"Shit!"

I cursed as I grabbed my dresser and steadied myself from nearly falling on my ass trying to yank up my panty hose. A few too many times hitting the snooze button on my alarm had left me running late for work and trying to get dressed like a crazy person. After finally getting them on without causing injury, I threw on my black pencil skirt and red blouse and slipped my feet into my comfiest nude heels before pulling my long dark hair back into a casual ponytail and applying makeup in record time.

This wasn't the first time I had run late for work, in fact I run late more mornings than not, therefore I had gotten pretty good at getting ready quickly. I tried to look my best for work but my hatred for mornings often left me looking a bit bedraggled.

I headed to the kitchen and hit start on the coffee maker. I could cut many things out of my morning routine when I needed to but coffee was not one of them. As the machine began whirring to life I heard the front door open and turned to see my roommate, Bonnie, kicking off her running shoes. She hit the door with her petite hip, slamming it shut.

"Hey, Elena," she said breathlessly, pulling her short black hair off her sweat glistened neck and walking over to join me in the kitchen. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and gulped half of it down.

"Morning." I replied, tapping my foot and willing the coffee machine to hurry up.

"You running late again?" she asked.

"As always," I mumbled. She smirked at me before grabbing an apple out the bowl on the counter and taking a bite. "What are you up to today?" I asked her.

"I've got rehearsals this morning, so I thought I'd get up early and work up a sweat." Bonnie's a dancer, and an amazing one at that, but trying to make it as a dancer in New York City isn't easy, even for the good ones like Bonnie. She'd just landed a job as a backing dancer in a music video, I'd never heard of the artist, Tyler Lockwood, but she assured me that his debut single, 'Hybrid' was so awesome that it would be a hit right away.

"Are you working tonight?" Bonnie also worked part time at The Grill, a bar down town. As much as she loved to dance, the jobs were hit and miss and living in a New York apartment meant having to pay the rent.

"Nope," she said popping the 'p', "I'm free as a bird." She took another bite of her apple and licked the escaped juice off her lip. "You fancy going out and celebrating tonight?"

I raised my brow, "what exactly are we celebrating?"

"Friday," she shrugged, "and the fact that we're young and hot!" She raised her water bottle in a mock toast.

"Sure," I giggled.

The coffee machine finally clicked off and I grabbed my travel mug to make it up. Bonnie passed me the milk from the fridge and I added it and a little sugar before popping on the top.

"Have a good day sweetie," Bonnie said pushing off the counter, "I'm gonna hit the shower, unlike some people I don't enjoy being late for work." I shot her an annoyed look and she flashed me a toothy grin.

"Here," she threw me another apple out of the bowl. "You need to eat in the mornings, most important meal of the day and all."

I put the apple into my purse before slinging it over my shoulder and grabbing my coffee. "Whatever you say, mom".

"See you later," she called walking towards her bedroom.

I left the apartment and jogged down the concrete stairs and out onto the street. The city was bustling with fast-paced people charging off in every direction, narrowly dodging each other just like the sea of cars noisily crawling along in the rush hour traffic. I took a gulp of my hot coffee and stepped out onto the sidewalk, immediately getting swept away in the stream of New Yorkers. I moved to New York five years ago for college and loved it so much that I had decided to stay. It was far away from the quiet life of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where Bonnie and I had grown up, but there was nothing left for me in Mystic Falls, even my younger brother, Jeremy, followed my move to the Big City as soon as he could.

Twenty minutes later I was free from the bustle of the street and slipping through revolving doors, I flashed my badge to the security guard and managed to leap into the elevator before the doors closed. I hit the button for the 33rd floor and squeezed into a tiny slot in the back of the packed car. The elevator stopped a few times letting others off at their destinations before whizzing me up to the top floor, the car slowed to a halt and the doors slid apart with a ding. I stepped out onto the shiny hardwood floor and headed towards my office, my stilettos clicking loudly on the polished slats as I walked.

The receptionist, April, was perched in her usual spot behind a huge mahogany desk, nail file in hand and talking to someone via a headset that wrapped around her right ear. She sat beneath huge letters that covered the wall behind her – 'Salvatore & Co'.

The Salvatore business owns everything in the leisure industry from hotels, restaurants and club chains, to brands of vodka. I'm fairly certain that The Salvatores' have plans to take over the world because the company has spread like wildfire over the past few years, opening new brands and offices all across the globe. The company was founded by Guiseppe Salvatore and passed down several years ago to his two sons, Stefan and Damon, or as I like to call them, my bosses.

