2 0
i n m o d d i
[It.] : In the style of.
It turned out that I did end up getting flowers.
It was sometime around seven on the evening of the company dinner and I was still in my bathrobe, hair brushed free from my face so that I could apply some makeup, when the doorbell to my apartment rang. For a moment, I faltered, wondering if Kaden had arrived earlier than expected. We'd pre-arranged for seven-thirty. And, in a ratty old bathrobe, I was hardly dressed to expect any company, let alone his.
Tying the strings of my bathrobe firmly around my waist, I went to the living room and activated the intercom system for the building. "Hello?"
"Delivery for Isla Moore," came the gruff voice on the other end, interspersed by bouts of cracked static.
My eyebrows knittedtogether faintly. "I didn't order anything."
"It's from Mr Kaden Bretton."
"Oh." I tapped the blue button and fell a step back. "Come on up then."
It took several minutes before I heard a knock at the door. Opening it, I offered a polite smile when I saw a man standing outside, but my eyes widened at the sight of a bouquet of flowers in his arms. And not just any kind of flowers.
Forget-me-nots.
My breath caught in my throat for a second as I stared at it. Then I snapped to attention when the man held out a clipboard to it. Almost in a daze, I scribbled a haphazard signature on the dotted line of the paper, and bade him a good night after he'd given me the bouquet.
Shutting the door, I stared down at the flowers, inhaling deeply as I caught a whiff of their fragrance. For a moment, it felt like I had been catapulted back to the past all over again. A white card attached to the end of the bouquet caught my eye and I caught it between my fingertips, lifting it up to get a closer look at it.
This still isn't a date.
A bubble of laughter escaped my lips and I hugged the bouquet gently to my chest. Things seemed to be going back to the way they were, we seemed to be going back to the way we were and I couldn't ask for more.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Parker's penthouse was on the twenty-third floor and the lift ride on the way down seemed to take forever. I fiddled anxiously with the thin charm bracelet on my wrist; the same one Parker had given to me on my sixteenth birthday, and took a deep breath.
Kaden had said that he'd be waiting by the limo, but I hadn't any idea how to behave in front of him. I generally considered myself a more or less confident person, but he'd always had a knack of crumbling any sort of façades I assumed. My dress for tonight was something I'd picked out specifically for this occasion –midnight-blue, column cut with an off-shoulder neckline; something which Millie had sealed with her metaphorical stamp of approval when I sent her a picture of it sometime ago.
It was one thing for her to like it.
I could only hope Kaden did too, and that I actually fitted in among all the other distinguished, well-dressed guests.
The doors to the lift slid opened on the first floor and I stepped out hesitantly, heading towards the main exit. And then paused at the sight of the limo waiting outside, with Kaden leaning against the car door.
He was wearing a sleek black tuxedo, his phone pressed to his ear and a look of calm professionalism on his face as he spoke. He looked particularly gorgeous tonight, with his hair deliberately styled in a way that made several locks fall into his eyes, and I found that I had to catch my breath.
Then he glanced up randomly, the expression on his face freezing momentarily when he spotted me. His eyes scanned me briefly before landing back on my face, his gaze darkening with an emotion I couldn't possibly put into words.
Breathe, Isla. This isn't a fairytale.
Although it sure as hell feels like one.
I took several hesitant steps towards him because he seemed to falter for a few seconds, doing nothing else except to abruptly end the call on the other person. When I was merely an arm's length away, he swallowed and cleared his throat.
"Isla," his voice was a delicious husky liquid that made a shiver kiss its way down my spine. It didn't help that he'd said my name – and nothing else.
A wicked smirk curled my lips when I suddenly thought of Nolan's words. And then I simply couldn't resist. "Is it hot in here or is it just you?" I sang, gazing up at him with a twinkle in my eye and ad-libbing the original pickup line. "No, wait, it's me!"
His gaze darkened and he took an intentional step closer, making the smile fade from my lips abruptly when I suddenly realised just how close he was. "I know you're making fun of me, thanks to Nolan's inability to keep his mouth shut," he murmured, reaching out to touch the forget-me-nots that I'd wreathed through a lock of my hair and pinned back with a clip.
He was now close enough that if I just pushed myself up on my tiptoes, just an inch, our lips would meet. The tension was palpable, and not the uncomfortable kind but one that set my nerves alight and aware of every action he made.
"But you are beautiful, and that alone is an understatement," he added, and I could feel his breath hot on my cheek, "so don't fucking tease me, Isla."
Now it was my turn to falter, because I hadn't expected those words to come out of his mouth, and the fact that he'd said it with such sheer honesty lacing his tone made me shiver.
His fingers were still tracing my hairline, trailing a sleek hot trail on my skin when he curved them slowly down the ridge of my cheekbone. My heart thudded an erratic beat when his gaze flickered down to my lips and he leaned it, as did I – it was impossible not to, the scent of him like a combination of intoxicative danger. And he was so close, so close to touch, so close to taste –
"Hey, Isla?"
