One thing was certain, I had managed to get on Mr. Rhodes' nerves last night and let's just say I wasn't liking the outcome of it.

I was given shit tons of work that I didn't even have a chance to take my lunch break. This morning when I came to the office, I went to his room to get him coffee and ask for any important schedule changes for today when he gave me this death glare before burying me in loads and loads of files.

I guess it was his way of getting back at me for ignoring him so coldly last night.

But whatever, I was still proud of myself.

It was past six and my office hours were over but like the responsible employee I was, I was still working my ass off and trying to get half of the work done by tonight.

I was sure Mr. Rhodes was still in the office and he would be for the next couple of hours and that would mean that I was going to be alone with him in the huge building yet again.

Yoohoo. Sooo excited. Note the sarcasm.

As I flipped through the pages, I noticed that there was one page left where he hadn't signed and I cursed under my breath when it dawned on me that I would have to go to his office whether I liked or not.

I made a sound that was something between a whine and a cry for help before standing up from my chair and making my way towards the joint door we had.

I was just so tired to go all the way out and then walk over to his office's door.

When I heard a 'yes' from the other side, I opened the door and stepped inside. I was expecting Mr. Rhodes to be sitting on his chair typing on his laptop or flipping through the pages of a file but what I saw was something I wasn't expecting.

Mr. Rhodes was standing by the glass window of his office, looking down at the beautiful view of NYC. He had his jacket off and his cufflinks were rolled up making him look ten times more sexier.

Bad thoughts, out. Now.

"Yes?" he said and turned around like he already knew it was me. That was when I noticed something else.

His eyes were bloodshot, not the kind of bloodshot you get because of the lack of sleep, but the kind of bloodshot when you're heavily drunk.

I noticed that there was a bottle of alcohol on his desk which meant that he was drinking in the office and was probably drunk now and I was alone with him in this huge building and he could do anything to me and he looked so sexy and hot and intimidating right now and..and- oh my God breathe Isabelle, breathe.

"I..." I trailed off but forgot what I came to say.

He started taking slow and steady steps towards me and with every step he took toward me, I took one back.

His eyes were hooded and there was this expression on his face that made my toes curl.

"Yes, Miss Reinhart?" he asked in a slow whisper when he was on an arm's distance from me.

"I...your sign...papers," I tried to make coherent sentence but my brain refused to work and I was having a hard time not passing out in his arms.

Come on Isabelle, get a hold of yourself.

"What is it, princess?" he whispered very slowly as he put his one hand on the wall behind me and I a shiver ran down my spine.

"You f-forgot to sign some papers...." I stammered but still miraculously managed to get a sentence out considering my current state.

He was so close to me. Close enough for me to drown myself in his intoxicating scent. Close enough for me to feel his breath on my face.

He smirked. He knew what he was doing to me. Like he was mocking me because of the affect he had on me. And that thought alone made me want to loathe myself. He was playing with me and I was just giving him a chance to do whatever he wanted. I was getting affected by him exactly like he wanted me to and he was clearly enjoying this. Seeing me getting all flustered while he couldn't care less about my feelings.

This was pathetic. I was pathetic.

I decided to break myself away from his punishing intense gaze and took one step forward, meeting his eyes with the exact same confidence in my eyes that he had in his.

"You forgot to sign a few paper, Mr. Rhodes," I spoke more clearly and with an edge to my voice that he seemed to pick on. When he noticed a change in my demeanor, he stepped back and took the file from my hand before sitting down on the sofa and signing it.

I waited for him, as I patiently stood there with a solely professional expression on my face.

"We're going to a ball Thursday evening," he announced and I tried not to choke on my saliva.

All I manage to let out was, "Oh."

This seemed to get him even more annoyed. There were times when I got all flushed and acted like an immature fifteen year old girl when he said things like this but right now my mind was still registering what he said and he probably thought that I was perfectly fine with him throwing these kind of bombs at me after this new found confidence.

Well....good for me.

"I'll text you the details," he stood up and handed me the file.

"Sure," I smiled, turned around and left the office like I couldn't care less about the stupid ball when on the inside I died and came back from hell twice already.

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

"Yes but seriously, do I really have to?!" I whined at Alex and he rolled his eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic, would you?"he sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Yes but like there are like a trillion girls out there who could be his date. Why me?" I swear I was about to cry.

I got my period yesterday and let's just say that right at the moment my hormones were everywhere.

"Geez Belle. There aren't even a trillion people on earth," he said the most stupid thing ever.

"Get out of my office please," I rolled my eyes and somehow seeing me in this misery made him chuckle.

"You're going whether you like it or not JellyBelly," he ruffled my hair before standing up and making his way out of the office.

"Yeah screw you too," I yelled as he walked out, chuckling.

I guess I had no choice then, I sighed and dropped my head on the desk in frustration.

Going to a ball with Mr. Rhodes was hard enough already but now that I got to know that the stupid ball was taking place out of town and we'd be stuck together in a car for God only knew how long, I felt like chewing my arm out was easier than this.

Okay maybe I was exaggerating a little......okay maybe a lot but you get the point.

And I would have to go shopping too because the great Isabelle didn't have any good dresses to wear to a ball comprising of millionaires and billionaires.

Yay life.

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

"Damn girl, you're so lucky," Sasha stated as she dreamily stared at particularly nothing.

"And you're delusional," I nodded, more to myself than to her.

"Going out every other day with the two most hot and sexy men of NYC, if you're not lucky then I'm a green monkey."

"You're a monkey," I nodded my head in agreement.

"Screw you. So we're going shopping tonight right?" she asked happily.

"Yeah...I guess," I shrugged.

I took Sasha out with me for shopping because a) she had a good taste in clothes, b) I didn't have any other close female friends so it's not like I had an option.

And she always agreed happily without any persuasion so it was a win win.

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

Um...Vote? Please? Pretty please?