April looked up from her nails as she saw me approaching and flashed a pretty smile. She said something to the person on the line and hit a button on her keyboard effectively ending the call. She glanced up at me with big blue eyes before spinning around in her chair and grabbing a pile of papers from behind her and returning back to face me.

"Hi, Elena," she grinned handing over the mail.

"Morning, April," I took the papers from her hand and couldn't help but smile back at her. April's a cute little thing, long dark hair similar to mine, bright blue eyes, a couple of years younger than me and always wears a warm smile. She'd worked at Salvatore & Co. for about seven months now and we'd hung out a few times, going for the occasional lunch and girls' night.

"How are you today?" I asked her.

"I can't complain. It is almost the weekend, right?"

"Well, that's always a bonus," I laughed. "Me and Bonnie were thinking of going out for drinks tonight, you up for it?"

"Sure, sounds awesome. Mind if I bring Rebekah along too?" She asked raising her brow. Rebekah is April's flatmate, a pretty blonde who moved here from England a few years ago. I'd met her a few times and she seemed nice enough.

"Go ahead, the more the merrier!"

Her phone started ringing again and she jokingly rolled her eyes before clicking a button on her headset. "Good morning, Salvatore and Company, how may I direct your call?" I held my fist up to my face in the universal symbol for phone and mouthed that I'd call her later. She nodded in agreement. "I'm afraid Mr Fell isn't in the office yet, can I take a message?" She said as I turned my back and headed off towards my desk.

I passed through the finance department before reaching the plush leather sofas and coffee table that made up a small waiting area, complete with a water cooler and a fancy fish tank swarming with tiny multi-coloured tropical fish. My desk was just beyond it and I quickly dropped my purse underneath before powering up my computer. I grabbed the fish food out of my desk draw and dropped a few flakes through the hatch and into the water before taking the mail from April through to my boss's office.

I reached the glass door embossed with the name 'Stefan Salvatore', my boss and senior manager of Salvatore & Co. I pushed open the door and walked through the large pristine office over to the wide windows where I rolled back the blinds to a stunning view of Manhattan. Working on the top floor of a New York skyscraper did have its perks.

I dropped the mail onto the desk and caught sight of the framed photograph sitting next to the keyboard. Stefan looked up at me with his bright, gleaming green eyes, his mousy hair was perfectly coiffed and he was showing off his white teeth with a playful smile. Stefan is a good looking guy, funny, young, a great boss, and I am completely and madly in love with him.

I scowled in jealousy at the arm draped around his shoulder by the beautiful leggy blonde. Lexi may be his ex-girlfriend but that doesn't mean I don't envy the fact that she got to experience the deliciousness that is Stefan Salvatore - even if it didn't work out. The couple had broken up four months ago, yet her picture still took centre stage on his desk, clearly he still had feelings for his high school sweetheart. Now I was just waiting for the day he'd move on and realise that the perfect girl for him sat outside his office and answered his calls all day.

I'd worked at Salvatore & Co. for two years now, it was my first job fresh out of college and ever since the day I set eyes on Stefan Salvatore I knew I was a goner. As cliché as it may sound, it was love at first sight, I have no idea how I even got the job seeing as all I did throughout my interview was gawk at him like he was Ryan Gosling.

I let out a soft sigh and dragged my eyes away from his beautiful face, I turned on his computer before leaving the room and closing the door behind me. I sat behind my desk and quickly pulled the compact and lip-gloss out of my purse, I applied a fresh layer to my lips and then reworked my ponytail so that it looked like what I hoped was 'stylishly messy'. I know it probably didn't help much but I liked to look good for Stefan, especially after my frequently hurried mornings.

I was still trying to fix my hair in the mirror which I'd propped against my computer screen when I heard the clearing of a throat from above me. My head shot up to see Stefan standing over me from the other side of my desk. He had a Starbucks in hand and wore a fitted grey suit which I knew would be hiding deliciously chiselled abs, he wore a crisp white shirt with a black tie and a smirk graced his kissable mouth. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks and I fumbled grabbing the compact and shoving it in my desk draw, accidently slamming my thumb in the process.

"Morning, Stefan!" I said way too enthusiastically, bringing my thumb to my mouth and sucking on it to ease the sting.

