Chapter Two

BPOV

I watched as the man, the prince, walked over to me, holding out his hand.

"Nice to meet you Isabella," he said. I listened to him in awe, his voice sounded like velvet.

"Bella," I corrected, reaching out. As soon as our hands touched, I felt something pass through our connected skin like a jolt of electricity. I yanked my hand away from his, it felt like it had been burned.

I blushed, embarrassed. He also looked a bit surprised but quickly hid his emotions on his handsome face.

"I'll leave you two together to get acquainted," Lauren said.

I nodded, looking anywhere besides the Prince.

"Oh and Edward," she said, lowering her voice and reaching up to whisper seductively in his ear, "Call me if you need anything." I didn't miss the double meaning in her words.

"Of course Lauren," he replied, his voice low and alluring and absolutely captivating. I guess what they said was true, Prince Edward was a playboy.

Lauren left, closing the door behind her, which left an awkward silence between us.

"Please sit down Bella," Prince Edward said, motioning to a chair. We both sat down, facing each other.

"Okay, so you're under no illusions, all you're meant to be doing is keeping my schedule right. You arrange for me to get to the places where I need to be, handle the media, and most importantly of all, pick me up at night," he said not looking at me.

When he said 'pick me up at night' I assumed he meant that I would have to bring him home because he would be too drunk to do anything by that stage.

"Yes sir, Lauren has already told me all of this," I said.

"And please, stop with the 'sir' and 'prince' crap. Just call me Edward. All the girls do," he said, winking at me.

For some unknown reason to myself, I felt my heart flutter, just for the tiniest moment. No Bella! You are not going to become one of those crazy girls who think they're in love with the Prince! I told myself sternly.

"Is there anywhere I need to be today?" he asked, still watching me.

I looked down at my folder that I was holding where I was supposed to keep all of Edward's appointments in. "No, apart from tonight when you have dinner with your family."

He groaned, I looked up at him in confusion. "Who asked for the dinner?" he asked, his eyes closed and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"The king requested that you be there tonight," I said.

"Dammit, not again," he said softly, so softly that I assumed I wasn't meant to hear.

For a few minutes, we stayed like that, neither of us talking or moving. I wasn't sure what to do, to say, how to act, so I just stayed quiet.

"Please say something," Edward ordered.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"Just, talk about something until I calm down. Tell me about yourself."

"Um, my name is Bella Swan, I'm 21 and I like reading?" It came out as a question. Surely this wasn't normal, why would the prince care about me?

"What do you like to read?" he asked, his eyes still closed.

"Mostly the classics, Jane Austen is my favourite author."

"Have you read Pride and Prejudice?" he asked.

"What kind of question is that?" I asked in an annoyed voice. He opened his eyes in surprise. Oops, I guess I shouldn't be talking like that to royalty. Great, my first blunder as his new assistant.

I blushed, looking down at my feet. "I'm sorry, sir," I muttered.

Edward was quiet for a moment, before he chuckled. "No, I liked it. Please, continue. No one ever talks that way to me, it's amusing to have someone talk that way for once. Please talk normally how you would with someone else."

If it was possible, my face turned even redder. Great, he found me funny.

"Well, anyway," I continued, "Yes I've read it. I really liked it, one of my favourites."

I looked up to see that Edward was watching me now. "Who was your favourite character?"

I tried not to roll my eyes. "Come on, every girl is practically in love with Mr. Darcy."

"That's what I don't get though. I mean, he's arrogant and proud and vain. As if you could fall in love with someone like that."

"But there are some people in the world like that and believe it or not people do fall in love with them."

"And why do you think that is?" he asked. I sensed that there was another reason why he was asking but I answered anyway.

"It's the whole 'bad boy' thing isn't it? That sort of image is really attractive to girls."

"Do you find it attractive?" he asked.

"No," I said slowly. "But if it was someone I loved, I would give them a second chance. I believe that people deserve second chances."

"Love," he snorted.

"Do you have a problem with that?"

"It's just that girls always talk about being 'in love' with someone. How the hell are you meant to know that you 'love' them?"

"Have you ever been in love?" The words popped out of my mouth before I thought about it. Thanks mouth.

He looked at me, as if evaluating me. "No…"

"Well then how are you meant to know that it doesn't exist? What if it does exist but you've just never experienced it?" I reasoned.

"What about you? Been in love?" he shot back.

I shook my head.

"Well then, if you've never been in love, how do you know it actually doesn't exist?"

I looked at him, about to come back with a witty remark, but became lost in his eyes which were staring back at me with an intense stare.

Suddenly, the door opened and I heard a loud squeal as someone rushed into the room.

"Oh-my-god, you're Edward's new assistant right? Hi, I'm Alice!" she said, pulling me up off the chair and hugging me.

Wait, did she just say her name was Alice? As in Princess Alice? Well, I didn't expect her to be so… enthusiastic.

"Um, hello ma'am. I'm Bella."

She giggled. "Really, don't go into the whole 'ma'am' thing. Angela tried to when she started and I got so angry at her! Ben does it Em all the time too but I don't think he minds."

"Alice, please get out of the room and stop disturbing my assistant," came Edward's calm voice from behind his sister.

"Can't I just talk to her?" Alice asked, turning around to her brother.

"No, we were just discussing-"

"I can't wait to take you shopping! You'll love it, as soon as Rosalie, Emmett's fiancée, is free, we'll all go together!"

