Hello lovelies!

Here's the 4th chapter.. Sorry for the delay but I had a major writer's block, and a really busy week..

Let me know what you think..

Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all things Twilight. I own an addiction to the details photo shoot and the Beautiful Bastard.

Chapter 4: Ready, set, run!

My heart was beating fast, pulsing blood trough my veins and rapidly making me feel dizzy and out of breath. I reached out for a bottle of water and drank till I felt the dizziness slowly fade away. Thank god, I didn't want to faint the first time I saw him again, he was smug enough as it was!

I couldn't believe that it actually was him. That mere two meters from me stood the man I had thought, dreamt and cried over this last year. He had become a distant dream, - a beautiful yet painful dream, which had frozen him in the confines of my memories. Memories I couldn't erase or escape.

But now he was here, breathing, alive, no longer a dream, no longer a figure of longing, loathing or frustration. I could walk over to him and touch him, slap him, scream and shout at him. It was all in my reach for the first time in a year. It made me feel free and at the same time bound, cause I knew I really had no where to hide if he choose to pursue me.

I would of course put him on ice and do my best to avoid him, but if his charms still worked and he put them in motion, it would be only a matter of time before my physical attraction to him, caught up with me. When we had been together, I craved him like no other man; my hunger for him was insatiable. I was intoxicated by his presence. Even now I felt the unwelcome physical pull towards him, but I choose to ignore it, knowing it would do no good.

But I really hoped he would leave me alone.

I could feel Alice's burning gaze on my neck, and I knew she desperately wanted to talk with me, but right now I neither had the strength or the ability to speak more than short sentences about the man in mention. Well and it wasn't quite the right place to talk about it either, though Alice would insist she would making it as subtle as possible. Yeah subtle my ass.. Alice's way of whispering wasn't quite known to be subtle, especially not when she repeated every two words I said, in a high pitched voice.

I turned my head her way, and caught her gaze and nodded slightly, trying to signal that I was ok but didn't want to talk right now. I gave her left arm a gentle squeeze before I turned my attention Edward who still was small talking with Angela and some of the leaders.

He hadn't changed much over the last year. He still looked too handsome for his own good. His eyes were yet a remarkable jade green, his facial features were still beautiful sculptured, everything as I remembered it; his straight nose, his perfect jaw I used to love to lick and kiss, his flawless lips that had lingered over mine only a year ago. He still to good care of his body, I could see that even though he wore a suit.

All in all he was yet the man I once knew, but there was something different about him, something I couldn't quite put my finger on, but it made me question his motive for being here. I already suspected that he maybe wanted a rematch with me, but he seemed more open and at ease than I remembered him to be. Or maybe he had become a better master in the art of manipulation.

Once Edward had greeted everyone and made sure that he had all the attention, he started presenting the plan for the next two weeks.

"Thank you all for the warm welcome. I and my assistant Tanya are looking forward to working with you for the next two weeks." He smiled warmly while he continued his voice still as warm and deep as I remembered, like honey and warm chocolate combined in one tasty treat.

"This is truly going to be a challenging time for all of you. To drastically change a company's brand over a short period is risky, but to change a Magazines profile is even more precarious. As you know, a magazines existence does very highly rely on its ability to attract its readers. And as your readers are mostly women in their 20'ties and 30'ties, there is even more pressure for you to visually have a brand that speaks to the women in those age groups."

"There are many other Magazines who have the same target group as you, and they have succeed because they have transformed their image trough the years. They are in tune with what are on their readers minds right now, -what movies they see, books they read, who their favorite designer is, which people they talk about, etc. "

"We have looked into which similarities your readers have."

Edward looked at his assistant and gave her a nod, signaling that she could start the slide show. At first he presented the results of the survey, making it clear what were the common interests of the readers. Hereafter he pointed out which areas weren't cowered and which could be enhanced.

"You are competing against high profile magazines, and therefore you have to think about what you can offer the readers that is different from what the other magazines are offering them right now. I want you all to rethink the way a magazine is normally made, from its cover to the fashion articles. If you want to enhance sales with more than 20 %, which is your primary goal, then you have to be edgy and go where no other magazine ever have ventured."

Edward nodded again, and a new slide came in sight, displaying examples of new covers of Estelle, all of which were edgy and different from the magazines I knew. He continued talking about the pros and cons of each and every cover, but I soon stopped listening. I was enthralled in the sight before me.

His apparent excitement to be involved in this project, made his face glow, making him, if possible even more attractive. His fingers that run smoothly trough his soft hair when one strayed before his eyes, made me remember how I used to make him hum when I ran my fingers trough it. His half crooked smile that on more than one occasion had made my resistance crumble.

Much to my dismay I couldn't help ogling him. The way he moved his body in both a relaxed and controlled way, his almost graceful gestures towards the screen, was something I had put in the back of my mind but newer quite forgotten. I remembered the way the muscles of his back flexed when he made me breakfast, the way he moved around in my kitchen looking for the right equipment, his strong legs, the sight of him in his boxers. And in that train of thought, I instantly remembered the first time I saw him naked…

I had both been shy and excited, because at that point it had been a long time since I had been with a man, but I had never been with a man this remarkably handsome.

He was a beautiful sight to behold. His strong, ripped body, which fully matched his gorgeous face, made me hold my breath and made my whole body shiver in expectation. And that expectation was fully met.

He newer hid how much he desired me. He used every excuse, every possible moment to push me up against a wall and put his lips to mine, his excited body against my heated core, making my body hum with hunger.

