The CEO’ s second choice novel Chapter 22

　　Elena

　　It was Saturday, day six of me being here, and I still could not find my phone. I did not want to know how pissed off Sebastian was with me by now. It was not deliberate; I hope he knew that. Why was I so worried about what he thought about me and my vacation? He probably had other women in his bed by now.

　　I was terrible at remembering numbers, and I never had to call him before, so I just did not bother. I could not recall his company’s name either, so I could not call him at work to tell him I had lost my phone.

　　It was dusk, and the sun was starting to set, so I decided to head out to a cocktail bar tonight and let my hair down. Obviously, I would not be drinking because of my low tolerance for alcohol, but I would sip on shandies.

　　I took the elevator down to the lobby, and the hotel concierge greeted me. “Benito, do you have a lost and found? I seemed to have misplaced my cell phone.” I ask him, still worried about the damn thing. But Benito shakes his head, “We do not, Ma’am but I will pass this along to the other staff to keep a lookout.” He answers me and I thank him before heading out. It was a lovely evening out when I headed to the cocktail bar close by.

　　Dressed in a pair of shorts, a halter neck top and wedge heels, I felt the light evening breeze over my skin and a shiver went down my spine. The past week had been absolute bliss, I relaxed more each day, and yet each evening my anxiety grew.

　　I swallowed down another wave of anxiety and walked up to the bar area, ordering myself a non-alcoholic shandy. Tenerife was beautiful, I could certainly see myself coming here again if I needed to get away for some or other reason. The beaches offered freedom, the forest seclusion… It was exactly what I needed right now.

　　While sipping on my third drink, I feel a pair of eyes on me and glance up. Across the bar was a well-dressed man about my age and he was incredibly handsome. Blonde hair, green eyes and very well built. I meet his eyes and he offers me a flirtatious smile, which I return; he then took this as an invitation and walked over to where I was seated.

　　“Hi there,” he starts with the weakest intro line and I had to stop the scoff that almost escaped my mouth. He had an American accent and took a swig of the glass he was holding. “Hi,” I answered with a pleasant smile, wishing this man did not take my smile earlier as an invitation. I took a sip of my shandy again so I would have something to do,

　　“Business or pleasure?” he asks, and I look at him in confusion. What kind of question was that? “You being here, business or pleasure?”

　　“Oh, pleasure. I’m on vacation. What about you?” I tell him, trying not to reveal too much about myself, but opening my mouth to speak seems to get his full attention. It must be my accent. “It’s different for me, a bit of both actually.” He answers suddenly with a sly smile on his face, and I take another sip of the shandy in front of me.

　　“I’m Michael,” he says while holding out his hand for me to take, which I do. “Elena, pleased to meet you,” I say and my eyes flash to my wedding ring and Sebastian was at the forefront of my thoughts again. I shouldn’t be here in a bar with strange men, I’m a married woman of high society.

　　“I should be going, my husband is waiting for me,” I say, then leave a tip for the bartender before I move to stand up. But as soon as I got off the barstool, I wished I had remained seated as my vision went incredibly blurry.

　　Oh no, did they give me an alcoholic beverage by mistake?

　　The man named Michael grabs me by the waist, “Woah, easy there, Seems you had a bit too much to drink.” I heard him say, but he sounded so far away. I tried to shake my head to tell him I just had the one shandy, but he started leading me out of the bar. “Is there anywhere I can take you, hun?” He asked me and I nod, “Royal Hideaway,” I replied, my speech slurred and I heard him chuckling at my answer.

　　“So not only are you a gorgeous bitch, but you’re a rich one too, and all alone. I’ve been watching you all night and there’s no husband waiting for you out here. Only me.”

　　What? What was happening? I saw the Royal Hideaway, but Michael started leading me the other way towards what I could vaguely make out as the back of the cocktail bar. Oh, no. Oh, please God no!

　　Before I knew it, Micheal had me up against a wall and was slobbering all over my neck. I tried to push him away, but I was too weak to do anything. My vision started blurring more before I heard Michael crying out my name.

　　Then everything went dark.

　　***