I had woken up that morning, opened the door for the delivery and instructed the men on where to put every single piece of my furniture. After all that had taken place I had thanked them and shown them the door. It had taken five minutes of heavy breathing and mental self-rehabilitation for me to realise it was my first day of work. How I could've forgotten I don't know but I was so glad I'd realised before eight, because work started at nine and I didn't want to be late.

I had been so grateful when the people had given me the job without even a single interview, I mean I knew my resume was good but certainly it took a little more than that for them to just employ someone. After all it was Evenstone Inc that I was working for and they were the biggest interior/exterior design company this side of the equator and I'd gotten a job as a solo interior designer with only a resume, CV and a clean Facebook page.

Maybe its because I'd been one of the best back in Canada, designing from penthouses to mansions by famous movie stars and directors to artists and performers, travelling anywhere I needed to for every project. They all had different visions and difficult standards but I had realised their visions and reached their standards landing my name on their social media pages and being mentioned each time their designer homes were mentioned. I'd travelled for my job to all kinds of different places like Venezuela, Japan and Australia but I had left that and I was here now, Evenstone Inc where I could only travel as far as LA, Vegas or Miami for any of my clients.

Change was good, change was great.

As I entered the tall skyscraper glass building relief washed over me, it was just as I thought it would be, cold, hard and unforgiving. A great working environment. It was guaranteed everyone here looked out for themselves and would dig claw deep into any of their friends just to get to the top, no one would try to be my friend here and thats just how I liked it.

"Hello, I'm here for work. This is my first day, I'm Amara Ackerman." I smiled down at the young but stressed looking lady sitting quietly behind the reception desk. I stood confused as I watched the girls mouth drop open and her eyes widen. It hadn't occurred to me that she may have been staring at something far more interesting behind me.

I turned to inspect what could be so shocking it deserved a stare like that and I found every woman in the room had stopped what they were doing. A drop dead gorgeous male had just entered the premises and I was pretty sure the building would crumble to the ground from the dominant waves radiating from him. I had seen a handful of beautiful men in my life, heck I'd even been hit on by most of them but this man was quite simply the most stunning person I had ever laid eyes on in my years since puberty and probably in my entire 24 years since being born.

It wasn't just one feature that made him so gorgeous but all of him seemed flawless. Perhaps it was his clear, olive complexion, combined with his natural raven black hair which brushed his collar but combed over on the top, leaving a good view of his striking eyes. His eyes, oh it's his eyes that got me. They were a dark coffee that stood out starkly with his dark hair and skin. And they were so damn piercing... I felt as though he knew everything about me with just one look. And the fear of him knowing anything about me brought me back to reality.

"That's Dominic, Dominic Vitiello." the girl behind me sighed whilst staring after him as he stepped into the empty elevator which — of course — didn't stay empty for long as pretty much all the women in the room piled in after him. I cringed at how uncomfortable that must be for him and turned back to the receptionist.

"Good to know. Can you tell me where I should go now, please?" I tried hard not to look annoyed but for some reason all those women being near him bothered me and I didn't know why, I had nothing to do with him. This was none of my business.

"Don't act like you don't care, everyone here wants him. But I can see you're in a rush, though you should know he's totally taken." the girl smirked up at me as if she knew something I didn't. Then she proceeded with printing out a paper and directing me with where I needed to go.

I waited for the third elevator to come down, I knew the one in the middle wouldn't be coming down anytime soon with all people that just boarded. Then relieved the elevator was empty, I stepped into it and waited for the doors to close. After I was securely inside I fixed up my top and wiped my sweaty palms down my skirt. That guy — no scratch that, man — had made me sweat a river. I grunted as I fanned herself, seriously.

The doors opened to a very busy looking floor, heels were pattering on the glossy tiles, piles of documents lay on desks waiting for attention alongside half empty coffee mugs, glass walls stood up from floor to ceiling separating the important people from the cubicles. I let out a breath and a little bit of the hope that I would be one of those people sitting in a glass office with a full view of the city instead of being one of the lifeless drones that sat side by side in the cubicles, working away another boring day. I liked to think my life wasn't boring and the work I did was fun for me, interesting too.

