Neither of the men looked up when I burst into the security room like a bat out of hell. It was like they already knew to expect it every so often.

God, I loathed to be predictable. I consoled myself with the knowledge that I could at least take comfort in the fact that these two clearly took their jobs seriously.

“Looking for a blonde angel and a redheaded fairy.”

“Couple of blonde angels tonight,” Kevin offered before taking a sip of coffee. “Hold up.”

“I just saw the fairy and there’s been a blonde angel hanging out with her all night. Uhh…” Jerome trailed off as he flicked between feeds before pointing to the foyer screen. “There.”

I snatched the walkie-talkie from the desk and barked, “This is Chase. There are two women in the foyer—an angel and a fairy. I want them escorted out immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

I stood there and watched as it happened, smiling at the look of surprise on their faces when security approached them. They tried to protest—going so far as to point in the face of a very tall guard and scream—and the commotion gathered attention from the other room. A small crowd gathered and whispered as the duo was led out of the house by Jonas and the other nearby members of the security team.

“I swear I thought the fairy was going to bitch-slap him,” Kevin said with a chuckle. “That caused quite a scene. What’d they do?”

“They insulted my favored guest. I won’t tolerate her being bullied at her own party.”

“Her party?” Jerome asked, his eyebrows raising.

Shit. I hadn’t meant to say it aloud, but there was nothing to be done about it now.

“Yes. Her party. Where is… Ah, never mind. Back to work, gentleman.”

I could feel their eyes on my back as I left, but I didn’t concern myself with it. I was certain word would get back to Fiona about my slip-up and I expected to get an earful about it later.

Or maybe I wouldn’t. It was possible—likely, even—that she wouldn’t know how to respond to the truth. After all, she’d been my assistant for over six years now and not once had I gone out of my way to do something for a woman. Hell, I could count on one hand the numbers of dates I’d gone on during that time.

It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate women, I was simply too busy to bother with them. I was married to my work and had very little motivation to get to know anyone outside of a business setting. It wasn’t until Evelyn showed up in my life that I felt any desire to become close to a woman.

Yet there were two major issues keeping us apart.

One of them being the prick of a boyfriend she had when we first met.

It had only been three weeks since it was brought to my attention that they had broken up. Even though I didn’t utilize it for its intended purposes myself, I was very grateful for the existence of social media. It made keeping tabs on someone’s personal life so much easier.

Hiring someone to dig into her life or follow her would have been unsavory, to put it mildly. I don’t think I would have been able to go that far.

After discovering that their relationship was over, I toyed with multiple ideas on how to go about arranging another meeting with her. I had plenty of good ideas, but this elaborate party ended up the winner.

I wanted it hosted here because it was hard to beat the grandeur of the mansion. My penthouse in the city had a phenomenal view, but it wasn’t large enough to hold a party this size. Not to mention that since the mansion was so far out of the way, it pretty much forced our proximity for a number of hours.

With the extra layer of anonymity and mystery thrown in by making this a masquerade, the whole idea was too grand to pass up. In my opinion, it was flawless.

Which was why it was so personally insulting that some random women were causing my guest of honor to have a bad time. I originally planned to take the entire night to slowly reveal everything to her, but I was concerned she would soon grow tired of the crowd she felt so out of place in.

I’d have to speed things up. Luckily, the ability to adapt was a strong suit of mine.

However, I wanted to feel her out a tad bit more before I revealed my entire hand. So I marched in the direction of the last area I spotted her in on the cameras, my heart racing as I mentally prepared myself to take things one step further.

Anxiety spiked and I embraced the feeling. I couldn’t remember the last time I felt so nervous. I’d forgotten how exhilarating it could be.

I turned down the hall, thankful that Evelyn hadn’t wandered back to the room with the bar. From what I saw on the cameras, she was getting close to the ballroom where the largest gathering of guests was currently located.

My timeframe was limited to snag her there. There was no way she’d hang around for long in a crowd that size. She didn’t strike me as the dancing type—at least not at this kind of party.

Which was a good thing. It meant the chances of catching her dancing with another man were slim. I paused mid-step, unable to determine how I would react if I did catch her in such a state.

The mental picture wasn’t pretty. Just thinking about seeing a man’s hands on her made my stomach tighten uncomfortably. It’d be in my best interest not to let it get that far.

I renewed my steps, walking faster as I heard the sound of the loud music blaring through the walls. I prayed—both for my sake and the faceless man in my imagination—to find her without company.