I remembered the way his skin felt against mine, the way his fingers danced up my spine in a gentle caress, his lips on my neck, on my legs slowly traveling up to there…

My body began to response to those heated memories, and soon I found myself overheated and aroused.

Bella stop! I scolded myself…

If I didn't stop thinking about those nights, I would literally combust in my seat! Not quite the best way to start a million dollar advertising project!

I grabbed a bottle of weather and took a sip.

"Bella?" I heard Angela call

I looked up and snapped out of my internal reverie.. Everyone was looking at me including Edward who had a smirk planted on his face. The heat of his gaze told me that he knew exactly what I had been daydreaming about. And apparently Angela had called my name more than once! Shit!

"Yes?" I replied with what I hoped sounded like a normal voice

Angela looked at me with a worried and puzzled expression. She wasn't used to see me be so out of touch.

"Bella, I was asking you to work closely with Mr. Cullen on this assignment. As I already have told the rest of the leaders, you have an excellent mind and an eye for details. You have actual experience with the advertising business, and your knowledge is very much needed in this project, since you also know Estelle from the inside, and can us a different view on the project." She smiled warmly and continued

"Since I have to go to Europe for the fashion weeks, I need you to report to me about the progress and implement the changes we discuss, together with the project team. I expect to be back two days before we choose the final new look of Estelle. We will of course have a weekly conference call, but I want you to handle my part of daily workload of this project. I have hired a temp to take over for your other assignments, so your hands are free to work on it full time. You will of course be supported by the leaders, but we don't expect you to lead this project, that's what we hired Mr. Cullen for. But we want you to partake in it as an important key player. Understood?"

"Yes" I said while I tried to look happy and excited. Angela was giving me a fucking big chance, and the last thing I wanted, was to look ungrateful after all she had done for me. She had no way of knowing that Edward was my ex, - an ex I wanted nothing to do with.

I looked over at a smug and bemused Edward, who looked like the cat who just ate the canary. I had been right all along. He was here to taunt me, since he didn't had his way with me the first time around. I just had to be two steps ahead of him, and I would be fine, I tried to convince myself.

I gave him a stern look which made him smile even wider. I decided to ignore him as much as humanly possible as the meeting continued.

*****

After the meeting was over I excused myself and walked straight to the ladies, and once I was there I walked over to a sink and opened for the cold water, splashing the cold heavenly drops over my overheated neck and shoulder. Once my body started cool down, my nerves kicked in and soon found my self paralyzed, gazing at myself in the mirror.

It was one thing to get a bad surprise and try to survive the difficult situation at that moment. It was a whole other thing, when it was over and you had time to think, to assess the incident. It was often at that moment that the real reaction kicked in, and in my case it was no exception.

Alice walked in not long after, and found me in that paralyzed state, and as she came nearer she met my gaze in the mirror. The look on her face shifted from puzzled to concerned, as if she was expecting a full blown panic attack. Well it was not far off…

"Bella…" Alice started; her concern for me grew as the seconds ticked by, as I didn't answer her.

"Bella! Please speak to me!" She turned me around and shook me lightly

"Alice, what am I going to do?" I asked her as soon as I snapped out of my frozen state "I can't work with him!"

"Oh Bella! So it is him, isn't it? I thought I recognized his name, but wasn't sure."

"Yes it is him! That's the bastard that made me feel worse than crap, and now he's here! I'm my fucking city, at my fucking workplace, this is just unbelievable."

"I.. I thought that last Friday was going to be the last time I would ever see him again! I was finally ready to let him go! And now this happens! Its like fate is playing chess with me, to see if I'm up for a rematch!"

"I don't want a fucking rematch; I want to move on, to get a life without him in it!"

"Bella, I understand were you're coming from, and believe me if anyone had treated me as bad as he had, I didn't want them in a six mile radius near me. But listen… He's only here for two weeks, and once thouse weeks are over you don't have to see him any more. I know its going to be hard to work so close with him, but you can survive this. You have worked so hard to get to where you are now. Don't let him take that away from you!"

"I know.. It's just... It's just that I don't know how long I can work with him, without loosing my temper or letting him get to me. He has a strange affect on me and I don't know how to resist him. I just have a bad feeling that if I let him in, just a tiny bit, then I be even more broken when he leaves. And I can't handle that Alice, I just can't!"

"Oh Bella!" my little pixie wrapped her tiny body around me and offered me comfort, only a true friend knew how to give. It worked and after a bit my panic attack was on retreat.

"Listen to me!" Alice said as she released me and looked me square in the eyes. "You are a strong headed business woman! You don't take bullshit from anyone and you sure as hell aren't going to take any from him. Its only two weeks and then he are gone, and maybe then you can really move on."

"Thank you Alice" I gave her a heartfelt hug.

"Your welcome, honey! Just promise to let me know if you need help to kick his butt. I will volunteer with pleasure." She replied and gave me a small wink with her left eye.

"Now let's get out of here…" Alice took my hand and we walked out while we laughed at the thought of Edward getting his pretty ass kicked. He would probably whine like a baby.

Just as we walked out of the bathroom I crashed with a hard male body, and landed ungracefully on my ass.

I looked up towards the man, and of course Edward was the owner of that body. My luck wasn't worth shit. Oh what the hell, it had newer worked!

Edward looked at me with a bemused expression and said the two words I newer wanted to hear again..

"Hello sweetpeaks"