Pen Name: bonadea777
Title: Her First Job or Virginia is for Lovers
Beta:abadkittysr
Fandom: Twilight
Pairing: Bella/Edward
Summary: Bella works for a wealthy CEO, Edward Cullen, but her first job isn't what she wanted to be when she grew up.
Rating: M
Word Count: 3,262
Her First Job or Virginia is for Lovers
Summary: Bella works for a wealthy CEO, Edward Cullen, but her first job isn't what she wanted to be when she grew up.
Disclaimer: I don't own the show, if I did it would have more lemons :).
Quite a few American writers had pretty odd jobs before they became famous. Bella, as an aspiring writer herself, found it comforting. For instance, Stephen King was a janitor at a high school; William S. Burroughswas employed as an exterminator in Chicago; virginal John D'Agataworked in a condom shop.
And innocent Bella Swan worked at Cullen Toys. When she was growing up, she always knew what she wanted to be. She always wanted to be a writer or at least work at a publishing house, the very least - a librarian. Never in a million years could she imagine that she would end up across the country, in Virginia, working as an administrative assistant to the Executive Assistant to the CEO of a company.
Her boss, Rosalie Hale, was a first class bitch. Everybody in the company was afraid of her. Some people even called her a vampire. The only way to get on her good side was to get pregnant. Rose had a soft spot for pregnant women and loved to go to baby showers. For some reason the birth rate in the company was higher than national average. Miss Hale barely tolerated Bella as a person but acknowledged her hard work and dedication. However, she did underestimate Bella's abilities. Bella was usually done with her assignments in no time, which left her plenty of time for her hobby - writing fan fiction.
The CEO of the company and founder was Edward Cullen. Mr. Cullen was a hard-core philanthropist. He was also a president and founder of a non-profit organization located in DC. The media called him the CEO of Sex. He was young, wealthy, dashing and Dartmouth educated. He was also ill-tempered and rumoured to be a Dom.
Bella started working at Cullen Toys six months ago. She was a small town girl and for her, moving across the country was exciting and frightening at the same time. How did she end up here? That was a story of its own.
Bella was a recent college graduate. Looking back, she wished she had chosen a more profitable Major than British Literature. She also graduated at the worst possible time during the recession, having to compete for entry level jobs with people with Masters Degrees and even PhDs.
Three unpaid internships later she found herself back at Forks, WA, moving in with her father, Charlie. She had student loans to pay back, so she was pretty desperate. She worked at a local diner on weekdays and in a sporting goods store on the weekends.
One day she was delivering food to Charlie, who worked at the police station, when she was approached by one of the female officers, who handed her an invitation and winked at her. The card read - Spicy Tupperware Party. Normally Bella didn't go to such parties but she did need some Tupperware, so she accepted the invitation.
Since the theme of the party was spicy she decided to bring a dish of chilli with her. She parked her red truck in front of the cute farm house and went in, holding the dish. The living room was full of women from eighteen to eighty. Everybody was chatting and giggling. Apparently Tupperware parties were popular in Forks. There were brownies, sliced fruit and apple pie sitting on the main table but nothing spicy. Strange!
Bella looked around and saw a folding table full of lotions and oils. Hmm, maybe it was a combined party for something like Avon. The second table contained lacy underwear. Perhaps it was a vendor fair. The third table contained some metal balls with strings and other oval shape devices, the usage of which was unknown to her. When her gaze moved to the fourth table … she dropped the dish on the floor.
There, on the fourth table, were replicas of penises. Some of them looked pretty realistic (not that she had seen one live), some of them were purple and looked like alien penises (she hadn't seen one of those either), some of them had weird attachments. This was a Tupperware party with a twist! Bella was blushing profusely trying to clean the chilli from the floor.
Later, she blushed even more when older women were cracking jokes about who would inherit their sex toys when they died. There was also a raffle and Bella won her first sex toy.
