A/N: Oh my god! You guys blew me away with your reviews. Thank you all so much. You are the best. Here is the next chapter. Hope you aren't disappointed. xxx
Chapter 2 - Awkward
"Oh Jesus." She groaned in horror as a frowning Edward Cullen stared back at her.
"Miss Swan, is it?" He asked, looking down at a document before him on the desk, with an unflappable expression on his beautiful face.
"Yes, sir. Bella Swan." She nodded awkwardly. What the fuck was she supposed to do? She waited for him to comment on her leaving this morning - without saying goodbye, no less. But he didn't. He acted like he barely knew her.
"Please, take a seat." He motioned toward the chair opposite him.
"O-okay." She stuttered and carefully scooted into a chair. She winced at the sharp pain between her legs. It was evidence that last night had really happened. Oh boy.
For a second, Edward's steely mask dissolved into a concerned expression, before it was again hidden firmly behind a stoic face.
God, could this get any more awkward?
"So." Edward began. "You have a bachelors in business economics."
"Yes, sir." Bella nodded.
"And you majored in marketing. Why?" He frowned.
"To allow myself greater options for job opportunities, sir."
"And you don't feel that you'll be squandering your talents by working at Cullen and McCarty?"
"Not at all, sir. I feel that this job is perfect for me. I'm currently the personal assistant to Mr. Reid, at Reid Technologies, so this position would be along the same lines."
"Yes." He nodded curtly. "Mr. Reid has raved about you to no end. Said he would be very disapointed to lose a gem like you." He checked his own notes, scanning to find a particular sentence. "Very trustworthy." He quoted Mr. Reid and looked back up into her eyes, arching a brow. For a second, Bella thought she saw anger flash in those deep emerald pools.
Bella kept quiet, waiting for an actual question.
"Are you? Miss Swan. Trustworthy?"
Bella gaped like a fish, unsure of what to say. She wasn't sure if he was referring to this morning when she snuck out. She was a trustworthy person and she didn't think it fair for him to compare what had transpired between them, with her professional qualities.
"Because I value trust above all else."
"Yes sir. I am trustworthy." Bella looked down at her shaking hands. She needed to explain her actions of earlier to him.
"Sir, I just want you to know that I left this morning to spare you any awkwardness. I didn't want to overstay my welcome."
Edward frowned and his green eyes flashed. "So you're used to doing this? One night stands, I mean."
"Oh, no sir. Not at all, actually. Last night was a first for me." Bella replied in earnest.
"I see." He nodded, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.
Why was he so hard to read? She scrutinized his handsome face to try and gauge what he was thinking - she came up empty. His face was a steel trap.
God. Bella sighed as she dropped to her bed a while later. Her safe zone. The interview was horrible to say the least. After she had said what she'd needed to say, to clear her conscience, he had proceeded to grill her with questions. She'd felt so incompetent. Each answer she had given was met by an indecipherable stare from him, which made it hard for her to judge if she was on the right track or not. There was no fucking way that she would get this job. Bella groaned and lifted her stiff body from the bed to go seek out a tub of Ben and Jerry's to soothe her bitter mood.
Bella found her mind drifting back to Edward during the course of the evening as she thought about what Alice had said. She couldn't imagine what he must have been through with his wife. Brain cancer. He and his wife had really been dealt a shitty hand by fate. It had robbed him of his true personality, as Alice had explained it. But what bothered Bella even more, was that Alice had said that Bella resembled his late wife. Was that the reason that he had taken Bella to bed? To, in some sick way, trick himself into thinking that he was fucking his wife one last time? Gah! Bella sighed. She didn't know what to think anymore.
About a week later, while busy munching on a salad in her office at lunch time, her cellphone rang. She didn't recognize the number.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Bella!" Alice squealed over the phone. "It's Alice."
"Hi, Alice." Bella chuckled. "What's up?"
"Well, I was just calling to let you know that you got the job."
"Oh my god! Are you serious?" Bella shot up from her desk in surprise. Her fork clattered to the floor, splattering salad dressing everywhere. She didn't care - not right now.
