We stepped out of the Porsche and I looked at the huge skyscraper in front of me. Man, it felt good to be in Paris again.

I took a look back to make sure that Isabelle was following me because the girl seemed quiet lost in thoughts and kept zoning out since yesterday. I admitted that I might have been a little too harsh on her the day before, but there was no way in hell I was apologising. 

In all honesty, I couldn't care less about her.

At least that's what I told myself.

"Good Evening Sir, how can I help you?" the receptionist smiled at me.

"We have a reservation of two rooms under the name of Ace Rhodes," I ran a hand through my messy hair and she nodded and typed something on her laptop.

"Yes of course Mr. Rhodes, here are your keys and your luggage will be sent to your rooms shortly," the receptionist smiled rather seductively and I knew it was my cue to leave.

"Come on, let's go," I snapped my fingers in front of Isabelle who seemed to be lost in thoughts yet again.

Since we landed in Paris, all the way from the airport to this hotel, she had been pretty much looking out of the window and it was obvious that she wasn't enjoying the view rather thinking about something that was clearly disturbing the hell out of her.

I wondered if she could give the best the next two days.

We stepped in the elevator and I smiled as I felt a sense of deja vu and shook my head lightly. The last time we were in an elevator together, things didn't exactly end well and Isabelle ended up avoiding eye contact with me for days. 

Isabelle pressed herself to the farthest corner of a elevator wall away from me and I looked down at my feet and smiled. She remembered it too.

I looked up and found her staring at me but when she realised that I caught her staring she averted her gaze elsewhere as blush started creeping up her cheek to the tip of her nose.

The elevator door opened and we stepped outside as we made our way towards the rooms that we were given. 

"Miss Reinhart?" I called out her name to gather her attention.

"Yes?" she looked up from her feet towards me with an expression that I wasn't able to decipher.

"Do you want me to come to your room at eight tomorrow morning to discuss the details of the meeting we're supposed to attend or will you come over to mine?" I tried to sound as polite as I could but obviously dealing with people politely wasn't my department.

"I'll come," she said in a hoarse voice and cleared her throat.

This was the first thing she had said after the little 'moment' when she seemed really panicked while the plane was taking off and I on the other hand tried my best to calm her down which admit it or not, kind of worked out.

"Alright then. Tomorrow morning eight it is," I nodded my head as we reached our rooms and she gave me a one quick smile before opening the door and going inside.

*****************

I stood outside of his room's door contemplating whether I was ready to knock on the door yet or not. Of course I wasn't.

But did I had a choice? I didn't. So I did what I had to do. 

The door clicked open and Mr. Rhodes stood there with messy hair, wearing gray sweatpants and a black tee shirt. 

Great. Even more trouble.

"Oh Good Morning, Miss Reinhart," he said and stepped aside to let me in.

"Good Morning," I gave him a weak smile and took little steps towards the couch.

His laptop was lying on the bed and papers were scattered everywhere which proved that he was already working. 

"Take a seat. I'll order coffee," he said and I nodded.

I sat on the couch and looked around the room, trying to distract myself and keep my eyes from moving back to my boss who looked really really really good in a casual attire.

"Alright so, I hope you're feeling better today?" he took a seat beside me on the couch and the spacy room started feeling not big enough to breathe.

"Yeah I'm better," I managed to choke out and looked down at my feet.

Mr. Rhodes didn't say anything for quiet a while which only made me more anxious and my anxiety levels yet again shot up to the sky.

"Okay then let's discuss what's important."

He stood up and walked over to the bed to pick up his laptop and a few papers and came back to sit with me, a little closer this time.

This was going to be a long trip.

************

I pulled up my black knee length skirt with a tucked in white collar shirt as I stood in front of the mirror, making sure I looked professional. I put on black heels and tied my hair in a pony tail and voila I was ready to go.

Except I wasn't confident about my attire.

This was my first time working as a secretary and I had no idea how to dress up whatsoever. I searched it up on the internet and they said that knee length skirt did just fine and it was considered professional so I went with it.

In addition to that, Zach wasn't picking up his phone so I really did not have any other option than to dress up as how weird people on the online forums told me.

A knock on the room's door broke my chain of thoughts and I took a deep breath as I made my way towards the door.

"Are you ready to leave?" Mr. Rhodes asked as soon as I opened the door with his eyes on the wrist watch.

He looked up and brought his eyes to my face as he so shamelessly checked me out from head to toe and I just stood there feeling self-conscious and nervous. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was checking me out and in all honesty, his expressions were obvious that he didn't care one bit about how I couldn't breathe under his gaze. If anything, he seemed amused.

"Y-yeah, I'm ready," I choked out after what felt like an eternity and he nodded his head and turned around. 

He started moving towards the elevator with me hot on his heels. He didn't have anything in his hands so I was guessing that he already sent the laptop and other files to the car before knocking on my door.

The elevator door closed and I started counting backwards again to distract myself and not to focus on his cologne reaching my nostrils and making my mind go haywire.

With a lot of self restraint and mind control, I made it out and we exited the hotel and sat in the same Porsche from last night as I revised everything that Mr. Rhodes told me about the project in my mind in case someone asked me a question. 

Which I was hoping no one would.

Because I didn't know what I'd do if they did.

***********

Heya!!

I'll leave now bye.

Vote ❤️

Until then,

—Your Karma

Peace