The consultant, after discovering Bella's employment situation, tried to recruit Bella to work for her but dropped the subject after she found out how little experience Bella had.
Bella went home with her new toy. After some hesitation and internet research, she decided to give it a try. She got into the shower and after some fumbling, figured out what to do. All these years she had been missing out on some fun! The pleasure was building; she started moaning, when she heard loud pounding on the bathroom door.
"Bells, are you ok? Did you fall? Are you hurt? Let me get a screwdriver. I can take the door off."
Charlie had come home from work early and was concerned when he heard noises from the bathroom. Bella was mortified and didn't try to repeat the experience for quite a while after that.
Long story short, apparently, the consultant took to Bella. She called Bella weeks later about a position opening at Cullen Toys. She knew somebody in the HR department, who would help Bella's resume to make the first cut. Not having much of a choice, Bella applied. A couple of weeks later she had a successful phone interview, then the company flew her to the East Coast for an in person interview.
Bella always carried a torch for antebellum architecture and everything southern. As a little girl she wanted to live somewhere in Georgia in a plantation house with white tall columns and be married to a Southern gentleman. Her childhood dream was sort of coming true. She was going to Virginia, a southern state. She was wondering if her favourite heroine Scarlett O'Hara would have accepted such a job offer, if she had lived in the 21st century. Probably she would, if she was in Bella's situation...
Virginia is for Lovers – Live Passionately. That was the first thing Bella saw when she landed at Reagan Airport. Right there and then she decided to take a risk and start living life passionately. She decided to live out her passions for writing, history, culture, music and all the little things that make life meaningful. In spite of her puritanical upbringing, it made it easier to accept the job offer, which she received in couple days.
On the surface, the office of Cullen Toys looked like any other office building. There were charts and graphs hanging on the walls. There were a lot of windows, plants in containers and a fountain in the lobby. There was a strict dress code in the company, so everybody was dressed conservatively. The only thing that gave away the nature of the company was the fact that alongside the family pictures standing on the desks, you could see the company's merchandise. Also on the reception desk, instead of your usual bowl full of candy and lollipops, there was a bowl full of shiny colorful foils. The company took protection seriously. Not at all what Bella expected. She had expected it to be something like a dark dungeon, with male employees wearing gold chains and leather jackets and women wearing mini skirts and thigh high boots.
After getting the job Bella returned home. She packed her meagre belongings, including BOB (battery operated boyfriend) and moved across the country to Virginia.
"I am proud of you, Bella." Charlie said before she left. He believed that his daughter was starting to work for a toy company, not unlike Toysrus. If only he knew!
He offered her more words of wisdom. It was the longest speech that Charlie ever delivered.
"I know it might be an entry level job but lots of people started at the bottom, just look at me. I was just an intern when I started at the station and now I am a Chief of the Police. Starting at the bottom builds character. With hard work and dedication an opportunity to distinguish yourself will arise." And Bella did 'distinguish' herself right away.
Bella's first week at Cullen Toys was awkward. One day she was supposed to help prepare the conference room for the meeting and take notes during it.
When she entered the conference room she saw Emmett chasing Jasper around the table with a flogger. Jasper and Emmet were second and third in command at Cullen Toys, not counting Miss Hale. There was a sort of bromance going on between them. There were even rumors that they were gay, though not confirmed. Later Bella found out that Emmett was secretly pinning for Miss Hale but she never showed him the time of the day. Emmet was flirting with anyone who wore a skirt, including a sixty years old cleaning lady and a cross dresser who worked there. Emmett just could not help it. Who Jasper was pinning for was a mystery. He always had a sad, longing look.
They were chasing each other all over the conference room laughing, without even noticing Bella, when a door opened and she saw Him. The man of her dreams. Mr. Perfect. Mr. Cullen.
"Emmett! Jasper! Stop this circus! You are thirty, not thirteen."
"Eddy, relax. You need to get laid." Emmett was Mr. Cullen's childhood friend and could get away with it.
