Secret Service

chapter two

The usher's eyes widened in fear and he quickly tapped on his tablet. "O-of course, Ms. Romanova." he said quickly, head still buried behind the tablet. He paused then popped his head back up and looked at me in caution once again.

I almost rolled my eyes in irritation.

"What is it now?" I snapped, playing the part of the raging rich bitch so well I probably should've tried my luck in Hollywood instead of joining the secret service of the US government.

The usher's eyes narrowed slightly at me, but he was too intimidated to straight up glare at me. The poor guy probably had whiplash from how fast my attention towards him changed - from sweet and flirty to pissed off and dangerous. "It says here that your date is Mr. Cooper, but he just called earlier to say that his date wasn't coming."

Well, shit.

Plan C usually didn't get to see the light of day, but now was its time to shine.

I laughed and said coyly, "Well, this is a bit embarrassing, isn't it?"

The usher looked confused and suspicious.

"I just broke up with Mr. Cooper for someone else. The man who bought me this necklace? I'm his date for tonight now." I said, tilting my head to the side as if saying, "a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do".

"And who's that?" the man challenged, folding his arms across his chest.

"Kieran Ryder."

The usher widened his eyes. He didn't even have to scroll down his dumb list to find out if Kieran Ryder was even on it. Of course he was. He was the notoriously handsome and fun son of the CEO of Ryder Enterprises, which, according to Forbes 2050, was the second most influential and powerful company in the United States, right after Ananke.

"Now, let me in or when he asks why it took me so long to get here, I'll redirect him to you." I demanded with my nose in the air.

The usher nodded quickly and held the door open for me, gesturing me to enter. "Yes, of course, Ms. Romanova. I apologize for your inconvenience. Have a lovely evening."

I delicately stepped over the threshold, almost bursting out laughing, but managed to hold it in and instead sniffed, "I would hope so."

After going through the security check, and breathing in a sigh of relief when they didn't say anything about the small and thin square of a touchpad button, which was stuffed in my small purse, I entered the ballroom.

The ballroom the gala was held in was huge, with a high glass dome for a ceiling and enormous chandeliers dripping with diamonds and rubies. I thought about all the hungry mouths from the economic crises all over the world that the wars caused, and was still causing.

The thoughts were flushed out of my mind when my eyes locked in on a six foot tall man with a delectable physique and stylishly tousled short brown hair.

My lips curved into a smile and I stalked over to the man. His back was facing me, and he was leaning on his hip against the bar, his eyes scanning the room.

When I was less than three feet away from him - the appropriate distance that showed people I was confident but didn't pose as a threat to them - I smelled a deliciously musky scent of wood and citrus. The typical smell of an alpha male.

He turned around, and I had to admit - he was quite a work of art. I voiced my thoughts, then watched in amusement as his cheeks tinged just a bit. After a few minutes of awkward silence and even more awkward staring at me to see if I was joking or not - which I partly was but mostly wasn't - Kieran cleared his throat and smoothened his expression into a perfect poker face.