Don't worry when
you are not recognized,
but strive to be
worthy of recognition.
-
Abraham Lincoln

___________________

"Did you find any suitable men for the dance?"

Ryan looked up from his phone, the skin between his eyebrows already wrinkled in either annoyance or confusion that someone had stopped to do something so preposterous as to ask such a question. Once he saw that it was me, he just blinked. His eyebrows didn't smooth out or anything like that, but with one last glance at his phone, he looked at me again.

"Are you sure?" Ryan asks, hope replacing his annoyed expression.

"Yes," I confirm. Disappointment fills his face. Hope snorts but covers it up immediately. "Who are the lucky men? How many are there?"

"One."

"One?" I grit my teeth, glaring at him. "C'mom, I need at least five."

"One is more than enough."

"Four?"

"One."

"Okay, three?"

"One."

"For God's sake, at least two," I snap at him angrily. One guy wouldn't work out.

Is this some bidding?

Shut up!

"Trust me Allison, this one person is more than enough to boil Daniel completely," he says folding his hands across his chest.

I raise my brows. "Who?" I asked, my tone disbelieving.

"John Wilson, one of the board members and he's likely to be chosen for the Chairman position other than Daniel. He is the CEO of Wilson Hotels which is also a part of the board." He scratches his clean shaved jaw being tensed. "Daniel considers him as a threat and can't stand the sight of him."

"Where is he?"

Ryan glares at me before pointing his finger towards a man in a black suit, similar to one Daniel is wearing. "He is unmarried, no girlfriends and no date for today's party but remember Ally, the guy is dangerous. Daniel is not going to be happy."

I raise a brow in his direction. "Hmm, will he care that I'm married to Daniel?" Ryan made a few faces as he thought about what I asked but finally gave me a curt nod.

"Trust me, he would definitely care and take it as an opportunity to crush Daniel." Sounds like a tricky one.

"He perfect," I say as I stare at John Wilson. My smile widens when I see Thomas along with Daniel moving towards John. They exchange some words which I couldn't hear standing few feet away from them. My interests rises up when Anaconda decides to join them.

Of course it will.

Thomas' eyes catch the sight of me walking towards them causing the whole group to turn towards me. My gaze moves towards Daniel who stares at me with curiosity as if he knows I'm up to something he doesn't like. I shift my gaze towards the man standing next to Daniel—John Wilson.

He has the same height as Daniel. Looking hot and classy in his black suit, his muscles are unmistakably defined beneath his black suit. He has rich brown hair, styled into perfection. Soft lips set in an unreadable line. His eyes are a diluted green, crinkled at the corners. His eyes catches the sight of me, they widen for a second before he composes himself. Imposing and intense, his gaze follows my every move.

The man standing beside John say something in John's ear. He nods his head, says something in return but his gaze doesn't move from me. He continues giving instructions to the man without moving his gaze from me. His lips curve into a smile when I reach near the group.

I smile at Thomas. "Enjoying the party, old man?" I ask, smiling wide.

He scowls. "No," he says, sounding serious. I chuckle at his expression.

Hope leans in towards me. "Alex wants to talk to you," she whispers in my ears. "Are you free tomorrow?"

I shake my head. "I have some serious work to do tomorrow. Did you forget about the disciplinary action?"

Hope's eyes widen. "What about the members? Both the partners and general manager are out."

My face falls. I feel everyone's eyes on me. I could see the confusion on Daniel's face but I choose to ignore it right now.

"Ben, Alex, Grace, James and you. Five members are more than enough, we'll start with what they have to say tomorrow. We can continue the remaining procedures later," I order, grabbing the iPad from Hope. I type out a text to Alex.

"Me? I'm not an associate. Grace has been appointed recently and James is no-" I turn my gaze towards Hope causing her to shut her mouth.

"We'll discuss it later," I mutter. Hope gets my point. I don't want to talk about it right now —in front of people who are not related to the firm.

I turn my gaze towards Daniel only to find him typing something in his phone and Annabelle staring at the iPad that is in my hands. I pass the iPad to Hope, turning my gaze towards Judge who smiles at me warmly. What? Since when did he like me?

"Allison, this is John Wilson," Thomas introduces him, nodding at me. I shift my gaze towards John to find him already staring at me. I expect him to look away but he doesn't, neither do I. We stare at each other as if the world will end if we look away. He smiles wide, finally looking away. I could feel many eyes on me but I don't turn my gaze away from him.

