She tentatively approached the building, the only sound nearby were her footsteps thrashing against the pavement beneath her boots. As she hurried up the steps, she hesitated at the front door. She took her phone out once more and checked for any missed calls. None.

She was definitely going to have a serious talk with Sean once she got her hands on him. Shaking her head, she pushed the door open.

It was surprisingly neat inside. The floor was wooden, and clean. There was a fresh scent of something woody, something natural. Alice couldn't place her finger on the smell, but it was deliciously inviting. And warm.

Alice subbed her hands together, waiting as the warmth sunk in. She stepped inside completely, letting the door shut behind her. The sound echoed through the halls. Alice waited a little longer, but no one seemed to appear.

"Hello?" She called out, hoping for a response. When she didn't get one, she tried again. "Hello?"

No one appeared.

She slipped her boots off and stepped into the hallway, not wanting to dirty the floor. As she stepped further into the building, she began to hope that she hadn't been stood up by two individuals at the same time.

As she stepped further into the studio, she heard the soft beats of music coming from further inside. That had to be where the instructor was. Alice set off in the direction of the music.

As she got closer, the music got louder and she felt the vibrations of the music against her frame. It seemed to regulate her heartbeats; it was that effective. By the time she got to the closed door where the music was emitting from, she paused. For the billionth time, she pulled out her phone and glanced at the screen again, looking for a message from Sean, but again, it wasn't there.

That was when everything inside of her snapped. She was upset and angry. She really hadn't expected this from Sean. She expected to be informed of a change in plans. She expected for Sean to at least send her a message, anything, to notify her that he wouldn't make it, but he hadn't. He'd betrayed her and he'd better have a good explanation as to why.

Alice turned around, not in the mood to talk to anyone. She wasn't here to justify Sean, which was exactly what she was just about to do. She was Alice Olsen. She was the daughter of the wealthiest businessman in Philadelphia. She didn't care what Sean thought about her. The second she'd back out from the engagement, she knew she'd have her father's support.

Tears threatened to fall out of her eyes, but she controlled them. Her emotions were a mess at that moment. That was certainly something Sean could take credit for. No other man had certainly ever made feel this way before. Like she wasn't worth anything. She'd never let it happen before. Even before Sean had proposed to her, she hadn't expected this from him. His every behavior led her to believe he valued her and everything about her. Until she'd said that cursed yes.

Alice refused to let it get to her, especially not Sean. She'd known that saying yes to Sean was always a compromise, since the first date. He never made her feel the things she'd wanted to feel when she met her future husband.

Still, Sean fit too many pictures to let him go. He was almost perfect and that compelled Alice to give into his whims.

And she definitely wasn't going to give into this one. Not anymore.

She'd barely taken two steps before she heard it. The music coming from inside the room had been calming. The beats from the song seemed to regulate her heart, keeping it in control. She'd acknowledged it when she heard it coming from inside the room. But all of the sudden, it got louder. Alice knew exactly what that sudden increase in volume meant. The device protecting her from the sound waves had been eliminated. The door was open.

Alice quickly turned around, her eyes wide.

The fright she felt made her feel like a teenager again, who was caught doing something bad, like sneaking into the house after curfew. Alice had never had that problem, but she'd covered for her sister countless times and each time was harder than the last, because Alice knew that even if she didn't do anything wrong, she was still a partner in crime.

The fear she felt at that moment was irrational. She got herself to calm down. Then, putting her best Alice Olsen smile on her face, she turned around, completely unprepared for the sight in front of her.

Her breath caught in her throat, when her eyes landed on the tall, lean figure standing in the hall. The music playing in the background seemed to fade in her mind and the quickening of her heartbeat in her chest resounded through her whole body.

Attraction.

She felt it. She felt it towards the man standing in front of her, dressed in a plain, white wife-beater that accentuated his lean muscles and a pair of shorts which settled on his hips, way low. Alice was genuinely ashamed that the first thing she looked at was his body. That hadn't been the case with Sean. But when she'd realized her error, her eyes snapped to his face and her eyes met his. They were focused on her and Alice swore there was amusement dancing in them. Her cheeks burned.

This man had to be the most gorgeous man she'd ever laid eyes on. Ever. His eyes were a cerulean color, filled with light. They were the kind of eyes that expressed every emotion. They were a reflection of the person. His jaw was incredibly defined, and his full lips were slightly crooked, displaying the beginnings of a smirk. His hair was dark, short enough to stay out of his way, but long enough for someone to run their fingers, though. Alice shook her head. She didn't need to be thinking about running her fingers through anyone's anything.

"I'm Alice Olsen." She blurted out, thanking all the energy in the universe for saving her from embarrassing herself. The man smiled.

"You must be Sean Underwood's fiancé." The man said, his expression pleasant, like he just hadn't caught Alice so blatantly checking him out. She had to feel more ashamed than she was, but the thing was, just because Alice was engaged to someone, that didn't mean she couldn't admire someone else.

