Disclaimer: I do not own nor profit from these stories or characters.

Beta: Mist

A/N: Thanks for the wonderful reviews so far. Also, in case your wondering Bella has not spoken to Alice yet about New Years Eve night, she is still trying to figure out how to cover it up.

Masquerade Chapter 2:

Bella covered her face with her hands, leaning on her elbows, sitting at table across from her dear friend Angela.

"So, you never did tell me how Edward liked his surprise?" Angela sipped on her latte as she studied Bella's mood today.

Usually Bella was more bubbling after a night of friskiness with her boyfriend. She could not understand what was bothering her friend today. She had seemed so quiet, even a bit depressed. Normally she would not pry but today she could not resist. Something seem to warn her that Bella was struggling with a dilemma. A serious one at that.

"Uh?" Bella sat her hands down on the table as she stared at her friend

"Did you party too hard?" Angela knew that was a silly question to ask Bella. The girl could barely hold down a beer with out getting a serious buzz.

"I..well…I did have champagne." Bella answered as she stared at her red painted nails.

"Oh. I bet it was yummy. Sooooo…how was it? Was it the best new years ever?" Angela pushed.

She watched as several emotions flew across her face before she pressed her lips together lifting her head to stare straight at Angela.

"I really would rather not talk about it." Bella sighed.

"Bella! That's not fair. You go and do something steamy and hot for once and you won't share details. Come on, what sort of best friend are you?" Angela declared as she smack her hand down on the table, pouting her lips at her friend.

"It's not all that great of a story, really. It was just …it…I need to go." Bella stood up abruptly, reaching behind her to grab her purse.

"Did you two fight?" Angela asked with concern all over her face.

Bella knew that Angela would only grow more worried about her relationship with Edward if she did not give her something and soon. Angela, was a sweet friend but sometimes she lived far too much in the live of others and not enough in her own.

"No. In fact I missed him entirely. Apparently he left shortly after the last meeting. So sadly we did not see one another at all until the next morning when I went over to his apartment." Bella answered curtly.

"OH. Oh…sorry." Angela seemed to understand now why Bella had declined to go any further with the tale. There was no tale to tell her. She suspected that Bella was unhappy about putting so much work into their evening just to have it all fail due to Edward not telling her his plans before hand.

"I need to go home and work. Call me later." Bella waved at Angela as she made her way out. Locating her car she slid in. She began to drive toward her house when she saw his image pop into her mind. A image of him completely naked.

Closing her eyes for a mere second she open them back up, hoping she would one day get that image out of her head. Not that it was not a good one, hell it was a hotter than hell one, but her heart belonged to someone else. The very idea of her daydreaming of another man felt like she was betraying Edward. Then there was the fact that she had literally unknowingly cheated on him. She still was debating on how to tell him about this incident. Or if she should say anything at all? It was slowly eating away at her. She had a bad habit of being honest even if was not wise.

If she confessed to Edward, she would not only be risking her own relationship but it would also affect the professional relationship that Jake had with Edward.

She knew that Edward would fire him without hesitation. He would also taint his name in the business world. Edward did not deal well with betrayal in any form, relationships or business.

Pulling up in the apartment complex she was still not sure if she would be able to hold onto this dark secret without hurting her relationship with Edward.

When Jake and her realized their mistaken identities both had been floored to learn who they had just had sex with. She was pretty sure Jake had not known it was her all along. Jake had been a acquaintance of hers from back home. He even dated a few of her friends. They had never gone out, mainly due to the fact she was a year older than him. She liked her guys older not younger. Sure, she had agreed with her friends the boy had a body that was made to be worshiped and his face was easy on the eyes. He always seemed charming and sweet when she was around him but never quite drawn to him. At least not in a sexual way.

Now after having the most amazing sex of her life with him, she understood why her friends thought he was more than worth the age difference. She felt the ping of guilt slip into her heart as she made her way across the parking lot. When she reached her front door she was shock to see the very man she had been thinking about standing there with a deep scowl on his face.

"Bella." He said as he put a light smile on his face.

Bella had already seen how upset he had appeared before he had noticed her. She was sure he was there to beg her not to tell Edward. She could not blame him. She would have done the same if the situation was reversed.

"Jake." Bella flash him an identical smile as she opened her door.

She stood back, nodding at the inside of her apartment. Jake hesitated for a moment before he stepped inside of her home.

