Chapter Four #2
‘The first meeting is with the guy in charge of running the place. We’ll meet him at nine thirty and aside from showing us around, he’ll give us a general feel for how the hotel is doing financially and what improvements would need to happen to take it forward.’
‘Wonderful.’
‘And no need for the swimsuit just yet. The meeting won’t be ocean based.’
He was still grinning at his own wisecrack, she noticed, as they headed into the hotel to be greeted by staff who fussed over them as they checked in.
It was a charming open space with large windows protected by white shutters and overhead fans that made the heat just about bearable—although now it was much cooler than it had been when they’d arrived.
Through the open windows, the light breeze brought in the rich scent of the tropical flowers and the sounds of an orchestra of night creatures lurking in the encroaching forest outside.
The decor was colourful with a huge painting of tropical birds behind the reception desk, and the wooden planters by the entrance were filled with cascading ferns and lush, vivid flowers that were bigger than anything Erin had ever seen before.
Like everything else around her, they seemed exotically, fantastically alien, reminding her of just how little she’d seen of the world, despite her parents’ wandering feet.
She glanced across at Raffaele, who was signing the usual check-in forms, asking a few questions about their accommodation, and was struck at the enormous gulf between them.
He’d barely looked around him. He’d seen it all before even if, as he’d said, it hadn’t been on ‘fact-finding missions’.
She imagined his trips to the Caribbean had been more along the lines of playboy-having-fun-in-the-sun excursions.
All of a sudden her childish crush…those little shivers of awareness…the warmth that had flooded her when he’d thrown her some breadcrumbs of personal information about himself… They all seemed pathetic and embarrassing.
‘Right. Ready?’
Erin blinked and focused on the drop-dead-gorgeous guy staring down at her.
‘We’re all checked in?’
‘Certainly are.’ Raffaele handed her back her passport and began heading out, waiting for her to follow him.
One of the staff members led the way, chatting as he walked ahead of them, telling them about the restaurant, about the availability of car rentals or driver services, about the capital, which was by the sea and excellent for local restaurants and interesting souvenir shops.
They left the main hotel behind. Here, lanterns lit various diverging pathways into the forest and under the canopy of overhanging trees, the sounds of the insects and night animals seemed more insistent.
Erin unconsciously sidled a little closer to Raffaele.
It was now after nine yet the air was still hot and sultry and everywhere smelled of lush, rain-washed foliage.
That made sense; it was supposed to be the wet season—although, as the hotel porter leading the way to their accommodation observed, there was no real difference between the wet and dry months.
Sometimes rain in December and sun in July.
Only the Big Man up there knew what was going on, he said.
‘I’ll walk you to your cabin,’ Raffaele said as soon as their porter retreated back into the darkness of the forest.
Erin hovered, looking around her anxiously.
Her cabin was close to his, separated by a bank of thick bushes which were dark, rustling silhouettes under the semi-moonlit, star-studded sky. The hotel they had left behind a mere handful of minutes ago felt like a million miles away.
‘Do you think we’re safe here?’
‘Come again?’
‘Safe.’ Erin cleared her throat nervously.
‘We both live in London. I’m going to be bold and say that it’s probably going to be a lot safer out here on a peaceful island in the middle of a rainforest. Rampant knife crime tends to stick to big cities.
’ He made a show of looking around him for people carrying knives and Erin could see the glint of his teeth as he tried to control a mix of indulgence and amusement.
‘Erin, there’s no need to worry. Honestly.
I don’t hear any suspicious noises. Have you decided what you’re going to do about eating?
I’m not sure if you heard me ask when I was checking in, but there’s room service out here although the hot food stops at nine thirty and after that it’s snacks and sandwiches.
The place is also well stocked with snacks and drinks. ’
They were at the door of her cabin. It was small but perfect, with a small wooden patio at the front.
To the side, a hammock was strung between two posts.
There was also a similar set-up next to Raffaele’s cabin and the clearing was washed under the mellow light of the lanterns strung between the trees.
‘I’m not hungry. And I’m not talking about knife crime. I’m talking about creatures,’ Erin told him flatly.
‘Creatures? What about them?’
