So now we hear from Edward and get his take on a few things, we will post again tomorrow.

Hallmark Holiday

Chapter 4

EPOV

I watch her walk freely around my kitchen. She seems to be at home here in my office apartment. I rather enjoy having the conveniences of home when I'm at work, so over half of this floor is converted into my own happy place. I spend a lot of time here, but I have a home as well.

I let my eyes drift back to her and the way she moves. She doesn't always have great balance, but right now she's graceful. She has no idea I'm standing here watching her, so she has no reason to be nervous. I know I'm deeply in love with this girl; I want her as mine. I get the feeling she doesn't understand what I mean when I call her Mouse. I let out a soft sigh and duck into my hiding place. I wait a few moments before looking back; I see she's making a late dinner for us.

I close my eyes; no longer knowing what I should do. I'm not sure what would be the best thing for me to do. I move away from my spying spot and head for my office. I sit behind my desk and put my head in my hands, thinking back to when I first laid eyes on Isabella Swan—my Mouse.

March 2014

"I think I'll have Mom's soup of the day and her lunch special," my brother – Emmett declares while drooling a little.

"You always have that!" Jasper – my other brother chuckles and Emmett just shrugs at him, as we walk to the diner.

My brothers and I look very different from each other, but we only share one parent. I grew up with my mother, Elizabeth and my father, Edward. I loved my mother deeply; she was my everything. More so with the fact I barely saw my father. When I was seven, she became sick. I made her get well cards every day, but she never got better. She passed away shortly after my eighth birthday.

She wasn't even dead six months when my father brought a new woman—a much younger woman—Esme – into our home. The first time I met her she brought me a toy. I was still grieving for my mother, so I pushed her away from me.

The next time I met Esme was at a family dinner with my grandparents. They both took an instant dislike to her, and as a child, to me this was more than enough of a reason to dislike her as well. When I stayed with my grandparents, I often overheard them saying Esme wasn't good enough, and she was only after my family's money.

It didn't take me long to start saying those things to her myself, but my father often took her side.

A year after we buried my mother, my father married Esme. I did everything I could to destroy that day, but it never worked; all it did was push my father further away from me.

The year passed quickly and I found my father went back to his usual working, and I was left alone with Esme. I would go from having a good time with her to hating her, because she made me forget to mourn my mother.

I was ten when she had Emmett, he was not a small baby, and at first I wondered if she picked him up somewhere. By the time Emmett was a year old, she had given birth to Jasper.

Slowly, the years passed, and I saw that despite my bad attitude to her, she treated me like she treated her own sons. It was my father that was the stranger in our family. He didn't even take time off of work to attend his own parents' funerals.

I was seventeen when I dropped my guard around Esme, and began treating her with respect. It was during this time I found out Esme's mother had a diner, which was getting closed down. Esme begged my father to save it, but he refused to help. I was distraught when he refused to help her.

I felt so bad that I used a small part of the money I inherited from my grandparents to save the diner as a gift for Esme on Mother's day. To say my father was mad was an understatement, and it was during his rant that he had a heart attack. He died at the grand age of forty-five.

I was only twenty when I become the CEO of my family business. I own fifty percent of Cullen Incorporated, and my brothers, Emmett and Jasper, each own twenty-five percent. I'm grateful to Esme as she still treated me as part of her family after my father's death. She's helped to guide me along the way throughout my life.

It has been just over twenty-two years now, and my father's old business is thriving and so is the diner. I was and still am a little hurt that Esme chose to take back her maiden name of Masen after my father's death, but I can also understand her wanting something that's just hers. She does still have me maintain the books for the diner, so I know she trusts me.

We walk in the door and give her a wave as we take a seat at one of the booths.

"What can I get for my favorite boys?" Esme says with a smile on her face.

"I want the soup and the special, Ma," Emmett says right away. It's kind of normal to hear her being called Ma here; most of her customers do.

"Jasper, honey?"

"Soup with a grilled ham, cheese and onion sandwich, and a side of lettuce and tomato."

She nods again and looks to me. "And for you, Edward?"

"I'll have a foot long chicken salad, with all the veggies on wheat, please."

"Such manners, my sweet boy. I'm still waiting on them to pick them up," Esme says with a tilt of her head to Jasper and Emmett.

Before we can speak, a crash of dishes makes us all turn. I tilt my head seeing a woman I have never seen before kneeling on the floor picking up a broken plate.

"I'm so sorry, Esme," she says as Esme kneels next to her to help.

"It's just a plate, Bella, don't worry about it, sweetie."

Esme and the woman, I now know is named Bella, stand up. My eyes rake over her. She's small – very tiny, just a little thing. Esme has a clear few inches on her, which means this Bella can't be more than five-foot-two or three at the most. She's very slender but has a great figure shape, and her breasts are fucking amazing. She turns her back to me and I see her hair is long. It's tied back in a ponytail; the hair is gathered high on her head, yet the ends of her hair hang below her elbows at her sides. I watch her dump the broken plates and wash her hands. She then picks up napkins, cutlery and drinks before walking to our table.

"Here's your drinks, gentlemen."

