Chapter 20

"So, how are you feeling?" Heather asked Alejandro, as they arrived outside Illuminate's office building together. Today was his first day at work as Illuminate's new Managing Director.

"Excited and a little nervous, but mostly excited and very grateful," Alejandro answered.

"Don't be nervous," Heather laughed as she checked the time on her phone. "You'll be amazing."

Alejandro smiled. "Thank you, mi amor." He straightened his suit and walked together with Heather through the entrance to inside the office building.

A few employees immediately greeted and welcomed him when he walked through the doors, and he smiled politely in response and thanked them.

"Welcome to the team, Alejandro," Nathan smiled as Alejandro walked past him. "It's great to have you on board."

Alejandro glared at Nathan suspiciously. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Feel free to let me know if you have any questions about anything," Nathan added. "I'd be very happy to help. After all, I've been working here since the day we first launched."

"I'll give you a proper tour of the whole place and an introduction to our team later on but let me show you your office first," Heather quickly said to Alejandro, ignoring the passive-aggressive tone in Nathan's voice. "It's upstairs, close to mine."

"I can't wait to see it," Alejandro smirked.

"By the way, we're going to film a short video together to announce your new role and post it on our social media channels," Heather said as they walked up the stairs together. "I've asked Cody to help film and he'll be coming up to find us shortly."

"That sounds great," Alejandro smiled.

Heather swung open the door to Alejandro's office, which was only two rooms away from her own office. A shiny, gold name plate was fixed to the door and it was carved with the words: 'Alejandro Burromuerto - Managing Director'.

"So this is your new office! What do you think? Let me know if you'd like anything else and I can ask Sierra to organize," Heather remarked.

Alejandro stepped inside and did a careful scan of the room. There was a white office desk, a cute pot plant in the corner, a sleek black bookshelf to the right side of the desk, and some abstract style paintings on the wall. His gaze then shifted to a beige couch on the left hand side of the room.

I'm sure that couch will serve two purposes, he thought to himself and smirked. He imagined-

"Alejandro? Hello?" Heather waved a hand in front of his face. "Earth to Alejandro."

Alejandro cleared his throat. "Sí, it's absolutely perfect. I love it, thank you, mi amor," he gently reassured Heather as he put a hand on her shoulder. He meant it. Heather looked at him and smiled.

"I did ask Sierra to order a new coffee table as well but it looks like it hasn't arrived yet," she added. "I also asked her to prepare these summary documents of basically everything you need to know about Illuminate which you can read later. It should be in your email, along with a bunch of some generic HR documents and procedures to get you started."

"Yes, boss," Alejandro smoothly replied.

"You know, I could get used to that," Heather smirked.

She then opened her iPad. "Anyway, back to business. To summarize, at the moment we're still focusing on promotions for the Red Velvet jewellery collection. Sales have been steadily increasing over the past quarter which is great. Our marketing and analytics team have also developed this more sophisticated, live dashboard which allows us to break down sales by demographic, like age, location, gender etc. And we hope to use this data to inform our future marketing and put together a more tailored campaign. In addition to that, we also plan on doing a stakeholder survey, to more closely understand and analyze the preferences of both our current and prospective customers. We want to focus on enhancing our engagement as well as retention rate..." Heather continued as she read off her iPad.

As Heather spoke, Alejandro struggled to take in what she had just said. He gazed lovingly at her and simply couldn't take his eyes off her; simply put, he was completely mesmerized by her. He thought that the way she spoke about her business was incredibly sexy and he found his mind wondering what it would be like if she-

"Alejandro? Are you even listening?" Heather's voice interrupted his thoughts, as she glanced up from her iPad to face him.

"Qué? Oh, yes, of course I was," Alejandro blinked and nodded, although he felt his face instantly flushing.

"Then repeat what I just said," Heather smirked. She placed her iPad down and then put her hands on her hips.

Alejandro froze. Mierda (shit). This is just like getting caught by the teacher for not paying attention in class.

He cleared his throat. "Now, that is a fantastic request, mi amor," he quickly said, pointing his finger in the air whilst switching the tone of his voice to a more velvety and smooth one. "I'm very glad you asked, because-"

"Stop trying to buy more time," Heather interrupted as she took a step closer towards him. "Repeat what I just said about Illuminate."

Wow, bossy Heather in the workplace is really something else, he smirked, before realizing that he just got distracted. Again.

