I entered Alex's office as the spoon full of Nutella flew out of his hand and landed on the floor and he placed one hand on his heart while holding the Nutella jar in the other. And he had his legs over his desk with his laptop open. Great.

"Geez, couldn't you have knocked?" he said as he regained his composure and I rolled my eyes.

"Alex, you barge into my office all the time, I'm sure you'll be fine," I said as I took the seat opposite to him and it was his turn to roll his eyes.

"Yeah, but I'm me," he said in a 'duh' tone.

"Anyway, what's up? Did you tell her yet?" he asked, taking another spoon out of his drawer and taking a bite full of Nutella.

"Yep, I did," I nodded my head, relaxing back on the chair.

"And lemme guess, she refused," he cocked an eyebrow and I smirked.

"Alex, it's me who was trying to convince her," I said with confidence laced in my voice and Alex made an 'o' shape of his mouth while nodding.

"So you seduced her into agreeing," he casually said and I coughed up a storm.

"Of course not, idiot. I showed her how she truly deserved it," I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever it is, she agreed, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Less work for me," he said while taking another bite and I shook my head and rubbed my temples.

This guy was hopeless.

I had already told Alex about the shares and making Isabelle the new CFO and let's just say he was more than happy when he heard it.

"So what are you gonna do now that you're having 'personal relations' with your business associate?" he asked after a moment of silence.

"Nothing, I guess. If anyone has a problem, they're more than welcome to leave," I shrugged nonchalantly and he looked at me with disbelief in his eyes.

"Gee, bro, what a hypocrite. Remember when you used to fire people for even talking something other than business?"

"They're my employees, I'm the boss, Alex. I do whatever the hell I want," I rolled my eyes and relaxed back on the chair with a bored expression on my face.

"Still, you're a big fat hypocrite," he said in a high pitched voice as I stood up and made my way out of his office.

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

"No, it's just there's a lot to do in such a short span of time," I sighed heavily as I buried my head in Ace's chest.

"Hey, I'm sure you're gonna be fine. Did you shop for yourself yet?" he asked and absentmindedly rubbed circles with his thumb on the back of my hand as we laid on his couch.

"No, I didn't have the time to. That's honestly the least of my concerns right now. Emily's so worked up, you know how much she had wanted for this day to be perfect and now with the twins and all..." I trailed and I felt him nodding his head as he pressed a soft kiss on the crown of my head.

"Come on, let's go shopping," he suddenly stood up and extended his hand out for me to take.

"Uh—what?" I scoffed and he rolled his eyes and took my hand from my lap into his.

"Not every girl gets a chance to go shopping with Ace Rhodes, darling. Come on, now. We're going to buy whatever stuff you need for the big day," he pulled me up and I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"But you just came back from office and I'm sure you're tired..." I ran my finger down his chest and he cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Unless you're suggesting that we stay at home and do something better, I'm sure I'll be just fine," he said and I rolled my eyes as I tried to hide the stupid blush that kept creeping on my face.

We walked towards his main door as I kept biting my lip to keep myself from smiling like a maniac. These days, oftentimes Ace would offer me to come to his place after office, and considering I had absolutely no one at home waiting for me, I gladly accepted but I'd usually ask him to drop me back at my place before midnight because let's just say my anxiety went all woohoo even by the mere thought of spending the entire night with him.

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

I sipped on my margarita as we roamed around the mall aimlessly. Honestly, it was fun having a chance to spend a normal day with Ace. I really needed a break from his exotic lifestyle. Right now, I didn't even care about the stupid dresses. As long as we were holding hands and going into outlets after outlets, I was happy.

But Ace on the other hand...uh did not seem thrilled.

"We've been into three billion shops already," he looked down at me and groaned and I just gave him a cheeky smile.

"I know! Isn't it fun?" I batted my eyelashes at him, hoping it would lighten up his mood but oh who was I kidding? It was Ace we were talking about.

"Oh look, there's Dior," I looked at him with puppy dog eyes and he rolled his eyes and muttered a 'fine' under his breath before I dragged him with me.

After ten minutes of trying on some ridiculously expensive and sultry dresses, I almost gave up when my eyes landed on something red and I cocked my head to the side only to see Ace standing there holding a red dress in his hands sipping on his coffee looking out the window.

"Is that—uh, for me?" I approached him and he brought his attention to me with an eye roll.

"No. I just randomly like to come to women's clothing outlets and hold dresses near my chest looking out the window."

I chuckled a little as he handed it to me.

"Try it on for me, would you?" he stepped nearer and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"Mhm," I nodded my head and went back to the dressing room to try it on.

I stood in front of the full-length mirror and checked myself out up from head to toe and when I was convinced that I could walk out with this dress on me, I opened the door and popped my head out, and looked on both sides before waving my hand at Ace who was rather busy counting the chandeliers on the ceiling.

"Ace!" I whisper-shouted. That seemed to get his attention because he stood up and started making his towards me adjusting his cufflinks.

As he lifted his head towards my direction, his pace slowed down and he looked up and down at me with a calculating gaze.

His eyes were dark and there was this emotion in them I couldn't place. Lust, perhaps? It seemed as if he were undressing me with those eyes and the more he kept coming closer, the more I found my body getting hotter.

When he was on an arm's distance from me, I opened my mouth to ask him how I looked but before I could do that, I was pushed inside the dressing room, pressed against the wall with his lips on mine.

He placed one of his hands on my neck and kissed me harder as I lost my fingers in his hair, groaning inside his mouth when he dragged his hand up my bare thigh.

"God, Isabelle. You don't know the things you do to me," he pressed his forehead against mine as we both panted heavily, trying to catch our breaths.

"So I take it you like the dress..." I said after a few moments of silence and felt him vibrate against me in a soft chuckle.

"I love it," he kissed my forehead, and just like that, I melted in his arms when the stupid lady manager started knocking at the door ruining the moment.

***********

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