Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyers wrote and owns Twilight. Stephenie Meyers, I am not. I only own a collection of her books and a New Moon poster, that my husband won't let me hang up.

Chapter 2

EPOV

The flight to my home town, Chicago, was as expected - delayed and bumpy. But I was still glad my assistant, Seth, suggested an early departure from Seattle. I sat next to James, a co-worker of mine, throughout the flight. Our company didn't typically pay for business class tickets, but I had Seth upgrade mine. I hated to sit like a sardine in a tin can. It looked like James might have had the same idea. Either that or the fact that there were fewer rows for the flight attendants to escape from him. In watching him, the latter seemed to be more the case.

He talked about getting together for drinks later with some of the others who had taken this trip. I thanked him but declined. There was no way I wanted to be hung-over during the upcoming training sessions. The sessions were torturous enough without the added headache and waves of nausea.

I made my way through the airport and noticed some of my other co-workers who had to attend the sessions. There were six of us in total; me, James, Ben, Bella, Tanya, and Kate.

James, well, you've met James - ladies-man extraordinaire (self-proclaimed that is).

Ben was an all around nice guy, who seemed to have a good head on his shoulders. He recently got engaged to his high school sweetheart, Angela. She's a real sweetheart. She also worked with us, but wasn't assigned to the training session.

Tanya and Kate were sisters. Kate was sweet and seemed a bit shy.

But Tanya, she was in a whole different category. She had been relentless in her pursuit to get her claws in me, since day one. Eh, her advances made me shudder. She was all too excited to find that we were going to be on this trip at the same time.

"Oh Edward," she laughed. "You're going to be in Chicago for the next training session too. That should be fun." She smirked as she handed me my itinerary.

I had a feeling that it was not just coincidence that she and I were going to Chicago at the same time. Hell, we were probably in the same sessions, knowing Tanya. No doubt she convinced the 'higher-ups' that she needed to attend more training. After all, she did have access to the list of upcoming training sessions and trainees.

Then there was Bella Swan. I have been infatuated with her from the beginning. I couldn't believe how much of a coward I was to not approach her to this point. I mean we've worked for the same company for almost a year now. She was always so quiet and distant at the office. I doubt she even noticed me, but I certainly noticed her; who wouldn't? James certainly did.

James had no trouble bothering her every chance he got. He asked her out, to which she would always decline. He was persistent. I would sometimes notice that he camped out around her office, knowing that Bella would be out by a certain time. He liked to act like they just "bumped into each other". It seemed that she was catching on though. The incidents were becoming less and less frequent.

I watched Bella waiting for her luggage, along with the rest of us. She had her ear-buds in and nervously flipped her iPod around in her hand. I was close enough to see that it was turned off. She was avoiding someone, probably James. I silently snickered at that.

I grabbed my luggage and garment bag from the carousel and headed outside to catch a cab. I had just enough time to get checked & settled into my hotel and then grab some lunch, before I had to head out for my first session.

Check-in went fine and I settled into my room by unpacking. I was glad that I remembered to ask Seth for an upgrade to my hotel room as well. I would be here for five days and figured I might as well have a comfortable stay. After looking at the menu, I grabbed the phone to call room service. 'Click…Click, Click'. Nice, the phone wasn't working. I decided to head back downstairs to the front desk to alert them of the problem.

"I'm sorry Mr. Cullen. We will send maintenance to your room for the repair immediately," the clerk crooned, as she ogled my chest. Then her eyes slowly came up to meet mine. I did an inward eye roll at her. Sometimes women could be so obvious.

"It's fine, thank you, there's no rush," I told her. I began to make my way past the front desk to the hotel's restaurant.

"What do you mean, 'there is no reservation under that name'?" I heard a woman's voice raised in question. "Will you please check again?"

I realized that the woman who was having so much trouble with the hotel was Bella.

Clicking on her keyboard and checking the screen again, the clerk looked up with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry miss, but I cannot find your reservation in our database."

Bella's cheeks blushed with a beautiful hue of pink as she seemed angry and a bit embarrassed. Bella responded curtly, "Fine… just… fine. I would like a single room with a queen sized bed please. I will be checking-out on Fr-"

"I'm sorry miss, but there are no rooms available," the clerk interrupted. "There is a conference going on thi-"

"I know there is a conference going on, that's why I'm here!" Bella interrupted with her voice slightly raised.

The clerk lowered her voice and whispered in a calm tone, "I'm very sorry Miss Swan there is nothing else I can do."

Bella seemed a bit shocked and stood quietly for a beat. She collected herself and spoke up, "Great…what am I supposed to do now?"

The clerk looked at her a bit dumbfounded. It appeared that she really didn't know what else she could say or do to help. Bella walked away from the front desk, into the lobby and sat in one of the lounge chairs. I then realized that I had been watching their conversation with rapt attention. Even upset she seemed to be the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

I looked around and it seemed that no one else had noticed the exchange. I was a little embarrassed at my eavesdropping. I had been so wrapped up in their private conversation I was glad to see that no one had seen my spying.

