Disclaimer: I do not own mortal instruments, the character names are owned by Cassandra Clare. The original content, ideas and intellectual property of this story are owned by lily fierce, 2011-2012. Please do not copy, reproduce, or translate without express written permission.

Here's chapter 3. I, personally, absolutely love this one and I really hope you guys do too

Anyway, a billion thank you's to everyone who commented, favorited and added my story to their alerts. I appreciate it sooooo much and you guys are amazing.

Am I boring you… oops, well enough of me and onto what you really came here for. LoL, remember to leave me a nice little review

3. Seduction Act

When Clary had poured that pitcher of lemonade on Jace's head, she hadn't been thinking this far ahead. At the moment all she'd wanted was to put him in his place. Which was why she now sat in her father's office staring at a small stain on the wall just to the right of his head while being profusely questioned as to why she would ever disrespect a coworker in such a vulgar manner.

To be truthful, she hadn't even been listening thus far and had blocked her father out the moment he had started blathering on and on about work place etiquette. The funniest thing though, was that he wanted her to apologize.

Ha! As if she would ever utter that word in Jace's presence, they would have to string to her up from her toes and even then she doubted that she'd say it.

"Clary? Clary did you hear a word I just said?" a small part of what her father was speaking finally managed to break through her anger induced haze.

"Huh?" she focused her eyes on his, catching the annoyed expression on his face before he smoothed it over.

Luke sighed and asked as softly as he could "Clary why did you do it? What could have possessed you to spill a freezing pitcher of juice on the son of the man who is trying to take away everything our family has worked for?" Clary opened her mouth as if to speak but her father quickly began once more "You know we're supposed to make peace with them not pummel them to death, but you obviously don't seem to understand that."

He looked at her expectantly "The night of Izzy's wedding I met him." She began, not daring to meet her father's eyes and just looking down at her hands as she spoke "He flirted and, well, I flirted and then we danced for a bit… ok, well, all night." she corrected herself, her voice seeping with embarrassment "He seemed so sweet. Yet all along he never once told me who he was or what his intentions were or even that he knew who I was, which he totally did," she added, holding up her index finger as if to tell her father not to speak after chancing a glance and figuring that he would ask something to that extent.

He lowered his head then looked back up at Clary, a new expression on his face, which if Clary wasn't mistaken, looked a lot like pride. "Your mother and I have always told you to stand up for yourself and to do what you think is right, which is exactly why as your superior I have to say that there are better ways to handle a situation such as this. However, as your father, I say good job. I am so proud of you and I sincerely think that you went too easy on him."

Clary giggled, relived to hear her father say those words as she got up and he enveloped her in a hug, but one more issue remained.

"Dad I just can't believe I have to get married." She said into her father's chest. "I won't let them take away the corporation, but this is just not what I wanted dad." Her voice lowered to a whisper and she couldn't stop the tears that rolled down her face "It's not how I ever thought it would happen."

"I know Clare. I know" her father's voice was sad and resigned but she knew without a doubt that if this was what she had to do, she would do it.

For her family, for her father and for the company, she would do it.

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Jace stood in the men's room trying to dry off the sticky liquid rolling down his neck. He still couldn't believe that she'd dumped the entire thing on him.

Well in a sense it wasn't as bad as what he'd expected. Although he didn't know what he was expecting but he guessed it was somewhere along the lines of a first-class kick in his, uh- manhood. Or maybe a punch to the face, but her revenge was pretty good too judging by the fact that she'd ruined his very expensive Armani suit and he still had some very annoying un-melted pieces of ice digging into his back.

He hated doing this. God, he really didn't want to be doing this, but what choice did he have? His father couldn't take over the company without him and he wouldn't abandon his family to protect some girl he barely knew.

No. there was no arguing the fact that he was caught up now.

The door to the restroom slipped open bringing him out of his train of thought as his father stepped in holding out a suit carrier that most obviously held his salvation inside. Taking it from his father's hands he stepped into the largest stall.

"That girl is not going to be easy to seduce" he finally spoke, surprising Jace with his comment, he knew that in all technicality that was what they were doing, but hearing it said, especially from his father, seemed to bother him more than he thought it would. "She has way too much… personality for her own good."

Jace thought he rather liked that she had stood up for herself. Damn, who was kidding, it was sexy as hell. "Yeah," he said "tell me about it, since I'm the one covered in lemonade, not" he made it a point to emphasize that last word "you."

He heard his father's low chuckle through the stall doors. "So, do you think you can handle her?" he asked.