He was surprised to find her home rather bare compared to most of the places of the women he dated. She seem to only have the basic essentials. It would have looked more like a bachelor pad if it had trash thrown about, well, except the few pieces of furniture she own did match unlike most of the guys he knew.

"Did you see him already?" Jake decided to just be blunt about the problem that was clearly going on between them. They both knew he was not exactly here to suddenly become her close male friend.

"Yes, sort of. It was for like a whole hour and then poof he was off to do something with his sister." Bella replied with an annoyed look as she crossed the room to plop down on the black leather recliner.

"Did you say anything?" Jake suspected she had not or there would have been more to the simple statement she had given him. He however knew better than to assume when it came to women.

"No." Bella cried out as she wrapped her arms around her chest. She was having a hard time looking at him with out remembering how gorgeous he looked naked. The way his hands had glided over her body, the smoothness of his muscles, the way his tongue had sent her in a dizzy spell each time it stroked her body. Gulping hard, she tried to shake the sexy thoughts from her mind and focus on the reality of the situation in front of her.

" Okay, do you plan on doing it? If you are please let me know now. I would like to be prepared before he sucker punches me." Jake groaned as he crossed his legs leaning against the wall staring at her with intense fear.

"Trust me, you will be the first I tell if I decide to get the balls to do the right thing." Bella replied as she rolled her eyes, she was disgusted with herself. She was so afraid to tell Edward and yet more afraid not to tell him. She felt like she was in a no win situation. She knew if she contained the secret, eventually it would show up in other areas of their relationship, until she spilled out the truth.

"Right thing? How can telling him that he gave me a room for the night, where I find a naked gorgeous ass woman laying on the bed, whom I tear up in all the right places, later to learn is his very own girlfriend, a right thing to do?" Jake exclaimed as he sat his hands on his hips.

Bella felt a tinge of joy in how he use the words to describe her image from that night. So he did like her body as much as she had enjoyed his. This was not what she had expected to hear from him. She had seen most of the girls he had dated in High School. They were so prissy, beautiful, even somewhat elegant, where as she was plain, small bone, pale and just ordinary.

"I cheated on him Jake!" Bella exclaimed with a wistful look.

"NOT on purpose. That is so different in our rule book." Jake stated with such confidence that Bella would have normally laughed with his mentioning the "guy" code.

"So it would not hurt you if your girlfriend cheated on you by accident? Who would believe that anyone accidentally cheated on another person? I know that it's the truth but it is even lame to my ears." Bella declared with an agitated look on her face.

"I see your point, it's valid however I think this would only end badly for the both of us. You could lose him, I could lose my job. Then what? We have a clear conscience now, you can move on with another guy but me finding another job that pays as well as this one, not so easy to find, baby." Jake snarled as he fought back the urge to grab her and jar some sense into her head.

"Okay, I see your point. Let's say I manage to keep this secret. How long can I keep it before it makes me physically sick?" Bella wondered out loud. She knew how stress was hard on her body.

"Seriously? You act like you have never done anything wrong before." Jake rolled his eyes.

Bella stared at him with a blank face.

"Oh come on Bella. Your not Miss perfect." Jake rolled his eyes sarcastically at her.

"I'm not perfect but I do not go around intentionally hurting other people." Bella replied as she stood up, gripping her hips with her hands. She refused to shout at him. This was not going to solve anything, shouting and name calling.

"We did not INTENTIONALLY sleep together. Trust me I would never have pursued you on purpose." Jake chuckled as he watched her cheeks slowly change from a snowy white to a fiery red.

"You're a jerk. I would have never pursued you either." Bella snorted.

"Then let's, let it go Bella." Jake pleaded.

"Are you really tapping your foot at me?" Jake chuckled but with less anger than he had used before.

"Jake, I will not tell Edward a word about our night together if you will promise you will keep the same secret." Bella said hoping to end their conversation and for him to take a quick departure from her home. She was tired and she was ready to be free of him. Even in her small living room he seemed to consume the small space.

" Don't worry your pretty head, I won't. These lips are sealed." Jake vowed as he moved away from the wall, extending his hand out to Bella to shake, to seal their deal.

Bella took his hand, she felt the sparks shoot up her arm to her shoulder, her body grew warm, her heart fluttered. She hoped this was a sign of a stroke and not anything remotely more.

"Okay, I will leave you to the rest of your day. I will tell you one thing Bella, Edward missed out one fantastic outfit." Jake licked his lips as he gave her a quick flirty wink before strolling out of her apartment.

