Chapter 12

"Oh my gosh, this is so exciting, I've never seen a live magazine photoshoot before!" Sierra gushed as she cupped her hands together. "I just wish Codykins would be here too..."

Heather rolled her eyes as she blocked out the majority of words Sierra was saying. Her previous secretary Lindsay was a total airhead and her current one couldn't last five minutes without mentioning Cody's name. Whatever. As long as she does her job right.

They had just arrived at the photoshoot location for Illuminate's Red Velvet jewellery collection. Heather swiftly pushed the door open and marched inside, with Sierra closely following after her.

Alejandro was already standing inside and he seemed to be chatting and laughing along with the photographer and makeup crew.

"Heather, you're early! I thought you wouldn't be arriving until later this afternoon," the photographer commented once he saw Heather.

"Well, yes, I'm here to make sure he doesn't mess things up," Heather replied, as she put her hands on her hips and turned to look at Alejandro.

"Oh, you need not worry chica, I was born for this," Alejandro smirked.

"Shouldn't this be, like, illegal or something? I mean, you're our business competitor, what does it look like if you're featured in a photoshoot for our products?" Heather remarked as she rolled her eyes and folded her arms.

"As I said, I'm here today in my capacity as Alejandro, the eligible bachelor and soon to be model, not Alejandro, Co-Chief Operating Officer of my father's company," Alejandro smoothly answered as he winked at Heather. Heather scoffed as she felt her cheeks flushing red.

Just then, the door swung open and in walked a woman; she had long, curly, voluminous dark brown hair, and a perfectly tanned body.

"Ah, there's our model, you look great, Anne Maria," the photographer smiled. "Alejandro, this is Anne Maria, she'll be modelling in Illuminate's jewellery products. Anne Maria, this is Alejandro, he'll be in the photoshoot with you."

"Oh, hi there hot stuff," Anne Maria immediately gushed at Alejandro.

"Pleasure to be working with you on this photoshoot, Anne Maria," Alejandro replied, a polite smile on his face.

Anne Maria giggled. She couldn't take her eyes off Alejandro and started batting her eyelashes at him.

Heather felt a sudden rush of blood to her head at the sight in front of her. Who did this Anne Maria person think she was?

Before she could say anything, the door opened again and this time Nathan walked in.

"Looks like I'm late to the party," Nathan sarcastically remarked as he looked around the room and then glared at Alejandro. Alejandro glared back at him.

"Nathan? I didn't know you were going to come." Heather was surprised to see him here.

"Well, I had a bit of free time today so thought I'd drop by. We both know that this is an important photoshoot for Illuminate," Nathan replied, as he turned to smile at Heather.

"Alright, looks like everyone's here so we'll get started," the photographer announced. "We'll be doing three different shoots, each with a different theme. Anne Maria and Alejandro, the make-up team will take you both to your respective dressing rooms to get you ready for the first shoot."

***

Heather stood with her arms folded and lips pursed as she watched Anne Maria and Alejandro pose for the first shoot. Anne Maria had one hand on Alejandro's shoulder and both of them were smiling towards the camera.

They were only ten minutes into the shoot, yet it felt like ten hours.

"Yes, that's it!" The photographer beamed, as Heather rolled her eyes. "Now do another one where you smile at each other."

Heather couldn't help the sour expression on her face as Alejandro and Anne Maria followed the photographer's instructions and turned their heads to smile at one another.

Her eyes darted around and that was when she noticed a chair nearby.

She bit her lip as an idea slowly formed in her head. She walked over to the chair and sat on it, before abruptly standing up again.

"Oh no, did I just sit on some gum?" Heather faked a concerned tone.

"Mmm, no," Sierra replied.

Heather frowned. This was not the response she was expecting.

"I think I sat on some gum, oh no!" Heather tried again, ignoring Sierra.

"Nope, you're all good," Sierra responded, a confused look on her face.

Heather sneaked another look at Alejandro and Anne Maria; both of them still had their eyes glued to the camera as they posed for the photoshoot.

"Someone look at my booty, is it-" Heather exclaimed for the third time, determined.

"Totally clean!" Sierra retorted. "Wow, obsess much?"

