A Gentleman's Affair (6 page)

I think of Matt, my hotel
manager, and how he met his wife, Kacie, on an online dating
website. He’s tried many times to convince me to sign up on one,
but I never thought of myself as an “online dating kind of guy”. It
feels impersonal to me, but
nothing else
seems to be working… Maybe I should just give it a shot. What can
it hurt, right?

I ask myself why I turned
down the hot blonde
who was all over me at
the brunch this afternoon. She was practically begging to come up
to my suite. Why? Because I’ve been there. I’ve done all of that.
Alright, so I am a guy and I have needs…and I love sex, don’t get
me wrong. But I have had plenty of “stranger lovin’ ”, as I
call it, to last a lifetime. I want more.

I get out of the pool and go back up to my
suite to shower off the chlorine and get ready for dinner. After my
shower, I wrap a towel around my waist then take the trimmer out of
the small toiletry bag on the bathroom counter to trim the scruff
on my face to a five o’clock shadow length. I run my fingers
through my wet hair smoothing it back, thankful that I had a
haircut the other day and that I can forgo gel for a few weeks
before it becomes unruly again. I fucking hate that shit in my
hair.

Now dressed in my favorite pair of jeans and
a white button-down dress shirt, I slip on my watch, noticing that
it’s time to go downstairs and meet Mike and Russ. As I ride the
elevator down to the lobby, I can’t help but wonder what tonight
will hold. Knowing those two and the steam that we all need to blow
off, tonight will be filled with some sort of debauchery.

Mike and Russ have been friends and business
partners for over ten years now. I decided when I partnered up with
them that I would leave my personal life out of the equation.
Little do they know the secrets about my personal life that I keep
from them. Maybe after Pisa is finished, I will invite them to my
club and let them see for themselves. But for now, all they will
see is the professional side of me. It’s better this way, trust me.
Only my staff, people closest to me, and the elite members of The
Underground know the real me. And I plan on keeping it that
way.

Moving on. I’ve already said too much. Now
I’m going to eat, rid myself of my near hangover from earlier, and
see what kind of trouble Mike and Russ have planned for tonight.
I’m not going to get into what happened the last time we all met
here for business. That’s a whole other story.

I wake up still wearing the clothes that I
had on last night. Head pounding, mouth dry. Mike and Russ were in
rare form last night. Dinner was followed by about ten too many
drinks, and they made sure that we hit every single hot club here
in Las Vegas. I think that there was a strip joint thrown in
towards the end of the night, but at this point, I can’t be
completely sure.

Now I have to wake my ass up and get to a
breakfast meeting with the site manager for the new hotel, while
Mike and Russ will be sleeping in, as they are taking a later
flight back to Los Angeles. Assholes.

I drag myself out of my nice warm bed and
stumble to the bathroom for a quick shower. Luckily, Steve, the
site manager, is a pretty easygoing guy, and my unprofessional,
highly hung-over self shouldn’t even phase him. 

After an eye-opening cold shower, I quickly
pull myself together, pulling on jeans and a black button-down
shirt. I slide my feet into my new Amedeo Testoni shoes that I
picked up during a trip to Milan earlier this year. I hear a knock
on the door, which can only mean that my driver is here to take me
to the breakfast meeting. I grab my wallet, shoving it into my back
pocket and answer the door.

You may be asking yourself right about now:
“Why is this man, who is the boss by the way, running around in
such a rush, when he indeed calls all of the shots?” Well, I’ll
tell you why. It is simple. I practice what I preach. I expect the
people that I employ to always be on time and ready to work, so I,
in turn, will always behave in that same manner. Sure, I can
shuffle some things around, be late on the rare occasion that it
can’t be helped, but I will always give 100 percent and I will
always expect the same to be given back to me.

After a long day spent going over the
blueprints for the interior of Pisa with Steve, I’m finally back in
my suite and completely exhausted. I’m definitely never drinking
like that again, especially when I have to be up that early for a
meeting.

