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Beatrice stared at herself for what seemed like the hundredth time in the mirror, she just couldn't get enough of how stunning she was looking at the moment.

The sparkling green dress hugged firmly against her slender curves and the v-line cut showed her cleavages, while the silver necklace with the heart-shaped pendant with embedded emerald stone complimented her skin tone.

She looked drop-dead gorgeous…

“Let's get a snap!” Beatrice told herself as she grabbed her Samsung mobile phone and had a mirror picture.

Suddenly, a knock was heard on the door, and Beatrice quickly grabbed her clutches and hurried to the door. For some unknown reason, she felt a bit happy.

Beatrice opened the door and standing before her was Ben… He looked so handsome and classic in the black suit he was wearing.

He wasn't a male model, but currently, he should have been. His black jet hair was neatly and stylishly cut, and his crescent of moon eyebrows were thin and narrow.

The aquiline nose he had complimented his prominent cheekbones. Handsome was an understatement for him, his basalt jaw and wide shoulders possess the authority he had.

His blue eyes shine as bright as the evening star when they alighted with astonishment. At other times, they could resemble two liquid pools of flashing fire.

Ben's gaze fell on Beatrice, and he inhaled sharply at her stunning features, his eyes roamed her from head to toe stealthily and his jaw twitched uncontrollably just by staring at her.

'Damn! She looks so hot,' Ben thought, his gaze pinned immensely on her, especially on her cleavages.

He doesn't even know the right words to use to compliment her beauty.

“Hi!” Beatrice chirped, gazing at him and expecting him to say something.

'Will he just stare at me? No compliments?' Beatrice thought.

“Hi,” Ben responded, forcefully dragging his gaze back to her face, while Beatrice's lips curled up in a slight smirk.

“How do I look? Or are you just going to stare at me all day?” Beatrice teased.

“You don't look bad,” Ben responded with a cocky smirk as Beatrice's face fell.

'What?'

'Is that what he's just going to say?' Beatrice thought annoyingly as she scoffed.

“Let's go,” Beatrice said as Ben moved away from the door path for her to pass.

~~

The ride from the five-star hotel to the gala venue was a hushed one between Ben and Beatrice… The tension between them was too much for them to bear.

Ben glued his face to the screen of his smartphone while Beatrice stare out the window.

The limousine car finally parked in front of the magnitude skyscraper where the event was taking place.

Paparazzi, here and there, and the flashing of lights from the camera, became annoying for Beatrice.

The door suddenly opened and Ben was the first to come out of the car. He turned and stretched his arms out for Beatrice to take, who simply ignored him and get out of the car by herself.

She was still annoyed by the fact that Ben didn't compliment her well enough, well, was she expecting him to start feeding her details of how she looked like a beauty goddess?

Beatrice and Ben managed to escape the reporters and got into the building immediately as everywhere was calm and tranquil with few business people clustering around and having a few discussions among themselves.

Beatrice gazed at the beautiful reception with awe and noticed how the older men stared at her.

She loved the attention she was getting from them. She turned her head slightly, wondering where Ben was, and found him speaking with an elderly man.

A slight scoff escaped Beatrice's lips as she kept on walking.

“Ciao, Bellissima… Sei Davvero Bellissima,” Beatrice heard a deep voice say behind her, and she spurned around immediately to see who was talking behind her when she saw a young, handsome man staring intensely at her.

Beatrice flapped her lashes at him also gazing at the handsome yet familiar face.

'I think I've seen him somewhere,' She thought to herself, racking through her brain to remember where she has met him.

“Hi!” Beatrice greeted curiously with an alluring smile plastered on her nude-coated lips as her eyes checked him out.

His dark brown hair had a Mohican cut and scythe-shaped eyebrows. His roman nose and half-dome cheekbones sat above an oaken jaw and chiseled chin. 

His bluish-green eyes sparkled and shimmered like an ocean, and his spicy aroma was appealing and intoxicating.

He walked a bit closer to Beatrice with a tiger-like tread, and his alluring eyes twinkled as he stretched out his arm to Beatrice.

“Mr. Santiago, I see you are having a hard time trying to remember who I am,” He chuckled in a deep rich voice while Beatrice finally remembered who he was and where she had met him.

Has flashbacks of how he caught and saved her from falling to the floor when he came for a meeting in their company.

“I'm sorry, nice to see you again, Mr. Santiago,” Beatrice greeted warmly and stretched out her hand for him to take.

“I think you were saying something in Italian earlier,” Beatrice added with a skeptical look.

“Do you understand Italian?” Santiago asked with a charming smile on his face, and Beatrice laughed slightly.

“Not really, but I can detect an Italian accent,” Beatrice answered as Santiago used his thumb to rub the back of her hand gently.

“Do you want to know what I said?” He asked her, his lips curling up slightly.

“Yeah!” Beatrice answered, staring at him.

“It means beautiful, and you are extremely gorgeous,” He said, and Beatrice could feel the pink color taint her cheeks.

“If I may?” Santiago asked, bowing slightly as he raised Beatrice's hand to his lips and kissed the back of her hand warmly.

Beatrice felt a chill run down her spine as she got trapped in his manly attitude.

'He's so hot!' Beatrice squealed in her head but composed herself.

Suddenly, Ben appeared, his face was all terror as he marched furiously toward them, Beatrice looked up and gasped, noticing the coldness and fiery in his eyes.

“Mr. Santiago, I can see you are here,” Ben said, annoying, as Santiago stood up straight and turned around to see Ben glaring at him.

“Nice to see you too by the way and your beautiful secretary, she looks super dope,” Santiago smirked at Ben.

Ben's brow knitted together in annoyance as he walked over to Beatrice and suddenly wrapped his left arm around her waist and drew her closer to his body, while Beatrice gasped.

“Well, we will be heading in, if you will excuse us,” Ben fired lowly while Santiago chuckled and stepped back a bit.

“Okay, I'll be going… See you later damsel,” Santiago winked at Beatrice who was still trying to process what just happened now.

When Santiago was out of sight, Ben removed his arm around Beatrice's waist while she faced him.

“What was that?” Beatrice asked him.

“Not allowing him to take advantage of you,” Ben answered dryly.

“He wasn't,” Beatrice shot annoyingly at him.

“I don't care if he wasn't,” Ben said, moving closer to her, while Beatrice batted her eyelashes at him curiously.

Ben stopped when they were inches apart from each other and stretched his right hand and touched the sliver heart-shaped pendant on Beatrice's cleavage, taking it in between his two fingers and staring down at her, gazing intensely into her gray eyes.

“I don't want to see you with him,” He uttered in a deadly serious voice as a warning.