"Of course I can handle her" he knew that was the response that his father was expecting, but in truth, he didn't know if he could handle her. He was so accustomed to hooking up with hoes and superficial sluts that Clary was going to be a challenge.

"Good, now I expect to see some progress by the end of next week."

"Ok." one word, one syllable and it was all he was gonna get.

Jace heard the door to the bathroom open once more as his father stepped out, then it quickly shut behind him leaving Jace alone as he finished removing the rest of his clothing and wiping the sticky liquid off his skin. Unzipping the bag holding another suit inside, he dressed as fast as he could and stepped out of the stall exiting the men's room all together and walking into the hall.

He walked around for some time mostly looking for his father but instead ran into the one person he least expected to see. Clary.

She was walking down the hall laughing with a guy, who had very tight black pants, a hot pink button up shirt and a black blazer with more sparkles than Jace thought anyone could put on clothes. As if she could sense his presence, she turned in his direction, her smile vanishing almost instantly.

He walked towards her and stood before her and the sparkly man.

"Magnus can we finish talking later?" she asked.

"Sure thing babe." Magnus speared one more glance at Jace before winking at Clary.

"What do you want Jace?" she raised a brow "What, are you stalking me now."

"You wish, and don't even try to deny it."

"In your dreams pretty boy" Clary huffed and looked around impatiently "you didn't answer my question. What do you want?"

"Well I just wanted to let you know that you owe me a new suit." He moved closer to her expecting her to move back but she stood her ground. Jace liked that about her. "and I prefer Armani."

She scowled "two things: one, get out- of my- face." Jace moved away smirking. God he liked her already. "and two, if I ruined your very expensive suit then I did my job right."

Jace laughed, he couldn't help it. He found it funny how she thought she looked intimidating with that look on her face when she really looked cute. "I love a women who can stand her ground. It's exceedingly sexy."

She stepped closer to him and poked him in the chest in what she thought was supposed to hurt "If you think that seduction act of yours is gonna work on me, then you must be immensely confused."

"I wasn't trying to seduce you Clary, but if you think this is seducing, then you haven't seen anything yet."

She shoved him and huffed, stomping down the hall. Jace watched her go laughing to himself. That one was definitely going to be a handful.

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The following two weeks progressed in much the same way. Jace was getting closer and closer to Clary. Little by little her walls were crumbling and although she still harbored quite a bit of hostility it would be gone eventually and then Jace would have her trust.

The engagement was slowly being set up and although Clary didn't know who she would be marrying she would soon, and that didn't leave Jace much time to do what he needed.

He had caught her looking his way several times but she had quickly lowered her eyes as a soft pink flush spread over her cheeks. But truth was, he had been looking at her too, that was what scared him the most.

So now, he was tired and in serious need of a break, he was walking down the hall and didn't know exactly where it was he was headed, he just knew he was in need of some Jace-time and knew exactly where to go to get it.

Grabbing his wallet, Jace took the elevator down to the first floor and quickly left the building headed for the parking lot, immediately finding his silver BMW parked next to a small yellow Porsche. He could hear music coming from inside and noticed a head of red curls sitting in the driver's seat with a sketch pad on her lap.

Jace smirked and walked over to her side of the window, seeing Clary who had taken off her jacket and now sat in just a white tank top that showed off more skin than he was prepared to see.

He swallowed bracing himself and partially… scared? No way was he scared; he was just worried, for his own health and well, the health of, you know, little Jace. He tapped her window and she glared at him with so much hatred before slightly lowering her window just enough for him to hear her speak. A very loud current of music drifted out of the car.

"What the hell do you want Herondale?" she said, speaking over the music, practically having to shout in order to be heard "You've already taken almost everything from me."

"First of all, please lower the damn music before my ear drums start to bleed." He started "Second, I just wanted to apologize for this whole ordeal." Jace figured that if he planned to get on her good side it would probably help to start from here. Besides, he wasn't completely lying, he was sorry.

Clary sighed, relinquishing her anger, and turning to the radio, she lowered the volume so it was only a muted hum in the back ground. "Okay…"

So far so good Jace thought

"Although I don't believe that's why you came here." Clary added.

It wasn't why he was there, but well, change of plans. He would use this opportunity to his advantage. "Well" he coughed " I owed you and I figured you might want to go get some coffee, I know the best place."

She narrowed her eyes "Fine, but we are nowhere near even. I hope you know that."

He chuckled "Yeah, I kinda figured that out by the pitcher of ice cold pink lemonade that you poured over my head." Clary smiled, a small smile, but a smile none the less. "By the way, did you have to pick pink, I would have preferred something brown."