My eyes fluttered open and I stared up at him in confusion. He flashed me a tiny, half-crooked smile that vanished just as quickly as it came, and there was thinly-veiled amusement dancing in his green eyes when he took a step back, reaching down to open the door of the limo.
"This still isn't a date."
His eyes were still bright and twinkling as he waited for me to get into the car. Still half caught in a daze, I all but stumbled in, ignoring the wry tilt of his lips as he slid in after me.
Nolan was wrong – even if Kaden Bretton couldn't use a pickup line to save his life, he sure as hell could be smooth if he wanted to, and that made him a far more lethal combination.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
You could tell me of a thousand and one ways to keep my emotions in check, but when I stepped into the ballroom of the Mortezion that night, I couldn't help but feel choked up as a wave of nostalgia swept over me in a single instant. The party was already in full swing. The lights were dimmed and bathed the room in a lovely glow, soft music hummed in the background and couples were slow dancing in the middle of the room.
For a moment, I felt like I was sixteen again, a confident, eager teenager ready to take on the world, ready to fall head over heels in love, ready to have her life map out the perfect way fairy-tales often did.
Kaden seemed to sense my hesitation and paused, throwing a glance over his shoulder at me. His eyebrows furrowed in faint concern as he noticed the expression on my face. "Everything alright?"
I'd long ago learnt that life wasn't perfect. But that didn't mean that certain moments of our lives couldn't be.
So I let a smile curve my lips as I nodded. "Perfect," I breathed, before glancing around at the tables. There were far too many and I faltered when I couldn't see any familiar placard with my name on it. "Where are our seats?"
"Near the front," he returned mildly, placing his hand on the small of my back as he guided me through the throng of people. Most of them seemed eager to greet him, but he murmured faint greetings and never lingered longer than necessary.
A part of me wondered why he introduced me as Isla rather than his personal assistant, but the thought was quickly banished when he pressed his palm firmer against the curve of my back. I could practically feel the heat of his skin seeping through the thin fabric of my dress and it was a delicious kind of maddening that threw me off focus.
The first thing I noticed when I got to the table was that it was right next to the chocolate fountain. I didn't know if it was pure coincidence, that Kaden had ordered a chocolate fountain because Nolan had told him I liked those things, and placed it so close within reach. Instantly, my stomach growled with a new surge of hunger, but I ignored it, smiling politely as Kaden briefly introduced the rest of the people to me.
It soon dawned on me that the eleven other people at our table were either bosses from other companies or socialites, and that as Kaden's personal assistant, I stuck out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, I shook hands with some of them, smiled at others and promptly forgot most of their names altogether – except for a particular Vincent Sterling, whose seat was next to mine and whose name immediately struck a chord in my memory.
"I've met your sister," I blurted, after we'd properly introduced ourselves. Kaden had been promptly waylaid by some people the moment he sat down at the table, and he was deep in conversation with them. "Callen Sterling, right?"
Vincent's blue eyes widened with mild surprise, but he nodded. "You've met her?"
I smiled now, glad that there was at least someone at this table other than Kaden whom I could talk to. Vincent seemed quite interested to know how I'd met his sister, so I spent the rest of dinner talking to him.
Callen was one of the girls Kaden sometimes went for lunch dates with. She seemed genuinely lovely, and she'd even paused to chat with me whenever she dropped by. And on one of those days when I had to stay back in the office to finish up some work, Callen had placed a paper bag of takeaway food on my desk when she returned after her lunch with Kaden.
I couldn't help but notice Kaden shooting surreptitious glances my way throughout dinner – he was more than occupied with the countless of people, particularly women, eager to talk to him and I hadn't wanted to be a bother. Vincent was just telling me about his company back in America when a familiar voice interrupted us.
"Isla Grace Moore, I am appalled that you went to the chocolate fountain without me."
I didn't even have to turn to know that Nolan was standing behind me. It was his hotel, so that part wasn't much of a surprise.
I hastily apologised to Vincent, who charmingly laughed it off and quickly started a conversation with several others at the table. Then I turned around, only to see Nolan standing behind my chair, his arm looped lazily around a blonde who looked like she belonged on the cover of Vogue. We exchanged polite smiles – Nolan had a knack of bringing different women to social gatherings and I couldn't for the life of me remember if I had seen her before – but most of the women he brought seemed genuinely pleasant and harmless.
"I'm sorry," I told Nolan, widening my eyes innocently at him. "Did we have some sort of prearranged chocolate rendevouz?"
He glared at me. "Yes, we do, we met at the chocolate fountain four years ago, and now we're going to the chocolate fountain to reminisce." He turned to the blonde and dropped his arm from her waist. "I'll be right back. Isla and I have to get a chocolate refill."