"Alice." She said, resisting the strong urge to smack herself on the back on her head. She needed to say something else. "I'm Sean's fiancé."

"I thought so." He nodded. His eyes remained trained on her, almost calculating. He pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked towards her, only stopping at a safe distance away. "Where's your fiancé?"

Alice frowned, feeling internally bitter at the mention of her no-show fiancé, so she gave the man her best sweet-and-completely-aware smile. "He's on his way."

Something in the man's jaw twitched. "I see."

His eyes seemed to assess Alice, still, and Alice felt unsure under his gaze. She knew she didn't have the perfect figure, but she wasn't fat or overly skinny. She was at the perfect medium, according to her. She wasn't curvy, but she wasn't pole skinny, either. In other words, her body was perfectly average, just like the rest of her. She wasn't anything a man tended to look over more than once. "I'm Cédric Vimont."

"Cedric?" Alice repeated after him, testing out the foreign name on her tongue. It was exquisite, just like the rest of him. "Is that...foreign?"

"French." The man-Cedric-responded, clearly amused. "I was named after the man who raised my father."

Alice just smiled at the words. The man who raised his father? A godfather? Grandfather? "I was named Alice because my mother liked the name."

"Touché." Cedric responded. "Do you have any clue when your fiancé will be arriving, Alice, if I may call you that?"

Alice, tongue-tied, just nodded. The way her name slipped off his tongue was completely mesmerizing and it made her feel things she never felt around Sean. Then, remembering that he'd asked her a question, she quickly stumbled a response out. "He, I, I, uh, I don't know where he is, or if he's coming, but he asked me to be here today, so he has to be coming."

Cedric didn't even wince. "I see." He said, again. "Alice, I spoke to your fiancé over the phone. He informed me that you're preparing for your wedding dance, are you not?" Alice nodded. "Excellent, do you have any clue as to what dance you'll be performing?"

The question hung in the air for a moment. "I don't know."

Cedric cocked an eyebrow. "You don't know what song your wedding dance will be?"

Alice shrugged. "It's not really my forte. Sean is handling all of that stuff."

"Come with me, Alice." Cedric said, turning around and slipping into the room he'd emerged from. Alice couldn't help but examine his finely toned buttocks. Dancers. Then, she followed him inside. The inside of the room looked like a dance studio, which was unsurprising, considering that this was a dance studio. The floor was covered in wood and the long wall opposite to them was covered in a long mirror, allowing dancers to look at their positions while they danced. Two large speakers were positioned at the top corners of the wall on either side of the mirrors and Alice assumed that the control board was somewhere in the room. Overall, the place was beautiful. "Do you like it?" Cedric's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"It's amazing." She told him, her eyes hungrily scanning the room. Alice wasn't a dancer, and she'd never had any interest in dance before, but seeing the finely polished dancing heaven made her want to twirl and prance until she fainted from exhaustion.

"This is my studio." He said, and that was when Alice turned to look at him again. Seeing Cedric in the room, his room, seemed more intimate than it should have felt. "Do you have any experience in dancing?"

"None." She told him. "None at all. Sean knows that. That's why he insisted that we take dancing classes together."

Cedric's jaw tightened. "Alice, I don't think your fiancé is coming, today."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's already more than fifteen minutes late. He hasn't called to explain himself." Alice was about to question how he knew that, but held herself back. "You don't know where he is, either. I think it's a no show."

Alice sighed. "I think you're right."

Cedric walked across the room, his presence filling up the atmosphere and settled on leaning against the mirror and the whole time, his eyes remained on her. "Does this happen a lot?"

"Does what happen a lot?" Alice asked. "Do I get stood up a lot?"

"That is not something you have to tell me." Cedric responded. "You seem like a mature woman, someone who deserves someone better than someone who doesn't value her."

"What makes you think Sean doesn't value me?" Alice asked, something inside of her snapping, and breaking away and out of the trance Cedric seemed to put her into. "In fact, apart from your name and profession, I don't even know anything about you. How can you feel like you have the right to comment on my relationship with my fiancé? You're someone Sean is paying to do a job."

He didn't even flinch, something that bothered Alice immensely. "I have no right to make any comments on your relationship with your fiancé. I do know, however, that a man who doesn't value a woman's time is not likely to value the woman, either. I believe that every woman deserves a man who respects her and will do whatever he can to keep her happy, and vice versa. When I see something wrong, Alice, I have to comment on it."

"You have no right." Alice said, stiffening and ready to bolt. Cedric seemed to pick up on that and pushed himself off the wall in the most casually graceful way Alice had ever seen.

"I'm sorry for interfering." He said. "You're right when you say I have no right. I'm someone your fiancé paid to do a job. Let's do the job."

"I'm leaving." Alice said, but she stayed exactly where she was, unable to move.

"You don't have any experience in dancing. Your fiancé is paying me to teach you how to dance." He said, his voice never changing pitch. "Why don't I teach you how to dance?"