"Excuse me Alice," I said politely, "But I am simply Edward's assistant, nothing more."

I saw Alice frown, and before I could wonder why, I heard a voice behind me say, "Bella? Could I please talk to you about your schedule for a moment?"

"Sure Angela," I said, grabbing my folder.

"I'll see you again later sir," I told Edward as I walked out of the room.

EPOV

I stared after Bella, watching her leave, like that time in the hallway.

I couldn't believe what had just happened; I had never been able to talk so easily to someone in my whole life but with Bella, it just came so naturally.

I could be myself when I was around her. When I was around my family, we were always fighting, them telling me to grow up and be more responsible and me always just ignoring their words. When I was around girls… well I didn't talk much when I was around girls. And if I did, it was always a well thought out comment which would make me seem even more attractive to them.

And it was amusing when she blushed, embarrassed by her comment. Her blush was so memorizing, like roses against her pale skin.

Bella was amazing, she was intelligent, beautiful and interesting all in one. And I could tell she wasn't going to be one of those girls who threw themselves at me. I wondered how much she had heard of me and if that was the reason why she was so indifferent to me – she had said that she didn't find the bad bout thing attractive. But then why would she take this job?

Admittedly, when my father told me he had found a new assistant, I thought she would be like my old assistant, Tanya. Tanya was smart as well but at the same time, all she wanted to do was sleep with me which was what eventually happened. My father found out and fired her on the spot. Which was why I was surprised when I saw Bella as my assistant. Surely she would be just like Tanya, taking the job just to get close to me?

But she wasn't like that. I didn't know why she accepted. I would have to ask her later.

Usually, I was a good reader of people, able to tell what they were thinking from the expressions on their face. But I had no idea what Bella was thinking, her emotions changed so quickly.

I suddenly found myself wanting to know her. Sure, there was a part of me which also wanted to sleep with her, but I wanted to know her more. To understand what went through her mind, to get to know her past and her hopes and dreams, and to be her friend.

God Edward, I thought, should you really be thinking this way about your assistant? I knew I shouldn't be trying to make friends with Bella, she was just there to help me, but it was as if there was a connection that pulled me towards her that I couldn't resist.

"So," Alice said, leaning sitting down opposite me in the chair that Bella had been sitting in, "New assistant huh?"

I glared at her. "Alice, why the hell would you ask her to go shopping with you? You know she's here for her job, not to make friends with you."

"Well, she just seemed like a really nice girl," she said innocently. "Smart, pretty, nice… I could always be friends with her, she's not my assistant, and then we could go shopping on her days off."

Alice loved shopping, Emmett once joked that she had a disease, and she was studying fashion design at college.

"She seems like just the right girl to settle down with…" she continued.

"Alice, I am not going to start a relationship with her. She is my assistant, nothing more," I said, repeating Bella's words. As I said that, I felt an odd feeling in my heart, as if it were aching.

"Sure," she said sarcastically. "In a few weeks I bet that you two will be all over each other." Alice had this crazy idea that she could see the future, like a psychic.

"It won't happen," I muttered.

"Sure," she said again.

"On that note, do you know why father called a family dinner tonight?"

"Nope. All I know is that we've all got to be there."

I sighed. Every so often, father had us have dinner all together in an effort to bring us closer. More specifically, bring me closer to the family.

"Anyway," Alice said, getting up, "I've got to go, Jasper should be back soon," she said, before leaving the room.

I watched her leave, before heading back to my room and turning on my music full blast, trying to get rid of my thoughts. As I closed my eyes, I saw Bella's perfect face in my mind, smiling at me.

Alice's POV

"Jasper!" I squealed, leaping into his arms.

He smiled, "Hey Alice. Miss me?"

"Always." I turned to Emmett and Rosalie.

"Hey Em, Rose."

"Hey there little sister," Emmett said, ruffling up my hair.

"Emmett!" I shouted, "You ruined my hair!"

He simply laughed loudly, his arm around Rosalie's shoulders.

"So, how's Edward's new assistant?" he asked as we made our way back up to the castle.

"She's great," I said enthusiastically. "Everything that's perfect for him; smart, pretty, nice…"

"And how does Edward himself feel about her?" Rosalie asked.

I sighed. "Edward is still being Edward, he doesn't want to settle down with anyone yet, let alone his new assistant."

"Do you think that they'll be together?" Jasper asked me.

"I'm sure of it," I said confidently.

"But how can you be so sure?" Rosalie asked.

"Yeah, what with Edward being the way he is," Emmett added.

"Seriously guys, don't you have any confidence in me? Just trust me." I smiled, "Now come on Rose, we've got you wedding to plan."

BPOV

As I walked with Angela, I found myself lost in thought about Edward.

I thought it would be hard to talk to Edward, what with him being a prince and all. But it was surprisingly easy to talk to him, I almost forget he was a prince halfway throughout our conversation.

He seemed so normal, not the playboy prince that I had been hearing about and that really caught me off guard. The way that he seemed to be two different people made me wonder which side of him was the real Edward.

But it just seemed so natural and we talked as if we were old friends, like I had known him all my life. I could be myself around him and just forget about everything else. And to think we'd talked about love of all things, I mean it wouldn't normally be a topic that I could just bring up with anyone.

Stop it Bella, I told myself, Stop imagining that you want to be his friend. This is just a job, there's no need to get so involved with the Prince. Remember all that stuff you heard about him.

I bit my lip, how hard could it be to not get involved with him?