Bestfriend or Best Lover

TWELVE

Belle's POV

While walking through the double glass doors, carrying paper bag in hand and sticking out like a sore thumb, I made my way over to the reception desk, eyeing the very petite brunette currently sat with a welcoming smile.

"Hi, how can I help?" she asked; housing a honeyed voice.

Her brown, almost black eyes sparkled against the sun's natural lighting, and in a white dress that did wonders for her curvy figure, I momentarily wondered if she was subject to a lot of attention.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of Arden Langley, please?" I smiled, offering up my own appreciative smile. "Hotel Manager," I added, fruitless in my attempts to elaborate.

"Mister Langley is still at the meeting right now, Miss." she smiled. "But I think they're about to be done in fifteen minutes, he's on the nineteenth floor. Would you like someone to escort you?" she questioned.

"Erm, no thanks." I declined." It's okay, I know my way," I added, feeling the need to express extreme ownership. She might be new, she seem not to know who I am. Oh, yeah. I didn't introduced myself.

She sent me on my way, pointing me in the direction of the lifts. I'm very impressed with the renovation they did in the hotel, the interior appeared to be very state of the art, a lot like everything else in this building. So much so, I slowly proceeded to make my way up towards ninetenth floor, suddenly self-conscious. The clinically modern space recreated a rather professional vibe. With the uniform requirements throughout seemingly screaming wealth, Good thing I'm dressed appropriately, I immediately felt I belong to this place in my body hugging dress which stops below the knee and black stiletto. The huge mirrors situated inside were certainly flattering. Though my hair was straighter than usual, the slight wind in New York was currently undergoing did a great job in seeing to my windswept look. I immediately fix myself.

The loud ping suddenly pulled me from my insecurities. As I prepared my dismount, two very clean cut women entered, giving my entire body the once over.

"Are you lost?" one asked, welcoming in her enquiry.

"Not sure, I'm looking for Arden Langley," I replied, figuring I might as well use her for information.

Her face filled with recognition."The new hotel manager hottie, he's gorgeous." and her friendly expression mellowed. "First door on your right," she kindly offered.

"Thanks." I answered.

Her mention of Arden being gorgeous and hot strangely rubbed me up the wrong way, which was preposterous when thinking about it. It was hardly my place to say, but how dare she think my Arden was gorgeous and hot and outright tell me to my face?

With little execution, I found myself outside the room: Conference Room proudly on the door; its gold-plated centre proving really rather classy. Arden had always prided the company on its finer details and had expressed his wishes to continue working there for its level of professionalism alone. We'd been working for almost a year now and I know how dedicated he is, he's been working his ass off on a daily basis trying to impress the higher-ups. Not just our parents, but the other board members as well.

Slowly, I opened the door and wondered if perhaps I should've knocked first but released a silent breath when I saw Arden was the only one occupying the room. He was wearing a finely woven wool suit and looked truly dashing for having done so, matched with dark brown shoes and his signature glasses.

"Hey, you," I softly spoke, grabbing his attention.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.