Standing right in front of the dress that I had certainly been given to wear because apparently I was my boss' date for the night, I took a deep breath.

Here I was, thinking that I had finally gotten over the harder part and that the second day was meant to be just another one of the boring meetings but alas, if only things ever worked out in my favor.

I paced back and forth as my eyes jumped from the clock to the dress. It was only one night, right? What could possibly go wrong? Apart from the fact that I lost my senses when near that man, of course.

Was it worth a shot?

I mean Mr. Rhodes hadn't exactly given me a choice. I had to let my pride down and be his damn date for the night, whether I liked it or not.

I took the dress out of the box and smiled. I had to admit, the dress was exceptionally beautiful. Whether or not he showed it to the world, my boss actually had a great taste, believing the fact that he chose this dress for me. I had never been the one for dresses but hey, let's just not forget who was the prom queen in high school.

I smiled, let's do this.

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

I stood in front of the full length mirror and smiled, I looked entirely like another person. The dress fit so perfectly as if were made just for me. I pulled it off with a red matte lipstick and a bit of an eyeliner and highlighter and voila, I was down for any party.

It was quarter to seven that meant that I had exactly half an hour before Mr. Rhodes knocked on my door and I was glad to have some time to myself to freak out.

I picked my earrings up from the bedside table and went back in front of the mirror. As I was putting them on, I heard a knock on the door and looked at the clock.

It couldn't be him. Mr. Rhodes was out for a personal meeting with his friend and there was no way in hell he could've gotten back this early, got ready and have had the audacity to knock on a woman's door who had exactly half an hour left of the given time.

So it was the room service, I presumed. As my clumsy self had spilled the coffee all over the sheets in nervousness so I had called them a while ago.

"Come in," I shouted and an 'ouch' escaped my lip as the pin at the back of the post of the earring hit the wrong spot.

"I accidentally spilled coffee on the sheets, I'd really appreciate if you would change the sheets please," I said and finally put the earrings in both of my ears.

I was about to turn around to see why the hell was the person not answering me when I heard a light chuckle and I froze.

Fuck my life.

"Not sure if that's how you talk to your boss," Mr. Rhodes said and I heard his footsteps as he made his way towards me.

He walked over to me until I could see him standing right behind me in the full length mirror. I turned around and put on the best normal expression I could muster up.

"I brought you this," he said and pulled a box out of his pocket.

He opened it and my jaw dropped down to the floor. It was a necklace, a tremendously beautiful necklace of oval beads with teardrop pendant. I looked up to meet his eyes to find him looking at me.

"Oh don't worry it's not diamond if you were curious," he shrugged and I almost kicked the guy in his gut for ruining the mood.

"Uh...this wasn't necessary," I squeaked and he nodded.

"It wasn't, but I was passing through a shop and let's just say it caught my attention. Plus it would go with the dress," he shrugged like giving your secretary a necklace was not a big deal at all.

"Sure thanks," I choked out in a small voice and was about to take it from his hands when he recoiled.

"Let me," he said in a voice merely above a whisper and I dug my nails into my palms to keep myself from passing out.

I closed my eyes and turned around as I felt him stepping closer to me. My emotions were on the peak and it felt like my knees would give up any second now.

He gathered my hair and put them on one side. He pulled the necklace out of the box and put it around my neck. His cold hands touched my bare skin and I shuddered.

My eyes were closed but I felt him lean forward as a small gasp escaped my lip that I wasn't sure he heard.

When his lips were almost touching my ear, he whispered, "Isabelle—

this was the first time he had said my name and I couldn't help but open my eyes to look straight at him in the eye in the mirror that showed both of our reflections

—you look beautiful."

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

I hooked my arm with Mr. Rhodes' as we started moving towards the entrance of the hall the party was supposed to take place at and tons of paparazzis bombarded us, no let me correct, bombarded Mr. Rhodes with questions and took our pictures.

One or two even asked if I was his girlfriend but most of them didn't push this topic, considering the rumor that Ace Rhodes never dated.

Like hell I believed that.

The butler opened the door for us and I smiled at him as we made our way into the party hall.

