as he said, “You can call me whatever you choose.” Alright, shithead. I said, already feeling disgusted by his smile.
I didn’t like him from the start, not that I hated him, though, and seeing him trying to get Alejandro’s investment only intensified what I felt.
“You followed us here?” I asked. “Why should I?” He asked. “Who knows,” I began walking, my eyes sweeping through the beautiful flower garden. I inhaled sharply, and oh, how I love the sight. “This is a hotel. Anyone can be here.” I sent him a slight glare.
“What happened that day? I couldn’t find you. I was worried.” He said.
“Don’t make it sound like we are friends,” I said, reaching out to touch a flower.
“Well, we aren’t enemies either.” He said.
I acknowledge that. “I went home. Got a problem with that?” I asked. “Of course not.” He said. “Didn’t know you worked for Alejandro.” He said again. I quickly walked across the garden, hoping he would stop walking behind me, but he didn’t.
I stopped and tried to get a butterfly to settle on my hand, “yes, or would you rather I worked for you?” I asked.
“Of course. If you choose to leave Alejandro and work for me instead, I’ll take you in and pay you more.” He said, and a low mocking chuckle escaped the back of my throat.
“You’re such a dreamer,” I said.
“Come on now. That’s not a dream that can’t be achieved.” He said. His eyes were pinned to mine. His face was perfect, and his height was too. But he wasn’t Alejandro.
“I am not interested. My boss treats me fine.” I said though I saw no reason to explain it to him. He was silent, and we began walking side by side. I didn’t feel the urge to run away from him this time.
“I’d like to show you how beautiful this place can get at night.” I would like to see how beautiful this place can get at night, but…
“I’m not sure,” I said.
“Why? You work at night, too?” He asks. I shook my head, “how hard does Alejandro make you work?” He called his name like they were friends; if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought they were friends too.
But I didn’t miss the tension in the meeting earlier whenever they locked eyes. For some reason, I could already feel they had met or had some type of history together.
“You can think about it. It seems we’ll be spending quite some time here.” He said.
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
I stopped walking. Alejandro must be done speaking to Lucas, “It was nice speaking with you.” I said. “The pleasure is all mine.” He said. “We’ll see later tonight.” He paused and then continued, “Have a drink with me.” He offered.
There was nothing wrong with a drink. Who knows, I may be able to convince him to stop seeking investment from Mr. Jordan.
“Alright. One drink it is, then.”
“See you tonight,” he said. I could feel his eyes on me as I walked away. I got a few snacks and walked back to the suite.
“That took long.” He said.
“I took a walk,” I said and wrapped the snacks I bought. “Were you able to call Lucas?” I asked.
He sighed and nodded and told me bits of their conversation.
Ultimately, I could only pat him on the shoulder and tell him things would soon be okay with his son. He pulled me towards him and gave me a quick peck on the lips.
“What would I have done without you, Anna?” He asked. I wrapped my hands around his neck and kissed him, “I could say the same.” I wanted to pull away, but he held me in place and deepened the kiss.
I moaned into the kiss and parted my lips to enable him to slip his tongue inside my mouth easily. He tasted every inch of my mouth.
His hands rested on my breast, giving it a light squeeze. I moaned. He rubbed my nipples through my shirt. I sat on his lap and grind myself on him. Things escalated quickly, and soon, my shirt was gone, and Alejandro’s head was buried in my breast.
I kept grinding myself on him. He groaned, and his lips returned to cover mine.
After a little passionate time together, I went to take a quick shower in the bathroom. When I returned, a dress was already lying on the bed.
“It’s almost time for the dinner. Get dressed.” Alejandro said, “You are my date for the night.”