I order dinner from room service before
taking my laptop over to the bed. Relaxing back against a few
pillows that I’ve propped up against the headboard, I decide to
check my emails. The first email that I open is from Patrice
informing me that Scarlett has cleared her schedule and that she
will be set to begin the redecorating early next week. I reply to
her, then return a few more emails as I hear a knock at the door. I
jump up from the bed to go answer it, happy to see a cart with my
dinner being wheeled into the suite.

After consuming one of the largest steak
dinners that I’ve ever seen—full and now extremely sleepy—I return
to my large bed. Too tired to deal with the remaining emails, I
shut down my laptop, turn off the light, and before I know it, I’m
fast asleep.

After a long week of breakfast meetings,
conference calls and late nights going over blueprints, I find
myself wanting to shut off my cell phone and lock myself in my
suite for the night. I’ve given a lot of thought about what Matt
said about how he met his beautiful wife. Online dating. I bite the
bullet, search the internet, and choose a site. After setting up my
profile, I add a headshot of myself and write out a short bio, then
begin to search the women in the Los Angeles area.

Christ, there are some frightening-looking
women on here. I wouldn’t be caught dead with most of them. But I
remain positive and continue my search for the love of my life. I
know. That made me laugh too.

Fifteen minutes go by and just as I’m about
to shut this bullshit down and go to bed, I get a notification at
the top of my profile page: “You’ve got mail”. Seven messages. I’m
almost afraid to look, but I click on the mail icon and dive right
in. 

Jenny 67, Oxnard…Are you fucking kidding me?
Too old. Deleted.

Susan 35, Big Bear…Five children. No thank
you, Susan. Deleted.

Mirabella 22, Brentwood…Too young.
Deleted.

Charles 26, West Hollywood…Charles, what the
fuck? I’d better check my settings. Deleted.

Zoie 26, Hermosa Beach…Nice photo, pretty
face, lives nearby. I open the email and begin to read before
moving on.

Hi!

I came across your profile and just wanted to say
hi. I really love your eyes and your super sexy smile! Look at my
bio and write back if you’re interested. Oh yeah, what’s your
name?

Zoie

Alright, she seems normal, and she thinks
that my smile is sexy—points for her. I read her bio thoroughly and
decide to respond. Here goes nothing…

Hello Zoie, 

Thank you for your interest and for the compliments.
I did take a look at your short bio and I have to say, very
impressive indeed. Forensic Science, good for you.

I’m new to this site and unsure of how this all
works, please bear with me.

Regards, Donovan 

I send the message and sit back, hoping for
a response. That wasn’t so bad. I receive several more
notifications of incoming mail, but decide to hit the mini-bar in
my suite before checking them out.

I get comfortable again, sitting back on the
bed taking a sip of my vodka tonic. I click on the mail icon and
see a new message from Zoie. Ignoring the others, I click on her
message and read.

Donovan,

It’s nice to meet you. I’m new here too, so I guess
we can figure it out together, haha. So you’re in Malibu, huh? How
long have you lived there? We should totally meet for a drink if
you want.

Zoie

Meet for a drink? Hmm, not so fast. I shake
my head and laugh as I message her back.

Zoie,

I have lived in the area my entire life, actually.
Why don’t we get to know each other a bit first, and to let you
know, I’m away on business at the moment. I won’t be back in L.A.
until early next week. Tell me what it was that got you interested
in Forensic Science?

Regards, Donovan 

I sift through the new messages as I wait on
her reply. I’m deleting more than I’m reading yet again. Three more
guys, two from much older ladies, and one from a woman who is
missing two of her front teeth. Holy fuck. I want to write to her
and suggest that she see a dentist before trying to find a date,
but I just delete it.

Incoming message from Zoie—let’s see what
she has to say.

Donovan,

I love the shows like CSI, NCIS, and I kinda became
obsessed with it all, you know? I’m in my last year of school, so
I’ll be one of them pretty soon, haha. What do you do? Your bio
just says self-employed.

Zoie

What’s with the ha-has? I guess that it’s
better than doing LOLs. Alright, so I’m reading too much into
trivial shit—I get it. Lighten up Donovan. Ignore ha-has…Check.