Bella stood there with her mouth wide open. She had once found Jake charming and sweet but sadly she now knew there was another side to the man. A side that pissed her off while also making her so hot and horny. It was crazy. How could a man aggravate her and yet make her cream in her panties from just a mere look at her?

Her phone rang breaking the awkward moment of his departure. She hoped like hell it was not Edward. She still was not prepared enough to pretend that everything was normal between them. Would it ever be normal again she sighed sadly as she pick her tiny pink phone feeling a tremendous amount of relief that it was her mother instead of her boyfriend.

A week later…..

Edward was having a good time at the happy hour that several of his co-workers had invited him to join. He had called Bella to invite her also. She had agreed to join him as soon as she was finished with her work. He was proud of how dedicated she was to her career. They both shared that in common. They also shared their taste in music, food, and books. She was a great friend, a giving lover, and a trustworthy girlfriend. He had mentioned the idea of marriage to her on more than once occasion since they began dating two years ago.

He knew that she was not too crazy about the act of proving their love by standing in front of friends and relatives, making vows to one another. He knew some of her pessimistic views of the matrimonial act was due to her parents divorce. Although, they were both in good terms with one another now, they were not always. She was also raised to believe that marriage was something you should do when you were older, more settled down, and had spent enough time doing what you desire the most before you made that final plunge.

He would tease her and tell her it was not like once they got married they would no longer still have the same lives they had before the marriage. She would adamantly disagree. She would bring up the fact that he also wanted children someday. Something she did not see herself having too soon in the future. He knew several women who had that view but when they did conceive they were pleased with the outcome. He felt she just needed to relax, take the first step of becoming engaged to him. Each time he would secretly take her ring shopping to see what she liked she would make a point of making fun of just about every ring they looked at. He was starting to fear that marriage with her might not ever happen, not at least anytime soon.

His parents and his sister adored her. She was the perfect candidate for marriage as far as he was concern and they had agreed as well. She would fit into their tight clan easily. Yet, she still resisted. He was not sure what else he could do to show her how much he loved her and how he wanted to devote his life to her. She seemed too comfortable in the boyfriend/girlfriend zone.

He found it ironic that most women he had dated in the past would cling to him, wanting that form of dedication to him. Yet here he was finally madly and deeply in love with a woman and she would rather run as fast as she could from a chapel filled with ivory ribbons and red roses. He was going to try to ease up for now but eventually he would need her to make a decision. He was not going to waste too much of his time building a relationship that would never move forward.

Jake walked up with a cute brunette by his side. Edward smiled at him. He had noticed that Jake seemed to be changing his taste in women of late. He was also finally dating again. Edward was pleased to see this. He knew that Jake had been burned in the past by a woman he had loved as much as Edward loved Bella. He did not know all the details pertaining to the relationship but he had recalled a few comments that Jake had spoken which made Edward draw the conclusions himself.

"Hey." Edward flashed him a smug smile as he glanced over at the woman next to Jake then gave Jake an approving look.

"Hey." Jake smiled back but it did not reach his eyes.

"How did the plans go? Was the big man happy?" Jake asked curiously as he watched Edward doctor his drink for the past twenty minutes.

"Yeah, he liked it." Edward answered.

"Good. I worked hard on that." Jake sighed with relief.

"WE both worked hard on it." Edward teased his co-worker.

"Fine. Fine." Bella tapped her foot on the ground, glaring angrily at him, her nostrils flaring.

"Have you met my friend, Jessica?" Jake had felt the sharp nudge in his rib by the woman he had met at his apartment duplex while doing laundry a few days after his secret encounter with Bella.

"No, can't say I have." Edward smiled warmly at her.

"Hi." Jessica grinned from ear to ear as she appraised Edward with her eyes.

"Hi." Edward replied with a tone that let her know that he was only being polite but not interested.

"So where is your other half?" Jake asked as he grabbed his beer off of the counter.

"She is on her way." Edward answered.

"Oh. Well, I will let you get back to your drinking. Jessica here, likes to dance." Jake replied as he allowed her to lead him to the small dancing area in the back of the pub.

Bella strolled into the bar wearing a big smile as she saw Edward leaning by the bar watching the other bar patrons.

"Hey. Did you need some company?" Bella ask with a deep sexy tone as she cocked an eyebrow, licking her lips, with a soft smile on her face.

