I sighed audibly before walking over to her.

"Yes?" I asked politely, not wanting to get into it with her at the moment. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking up at me.

"I see that your name is still in the press. What are you going to do about it? I don't need my name associated with cheating. I look terrible and weak in the press." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, obviously bothered by the media. It took all of me not to mention what I saw earlier and I just shrugged instead.

"That's not my problem. I'm just the mistress, remember? Solve it yourself." I rolled my eyes at her before walking away, not wanting to give her another second of my time.

"Violett!"

I groaned as someone else called my name and I whirled around, ready to snap at the person, but stopped when Colton walked my way, a smile on his face.

"Hey, what's up?" I tried to keep my voice light. I wasn't sure what I was walking into with him because we haven't seen each other in person since he blew up on me about the news.

"Hey, how are you? I meant to catch up with you earlier, but I've been so busy, sorry about that. I was wondering if you wanted to have dinner with me tonight?" His eyes were bright and excited, like nothing ever happened between us. I scrunched my brows in confusion. "Just as friends. I want to catch up. I miss your presence." He shrugged nonchalantly and his smile made me realize I missed him as well. His invitation made me perk up a little bit and I nodded.

"Of course! Do you have a place in mind?" I asked, tilting my head.

"I do, but I kind of want it to be a surprise. I'll text you more about it later, sound good?" he asked, face hopeful. I chuckled and shrugged.

"Whatever you want. Just let me know."

Colton clapped his hands. "I'll let you know more after work." He leaned in, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. The kiss stunned me, and I glanced over to see Lisa glaring at Colton's back as he walked away. What was her problem? I scoffed and walked into my office, going straight to my chair. My work day just officially started and I was already stressed out. I went the rest of my work day a little stress free. Roman tried to get in contact with me, probably to talk about earlier, but I made sure to decline every call and even locked my office door. I didn't want to hear him explain how he wanted to protect Lisa. That was the direction the conversation was going in and I knew it would only piss me off hearing it in the state I was in currently. After work, I went home and that was when I got a text from Colton detailing what I should wear and what time to be ready. It was going to be a slightly fancy night and I needed to wear an elegant gown. I sighed, knowing that he was going for optics. We were probably going to a place with lots of paparazzi. I didn't mind that, it just made me think about the possible headlines and what exactly he was going for. I didn't want to be known as his girlfriend still and though I knew that was the direction Grayson and Lisa probably wanted me to take with the media, that wasn't something I wanted to do personally. Davis was home this time and took me shopping to find a dress. I found a beautiful silk gown that was a burgundy and cream mix with thin straps. It took me no time at all to get ready and soon I was waiting for Colton. It felt like I was barely waiting, when there was a knock at my door. Opening it, it revealed Roman and not Colton, who I was expecting. His eyes widened when he took in my appearance, and a confused look was on his face.

"Did we have plans that I forgot about?" he asked, stepping inside my apartment without me inviting him in. I closed the door, turning around to face him.

"No, I have plans and I don't remember inviting you to my place." I glanced at my phone to see what time it was. It was 7:50 pm and Colton would be here at any moment to pick me up. I wasn't trying to hide the fact that I was going to dinner with him, I just didn't care for Roman to know everything that was happening with me.

"We weren't done talking earlier. You didn't give me a chance to explain myself." Roman faced me, adjusting the black suit he was wearing. He didn't change from the clothes he wore to work which meant he came here as soon as he was done working.

"Yes, we were. What more was there to explain, Roman? You wanted me to listen to you talk about how you don't want to call out Lisa or how you want to protect her? I wasn't going to stay for that. Now, please leave. I have a date tonight." I purposely said the word date to see what his reaction would be. He raised a brow, clearly shocked and walked up to me slowly, eyes trailing down my body. I had to control my breathing as he stopped directly in front of me, so close that I could see the different colors in his eyes that made up the beautiful blue that they were. I never noticed that before, I don't think.

"You have a date, Violett? What happened to us?" he asked, and I could hear the annoyance in his tone. I let out a laugh, taking a step back.

"Us? What the hell do you mean us? There is no us. There was never an us. We fucked like twice and suddenly you think that means there's something?" His jaw clenched at my words, but I wasn't done. "You won't even break off your fake relationship with Lisa. How could there ever be an us? You're delusional if you think we could ever work in this situation." I was almost yelling, and I had to back up and turn away to calm myself down. I didn't mean for it to come out like that, but this was what I was thinking when he told me that he wanted to give us a try. I wanted to bring up the conversation on my own terms so that it didn't seem harsh, and we could at least have a decent conversation about us, but his words triggered me. His footsteps were heavy against my floor, and he was now standing in front of me. His finger slid underneath my chin and he forced me to look up at him, the look of anger and hurt on his face.

"Give us a chance. Whatever it is. That's all I'm asking." His voice was soft despite his face, and it made my heart hurt to see that he was actually hurt over my words. I tried to tell myself not to care, but it was so hard. Instead of answering, I looked over his shoulder at the door, wanting Colton to knock so that I didn't have to stay and have this conversation. "Violett, does this mean we don't have a chance?" he asked me, voice stern and I looked at him again, searching his face with my eyes. Did I want to even give him a chance after everything? Was it worth it? Was he serious? Did I really want him? All of those questions went through my head before I answered.

"No. We have a chance," I whispered, and I watched as he let out a sigh of relief, tension gone from his shoulders. He placed both hands on each of my cheeks and I had to force myself not to lean into his palm. His eyes didn't break away from mine.

"Can I kiss you?" he murmured, breaking eye contact to glance at my lips. I gave him permission by standing on my toes, meeting him halfway. He wasted no time, our lips locking, and I sighed into his embrace as his arm circled around my waist, pressing me to his hard body. I had so many questions for him and still didn't know how I really felt about it all, but I knew right here in this moment, this was where I wanted to be.