"Ugh!" Heather folded her arms and stormed to the back of the room.

As Heather stormed off, Alejandro shifted his gaze away from the camera and watched her retreating figure. He felt a somewhat fuzzy feeling inside and couldn't help the tiny smirk on his face. Was that jealousy in the air just then?

The first shoot wrapped up shortly following Heather's little gum 'accident'. And when it came to the second shoot, Anne Maria began batting her eyelashes at Alejandro once more.

There was a fan nearby that was gently blowing Anne Maria's voluminous hair and Heather imagined herself grabbing Anne Maria's hair and yanking it very, very hard. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Ok, Heather, focus. You're not going to let this get to you, she reassured herself.

All seemed to be good for the next few minutes - until Anne Maria suddenly spoke up.

"So is it getting hot in here or is it just me?" Anne Maria smirked. She then turned to Alejandro and started unbuttoning the first button on his shirt, a flirtatious smile on her face.

"Uh, Anne Maria-" Alejandro awkwardly began.

Heather couldn't believe what she was seeing. What the hell was Anne Maria doing? The nerve of that girl was bigger than her hair and brighter than her fake tan.

"Cut!" she suddenly yelled. "CUT!"

All eyes in the room turned to Heather. Anne Maria had an annoyed expression on her face, whilst Alejandro let out a light chuckle. The jealousy in the air was now so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

"You're both not doing it properly!" Heather retorted at Anne Maria and Alejandro.

"Allow me to demonstrate," she added and then turned to Nathan. "Nathan, get over here."

Nathan immediately obeyed, a smirk on his face. Heather put on her best flirtatious smile and stared at Nathan right in his eyes. She then placed her arms around his waist, and Nathan reciprocated the contact.

Alejandro instantly grimaced at the sight of Nathan's hands around Heather's waist. He gritted his teeth and tightly clenched his fists.

Once Heather had finished her 'demonstration' with Nathan, she smirked. "See? That's how it's done," she added. "Great job, Nathan."

Meanwhile, Anne Maria and Alejandro prepared to do another retake but Alejandro was distracted. His mind was elsewhere and he couldn't bring himself to concentrate properly.

"Alejandro, you seem distracted," the photographer grumbled, whilst a satisfied and playful smirk formed on Heather's lips.

"Apologies," Alejandro absentmindedly muttered.

"Let's just move onto the final shoot," the photographer sighed. "The theme for this last one is called 'The Black Swan' and the item that will be featured is the Red Velvet necklace."

Heather's eyes widened. The Red Velvet necklace was her favorite item out of the entire jewellery collection. There was no way she would be allowing Anne Maria to ruin this.

"I will step in for this one," Heather interjected.

Anne Maria glared at her. "Excuse me?"

"I said, I will do the photoshoot for this one," Heather repeated, glaring back at Anne Maria. "The Black Swan is the perfect theme for me," she confidently added.

"That's ridiculous! She's not even a model!" Anne Maria retorted with a scowl on her face. She turned to look at the photographer.

"Yes, I'm not sure-" the photographer began.

"What are you saying? That I'm not fit to be a model?" Heather glared at the photographer.

"N-no, of course not, it's just-" he stammered.

"Do you still want your job? Remember who's paying you for this photoshoot!" Heather snapped. Alejandro held his breath and watched in amusement, keen to see what would happen next.

The photographer sighed. "Fine. Heather, you'll replace Anne Maria for the final shoot."

"This is such a joke!" Anne Maria growled, before angrily storming out of the set location.

Heather couldn't help but smile to herself in satisfaction. As she watched Anne Maria walk out, a sudden soft voice from behind snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Looks like it's you and me," Alejandro huskily whispered to Heather as he walked past her, causing her heart to skip a beat and a light blush to form on her cheeks.

Heather took another deep breath and briskly walked to her dressing room. Focus, she told herself again as she changed into her outfit and had her make-up done. Once the make-up team left her dressing room, she heard a light knock at the door.

"Come in," she responded.

The door opened and in walked Alejandro. He immediately froze and was at a complete loss for words when he saw Heather inside - a rare occurrence for someone who essentially had an entire dictionary of pick up lines stored in their brain.

