1: Elise

“ELISE?”

I was almost asleep and was surprised by the voice that called my name. I knew he’d called several times before I realized it wasn’t a dream and my head snapped up.

I hurriedly spun my chair to face the tall man who was striding to my office and stood up.

Then I blushed as I swayed a little at the abrupt movement. Good thing I recovered before he actually appeared at the connecting door from his office to mine, and his head was bowed, busy with something he was doing.

“Gian! Yes? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you right away,” I said.

But when my eyes focused on my boss—or my mentor—I almost swayed again.

I was already holding the back of my swivel chair for support.

I found myself gripping it harder.

My office was sleek and modern in its black, gray, and silver theme. It was really pretty with the choice of drapes and other furniture with shades of color that served as accents to the sleek theme. I loved it so much and I was proud I chose most of the additional decor.

But tonight, Giancarlo's suaveness easily took over the atmosphere.

I was seeing the most handsome and hottest version of him ever at this very moment. Every beautiful thing around us faded away from the beauty that was him, and he wasn’t even aware of it. He kept fiddling with something on his jacket’s sleeve until he was satisfied with it while he walked in the way he used to walk—long strides eating the floor, back straight and broad shoulders squared. There was something masculine and yet graceful about his steps. My boss made sexy effortless.

He was still talking about something, so I had to really focus on hearing what he was saying.

“Did I take too long?” he asked worriedly, stopping near me as he adjusted the cuff links on his left sleeve this time until he was done to finally look at me. Sleek hair combed back, squared jawline, and fair skin. He's like a movie star about to attend a prestigious award ceremony. I was going to wait for him to smile but I was hoping he would not because he had a straight toothpaste commercial set of teeth.

Okay, let me just say my boss was perfect so we could get this over with.

“Sorry, I was on the phone for a while with Mr. Harris trying to explain to him—”

“It's okay,” I whispered. I already know the tendencies of Mr. Harris to develop amnesia when his accountability for the contract he’d signed was in question. Meanwhile, I was still staring at him, struggling to retrieve my remaining wits from where they hid. He had a small nap room in his office and a bathroom there for times when he didn’t have time to go home in between work and a business dinner, a party, or a date. He had his suit delivered this afternoon and he changed after his call, most probably. He still managed it as if he’d been getting ready in his own place, and not pressed for time. “I was busy, too, reviewing in my head… I was going over what… to… what… “

“Elise?”

From his suited body, I looked up at his amused face and my cheeks grew warmer. My goodness. Always! This was the only test I couldn’t pass, and it wasn’t even his intention to test me.

After two years of being his apprentice, I could still get caught off guard by his super handsomeness.

And what’s worse? He knew it.

And he didn’t mind.

A moot point, really, because all the females in the whole building were in love with him. That was how good-looking he was, how elegantly masculine. Every teenage girl had a crush on him, and he’s the subject of every grown woman’s wet dreams. I was merely a spectacle in all of there and I still get dragged into it from time to time.

I know. I wasn’t supposed to like him like that. It’s not like he would allow me to forget.

He would sometimes tease me, telling me I was supposedly the sister he never had, so he couldn’t think anything dirty lest my mother would be after his hide. And of course, he did treat me like a younger sister, the one he never had. He would sometimes forget and spoiled me like I was a kid sister adopted into the family. He would indulge me with what he knew I liked. He could be damn over-protective, too. And he wouldn’t hurt my feelings unless it had something to do with a mentor’s discipline.

Don’t I have an ounce of pride? I told myself. Why do I still have a crush on him? It is embarrassing.

At times like this, I became a twelve-year-old who loses her wits when confronted by the magnificent super yummylicious hotness of her crush in the school hallway. And, I mean, there was no problem with losing the wit, but to display it to him like this?

“Why are you super pretty? This is so unfair!” I whined. No need to hide it further, I thought sarcastically. He was clearly already awed by my level-headedness and maturity. It was already bad that he was flesh and blood, unfiltered by an HD screen, just… simply, a beautiful, beautiful man. And the grinning brute knew it.

“Elise…” he said, disturbed despite his obvious amusement. And even faced with this, he was still the sexiest.

He’s a god, dammit. Take your eyes away from him so he doesn't mess up your brain anymore. Like now? Hello? I lowered my eyes. Done.

I struggled to get my thoughts back in order. “I was going over the party program sent by your Mom's assistant in my head,” I began again in a steadier voice, still not looking at his awesomeness. But I could smell his cologne and it was so good and distracting, so I turned half away from him and made it look like I was checking the notes on my tablet. The good thing was that when I touched the screen, it showed the page of daily schedules and appointments. I really was checking it before I fell into that nap, so as soon as I saw it, I easily got back to work mode.

We were about to attend the Pre-Valentine’s Fundraising Ball at the Verrazzanos’ modern mansion tonight. That was why we were both in our party attire. So far, we were still on schedule. We won’t be late.

Yes. Get back on track, Elise. You both should be there in about 20 minutes, reminded my inner voice.

I finally looked back to him to continue as I was calmer. I noticed his eyes right away, critically sliding down and up my body. And I tensed because he didn’t look amused anymore. In fact, he could barely manage to control the scowl marring his beautiful face.

What now?

Did I already mention how serious he was with this me-being-the-sister-he’d-never-had business? He was.

And now he was doing his ‘Big Brother’ inspection.

My uber-protective stepfather, Daddy Jess, did the very same thing to me and my half-sister Anna all the time we were growing up—and he was an ex-convict. Not that he was a real criminal. He was acquitted of the crime three years later when new evidence proved he was innocent, but his reputation cleaved to him because he’d been in jail with hardened criminals. And with his build and an over six-foot frame, it was really easy for him to scare people. He was strict and overly protective of Anna and me, and his just standing nearby made people behave very well towards us.

The other obsessively protective was this CEO in front of me. Tall at six feet, perfectly built, with an aloof kind of handsomeness, and one of the youngest, smartest, and most forceful businessmen in the country—he was power himself. He was an alpha at the other end of the spectrum from my stepfather.

But both were softies on the inside no matter how hard they scowl.

The women in both Soler and the Verrazzano families knew this weakness a long time ago, though we pretended we didn’t, and we knew they were pretending they didn’t know we knew. We all liked the game and we didn’t want to spoil the fun. Oh, how special it felt to be truly protected by alpha men. We appreciate this. We even loved it most of the time.

But sometimes, it could be irritating.

Like now.

Gian’s elegant eyebrows were trying gallantly not to wrestle with each other. He didn’t like the gown I had on for the party because it fitted my figure to a T. He hadn’t even seen the back yet.

I scowled back as I waited for him to finish the struggle to find words to tell me what he thinks of it. I wished he would just drop it.

He finally opened his mouth to speak.

Nope. Not tonight.