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  “So after you suddenly decided to call it a night we went upstairs to have a few more drinks. Sasha was disappointed and I quickly reassured her that it was an emergency and you needed to get home. She took it fairly well and the loud music and the alcohol helped bring her back. By the fifth song she was eying me with her playful eyes. Then she started smiling a lot, and we suddenly felt the urge to hit the dance floor. That about covers it.”

  “Ben, our savior.” I chuckled as the ball swooshed through the net.

  “You know, that girl was pretty sharp. She caught the bartender try to double charge us for drinks and started raising so much hell that the manager promised me I would not have to pay for drinks there all summer. Don’t know why you’d let that pass by.” Ben said, more to himself. “But how was your night, where did you run off to?”

  “It wasn’t anything important.” I hesitated. His brows came down as he looked at me. It was the look I knew all too well, he sensed there was more.

  “Yeah right, I could see that you got into your car and headed the opposite direction from your place.”

  “When did you get so observant?” I said coolly. “Alright, you got me. A girl made a scene by our table last night, and she reminded me of someone I knew a while back. I only saw her for a moment so couldn’t be sure so I went out to check.”

  “And?” Ben stopped shooting and looked at me.

  “It wasn’t her. Some girl from the party upstairs. She got in a fight with her boss and had to leave, so I gave her a ride home.”

  “What a gentleman you are, Mr. Roland!” Ben smirked. “And then you two kissed and did the sideways tango?”

  “Bonus points for creativity, but no, nothing like that.”

  “And why the hell not, was she also too blond and too Russian?” prodded Ben.

  “Wise ass.”

  “Yes sir. So?”

  “You gonna make me do this? Fine. I actually thought she was somewhat interesting. I just had to get out of there.”

  “But at least you have her number?”

  “Nope.”

  “Wow man you really are something.” Ben shook his head. “A dude who can have any girl but doesn’t take those that life puts right in front of him. Okay, what was her name?”

  “Kate… something. I think she worked for Beau.”

  “Xavier’s fashion hustle?” Ben raised his eyebrows. “I wonder what she did for him. Well, I am sure I can find something to help you find her through my contacts.”

  “No, I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Giselle called me last night. She is coming to town next month for a shoot.”

  Ben’s eyes grew wider. “Shit.” He said. “I mean… shit.” His mouth moved sideways as he bit inside of his lip, his typical thinking move. “Look Jace, I love you so this is straight from my heart. Forget Giselle. You haven’t been the same since she left and clearly this is because of her. I don’t care what she’s doing, I care about what you are doing. She can come back but that doesn’t mean you need to jump back in, you know?”

  His words made sense, I just couldn’t process them. May be I didn’t want to. It was like someone telling you that you can indeed float above the water when you are terrified of drowning. You might want to believe it to be true, but you don’t trust it fully.

  “Look, I will make you a deal. I will find the contact for the girl yesterday, this interesting Kate, and in return you can let me borrow the Lambo tonight.”

  I launched another shot and missed wildly.

  May be I can get this out of my system before Giselle comes. May be Kate can be ..useful.

  “What do you say?” he said.

  “Do it, my place tomorrow.” I turned to him. “What do you need my Lambo for anyway?”

