BLACK TIE BILLIONAIRE

Two weeks later…

Scott McCall walked into his office suite. He had been away from the office on a business trip and he knew that he would have a lot of work to do. He said a cheerful good morning to the receptionist but stopped when she practically ran out of her seat and came to stand in front of him. Scott immediately noticed the concerned expression on her face.

He frowned. "Is something wrong, Betty?" he asked.

“You shouldn’t go to your office right now,” Betty said quietly to him.

Scott's frown only became deeper. He raised an eyebrow when she offered no further explanation for her statement. “Why the hell should I not?” he demanded, not minding his language.

Betty pointed in the direction of his office. “Because… she's in there.” she replied. "And she looked really pissed."

Scott followed her gaze and then looked back at her and her eyes which were weirdly wide open. He almost sighed loudly. He didn’t have time for stuff like this early in the morning. He looked back at Betty and tried to be more patient with her. She was a hard working lady and she did her job well, but sometimes he just didn't understand her.

He took a deep breath. “Okay, Betty . First of all, calm down. Now tell me who the hell is in my office and how did she get in…and also where is Ruth? She's not supposed to let people in my office, especially when I'm not there."

Ruth was his personal assistant. She was an elderly woman in her early 50's and it was unlike her not to meet him as he got out of the elevator. She was his longtime assistant who used to travel with him almost everywhere. She had refused to resign even when Scott tried to make her, and he couldn't bring himself to fire her. She had an apartment not too far away from the office so she was always early to the office. She was also very good at knowing exactly when he’d show up at the office, and was always there, ready to meet him and organize his day as smoothly as possible.

There was a look on Betty's face as soon as he mentioned Ruth's name and he didn't like that look. It was the look people usually had on their face when there was bad news to tell. "I guess you didn't get my message, sir, but she won't be coming to the office for a while. Ruth's granddaughter got really sick and was rushed to the hospital yesterday evening. She will be having surgery and Ruth had to travel to be with them. I do not know when she will be back."

Scott frowned at that information. “No, I didn’t get your message. Just keep me posted with anything that comes up…. And if it concerns Ruth, make sure that I get it. I want to know when her granddaughter is out of surgery. If they need anything, let them have it… food, accommodation… anything… "

Betty nodded. "I will sir," she said.

"If anyone wants to see me, please let me know before you send them to my office. With Ruth gone, I'm sure my day is going to be chaotic enough and I don't want anyone adding to it."

Scott paused before he asked, "Betty, who is the person in my office?"

She looked up at him and blinked, then said "Oh" as if she'd forgotten about that particular topic, "It's urmmm…. Miss Smith"

She began to ramble. “I’m really sorry, Sir. I tried to stop her but I couldn’t. She was quite adamant and refused to listen to me. She insisted that she would wait for you in your office.”

Scott wanted to bang his head on the wall that instant. Knowing Elizabeth, he knew that it wasn't Betty's fault that she could not stop her. The woman was stubborn and it was worse when she was angry, and Scott couldn't even imagine how angry she was at the moment.

She hadn't spoken to him for two weeks since the incident with the waitress in his hotel room. He didn't have anything to do with the woman, but Elizabeth didn't care about that. In fact, she'd left the hotel very early the next day and refused to pick up his calls or reply to any of his messages.

After three days, he'd stopped trying to reach her. It was the right thing to do anyways and he figured it had to happen at some point. Their relationship wasn't going anywhere so there was no need to try to postpone something that was inevitable.

Now she was here, and he wondered why. The only thing that he was sure of was that whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good.

“Keep me posted on Ruth's granddaughter,” he said finally to Betty and headed for his office. As soon as he opened the door he saw Elizabeth. She was sitting on one of the sofas and looking out the window.

“Elizabeth,” he said as he dropped his briefcase on his desk. “What a surprise visit. Had no idea I would be seeing you today. What brings you here?”

Elizabeth didn't stand. Instead she turned so she was fully facing him and crossed her legs dramatically. The motion directed attention to her legs, which was exposed by the ridiculously long slit in her dress. She knew she had beautiful long legs as a model and she never hesitated to show them off.

Scott wouldn’t lie to himself. She had beautiful legs and they had once attracted him to her, but right now, he wasn't interested

"Is that any way to say hello to the woman you're dating?" she asked.

Scott fought the urge to roll his eyes. He wasn't in the mood nor did he have the time for this.

"I wasn't aware that we were still dating" he replied as he took off his suit and draped it at the back of his chair. "You didn't return my calls, Elizabeth. You practically ghosted me for two weeks. I don't think people who are actually dating do that to their partners."

Elizabeth rose. “And whose fault is that, Scott." she spat out." You sent me out of your room so you could talk to that tramp who by the way, snuck into your room. I should have made a complaint to get her fired, but I was so angry that I couldn't wait to leave. She clearly went in there to seduce you and you let it happen. How the hell was I supposed to feel?"