Love Slave to My Devil CEO Boss R18

129 Why He Invited Me

“Just like I said. Don’t worry, they’re working hard to investigate the issue,” Ace said before he took my hand in his.

To my surprise, he kissed the back of my hand tenderly. The softness and warmth of his lips against the back of my hand made my heart skip a beat, and for a moment, I forgot what I wanted to say.

“But how can they investigate the issue without talking to me about it?” I asked in wonder.

“They’ll call for you when they are ready. This is a sensitive issue so they’re being extra careful and detailed about it,” Ace replied smoothly.

“I see...” I murmured.

Shortly after, we arrived at the event and Ace helped me out of the car amidst the large crowd of reporters and cameramen that have gathered to greet us on the red carpet. Ace smiled and was very calm, probably because he was used to this. The same couldn’t be said about how I was feeling inside. I stood next to Ace and plastered a smile on my lips as we got our photos taken together. I wasn’t even sure if it was fine for us to have our photos taken together like this.

This is for work. I reminded myself repeatedly.

Ace was immediately welcomed by the host of the event who was also one of our prominent clients. Since I’ve never been to this kind of event before, I felt out of place. I smiled politely at our client as the two men greeted each other warmly.

“This is my secretary, Karina,” Ace introduced me as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

.....

My body immediately stiffened but I managed to smile at our client. The middle-aged man with thinning light brown hair smiled at me.

“Welcome to the party. Glad that you could make it,” he said.

“Thank you for inviting us. It’s always an honor to be a part of your success,” Ace replied professionally.

“Of course. I do look forward to working with your company again very soon in the future,” the client replied followed by a booming laugh.

I soon found out after the host left us alone about the real reason why Ace had me escort him to this event. Ace kept his hand on the small of my back as he escorted me inside the large venue where the main event was taking place. The event space inside was decorated with colorful flowers all around the open dance floor where many couples were already engaged in their dances. There was a band that played many classical waltzes. Big screens showed the commercials that were produced by our company.

“They all look so good up on the big screen...” I commented in awe.

Ace’s eyes followed my gaze.

“The color tone turned out much better than we had anticipated. Hopefully the launch of this brand does well,” Ace replied.

Jewelry display cases lined all around the side of the venue where attendees could take a look at them while on break from the dancing. Overall, I thought that it was a very spectacular set up; however, it really wasn’t something for me.

Since stepping in the main venue, I could feel many pairs of eyes on us and although I tried to ignore it at first, I began to feel a little nervous. It didn’t take long for me to realize that we couldn’t avoid those gazes forever and that the real deal was just about to start.

“Excuse me, Mr. Hills. I’m Clarisse, if case you don’t recall...” a woman with very light wavy blond hair greeted Ace sweetly.

She stood in front of us in her pale pink dress as she smiled beautifully at Ace. It was clear to me that in her line of vision, I didn’t exist.

“Good evening to you,” Ace replied politely.

“I was wondering if...” Clarisse began saying in her sweet voice.

“I am very sorry, but my partner isn’t feeling so well. I’ll have to stick to her side tonight,” Ace replied with regret in his voice.

“Oh, that’s fine. I hope you have an enjoyable evening. I’ll see you next time,” Clarisse replied before flashing Ace another smile.

Around a minute later, a very similar incident took place with another woman. She came up to offer Ace her valuable company and he turned her down citing that he was already with me. A couple of minutes later, we were onto our third woman for the evening. This time Ace told her that he’s here strictly for work and that I, as his secretary, was keeping an eye on him. After the fourth woman turned up, I stopped counting.

“Let’s dance...” Ace said invitingly as he tugged on my hand.

I let him lead me towards the dancefloor. Glancing back, I could see many women with their eyes on us. Something tells me that this isn’t going to end in a very pretty way.

“You just want to get away, don’t you?” I asked knowingly.

Ace wrapped his arm around my waist and took my hand as he waltzed me around to the music. Thanks to my instructor, I could manage my dance quite easily now even with the dress on and Ace was a magical dancing partner.

“Guess you’ve already figured that out...” Ace admitted with a chuckle.

“Is that...you know...normal?” I asked curiously.

I recalled the many gossips and news that I’ve seen about him and his various affairs and I didn’t know why I was still surprised that something like that happened.

“Unfortunately, it is. It really gets in the way of business...” Ace replied while sounding bored.

“Aha...” I murmured in reply.

“Thank you for saving me so many times so far tonight,” Ace thanked me with a charming smile.

His smile made my heart skipped a beat and I had to look away so that he wouldn’t catch me blushing at his words. Sometimes the things he says is really bad for my heart.

“I didn’t do anything. You can thank yourself for saving yourself,” I replied.

Ace just laughed at my comeback. I didn’t find it very funny, though. Even though he told me right off the bat that this event was for work, I might have harbored some hope that he was inviting me because he wanted to. He even sent me to dance class, and thanks to that, I could now dance decently well. I honestly never thought that Ace invited me here to use me as a shield against other women.

–To be continued...