  “What do you think?” he grinned, “I got a second date.”

  ~~~~~~

  Kate

  My phone rang, it was Olivia.

  “Hey, come downstairs. I gotta show you something!” She was excited.

  “Right now? I just woke up.”

  “With another beautiful stranger in your dreams? Well I have a surprise, get your butt down here.”

  I put on my sweatshirt and headed outside. Outside our apartment Olivia was walking a large black dog on a leash.

  She pointed to him with theatrical exaggeration. “Kate, meet Cesar. He will be staying with us for the next two months.”

  “Wow, he is huge,” The dog’s head came up to my waist. “Where did you find him?”

  “Do you remember Luke, the movie producer guy? He had to go to Europe for work so I offered to keep an eye on his baby.”

  When the dog heard his owners name, he twirled his giant head to look around. Not finding him, he lazily turned towards me and licked my hand.

  “He’s adorable, isn't’ he?” Olivia beamed. “Now we’ll always have a man around the house.”

  I fondled the dog’s thick black coat. “He is super cute. Now I have someone to run with.”

  We went up the stairs to the apartment. After getting Cesar took his time to get acquainted with his new home I shared the details of the previous night, and my falling out with Xavier.

  When she heard I got fired Olivia frowned her brows, causing a small wrinkle appear in the middle.

  She shook her head. “Wow, he just doesn’t learn. I am sorry Kate. You know I do know a couple of Russians who would gladly help him understand that he needs an attitude readjustment.” Her lips curled up.

  “Yeah right, Olivia, I couldn’t do that. He’s a dick but I don’t need to stoop to his level. What sucks is that I think he was right, I might be screwed. You know how connected he is.”

  “Don’t pout now, he was just talking big game.” She said, “Your priority is now on school. You didn’t plan to work in fashion event planning all your life, were you?”

  “I guess not, but without first year’s tuition I am not sure I can do either at this point.” I petter Cesar and suddenly it hit me, “Crap, I just remembered my purse is still at La Rouge!” I lowered my voice, “I guess I was lucky that guy happened to stop by.”

  “What guy?” Olivia raised her eyebrow.

  “He was leaving at the same time and stopped by to check on me, I guess. We started talking and he drove me home.” It was innocent enough.

  Her lips parted in a smile, “There ya go, that’s pretty adventurous of you. I hope he wasn’t terrible looking and horny?” she laughed.

  “Nope, he was very handsome, I’m afraid.” I said. “Drove this ridiculous sports car too. That was the adventurous part, I think I made it home in record time from work.”

  “Sounds exciting.” Olivia looked at me, “Did he have a name?”

  “Um, he said it was Jace Roland.”

  “The Jace Roland?” Olivia’s eyes widened “The guy who’s face is in every local magazine?”

  “I don’t know, it could be. Who’s he?”

  She shot up from the couch, “You kidding me? That guy is straight fire. Hold up, I think I have a mag around here somewhere.”

  Olivia walked over to the counter and brought over an issue of Chicago Luxury Living. She flipped it until finding a large picture with an article.

  “Jack Roland, the CEO of Monolyth, attends a charity gala at the “Chicago Yacht Club.” Olivia turned to me. “Is this the guy?”

  I looked at the picture and saw the handsome stranger from last night starting back. “That’s him!”

  “Holy crap,” she said excited, “Way to go Kate. Look at his amazing eyes, what a hottie!" Her saying it brought me back to his car when I was lost in his intense gaze, drunk with it. Olivia turned to me “So, what happened between you two?”

  “Nothing!” I muttered as I looked down. “We chatted on the way here and then he left.”

  She looked at me as if I didn’t speak English. “He didn’t come in and you didn’t invite him!?”

  I shook my head. “Come on Oli, you kn
ow I am not that adventurous. I have to tell you though, I was standing there wishing I was after he took off.”

  “No kidding.” Olivia studied the article, “You know, this says he is also into all sorts of water sports and sailing on his boat. This could be fate.”

  “Yeah right,” I let out a desperate laugh. “What is a guy like that going to want to do with me?”

  My phone rang next to me. Unknown number, I was hoping may be it was someone from La Rouge who found my purse.

  “Hello? Yes. This is.” my face suddenly turned beet red. I stood up with my mouth half open, listening to the person on the line. Finally I said “Yes, my roommate Olivia. Tonight? I think so. Thank you. Good bye.”

  I looked at her phone, then Olivia, then the phone again.

  “What, what is it?” Olivia glared at me as I slowly lowered myself back on the couch.

  “You won’t believe it… It was him, Oli!”