"Uh...something about getting new jewellery designs?" Alejandro guessed as he scratched his head and let out a sheepish grin. Dios, I look like a massive idiot and it's only my first day.

Heather clicked her tongue. "Ha, nice try. But no."

Alejandro sighed in defeat. "Alright, I do admit I got a little distracted just then, but it's just that this whole thing still feels so surreal and I'm so excited to be doing this with you."

Heather couldn't help the blush that formed on her face at his words. "I know, I couldn't have asked for a better Managing Director to join my business."

Alejandro smiled back warmly at her.

Heather shyly bit her lip and then she let out a tiny smirk. "But just so you know, I still have to punish you for not paying attention just then, right? As your boss."

"And what kind of punishment would that be?" Alejandro smirked.

Heather took a step forward and slowly pushed Alejandro backwards until he was leaning right against his office desk. She then launched herself on him, tightly wrapping her arms around his torso and promptly closing the distance between them with a kiss.

"Do you know the way you talk about your business is so very sexy?" Alejandro huskily whispered, as he placed kisses on her lips and her jawline.

Heather felt a blush quickly creep up her cheeks.

"Well...sales...have...been...steadily...increasing..." she murmured, her eyes half open half shut as felt the sensation of Alejandro's lips, which was enough to cause instant tingles and shivers all over her body.

At that moment, a sudden cough at the door startled them as Alejandro and Heather turned around and stood up straight, a flushed expression on both their faces. It was Cody.

"Cody, what have I said about knocking before you open my office door?" Heather snapped.

"Uh, but the door was already open?" Cody frowned. Heather froze when she realized he was right.

"Okay, fine, but why do you always have to have such bad timing?" Heather demanded in an exasperated tone as Alejandro let out a tiny chuckle.

"What do you mean 'always'?" Cody gave Heather a puzzled look.

"Well, this other time you called me on a Saturday morning when Alejandro and I were-" Heather blurted out and then she felt her face turn red. "Never mind," she muttered.

Her eyes then suddenly trailed to the camera and tripod in Cody's hands and she gasped.

"Why do you have a camera? Were you going to film us just then, pervert?" Heather glared at Cody.

"W-what?! No of course not, Heather! W-why on earth would you think that? You were the one who asked me to come here to film the video announcing Alejandro's role, remember?" Cody answered as he felt sweat dripping from his forehead.

Heather's eyes widened again and she cleared her throat before speaking again. "Oh, yes, of course I remember. That was just a test to see if you remembered, Cody. You know, I like to keep all my employees on their toes. And you passed so you're not fired." Alejandro simply watched in amusement and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Uh, okay...that's good to know," Cody nervously replied as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "So uh, just to clarify, are we still going ahead with the filming, or should I like, give you guys some more time?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "Give me a minute," she muttered, to which Cody nodded in response.

Heather straightened her hair and then quickly walked to her own office to touch-up her makeup. Once she was done, she made her way back inside and propped herself on the couch in Alejandro's office. "Okay, I'm ready now," she nodded at Cody.

Alejandro quickly sat down next to her, whilst Cody finished setting up the camera and tripod in the room.

"Alright, action," Cody said.

Heather smiled into the camera and began to speak.

"I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Alejandro Burromuerto as Illuminate's new Managing Director. Alejandro brings a wealth of experience in the jewellery business industry. He is also extremely passionate-" Heather sighed dreamily and then her eyes instantly widened.

"Cut the tape, we're doing another one," she demanded the next moment as she folded her arms.

Cody followed Heather's instructions and set up the camera for a retake.

"So who is the distracted one now, mi amor?" Alejandro smirked as he whispered to her. He then very slowly and sensually ran his fingers up her back from behind, causing Heather to go all red.

"S-shut up," she muttered.

"Alright, take number two," Cody said, and Heather cleared her throat.

"I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Alejandro Burromuerto as Illuminate's new Managing Director. Alejandro brings a wealth of experience in the jewellery business industry. His passion and dedication is second to none and he is also great at-" Heather suddenly let out a giggle, before that giggle turned into bursts of laughter and she quickly used her hand to cover her mouth in an attempt to control her laughter.

As Alejandro gazed at Heather, he felt a laugh escape from his mouth too. He didn't even know what she was laughing about, but a mere giggle from her was enough to cause his whole world to light up and make him want to laugh along with her.

At the same time, Cody stood there awkwardly in the room and scratched his head as he watched the two of them. What is happening right now? Heather is...laughing? Am I seeing things?