"The room should be ready in two minutes." He turned to Bella and left. Bella remained standing there speechless.
It was a product management meeting. Bella was supposed to take notes. But each time anyone said the word dildo, which was every couple minutes, she would snort. Mr Cullen was giving her annoyed looks, and finally, he had enough.
"We are not in Kindergarten. Rose, you take notes. Miss Swan, make yourself useful and bring us coffee and drinks. I hope you can manage this task." Miss Hale looked pissed.
Bella made coffee for everybody, except for Emmett, who asked for Coke. She was making her way to Emmett's seat, next to Mr Cullen, when she tripped on her own feet and spilled the drink right on Mr Cullen's pants. Without thinking, horrified, she dropped to her knees and started furiously rubbing his crotch area with a napkin. The liquid was quickly soaking into the expensive fabric, which made her double her efforts. From the corner of her eye she saw an expression of anger and shock on Mr. Cullen's face changed to something else, his gaze darkening to predatory. The area Bella was industriously working on was getting bigger and harder, then the realization of what she was doing hit her. Emmett could not stop laughing.
Bella was surprised that she wasn't fired after that incident. Perhaps, the fact that she impressed Rose with the knowledge of Access databases earlier that week helped her cause. Needless to say she was never invited to any meetings again.
Six months later, Bella was still working at Cullen Toys. It was late afternoon on Friday. Rose had gone to a baby shower at the accounting department and Bella was manning the desk. Since she had accomplished all her tasks, there was nothing to do. Bella logged on to one of the fan fiction websites. There was a company policy against personal internet usage but it was rarely enforced on their floor.
Bella had had a pretty shitty day. For starters, she was late and had to endure Miss Hale's wrath. On top of that, her pants ripped at the seam. Luckily she always had some spare clothes in the bottom drawer of her desk, since she always managed to spill something on herself. So writing was an antidote to all of that, and reviews from her fans made her high. Bella found it kind of ironic that she was writing about steamy sex but she never had any, except with BOB and he didn't count.
Bella was replying to reviews, when the elevator suddenly opened and Jasper and Emmett came out. She had just enough time to quickly close the webpage and open an Excel spreadsheet she had been working on earlier. Ooff! That was close!
Emmet was carrying a box full of new products and Jasper was holding a huge stack of documents. They were going straight to Mr Cullen's office, and didn't need an invitation. Emmett winked at Bella and Jasper gave her a quizzical look. As they were entering the office, Emmet stumbled and dropped half of the contents of the box on the floor. The three men cursed in unison, then quickly gathered the merchandise and closed the door.
Bella felt worried for some reason. The way the two men had looked at her was strange. She wished she had the ability to see through the wall or read minds.
Behind the door, Edward Cullen was in a foul mood. Things were going well in his company and non-profit organization but not so much in his personal life. His last girlfriend got pregnant and claimed that the child was his. There had been a huge media circus. Though it was free publicity for his company, it had taken an emotional toll on Edward.
He wished that finding a new girlfriend and getting rid of an unwanted one was as easy as hiring a new employee. He would prefer somebody quiet, not clingy, who didn't ask too many questions, was happy and drama free. Emmett had suggested getting a blow up doll.
On top of it he went through two personal assistants in the past 6 months. The first one tried to blackmail him, the last one was found naked in his bed, chained to the posts – an early unwelcome birthday present. He did need to find a new assistant quickly. Perhaps, some insecure, shy, old spinster or something like that to avoid further scandals and headaches.
Suddenly the door of his office opened and Emmet fell in, followed by Jasper. The company's products were rolling all over the floor.
"Shit, Emmett! Pay attention to where you are going."
The three men quickly gathered everything and put all the stuff on Edward's desk.
"You'd better have good news. It's been a long day."
"Well," started Jasper, "it depends on how you look at it. You know that the sales of certain toys increased by 32 percent in recent months and we also saw an unexplained traffic increase to our website. We have solved the mystery."
"Yes?"
