Page 14 of Embriagado

“How are you doing this morning?” he asked.

“Eh… Good?”

Was I asking or stating it?

An awkward silence followed my dumb response until Imani rescued me. “I was giving him a tour around the hotel. We were just about to go over to the bar.”

“That’s lovely,” Ariyan told her before his stare once again darted to me, his eyes locking in on my chest. “You’re missing your name tag.”

I looked down. “Y-yeah. They got my name wrong.”

“Oh?”

“They wrote San Diego instead of Santiago.”

Ariyan’s brows rose with surprise before his lips curled into a smile, and he chuckled. The rolling sound was borderline addictive, making me hot all over.

“That’s an innocent mistake, I’m sure. But one we should fix, nonetheless. Once you’re done with your shift, please come to my office right away.”

Thank you, Jesus.

Not wanting to give away my excitement, I shot him a quick nod. He responded with a smile, yet before leaving, he placed his hand on my arm and gave it a friendly pat.

“Keep up the good work,” he said, his voice soft.

He was about to move when, suddenly, he leaned a bit closer. My pulse immediately increased, and I did my best to hold still and not stare too hard.

“Is that peaches I smell?” he asked, causing my throat to dry out.

“Yeah, I smell that, too,” Imani said from beside us when it occurred to me.

“Sorry, I think it’s my hair.” I swallowed hard. “I… I used a new shampoo.”

Ariyan’s lips curved up, his eyes nearly sparkling.

“It smells good,” he said, then dropped his hand from my arm and moved on from us.

I half turned to watch him walking away, my hand rubbing the spot where he’d touched me.

“Ugh, he’s so damn fine,” Imani muttered, and I quickly turned to glare at her.

“Huh?”

“Ariyan.” She cocked her head in his direction, bottom lip tucked under her teeth, “He’s perfect.”

My jaw tightened with her words. Nothing had even happened between us, and yet I already felt possessive. Fucked-up, yeah, but that was me. Screwed to the core.

“I wish he told me I smelled good, too…” She huffed.

“You do,” I said, trying to be nice.

“I know.” She smiled and then swatted my arm. “Anyway, let’s continue, babe. We still have lots to see,” she said, already moving on.

I like her.

But before following Imani, I turned to steal one last glance at him. He was now talking to a couple of guests, but looking away from them, our eyes locked for a quick second, and once again, he shot me that tempting smile of his that made me hungry for more.

4