"Sure," she didn't seem bothered at all and simply smiled back at him. "Just get me one of those – "
"Cake dipped in chocolate, I know," he returned breezily and headed off first, leaving her staring after him with her mouth slightly open. Trust Nolan to be his usual impulsive, clueless self. He was like a lost puppy who simply hadn't a clue how to treat his dates.
I shook my head and stood up, reaching forward to grasp the blonde's arm gently. She looked at me and I smiled. "Fruit dipped in chocolate, right?"
"Yes," she returned, sounding rather relieved, "strawberries, if that's possible, please."
"Got it," I assured her and turned towards Kaden, with the intention to ask him if he wanted anything. But one glance in his direction and I realised that he was still caught up in business matters. We hadn't even exchanged a word all night.
Stifling a sigh, I headed to Nolan, who was already standing in front of the chocolate fountain, happily drizzling chocolate over the pile of cakes on his plate.
"Making chocolate the main ingredient, huh?" I said teasingly, nudging Nolan aside so I could get a plate of strawberries for his date, along with a couple of cakes for myself.
He grinned, eyes twinkling as he remembered our conversation the first day we met. "Always," he returned swiftly, ladling a generous helping of chocolate for me.
We chatted for awhile longer before he returned to his date and I returned to my table, eager to get started on the dessert. Stella and a couple of other people from work stopped by to talk to me, which I was more grateful for because apart from Kaden and Vincent, I hadn't been able to talk to anyone else at the table.
When they left, I turned to Kaden and realised that he finally had a brief window of silence where no one was bothering him. He was still midway through his dinner because of all the earlier distractions, and I felt a faint pang of sympathy as I watched him finish up the lukewarm food that hardly looked as appetizing as it used to be.
Setting my fork down, I pushed my plate of cake and chocolate over to him. "Here. Or I could get another plate for you, if you like," I offered quickly.
"No, it's fine."
But he paused as his eyes fixed suddenly on my face, his eyebrows knitting together briefly. Then he reached forward, his thumb brushing so casually against the corner of my lips that I almost fell off my seat in surprise. Instead, I froze, my heart hammering against my chest as I felt his finger linger on my lips for a moment or two.
There was something incredibly sensual about his motions, even though they were fleeting, and I felt my stomach tighten deliciously when he pulled back, his eyes darkening a sultry shade of green as he licked the side of his thumb in a motion so quick I almost didn't catch it.
"You had a bit of chocolate there," he murmured, his voice a husky velvet that made my toes curl.
I inhaled sharply and gathered my wits about me, dragging my napkin up to my lips only to realise that he was right, there was a faint trace of chocolate because I was just that messy of an eater.
Although he didn't need to lick the bloody chocolate off his thumb right after wiping it off me.
Damn him. Kaden Bretton was all sorts of smooth and seductive tonight, and I didn't even know what game he was playing. In fact, I couldn't even be sure that it was a game anymore.
Shoving that thought firmly out of my mind, I dragged my chair an inch closer to share the rest of the cake with him. We ate in silence for a moment or two, until he started speaking.
"I didn't realise you and Nolan met four years ago," he said, and there was a certain thread of intrigue in his voice that made me pause, my fork hovering in mid-air as I stared at him unsurely. "How did the two of you meet?"
He didn't know.
"We met at a ball," I said slowly, letting each word sink into the soft silence between us, "Four years ago, on my sixteenth birthday, Parker threw me a party. Nolan was there – we met at the chocolate fountain. And you were there too."
He drew back abruptly, looking so terribly startled that I knew that I was right. I was right all along.
He really didn't know.
Kaden Bretton didn't know who I was before I played Evangeline. Because the one dance that meant the world to me was completely forgettable to him.
"We met four years ago?" He asked in disbelief. For once, the expression on his face was unguarded. He just looked completely baffled. "Did we introduce ourselves or – "
But the rest of his question was left hanging because a person from across the table had signalled him over. Kaden nodded briefly at the man but turned back to me, curiosity brimming in his eyes. "Isla – "
"You should go," I told him softly, a faint smile glossing my lips. "I'll explain the rest to you later."
He stood up but paused, staring at me with an unreadable expression. "Dance with me later," he murmured, his sudden request sending my mind reeling with an unexpected thrill.
I nodded without hesitation. He left and I returned back to the chocolate cake, looking at the couples on the dance floor. The number of people there was increasing as dinner came to an end and the night wore on. And I couldn't help but feel nostalgic as I watched them.
I'd long ago suspected that Kaden hadn't remembered my sixteenth birthday all along, but love had a funny way of making you cling onto a sliver of hope that wasn't even there to begin with. The disappointment was faint, because I was no longer sixteen and I had anchored myself down to reality a long time ago, but it was still there.
