Chapter 5 An 'unintentional encounter'

'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 as the 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, this time, 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.