"Good morning, Elena." He said with a soft smile, eying the finger which I was sucking. I quickly yanked it out and hid it beneath the table, he chuckled and took a sip of his coffee. God, what I wouldn't give to be that paper Starbucks cup right now, those pink lips wrapped around mine…I shook my thoughts away and cleared my throat.

"Your mail is on your desk and don't forget you have the management meeting at ten."

"Thanks, Elena." He said, smiling at me again. God, I just wanted to kiss it right off his face! I watched as he made his way into his office and let the door click shut behind him.

I could see him through the clear door settling into his big leather chair and logging on to the computer system before he began to riffle through the pile of mail. I loved that I could see what he was doing all day, but it also meant that on more than one occasion he had caught me looking. I'd had to quickly teach myself to actually get on with my work and stop staring like a love struck teenager before he fired me for being a stalker.

I jumped straight into my usual morning tasks of answering the phone, replying to emails and sorting out Stefan's accounts from the week. At around 9:45 I answered the ringing phone with my overly rehearsed, robotic greeting, "Stefan Salvatore's office, this is Elena speaking."

"Ellen, tell Stefan we're pushing the 10 o'clock meeting back by an hour." Ah, the standard rude and minimalistic order from Damon Salvatore, Stefan's older brother and Director of Salvatore & Co. He had referred to me as 'Ellen' for the past two years now, no matter how many times Stefan and I had tried to correct him.

"Good morning, Mr Salvatore. I'm afraid that won't work for Stefan, he has a meeting with marketingat 11:30." I replied in my politest tone.

"So push it back."

"The meeting has already been moved twice now Sir, I'm not sure that Stef-"

"I don't care if it's been moved twice. Move it again." He snapped.

"Let me check with Stefan, Mr Salvatore, I'll get back to you as soon as possible." My finger hovered above the hold button on my phone. It always gave me great pleasure to put Damon Salvatore on hold.

"Put me through to him," he demanded. I wasn't going to argue with him anymore than that, he was still technically my boss's boss after all. I pressed the button for Stefan's line and saw him glance at his phone and put it to his ear before meeting my stare through the door.

"It's your brother on the line, he says he wants to push back management. I told him you had other plans, but he insisted that he speak with you." I rolled my eyes jokingly at him through the glass.

"Thanks, Elena." I put down my phone, connecting Damon through and watched as Stefan clearly had exactly the same conversation as I just had. I smiled to myself and turned back to my emails.

A few minutes later I heard the door next to me open and the object of all my desires strolled out. He'd lost his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, in what I'm sure is a sign of a stressful conversation with Damon. Being the elder brother, Damon had been given more control over the company, his authority combined with his stubborn nature meant he always got his way around here, as I'm sure he does in his personal life too.

"Elena, can you please call Rose and reschedule our meeting for this afternoon? And these files need to be taken up to Damon." He dropped a stack of folders on the edge of my desk and turned around to walk through our waiting area. I shot his back a sympathetic look and watched his ass flex as he strolled away from me and out the room.

I stood from my desk, clicked on the voicemail option on my phone and smoothed down my skirt. I collected the 'Viper Vodka' files up from the end of my desk and began making my way across the building to Damon's office.

I entered into a similar waiting area as my own, only bigger. The furniture was all dark wood and black leather with cream walls and plush carpets. Andie sat behind her desk to the left of a dark wooden door which held a plaque that read, 'Damon Salvatore, Director'. Andie is Damon's PA, she's a few years older than me, tall and slim with shoulder length caramel hair that framed her perfectly symmetrical face. I don't think I'd ever seen Andie smile, not that I could blame her, I imagined that working directly for Damon Salvatore would drain most of your happiness.

"Elena." She acknowledged me with a singular nod of her head without ever taking her eyes off of her screen.

"Andie." I replied in the same way, "I have some files for Damon, is he free?"

"Try knocking."

"Ok… So, last week, huh?" I had been informed by Stefan last Monday that Andie had handed in her two weeks notice. I hoped that her replacement wouldn't be as much of a bitch.

"Yep."

"You excited?"

"I guess," she shrugged, still staring at her screen with her fingers flying over the keys.

I admitted defeat. That was the most conversation I was going to get out of her. In a way I felt sorry for Andie, we had something in common in the fact that we were both blatantly in love with our bosses. At least Stefan wasn't a self-confessed womanizer who fucked anything in a skirt. I figured that was the reason behind her departure, which I could understand. I knew from first-hand experience that unrequited love was a bitch.