He puts his hand forward to shake and I accept his hand with a bright smile. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Wilson," I say politely.

"Call me John," he replies, his voice thick.

I smiled in response and nodded, pushing away my curiosity at what exactly he was thinking. "I'm Allison," I introduce myself, avoiding my surname to notice his reaction. From the corner of my eyes, I could see Daniel raise his brows but I ignore it.

"Nice name," he mutters. "Are you a business woman?"

"Lawyer," I respond, my hand still in his grip. He tightens the grip on my hand without letting it go.

John nods his head, a smile touching his lips. "You look beautiful," he comments, his eyes gazing from my toe to my head. "Red is definitely your color, especially with that black hair of yours. It suits you." I could see the truth in his eyes and he was definitely hitting on me. Daniel grits his teeth and I jump inwardly, enjoying his discomfort.

"Thank you," I reply, finally pulling my hand away from John's.

"Are you Thomas' acquaintance?"

Before I could answer that, Daniel says, "She's my wife." John eyes widens for a second, he looks at Daniel and at me for confirmation. I don't say anything, I just stand there giving them my best grin.

I turn my gaze towards Anaconda only to find her smirking. Looks like everyone noticed my interest in John. Are you planning to use it against me, Anaconda? Good luck with that.

John turns towards me, his shock turning to a smirk. Looks like this guy is going to be useful afterall. "Will you do me the honour of dancing with me, Allison?" Just the question I was waiting for.

I turn towards Daniel who looks at me with blazing eyes. His eyes tells it all. He wants me to say no. I grin at him brightly before turning towards John. "Sure," I reply. Thomas smiles as if he already knew my answer.

Daniel's jaw tightens, he close his eyes probably trying to control his anger.

"Shall we?" John asks and I nod lightly. Without hesitation, John grabs my hand and intertwines it with his. Woah! This one is faster than I thought.

Is he trying to hook up with you?

I'm not sure.

We move towards the dance floor and once we reach there, John's right hand moves towards my waist while his left hand stays intertwined with my right hand. We sway slowly, he pulls me closer but still maintains an appropriate distance between us. "You have a beautiful voice, Ally," he says smiling at me. He has just one dimple which looks cool on him.

"Thank you. You have a Southern accent," I say while he swirls me slowly.

"I'm a Southern boy," he says taking a turn when a couple was about to dash us.

I stare at his eyes with a smile. "I wouldn't call you a boy," I state, following his moves. His eyes travel leisurely over me from head to toe. Again.

He turns me and presses himself across my back, his hand shoots out, wrapping around my bicep. "I love your hair," he whispers, his lips near my ear.

"Are you by any chance trying to hit on me?" I ask casually, ignoring his closeness. This isn't the first time I'm standing close to a guy. My experience with men is much more than I can count.

"Yes. Is it working?" Cheesy!

"Maybe," I lie. "I'm already taken. Isn't that stopping you?" I ask, my eyes on Daniel who's walking towards the dance floor with Annabelle. I see the smirk on Thomas' face which makes it clear that Thomas had asked Daniel to dance with Annabella. What is that old man upto? He definitely isn't fond of me.

"I liked you the second I saw you. Hot, beautiful and you using that business tone was damn sexy," he says. I roll my eyes inwardly. "I would have definitely backed off if you were married to anyone other than Daniel."

Okay, now we have something interesting. "Why is that?"

"I know Daniel has his eyes on Annabelle which means you're free. Plus the news of Daniel's wedding was so sudden so this is most likely a business deal considering that Mr. Hart's company collaborated with Avery Group," John states, turning my towards him.

I bite my lip but stops when he suddenly dips me. Dammit! He then pulls me closer to him. "You're gorgeous," he whispers, his eyes dropping to my lips before moving back to my eyes.

I tilt my head at him. I wrap my arms around his neck, pressing myself against him. His body freezes but he continues his steps. I rest my head against his shoulder, smiling wickedly.

What are you doing?

I place a soft kiss on his cheek causing him to take a sharp breathe. "Now check where Daniel has his eyes on," I order, surprising John. He opens his mouth but closes soon. Slowly, he turns his gaze towards Daniel.

