The next morning I woke up cheery, I ate a wonderful breakfast and had a bubble bath before putting on a different type of outfit from yesterday and curling my hair into a wavy layered look. I loved how straight my hair was but sometimes I envied girls with naturally curly hair. My hair looked like a professional had done it and my face once again reminded me that I didn't need make up. I never wore it unless it was an extra special occasion.

I felt as though I could skip all the way down to my car but as I slipped on my six inch heels, I put the thought behind me. The four minute drive to work put me in an even happier mood, especially when I found the traffic was a breeze. It was as if the day was going a little too well.

After parking my car in the personal parking spot I had been assigned to, I pulled my handbag halfway up my arm and locked my car. Dropping my keys, I bent over to pick them up and immediately regretted wearing a skirt as a whistle sounded behind me. It came from a dirty looking middle aged man who stood at the crowded bus stop. I stood straight and glared at him as I pulled my skirt down a little more.

I zipped my keys securely into a compartment inside my Louis Vuitton designer bag and strode into the tall glass building. I didn't mind the stares from the women that were currently occupying the lobby, I knew what they saw.

A newbie walking in with a Louis Vuitton designer handbag hanging off her and Louboutin platform heels supporting her small, petite figure which was well tailored into a seven hundred dollar ensemble. Envy. Thats what I saw in their eyes. Honestly, I wouldn't expect a newbie who only just got the job to have expensive things either, but I had been earning six figures at my previous job and I was good at managing my finances.

Growing up I'd always known I would have to earn a lot if I wanted to support myself, I was into expensive things and also loved shopping. So I worked hard in college, got my masters degree and diploma then scored myself a job in interior design, high end interior design.

I walked up to the reception and the nice lady behind the desk handed me my key card without me having to ask. "My name is Elana by the way." She said smiling.

"Thanks Elana." I smiled as I took my card and entered the open elevator. Before the elevator doors closed, a tall elegant body strode right into the elevator and the doors shut right behind him.

I didn't have to look up to know who it was, he smelled just like I thought he would and the women were already taking a step towards the elevator before the doors had a chance to close but none of them made it.

Dominic Vitiello smelled like man, pure man. He smelt like nature but expensive nature, he also smelt like spices and he smelt like perfume but I doubted it was actually perfume. I had a feeling that was just his scent.

"Have we met before?" Dominic's expression remained still and he was not quite looking at me yet, but something in his voice told me I should probably reply instead of point out how rude he was being. But I never did as I wanted, my mind always spoke for itself.

"Do you know how rude it is not to look someone in the eye when you're speaking to them?" I tried sounding a little less annoyed than I was and from what I heard, I failed. I knew he didn't work at Evenstone which meant he was a client and I knew this was to treat a client.

His chuckle was like music from the soul and it almost melted my heart, almost. But it definitely caused a rapid increase in my heart rate.

"I'll try again. Have we met before?" He looked down at me, looking a lot more interested than he had sounded before and relief shed from my shoulders. I was glad I hadn't angered him.

"Uh, no. I'm sure I'd remember you." I assured him before realising what I had said, what had willed me to say it like that I had no idea but I felt the blood rush to my face faster than you can say idiot. He chuckled again. I amused him?

"You are funny." He said a little more to himself rather than to me. He was doing it again, talking whilst looking ahead instead of to my face, that is a bad habit. As the elevator dinged and the doors slipped open, he gestured for me to go ahead and I found myself thinking, well he's not a complete asshole after all. I hoped he wasn't just mocking me.

I had been so caught up in the conversation, the fact that I'd heard his voice for the first time hadn't sunk in until now. His voice had sounded like honey drizzling on toast. It was so husky but so smooth and deep like the ocean not to mention that slight tilt of an accent. If I hadn't pinched myself earlier I would've thought I had imagined him. A sigh escaped my lips and I returned to reality.

Wiping my now sweaty palms down my skirt I turned to my still empty office and then remembered the office supplies I'd left in the car. I let out a frustrated groan as I sprung into action.

Bambina had looked extra good that morning. She was wearing a tight fitting dress shirt with a hard collar, long sleeves she had folded up and the top button undone. A black pencil skirt which was a nice change from the previous day and cream platform heels that looked a million bucks on those smooth legs of hers. She smelt like flowers, fresh snow, womanly scent and home all at the same time and I loved it, it was something subtle. I'd just come back from the office and Alonna had just told me that Bambina had taken my project and I was pleased. I strode past Clarissa without a second glance and already knew the talk my madre was going to give me later that night.

The face that was transfixed on Bambina's face when I turned the corner was priceless.

"You look like a struggling ferret." I stated as I approached her. Her eyes were open wide, mouth slightly open and skin as pale as the moon. Not to mention she held a large plastic tub in her hands.

"Just surprised, you came in the nick of time. Can you help me with something?" She asked trying to look serious but I perceived it as cute, because she was so tiny.

"Of course." I stopped walking then took a look around, I got the message. Her office looked bare. All that was in it was a glass desk, a leather chair and a grey fabric armchair both on either side of the desk and a built-in floor to ceiling shelving unit. It was glass or white from what I could see.