Heather was usually quite a serious person, and if Cody's memory served him right he had never seen his boss laugh like that at work. A wave of confusion flashed across his face as he cleared his throat. "Uh, sorry to interrupt but should I like, come back later?"

"No," Heather quickly replied, as she finally managed to control her laughter. "We'll do another one. Third time's the charm."

"Are you sure about that?" Alejandro teased.

Heather pushed him playfully and scoffed. "Have some faith."

She took a deep breath and then spoke again. "I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Alejandro Burromuerto as Illuminate's new Managing Director. Alejandro brings a wealth of experience in the jewellery business industry. His passion, dedication and leadership will be valuable assets to Illuminate and I'm excited to see what's next for our brand. Thank you all for your ongoing support," Heather confidently said, before smiling proudly in satisfaction and giving Alejandro a look that said 'told you'.

Cody nodded at Heather and then moved the camera to face Alejandro, who flashed his charming, million dollar smile.

"Hi everyone, I am incredibly honored and humbled to be joining such a fantastic business and working closely alongside Heather and the wider team. It is an exciting time for Illuminate and I hope you all will continue to support our brand as we further grow and expand. Thank you all for your ongoing support and I look forward to this next chapter," Alejandro said as he smoothly spoke into the camera.

"Nice, one take, Alejandro!" Cody grinned as he took the camera off the tripod. "I'll organize these to be posted on our website and socials."

Heather couldn't believe it. "Jerk," she muttered, as she glanced down at the floor.

"But I'm your jerk, sí?" Alejandro smirked.

Heather turned around to face him. "Mine and mine only," she smiled.

"Alright, I'm out of here, you two can get a room," Cody quickly said as he packed up the tripod and immediately began dashing out of the room.

"Shut the door!" Alejandro and Heather both yelled at the same time.

"I don't get paid enough for this," Cody muttered to himself as he closed the door after him.

"Cody is funny," Alejandro chuckled once Cody had left.

Heather let out a tiny laugh. "He's such a dork, but I'm secretly low-key glad to have him on the team, although don't tell him I said that." She paused for a moment. "Unlike a certain snake," she added.

Alejandro knew she was referring to Nathan as the snake. "The snake was mostly and strangely quite polite to me when I came here this morning," he remarked.

Heather shook her head. "I still don't trust him. He's been pretty quiet lately and hasn't done anything suspicious but I think he's putting up a facade. Things have been pretty busy for Illuminate lately so I haven't really had the chance to dig deeper into it yet."

"We'll deal with him together," Alejandro assured her. "You won't be alone in this."

Heather smiled and reached out for his hand. "Yes, together."

Alejandro took her hand firmly in his and then leaned in closer so she could snuggle against his chest.

Together, they'd tackle any problem and overcome any obstacle.

***

"Guys, you won't believe what I just saw!" Cody gasped once he left Alejandro's office and stood at the front of the open office space where Illuminate's employees were hard at work, their faces behind their computer screens.

One or two people glanced up from their desks, and the rest of the employees ignored him whilst they continued to tap away on their keyboards.

"Heather was laughing, smiling and giggling like a shy schoolgirl. Can you guys believe it?" Cody continued to talk despite the fact that no one, aside from Sierra, was really listening to him. "I saw it with my own two eyes!"

Awkward silence.

"Um, guys, hello? Did anyone hear what I just said?" Cody repeated. "I said Heather, as in our boss Heather, was literally acting like a-"

"Oh my god, breaking news. Someone call the cops and ring the Church bells," Noah, an employee who had recently joined the team, sarcastically remarked.

Cody sighed. He slumped his shoulders and started walking back to his own desk.

"I was listening to you, Codykins," Sierra said in a sweet voice. "Why was Heather laughing and giggling like that?"

"I don't even exactly know," Cody said in a low voice as he walked over to Sierra's desk. "I was filming the video to introduce Alejandro's new role and she was sitting next to him on the couch and she looked like she was totally in L.O.V.E." Cody's eyes widened when he spelt out the word 'love'.

"I'm so happy for them," Sierra gushed as she cupped her hands together. "I totally ship them."

Unbeknownst to them, as Nathan walked past on his way to his own office, he overheard the entirety of Cody and Sierra's conversation. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. Everything is now ready and it's finally time to launch.

--

A/N - ah, this was such a fun chapter to write ;)

Is this light-hearted chapter the calm before the storm? Maybe... :P

What do we think Nathan is planning...?

Thanks for reading <3