I'm not sure chapter four will post tomorrow, but we will post as soon as we can. Our wonderful beta AWayWithWords has some real life family things going on right now. Please send her your prayers and well wishes for a speedy recovery of her loved one.
Hallmark Holiday
Chapter 3
BPOV
I look up and see Edward has a smug grin on his face and it makes me smile.
I can't seem to move as the others leave the office.
"She's going to kill me," I say looking at Rose and Alice.
"She touches you and I will bitch slap her and her mother into the next century," Rose says right away. "Wait, now that's the best idea I've ever had … Edward, can't I just throw those bitches out?"
"No fighting at work, Rose, and no I don't want to see Mouse get hurt, just so I can fire them. However, feel free to beat them up outside of the office and work property; just make sure you pay the witnesses well."
I chuckle a little over the fact Edward used what I would have to call a father's voice.
"Fine," Rose huffs and stomps her foot a little.
"You're all crazy," I chuckle out loud.
"Yep, that's why we're marrying other crazies. We have to stick together," Emmett says hugging Rose, as Jasper whispers in Alice's ear.
"Bella," Alice calls in a sing-song voice.
"What?" I whine knowing my workload is about to get bigger.
"Could you do my shift on Friday and Saturday? Jasper's taking me away for a long, dirty weekend."
I look at Alice and then at Edward.
"Alice, I have been here for six months; I'm sure Edward would like someone better than me for his PA during your dirty—I mean, your long weekend?"
"I would like the best, and as you've just found out, that would be you," Edward states.
I swallow and let out a quiet sigh. "Fine, but if I have to redirect flowers, cards and chocolates, you should note here and now, the chocolate will be redirected to my mouth, and the flowers and cards to the trash! I don't care who they belong to," I say knowing all incoming mail and deliveries have to go through Alice before going to the right people.
They all laugh like I told a joke, but I'm really not kidding.
I grumble the whole way back to my desk.
"You know if you had a guy, you could be away for the weekend, too."
I flip Rose off as she makes her way into her office, laughing so hard she's snorting.
The rest of the week goes by fast, and I'm glad when Thursday night is finally here. It's not because I'll be upstairs for the rest of the week, but because Rose and Alice are driving me to drink. All they've talked about this week has been Valentine's Day, and they call me sad—HA!
Alice has been rattling off all week the ins and outs of what I need to do to on Friday and Saturday. I'm not surprised when she comes down before I leave to go over the closing day.
"I think this is all you'll need to know," Alice says showing me a detailed list. "Just remember at five, you do light housekeeping around the living room, kitchen and dining area," she states talking about Edward's private home-like office.
"There isn't much to do in there; Edward cleans up after himself mainly. However, on Fridays, I always dust, sweep, wipe down counters and run the vacuum. Edward doesn't allow the cleaning service in there, or on the floor. The whole floor locks down with the keycard nightly. Edward, Jasper, Emmett and security are the only ones that have the key. The office door is also on a magnetic locking system that Edward had set up. The only way is in with the key pass, and there's a release button box inside the door.
"Now the door will automatically unlock at five minutes to five, and will remain accessible until ten after. Make sure you're in by then or the door will be locked again, and then you'll have to bother Edward. Once you enter, close the door and it will automatically lock."
I tilt my head at her in a questioning manner and Rose joins us, as Alice goes on.
"It's some fancy thing Edward got installed to stop everyone from using his private area. It always opens from the inside. All you have to do is push the button and open the door, and you can leave at any time," Alice says as Rose chuckles.
I look back at Alice, who is chuckling, too.
"Emmett switched the auto lock on Edward once, so Edward was locked inside his office. He even put up a camera so we could see Edward, and when he was away from the door, we'd go in and move shit around. Edward was going ape shit, because he couldn't get out, and every time he left a room, we would make changes. One of us always manned the door, so none of us were locked in there, too. Emmett had removed the button box from inside that releases the door." I shake my head at them as they keep laughing.
"It was two days before Edward worked it out, and got free. I thought he was going to kill Emmett that time," Rose says taking over.
"So that's it," Alice says with a sigh sounding happy. "We'll call you," Alice proclaims hugging me.
"No, don't call me, you've got a long, dirty weekend, and I don't want to hear that shit," I tell her making her laugh.
"Maybe you'll have your own one ..."
I pull back and just look at her.
"Time to go, Alice," Rose says pulling Alice's arm as she winks at me.
I arrive home and put a meal for one in the oven, and curl up on my bed to watch a movie on my laptop.