I made my way to the dark ominous door knocking strongly three times. I heard no response for a few moments and was raising my hand to knock again when I heard the deep, slightly husky voice tell me to come in via the intercom hooked up to Andie's desk. I pushed open the door and stepped into Damon's office.

The room was huge, following the interior of the waiting area outside with spotless cream walls, plush carpet and dark furniture. The right hand side wall was made up of tinted glass windows overlooking a stunning view of the city and the opposite wall held a huge flat screen, fit for a movie theatre, which I assumed was used for video conferences. Next to it was another seating area similar to the one outside and beyond that, a built-in bar which held all the Salvatore branded bottles. Despite the beautiful interior of the room, my eyes directly found the most impressive feature – in front of me Damon Salvatore sat behind a vast, dark mahogany desk, leaning back casually in his leather chair and looking right at me.

He slowly let his eyes roam from mine and down my body, paying special attention to the tops of my breasts that were slightly exposed by my low cut, red button up blouse, and my legs that looked especially long thanks to my high heels. I felt naked under his stare and awkwardly shifted myself in a futile attempt to pull my shirt together. He lazily rolled his gaze back up to meet mine, flashing me a sinful smirk, his light blue eyes were knowing and filled with amusement as he leant forward to rest his elbows on the desk.

"Ellen."

"Elena, Mr Salvatore." I corrected him and stepped towards him to hand over the files.

I felt uncomfortable under his gaze and so avoided making further eye contact and pulled at my skirt. When I handed over the papers our fingers brushed and a shiver ran up my arm. I knew he did it on purpose, Damon Salvatore was god's gift to women and he damn well knew it. He could make any girl putty in his hands just by looking at her. Shame he was a dick. Although I only had eyes for Stefan, I could more than appreciate Damon's devilish good looks. He was classically handsome, raven black hair that always had that just fucked look, a strong jaw and hypnotizing blue eyes. He was wearing a charcoal suit, perfectly tailored to his muscular body with a white shirt and baby blue tie that matched the colour of his eyes perfectly. The Salvatores sure knew what they were doing when it came to making beautiful babies.

I pulled my hand back and hastily made my exit, I may agree that Damon was an Adonis and almost definitely amazing in the sack, but I didn't have any interest in being one of his easy lays, especially not when I was holding out for his brother, however pathetic that may seem. I could feel his eyes on my ass the entire time, practically burning through my skirt. As if by natural instinct I felt my hips sway more provocatively as I walked away. Damn hormones. The door fell shut behind me and I let out a sigh of relief, I always felt like a gazelle walking into the lion's den in there.

I headed to the kitchen to grab me and Stefan some coffees before heading back to my desk and getting stuck into work for the rest of the day. By the time 5 o clock rolled around I had gotten all my jobs done for the week and was ready to get home early and start the weekend.

I checked in with Stefan before I started packing away. "Hey boss, anything else you need from me before I leave?"

He looked up at me from the contract he was reading and smiled. "No, get yourself away Elena. I'm going to head off soon too."

"Ok." I nodded my head and began to make my exit.

"Any big plans this weekend?" He asked, making me turn back around.

"Err…just a quiet one, I guess. I'm going out with some friends tonight."

"That'll be fun. Where are you going?" I didn't know why he was so interested in my plans but I sure as hell wasn't going to argue with it.

"I'm not sure yet. We'll probably end up in Serpents, that's what usually happens anyway." Serpents was one of the Salvatore's most popular clubs and mine and Bonnie's personal favourite. The queue jump and discount card that came with being a Salvatore employee didn't hurt either.

"Huh." He rose a brow and flashed a small smile. "Maybe I'll see you there."

"Y-you're going?" God dammit why did my voice have to tremble like that?

"Yeah. My cousin just got engaged so we're going out to celebrate." My belly fluttered with butterflies at the thought of seeing him out of work.

"Awesome!" I said way too loud. I inwardly cringed."So maybe see you later?"

"Sure." He flashed his beautiful smile at me one last time and I felt those damn butterflies come back full force. This time when I turned to leave he didn't stop me.

I passed April tidying up her desk as I left and stopped to make plans that we'd meet at The Grill at 9. On my way home I was fidgety and nervous the whole way. What the hell was I supposed to wear now that I knew Stefan was going to show up? This was the perfect opportunity to show him fun, sexy Elena, not boring work Elena. I wanted him to see me and have to double take, look at me in a way he never had before and want me so badly that he takes me home and rips the clothes off of my body.

