On Monday morning Violet gathered up the remaining three apple rose puffs and headed over to the dojo earlier than usual. Her company's new show didn't start for another three weeks so she was back to a somewhat normal schedule, starting at 10 AM and ending around 6 PM for a little while.

When she was on her later schedule she typically visited Noah around 10:30 but now she had to do it at 8 or she wouldn't have time to get to work. Unfortunately for her, he had back to back toddler classes that didn't end until the time she usually visited.

She would only be able to talk to him for about ten minutes between classes but it was better than nothing. They were meeting up to go to dinner tonight anyway but she still wanted to do something nice for him.

Violet knew how much Noah got worn out from chaperoning field trips. It was why she had risked Nathan's wrath to sneak him the rest of the apple rose puffs.

His first class didn't end until 8:30 and the next one started at 8:40 so she managed to catch the tail end of the class. Those little kids were so cute because they had absolutely no idea what they were doing.

Noah caught her eye as she walked in and she simply waved at him. He waved back before returning his attention to his students.

When class finally ended, four of his precious ten minutes were wasted talking to a parent so he seemed a bit annoyed when he finally made his way over to her. "Sorry about that, Vi. Unavoidable."

"Don't worry about it! I know it's part of your job. I just wanted to deliver breakfast courtesy of my brother."

"I love you," Noah said fervently as he took a bite out of the first apple rose puff. "I was secretly hoping there would be some left for me."

Violet laughed. She knew her friend too well. "Well if Nathan notices they're gone and gives me a hard time I hope you appreciate my sacrifice for you."

"Oh, I will."

She was about to say something else but one of the parents of a child in the next class had arrived early and wanted to speak to the teacher. Noah sighed heavily and she barely managed to hold back another laugh. That was what he got for trying to socialize while at work.

With a smile, Violet called "see you tonight" over her shoulder as she left. Belatedly, she realized she still had the other two puffs with her. There was no way she could eat them because of how many she had indulged in over the weekend.

Since her time with Noah got cut short, she had enough time to swing by her dad's office before going to work. If she brought them to him he would surely defend her against Nathan if he decided to retaliate for the pastry theft.

Violet didn't visit Hale Investments terribly often—her early experience running into her grandfather had effectively scared her away—but the secretary still knew who she was. She heard all the time that she was the spitting image of her father.

Yes, he had been a handsome man when he was younger, but she was a woman! No woman wanted to be compared to their father. She would far prefer being told she looked like her mother.

At least those same people told her that she had her mother's smile. And it wasn't like Violet was identical to Aaron; they simply shared the same coloring and certain mannerisms. Her features were undeniably more feminine.

"Go right up, Miss Hale," the secretary said without bothering to look up from her computer.

Violet made her way to the elevator and began the long ascent to the top floor. Every so often people would come and go on different floors but she found herself alone again the closer she got to the executive management floor.

Until four floors away, when a handsome blonde man walked in and did a double take. She frowned. What was that about?

The elevator suddenly lurched to a stop then, stuck in between floors. Fantastic. Just what she needed this morning. Violet pressed the emergency button and was told to remain calm and that someone was on the way.

The man's eyes were still boring a hole into the back of her head. Unaccountably annoyed, she snapped, "Why are you staring at me?"

He was immediately apologetic and snapped out of it, as if coming out from under a spell. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to stare. You—"

'Are the most beautiful creature I've ever laid my eyes on?' Violet had heard such sappy lines from men before. Those guys never turned out to be sincere.

"—look exactly like a female version of my boss."

Wait, what? This guy must work pretty closely with her dad to be talking like that. Her eyes narrowed. There was only one man this young who was in her dad's inner circle.

"Jeremy Ward, I take it?"

The man seemed surprised she knew who he was but smiled. "Well if you know my name you can't be anyone other than Violet Hale."

"Yes," she admitted. "My dad talks about you a lot."

He laughed. "What a coincidence. He talks about you a lot too. I feel like I know you already."

That was a bit alarming. What sort of nonsense had her overly sentimental father been spouting about her? Jeremy noticed the look on her face and immediately clarified.

"It's nothing bad! Mostly he brags about how you're the prima ballerina of the New York City Ballet."

Yep, that was definitely her dad. He bragged about all of his family's accomplishments. But was that really it? Someone wouldn't feel like they already knew her if they only knew what her profession was.

Violet eyed him a bit warily. She would definitely be having a talk with her father later about not gossiping about her to his underlings.