A knock at the door makes me jump a little, and I walk over and peek out the peephole. I see it's Alice and Jasper, so I open the door.
"Aren't you two supposed to be on your way to some scandalous weekend?"
"Yes, we're leaving now, but I had to drop this off for Edward," Jasper says as Alice does her version of the potty dance.
"The bathroom is through there," I say pointing at it and she dashes off leaving Jasper with me.
"I'm sorry to have to leave this with you, but I just don't have time to go back to the office tonight. Plus, Edward took my key again," Jasper says softly as I wave him off.
"It's fine, I'll make sure he gets this tomorrow."
Jasper gives me a smile, and I see his eyes flicker as they go around the room. Both Alice and Rose have been in here a few times, and I know they hate me living here. I know they worry about me, but this is a first for Jasper.
"You okay here, sweetie – you don't have any problems here, right?"
I shake my head at him. "Nah ..." before I can carry on speaking, the people next door, start to argue in loud angry voices.
I chuckle looking at Jasper who looks at me with worry.
"I'm serious; it's fine here, no troubles at all," I tell him.
He sighs and gives me a smirk. "Well, I did notice that truck Edward hates so much is here. Do you know who it belongs to?" The soft chuckle following his question tells me he's trying to lighten up the mood.
"Nope, sorry," I tell him.
"Shame, I wanted to see if I could have them park the truck back at the office. Hey, find out and see if you can figure it out, and get them to park the truck there."
I close my eyes when I hear Alice start talking.
"Rose and I both told Bella just to park her truck at the office."
Jasper's eyes flash to mine, and I can see the sorry behind them.
"And, Edward will just have to deal with it. I still think he owes her for her paying to get it out of impound after he had it towed," Alice huffs at the end.
"Sweetie, I'm sorry; I didn't know it was yours."
I again wave Jasper off. "It's fine, honest. I know it's not the best vehicle, but I sort of need a better place first. Plus, I've had the truck since I was sixteen," I tell them feeling a little ashamed about how little I have.
"You better not have been dissing buster," Alice growls out and Jasper just looks at her.
"Buster?"
"Her truck."
He holds his hands up. "No, I just didn't know it was hers, that's all."
"Alice," I yell making her look at me. "Go and have a long, carnal weekend. After all Jasper puts up with from you, he deserves a few blow jobs. Since I don't want to see that shit, you need to leave."
Alice just chuckles. "He's taking me away because he loves me, not just to screw me ten ways to Tuesday."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Linda Lovelace," I say before looking at Jasper and mouthing 'blow jobs' to him.
"Shit, babe, you and Emmett are right," Jasper stammers.
I look between Jasper and Alice trying to work out what he means.
"I know," Alice say smugly giving me a wink. "So you know and have advance warning, I've arranged for a gift for you. You'll get it soon, or will know about it soon, please enjoy," Alice chuckles walking out.
"I'm gonna kick your pixie ass, Alice! Crazy-ass friends," I mutter out loud as I close the door.
The next morning I eat breakfast, brush my teeth and take my pill and vitamins, and my anti-migraine medication from my weekly medicine box. I frown seeing the bottles containing the rest are all sitting neatly in a line from biggest bottle to smallest.
"Goodness gracious, Alice's OCD is getting worse."
It was her that got me the weekly medication box, so I'd remember to take all my pills. I will admit that since I've had it, I haven't missed taking any. I also now know ahead of time, when I am low on anything.
I pick up the papers Jasper left and head for the office. As I get to the elevator, I feel someone come up behind me. I turn and groan seeing Jacob standing there.
"These are for you," he says holding out six red roses. "I got some candy, too."
I look at the candy and see it's the black licorice bites that he loves so much.
"Aren't you going to take them?"
I rub my head. "Thank you," I say keeping my tone nice as I take them. I hate that I'm one of those people that can't turn down a gift, no matter what.
"So, how about you take me to lunch, and we can talk?"
I let out a, "huh?" before collecting myself. "I can't; I'm working."
"Don't eat all the candy, you know how much I love them," he carries on, as if I hadn't spoken.
"Well, here you go," I say handing him back the candy.
"Bella, we can share them. I know you love candy and chocolate, but eating it all yourself is the reason you've gotten so fat," he says poking at my flat tummy.
I bat his hand away. "I'm not fat," I hiss out.
"I never said you were, but you have been putting on weight. A good twelve pounds, I'd say, since I walked out on you."
I go to cover my face but end up pricking my cheek on one of the damn thorns.
