Here's Chapter 2. :) Hope people enjoy it. Please leave comments to let me know what you think, even if you hate it! I'd love to have some feedback as to how I'm doing. May I also recommend that this fic be viewed in the ¾ option? It looks so much better that way, trust me. So without further ado let's continue.

Chapter 2

Time to meet the big man himself. Her heart in her throat Vivi tentatively stepped into the huge office, coffee mug held in front of her like a shield. She could only hope that sporting such an obvious caffeine addiction meant that Crocodile was currently at sub-par levels of wit and concentration. But seeing the man in question made her pause. This was the famous business shark? Really? He looked more like a common criminal than the shady founder of a business empire. Tall and broad shouldered was one thing, but the man had shoulder length hair and, Vivi tried not to stare too obviously, a thick scar running horizontally across his face. Stretching from one ear to the next such a feature was so totally out of place in a smart office that Vivi had trouble adjusting. Was that a fur coat? She was jolted from her thoughts when the intimidating man stuck out one huge hand in her general direction and grunted, making it clear that he wasn't pleased about waiting for his drink. He still hadn't looked at her, preferring to continue checking his emails. Vivi carefully placed the mug into the outstretched hand and watched, more than slightly puzzled, as he drained it. Was this really the knife sharp Sir Crocodile? Ruiner of Lives and Plunderer of Fortunes?

There was a long pause as her new boss cracked his knuckles and gradually started to look more alert. The coffee seemed to be doing the trick. Vivi was still startled when he suddenly rasped, "What the hell Sunny, that was the worst cup of coffee you've made in a long time."

This was not only patently unfair, but also slightly puzzling. It looked like Vivi was going to have to introduce herself. She cursed to herself, having hoped to be in and out in a matter of seconds. She cleared her throat and tried to keep her voice steady. "It's Vivi, sir. I'm replacing Sunny while she's on maternity leave."

Crocodile stopping typing and stared blankly at his screen. There was a long silence before he managed, "Sunny was pregnant?"

This certainly wasn't the heart-stopping showdown that Vivi had been expecting. Vivi had met Sunny for a brief interview and the woman had been ready to pop.

"…Extremely, sir."

At this he finally looked at her and Vivi was completely dispelled of the illusion that this man wasn't in charge. His eyes pierced her, freezing her in place. They were a shocking shade of gold and it felt like every detail of her life was exposed. This was a man who saw other people as insects and in the wake of that cold regard Vivi found herself frozen. Those eyes changed Sir. Crocodile's appearance from that of a thug, to a fully-fledged villain.

"Don't be cheeky."

As he turned to face her Vivi felt a crushing panic well up in her chest. He lounged in his chair with all the confidence of a predator and his presence was intimidating enough to scare the wits out of her. He scanned her up and down, eyes slightly narrowed. Vivi felt utterly naked before him. Eventually he growled,

"We only have natural hair colours in this company. I'm not running a circus."
Now Vivi wasn't sure whether to be viscerally terrified or extremely irritated.

"It is natural." She managed to get out through gritted teeth.

Crocodile gave her a patronising look. "Oh, did I hit a nerve?"

Only a nerve made tender by having been told the same thing at every school and summer job she could remember.

But now Crocodile was giving her another once over. "How did you come to be my secretary? I've never seen you working here before and we don't hire amateurs."

At this point irritating was scorching away some of Vivi's panic and she sneered, "I am not an amateur. And I was attracted by the dazzling charisma of the people here."

It was perfectly delivered. Scathing enough to get the point across, but just deadpan enough to claim sincerity. And God Vivi wished she had just kept her big mouth shut. Sir. Crocodile slowly raised an eyebrow and gave her another once over, purposefully making his gaze as slow as molasses. By the time he was looking in her eyes again, Vivi felt like she was going to faint out of pure nerves, though she did everything in her power to keep a poker face. Without warning Crocodile's face cracked into a half smile. He appeared to have found her flash of temper amusing.

"Get back to work, Cheeky. I don't have all day to listen to you whining."

And with that he swivelled back to his computer and Vivi was abruptly dismissed.

She was still in an adrenaline-induced haze when she flopped into her desk chair. After sitting there blankly for a moment she slowly and deliberately banged her head on her desk. What the hell was that? She was supposed to be keeping a low profile! And what in hells bells was wrong with her, she was definitely not supposed to find Crocodile's wicked half smirk attractive!

And had he been checking her out?

