Page 20 of Embriagado

I tensed on the spot, eyebrows furrowing as my alarms went up. My first instinct was to reach for him when he spoke.

“This needs to go to the Executive Suite. I’d typically ask the service team, but we’re flooded with new guests, and this can’t be postponed until one of them’s free.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll finish up in no time.” Still wondering about how he’d gotten those marks, I reached to grab the suitcase before he let it go. As a result, my hand brushed against his, and surprisingly, he didn’t pull away. At least, not immediately.

“Sorry,” I muttered, feeling hot in this small space we shared.

He let out a soft chuckle. “As long as you don’t plan on spilling another mai tai on me, you have nothing to apologize for.”

I’d rather spill other things on you. On your face, specifically.

Shrugging the thought away, I huffed a laugh, remembering yesterday’s disaster.

“Again, so sorry about that.”

“It’s all good.”

My eyes dipped to his lips, my attention focused on the scar slicing the upper one.

I’m so lost for him.

On top of it, he smelled so damn good. I’d thought about it before, but now, standing so close, it was even more vivid. I sucked at telling smells apart, and all I could think of was how his sweet smell made me hungry.

“Mr. Rivas?”

“Yeah?” I said, still staring at his pink lips.

“The suitcases?”

“Shit.” I gasped, snapping out of my daze. “Suitcase. Yes. Royal Suite⁠—”

“Executive Suite,” he corrected me as I was already one leg out of the luggage room. I was acting like such a loser next to him, but wanting to prove it wrong for a change, I took the suitcases up to their room at the speed of light. I was so fast that Ariyan seemed surprised to see me back so quickly.

“Done already?” His brows curved close while I nodded like some eager pup.

“Yeah. Anything else?”

His smile said it all, and for the next hour or so, I spent my time going up and down the elevator, carrying as much luggage as I could. And even though it was a shit of a task, the smile on Ariyan’s face each time I picked a new suitcase made it all worth it. Down to my last round, I went back to the luggage room, expecting Ariyan, only to find he wasn’t there. Disappointed, I wiped the bead of sweat from my brow and looked around the now empty room. Maybe he went back to his office? Thinking I should go over there and let him know I was done, I suddenly noticed one suitcase was left behind. It was small and shoved all the way back, so I assumed Ariyan must have missed it. Walking over to it, I read the note attached to it. Unlike the other luggage, which had a note with the room number and guest name on it, this note only had one line written on it.

14th Floor.

That’s odd. Anyway, I’d better hurry up and put the suitcase in its room. Grabbing the handle, I automatically moved to lift it when I was shocked by its weight. Fuck. What was it filled with, stones? Whatever they stuffed this trolley with, it sure weighed a ton. But what the hell, it wasn’t like I actually gave a shit. All I wanted was to be done with this and see Ariyan.

I waited for the elevator to arrive when my phone buzzed again. Nacio. He’d been nagging me the whole day, but choosing to ignore him, I walked inside the elevator that had just arrived.

I went to push the floor button when⁠—

“The fuck?” I muttered, seeing there was no fourteenth floor. I reread the suitcase note to check I didn’t make any mistakes, and I hadn’t. It had fourteen written on it.

Fucking morons. I mentally swore at whoever had filled out this note before stepping out of the elevator with that damn suitcase.

My first thought was to go to the front desk and solve the problem, but seeing that it was still busy as fuck, I skipped it and went straight to Ariyan’s office.

Reaching it, I knocked on the door, then stepped back to wait. When no answer came, I knocked again.

Still nothing.

I reached for the handle and tried opening the door, but it was locked.