Her voice is soft and clear, and it goes straight to my libido. Between her voice and her body, my dick is hard. My eyes linger on her tits for a few minutes before they move to her face. I see this isn't a woman, but a young girl. Her eyes snap to mine as they seem to change to a darker color. I watch her swallow.

"I … ah, is th … there some … thing I … can, ah, get … ah, get for you?" she stammers.

I shake my head not trusting my voice to say anything. She scampers away quickly, and I let out a breath.

"Don't you think, Edward?" Emmett asks and I frown at him having no idea of what he said to me.

"What?" I say.

"That Lauren is pushing Rose too much, and we're lucky she hasn't smacked her one, yet. One of us should switch assistants with her?"

I roll my eyes. "No, there's no way in hell I'm taking Lauren on; the woman is like a dog with a bone."

"We know what bone she wants to chew on," Emmett chuckles out.

"Sorry to interrupt, gentlemen, here are your meals." Bella places each plate down carefully, and I find myself locked in on her again.

"Edward," Jasper says snapping his fingers. "You're not eating."

I shake myself out of the trance.

Before leaving I speak with Esme, and she informs me Bella was down on her luck, had just left college and was in need of a job. The only other information she gave me was her age, she's twenty. This both made me happy—that she's older than I believed her to be—and sad—worried about what Esme said about her going through something bad—the thought ripped my heart to pieces. I'm now worrying about how deep this one meeting with her has changed everything within me.

The rest of the day, Bella seems to be a present force in my mind. I'm at a complete loss and unable to work. The next day, I still feel this desperation to see her. In my whole forty years on earth, I've never felt like this before.

I give up on going to the diner, and send Alice for my lunch instead, but again the afternoon passes with me thinking of Bella.

I decide to go back to the diner the next day. I pick a table and just sit and watch her. She seems to be nice and kind with the right amount of sassiness. But, when she serves me again, she seems to become quiet and withdrawn. I deduce that she's afraid of me and that my staring must have been noticed by her. After that mishap, I decided to just stay away from the diner. I've taken to eating in my kitchen in my office area.

The months passed, yet my mind often thinks about Bella and how she's getting along. I wonder if she's seeing anyone. I want to know if she would date an older man like me—a dirty old man who has the desire to have her call me Daddy.

It was around August when Lauren, Rose's PA, messed up enough for her to have been shown the door. Before I could even put the job on the market, Rose informed me she had hired the girl that fixed the problem.

I sigh, letting it go, but warned Rose this girl better work out, and if she didn't, I didn't want to hear her moaning.

A few days later I arrived at work, and was walking to the elevator just as the doors were closing. I yell out for whoever is in there to hold the door, and they opened back up right away. I walk onto the elevator and was instantly in shock, when I see Bella standing there.

"Where are you going?" I blurt out in a harsh tone.

"I'm ... I'm Bella ... I mean, I'm Miss Isabella Swan; I am Rose's ..." Bella closes her eyes. "I mean, I'm Rosalie Hale's new Personal Assistant."

She sticks her hand out and the elevator doors open to Rose's floor.

"Well, Miss Swan, I'm Mr. Edward Cullen," I say as I take her hand in mine.

The doors close and the elevator starts going up to my floor, and Bella instantly becomes worried.

"You missed your floor," I say stupidly.

Bella just hums and the doors open again.

"Bella," Alice calls as she walks to us and hugs Bella close. "Rose's floor is on ten, honey."

Bella gives Alice a weak smile and nods at her.

"I see you've met the Big-Boss-Man," Alice carries on and Bella starts to look worried at me.

"Alice, get to work," I say knowing she's making Bella more nervous. "As Alice said, Rose is down on the tenth floor."

I walk away quickly before I can drag Bella with me and keep her locked up in my office. The fact I have everything a normal home has would mean we wouldn't need to leave for a long ass time.

Bella, working a few floors below me was a godsend and a hindrance all in one. I would often go to Rose's floor and linger in the background just watching Bella. I did find out a lot about her by watching her, though. I know of her love for chocolate and she hates flowers. She has this uncanny knack of being able to talk in different voices. I have observed just how kind and sweet she is, but I love the sassy side of her as well. She just seems perfect for me. After the first month passes by with me only watching her, I find that's just not enough interaction.

I just happen to walk behind her as she enters the building. Once she gets in the elevator, it reminded me of her first day. I smile waiting for the doors to start to close before calling for her to hold the door. The door opens, and Bella looked so worried; she's like a frightened mouse. I smiled to myself thinking of how that name suits her. She is, after all, tiny, cute and has this twitch to her nose at times. I'm not even sure she's aware that she does it, but I just love it.

The morning elevator became my addiction, and like any addict I need it – want it, every day. There were days she was able to get the door open in time, but there were others she couldn't and I hated those days.

I was able to get through her being here for two months before Emmett and Jasper became aware of my attraction to her.

October 2014

"Lunch is out in the dining room," Emmett says as he ducks his head in my office.

"I'm busy," I say back to him.

"You've got time to eat; besides, we need to talk about what's going on between Uncle Carlisle and Mom."

I stop what I'm doing and look at him to see he has a serious look on his face.

