Chapter 29
SAMMIE
Romeo had only managed to move a few inches away from me when Victoria turned the corner and found us.
Shit.
‘What’s going on here?’ She put her hands on her hips. ‘Why are you with Samantha whilst all of our other guests have been left alone?’
‘Sammie… Samantha,’ Romeo corrected. I supposed he thought using my nickname wasn’t appropriate right now. ‘Samantha was upset and I was just… comforting her.’
‘Romeo! I warned you! I told you not to?—’
‘I found Edward!’ I jumped in.
There was no way I could let Romeo get in trouble for this.
I should be glad that Victoria had found us now and not a minute later, because Romeo and I were finally about to kiss.
Even though every part of my body was weeping, I had to focus on what was most important: Romeo keeping his job.
Edward had already royally fucked me over. There was no way I could allow him to screw with Romeo’s career too.
‘What?’ Victoria frowned. ‘Did he call you?’
‘No. Jasmine found him on Instagram. And when I did some digging, I saw him with his pregnant girlfriend and I was upset. Romeo came after me to find out what was wrong. He’s been nothing but a gentleman.
It’s Edward you should be pissed with, not Romeo.
Look.’ I thrust my phone in front of Victoria and when she saw the story, the blood drained from her face.
‘I… Shit. Samantha, I’m so sorry.’
Now so much made sense. When Edward spoke about his ex, he said how amazing their chemistry was and the only barrier was that she didn’t want kids, so now she was knocked up, that obstacle had been removed.
‘On his application he told us they had been separated for over a year,’ Victoria insisted.
‘That is one of the key things we look at during the selection process to avoid any rebounds. We trust applicants to tell the truth. The matches are based on the information we’re given.
If we’d known that Edward had recently reconnected with his ex, there’s no way that we would’ve invited him here. ’
‘I know it’s not your fault and you did your best, but the hotel shouldn’t just rely on the applications.
You should add another layer of checking, like video interviews so you can see how people react when they talk about their exes.
That way you might be able to see whether they’re still hung up on them. ’
Now that I thought about it, when I’d told Edward about Stella getting back with Max, her ex, he wasn’t as shocked as people usually were. I think he even said something like, ‘It was clear that they were meant to be.’
All during that conversation he knew that he still had feelings for his ex and had slept with her. What an arsehole.
‘That is a good idea,’ Romeo said.
‘Yes,’ Victoria added. ‘We will certainly look into that.’
‘And maybe do in-person events, like an open day so you can see how potential guests interact with each other,’ I added.
‘I get that some people are introverts so they might hate that, but it’s good to see people’s personalities in real life instead of just relying on what they put on a form.
Anyone can lie when they’re filling out a questionnaire.
Some things you can only tell about a person when you meet them in the flesh. ’
Maybe if someone had met Edward in advance, they might’ve realised that he was a lying bastard.
‘Another good suggestion, thank you.’
‘I’m tired and don’t feel like socialising, so I’m going back to my room.’
‘Of course,’ Victoria said.
‘You will be okay on your own?’ Romeo asked.
‘Thanks. I’ll be fine. At least now I know he’s not bloody coming back!’ A weak laugh fell from my lips. ‘Night,’ I said, as I headed to my room.
* * *
I sat up in bed and stretched my arms to the ceiling.
Considering what happened last night, I’d slept surprisingly well.
Now that I wasn’t in limbo any more with Edward, I wondered what would happen to me. Was there any point in staying if I didn’t have a match?
Based on what Stella had told me, now that I’d been here a week, today I’d leave this room and get transferred to a couple’s villa. But I wasn’t sure if moving to a bigger place was a good idea. It’d just remind me that I was there alone, whilst everyone else was happily matched up.
I knew that what Romeo said was true: I shouldn’t waste any more time thinking about Edward, but I couldn’t help feeling shitty.
It wasn’t about Edward per se – if I was honest, I didn’t feel the connection with him from the start. It was just I was tired of the constant rejection. The feeling of never being good enough.
Romeo was kind to say all of those sweet things about me, but in a way, it only made things worse.
It didn’t matter if he thought I was funny or smart and sexy (I still wasn’t sure if he meant that or was just trying to make me feel better), because even with Edward out of the picture, it didn’t resolve the issue of relationships with guests being forbidden.
Yes, I fancied Romeo like crazy and I’d wanted to kiss him, but I saw how angry Victoria was when she saw us together. Imagine if she caught us doing more? I wasn’t going to be responsible for Romeo losing his job. I didn’t need that kind of karma.
Especially given what he’d told me before about how determined he was to secure the opportunity to work in the US. That was his dream and he’d made it very clear that he wouldn’t let anything, especially a woman, jeopardise that.
And even if Victoria declared that as compensation for Edward screwing me over, she’d allow me and Romeo to fuck once to get it out of our systems, it wouldn’t solve the issue.
I was tired of hookups. I wanted more. And as much as I felt the connection with Romeo, he couldn’t give me a committed, long-term relationship.
Now that I thought about it, I was glad that Victoria had interrupted us.
She’d stopped us both from making a terrible mistake.
I had no idea what I was going to do for the rest of my stay here, but one thing I knew for sure was that it definitely would not involve kissing Romeo.