I had no appropriate outfit for this situation.

I returned home to find Bonnie sprawled out on the couch plucking her eyebrows in a hand-held mirror and singing along to the N*Sync track blasting from the stereo. I kicked off my shoes, disposed of my purse and headed for the couch. She lifted her tanned legs up allowing me to plop down before resting them back over my lap.

"How was your day?" she asked, pausing her grooming to look up at me.

"It was good, I guess. How about yours?" She studied my face and frowned, sitting up on her knees to start plucking at my brows. I closed my eyes and lay back.

"It was good" she answered. "We were done early, so me and Caroline had time to go and get some new outfits for tonight."

"I could really do with a new outfit." I mumbled, "Stefan's going to Serpents tonight." She tugged out a particularly stubborn hair and I winced.

"Stefan is out tonight? That's great! You can finally put the moves on him with the fall back of blaming it on the alcohol."

"Yeah, I gue-"

"Oh my god! Let's do a makeover!" She squealed.

"You think I need a makeover?" I asked, a little offended.

"Of course you don't need one!" She backtracked, "I meant that you need to look insanely hot, like Stefan won't even recognise you hot."

She had a point. I felt a smile grace my lips, my mind being filled with images of how well the night could pan out.

"Fine. Make me beautiful, fairy godmother, you only have three hours." I smirked at her and lay my head back so she could continue her work on my eyebrows. She laughed and leant towards me with her tweezers.

"You will sleep with your boss, Cinderella."

Over the next couple of hours Bonnie preened, plucked and perfected me until I felt like New Elena who could successfully go out and seduce her boss. We ordered in pizza and got through a bottle of white wine while we got ready. She listened to me gush about Stefan and told me about a guy she'd met at dance class called Luka, they had a date tomorrow night, which I was happy about. Bonnie deserved someone in her life, she was a perfect catch and I had no idea how she was still single. I loved these moments with Bonnie, she was my best friend, and one of my only friends in the city. There's no one I was as close to as Bonnie.

By the time she'd finished her handy work on me I was wearing the most flawless makeup I'd ever seen, sultry with subtle smoky eyes and bright red lips. She'd told me that the colour was necessary so that Stefan wouldn't be able to take his eyes off my mouth. She'd worked my hair into soft, glossy waves that looked like they'd come straight off the head of a movie star and she'd dressed me in one of her most revealing dresses. It was a skin tight black dress that skimmed my thighs and left my back completely bare spare a couple of thin straps crossed over my shoulder blades. The dress was so revealing I had to leave my bra off.

"What am I supposed to do if I get cold?" I whined. The fabric wasn't very thick and I was certain that I would have issues hiding a nipple erection seeing as I had such trouble picking out underwear that wasn't visible.

"Well, then Stefan will be staring at your nipples," she told me. I huffed and tried to pull at the hem of the dress again. "Leave it, Elena!" She chastised, slapping my hands away. "It looks good, I promise."

Bonnie was wearing a bright yellow dress that fit her curves perfectly and showed off her toned dancer's body. It went down past her knees and had cut out sections at the waist which knotted at the front and back.

"Why can't I wear a dress your length?" I pouted.

"Because you have amazing legs that Stefan doesn't get to see in the office," she told me. I gulped down the rest of my wine and admitted defeat. There was no way I'd get out of wearing a short dress, once Bonnie set her mind on something that was it.

She passed me my black heels and I slipped them on and turned to see the full effect of my outfit in the mirror. I had to admit that I looked good. I was used to taking pride in my appearance and I wasn't one of those girls that got ready in ten minutes, but I wasn't usually dressed so provocatively. Probably because up until now I never went out to hunt for guys, there was only one guy I cared about impressing and for once he would be there.

"You look gorgeous, Elena," Bonnie said coming up behind me and giving me a backwards hug.

"So do you," I told her.

"Ready to get going?" She asked pulling back and smoothing out my curls.

"Let's do this." We grabbed our clutches and made our way out of the apartment.

It was going to be an unforgettable night.

So, yeah...there it is, chapter 1. This is my first ever fanfiction, so pleaseee review and let me know what you thought (but please be gentle lol).

I've been reading fanfics for years now and finally decided to give it a go myself. My plan is to update weekly, but I'm sure any feedback will help feed my muse ;)

Pippa x