"Jacob," I hiss out. "I lost my parents, and was not fucking eating. I was dangerously under fucking weight, and the nine, not twelve pounds I have put on still make me underweight!"
"So you're planning to gain more weight?" he asks in disgust.
"YES!" I yell. "So take your shitty-ass, nasty tasting candy, your stupid ass roses full of thorns, and fuck the hell back off to your other girl and guy!"
The candy and roses fall to the ground as I let them go.
"Look here you fat bitch," Jacob says looming over me.
Before he can speak again he's pulled away from me.
"Open your mouth again and I'll be shoving those shitty ass flowers down your fucking throat!" Edward grates out.
Edward's eyes flicker to mine, and the heat in them confuses me a little, as he looks ready to kill Jacob.
"Sam, throw him out on his ass," Edward says pushing Jacob to Sam. "If he ever steps foot in here again, you're free to remove him and call the police, and have him charged with trespassing. He can take his flowers and candy with him, or throw them away."
"Yes, Sir."
Edward moves forward, he reaches behind me to press the elevator button. He says nothing as he keeps looking at me. When the doors open, he steps forward sliding one arm around me, making me move with him. As the door closes, I drop my head to his chest and sob. I hear Edward sigh, but his arms wrap around me.
"You've got some shitty taste in men, Bella."
I chuckle through a sob. "I know; God do I know. I don't think I'll ever let any guy in again," I tell him on another sob.
"There's a guy for you, Bella. You're too special not to have a special kind of love."
The doors open again, and I feel Edward press his lips on the top of my head.
"Come on," he says pulling me behind him.
He holds my hand the whole way to Alice's desk.
"You're cut," he says bringing his thumb up to where the stupid rose hurt me. He brings his thumb to his mouth and licks the pad of it. He swipes his now wet thumb over my cheek. I feel and hear my breath hitch as my body thrums in instant arousal.
Edward leaps back closing his eyes. "I'll be in my office if you need me," he says in a quick manner and almost runs away.
I get busy and set about my day.
"I've got a delivery for Miss Jessica Hardy."
I groan a little taking the flowers and chocolate from the guy and sign his sheet.
I was already told I had to just call people if there were deliveries for them. Rose and Alice even got me a box of non-Valentine Godiva chocolate truffles for being well behaved with others' crap.
The delivery guy wasn't gone long, before another one shows up. He, of course, was delivering a huge vase of flowers and chocolates for Mrs. Hardy.
I hear the ding of the elevator and groan loudly.
"Hi," a man's voice calls out.
I look up to see the mailman.
"Where's Miss Alice today?" he carries on as he puts down a tray of mail for me to deal with.
"She's got the extended weekend off," I say looking over what he's brought. I look through the piles of mail holding back a chuckle when I see the Valentine's cards. Once I know everything is there, I sign the cards he needed signed and hand them back.
"Have a good day," he calls out as he walks away.
I start to put the mail into the proper piles. I chuckle at the small pile of Valentine's cards Edward seems to have gotten. Most of them look like something from a fancy store, but there's one that looks like it was done by a fifth grader. I stop at a card and frown, unlike the others, this one I have a feel was done by a kid.
I pick up the phone calling Edward.
"Yes," he says on answering.
"The mail is here," I respond.
"I'll be out in a second."
I nod placing the receiver back down.
The elevator dings again, and I look to see it's another flower delivery; this time for Tia, who is Jasper's PA.
I take them with a sweet smile on my face, and then place them on the table next to the others.
"What do we have here?" Edward says walking out of his door.
"Three girls that want everyone at their work to know they are loved and have a great boyfriend."
Edward tilts his head at me.
"Come on, it's not even Valentine's Day and they have this delivered here knowing full well everyone comes up here to get the mail. Wait for it, these three bimbos will be the last three up to collect their stuff," I say pointing at Jessica, Victoria, and Tia's piles of mail. "Besides, Jasper's not even here, so why is Tia?" I ask.
Edward shrugs. "Maybe he needed her to hand in work or carry on with stuff?"
I snap my fingers as the papers Jasper left for him comes to my mind. "Speaking of that, here, Jasper came by my apartment last night and gave this to me, for you."
Edward looks a little confused, but takes the papers.
"Apart from the flowers, what else do we have?" Edward flicks through all the other mail. "Okay, these can go to the offices now."
I nod and send out the email that I normally receive every morning.
As I hit send, Edward looks at the flowers and opens one of the cards.
"Are you being nosy?" I ask him and he gives me a shrug.
"So, you don't want to hear the poem in Jessica's card then?"