"One of our employees writes erotic novels and the characters are using our product - there are pictures and links to our website."
"Let's give this person a raise and see how we can use their talent to our advantage."
"That's the problem, you might want to fire her. All her writing is done during work hours. Sometimes she spends up to four hours a day doing it. We have fired people for less than that."
"Who is it?"
"That's another problem. It's Isabella Swan."
"Rose's assistant?" That mousy, clumsy little thing? What do they say about the quiet ones?
"You know how hard it was for Rose to find an assistant. She seems to be satisfied with Isabella's work, minus clumsiness. She's also the first one that lasted this long. She also wasn't trying to entrap you."
Yes, Edward did remember some of those assistants.
"Eddy, you should read some of this highlighted stuff," Emmett interrupted, handing him a bunch of sheets, "it's really hot. And there's all this BDSM stuff. Steamy! And the main character looks a lot like you."
"Ok, leave me everything. I'll handle this myself. See you this weekend, guys."
When Jasper and Emmett left his office, Edward started to go through Miss Swan's creations. She had quite an imagination! Lots of her stories and scenes took place in an office that looked very similar to his. The main character did look a lot like him. The female characters were improved versions of Miss Swan. Suddenly he knew what he was going to do. He had a plan, he knew what he wanted and he always got it. His mood drastically improved.
He pressed the button of the intercom and barked, "Miss Swan. My office. Now."
Oh, shit!
Bella went to Mr. Cullen's office. As she entered the room, she tripped on something and fell. Double shit! It was a pocket size dildo that Emmett had dropped and didn't notice when he was picking the stuff up. How humiliating to trip on a dildo!
Strong arms helped her to get up. Bella almost fell down again, intimidated by Mr Cullen's smell and proximity.
"Miss Swan, you are just prone to accidents, luckily you were not carrying Coke this time. You can take a seat on the couch. "
Bella was confused and felt intimidated. She took a seat on the edge of the couch.
Mr Cullen was sitting in his leather chair absentmindedly playing with a flogger.
"I know about your little writing hobby, Miss Swan, that you're drawing your inspiration from this office, and people who work here. I had the privilege of reading your work this afternoon. By the way, there are two run on sentences in this sex scene and you misspelled our product name, which is totally unacceptable." He showed her the highlighted passage.
Bella blushed, and then paled. She was mortified.
"You are well aware of our company's personal internet usage policy, Miss Swan, aren't you?"
Bella nodded.
"I could fire you on the spot," he paused.
Bella was getting more and more nervous.
"Instead, I'd like to make you a proposal," he said still toying with a flogger. Bella stared at him incredulously.
She opened her mouth; her voice was slightly trembling, "No! I am not that kind of girl".
He looked at her surprised, then he saw what she was looking at and smirked. "And what kind of girl might that be? Please, enlighten me, Miss Swan." he asked innocently.
"I know what kind of reputation you have." Mr Cullen looked amused. She felt like he was playing with her. She was getting frustrated.
"So, what kind of reputation do I have and what kind of girl you are not, Miss Swan?"
"I am not that kind of girl," she repeated stubbornly. "I am not going to be your sub!" She motioned at the flogger in his hands and the assortment of blind folds, handcuffs and other BDSM paraphernalia lying on his table.
Surprise and then amusement played over his face.
"Miss Swan, you have quite an imagination. All I wanted to do was to offer you a position of my personal assistant. Without, hmm, any additional responsibilities. Your unusual hobby did increase our profits. I think you deserve a raise. My HR will send you an offer and job description. You have 24 hours to accept or decline it. Now, if you excuse me, Miss Swan, I have work to do. "
Bella was blushing. She felt like she made a complete fool out of herself.
Note to herself: Think before you speak.
Bella's secret hobby was discovered. She could have been fired. She accused her boss of wanting her to be his sub. Could her day get any worse? "I'll think about that tomorrow," she thought, quoting her favorite heroine, taking the Metro home.
TO BE CONTINUED ...