The Romano Affair

Chapter 3

Chapter 3Colin 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.

“Mr. Romano. It’s Aria. I’m here to get your measurements,” she spoke.

Receiving no answer, she let herself into his room hoping he wouldn’t think she was snooping around.

“Mr. Romano,” she called for the third time.

A second later, he entered the room from the balcony.

‘Oh!’ Aria exclaimed silently. “I knocked,” she pointed at the door behind her, “but no one answered. I thought maybe you didn’t hear me.”

“I heard you,” Mr. Romano replied. “I just didn’t answer because you weren’t calling me.”

Aria's brows furrowed. “What?” she had called him three times and he was saying she hadn’t called him!

“I asked you to call me Colin. Your pronunciation of ‘Romano’ is not my name.”

Was he serious? Aria asked herself. She nodded.

“Well then, Colin,” she spoke.

He nodded.

“I’m here to get your measurements.”

“What are you waiting for?”

Hurriedly, Aria placed her bag on his bed, of course with his permission, and took out a tailor’s tape measure, a book and a pen. Setting the book and pen on the bed, she approached him with the tape.

He had his arms crossed in front of him.

“If you could, umh.”

Her proximity to him was getting to her and she grew nervous.

“Uncross your arms, please.”

She just wanted to get done with it and leave before she made a fool of herself or annoyed him in any way.

Thankfully, he obeyed without any questions or comments. Aria tried to put in some distance between them as she ran the tape over his arm. Was it just her or was the room getting hot all of a sudden? Every time the tips of her finger brushed against his skin, her heart thumped harder. Faster. She felt like she couldn’t breathe quite well. At some point, her hands were shaky. ‘Why did I get this job?’ she whined in her heart.

“Are you alright?” he broke the silence.

His voice was deep and reached within the depths of her soul when he spoke. Thank God, she stood behind him or he would surely have noticed how flustered she was. It was suffocating.

“M-hm!” She even nodded despite the fact that his back was to her. “Why wouldn’t I be?” She tried to calm her voice lest it betrayed her nervousness.

“You seem a little…” he thought of a word and came back with, “…shaky.”

Aria paused for a moment and stared at the nape of his neck before getting back to work. She was done with his arms. On to his neck. She circled him and stood in front of him, putting the tape round his neck.

“You wouldn’t try strangling me, would you?” the man asked and a smile formed across his lips. He looked way better when he smiled than when he was serious.

Aria didn’t dare to look into his eyes. Afraid of what it might do to her. She, too, smiled just a little bit but she didn’t respond to that.

Done with the neck, she measured his chest, waist and down to his feet. Glad that she was done, she jotted down all she needed to note and shoved the book, pen and tape into her bag.

“You sure are in a hurry to get out of here,” he said to her. “Somewhere you need to be?”

She was lifting her bag when he asked. “No. Nowhere. I just…”

“What?” he persisted.

“I wouldn’t want to disrupt the peace and quiet you had before I came in.” With that, she turned around quickly to make her way out of the room.

“Wait,” came the reply.

She stood in her tracks and turned back, anxiously awaiting his next words. He began to approach her and her heart thundered. She was sure if he got close enough he would hear it thump away. He stood right in front of her and stretched forward his hand to her face. Colin brushed back a strand of hair from her face. Heat rose to one hundred degrees inside her when his fingertips brushed her skin.

“That’s it,” Colin said and took a step back.

Aria stood rooted to the spot for a while before muttering a thank you. She turned around to walk out but remembered something. So she turned around again to face him.

"I forgot to ask. Do you have a favorite colour?"

Colin looked at her and pursed his perfect lips.

"It just so happens..." he started to say. Stretching out his right arm, he touched her right shoulder. He slid aside the jacket she had on and slipped his index and middle finger beneath the fabric of the dress she was wearing. At that gesture, she couldn't breathe. Was this a signal? Was it casual?

"My favorite colour on a woman," he continued to say as he smirked, "red."

The upper part of her dress was red. Its skirt was black. Her jacket was white. Did he mean he liked the dress on her?

"Otherwise," he pulled back from her, "my favorite colour is black."