"Hello, you must be Amara! Welcome, we're so excited to have you here," a petite looking brunette wearing a bun and pantsuit came and put a hand on my shoulder, then began leading me through the busy hall, "You are such a legend around here you know that? We've heard of your work and just couldn't wait until you got here and after we heard you'd applied here, we didn't have to be geniuses to work out you'd get the job straight away." She smiled as she came to a stop before a door. She scanned a blank white card on the device screwed to wall and the door unlocked itself, I felt satisfied with the security on the doors as the brunette handed me the key card.

I was glad the key card was mine, that meant no one else had access to the room. You always need a foolproof way of protecting your work because you never know what backstabbing workmate will break into your office and steal your documents for their own selfish needs, leaving you with nothing of course and a railway ticket out of a job. So I was glad that I was the only one with an all access pass.

"I'm Monique by the way. And this is your office, set everything up as you please but when you're finished make sure to come and find me because we have one more thing to do." She flashed me a broad grin and left. Good riddance, I thought, she was a little fake for my taste.

Looking around the office I was relieved to see I had scored one of the glass offices and not only that but one with a window view, my new boss must really like me for someone she hadn't met yet. After setting my handbag down on my new desk — also made of glass — I went around and took down a mental list of all the things I would need to get for my new work space.

Satisfied with what I'd come up with I took a bunch of pictures and took down some measurements for furniture. I made sure my key card was clipped to my skirt before going out to find Monique. "Ah, so you're finished. Come with me." Monique smiled from the behind a desk in the office directly across from me. I was surprised Monique was still smiling, I knew that if I were working somewhere for as long as Monique had probably been working at Evenstone Inc I wouldn't be so happy about a newbie getting an office just as good as I had. Especially if I had to work my way to it.

I stood and watched the new girl from the other side of the floor, I'd seen her in the lobby and thought she looked fairly attractive but now seeing her from the front she looked more attractive than I had thought. The pencil skirt she was sporting today looked a little too good as it hugged all her curves.

I failed to hide my annoyance as Clarissa Bogart moved into my direct line of vision.

"Hey baby, I didn't know you were coming to see me today." She grinned like a cheshire cat, though we were dating I had come to Evenstone Inc to get myself a new interior designer for my new project. This had nothing to do with Clarissa.

"As much as I'm glad to see you Clarissa," I managed through thin lips, even though it was a lie, "I'm here about my new project, Vitiello Industries is building a new hotel along the main boardwalk. I need a interior designer, with a vision."

I had emphasised on the 'new' and said it twice because I wanted to make sure Clarissa didn't expect the project to be instantly hers. Sure she was my girlfriend and she worked here as an interior designer but I had seen her work before and had even made the mistake of letting her design one of my penthouses. Lets just say, that was my least favourite penthouse. And I'd even bought a new one after that, that I could use instead.

It was that bad.

"Really?" she squealed obviously excited, I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes, "That's awesome. I'll get the boss for you." She patted me on the chest twice and slowly, before she hesitantly went away leaving me under the lust filled gaze of all the women on the floor.

When Monique had left me with Alonna — my new boss — she had said that they'd given me the job so quickly because they needed a fresh new mind and me being so exotic was exactly what they had been looking for. Apparently Alonna likes to trust her gut and jump into things with complete faith and she had 'complete faith' in me. Of course I had been flattered and thanked her for such an exciting opportunity.

What shocked me the most was the fact that Alonna went on to say that a new project had just opened up and just minutes before their new client had asked specifically for me and had said that I would get the details on my desk by tomorrow morning. So I got to leave work early. I was surprised because at first sight the building seemed to imitate a cold, hard workplace but really the people there were quite nice but it took a lot more than that to convince me that it was 'just that easy.'

Making my second trip to IKEA in the last forty-eight hours I scored the same parking spot and walked in smiling at the cashier who was the same as the previous day. I picked out all the new stuff I needed for my office and loaded it into my car, all by myself.

