"At least act like you're happy to see me," he said playfully. But I wasn't having it.
"I pride myself on honesty, I wouldn't want to give you false hope." He chuckled softly at that. The sound shouldn't have sent tingles through my body, but it did, and I hated every second of it.
"That's rude." He feigned hurt. "Does your best friend know how disrespectful you are when you've got the time?"
"I don't know, why don't you leave me alone and go share the information with her?" The man only stared at me with a dark glint in his eyes.
"Ouch," he said nonchalantly, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Have you thought about my offer?"
"I'm not interested." I picked up the pace, wanting to get away from him because I could feel my restraint hanging by a thread.
"Are you always in such a rush?" I could hear him behind me, and without glancing back, I knew he was following me. My skinfelt like it was on fire, most likely because the spawn of Satan was watching me.
"Are you always so persistent? It's annoying." I heard him chuckling behind me as I strolled inside the vicinity. I couldn't get to the elevator fast enough and as expected he was right behind me.
I pushed the button, waiting for the lift to open. Nicolas stopped right beside me and it felt like déjá vu . "Look at that," he said. "We're even staying in the same hotel."
"Really?" I asked sarcastically as I turned to look at him. "I don't care."
His eyes lingered on me for a few seconds before he focused on the elevator that was taking extremely long to reach the ground floor.
"I don't know if your attitude is infuriating or turning me on." The lift opened with a ding and a group of teenagers stumbled out of it.
Meanwhile, I stood there with my jaw on the floor and my eyes wide. There's no way those words came out of this man's mouth. Absolutely no way, I simply refused to believe it.
I must've been gobsmacked by his crude comment that I didn't realize I was disassociating. "Are you coming or should I leave you down here to daydream?"
His voice snapped me out of my reverie and I finally looked up at him, frowning when the realization of his words hit me yet again.
I didn't want to get into that elevator with him, which meant I had one of two options. I'd either get in and deal with the deafening silence in the confined space or I'd stay put and wait another five minutes like an idiot for the lift to come back down.
In any other circumstances, I would've opted for the latter, but today my patience wore thin so I chose the first option. Reluctantly, I stepped inside the tiny space.
The smell of his cologne made my head spin, it smelt so delicious. An aromatic, aquatic fragrance with the top notes being bergamot and sea notes. The scent already haunted me just like I knew it would, now I was being surrounded by it yet again.
I gulped, feeling claustrophobic next to his enormous, muscular frame. "I bet we're on the same floor." My eyes drifted to the button that glowed. Number five. It was my damn floor.
I backstepped until my lower back hit the handrail. Nicolas smirked andGodI've never wanted to sucker punch someone more than I did right now. He acted as if he hadn't said the most absurd statement a few seconds ago.
"Funny how I've been here for a week, yet I haven’t seen you aside from the wedding," I muttered.
"You'll only see me if I want to be seen."
"You sound like a walking red flag."
"Last time I checked, women really love red flags, so I don't see how that's a problem."
The doors opened and I breathed a sigh of relief. Lord knows I couldn't spend another second in there with him. "Where on Earth did you get that misinformation?"
I stepped out of the small space and stalked toward my room. I tossed my hair over my shoulder, feeling his eyes bore into the back of my head.
He clicked his tongue, the sound unnerving me. "It's not misinformation, it's astute observations." His laugh travelled down the hallway, and it shouldn't have increased the level of serotonin in my body, but it did.
I was inches away from my door, my hand lingering close to the handle when I turned around. I moved slowly, staring at him with narrowed eyes. "Is that so?" He nodded, leaning against the wall with both hands in his pockets.
"Yeah."
"Perhaps you're confusing observation with delusion, that's concerning."