Bella pulled her phone out of her bag and started to dial. "Jessica," she exclaimed in a loud whisper. "The hotel you booked for me doesn't seem to have my reservation in their system. Will you give me the confirmation number?" She waited… I watched. "Jessica! How could you forget to book a room for me? You booked the flight. Wouldn't you think that a hotel was equally as important?" she fumed. She was beautiful. "You even said how great this hotel was... Ugh, never-mind! I need you to find a hotel room for me in the city as soon as possible," she ordered. "Yes, call me back as soon as you do." She hung up her phone and collapsed into the chair.

BPOV

Stupid fucking assistant… why did she still have a job? Right, because she was shagging the big boss, behind his wife's back.

That's more office gossip Bella, my responsible side reminded me.

I hated Jessica right now. What was I supposed to do?

Calm down Bella, she will find another room, my more responsible side tried to assure me.

Jessica may suck at her job, but when she put her mind to it she could actually get something accomplished.

I sat back, sagging further into the very comfortable lobby chair. I was really looking forward to staying here. I stared down at my phone, willing it to ring. Ugh, I hated waiting. Looking down at myself, I realized I was not sitting in the most 'lady-like' fashion. I sat up a bit, smoothed down my skirt and crossed my legs. Looking around, it appeared that no one had noticed my faux pas. Everyone seemed to be in a rush to get to their rooms. Lucky bastards.

From the corner of my eye, I could see someone approaching me. Crap, where were my ear buds when I needed them? The person in question sat directly next to me and leaned in. I looked up to see none other than Mr. Sexy himself, Edward Cullen of all people, staring down at me. His eyes were hypnotizing. He leaned in with our knees almost touching as he placed his hand on the arm of my chair. I unconsciously leaned closer into him.

"Are you alright Bella?" he breathed out slowly, washing me with a wave of his scent. He held me in place with his gaze. It took me a few seconds to answer.

"Ummm… yeah… I mean…yes, I'm okay. How are you?" I stammered.

He smirked with the cutest half smile and whispered, "I'm good… now." He turned his head away a bit at the last part, so I wasn't sure that I had heard him right. "I noticed you were having trouble with your check-in. Are you sure everything is okay?" he asked as he leaned in a bit closer with a concerned look on his face.

I decided to be honest since I really sucked at lying. "Ugh…no, everything is not okay. My assistant apparently didn't think to book a hotel room for me. The flight she can book and even upgrade, but the hotel… no!" I rolled my eyes as I responded with a bit of sarcasm. "I swear I think she can only do one accurate thing a day, before her daily supply of brain cells are used up."

I snorted at my stupid half-joke before I could fully contain myself. My eyes opened wide when I realized that I had just snorted in front of Edward Cullen. Oh. My. Gosh. I was mortified.

Edward's small smirk turned into a full blown, orgasm inducing, smile at my antics. Great, wet panties were not in the plans for the day. Hell, I didn't even have any more panties to change into…crap!

At that moment, I remembered my lack of….well… of everything - no panties, no clothes, no luggage, no hotel, no boyfriend, no life. I didn't even have a pet! My mind spiraled out of control. I slouched a bit more into the chair and tried not to dwell. Jessica would come through, right? She may not have used up her daily supply just yet, it was still early.

Edward noticed the change in my expression and grabbed my hand. A surge of electricity instantly shot itself through my body, all the way down to my center. If he noticed the surge, his face didn't give him away. I looked down at our hands then back up into his smoldering eyes.

"Bella, you c-" he started, but my phone rang, interrupting our little moment.

I stumbled around a bit before he released my hand. I grabbed my phone and realized that it was Jessica.

"Jessica," I said, as I showed him my phone. "Hello?"

"Bella, oh my goodness, I'm so sorry," she cried out. It sounded like she was about to break down. As much as she annoyed me, she really did try. "I have called every hotel in the area and no one has an available room. I found a motel a little further away. They have an opening and you can have it. I just have to call them within the next 15 minutes to tell them you'll take it."

"Motel," I whispered to no one in particular. I thought back to the crappy hotel she put me in during my last trip. There was a huge difference between a hotel and a motel, and I'm pretty sure I heard her say motel. I shuddered a bit before I looked up at Edward. He was staring down at me with a furrowed brow and his lips in a tight line. I turned and looked out the window of the lobby into the street, mostly to keep Edward from seeing the horrified look on my face.

"I guess that's fine Jessica. What's the name-" My sentence was cut short as Edward grasped my knee. Another, more commanding, wave ran though me at his touch. I quickly turned to see him staring down at me with a pleading look, his eyes begging. "Jessica, hang on just a second." I muted my phone and gazed at him.

"Bella, you can't stay in a motel in Chicago." His eyes were shining wide with alarm as he squeezed my knee.

"Edward, I-"

"You can stay with me," Edward implored with no more than a whisper.

AN: A very special "thank you" goes out to Project Team Beta for accepting my story.

Also a big "your friggin awesome" to batgirl8968 and LouderThanSirens for your hard work in fixing my stupid mistakes.

Reviews are better than the "happy little trees" that Bob Ross used to paint.