A/N: Hello All and thanks for all of the love you gave me on my first chapter. As promised, I bring you Chapter Two of our favorite two lovers' story! There's just so many mixed signals between these two... so much to uncover ;) I can't wait to do it all with you! Please take the time to like my page on facebook Signed -K because I love it and I love you! Please leave me some wonderful words from my favorite people because I'm not Stephenie Meyer but I like to know how I'm doing :) -K

"Rose, can you please focus," I huffed, picking up a discarded shop rag and tossing it at her back which caused her to flip me off over her shoulder. It was the morning after my incident with Edward and I'd stopped by my best friend's Auto Body shop for a little girl talk and some advice. Neither of which were exactly Rose's forte; she knew cars.

Rose was bent under the hood of a 1967 Mustang, doing whatever it was that she did, while I spun around in an old office chair, moping. "Bella, I don't really know what you want me to say. You know how I feel about what you did and that is sort of why you went there in the first place, right?"

I groaned, rolling my eyes at the endless argument of our friendship over my choice in careers. It wasn't like I intended to do it forever, but the money was good and I was good at what I did. "This was different though, sure it started out that way but I gave the money back. He kissed me in the elevator and it was… different, at first. But then he hard to make some cheesy joke and ruin everything, it made me feel cheap." Rose cast a look over her shoulder and I flipped her off, spinning around one more time. "Trust me honey, I'm anything but cheap."

That coaxed a laugh out of her and I felt my tense shoulders relax, this was always going to be a deadlock in our friendship and I knew that. Rose and I had been friends for a couple of years now, she'd always known I was a companion- my term of choice, not hers- and she'd always disapproved. Luckily, Rose had been willing to see past what I did and I'd been willing to look past the raging bitch exterior; neither of us had a lot of girlfriends. Most girls took one look at Rose's exquisite beauty and resting bitch face before turning the other way. While most were too scared to stand up to her, most overlooked me.

There was a big difference between the person I was when I was working and the person I was during the day. First of all, I rarely wore a lot of makeup, my hair sort of did it's own thing and I preferred comfortable clothes to high end fashion. More than a few times I'd come face to face with clients during the day and, instead of facing the crippling awkwardness. they'd completely overlooked me together. Unlike when I was working, there was no overlooking me.

Rose, however, stood out in a sea of people. She was tall, built like a supermodel with flowing blonde hair that was never out of place and flawless skin. Her eyes were almost violet in color and when she smiled, which wasn't often around people she didn't know, she could stop traffic. In the time that we'd been friends, I'd never seen Rosalie Hale look anything but perfect. It wasn't that she even tried really, even now in her shapeless stained coveralls with her hair tucked under a stained baseball cap she could bring any man to heel. It was the intimidation factor that went along with her unparalleled knowledge of cars that stunted her social life, but mostly Rose didn't really seem to mind.

"JAKE," Rose hollered, causing me to jump and pulling my focus back to the present. Jacob Black, one of the mechanics Rose employed to stand around and look impressed by her, appeared and they started discussing the state of the engine. I tuned them out, focusing on Jake instead. He was a good mechanic on his own, still nothing compared to Rose though they often argued and bet on that. Rose had hired him six months ago and, unfortunately, he'd been eagerly inserting himself into my life ever since.

Don't get me wrong, I like Jake and he's plenty pretty to look at, but he was definitely more little brother material than boyfriend material. Granted, he was only two years younger than me, Jake seemed to feel that if he was around enough then I would miraculously decide to give him a chance and it just wasn't going to happen. Over six foot, he had short cropped black hair and russet skin that boasted his native american heritage. I don't know how often he worked out, but he was huge and the few times I'd seen him without a shirt on told me he was ripped too. He just wasn't my type, unlike Edward.

Woah! Where did that come from? I blinked a few times, trying to redirect my train of thought and pulled my phone out of my pocket to check my missed messages. A few appointment requests that I chose to ignore for now and a text from my mom saying she was dating a new guy, this one was a bartender, I was thumbing a quick response when my email dinged with an incoming message.