"I didn't say that; what does it say?" I ask wide-eyed.
Edward shakes his head chuckling a little. I hold out my hand waiting for Edward to place the card in it, but he clears his throat looking right at me.
"Roses are red, Violets are blue, I love your body."
I swallow a little over how husky Edward's voice sounds. Edward's eyes flicker back down to the card.
"Signed: Guess Who?"
I chuckle. "Hmm, MIKE," I say chuckling.
I snatch Victoria's card and muster up my best sexy voice. "Kisses. Kisses. Kisses. Oh, what should I do? All I want is just one kiss, from a special person like you." At the end I pucker up my lips and Edward chuckles.
"I mean really, who in the heck writes this shit?" I ask, putting the card back.
"What would you have put?" Edward asks as he leans on the desk.
I smirk at him. "Roses Are Red That Much Is True, But Violets Are Purple Not Freaking Blue!"
Edward chuckles lightly as I carry on talking.
"For Jessica, I would have to say, Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you. But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead, the sugar bowl is empty and so is your head."
Edward barks out a real laugh this time and the elevator opens as the first load of personal assistants walk in to get their mail.
All their eyes light up seeing the flowers and they coo over how lucky Tia, Jessica and Victoria are. I hold back my eye roll. The elevator dings again and off steps the last ones, just as I called it.
"See how great Mike is," Jessica says waving her hand in front of her face like she's trying to hold back the tears.
"A man knows when he's on to a good thing," Victoria says and I snort.
Jessica glares at me as Victoria carries on.
"Besides, baby, he knows you are going places in this place. You're not going to be some college dropout whose best job will be being a personal assistant. Besides, we all know you got your job on your work – not on the ability to lick pussy." Victoria stops talking and looks at me smugly. "Oh, Miss Swan, did you get anything nice for Valentine's Day?"
"I wouldn't know yet, since Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but then I'm not expecting anything as I'm not dating anyone."
Jessica seems to take some enjoyment in the fact I'm not dating.
"But if I was, I sure wouldn't want this, hyped-up, half-assed crap," I tell them as I point to their flowers.
"Why not?" Tia asks sounding shocked.
"There are more ways than spending money on a girl for a guy to tell them they love and appreciate them. Like, instead of a restaurant, cook them a meal, and why the hell would you wait until some stupid Hallmark Holiday to tell someone you love them? Shouldn't you be doing that every day, not just one day a year? I mean, really, if it takes a greeting card industry for you to get a guy to say I love you or buy you some flowers, that's screaming: I want a blow job, not I love you."
They all hum at me before walking away stunned with their mail and shit. I turn to Edward who's smiling a little.
"These are yours," I say handing Edward his pile.
"Just so you know, I agree with you," he tells me.
I pull my brow together letting out a "huh?"
"That if I had a girl, it would be the first thing I would tell her in the morning, as I woke her with coffee and breakfast. It would also be the last thing I would tell her as I held her in my arms and we drifted off to sleep, every night no matter if I just fucked her, made love to her, or we just spent time talking and kissing."
"What would you want in return?" I ask feeling myself moving toward him.
"Her heart, and for her to love me back." The words tumble out of Edward's mouth so smoothly that it feels like he's declaring himself to me.
"You can throw these ones away," he says handing me back all the fancy Valentines, but keeps the one that looks childish.
"You're keeping that one?" I ask pointing at it, almost feeling jealous.
"Yes," Edward's whole face lights up, and I feel like someone is stabbing me in the heart.
"It's from Carlisle's ten-year-old daughter. She's got a little crush on me, but she's so sweet." Edward takes out his cell showing me a photo of her on his knee.
I feel my heart race seeing him looking so content with her.
"Carlisle is a doctor and he adopted her."
"She's beautiful," I tell him.
"She is that; the next time she's here, I'll get you up here to meet her."
"I would like that."
"I'll need to get back to work."
"Let me know if you need anything," I say and watch him walk back into his office.
I pick up some papers and fan myself.
'Bella, do not be developing a crush on your boss.'
'He's not my boss, Rose is my boss.'
'Yes he is, Rose works under him.'
'I would love to be under him.'
I groan and smack my head on the desk, now my inner monologue is arguing.
The rest of the day goes by with only a few more flower deliveries before lunch. I'm in my own personal bliss eating my Godiva Truffles. It's only two and I haven't seen hide nor hair of anyone in over an hour, and the phone hasn't even rung. I have done all my work and all of Alice's as well. I'm bored, so I open a spreadsheet and begin getting some more organizational stuff done that I talked to Rose about last week. I work until my phone alarm beeps to tell me it's a quarter to five. I clean up my mess, put away my stuff, save my work and shut down Alice's desktop.