Once back home I put my new belongings in boxes so I could carry them easily to my office the following day. Sighing and relieved everything was going my way, I started with making my dinner. I managed to cook up a chicken stir fry and have it sizzling on a ceramic white plate before I heard a knock at the door. Placing the plate on my new black, glass dining table I went to answer the door and out of habit looked through the peephole before opening.

It was Vince, weird.

I didn't find Vince attractive although there was nothing wrong with him either. He had wavy blonde hair, chocolate brown eyes and a straight smile. He was handsome but still, he was no Dominic. Goodness look at me already comparing other men to him.

"Hey, what's up?" I smiled up at him leaning against the door frame. He beamed down at me, somewhat glad to see me.

"I was just coming to see how you did today? First day of work." He smiled.

"It was great. Better than I expected actually. Come in." I said, stepping back and gesturing him inside then closing the door behind him. I went to the kitchen and shouted back, "You want something to eat?"

"No it's okay, I already ate."

"Okay, whatever you say." I said walking back and grabbing my plate. I lead him to the living area and gestured to a seat which he took. The dining table just felt a little too formal for the type of relationship we were having. I liked to keep things comfortable.

"Seriously though, how was your day?" Vince asked seemingly interested. He watched me eat for a while then raised his brow. I looked up then stopped almost immediately.

"Right sorry, it was awesome," I put my plate down and then crossed my legs and leaned back into the leather couch. "It definitely wasn't what I had expected for a big shot company like Evenstone but when I met the boss all the worry lifted from my shoulders. She was so nice and she seemed genuinely excited to meet me. Apparently they couldn't wait for me to arrive because I was foreign and they needed a 'fresh' new perspective. It took me by surprise but they also had a new client that wanted me to work on their project affective immediately."

"Uh, I mean wow. That sounds —"

"Sorry, I was babbling on." I apologised realising how boring it must've been listening to that.

"Its cool seriously, I was going to say that sounded awesome. Looks like your life is looking up." He smiled a genuine smile before checking the time and blushing. "Although it looks like I've got to be on my way, keep up the good work and keep your hopes up for tomorrow, this could be big!"

I watched as he backed out the door with two thumbs up and a stupidly huge grin on his face, you know for a guy he seemed pretty cool.

I had seriously scored huge that morning and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had come in just before the new employee and had asked that she be my new interior designer for this new project and Alonna — that saint — had said yes! I was intrigued, mainly because she was good and everyone spoke so highly of her but also because she was attractive. I still had yet to find out her name but for now I would call her Bambina.

Her gorgeous platinum blonde hair had been in a tidy ponytail and she had a black medium sleeved top with a flimsy collar, grey pencil skirt and black pumps. She wore such tall shoes — I guess — because she was so small. Her height was that of a teenagers but yet her curves seemed too good to be legal.

I groaned as I stripped off my clothes and entered the steaming hot shower. I let the hot water wash away all the tension in my muscles. After the relaxing shower — that took longer than I'd expected — I returned to my bedroom and took a hard look in the mirror.

My good looks had gotten me many things before, although there were things you couldn't get by just looking good. Business deals were one of those things and I — being the founder and CEO of Vitiello Industries — I needed to be good at business which is where my award winning personality came in.

I was charming — I could charm my way through any situation and not only that — I could charm any woman into bed. It was what my brothers called a 'gift.' I was intimidating, dominant, strong and wise. I knew a fight I could win and had never seen a fight I couldn't. A simple stare in the right way could get me what I was asking for and no man had stood up to me yet.

Yet something about this girl bothered me, I'd never met a girl like her before, she seemed different and she also seemed lost. As if she'd seen death and would never forget his face. This aggravated me and I found myself aching to help her, which also bothered me. I didn't want to or plan to get emotionally involved with this girl.

I let out a breath as I fell back onto my bed rubbing my temple. I was half naked, in a towel. So I caught myself thinking, what is she wearing right now?