"I have some stuff I bought the other day for my office and I left the boxes in my car, do you mind —" she didn't have to explain any further. I gave her a nod.

"Where's your car?" I said.

I had been trying my best to look professional as I asked Dominic to help me with my stuff, but he'd interrupted me and taken my keys from my hands leaving me startled. I wanted to seem professional so that he would take me seriously. He'd agreed to help me immediately and I was grateful.

He had gone down for my stuff only a minute ago and the room already felt lifeless without his presence. I rolled my eyes at my last thought and decided to check my assignment that had been left on my desk as promised. I saw the paper on my desk under my handbag, I frowned. Funny I hadn't seen it there before.

As I skimmed through it seemed like a bunch of boring gibberish, until a couple of words caught my eye. . It didn't take long to figure out it was him, I remembered the receptionist telling me his name even though I hadn't asked. They'd assigned me to Dominic? What in her right mind made Alonna do that? A blush crept to my face as I realised how rude I'd been to my client in the elevator and it deepened when I realised that I'd sent him down to grab my things. Oh dear god. He'd been so kind to just follow my orders like that when I was in fact the one working for him. My palm stayed glued to my face until I heard a bump on the door.

Dominic was on the other side with three large boxes and a pair of keys in his mouth. I gasped, launched off the desk I had been leaning on and rushed over to open the door. As soon as the door was open I wiggled the keys out of his mouth and smiled gratefully as he glided inside and put my things down on the floor. To him they were weightless. I realised the only reason he had been coming to my office was because he had come to discuss business, not office supplies. I was not off to a good start.

"Sorry I made you do that, I had no idea that —"

"Don't worry it doesn't matter. I locked your car for you." He added as he stood casually with his hands in his pockets. "You need to unpack this?" He said reaching for the box next to his feet but I jumped and put my hand down on the lid.

"No!" I shouted then lowered my voice, "No thank you, thats okay. I'm fine, I can do it later." I assured him then turned and went to sit down, I gestured to the seat across from me as I sat down, "Please sit."

She sat on the leather spinny chair and talked business. She'd gone from a demanding and opinionated girl to a compassionate and understanding businesswoman in less than a minute. Surely I hadn't been gone that long. She asked me a ton of questions, taking notes in her notebook after my replies. She looked at me with genuine interest each time and didn't seem affected by my presence.

Previously she had been breathing heavily and trying hard not to look at me but now she was relaxed and making full eye contact, asking relevant questions. She sure was a fascinating creature, she also seemed to love her job. She didn't seem interested in me in any way besides as her client. I felt the need to test this theory.

She asked me if there was anything else she should know and I stared at her, I'd never really paid attention to the details of her face before. It was her body that always grasped my attention. Now looking at her up close, she was truly stunning. There wasn't a spot of makeup on her face and yet she looked better than all the girls in the building.

She had pale but extremely bright eyes that captured all the happy dreams you've ever had in your entire life and they were framed by thick, long lashes top and bottom, her small button nose titled up a little, her skin was milky white and clear as day and her lips were plump and peach and looked extremely kissable at that very moment.

"Uh, Mr. Vitiello." She sang as she waved her hand mockingly in front of my face. She said my name wrong. I fake smiled pushing her hand down softly. She crossed her arms and sat waiting. Where is she from? She is the first person I have ever encountered that has said my name like that.

"You smell nice," I stated leaning closer over the table, "is that your natural scent?" I asked resting back in the chair and watching as she blushed crimson. I smirked satisfied. I didn't try to hide the fact that I was giving her a once over, she was dressed nicely today and her heavy breathing was drawing my attention to her round breasts. Oh, she's breathing like that again. Fascinating.

She cleared her throat once again and looked down before glaring up at me, "You know you should work on your manners." She stated matter-of-factly.

"You know you should work on your people skills." I retorted. Though she had been doing just fine before I'd provoked her.

She rolled her eyes — causing me to frown slightly — and handed me a business card. "Call me if you have any further business enquiries, I will schedule another meeting with you later in the week after I've decided on some designs." She informed me, "May I have your number so that I can reach you?" She asked looking at me expectantly but never anywhere but my eyes.

It took a minute for me to take in her name, Amara. "Your name..."

" Yes, Amara." she nodded firmly.

"Amara?" I raised my brows, a smile slowly creeping to my face.

"Yes." she sounded defensive.

"So your parents named you bitter?" I snorted.

"Excuse me?" she was really angry now.

"Your name, it means bitter." I looked up from her card.

"It does not! It means peaceful and immortal." she slammed both hands on the desk, leaning in such a way that gave me a decent view of her assets.

"Well obviously they didn't tell you that it means bitter in italian." I said flinging the card around in my hand and watching her daringly.

"Well you-you're-you're an ass!" her hand shot up to her mouth after she had said it and I decided to let it go.

I gave her a small smile. Smirking as I remembered her question I pulled out my phone and entered her number then sent her a text. I stood, nodded and walked out the door.