"He staring at you."

"I know," I mutter, smiling at him.

John raises his brows. "Are you trying to prove your point?"

"Maybe."

"What if he's staring at you because you're dancing with me? Egotistical issues? He's not very fond of me," John argues, frowning.

"Maybe." My eyes drop to his lips and he notices it. I press against him causing him to groan. "Are you hard, John?"

"Jesus!"

My hand moves towards his hair. I lean in and press a kiss on the crook of his neck. "Now check on Daniel," I say. John curses under his breathe before turning towards Daniel. John's eyes turns wide in shock.

I follow his gaze only to find a stunned Anaconda alone on the dance floor while Daniel walks away. I chuckle before turning towards John. "I proved my point," I say, smiling at John. "Daniel doesn't have his eyes on Annabella. If he wanted her then no matter what he wouldn't be rude enough to leave her alone in a dance floor to face the embarrassment. He has his eyes on me —his wife. Daniel maybe your rival but he's my husband and I trust him. His loyalty is much more than you can imagine. If he wanted Annabelle then he wouldn't care that another man has his hands on me."

John stares at me for few seconds before nodding his head. "I get it but it doesn't mean I can't give it a try," he says, looking at me with green eyes. I lick my lips and I feel his thickness against my core.

"Damn it," he curses, holding me close to him. "Can I kiss you?"

I nod my head. "You can," I state.

What?

John sighs before leaning in to capture my lips. "But only if you don't mind having a broken dick." He stops, his eyes wide before leaning back. "I'm good at kneeling men and I really have a high rating for it. So you can proceed with the idea of kissing me only if you want to say goodbye to your sex life." He blinks at me, trying to capture each and every word of mine.

"You're a different woman Allison," he mutters under his breathe.

"I know," I reply.

"Daniel doesn't deserve you. Maybe I can have you when I get the chairman position," he states, looking proud of himself.

My lips curl nonchalantly. "If you think money could buy me then you can't be anymore wrong."

He arches his brows. "How about this? You might have choosen me if you'd met me before Daniel." His smirks as if he's revealing the world's biggest truth.

I shake my head. "You're surprising me, John. I thought you couldn't say anything more wrong than your previous comment and... now you're blurting out utter nonsense," I whisper, smiling. "Even if we'd met before Daniel, you still wouldn't be anywhere near him in my life. Maybe you would have been good for a week or two but nothing more than that."

He grits his teeth. "I'm not a man whore."

I chuckle. "I didn't say you were. What I told was about me. You maybe a forever man for some lucky woman out there but not for me. Even if you were in Daniel's place when we met, still I wouldn't have choose you.

"It's not Daniel position or his problems that caught my eye. It's him. One look at him and I knew I'm getting involved with him. In and out of bed. Daniel himself is the reason I'm here —dancing with you on the dance floor. I wouldn't say he's greater than you or anything. It's just... he's special."

John's cringes. "Stop praising him while you're dancing with me." He looks away from me.

"You might want to go to the washroom to take care of that," I say, eyeing his pants.

He clears his throat, clearly embarrassed that he's turned on by a dance.

"Are you serious?" Hope asks, glaring at me.

Rolling my eyes and letting out a long sigh, I reply, "Yes."

"Why in the world will I sit in the committee of disciplinary action as a member?" Hope asks, hands on her hip and her iPad on her left hand.

"Because we need minimum of five members in the panel considering that there are two partners under suspicion," I say, my eyes fixed on Daniel who looks like he might burst any second now. Annabelle is nowhere in my sight while Carla and Thomas are talking to the guests.

"Fine," Hope huffs out. "What are you looking at?"

"I won't tell you."

"Just tell me." She pokes me in the boob.

I poke her back.

She pokes me.

I poke her harder.

"Hey." Her eyes shoot open. "That hurt."

"You started it."

"Why are you two poking each other in the boob?" Leila asks, standing beside Hope.

"I'm searching for John."

I cringe, waiting for her outburst but instead of getting one, she stares at me as if I'm crazy. "You're searching for John?" I nod my head slowly.

"Are you high?"

"What? No," I say, my voice rising. "I'm being serious."

"Hmm." She taps her chin. "Maybe I'm high."

"Good Lord, Hope. You and I both know you're not. Listen to me, okay? I need you to focus."