I move away from my computer knowing that as the main door up here is locked, I can just leave it logged in. I follow Emmett all the way to the dining room and see Jasper is sitting there.

"Okay, why are you two so worried?" I ask sitting down.

"Well, Carlisle is our Uncle."

"Cousin," I say correcting them.

"Okay, Cousin, but he's seeing Mom!" Jasper says in a high-pitched voice.

"So, she's not related to him, and she is three years older than him!" I declare to them.

"But … it's strange," Emmett whines.

I shake my head. "No, not really. She's only fifty-two, and has been on her own for twenty years now; she deserves someone in her life."

"What about LillyAnn?" Jasper asks referring to Carlisle's nine-year-old daughter.

"What about her? I think Esme would make a great mother for her, don't you?"

They both sigh bobbing their heads, and look at each other before they can talk; my cell buzzes telling me we need to make our way to the board meeting.

The meeting is feeling longer than it should with Bella sitting in my eye line. I couldn't even tell what all happened in the meeting. I was too busy daydreaming about fucking Bella hard on the conference table. Making her call me Daddy, over and over again as I fucked her tight pussy. Then I imagined her upstairs with me; only this time we made love as she whispers my name softly from her lips.

"So, Edward, when are you going to stop checking little Bella out and ask her for a date?" Emmett mocks.

I look around the table seeing we are alone, except for Jasper.

"What?" I say.

"Edward, you were staring at her like you wanted to eat her."

I swallow, worried that if they picked up on it, there's a chance someone or worse, she did, too?

"Did Mouse notice?" I ask making Emmett and Jasper look at me.

"Mouse? Do you mean Bella?" Jasper asks sounding confused

"Bella is a mouse," I say harshly making them just look at me.

"You call her Mouse?"

"Yes."

"Why?" they both ask.

"Because—" I stop when I hear a bang.

I get up and open the door looking out in time to see the elevator doors closing, but no one is around. I move back into the meeting room and close the door moving to my chair; I let out a groan as I flop on my chair.

"She's so tiny and cute. Have you noticed her eyes?" I ask them as they just look at me. "And when she says something sassy, she twitches her nose." I smile as I bring up the image of her doing it. "The way she eats chocolate, it's almost as if she's scared you will snatch it away from her. She's my Mouse."

I swallow looking at them.

"Shit! Emmett was right – you really like her, more than just want to fuck her badly," Jasper blurts out as I look at them in shock.

"Guys, don't worry I'm not going to do anything."

They both frown as they look at me.

"I'm too old – there's not much I can offer her with this," I say waving my hand around my much older than her body. "A beautiful, sassy girl like Bella will find someone special that she can live a long time with."

I get off my chair and head for the door, but stop seeing Bella has left her scarf behind. I pick it up walking out. It was not until I was alone in the elevator, that I hold it to my nose breathing in her scent.

~HH~

"Ed-war-d," Alice whines.

I grunt out my reply as I carry on with my work.

"Can we please have a party for Valentine's Day?"

I hold back the for-fucks-sake and settle on a harsh, "no!"

"Why?" Alice says like she's five.

"Because this is not first grade," I grunt out at her, wishing she'd just disappear so I can do my work.

Alice starts the whole kid thing, repeatedly asking for the same thing over and over again, hoping I'll say yes, just to shut her up.

I pick up my cake taking a large bite.

"God, Edward, didn't Mama Esme teach you how to eat?" Alice snarks, pointing at my shirt.

I look down and see some of the fudge cream has fallen on it.

"It's fine, Alice, I'll just stick it in the washer."

"WHAT?" Alice yells, and I look at her to see the scary looking Alice standing there.

"I'll have you know that's a …"

I tune her out because I could care less what the brand name is.

"You don't wash a …"

Again, I let her rant, but tune her out.

"I'll just go and get you a new one!"

I glare at Alice – the last thing I need is another shirt.

"Whatever, Alice, you're done cleaning, so get out."

"You need to get laid," Alice huffs walking out.

"No! I need a new PA; one that doesn't talk!" I yell as she closes my office door.

I sigh as the door opens again. "Hope you weren't being rude to my Allie."

I roll my eyes at Jasper as he comes over to my desk and sits down.

"Your Alice has problems," I declare as I carry on working.

Jasper just chuckles and smiles like a goofball.

"What do you want?" I ask.

"I want to take Alice away for the weekend over Valentine's Day; I want to leave on Thursday night."

"What? No! I want to spend it spoiling my Rose," Emmett says as he bursts through my door.

I close my eyes and pinch my nose as Emmett and Jasper start fighting over who's getting the weekend off.

I whistle making them both face me.

"Both of you take the weekend off; I'll cover."

They both look at each other than to me.

"Are you sure, Edward?" Jasper asks.

"For the love of God yes; just get out and let me work!"

"You are the best brother ever," Emmett declares.

"I agree – you're my favorite brother, too," Jasper adds on.

I try to keep a smile on my face as they walk out telling each other how great I am. As my door closes, I let out a sigh. "I'm starting to think I'm the only person that works around here," I say to the now quiet and empty room.

A/N: So we get to see Edward's thoughts, what are yours so far?