"Good to know." she said, lowering her window the rest of the way, she grabbed her jacket and slipped it on. Jace was mildly upset and slightly relieved now that she had covered up a bit more skin. "Next time I plan on spilling something on you, I'll make sure that the color is to your liking."

"Funny, now are you coming or not?"

Clary nodded pointing to the passenger seat of her car.

"What? There is no way we're going in your car"

"Why? What's wrong with my car?"

Jace laughed and stood back as if to appraise the vehicle "This is such a girl car and I refuse to be seen in it. So come on… we're going in mine and I'm driving."

Turning the car off and pulling the key out of the ignition, Clary opened her car door and stepped out. "Well then, I suppose your paying as well?"

Jace stepped closer to Clary, a sly smirk plastered to his face, and placed his hands on her hips pushing her against the car. Almost immediately, a light blush tinged her cheeks and she positioned her hands on his chest pressing lightly as if she was trying to push him away. Heat from her touch seeped through his clothes and into his skin as he moved his face closer to hers, their noses nearly touching.

"Why of course. I am a gentle man you know." His voice was low and rough and he could already tell he affected her by the way she shivered when the words left his mouth.

He moved away walking in the direction of his car and she followed. Both stepped in and Jace turned to her and smiled. "Ready?"

She raised her brows in question and he winked as he lowered the top of the car and the sun glowed on her skin. They set off as the air whipped through Clary's hair and the largest smile Jace had seen spread over her face. Faces streamed by but the only thing Jace could see was Clary and her smile.

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Jace steered through traffic like a pro, ignoring the honks and smiling even more when he heard them. All the while, Clary's heart was beating faster than a humming bird's wings on cocaine and she couldn't help the laughter that escaped her lips. Jace was a manic driver, steering through traffic in a way that she was pretty sure was illegal but Clary realized she liked it. She had never felt this free. This liberated before. It was like she was flying and nothing stood between her and the sky. Her hair flying behind her and the wind blowing her laughter away along with the sounds of the city and traffic.

All too soon they arrived at the coffee shop and stepping out Jace strode over to Clary's side of the car and opened her door, holding his hand out to help her. She took it with a smile and a wave of very unwarranted tingles shot up her arm at his touch. God, what was wrong with her. He was just a guy like any other, so her hormones could calm down now and stop acting all kooky.

"What'd you think of that?" he asked and this time there was a smile on his lips. Not a smirk or grin for once, but a real smile.

"I think I'm going to buy a convertible for myself. That was so much fun."

"Ha… I knew you would like it." He sounded so sure Clary just had to ask.

"How'd you know?"

"Well it just seemed like you really needed a little something to loosen up. It can't be healthy to be so tense all the time."

She laughed "Yeah, I really did." Then she looked him in the eyes "Thank you."

"Anytime." She stood there feeling trapped in his gaze until he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the shop. "Come on. I wouldn't want your father to think that I kidnapped you for my own sadistic needs." Not That I'd mind she thought as a matter of fact I think I'd rather like it if he kidnapped me.

No! stop. She could not be having these thoughts. For god sakes, she was going to be getting married in a few months to god knows who. She could not, under any circumstances, fall for Jace.

As they stepped into the shop he led her to order. Clary went first as she ordered a vanilla frapuccino and started to hand the girl at the cash register, who was seriously beginning to infuriate her from the very inappropriate looks she was giving Jace, a twenty dollar bill when Jace's hand landed on hers effectively stopping her from giving the lady her money.

"I do recall saying that I was going to pay, so please put that away" he took his wallet out and paid before Clary could even protest.

"I'm a big girl Jace, I can pay for myself you know." The girl at the register was still staring at him and some of the women at the café were making lewd gestures that Clary knew were directed at Jace, but his eyes were on hers the entire time.

His fingers hooked on her jaw pulling her face closer to his, "I am plenty aware of this Clary, but just because you can doesn't mean I'm going to let you."

She smiled and relented as they grabbed their coffees and sat down. They sat there for nearly the entire afternoon just talking and drinking their coffees. It was amazing how comfortable she felt with Jace and how easy talking with him was. There were no awkward moments between them and silence wasn't unnerving. It was peaceful. Being with him was easy in and of itself. All the emotions she had been trying so hard to hold back the past week were coming to the surface and Clary knew if she was going to go through with this engagement thing, she was going to have to get Jace out of her head and her heart and push her emotions aside because if she didn't pay closer attention she might just fall for the man that was causing all her problems in the first place.

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