Just when Rafael thought things couldn't get better, that this kiss, that would finally happen, would be the beginning of something, his phone rang. As neither of them had expected it, they both were startled. Emma took a step back, and he realized that the magic of the moment had been lost, again.

He grabbed his phone out from the back pocket of his shorts and looked at it. He cursed Petra internally. He wanted to not pick up, but Emma caught sight of who was calling.

"Don't not pick up on my account. I'll go find Milton. Take your time".

"I'll be quick", he said almost apologetically, he said as he picked up.

"What do you want Petra"? he asked frustrated as he watched Emma walk away in the direction of the sign that said, "Welcome booth".

"Where are you"?

"Does it matter"? he asked feeling more and more aggravated. She was practically running the hotel on her own and his share of the work was done, he wondered what could have been so important that she would chase him down. Instead of standing in the middle of an aviary, he started to walk towards Milton's office.

"Geez, I'm only asking a simple question, don't get all sensitive about it".

"I'm not. It's just that for once that I manage to step away from the hotel, I can't even have some quiet time".

"Ok. Apparently, you've gotten out of bed on the wrong foot. It's not my fault if you're in a foul mood".

"To be honest, I was in a great mood until you called".

Petra blinked a couple of times on the other end of the line. That had been blunt.

"What do you want Petra"?

"We have a problem with Mr. Gashsteiner".

"Then fix it".

"I would but he's adamant about talking to you about his problem".

Rafael closed his eyes and sighed. Mr. Gashsteiner was an old family friend, and when he said old family friend, it was in both ways, old in age and old in friendship. Every other month, he would fly from Texas to spend a week or so at The Marbella, and whenever there was a problem, only Rafael could fix. Well, that was what Mr. Gashsteiner proclaimed.

"Fine. I'll be there in a half an hour. Offer him a cocktail on the house until I get there".

"Fine", said Petra, visibly aggravated as well now by Rafael's earlier comment about her being the cause of his bad mood.

Rafael hung up just as he arrived in front of Milton's office door. He knocked on the door before opening it. He put on a smile as he entered the office, not wanting Emma to be a victim of his slowly dying aggravation. His smile faded as suddenly as it had arrived.

"Where's Emma"? he asked as he looked at Milton. "I thought she was coming to see you about making a donation to the foundation".

Milton smiled. "She did and not only are we lucky to have her as one of our donators, but she's charming".

Rafael nodded in agreement with what Milton was saying about her. "Where is she"?

"Ah yes, she told me to tell you, not to worry, she was going to grab a taxi".

"What"?! said Rafael a bit too loudly.

He turned around and headed for the door.

"Rafael, didn't you want to see the new monkeys"? asked Milton as he stood and walked towards Rafael.

"Something has come up, I've got to go. I'll come back next week. Thanks for everything Milton"!

Milton watched as Rafael picked up the pace and started to jog towards the exit of the park.

When Rafael arrived alongside the road near the entrance of the park, Emma was nowhere in sight.

"Shit"! he said as he headed towards his car.

As he put it in gear and headed back to The Marbella, he realized that now he had two problems to fix, Mr. Gashsteiner's but mostly smooth things out with Emma. He hated the fact that she had felt she had needed to take a taxi back to the hotel. In the end, nothing was going the way he had planned or wanted. All he wanted was to spend quality time with her, get to know her and yes, the thought of kissing her, having her body against his and hopefully spend the night with her, made him feel something he hadn't felt in a very long time.

When Rafael walked into the lobby after having given his car to the valet, Petra was talking to one of the staff members near the souvenir shop. She watched him from the corner of her eye as he headed towards Laila, one of the concierges.

"Have you seen Ms. Fontaine"?

"No, Mr. Solano, I haven't. But then again, I just started my shift five minutes ago", she said as she shook her head.

Petra furrowed her brows as she watched him walk over to another staff member and ask the same question. He seemed bothered by the fact that neither one of them had spotted Emma and she wondered why.

"Rafael"?

Rafael turned around and found himself face to face with Max Gashsteiner. He put a fake smile on his face.

"Max! How great to see you! Petra says you've been asking for me".

"Yes. Walk with me will you"?

Rafael nodded and followed him to the elevators and walked into a free one.

"Why don't you tell me what's wrong Max"?

Max put his hand up in protest. "You'll see".

Rafael said nothing and simply looked at the digital screen as the floor numbers changed. When the elevator stopped on the 17th floor, he saw it as a sign. It was the same floor as Emma's suite.

He followed Max out of the elevator and into his suite.

Max showed the living room to Rafael.

"Now you see my problem"?

The room was filled with bouquet of flowers, mainly roses of various colors.

Rafael looked at Max. "As much as I would like to welcome you this way, we didn't do this. I know you'd prefer a bottle of cognac and a good cigar".

"I know. Besides, I know they're not for me".

"How do you know that"?

"I looked at one of the cards on the bouquet. Maybe you can find out to whom they truly belong to".

Rafael walked over towards one of the bouquets and removed the envelope. He opened it and looked at the card.

His eyes widened as he read the card:

"Emma, I will keep sending flowers until you accept my apology. I miss you, beautiful. I love you so much and I'm sorry I was a jerk. XOXO Sebastien".

He put the card back in the envelope, then back to its original position. Who the hell was Sebastien? Were they still together? What the hell had he done? Was that why Emma had fled to Miami? Was that why she was reluctant and careful when around him? And if so, why had she almost let him kiss her earlier?

He turned and looked at Max. "I think I know who these are for. I'll have someone come and take them out of your suite Max. I'm terribly sorry for the mix-up and the inconvenience".

"It's not a big deal Rafael. All I can say, is that Emma, must be an amazing person for someone to go to such lengths".

"Yes, she is".

Max looked at Rafael but said nothing.

Rafael left Max's suite and headed a bit further down the hall to the next suite door, Emma's. He prepared his hand to knock, then kept it frozen in the air a few inches away from the door. He then brought his arm down and turned heels! He headed towards the elevator and pushed on the button to go back down to his office. As he waited for the elevator to arrive, he looked at Emma's suite door again. The playboy version of Rafael wouldn't have cared about the flowers. Quite on the contrary, it would have raised the stakes and the challenge, and he never backed away from a challenge. But today's version of Rafael was cowardly walking away.

When the elevator arrived, and the doors opened, he told the new version of Rafael to suck it in and he made a U-turn and headed back towards Emma's suite. This time his fist didn't hesitate to knock on the door. He knocked twice in a very determined way.

After a few seconds, the door opened, and Emma appeared in front of him.

She looked at him and must have felt a wave of guilt. "Look, I'm sorry, I thought it was best if I took a cab back to the hotel, I didn't want to burden you".

Rafael took a step into the suite forcing, Emma somewhat, to take a step back. With one quick swift of the hand, he pushed the door and it closed behind him. He looked at her and once again their eyes locked.

"Either you tell me to leave or I'm going to finish what we started"!