I frowned as I watched him gracefully exit through the office door, though I had to stop myself from going after him and asking who the hell he thought he was — and maybe apologising for my actions . I'd heard my phone go off as he'd sent me a text and cockily smirked at me. I picked up my phone and sneered at the message on the screen:

'Feel free to use it however you please.'

The bastard had the nerve to hit on me like that? I'd been wrong when I thought he wasn't a complete asshole and when I'd thought to apologise. Didn't he have a girlfriend or something? Elana had told me...

As if on cue, a natural brunette walked into my office and stood with her hands on her hips. She had light blue eyes, thin lips that were smothered in red lipstick and a high cheekbones that reminded me of Angelina Jolie in Maleficent. She wore designer clothing and jewellery, just from looking at her I knew this girl was worth millions. And she was drop dead gorgeous.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She started, I winced at her demanding voice and the look that 'said it all' which seemed plastered on her face, "You've been here like one day and already you're trying to steal my boyfriend!?" She had the most fascinating accent, Russian?

I could imagine how shocked I looked at that moment, that was not my intention. Monique almost as if on cue came to my rescue, she waltzed in and put a comforting hand on Dominic's 'supposed' girlfriend's shoulder.

"Calm down Clarissa, I'm sure this is some sort of a mistake. She obviously didn't know, like you said she's only been here one day," Monique turned to me with a gesture, "look at her face, she has no idea what you're talking about. Cut her some slack."

Clarissa growled then turned on her spiky Prada heels and stormed out of my office like a three-year-old toddler throwing a tantrum. She obviously didn't like it when girls hung around her boyfriend, I don't blame her, I wouldn't either would I if I was dating Dominic.

After Clarissa left, Monique went on to explain the fact that Dominic was being forced to go out with Clarissa because his father and Clarissa's father had a thing. She explained that Clarissa Bogart was a heiress of some sort that only took a job as an interior designer as a chance to work with Dominic and also as a plan B to fall back on if she doesn't end up marrying him. What kinda last name was 'Bogart'.

Apparently her mother is some sort of praised socialite who stayed at home and threw a ton of benefit parties for her husband and his business. That was what Clarissa was expected to do, marry Dominic and then spend her life sitting at home planning parties to promote his company.

The whole idea seemed pretty stupid to me, Dominic should be allowed to do whatever he wants and marry whoever he wants. And also Clarissa should've gotten a job as an event planner, it makes more sense and Dominic needs one of those as well. Honestly if he doesn't marry Clarissa he doesn't lose anything and maybe that's why Clarissa cares so much about him being around other women.

Clarissa shouldn't be forced to rely on a man to succeed in any way, this is the twenty-first century for goodness sake, women are independent now! They work for themselves and don't rely on men to survive not to mention how women are working their way to equal pay or have they already got it? I can't remember.

I snorted at how silly the whole arrangement was and sat at my desk, I wrote down a couple extra notes for the new hotel Dominic was planning to finish in the next week. I'd seen the building site, it was massive. I couldn't believe such a huge project was assigned to me and was pleased with the faith this company was putting in me.

Dominic said he wanted the hotel to be different from the ones he'd built prior, he wanted to appeal to a new audience. He wanted to have more of a homey feel, like childhood memories and bear hugs from dad. He wanted a family friendly environment. His previous hotels had all been modern and contemporary so he wanted to make a less classy hotel for once.

His location was perfect, along the water would be exactly where the parents would want to be and I had let him know the brilliance of his chosen location.

It also made the theme easier to choose, I made it my mission not to make it cheesy.

I pulled out my macbook from one of the boxes and set it down on my desk. I sat down and started designing a few things I had in mind for the lobby. I worked on curtains, carpets, wall and ceiling colours to start with. Note: buy an iMac desktop for office. The laptop just didn't look as classy.

I had never designed a hotel before so the excitement of a new experience overwhelmed me. I was so into my work I hadn't realised working hours were over and Alonna had been watching me for the past ten minutes.

"I know why you're so good you know, you love your job so much that it doesn't seem like work to you, does it?" She smiled from the door where she leaned against the frame, arms crossed.

I clicked save and looked up smiling, "I guess your right, it doesn't seem like a job to me. I'm weird like that." I slowly closed my laptop lid and looked at the time from the clock that I'd left on top of the box nearest to me...so I could check the time. That had been almost eleven hours ago and it was two fifteen am in the morning. Work had ended eight hours ago.

"Oh my god. I'm so sorry, I completely lost track of time! I hope you're not still here because of me!" I apologised standing up and shoving my laptop inside its bag and grabbing my keys and phone. "I can totally do this stuff at home, it won't happen again."

Alonna chuckled and shook her head. "Don't you worry about me I do this practically every night, I just didn't think anyone else could pull it off but me." she reassured me, "I only came to check on you when I had finished my own work and that was just ten minutes ago."

"Oh thank god." I breathed.

"Have a safe trip back home alright? Don't doze off now." Alonna smiled and with a wave disappeared down the hall.

I turned off all the lights and grabbed my key card. Locking the door behind me, I rushed into the elevator and as it descended to the ground floor I realised I would have to take my key card home and not lose it because Elana would not be working this late.