I bit my nails as I heard the clock tick. My eyes were fixated on the clock on the wall in front of me and it was safe to say, I was seconds away from passing out.

I mean, come on, I knew that secretaries were meant to be present with the boss while going in a meeting. I wasn't that dumb to not know that, but still the least my boss could've done is told me about going with him inside the hall a day earlier.

I was so unprepared about the project and I didn't put any effort at all in getting ready today because I was way too tired with all the endless talks I had with Zach last night. I was positive that I looked homeless. Mr. Rhodes was supp-

"You should really look at your face right now. Fucking priceless," Alex came laughing inside my cabin.

"Ever heard of knocking?" I rolled my eyes and rested my head on the table.

"It's my building, I go wherever the hell I want," he chuckled and sat on the seat opposite to mine.

"I'm freaking out," I explained and counted backwards from ten to zero.

It didn't help.

"Yeah, no shit. Calm down, it's just a damn meeting," Alex shrugged and relaxed back on the chair.

"Easier said than done. I look fucking homeless in this dress, dude," I whined, making him laugh again.

"Oh c'mon you look fine. Trust me you're not gonna screw this up," he nodded his head at me and gave a dimpled smile.

"Yeah, tell that to me when your grumpy best friend fires me the second he sees me after that meeting," I narrowed my eyes at him and he shook his head and laughed.

He said,"Oh, don't worry about that, Ace will never fire you."

"And how are you so sure?" I asked as I dug my nails deeper in my palms.

"Oh you bet me on this one."

***********

"Come inside," I heard his voice as I opened the door and prayed that it may open to my room.

It didn't.

"Here are your files, Mr. Rhodes," I said and sat on the seat opposite to him.

"I see you've rewritten the amounts too. Impressive," he stated while nodding his head and I did a little victory dance in my head.

"Mr. Kingston is still not here...?" I bit my lower lip as Mr. Rhodes looked up from the papers. I could have sworn I saw his eyes fall to my lips for a millisecond, but he quickly recovered.

He said,"Oh, he'll come around before the meeting starts."

Great, so that meant that I was stuck alone with this very sexy man with my emotions already scattered everywhere until Alex decided to show up.

I didn't notice that Mr. Rhodes was intensely staring at me until I looked up from the hands to his face. He was looking at me as if he was trying to put the pieces of a puzzle into place.

He didn't say anything and neither did I, but I was sure that if I didn't pass out because of the stress of the meeting, I sure as hell would faint under this man's intense gaze.

Mr. Rhodes finally decided to free me from his punishing gaze and directed his attention back to his laptop as I sat there waiting for Alex to arrive and crack some stupid joke to lower down my anxiety levels.

A few minutes later Alex joined us, as cool as a cucumber, and sat on the seat beside me as I felt Mr. Rhodes' hand tense up while writing something down on the paper.

"I hope I missed the boring talk," Alex said and tied his hands at the back of his head.

"Unfortunately, you didn't," Mr. Rhodes gave him a tight lipped smile and Alex rolled his eyes.

We had discussed some more before it was time to go to the conference hall. The three of us left Mr. Rhodes' office and made our way towards the lift. With Alex being around, the tension between us was much less and I tried my best sticking to his side rather than Mr. Rhodes'.

We reached the meeting hall and I took a deep breath. I was way better now than I was in the morning. Alex had assured me that I wouldn't be asked questions and wouldn't have to say anything unless I wanted to. He promised to sit right beside me and cover up for me, if needed.

The meeting started and Mr. Rhodes took his place in the center, in front of the multi media, as everyone took their seats. All the people who had joined us were mostly men and, luckily, I recognised most of them as the CEOs of many well known corporations.

Mr. Rhodes started speaking and Alex took his seat right beside me as he had promised and I gave him a cheeky smile.

There was something about the way Mr. Rhodes spoke. Since I had started working in his enterprises, this was the first time I saw his properly speaking. He made sure that his audience was engaged. He asked questions, made jokes and occasionally took a sip or two of his coffee while speaking.

I was awed by his way of moving around so confidently. He was so full of confidence like he knew what he was doing. I just couldn't tear my eyes away from him. The way he loosened his tie while speaking, the way he lowered his head smiling when somebody asked a very stupid question. I was mesmerised by his ease at handling everything.

There was a brief moment, when while talking he looked at me and instead of looking away, I started biting my lip and smiled at him. In that moment, I could've sworn I saw him fighting back a smile.

When it was Alex's turn to go ahead and take the lead, I expected him to give away his usual immature behaviour, but boy, was I wrong. Alex made sure that his chin was high and his points were sharp and clear. The slight smirk on his face and the way he talked proved that he had done his homework after all.

When Alex went forward to speak, instead of taking the reserved seat for him, Mr. Rhodes took his place and sat down beside me.

I turned my head sideways in order to steal a glance, but found him already staring at me with a faint smile on his face.

I grinned and showed him a thumbs up and he lightly shook his head and looked down at his hands, smiling.

*********

Hey guys!!!

I hope you all liked the chapter and I'm sorry for the late update..... I really need to get my shit together lol

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- Your Karma

Peace