Annabelle's POV
If not for the fact that Amy had unceremoniously interrupted my day, I might have completely forgotten about my purse.
Had he found it? Somehow, I was sure he had. He was a smart man after all. Now, all I had to do was to find a way to make sure my story looked and felt believable, and Amy would be out of the way or become a convenient tool.
Turning to Amy, I looked at her with an expression of alarm and stood up slowly. My mind already working on my next plan of action.
Amy gave me a worrisome look. "Is everything okay?" She asked.
"My purse," I said, my voice filled with alarm.
"What purse?" She asked, looking at me like I was speaking gibberish.
Turning to face her, I asked, "Did you see me with a blue leather purse?"
"Did you come with one?" Amy answered with a question. How I loved this game.
"You bad bad girl." My subconscious snickered sarcastically.
"Calm down belle," Amy's voice came through to me. Genuinely worried for me. Poor thing.
"I'm fine Amy. I'm just pissed at myself." I replied, trying to falsely reassure her.
"Everyone loses something at some point. Just take a deep breath. We'll find it." She coaxed, sounding so confident. "Now let's think. For starters, I didn't see you with the purse when you walked into the pool area."
"Okay, which means?" I affirmed, going along with her.
"If you didn't lose it by the pool area then you lost it somewhere between your room and here. Did you stop by the reception or something?"
Storytime.
"Oh! I collided with a guy at the reception this morning, and all my belongings fell to the ground. The thing is, he was the one who picked up my things for me."
"Okay, so it's either he missed your purse or he took it."
"No, it's not possible."
"Why isn't it?" She looked at me with her eyebrows raised.
"Well because--" Because I knew he would pick it up. Because I hadn't expected him to be so hot in person.
Because you were running away from his heated gaze. My mind chipped in. I banished the thought immediately.
"Because?" I heard Amy's voice ask, effectively bringing my mind back to her.
"He didn't look like it." I resorted.
"Well, looks can be deceiving. I thought I just established that fact?"
"Can we just go check the reception?" I asked, needing to evade the topic.
"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Amy said and started for the reception.
We opened the doors to the reception and hurried in, nearly bumping into a porter. Before I could get a glimpse of his face, he quickly apologized and moved on.
Why did he seem familiar?
The thought was quickly banished from my mind when we got to the point where I bumped into him. I looked around, pretending to carefully assess the area while Amy went to speak with the receptionist.
I knew for a fact that he wasn't a thief. But I wasn't going to let Amy know that. I tried picturing him in my mind. He wasn't the arrogant, rich entitled kid I had expected. I remember his sexy smile, his velvet voice, his alluring eyes.
Shit!
I shook my head vigorously. Fuck this. One thing was for sure. He was no boy.
I walked over to Amy who was seriously interrogating the receptionist on duty. The lady looked like she was about to melt.
Poor thing.
"--And you are saying you didn't see a purse lying on the ground?" I overheard Amy ask.
"No, ma'am." The receptionist replied nervously.
"You are supposed to be alert at all times Eunice. How many times do I have to tell you that? Did you even notice that two people bumped into each other right in front of you?"
"No Ma'am. I called my departmental head yesterday and told him I'll be 3 hours late. I think Vivian was the one here on duty when it happened. I am so sorry Ms Amy."
Before Amy could go any further, I stepped in.
"Let the poor girl be Amy, Please. She just resumed and she's already pissing herself with fright. Calm your horse's woman." I said, tapping my hands on her back.
"This is far from over," she said to the receptionist, who answered in a rush with a series of sorry's and yes ma'am.
We moved away from a very frightened Eunice and towards the breakfast table situated at the restaurant.
"Any luck?" Amy asked.
"No." I sighed in defeat. "I didn't see it anywhere around the lobby."
"You know what? I'll create a new keycard for you."
"What? Nah, you don't have to---" I started, but Amy cut me halfway.
"Yes, I do."
"Amy, " I groaned, "I don't know what to say."
"Just say thank you B." She replied with an easy smile.
"I am a very happy client right now."
"Okay then, I'll take that." She said and we began moving to the restaurant. As we walked toward our reserved table, I couldn't help but notice the stares we were getting. Just as Amy had said, the bikini was turning heads.
I smiled to myself. I was used to receiving attention in my line of profession. So their jaws could fall off for all I care. It wasn't like I even had a choice in the matter anyway. It was either I came here to eat or eat in my room. And right now, my room wasn't an option.
We sat down at our table and picked up the menu. A waiter immediately appeared beside us.
Whoa, they worked fast!
The guy glanced at me with acknowledgement. But when he turned to Amy, he took his sweet time. It was almost as if he worshipped the very ground she walked on.
"What will you be getting Ms?" He asked Amy. Completely ignoring the fact that I was even there.
"You seem to have forgotten that there are two people on the table," she growled. My eyes caught the badge that was situated in this left breast pocket.
James.
"I'm so sorry ma'am. What would you like to order?" He asked, looking all flushed.
"I'll be having baked fish with bread, and a cup of coffee," Amy says, then adds, "Now you can look away, James. I am sure you have belle to attend to along with other clients."
James blushed. No shit.
"I'll have what she's having," I concluded. I just wanted to put the poor boy out of his misery.
"Coming right up." He declared, then hurried away.
Looking at Amy, I asked, "What was that about?"
Avoiding my eyes, she asked, "What are you talking about?" Oh, now she was feigning ignorance.
"This is how we are gonna play it huh?" I asked with a knowing smirk on my lips.
"Play what?" She countered.
Oh wow. This is deep.
I was about to blow another sneaky comment when my words were interrupted by another waiter. This time, he was carrying a bottle of vodka.
"Who the hell is that for?" I asked him, beating Amy to it.
"It's for you ma'am, from that young man over there." She pointed to a gentleman in a grey suit sitting behind me.
I turned around and looked. Lo and behold, there was a dark-skinned guy there, waving enthusiastically at me.
I wished for a moment that this was all a sick joke.
"I told you didn't I?" I heard Amy say and I turned back to face her. She was already gripping her chest in a bid to control the heretic fits of laughter she was failing to spurt.
"This isn't funny Amy. Which moron would dare send a woman vodka in the middle of the morning?"
Amy busted out into full-blown laughter.
"Did he think I was a drunk or something?" Amy doubled over. At least someone was having fun with my predicament.
Jesus!