**Stephanie Meyer owns all. I'm simply borrowing these characters to fulfill my own little fantasy world.**

"Did you not understand the instructions I gave you? This is all wrong; it doesn't look how I specified at all!" Edward… er, I mean Mr. Cullen shouts at me.

I wince, unwillingly, at his sharp tone. Just when I thought we'd made it so far, here we are back at square one.

Let me start from the beginning. My name is Isabella Swan. I hate that name so I just go by Bella. Isabella is so… snooty. I don't know what possessed my parents to call me that. I am 23 years old, and I'm a personal assistant to one of the most powerful men in San Fransisco. What that really means is that I pick up his dry cleaning, coffee, and whatever else he wants on a whim. I also assist him in preparing for important meetings, his schedule, filing, and other menial tasks.

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating a little when I say he's one of the most important men. It makes me feel a little bit better about the way he treats me and what I do for a living if I say that. This was not my choice of career, but the pay is so good and I love living where I live. Call me shallow, but I've grown accustomed to this life at the top. It wasn't always that way.

I grew up in a small town… Forks Friggin' Washington. Typical small town, USA. The second I could get out, I did. I wanted the big time. I wanted to live in a huge city, date amazing men, meet fascinating people, and live a life anyone would envy. So how did I end up here you're wondering? Easy answer? I needed money, and I needed it fast. Whoring myself out or selling drugs was not an option, so I turned to the next best thing: personal assistant. I graduated at the top of my class in forensic science from UCLA. I always wanted to go into criminal justice. It sounded like an interesting career, one I wouldn't grow bored of easily.

When I graduated from college, I was eyeballs deep in debt, with a month left on my lease in my shitty studio apartment, and no where to go. I was not going home. I had nothing left there anyway; my parents had moved to Phoenix, Arizona to escape the cold and well, general crappiness of Forks. So I started applying for jobs and asking anyone I could think of if they knew of any.

As luck would have it, my former roommate, Jessica, worked in the same building as the law firm Edmonson Cullen & Price. It was a law firm known for their high profile cases, specifically in criminal defense. They were looking for a personal assistant for their up and coming star, Edward Cullen. No, not the Cullen from the title. This was the young son, graduated summa cum laude from Harvard Law, and well on his way to becoming a formidable opponent in the courtroom.

Not my ideal position, but it paid extremely well. Well enough for me to get a bigger apartment, pay off my debt in much less time than originally planned, and living in an awesome city. Not to mention the perks of going to star studded parties and events while assisting my new boss with his social and work schedule.

And now we're back to where we started. I'm six months into this job, and generally hating life. If I didn't know better, Jessica suggested this job as payback for some horrible thing I did to her that I don't remember. Edward Cullen is the most demanding, asinine, horrible person I've ever met in my life. He's easy on the eyes, sure, but behind his cold green eyes is a man who delights in making others miserable.

In case you're wondering, he's tall, around 6'3", looks dang good in a three piece suit, and has green eyes and a strange coppery-bronze colored hair. He looks like he belongs more in a magazine than standing in the courtroom, but I guess beauty truly is only skin deep.

I'm determined not to let him beat me though. In response to his question about my understanding his instructions I state, "No, Mr. Cullen. I understood your instructions. I just thought this way made more sense, and was less time consuming. It produced the same end result but if you'd like me to re-do it, I would be happy to stay late and work on it until it's changed to your satisfaction. Just let me know what you'd like me to do."

Tugging on the ends of his copper colored hair, he squinted at me in frustration and said. "No, no. You've been here since 5:30 as it is. Just go home. We can finish this up tomorrow. You are coming in tomorrow right?" Tomorrow being Saturday. Yes, my supposed day off. But no, instead I have to come in and re-work his entire schedule for the next week.

I reply, "Absolutely, I'll be here. Sue mentioned something about being able to wear jeans, is that still okay?"

He quickly nods his head and squints his eyes at me again. I'm beginning to wonder if there is something on my face, so I quickly wipe my hand from cheek to cheek checking for some stray food particle or something. Nope, nothing there. To my amazement, the corners of his mouth begin to twitch, almost like he's hiding a smile.

Then, as quickly as it started, it stops and the tight, irritated look is back on his face again. He turns on his heel and leaves without a second glance back. I scowl at his back, then at my desk, then at my computer screen. Why did I agree to this job? Why didn't I find out more about this man before I started? Because I was too drunk with lusting over the money to worry about it.

I pull my dark hair into a messy bun, grab my clutch and phone, and head out the door, turning off lights as I go. It's only 7:30, still early enough to get home, change, freshen up, and meet my best friends Alice and Rosalie at Jam Caddy. I get in the Town Car that's waiting to take me home (another perk of my job: car service!) and ask the driver Sam to get me home ASAP.

He laughs and asks, "Hot date tonight Miss Swan? You know your dates have to pass my inspection." He has become sort of a father figure to me out here since I started.