"If you mean, you, then I guess so." Edward replied with a sweet smile.

"Guess so? Guess?" Bella pretended to be offended. Grabbing him by the collar of his shirt she pulled him up against her as she planted a wet sloppy kiss on his lips.

When she released him they continue to smile into each other's eyes before she finally ordered a drink.

Jake had just finished up a dance with Jessica, when he caught sight of Bella with Edward. He unfortunately did not miss the kiss and long intimate look that passed between them. He felt his stomach knot up. It was stupid, he knew that what they had shared had not been intentional nor were there any shared feelings, other than lust between them.

"I'm parched." Jake replied as he walked her to the table they had manage to scoop up.

"Me too." Jessica agreed as she sat down.

"I will go to the bar, it's quicker." Jake glanced around not able to see a waitress that was not swamped with orders.

"Okay." Jessica agreed.

Jake leaned over placing a small kiss on her cheek before strolling over to the bar. He knew in his heart he was only going to stir up trouble for Bella when she realized he was here but he could not seem to resist the urge to be close to her even if it did make her uncomfortable.

"Jake, look who finally appeared, my infamous girlfriend Bella." Edward smiled proudly at her before staring straight into Jake's eyes.

"Hi Bella." Jake smiled at her.

"Hi Jake. Long time no see." Bella replied with a sheepish grin.

Edward look between them for a brief moment before speaking.

"You two know each other?" Edward ask a bit mystified.

"We went to school together. Jake graduated a year under me." Bella answered as she took a sip of her wine, pushing some hair behind her ear.

"Yep." Jake nodded in his head pressing his lips together.

"Wow, what a small world. This is the Jake I've been telling you about. We were lucky to get him here with us, he was doing a smashing job in Seattle we just had to steal him." Edward replied excitedly.

"I would have never guessed it was the same one." Bella gulped hard trying to keep her eyes away from Jake's face.

"I heard him mention a girlfriend, afraid no name was attach to it at the time. We rarely had time to speak about our personal lives." Jake explained as he look at Edward more than Bella.

"I wasn't worthy of mentioning my name?" Bella teased Edward.

"Hey, it's a guy thing. We don't exactly share our romantic histories with one another while working on a multimillion dollar merger." Edward exclaimed with his hands up in the air.

Bella and Jake both laugh at his quick defense.

"It's okay, this time." Bella warned him as she wagged her pointy finger in his face.

"So what are you doing here Bella? I mean, professionally?" Jake realized he had never had a chance to actually catch up with Bella. It wasn't exactly like they were close friends before but seeing on how they had both shared a hot sexual night together he felt it was good to know more about her.

"I am a free lance writer." Bella replied with small amount of confidence in her voice.

"She is an amazing free lance writer. Don't let her fool you. She isn't exactly the bragging kind. I tell her she is wonderful all the time but she doesn't believe me. She thinks I am bias since I sleep with her." Edward replied with a devilish grin.

Bella nearly choked on her tongue. Jake's eyes widen as his lips curled into a knowing smile that luckily Edward had not caught on too. Bella knew Jake's facial expressions well enough to know he was remembering her naked form. Grabbing Edward by the arm, she turn his attention to her.

"We should get us a table. We will see you around Jake." Bella hoped that Edward would take her cue that she wanted some alone time with him but of course he was not paying attention to the signals she was trying to give him with her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Edward squinted as he looked closer into her eyes.

"Uh?" Bella realized he thought she had something in her eye.

Bella wanted to smack him but knew she would have to explain later and was not in the mood to try and lie to him.

"We have a table over there if you care to join us?" Jake offered as he leaned over the bar giving the bartender his order.

When he turn back toward them Bella was staring at him with a curious frown.

"WE?" Bella emphasis the word.

"I have a date here, Jessica." Jake answered watching as Bella's eyes seem to darken with envy for a mere moment. He hoped it was envy. Why? He had no clue but it felt good to see her being a bit jealous over him. He knew it was such a stupid idea but he liked it. It made his ego swell.

"Great, let's sit with them." Edward clasp his hand in Bella's as he dragged her to the table.

Bella had a gut wrenching feeling that this was not going go as smoothly as she would like. She also had a bad feeling that Jake knew how horrible he was making her feel. Why would he do this to her? Did they not agree that Edward not knowing about their mistaken identities affair would be beneficial to them both? What game was he playing with her? Or was he just plain old stupid like most men when it came to understanding tact.