Zoie,

Good for you, that’s quite an accomplishment. I run
a hotel where I live in Malibu, and it keeps me extremely busy.
What do you like to do for fun? Do you have any hobbies?

Regards, Donovan 

I decide not to tell her that I actually own
the hotel. I may be new to this, but I’m far from naive. I’ve heard
many stories at work about gold diggers searching these dating
sites for wealthy men. I will make a preemptive strike against that
being my experience here. Yawning, I get up and walk to the
mini-bar to make a second drink as I await her response.

I take a hearty sip before setting my drink
on the night table, noticing the time on the alarm clock. It’s
almost midnight here, no wonder I’m yawning. I’ve been up since six
this morning and it was a long day. I check my new messages and see
nothing from her as of yet, so I move my laptop off to the side and
climb under the covers.

The morning sun streams brightly into the
room, forcing me to wake up long before the alarm is set to go off.
I roll over onto my laptop, which I obviously forgot to shut down
last night while I was messaging with Zoie. I switch it off, not
even taking the time to check my messages on the dating site. I get
out of bed and walk—stumble, rather—still half asleep, into the
bathroom for a cold shower, remembering that I have an early
breakfast meeting.

I order a nice breakfast spread from room
service since this morning’s meeting will be held in my suite.
Steve is bringing along his colleague Amanda, who will be doing the
final touches for the interior of Pisa. After three long hours of
finalizing every single aspect of the blueprints with them, Amanda
reminds me that I still have a few months to make any changes to
the interior before it will be too late.

We wrap up the meeting and I decide to check
my emails to see if there’s anything from the
mysteriously-disappearing Miss Zoie from the dating website. I
bring my laptop over to the dining table, sit back in one of the
larger chairs, pour a fresh cup of hot coffee, and log onto the
site.

Twenty-four new emails. I’m actually afraid
to look after seeing some of last night’s eager candidates, but I
see that three of the messages are from her. Interesting, it would
seem that someone has missed me. A big grin tugs at my mouth as I
read the first message…

Donovan,

I’m so sorry, I fell asleep on you last night. Write
me back when you can, okay, sexy man?

Zoie

Sexy man, huh? Observant girl. I smirk as I
open the second message.

Donovan,

I wanted to let you know that I’m going to the gym,
I won’t be back for awhile, so write me!! 

Waiting…

Zoie

And, the third.

Donovan,

I’m back from the gym, hurry up and write me haha!!!
Where are you mister?

Zoie

I relax back in my chair, drinking the last
of my coffee while reading over the messages for a second time. I
hate to be a pessimist, but does this girl scream “stalker” to you
as well? It could be that she is just excited to hear back from
me…or it could be that she is just another in a long line of
crazies that I seem to be attracting lately? Fuck it. I will
respond. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

Zoie,

Good afternoon. My apologies for the delay in
responding. I had an early breakfast meeting this morning, and it
just wrapped up a few moments ago. How was your workout? What are
your plans for the day?

Regards, Donovan 

There is a knock at the door of my suite,
and as I stand to go and answer it, I hear a “new message” alert
ping for the site coming from my laptop. Well, that was fast. It’s
more than obvious that she wants me. She clearly has impeccable
taste in men.

I open the door with a shit-eating grin on
my face…what can I say? This is sort of exciting. Seeing that it is
the maid to clear away the trays from the meeting this morning, I
stand aside to let her in and go right back to my laptop to read
the new message from Zoie.

D,

FINALLY!! Haha, I thought you left me. Don’t ever do
that again, k? My workout was good, thanks. How’s Vegas? Are you
winning any money? Hurry and come home so we can meet, haha.

Zoie

Wow. I can’t help but laugh at the message.
She is something else. There is definitely a lot of energy
there…that is apparent. I am still intrigued, though, so I
respond.

Zoie,

No, I haven’t left you, just busy with work as this
is a business trip. As I mentioned before, I won’t be home for
another week, so you’re going to have to be patient for now. Why
don’t you tell me more about yourself and what it is that you’re
looking for?