chapter 24

We finally arrive to the Park Hyatt hotel, and Nikolai hasn't looked at me or said a word since we got off the plane. I guess I should've expected this kind of reaction from him but it still prickles my heart.

I shake my head at myself; I was stupid for even helping him on the plane especially after the way he left me at the party. Not to mention the fact that he forced me to come here.

If anything maybe it's good that he's showed me his true colours yet again, before I started opening my heart to him. I take a deep cleansing breath fortifying my heart in preparation for the 3 days that I will be stuck with him on this business trip.

We approach the front desk and Nikolai deals with our accommodation details. I decide to go and relax in the lounge area next to the reception area. I pick up a Cosmopolitan magazine to kill some time and I start reading the first line of one of the articles when Nikolai's raised voice catches my attention.

I look up to see his eyes narrowing at the female receptionist as he talks menacingly to her. The girl is definitely taken aback by his attitude if the distress in her face is anything to go by. She continues to try and calm him down, whilst twisting the computer to show him what she is looking at. For all her effort she might as well be talking to a wall. There's no getting through to Nikolai once he is pissed off. I should know!

I take pity on the girl and waltz up to the desk standing right next to Nikolai and see that her nametag reads Jessica, 'Hi there Jessica. I was wondering if you would be so kind as to explain the situation to me?'

Before she can answer, Nikolai buts in, 'It's fine I've got the situation sorted. You can go back and sit down'. He doesn't even make eye contact with me as he says it as if I'm beneath him.

My heart beats in overdrive, as I feel anger start to sizzle through my veins. Before I even know what I'm doing I am thrusting the side of my hip against his side. Being unprepared for my attack he nearly falls over as he is forcefully moved away and I replace the spot he was standing in and address the girl again. I smile at her waving my hand in his direction, 'Oh sorry about that. My friend is being a bit of a grumpy pants today. Can you please go ahead and explain the issue.' I continue smiling cajoling her out of her distress so she can answer my question.

Nikolai chooses this moment to growl in the background, 'I said that I've got this situation under control!'

I continue staring at her in a friendly manner and she finally crumbles under my steady gaze. She takes a deep breath to compose herself and we both ignore Nikolai's existence. Then she finally answers my question, 'I was just trying to tell your friend there that the reservations seemed to have been mixed up so we are booked out of the Presidential Suit but have the Ambassador Suit available for you.'

'And that is a problem because?' I urge her on. 'Because he wants the Presidential suit that has 2 separate rooms, and we've only got one Ambassador suit available that only has 1 room'. I continue staring at her patiently waiting for her to continue, 'I really apologise I have no idea how this happened and normally we would have a backup Ambassador suit with similar specs but we are fully booked out for the week that you guys will be staying here for. So we've only got the Suit with the 1 room but we are willing to compensate for the inconvenience. We'll give you free room service for your entire stay, and one day of no charge as well, some coupons for venues around the city and a refund for the Presidential suit'.

I'm contemplating our living arrangements as she is talking to see if we can make it work before I accept her offer. I could probably sleep on the couch since I'm a lot shorter than Nikolai, and it doesn't bother me roughing it out once in a while. He can just have the bed. I don't know why he was getting so upset about it. Men!

I look over at Nikolai, and if looks could kill I'd be sinking to the bottom of the Tasman sea right now. I ignore him and return my attention to Jessica, 'Ok we'll take it'.

'And will that be billed to the same account?' I look over at him again, and smile back at her, 'Yep that's right!'. I grab the keys off of her and walk over to Nikolai to hand him his keycard.

His arms are crossed and he doesn't say a word as he glares at me, 'Well you can either stay here and sulk, or come up to the room with me'. He doesn't respond he just continues to glower down at me. Disinterested in his attitude I start to head to our room so that I can freshen up for the conference at 11am. We have an hour to kill and I fully intend to use that time to explore our fancy room. As I head up I don't bother glancing behind to see if he is following me.

When I enter the room the first thing I notice is the large windows that show off views of the Melbourne Skyline including the historic St. Patrick's Cathedral. I move toward the window to really feast my eyes on the view and soak up every detail. I really do love a good view.

'Are you happy now?' I jump at the sound of Nikolai's voice. I didn't even hear when he came into the room.