Oh God he was definitely checking her out. And he wasn't making even the barest minimum of effort to disguise it. It was almost like he was trying to make her uncomfortable on purpose. Vivi tried to take a sneaky peak up from her mug of tea and was instantly pinned by those hooded, yellow eyes. She dropped her eyes again as her stomach jolted and she could have sworn she heard a smug little bark of laughter. Scratch that. He was definitely trying to make her uncomfortable. The whole floor had been piled into the little coffee room for someone's birthday, Vivi still wasn't sure whose, and from the moment he entered the room he'd started this little game. Vivi could only mournfully assume it was some kind of twisted punishment for answering back earlier and boy was it doing it's job. She felt flustered and self-conscious, though she was trying not to let it show. And the worst part was that he was still strangely attractive. The utter confidence and power he exuded, combined with that crooked smirk of amusement was appealing to all of Vivi's cavelady instincts to find strong, intimidating men attractive. And it was beyond frustrating that he was trying to use that against her!

Sullenly Vivi tried to think about what Nami would do. Her friend was a stone cold man-eater, as well as an expert manipulator and would not have stood for this nonsense. Nami's normal tactic was to seduce her target and then dump them so fast their head spun, though Vivi wasn't completely sure she was allowed to do that. Vivi changed another sidelong glance and was rewarded with an eyeful of that arrogant grin. Well maybe a little taste of his own medicine wouldn't hurt. Still not looking at him, Vivi turned to talk to Monday, smiling prettily. She casually crossed her legs, letting her skirt ride up just a tad, and straightened up a little, showing off the graceful curves of her legs and neck. When she chanced another glance at her annoying boss, she got a smug expression of her very own. He was no longer boring a hole in the side of her head, his gaze having dropped down to her legs and his expression looked a touch more… appreciative. Vivi flashed him a triumphant look when he finally had the grace to look back up at her face. For a moment he looked torn between annoyed and amused, before the corner of his mouth twitched up slightly, and he gave her a look that promised that while she may have won this very minor battle of wills, he was definitely going to win the war.

Vivi didn't have any trouble believing that.

The rest of the week was spent with some variations on the theme of a stare down. Vivi would come in at 9:05am sharp with a steaming mug of black coffee, she definitely wasn't brave enough to be the one to stand between Crocodile and his morning caffeine boost, then Crocodile would say something inflammatory and they'd stand around exchanging point barbs and snark for a couple of minutes, before Vivi was ordered back to her desk to work. In their verbal spars Crocodile had the distinct advantage of being allowed to be openly rude and could dismiss her at a whim. Vivi was limited to thinly veiled sarcasm and pointed looks. And every morning, as she turned to shut the door on her way out, she would catch her boss looking at her ass. He was never even remotely embarrassed about that. He didn't even have the grace to let that stand as a few points in her favour in their slightly strange battle of wits, instead choosing to make a lazy shooing gesture at her that left her even more infuriated with his games.

Of course Vivi hadn't let this bizarre development stop her from trying to fulfil her mission, but it was difficult to scope out Crocodile's office with those burning gold eyes tracked her every move. She'd seen a few promising looking files, but she hadn't yet had a chance to explore the office without him there and the idea of being caught poking around was enough to put the fear of God into her. And if she was perfectly honest she was a little tempted to sample a bit more of Crocodile's strange idea of flirting. If that's what he even considered it. Vivi was trying very hard not to let it get to her. A little fun teasing him was harmless, but she could not allow anything to get in the way of her work. However, she was starting to catch herself acting… well silly. Like suddenly taking so much longer to pick an outfit and do her makeup in the morning. Or finding obscure excuses to go into his office and ask him something. Not too many times obviously, she was careful not to let him think she was in any way fond of him, that really would tilt that balance of power in his favour.

As if he'd heard her thoughts Vivi's answer machine crackled to life. "More coffee."

Grumbling quietly Vivi got to her feet and took the comically familiar route to the coffee room. Sir Crocodile, for all his fearsome reputation and grim sense of humour, had a hardcore coffee addiction. On her third day here the coffee machine had broken down and Vivi had been seriously concerned that her formidable boss was going to have a stroke. She'd heard him moments later on the phone to the head of the maintenance team, threatening to shove the 'wretched contraption' so far up the poor man's ass he'd become cyborg. Five minutes later, Franky had come legging it up to the top floor, sweating bullets. Vivi giggled at the memory. If Crocodile wasn't the cold blooded reptile trying to ruin her company she'd have found the memory almost endearing.

After the machine had sluggishly spat out a respectable cup of coffee Vivi made her way to the main office and let herself in. Crocodile glanced up at her and impatiently motioned for his coffee. He seemed to be engrossed in a stack of paperwork as thick as her arm and Vivi, slightly regretfully, figured that they wouldn't be engaging in their usual clash of wills. She left the cup on his desk and turned to leave when a deep voice stopped her in her tracks and nearly stopped her heart with nerves.