At five to five I stand outside Edward's door waiting for it to open. When the door's green light comes on, I open it and walk in. I close the door as instructed and see the red light come on. I go to the kitchen, and find the cleaning supply closet. I sing along to the songs on my iPod as I dust, sweep and vacuum. I grab the spray mop and make quick work of the hardwood floors. I clean the kitchen counters and even wash the few cups and a plate in the sink.
A hand clasps down on my shoulder making me jump. I gasp turning to see Edward smirking at me.
"You scared me," I tell him covering my heart. I bend down trying to calm my racing heart. I feel Edward's light chuckle as he rubs my back.
"I'm sorry, Mouse. I did speak to you a few times before touching you."
"Music," I say as I take the earbuds out. "Is everything okay?" I ask.
"Yes, I just was going to ask why you are cleaning?"
"Alice told me that was part of my job today. She said Friday is the day she does the light clean-up here and said it was what I had to do, wasn't it?" I question starting to feel panicky over the fact Edward looks confused.
"I told her I would do it, there's no need for you to do this," he says waving around and I bite my lip.
"Okay, well I'm already finished anyway, so I'll talk to you tomorrow?" I ask feeling unsure as I walk away.
"Mouse," Edward calls making me stop.
"Yeah?"
Edward looks at me and lets out a soft sigh as he seems to rub his chest. "Have a good night," he mutters.
I get a feeling that he changed what he was going to say. I wait a few seconds but he adds nothing to it.
"Okay, goodnight," I reply.
I put my hand on the door handle, and remember the button. I frown when I don't see a button anywhere. I try to pull the handle, but the door won't move. "Um, Edward, I think your door is stuck," I say wiggling the handle.
"You have to push the button, here let me," Edward says covering my hand with his, as her reaches up. He hits the wall, but there is an empty space where the button box belongs. Our hands are still touching and my whole body fills with a warm feeling. It's strange because this makes me feel alive, yet calms me at the same time.
"Shit," Edward babbles as he bangs on the door. "I'm going to kill him this time."
"What?"
"I think we're locked in," he whispers out.
"What?" I ask.
"The door, the button release is missing. The door is set to shut down. It's not set to shut down until eight at night, unless someone manually does it with a keycard."
I look at him worried. "So we're trapped in here?"
"Don't worry, I'll call Sam," he says as he pulls out his cell.
"Sam, I need you up here, my door stuck."
Edward stops talking for a few seconds but his face turns a dark shade of what I call pissed off.
"WHAT?" he yells making me jump, even though I was expecting his anger.
He moves closer to me as he closes his eyes and rubs my arm to sooth me.
"And the set return time?" he says sounding like he's trying not to yell again. "Fine," he snaps his cell closed and looks at me.
"There seems to be a small problem."
I look at him asking what with my eyes, because I'm unsure I could say anything right this second anyway.
"Jasper and Emmett seemingly gave everyone in the whole building the weekend off, starting at two today."
I swallow and frown. "Why the hell wasn't I given it off? Uh, I mean, okay?"
"They all went home at two, and not back until nine on Monday," Edward carries on.
"Okay," I say again knowing something else is coming that I'll not like.
"At a quarter after five—twenty minutes ago—the building went on auto lock down, we're stuck here until Monday morning."
'There it is,' my inner mind yells as I feel my legs give way.
"Bella, sweetheart, we'll be fine. I'll take care of you," Edward whispers as he carries me to the sofa. "There's loads of food here, and beds; I swear we'll be okay."
Edward makes me look at his eyes, and they hold mine, showing such warmth and makes me feel safe.
"Okay," I say taking in a breath. I look at my watch seeing that it's just about six.
"Have a look around; make yourself at home. I'm almost done with my work. I just need to make some calls and then I'll come spend some time with you. I'll even make you some dinner. I'm sure there are some readymade meals in there," he chuckles. "How does that sound, Mouse?"
"Sounds good," I say.
He grins and winks at me, and I watch him leave the room. I can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I know now that I want him to look after me, but at the same time, I want to take care of him. With taking care of him in mind, I make my way to the kitchen.
A/N: We hope to post tomorrow, but if not we will post as soon as we can. What are your thoughts so far? Next chapter we will switch to EPOV. There will not be a bunch of repeating of the same story line, but you will see parts of EPOV in situations that many have wanted. Looking forward to your thoughts about them being locked in together for the whole weekend.
