When I entered, her boyfriend, Romeo, was sitting on the edge of her desk.
‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,’ I said.
‘No worries!Romeo’s on a break, so he was just keeping me company.’
‘Nice to see you again, Halle,’ Romeo said.‘Are you enjoying your time at the hotel?’
‘Loving it, thanks.Jake and I didn’t get off to the best start, but now we’re getting on like a house on fire.’
‘Reminds me of another couple.’ Romeo turned to Sammie and gave her a knowing look.I could literally feel the electricity crackling between them.I cleared my throat, worried that if I didn’t they might start banging on the table.
‘It’s so cool that you both work together.’
‘It is,’ Sammie smiled.
There was a knock on the door and a tall, elegantly dressed black woman walked in with an attractive man with dark hair and olive skin.
‘Halle, this is Jasmine and her partner Alejandro, who also works at the hotel.’
‘Good to meet you,’ Alejandro said.
‘Yes!’ Jasmine added.‘It’s a real pleasure.’
‘Likewise,’ I said.‘Wait, so you work as a Love Empress and Alejandro, what do you do here?’ I asked, hoping that it didn’t sound like an interview, but I was genuinely interested to find out.I had no idea there were so many couples here.
‘I am a Cuisine King, which is basically the head chef,’ he said in a deep accent which sounded Spanish.
‘We’re normally based at the Love Hotel in Spain, but we’re here for a few months to help the team here.’
‘Amazing!I’d love to hear how you all met!’
‘That’s enough to fill two books!’ Sammie chuckled.‘We’re not supposed to talk about it, but in a nutshell, we met and fell in love at the Italian Love Hotel.At the time it was forbidden because Romeo was my Love Alchemist.’
‘No way!’ I gasped.‘But what happened with your actual match?’
‘Let’s just say he was an arsehole.’ Sammie wrinkled her nose.
‘That is putting it politely,’ Romeo added in his thick Italian accent.
‘How come you got set up with him then?I thought the hotel were good at finding the perfect match?’
‘It wasn’t their fault,’ Sammie added quickly.‘On paper my match seemed ideal, but let’s just say he lied about a few things… Anyway, doesn’t matter.I’m glad it didn’t work out with him.Otherwise I wouldn’t have found myrealMr Right.’ She looked at Romeo with love-heart eyes and he leant over and kissed her gently on the lips.
‘Ooops, sorry for the PDA!’ Sammie said.‘We’re supposed to keep things professional at work, but it’s difficult.I mean, look how gorgeous he is!And with all the love floating around in the air at this place, sometimes it’s just too hard to resist sneaking a little kiss here and there.’ Sammie winked.‘I know we’re not the only ones.Jasmine and Ale may look innocent but I’m telling you, they’re feral!’
‘Excuse me?’ Jasmine raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.‘I’ll have you know that Ale and I are always perfectly professional in front of guests.’
‘In front of guests, maybe, but don’t think I haven’t heard you two in your office,’ Sammie said.
‘Wh-what?’ Jasmine stuttered.‘We’re always careful and I don’t… we always make sure that we don’t…’
‘Gotcha!’ Sammie cackled.
‘Wait.So youdidn’thear us?’
‘I was just pulling your leg.But your reaction told me everything I needed to know.See, Halle!I told you:feral!’
We all burst out laughing.
