Chapter 5
1292 Words
CHAPTER FIVE
JACE’S POV
The music in the background was soft—elegant and expensive. It was the kind of soundtrack meant to accompany champagne flutes and million-dollar mergers. But I wasn't letting it sink into my system.
Instead, my eyes were locked on her.
Emily Blake…
I watched her from across the ballroom, as she spoke to some junior executives whom I didn't care to identify. And slowly I realized that she was truly breathtaking. Her dress—-black, off shoulder, hugging every curve like it was made to tempt me. Exposing her thighs, that haunted me more nights than I cared to admit.
I mean, I wasn't supposed to want her. But then again, she was right here in front of me. And yet here I was.
A few heads turned as I made my way across the ballroom headed in her direction. Rumors from around the company were already flying about us and for some reason, I didn't give a damn.
Having to be here as a trainee under a company I knew too well made me less concerned about what the others around me had to say about me.
Emily noticed me halfway there, and I watched her fingers tighten slightly around her glass as I approached her. Images from the kiss we’d shared back at my apartment resurfaced in my mind. Making it so hard to resist taking her up in my arms.
“Would you want to dance?” I asked when I reached her. No long talk, just truth.
For a minute she blinked, surprised at my desire to have her with me on the dancefloor ignoring the crowd of company workers around us.
“I’m not one to be on the dancefloor with a trainee Jace,” she responded and then turned.
“Trainee huh?”
“Unless you're too scared to admit,” I cut in. Taking a step towards her, closing the distance between us.
“Admit what exactly Jace?” she asked.
“That it meant nothing, that my touch on your skin gave no illusion of what this is,”
“And that I was just some random fling at the club, that you still can't get over the night we both had…The s*x!!” I whispered into her ears from behind.
“You wish!” she snapped, glaring at me.
“Then prove me wrong Blake!”
“It's Miss Blake!”
I didn't say a word, instead, I stretched my hand towards her. She hesitated—-but only for a heartbeat. Then she placed her hand on mine.
The moment I had her hand in my grip, the air around us for some reason, thickened. The whispers from the crowd around grew louder by the minute. But for once, she didn't seem to care either.
I pulled her into my arms on the dance floor, letting her sway to the song. With one hand over her waist and her hand gently on my shoulders.
”Just because you have me on the dance floor with you, doesn't mean you're in control," she whispered as she turned around to switch her spot on the dance floor.
Well, she had no idea that all the years I’d ever had to be out for an event at a ballroom dance were finally going to pay off. Might as well toy with her a bit.
Before she could take another step, I curled my arm around her waist, moving it teasingly slowly.
I glided my hand from the side of her waist to her back. Watching slowly and attentively as she tensed, flexing her arm as she took a deep breath.
‘Damn, she's beautiful,’ I muttered to myself as I stared into her eyes.
"Two can play this game, Miss Blake," I responded as my hand went over my wrist.
She slowly slid her hand until our fingers were interlocked as we swayed to the music.
My hand traveled up to her back, feeling her soft smooth skin from her backless red dress.
I stepped to the side and our eyes met once more.
"Half a million people are watching us. Getting desperate now, Mr. Jace?" she smirked.
“You know I haven't gotten the opportunity to know your last name,”
Knowing there was more to her learning my last name, I forced a smile at her without a word and had her twirl to the sound of the music.
Then the song ended, and she slipped away into the crowd with a small nod. Vanishing into the crowd. But not before I caught the furious glare burning from the corner of the room.
Miranda Wells.
For some reason, I could sense trouble and I could see that it was just the beginning.
**************************
It came the next evening.
I’d stayed up late at the office, making sure to have the summaries of most clients checked with the door half opened when I heard the sharp click of heels. I didn't need to look up, I knew that stride.
Miranda…
“Someone’s been staying up late,” she said with a smile creased on her face as she approached my desk.
“Lots of other extra activities to deal with—-”
I leaned back in my chair, glaring at her “Get to the point.”
Surprisingly, she smiled and then bent over my desk. Her blouse dipped too low to be an accident.
“I'm just saying, plus we all know you’ve had your fun with Emily. Now maybe it's time to remember who’s really on your side,”
I perked up almost instantly, a bit disgusted at her words. But instead, she reached out, brushing her hand over my tie.
“Get out!” I scoffed.
Her expression faltered immediately, and for a moment the real Miranda cracked through.
“How dare you?” she protested leaning forward.
“I think the board would have a better response for your question,” I said and then stormed out of the office, still fuming from the fact that I had been this close to revealing the reason I was here in the company in the first place.
****************************
The next morning, I’d just stepped out of a meeting when I heard voices echoing from the lower floor. Sharp, ugly, and angry.
I could recall Miranda yelling to the other staff members about a failed project, but I wasn't sure what it was this time. But whatever it was, I could tell it was trouble and for some reason, Emily was getting dragged into it.
“You believe you’d go way past the position you're in now”
“Wake up Emily!” Miranda’s voice echoed from a distance and I could already tell that Emily was the center of it all.
“Unless you’d have to sleep your way through it just as you did with the first!” Miranda spat.
“Excuse me?” I heard Emily respond and the minute I was up close, I realized she looked like she might lunge.
And in that moment, I stepped in. I was not able to stand there watching her being insulted.
“That’s enough!”
Every head in the office turned.
“Oh great, our fine ass gentleman is finally here to save the day and what makes you think you're in any position to cut me off?” Miranda spat.
“That's because I can!” I shot back.
The room went deathly silent.
And then I added, clear and loud. “As chairman of Callahan Enterprises, I have every damn right to intrude!”
Shock rippled through the room like a storm and my eyes trailed off to Emily.
“You…you’re—-?”
- Writer