‘I… There are noises… Can you hear noises? Pretty loud, actually.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Insects, maybe? Harmless little insects?’
‘Ah. I’m getting it.’
‘I’ve never been anywhere like this in my life…’
‘You’re really scared, aren’t you?’
‘No!’
He wasn’t smiling anymore. The genuine concern in his voice stiffened her spine because, weird noises or no weird noises, her boss wasn’t there to hold her hand and calm her nerves.
She fumbled with the old-fashioned key and pushed the door open into a cosy space, easily big enough for two people.
She stepped into a sweet sitting room, with a low sofa and a television and small kitchenette.
Beyond that, she could see the door that led to the bedroom.
Through the open shutters, the breeze gently billowed the thin curtains.
She looked around to see that Raffaele had followed her into the cabin to deposit her bag on the ground and when she switched on the overhead light, his face was gentle.
He walked towards the phone on the rattan console in the small sitting area outside the bedroom and pointed to it.
‘Call me if you’re spooked by anything, Erin.
I mean that. There will also be a phone next to the bed.
Believe it or not, there’s Wi-Fi here. The password is in the bedroom on the dressing table, according to the guy behind the desk.
You can call me anytime on my mobile. I understand that if you’ve never been to the tropics before, it might seem a little overwhelming. Are you going to be all right?’
‘Yes.’ Erin folded her arms, mortified at the stupid fuss she’d made. ‘Storm in a teacup.’
‘Shall I get you assigned a room in the hotel? You might feel more comfortable there.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
He hesitated, looked at her in silence for a few seconds, then walked towards the door.
Hand on the doorknob, he said with utter seriousness, ‘Just as long as you’re not too proud to knock on my door whatever the time of day or night if you need me. Understood?’
‘I appreciate the offer, Raffaele, but I’ll be fine. I just need a couple of hours to adjust. The long flight…the heat… It’s all been a bit overwhelming…’
That said, within seconds of him shutting the door behind him, Erin set about checking the entire cabin just to make sure there weren’t any creepy-crawlies bedding down for the night next to her.
It was a lovely space. Rattan furniture and cute local paintings on the walls and a sofa covered in bright floral patterns.
Still, even with her nerves ratcheted up, Erin could detect the signs of wear and tear.
The circular rug on the ground was clean but threadbare, the phone Raffaele had indicated earlier was a hundred years old and the small kitchenette looked tired.
She was sure that were she to dig a little deeper, she would find far more fundamental issues which would point to failings through the entire hotel.
She made sure to firmly shut the connecting door between the sitting area and the bedroom, which was beautifully air-conditioned.
She fell asleep quickly. The flight, the darkness and the array of emotions that had been churning inside her ever since she’d opened her front door to find Raffaele standing on her doorstep had resulted in sheer exhaustion.
She awoke just as quickly and surfaced at speed, momentarily confused and disoriented by unfamiliar sounds.
The room was cool but beyond the low hum of the air conditioning Erin was all too aware of the forest pressing against the cabin.
The sounds that had been insistent background noise when she’d entered four hours previously had now become a cacophony.
And there was something banging around in the sitting room.
She could hear it through the thin wall separating the bedroom from the sitting area.
At first, nerves paralysed her but after a lifetime of frozen fear, she finally managed to leap out of bed, step back into her flip-flops and race into the pitch-black space of the sitting area. When she banged on the light, she caught the swoop of wings racing up towards the high rafters.
She didn’t stop to think.
She scooted at lightning speed out of the cabin and only felt safe when she was banging on Raffaele’s door.
Raffaele woke fast, muscles reflexively primed before his brain had even come back online.
He didn’t run. He walked purposefully to the door and pulled it open. Only then did his brain really engage and, disconcertingly, it engaged in a way he had least expected.
Erin was there. Wearing next to nothing.
Some tiny shorts and a sexy little vest. He could see the rounded shape of her small breasts. Everything that she had managed over the years to conceal under an array of drab clothes was revealed now, from the slenderness of her arms to her smooth, shapely legs and the tiny span of her waist…
He felt his breath catch and blood rushed to a place that hadn’t been active since he’d broken up with Alexa of the infinite text messages.