But that wasn't important. Sixteen-year old Isla would never in a million years have imagined getting as close or knowing Kaden Bretton as well as I did now, and that was more than sufficient.
I was still sitting pensively at the table, when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. It was Vincent Sterling, and his bright blue eyes were twinkling as he held out a hand.
"Care to dance?"
Feeling rather dazed, I threw a backward glance over my shoulder just in case I'd misinterpreted his question. But there was no one else standing behind, at least not anyone close enough for him to ask.
Letting out a hesitant laugh, I turned back to him unsurely. "Who – me?"
"We could continue the conversation we were having earlier," he winked briefly, hand still poised out for me to take. "I was just about to promise you a tour around New York if you ever happen to visit."
My smile widened and I immediately reached out to lace my fingers through his. "I'd love that."
The dance with Vincent Sterling was a lovely one, to say the least. He was polite, charming and friendly, and I was more than amused to see several female heads turn in his direction whenever he laughed at something I said. After the song was over, another businessman from the same table asked if he could have a dance.
I readily agreed. It didn't seem like Kaden was about to be done anytime soon, and I hadn't anything else to do anyway. And that was how I spent the rest of the night – dancing with strangers or chatting with people I knew whenever the opportunity arose.
I was in the midst of talking to some people from work when Kaden showed up. Ignoring the other blatant stares from the others, he plucked the flute of champagne out of my hands and set it down on the table, before pulling me gently towards the dance floor with him.
He didn't seem to hesitate when he looped one arm around my waist while the fingers of his other hand threaded through mine easily. He pulled me closer than necessary, but not close enough for other people to mistake us as a proper couple, and I tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about asking me to dance earlier," I confessed, the words coming out in a rush as I met his gaze squarely.
He shook his head, a lock of dark hair falling into his eyes as he did, and I resisted the urge to reach up and brush it away for him. "I promised you a dance, Isla. Why would I forget?"
Because you forgot the first one we shared.
I bit back the words that threatened to surface and simply smiled. "How was your night? Any good business deals?"
His eyebrows rose. "Are we really going to talk about work now?"
"Sorry."
His lips quirked in a wry smile that faded just as quickly as it came. "So tell me," he started slowly, a serious expression slipping onto his features as he spoke. "How did we meet at the party four years ago?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, Nolan and his friends were talking to me and Parker being his overprotective self asked you to rescue me from them. Which you did – by asking me to dance," I added, a smile curving my lips as I recalled the situation perfectly.
Kaden froze, our steps pausing as he drew me to a brief halt. "I asked you to dance?"
I nodded.
He was silent for a moment or two, before resuming our slow, stately pace that was in perfect sync with the music. "I really don't remember a thing," he admitted, his eyes holding a measure of apology in them as he stared at me. He held me slightly closer now, more protectively, both his arms wrapped around my waist and my arms around his neck.
"It's alright. You've been to a lot of parties and had a lot of dances." One look at him made me realise that my hunch was right. He couldn't be faulted for anything, because it was just one dance among dozens, and I was just one girl among so many. "There's nothing to apologise for."
"Isla, I'm – "
"It's not your fault. We were strangers back then." I smiled at him softly. "But I'm hoping – if this isn't too much to ask for – that you'll at least remember this dance, because it means a lot to me."
Kaden pulled me closer in an almost possessive gesture, his arms tightening around my waist. I could feel his breath warm on my face; his fingers mapping the small of my back in a way that made me feel entirely fragile in his grasp.
"I won't forget," he murmured, and there was something entirely hypnotising about the way he said it that made my eyes flicker down to his lips momentarily. Maybe it was the close proximity between us, or the dim lights that made everything about him so alluring. Either way, I found myself drawn to the movement of his mouth momentarily before I forced my eyes back up to meet his.
But he'd clearly noticed my lapse, because his eyes darkened with something indescribable that made a shiver race down my spine and kiss its way down to the very ends of all my nerves. He held my gaze for a second or two, before leaning down, his hair brushing my forehead as he bent closer to me. And it was so easy to fall into, so easy to get caught up in the ambience, in the dance, in him.
My breath left my lips in a stilted rush and I was just about to let my eyes flutter shut when a movement from my peripheral vision made me freeze in horror.
"Isla?"
Kaden's voice was a comforting, concerned lull but I hardly heard him. Instead, my attention was focused on Kaden's father, who was making his way towards us with purposeful, powerful strides, his eyes cold and calculating. And I knew that I had less than ten seconds to make a decision.
Stay or leave?
"Isla, what's wrong?"
I turned back to Kaden, who was staring at me in concern. It was only a matter of time before he figured out what was going on.
Stay or leave?
"N-nothing," I stammered, and before I knew it, I was wrenching my arm out of his grasp, turning on my heels and running towards the nearest exit.
Leave.
Again.