"Dead serious." Alice giggled.
"I thought that I'd fucked up the interview so thoroughly. I was all over the place."
"Apparently not. So when can you start?" That was Alice for you - always a straight shooter.
"I'll have to give two weeks notice."
"Great. I'll email you all the nitty gritty details. Can't wait, Bella."
"Neither can I. I think I'm still in shock." Bella breathed. "Thanks for letting me know."
"No problem."
"Bye, Alice." Bella hung up.
She sat down at her desk. Her hands trembled from shock. To be honest, she had completely given up on getting the job.
Bella lowered down on all fours, crawling under the desk, desperately trying to find her pen. God, why did she decide on a tight skirt and suspenders for her first day? Oh yeah, because she wanted to impress Edward. No. Mr. Cullen. He was her boss now.
"God dammit!" She groaned as her hand searched blindly for the pen.
"What in the hell are you doing?" A deep voice startled her and she shot up.
A loud thump and a groan escaped from under the desk. Bella reversed from under it, rubbing at her throbbing head in annoyance. "Ouch." She mewled.
Finally out from under the confinement of the desk, she looked up into a familiar pair of green eyes. Great. Ass up in the air, suspenders probably peeking from under her tight skirt, she must have looked ridiculous.
She grabbed the desk heavily for support and got up, the wood groaning in protest. "Sorry sir. I was just looking for my pen."
"Right, well, as soon as you're done, I want to see you in my office." He looked down at her legs and scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "You've got, uhm-" he pointed to her knees.
Bella looked down. There were two gaping holes in her stockings, where her knees had scraped against the hard carpet. "Oh fuck my life." Bella mumbled under her breath.
"What was that, Miss Swan?" He raised an eyebrow. She didn't know if she was imagining it, but he looked amused. Damn him for finding her mortifying situation comical.
"I'll be there in five minutes, Sir." She recovered, suppressing the urge to bite out a nasty comment.
"Good." Edward said, his signature blank expression firmly tucked over his face, turning away and striding out of her office.
Bella hurried to close the door behind him. She needed to remove her stockings. She kicked off her high heels and placed a foot against the chair, scooting up her skirt so she could remove the ruined stockings. She was busy unclipping the first stocking from the suspender when the door flew open again.
"Oh and Bella?" Mr. Cullen spoke from the door, but stopped when he caught her in this compromising position.
Bella gasped and pulled down her skirt. She was practically standing bare-assed in front of Mr. Cullen. Her black thong left little to the imagination.
"Sorry." He apologized and shut his eyes. A small blush threatened from under his collar.
"Sir?"
"You don't need to bring a pen. I've got plenty, s'all I wanted to say." He left then, pulling the door closed behind him.
Bella slapped her hands to her face and groaned in mortification. This day was seriously not starting out like she'd hoped.
Bella knocked at Mr. Cullen's door. Like he should have done with her. And waited...
"Come in." She heard and opened the door. He was busy on the phone and motioned for her to sit down. She closed the door and headed for the chair.
His dark green eyes followed her, raking over her now exposed legs, while he continued his conversation. He licked his lips. "Yes. I'll see you for dinner. Love you too. Bye."
Oh. Was he in a relationship? She wondered then, why he would sleep with her? Maybe Edward didn't care about monogamy anymore, since the death of his wife. Bella was sure that the things he had been through, couldn't leave a man unscathed. Or maybe he'd been like that even before the tragedy, as well.
"Here." Edward said and placed a pen in front of her.
"Thank you, sir." Bella flushed. She felt like an idiot for her little display of earlier. "Sorry about -"
He held up a hand. "No need. I should have knocked."
Bella searched his searing green eyes, trying to figure out if he was sincere. She didn't want her boss to take a dislike to her from the first day.
"So," He dived in and started to explain to her what he expected of her. Not that any of it came as a surprise. Like she had told him in the interview, she had done the exact same things for Mr. Reid. Except that she didn't fuck Mr. Reid. Jesus, no. Bella flushed at the though of his expert hands touching her. His throbbing cock stretching her deliciously as he took her in his kitchen. Against the wall. On his bed. How her legs had burned deliciously from the exertion of meeting the pace that his body had demanded. Bella shook herself from these thoughts. She needed to focus. This was a dangerous line that she was toeing. One wrong step...