"Are you nuts?" Hope snaps, once she's out of the perplexed situation. Leila cringes hearing the anger in Hope's voice. "Look at your husband, he looks like he might kill anyone who comes near him. Aren't you done torturing him? You knew something like this would happen and Daniel did nothing wrong. I'm sure that you aren't even angry at him then why in the world are you doing this?"

"Can you at least try to have some fun, flirt a little with some of the handsome guys and leave me alone."

"And then what? Take John back to the room you're sharing with Daniel?"

"Hmm..." I pause, thinking. "Maybe I should settle with a guest room."

"No way," Hope says. Leila bites her lips sensing Hope's restlessness.

Rolling my eyes, I give her a kiss and say, "Bye, Hope."

I find John walking out of the party so I wave my hand at Hope before following John. I find him walking inside the guest room which was alloted for him since he decided to stay the night. I step inside only to find him walk inside the bathroom. I settle on the couch, waiting for him to come out. I need to talk to him about Daniel.

And then... light slapping, a far-off grunt.

Quite confused, I sit up and look around. What is he doing inside?

No way. You got to be kidding me.

Is he jacking off in there? I rise to feet, moves towards the bathroom. I test the handle and like I thought, it's locked. I lean in again and the telltale sign of him moaning echoes off the tiled shower stall, sending my stomach into a dizzying catapult.

I step away, my hand falling to my neck, perplexed. I stand there and look back at the bathroom, his groaning louder now. Might have been difficult walking around the room to mingle with the guests with a hard on.

"Allison," he moans, shocking the hell out of me.

Seriously? Oh my God!

My eyes turns wide. He's jacking off, thinking about me? Gross! Daniel is going to kill him once he finds out.

I look over at the bathroom door, still dazed and confused. His groans gets furious, he starts shouting my name louder. I try my best to not burst out laughing. This isn't a foreign feeling to me since I heard men shouting my name many times while getting their release.

I think about Daniel. The way he groaned when he saw me walking towards him. He's the only man who can make me feel thrilled when he moans my name. I don't think there's anyone else.

Are you falling for him?

You know that's not the case. It's excitement. I'm a newly wed afterall.

Nuts!

After few seconds, John stops making sounds indicating that he's done dealing with dick. The bathroom door opens and John walks out as if nothing happened. He turns around, his eyes wide as saucers when he sees me leaning against the wall. His face turns pale.

I closed my eyes, pinched my nose and burst out laughing.

"That was fun," I said when I started laughing harder.

"I didn't mean to—"

I threw my head back against the wall and felt myself shake with how stupid this was. "I know. I know you didn't. You really jacked off thinking about me?"

"This isn't funny," he snapped. "It was an accident."

"I know it was, jeez. But still..." I couldn't help but laugh out again.

"Stop laughing," he grits out. At first I thought he was angry that I was laughing at him but my eyes moves to his crotch. Suddenly I stopped laughing and I gave him a wide-eyed look. I opened my mouth and then closed it. I widened my eyes more but kept my gaze on him.

"Are you serious?" I ask, rising to my feet. "You're hard again because I laughed? No way!"

"This is not helpful at all," he mutters under his breathe. "I don't know how Daniel is able to control."

I want to rip that dress of her.

A smile touches my lips when I recall Daniel's words, feeling my cheeks blush. Warmth fills me.

"Don't blush," John snaps, taking deep breathe.

I roll my eyes. "Stand by my side in the party."

"Aren't you done torturing him? I don't think any sane man would be able to resist you in that dress of yours. Stop this, I don't want another hard on."

I chuckle. "Stop complaining like a small kid if you don't want me to tell Daniel about you jacking off in the shower shouting my name."

John freezes for a second. He looks like he's thinking something hard. "Fine. But no touching."

I roll my eyes. "Let's go."

Five minutes later, we walk towards Daniel who's talking to an old couple. His blue eyes spits fire when he sees us. "Daniel," John says, nodding at him. Daniel ignored him as his gaze rests on me.

"Da-" I start but stops when the old lady holds my hand, jerking my attention to her.

"You two would make cute babies," she replies, her eyes moving forth John and me.

No!

What?

I open my mouth to correct her but she races me to it. "They would definitely have his green eyes," she gushes. John freezes beside me, his face turning into helplessness when he sees the look on Daniel's face.