I giggle and tell him that no, it's just drinks with my friends. As we pull in front of my townhome, I hop out of the car and tell him to have a great weekend. He tugs on the brim of his hat, and drives off.

I open the door to my sweet place, and kick off my shoes while running upstairs. It took longer than I thought to get home, so I don't have time to change, just freshen up. Luckily the outfit I wore to work will look fine to go out in (Pic in profile). I'm wearing a coral colored linen skirt, with a mauve sleeveless blouse that has polka dots on it. Over that, I've got on a brown belt, with amazing gold detailing, and brown Mary Jane heels. I throw on some nicer earrings (coral to match my skirt), and my turquoise mother of pearl ring, and head to the bathroom.

I scrutinize myself in the mirror while trying to decide if I should wear my hair up or down. It doesn't really matter I suppose, I'll still look like me either way. I'm not ugly, but I'm not that pretty either. I'm just… me. I have dark brown hair, with blunt bangs cut into the front and layers throughout. Its a few inches past my shoulders, and it's healthy and shiny but nothing too special (Pic in profile). I have brown eyes, some freckles, and good teeth. I'm short, only 5'3" and I'm pretty curvy, which is a good thing, but the rest of me is average. Oh well, nothing much I can do about it. I decide to leave my hair in the bun (pic in profile) and run back downstairs.

Just in time too, as Rosalie and Alice are just pulling up to my front door in Rosalie's BMW. A present from her parents, she is spoiled beyond compare. Rosalie is tall, blond hair, tough, and you take a major hit to your self-esteem just by being in the same proximity as her. She works in the entertainment industry doing public relations and she's great at what she does. We were also roommates back at school and luckily ended up in the same city. Alice jumps out of the car and gives me a once over, nodding her head in approval at my outfit choice. She's shorter than me even, she says 5' even but I think more along the lines of 4'11". She's got short, spiky black hair, these amazing blue eyes, and is the friendliest person you'll ever meet in your life. She works in fashion; she actually owns her own boutique and designs most of the clothes herself. She's constantly trying to make me over, but I told her that I'm more comfortable dressing up and getting "girly" if I can do it myself. I hop in the back seat and we take off.

After parking, we walk a block or so to the bar and notice there's some sort of commotion going on right outside the front doors. It looks like a crowd has formed outside the door.

Alice says "I wonder if it's someone famous!" and we crane our necks to see if it is. Rosalie is tallest and sees some guy she pronounces is "incredibly hot, like hotter than Ryan Reynolds hot". I don't want to deal with this, not tonight, not after the day I had so I push my way through the crowd and make my way to the door. I get shoved down and my clutch flies out of my hand and lands on some guy's shoe.

I scramble over to him, and try to grab it but he's too fast. He reaches down, grabs my clutch, my hand, and pulls me up to standing.

He chuckles softly at me as I'm trying to brush off my knees and says, "Miss Swan, I didn't realize how graceful you were." My head snaps up, I recognize that voice! It's the same one that just a couple of hours ago was yelling at me about my incompetency. As I look up into Edwards amused face, my friends finally catch up to me, bitching about the crowds and let's hurry and snag a table before it's too late.

I glare up at Edward and snatch the clutch out of his hand. "Thank you for getting that, and for helping me. Now if you'll excuse me –".

I'm promptly cut off by Alice who asks, "Oh do you two know each other? I'm Alice,

and this is Rosalie" while gesturing to herself and Rose.

He answers "Yes, I'm Edward Cullen. Miss Swan is my assistant. Nice to meet both of you ladies."

Who is this charming man, and what has he done with my horrible boss? I shake my head in confusion and thank him again for helping me.

He responds, "Why don't you three ladies join me and my friends inside for drinks? We can get out of these crowds; we've already got a table." I nod my head while my friends gush over how nice he is being.

As we walk inside, Alice furiously whispers, "Isn't this the guy you've been complaining about since you started your job? I thought he was a major dick or something given the way you talk about him! He's so nice and hot! How do you get any work done with him around?"

Rosalie nods her head quickly in agreement, "Seriously, if I were you I'd totally tap that!"

I grimace at both of them, "I don't know what's going on. He is not like this normally; I'm just as confused as you are."

We make it to the table Edward mentioned, in the back of the bar (of course) and I see two guys waiting for him there. One of them I recognize from work, although I haven't spoken to him before. The other is a complete stranger to me.

Edward introduces us to them, "This is Jasper Whitlock, and he's an attorney at the firm. I'm sure you've seen him around Miss Swan. This is Emmett McCarty, he works for the 49ers doing publicity. Guys, this is Isabella Swan, Rosalie Hale, and Alice Brandon. Isabella is my assistant at the firm."

Jasper smiles at us, and then quickly gets up out of his seat and pulls out Alice's chair for her. "Pleased to meet you ma'am. Let met get that for you" he drawls in an unmistakable southern accent. Alice is clearly smitten, making gaga eyes at him as he takes the seat next to her.