"You alright, Miss Swan?" His voice trickled into her mind.
Her eyes snapped up to his - dark green pools watching her with a pucker between his brows.
"Yes sir."
"Good. So is there anything you expect from me? Anything that I haven't explained?" He arched a brow.
A repeat performance of the other day would be nice, but she didn't think it appropriate to say that out loud. "Yes, sir. Actually there is one thing."
Edward waited for her to continue.
"Since we're going to work together very closely," She began. He looked at her skeptically. "It would be nice if you could call me by my name, sir. Miss Swan is so formal."
"Fine. Bella then." He answered in a clipped tone. "Anything else?"
"No, sir. That's all."
"Good. Then you can start going through my schedule and confirm all my meetings for the week."
"Yes, sir." Bella replied and turned on her heel.
On Friday morning Bella headed into work with a little more spring in her step. She was finally starting to get the hang of things. She'd sorted out Edward's office this week - it was a mess. Nothing was in order. She had to call all of the secretaries from various companies to confirm or push meetings, because apparently Edward's previous personal assistant wasn't very much into order. Edward had grumbled about her fussing about in his office initially, while she organized and filed his documents alphabetically, but was quite impressed when he could finally find what he was looking for when he needed it.
Bella greeted Alice at reception, making idle chit chat before heading for Edward's office. She knew he would be there already. He was always early.
She knocked on the door and entered as she heard him grunt in response.
She straightened her beige skirt and dusted off her pink blouse before she walked in to greet her boss, wanting to look good for him and hating herself for it.
"Morning sir." Bella peeked from behind the door, trying to gauge his mood. He seemed a little grumpy.
"Evening, Bella." He bit out.
"Am I late sir?" She questioned and checked her watch. Nope, it was five to eight.
"Well, you're certainly not early." Edward huffed as he shuffled some papers around on his desk.
"Sorry sir. I wasn't aware we had a meeting or that my working hours had been changed." She tried not to sound rude, but failed miserably.
Edward sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Was talking back to your boss encouraged at Reid Technologies?" He ground out. "Because I don't appreciate back chatting." Edward got up and stalked toward her from around his desk. His eyes were fierce. "You, little miss, are way out of line." His face was now inches from hers. She could smell his cologne. He'd smelled the same way when he'd taken her to his bed, merely a few weeks ago. "Don't think for a second that you can get away with that attitude, just because we had sex. I am still your boss."
"Oh, so you do remember us having sex?" She bit out sarcastically.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He breathed heavily. He was angry. Very angry. She knew she needed to back down, but she just couldn't seem to.
"You've dismissed our little romp in the bedroom, very easily." Bella whispered harshly. "I bet you've had loads of practice, though. I'm sure I wasn't the first woman you've bedded before knowing her last name."
"You've got some fucking nerve, Bella. If I recall, you were the one who snuck out of my apartment the next morning without even having the decency to say goodbye." He fumed. "Like you've done it before."
"Don't go acting all righteous. We barely spoke two words to each other before you took me to bed. I bet you're used to one night stands."
"I don't recall you hesitating to get on your knees and suck my cock. Oh no. Not to mentions spreading those little legs for me."
Bella pulled her hand back and slapped him across the face - the impact echoing loudly in his large office. Her hand burned. But before regret could register in her mind, he yanked her tightly against his body and crushed his lips to hers, demanding entrance. In a moment of weakness, she relented. Bella kissed him back with a demented hunger.
A groan escaped from his hot lips, snapping her out of her delirium. Bella pushed against his muscled chest, effectively ending the kiss. "Don't you dare! I am not some cheap thrill that you can fuck whenever you feel like it. I'm not the slut you make me out to be. You are my boss now. You said so yourself."
Bella headed for the door and slammed it shut, without a second look back at him.
A/N: Liked it? Yes or no. Please note that all typing errors are my own. Thanks for reading. xxx