Bella,

I wanted to apologize for my brother's behavior last night. Edward explained what happened and that you returned the money. Things may not have gone as planned but I would like to meet up so that I can give you back the money you left behind.

Sincerely,

Jasper Whitlock

CFO Cullen Enterprises

"Rose, Rose," I interrupted, calling her over to me and letting Jake off the hook for whatever Rosalie was bitching about. There was only so much mechanic talk that I could put up with before I blocked it out completely. "Read this."

I held the phone up for her to read without having to touch it with her greasy hands. "Holy Shits Bells, you didn't tell me it was Edward-fucking-Cullen!"

"Does it matter? He's a prick; I'm more concerned about how the hell this guy got my email address… and Whitlock? I thought they were brothers."

Rose waved her hand, ending my rant, before grabbing a towel to wipe off her hands. "No Bella, you don't understand. Don't you know what these guys do?" When I shook my head, she dug around the top of her crowded workstation until she found a wrinkled and water stained newspaper, thrusting it into my face.

There on the cover of the New York Times was a large black and white picture of Edward, Emmett and Jasper at a ribbon cutting event. The headline read "Cullen Enterprises, Ground Breaking Work" and the caption labeled them as Edward Cullen CEO, Jasper Whitlock CFO and Emmett Cullen COO. "Spy tech, seriously? How do you even know about this Rose?"

"Didn't you read the article, Bella? They've designed like half the crap the NYPD has in the cars and most of New York's security systems. Hell, even the cheapo burglar alarm the shop's wired with was designed by Cullen Enterprises."

I rolled my eyes at her rant and tossed the paper aside, "I'm not really sure what that has to do with anything Rose, other than the fact that Jasper Whitlock if obviously a stalker of epic proportion. Doesn't change the fact that his brother," I used air quotes, "is an asshole."

"I still don't see the big deal Bella, sounds like you could have use a good lay." I snorted and she laughed, "you know what I mean."

I sat at the bar of the Hilton Hotel downtown, my legs crossed at the ankle and my back arched as I sat forward in my seat to accentuate my breasts. The bartender placed a cosmo in front of me and I flipped my hair over my shoulder, glancing around the room for any prospective dates. It was a pretty slow night, mostly men on dates with their wives or girlfriends trying to sneak peeks at me while the waiter distracted their dates. Nothing new but nothing promising either.

I sighed, checking the time on my phone. I'd already been here thirty minutes without any approach, if something didn't happen by the time I finished my drink it might be time to call it quits. The bartender grabbed a bar rag and began wiping nonexistent smudges around me, nodding his head in the direction of the door when he caught my attention. I sipped from my glass and carefully placed it back on the bar before flipping my hair over my shoulder and turning to look for my prospect.

He was standing there like the adonis that he was, watching me from the door. We locked eyes for a long moment, each of us waiting for the other to look away. There was something about the raw power and… mystery I saw in his eyes that pulled me in. When the hostess finally greeted, he broke our connection and declined her help and obvious advances then started towards where I sat at the bar. Fuck.

I turned back towards the bartender, who was pretending to be busy polishing glasses—the faker. Edward didn't say anything as he sat down next to me and unbuttoned his jacket. The bartender poured him a glass of scotch, obviously familiar with his order, and walked away to wait on another patron at the other end of the bar. "Bella," he addressed me simply, taking a long sip from his glass without looking in my direction.

"Edward," I returned the sentiment, finishing off my drink and opening my clutch to reach for my debit card. Edward reached over and placed his hand on top of me, stopping me when I felt the same jolt that I had felt when he first touched me in the elevator. My eyes snapped to his and I watched him inhale, his eyes darkening with lust.

"Let me."

"I don't need your money Edward," I half whispered, the bravery I'd felt since our first encounter dissolving the longer he stared at me. I saw his eyes lighten and he released my hand, returning his grip to his glass and taking a drink from the amber liquid. Edward reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled a few bills from his wallet, tossing them on the bar before standing up and leaving without another glance in my direction.