Heather was wearing a strapless black dress and her long, raven black hair was neatly styled into soft vintage curls, with an elegant silver tiara on her head. Her lips were painted with a deep red color and this coupled with a gentle smokey-eye makeup look further accentuated her beautiful grey eyes.

She was the perfect Black Swan. And to him, the most beautiful woman ever.

As she turned her head around to look at Alejandro, Heather also didn't know what to say - he looked incredibly, devilishly and ridiculously handsome in a black suit which matched her dress perfectly.

Alejandro took a few steps closer towards where Heather was seated, and he noticed the Red Velvet necklace still sitting on the dressing table. He carefully picked it up and studied its details closely.

"You are so talented. This necklace is so beautiful, although still not as beautiful as you," he spoke in a gentle voice.

"I'm sure you probably say something like that to Anne Maria and every other woman on this planet," Heather muttered, although she could feel a blush quickly forming on her cheeks once again.

"Believe me Heather, the only woman I want to look at is you," Alejandro stared right into her grey eyes as he still tightly clutched onto the necklace in his hands. "I meant every word I said to you at your launch party," he added in a soft voice.

"That's- you're so-" Heather turned her head away.

Alejandro took another step closer to her.

"May I?" he gently asked, gesturing towards the necklace and mirror.

Heather instantly felt her cheeks turn an even deeper shade of red, which she didn't think was possible. She let out a small nod.

Alejandro gently brushed her long, raven black hair to one side and carefully tied the necklace around her neck. Heather instantly felt waves of tingles throughout her entire body at his touch. When he was done, he slowly placed his hands on her shoulders and the two of them stared into the mirror.

"You're so incredible," he whispered huskily, causing Heather's heart to pound faster.

"You...I-" she stammered.

"Shall we?" Alejandro then said.

Heather managed to let out another nod. She stood up from her seat and the two of them walked out together in perfect sync.

***

As they posed for the final shoot, Heather felt a swirl of emotions at Alejandro's arm around her waist. His slightest touch on her made her want to melt in his arms and crave for his warmth. It was just like that day at her launch party, when he had tightly wrapped his arms around her to shield her from the splashes of paint.

There was tension in the air, but this time it was a different kind of tension.

"We're going to do another one, this time a close up shot. Alejandro, I want you to place your hand on Heather's chin and gaze into her eyes. And Heather, I want you to turn your head and stare into the camera. We're going to emphasize the necklace," the photographer instructed.

Heather had now lost count of the number of times she felt her cheeks turn red as she felt Alejandro gently place his hand on her chin and his eyes on her. She swallowed. Just look at the camera, she told herself.

"This is brilliant! You two have fantastic chemistry!" the photographer exclaimed as he snapped his camera.

"You do give off power couple vibes," Sierra added as she watched them both. "I can already picture the magazine headline - Aleheather."

Nathan scowled.

"Ok, last one - Alejandro, stay in that same position, but Heather, instead of looking into the camera, this time I want you to turn your head back to look Alejandro in the eye," the photographer directed.

Heather followed the photographer's instructions and found her grey eyes meeting Alejandro's green ones.

The two of them remained in that position for a few more seconds. And then as if she had suddenly lost control of her body muscles, Heather slowly felt herself leaning forward and inching closer towards Alejandro.

Closer. Closer. And even closer.

Until she could clearly hear his soft breathing, until she could see the world through his jewel green eyes, and until one simple kiss was all that was needed to seal the remaining distance between them.

At that moment, Heather noticed Alejandro tilt his head and lean in towards her, and she slowly shut her eyes, her mind racing with a million thoughts.

It was almost as if the cameras weren't even there.

Almost.

"And that's a wrap!" The photographer announced, his sudden voice startling both Heather and Alejandro and instantly snapping them back to reality. "Well done everyone, the final product is going to look fantastic."

Heather took a few steps away and gazed down at the floor, her mind replaying what had just happened, and taking in the fact that they had almost kissed.

Meanwhile, Alejandro could feel his heart bursting with happiness; doing a photoshoot like this with the woman of his dreams was pure bliss.

Little did he know that standing near the back of the room, Nathan had hatched a plan he would execute as soon as the photoshoot was over.