Emmett panics and grabs the chair next to him, pulling it out for Rosalie and says "Oh yeah, you can come sit by me. It's great to meet you, what do you do?" And the four of them begin their own private conversations.

This leaves me and Edward to fend for ourselves. I start with, "Thanks again for helping me back there. Someone pushed me; I'm not normally that clumsy. Also, can you just call me Bella instead of Isabella or Miss Swan? It feels too… I don't know; formal or something. We're not at work you know."

He laughs, "Absolutely. I was just teasing you back there; I've never seen you fall at work so how would I know if you were clumsy or not. And Bella it is. You can just call me Edward, no Mr. Cullen here. So what are you having tonight, I'll go grab it for you."

I ask for a mojito, and he takes orders from the rest of the table. I sit down quietly and try to make sense of what just happened. He is back before I have much time to come to any conclusions. He hands me my drink and informs the table that a waiter will be bringing the rest over shortly.

"So, Bella. What do you do in your spare time? Come here often?"

I giggle, "Nice line Edward. A little outdated if you ask me." He smiles as I continue. "Yeah, we come here quite a bit. They have great drinks and it's a cool atmosphere. In my spare time? I don't have much spare time, but I spend a lot of it reading and watching movies. What about you?"

"Do I come here often or what do I do in my spare time?" he asks.

"Both."

"I come here about once a week. I'm glad you think good things about it. It really is a pretty nice place; at least I like to think so. As for spare time, well… you do my schedule so you should know that I don't have any" he says.

That was a weird response about the bar. Eh, he's obviously a weird person; switching personalities on me like that.

I laugh, "Spare time? What do you call this? You're not working right now, so I'd call this time 'spare'."

"Okay, you caught me. What kind of movies do you like to watch? Any suggestions? It's been a while since I've been out to see one"

"I tend to like old movies best, and I haven't been out to see any new movies for a while because of… things." For some reason, I feel weird mentioning work as my reason for not being able to get out more. Why should I though? He knows how much he works me! My lack of social life is his fault! I start to get angry. "Maybe if I didn't work such long hours, I'd have more time for a social life and wouldn't have to scrounge around on Friday nights to find time to see movies or spend with my friends. But that doesn't seem to faze you, seeing how much time YOU spend in the office" I snap at him.

Edward looks a little confused and blinks slowly at me a couple times before realization dawns on his face. As I watch, the stoniness I'm used to seeing at work creeps into the fine lines around his eyes, into his jaw, and into his mouth. He clenches his jaw, almost like he's working through something in his mind before he says, "Fair enough. I can see tonight was a mistake. I apologize for offending you or if I crossed some sort of line with you. I promise it won't happen again."

As he's talking, I start to feel guilty. "I'm sorry, that was completely uncalled for. I am totally out of pl-" I start to say but he interrupts me.

"No. You're absolutely right. As your superior, I should maintain a level of professionalism at all times, no matter where we are. Just forget this ever happened. I'll just see you tomorrow morning at the office. Be sure to have my coffee ready."

With that, he rises from his chair, thanks everyone for the night out, and leaves. I'm having trouble processing what had just happened. Sure, I was out of line. I shouldn't have told him how I felt in such a hasty way. I should have brought it up to him, one on one, in the privacy of our office. What was I thinking? My big mouth is forever getting me into trouble. Alice and Rose both look at me with questions plain and clear on their faces.

I quietly say "Jasper, Emmett, it was great meeting you. Jasper, I'll see you Monday morning. Alice, Rose, I'll see you later. Just call me this weekend and we'll figure out our brunch plans."

I pick up my clutch, and walk as quickly as possible to the door, pushing people out of my way as I go. Tears were stinging my eyes the moment I pushed myself away from the table, but I shook my head quickly and forced them to stay at bay. I wait at the curb for a cab to pull up, but this block seems devoid of them.

Eventually, I walk down the street a block, and lo and behold there are 5 cabs waiting. I hop in the first one I see, and give the cabbie my address. I'm completely humiliated. Why did I have to say anything? I decide on the way back to my house that it's due to the exhaustion I feel from the long week I've had, and first thing I'm going to do tomorrow morning is apologize to Edward for how I acted. I glance at my phone for the time and realize I'll only be getting six hours of sleep as it is, so I better make them count.

We pull up to my house, and I give him cab fare as stepping out of the cab. As soon as

I'm in the door, I head upstairs to my bedroom where my incredibly comfortable bed is waiting for me. I pull off articles of clothing as I go, leaving my shoes and shirt in the hall way, and my skirt on the end of my bed. I pull on my gray sweatpants, a green tank top, and a gray hoodie (pic on profile) and crawl into bed. I set my alarm for 5:00 am and turn off my bedside lamp, forgoing even washing my face or brushing my teeth. I didn't realize how tired I was until I climbed into bed, and sleep overcomes me quickly.