Just as expected, every single thing was extravagant. The hall had chandeliers from wall to wall. Tables covered with white table cloths were aligned neatly. It was crowded with a lot people wearing million dollar outfits, accessories and what not.

The women were wearing dresses, some decent, some too revealing for my liking and they practically screamed rich. I wondered if I could pull out the rich act for a night.

We took our reserved seats which apparently had to be around the table closest to the stage that gathered the most attention.

We sat in silence as other people started coming and sitting with us and I tried to avoid eye contact with as many as I could.

"Come on, let's walk over to the bar," Mr. Rhodes said over the music and I nodded.

He asked me what I would like to have but I simply refused because let's just say that I would very much like to go back home with my dignity and considering the fact that I was a bad drunk, I'd rather not take my chances tonight.

Like a really bad drunk.

He downed two tequila shots right in front of me and shook his head as I just awkwardly stood there, counting the minutes till we got to go home again.

"Hey Ace, my man, where have you been?" an elderly man approached us and I cursed under my breath at the thought of human interaction with rich people and put on a smile on my face.

"William, how are you? Noah told me you were in Boston," they hugged each other and I couldn't miss the glint of affection in his eyes as he met that old but handsome looking man.

I guess he was family or someone pretty close to him.

"Yeah had to fly straight from there to here. Anyway, you brought a girl, am I hallucinating?" William rubbed his eyes and chuckled and Mr. Rhodes smiled and playfully smacked his arm.

"This is my secretary, William," he gave William a look and William frowned and then grinned as he looked at me, then back at Mr. Rhodes and then at me again.

"Ohhh so boss and se-"

"Don't complete that sentence," Mr. Rhodes gave him a death glare and he chuckled and shook his head.

"Well hello Miss...?" William extended his hand towards me to shake.

"Isabelle Reinhart," I took his hand and smiled.

"It's a pleasure meeting you Isabelle. I'll see you around," he genuinely smiled and I mirrored the expression.

"See you buttercup," he winked at Ace and walked away as I bit my lower lip to keep myself from laughing.

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

We ate and met different people, around most of which I was uncomfortable. But to my surprise, Mr. Rhodes wasn't much of a social person either. I mean I wasn't exactly born in a billionaire family with a silver spoon in my mouth but he on the other hand was not acting like I expected him to.

He was around people of his class and yet wasn't making any effort to continue the conversation people, especially women, were dying to have with him.

He just kept tapping his foot on the floor like he too was waiting for this hell to be over just like me.

"Well if this isn't a face I was hoping to see today," Steven from yesterday's evening popped up out of nowhere and grinned at me.

Good thing Mr. Rhodes was by my side today.

I smiled at Steven as I felt Mr. Rhodes body tense up against mine.

"Good Evening Mr. Edward," it was a surprise and a relief that I remembered this guy's surname.

"Oh come on Isabelle, call me Steve," he said while sipping his champagne and I just awkwardly smiled at him.

Steven took a step towards me, Mr. Rhodes was sitting on the stool of the bar island, having his back to us he stood up and turned around. I expected him to just give Steven a glare and we were good to go but instead he possessively wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me towards him.

A slight gasp escaped my lip but I quickly recovered and put on a devilish smile as Steven stepped back with his hands raised up in surrender.

"I'd really appreciate if you'd leave my colleague alone, Steve," Mr.Rhodes said and with a hint of anger in his voice that sent chills down my spine.

"Woah chill man, I was just trying to make friends here. But never mind, I'll leave you two alone," Steven said and turned around, shoving one of his hands in his pocket and disappearing from our line of sight.

Mr. Rhodes loosened his grip on my waist but still didn't let go of me. Not that I minded anyway.

I mean I expected the guy to practically ditch me and go make out with hot models while I sulked in misery all alone here but turned out he was avoiding people just as much as I was, whether it be men or women.

After Mr. Rhodes met the person, who I assumed threw this party, he came up to me and said, "I think we should leave now."

"Of course," I stood up from my chair and fixed my dress. I started walking towards the door when Mr. Rhodes grabbed my arm and hooked it with his as he started walking towards the exit without sparing me a glance and I looked at him all confused and mesmerised.

**********

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