What in the world is happening here?

C'mon, this wasn't my plan. The lady misunderstood.

Why are people always misunderstanding you as someone else's wife?

I don't know. What's with people setting me up with other people?

Hope who's standing beside, pinches my arm causing me to wince slightly. I glare at her before giving a polite smile to the lady whose name I'm still unaware of. I dare to lift my head and peek a glance at Daniel. He's not staring at me, his gaze is fixed on John.

Before things could get anymore out of hand Hope pulls me out of there. I look over my shoulder to find hurt flash across Daniel's face. My heart aches. Emotion starts to clog my throat. This isn't going as I planned.

Do not worry, the night is still early.

Darn it!

"Pick up. Pick up. Pick up," I mutter while the phone rings in my ear. A light breeze kicks up, rustling the leaves of the giant oak trees that are sprinkled throughout the beautiful garden, a normally relaxing sound now grating on my nerves.

Alex Green is one of the arrogant men I've ever seen in my life. How dare he ignore my texts. Alex and me were colleagues. When I say colleagues I don't mean that he's a lawyer. We were colleagues when I was sixteen and working out our ass off to earn money for rent. We shared a room back in college. He's three years elder than me and annoys the hell out of me. He's currently working as one of the highest paid investigators and I need his damn help right now.

"Ally, what's up?'

"Oh my God, Alex. You finally got your head out of your ass."

"That's a way to start a conversation. Okay, what happened?"

I twist my finger in my hair, trying to remove the bun. There's no need to keep it tied when the party has almost reached it's end.

"I don't have much time to explain."

"Then give me the condensed version."

I chew on the side of my mouth. "Condensed version? You need to first give me the reason of ignoring my texts. Is it that difficult to reply?"

"I wanted to listen to your voice. Text doesn't make that happen."

I cringe. "You sound like an annoying sixteen year old horny teenager."

"Damn, Ally. I... hell" -he laughs-"It's been long since I got such a comment from someone."

"And that is the reason why your ego has no end. Anyway, back to business. Annabelle Ronald, all details."

"She's hot."

"Yeah.. Wait. What? Do not tell you're staring at her photo while talking to me."

"So what's the big deal? Unless..." More chuckling. "Allison, do you have a crush on this girl?"

I groan out loud and bury my head in my hand. "No. Jesus. What is with everyone? Hope, Ryan and Leila thinks that I'm one step away from jumping up on any man that talks to me. And now you're telling me that I have a crush on a girl? The one who's trying to mess up with my husband. I'm already in a mess with everything happening around me."

"I'm already working on it. Give me few hours, I'll be in your firm in the morning. We'll discuss about this when we meet but I have one more thing to ask. I saw your message about Daniel. You want me to check on Daniel? Why?"

"I don't know." I finally let my hair down, it flows down my shoulders to my waist. "There's something that is bugging me. I feel like digging more into it."

"What do you think? Does he still have a thing for Annabelle?"

"I doubt it. He clearly isn't interested in her and it's evident. All I have to do is make him understand certain things. He's insecure."

"Insecure, you say?"

"Hmm. For an arrogant man who has a soft heart, insecurities shouldn't be a problem but today tells me otherwise. Daniel is tensed. Not about Annabelle. He's scared of loosing everything and I think I can know more about it only if I dig into his past. She was clearly trying to mess up with his head and she's lucky that I didn't end up hitting her."

"I think you're right. Digging into Daniel's past is not easy."

"I know. Hope tried but she already told me that it might take time."

I hear the sound of typing. "Daniel's details are highly secured and that's not fishy since it's normal for a business man to secure things about him. Anyway, I'll tell you more tomorrow. I miss you, baby girl."

"Shut up," I bark back into the phone causing him to laugh out loud before hanging up. I smile brightly before walking towards Ryan's room. Daniel's face flashed in my mind again, emotions filling up in my chest. I took a calm casual breath and tried to push my emotions down as I kept walking. 

My feet stops when I find Daniel sitting on Ryan's bed, his hands on his head and elbows on his knees for support. I look around the room to find Hope, Ryan and Leila standing there looking like Daniel might jump onto them any second. I take few steps forward. Daniel lifts his head and his eyes meets mine.

Shit!

Good luck, Allison. You might need it.