Chapter Three
Colin Romano had a lot running through his mind since he had set his eyes on Aria. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on. Simple, but very beautiful, much as he it pained him to admit it. He didn’t want to engage in any activities with a woman on this trip but with the likes of Aria around, he was going to have a hard time keeping himself in check.
He forced himself to put a serious face when she was around. He didn’t want to like her. He was only going to be there for a few weeks. Only trigger was that his son, Riaz, had apparently liked her over the few minutes they had spent chatting when he had retreated to his room. And Riaz never liked women that easily ever since his mother had walked out on him and two weeks later had been pronounced dead after being involved in an accident.
“Dad,” Riaz jolted him back from his reverie. “What are we doing today?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it.”
“We could start with some sight-seeing. You know I’ve never been to New York.”
“Of course we could.” He ruffled his son’s hair. Between the two, only one of them had never been to New York.
“We could invite Aria to be our tour-guide.”
Colin frowned. “Aria?”
Riaz nodded. “She was born and raised in this city so she must know a lot of great places.”
“Riaz, I don’t think we can call her for that. Surely, she must have work to do.”
“No, she doesn’t. She’s excused from work to serve you.”
“How do you know all that?” Colin crossed his arms, leaned back on his seat and asked.
“She told me. When I was having my breakfast. She’s real fun to chat with.”
“Really?”
The boy nodded.
“Huh,” he commented.
He was trying to not like her and his son, on the other hand, was making these comments that made him want to know her more.
“I’ll call Emily and ask her to set up a sight-seeing tour for you.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve got some work to look at today but as soon as I get out of my work-sphere, I promise to go out with you. How does that sound?”
“Great! I’ll go get dressed now.” He ran off to his room.
Now Colin’s mind was occupied with the form of this lovely woman, Aria Kressley. How was he going to get her out of his mind?
***
Three-thirty in the afternoon, Aria was making her way back to the penthouse to get Colin Romano’s measurements. She was hoping he had snapped out of his grumpy mood since morning and that he would be a little kinder. Emily had asked her to bear with it and that maybe it had been because of the jetlag, but she herself had said that she hadn’t dealt with Mr. Romano face-to-face in almost five years so maybe being grumpy was a part of his personality.
“Here we go,” she sighed and said to herself as she stepped into his penthouse.
He wasn’t in sight. Had he gone out?
“Mr. Romano,” she called as she walked in.
She looked towards the dining room but he wasn’t there either. His room, maybe? She paused and knocked at his door.