  “It was who?” She looked confused.

  “Jace Roland!”

  Her eyes turned into saucers, “What!?”

  “He invited us for drinks at his place downtown."

  “No way, when?”

  “Tonight! He said a car will be by to pick us up at 9pm.”

  “Talk about destiny.” said Olivia excitedly, “Oh, but Kate, we definitely can’t go.”

  “We can’t?”

  “It’s Cesar’s first night here. He will be lonely by himself!” Olivia looked at me with a serious face. Finally, she bust out laughing. “I am just fucking with you! Let’s take him with!”

  Chapter 5

  Kate

  A black town car pulled up by the prestigious Lake Shore Drive building. The chauffeur opened the door and a big black dog jumped out into the street surprising the door man. Moments later Olivia followed. I was wearing a black strapless dress that I only wore when I really felt like I could feel confident in it. Olivia sported fashionable silk pants with pockets on the outside that looked like small pouches. She decided to wear her canary yellow top with the low cut that showed off her goodies.

  A moment after we stepped out of the car a blond smiling guy opened the door and approached us.

  “Hello there. You must be Kate and Olivia. I am Ben, Jace asked me to come meet you. Wow, that is a nice dog, what’s his name?”

  “Casar.” Said Olivia. “He is very protective.” She slyly winked at me.

  “He looks it.” Ben’s smile hadn’t changed a bit. “I think we can find him a nice bone to enjoy once we get upstairs.”

  We followed Ben into the lobby past the security desk and the main elevators. The private penthouse elevator was towards the back. Ben inserted a key card and pressed the elevator button that opened the doors.

  “33 floors in ten seconds, and no plugged ears.” He said as he held the doors for us.

  When the elevator doors parted at the top floor we saw was the large terrace ahead. Cesar took lead by running over to the lounge chairs that surrounded a large pool. On the other side a big table rested on a wooden base that looked like a large tree with spread out branches. A small fountain cascaded next to it, water rushing down onto a pile of river rocks.

  “Welcome guys.” Jace stood by the table, opening a wine bottle. In a dark blue dress shirt his body looked just as muscular as I remembered it. It took just one look for my heart to skip a beat. His dark complexion married with his beautiful white smile was intoxicating. “Thank you for coming Kate, and you must be Olivia.”

  “Holy shit.” Whispered Olivia as we made our way towards him.

  “Nice place Jace,” I said, “I am sure you get that a lot.”

  “A little more never hurts.” He smiled.

  “This is amazing, I think I can see all of Chicago from here!” Olivia observed excitedly. “And look at this lake view!”

  “On a good night like tonight you can.” Jace said as he pointed over the lake, “You see those lights over there? That’s Indiana.”

  The lake was right in front of us, a dark spot that blended with the sky. Next to it the city was putting on its best show, the beautifully lit buildings glowing in the dark. On top of the 33rd floor we could see the lake front clash together with the massive industrial jungle behind it. The battle ended up drawing a line in the sand that stretched for miles and called itself the Chicago beach.

  “Drinks? Champaign, wine?” Jace said.

  “Vodka soda for me please.” Olivia raised her hand.

  “You got it, and would anyone like to share a glass of Dom Pérignon champagne with me?”

  “I would.” I said. I knew that champaign was as good of a choice as any.

  “Me too.” said Ben. “I’ll bring out some raspberries to see how well it plays with the bubbly.”

  Jace looked at Cesar who was finished inspecting the surroundings and was now panting next to us.

  “Nice pup, had him long?”

  “About 6 hours now, his daddy is out of town for 2 months.” Olivia said.

  “He is a beautiful dog, I know the breed well. Bernese are exceptional in the mountain rescue operations. Very smart too. What’s his name?”

  “Cesar,” I said. “Do you have any pets?”

  “I wish I did. I spend too much time at the office so it would be unfair. I would love to have a dog though.” He looked at our guardian. “Let me get Cesar some water.” He poured a glass of cold water and lowered it in front of the dog. Cesar wagged his tail and devoured it.

  Ben returned with the raspberries and we sat down on the big luxurious couch nearby.

  “So Kate, I heard you like the water quite a bit.” Ben said.

  “Yes indeed I do!”

  “Where do you usually go?”

  “Well, I haven’t been out much around here, but I used to go snorkeling and scuba diving in Florida and Minnesota.”

  “Ah, you like boats?” His eyes lit up. “Have you ever heard of the Mangusta boats?”

  “Nope,” I said, “Are they supposed to be good?”