"I haven't seen that skirt before."

There was a smirk in his voice and Vivi stopped, her heart pounding. He'd noticed? She had been in two minds about wearing it. It was tight, grey and maybe just a teeny bit shorter than was strictly necessary. She'd been expecting an appreciative look or two, not an inquisition! However she tried to keep a perfectly blank face as she turned back. "I'm sure stranger things have happened."

But Crocodile still looked amused, and that hooded gaze burned. Vivi felt her cheeks heating up despite her attempts to be nonchalant. Her stomach clenched tightly as he slowly stood and sauntered a little closer. His eyes trailed up and down, his brow furrowed slightly as if he was actually just talking fashion. "Hmm, I like it." He murmured, "Do a twirl for me."

Vivi's heart thudded painfully and her cheeks burned. "Wh- You can't ask me to do that!"

At that Crocodile gave the biggest smile she'd seen to date. He leaned forward, far too close, far too close, and growled in her ear. "Darling, I can do anything I want. Now, twirl."

When Vivi stared at him, mouth slightly open in shock and heartbeat thudding in her ears, his golden eyes narrowed. "That was an order."

However, it wasn't snapped, as Vivi almost expected, in fact the man towering over her seemed to be turning on the charm. His voice was deep and smooth and strangely compelling. With her heart in her mouth Vivi found herself complying, doing a slow turn and praying she didn't look as awkward as she felt under that predatory gaze. When she finally mustered up the nerve to look Crocodile in the eye again she felt a rush of warmth tingle down her spine. Her heart beat wildly out of control as she recognised the dark look in his eyes as desire and she knew her expression was probably similar. After a moment, the tension so thick in the air that Vivi felt dizzy, Crocodile gave her another slow once over and stepped back. He lounged back down at his desk and picked up the thick sheaf of paper. "Well that should get me through this."

And he had the nerve to wink at her. "Now get back to work."

Vivi beat a hasty retreat.

Nami gave her friend a long slow look over the rim of her latte. Vivi had quickly scheduled a please-please-come-my-treat lunch with Nami, desperately needing some advice.

"So let me get this straight." Her friend finally broke the silence. "It turns out that your new boss is a mega hottie, you've been aggressively flirting for the whole week, you're ninety percent sure he wants to get into your pants and you find yourself wanting to make sweet music with that man."

Vivi pouted, a little sullen that her friend was so calm about this. "I guess… If you want to make it really simple."

Nami chuckled softly, "Trust me. When it comes to sorting out relationships, the simpler you can make it the better."

She reached over the table and squeezed Vivi's hand lightly. "And stop worrying so much! Everyone's had a bit of an office fling." Nami flashed her a wink. "And he sounds pretty hot!"

Vivi's frowned. "But he's trying to ruin Alabasta Waters…"

"Vivi, lets say you did do something with him. You ended up in his crazy BDSM sex dungeon and orgasmed an inconceivable number of times. Would that really stop you from doing what you came here for?"

Vivi fiddled anxiously with a lock of blue hair as she thought about that. "No, I guess not."

"So, you know, why don't you just see what happens? I'm not saying you have to jump in at the deep end and be bent over his desk by this evening. But just see what you want to do. And don't let him try and tell you that a kiss means you have to go all the way."

Nami gave her a long, calculating look.

"And we're going underwear shopping."

When she finally got back to the small apartment she'd rented for a couple of months, Vivi went straight to bed. Unceremoniously dumping the bags crammed full of scandalous underwear and subtly sexy skirts on the ground Vivi started getting ready for bed in a daze. As soon as work had ended Nami had swooped in and whisked her off to the shopping district. That was hours ago. Vivi finally collapsed into her beautifully soft bed, groaning as she felt the tension of the day leave her back and spine. When she was settled and comfortable she reluctantly allowed herself some time to think, though it was tempting to just ignore the issue. Was Nami right? Could she really have a purely physical relationship with Crocodile that satisfied her and still let her walk out of the company with the plans? An Office Fling as Nami had titled it. She'd never previously seen herself as that kind of girl. She had a couple of exes who had all been sweet and, when the time had been right for them to sleep together, gentle but they'd also gotten unbearably dull after the excitement of a budding romance and the initial chemistry had died down. Crocodile was nothing like them. Even from the short time she'd known him Vivi knew that he was not sweet, he was not gentle and he certainly wasn't boring. The hint of danger that he gave off was enough to make Vivi's attraction to him electrifying.

Vivi had to admit, even if she wasn't the type of girl to have a fling, Crocodile certainly made the offer tempting.

The big introduction. This is my first time trying to right chemistry, so I hope that turned out even mildly attractive. As always, please let me know what you thought. :)