Author's Note: Here's the next chapter! You guys are blowing me away with your reviews and support. Keep it coming and tell me what you think… it's a bit of a cliffy!

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Chapter 4

The Business Life Of Bella Swan

The ride back to my apartment was more than a little awkward. Luckily, Alice and Rosalie seemed to be a little too out of it to notice the tension. I rolled my eyes at Rosalie as she slid down in her seat and put her head on my shoulder. Designated driver, my ass.

I made sure to scoot down in my seat as much as possible and put my head in line with the back of Edward's head rest. I was positioned just right so that he wouldn't be able to see me in the rearview mirror, something I would be forever thankful for as my face must have been a glowing very red by this point.

The whole way home, Edward only tried to engage me in conversation once to ask where I lived. He pulled in smoothly outside of my apartment and smiled, "Nice place."

"Thanks," I muttered, throwing the door open and beginning to prop Rosalie up on her own in her seat. Why was he so cool and collected and why was I acting like some awkward thirteen year-old. So what, I was buying supplies for my job. Sure, he didn't know that, but I had never been embarrassed about my job before. So I was an escort, somebody had to do it.

I managed to get Rosalie upright and finalize my shopping plans with Alice before I couldn't take it anymore, bolting to my apartment and slamming my fingers into the code buttons to unlock the door. By the time I made it up the elevator and was in my apartment my skin had cooled and I realized how stupid I was acting. I didn't know Edward. I had absolutely no connection to him apart from Alice and Rosalie. I needed to calm the fuck down.

Once my apartment door was locked securely behind me, I took in a shuddering breath and let it out. Up until Edward had arrived, it had been a great night. Rosalie and Alice were great girls and I was actually looking forward to going shopping and out for lunch with them. But as pleasing as that thought was, I couldn't help the nagging feeling like I was forgetting something. I tapped my foot on the wooden flooring, wringing my hands, annoyed, and thought. What the hell was it?

I stopped my actions all at once. My bag. I circled like a dog that was trying to catch his tail in a panic looking frantically around. Crap! I had left my bag in Edward's car. I mentally went through everything I had put in there. Keys, no big deal. Make-up, I had spares. Condom…yeah, if he found that he might really begin to wonder about me… who needed condoms at a ladies night…? but I could bluff my way through that one. I mentally kicked myself, why the hell did I take a condom anyway? Truth was, though, I didn't really go anywhere without a condom anymore. Not even to the corner shop to pick up milk and toilet paper.

It was like I didn't feel safe without being able to feel that little ring in my jeans pocket. Okay, I was turning into a sexual psychopath; a deviant or something. Maybe I needed to start going to some kind of SA meeting…Sexaholics Anonymous.

Back on task, what else had been in the bag? My ID and credit cards, that was okay. I mean, that would help him realize that it was my bag. And my mobile. Shit. There was the problem. I wasn't too worried. It's not like I had sexy texts from clients or anything, just messages from my agent. They always read the same. A time, a place and a name. No sign off, so nothing to give me away. But I must have had over a hundred texts just like that with different names in my inbox. It all really depended on whether Edward was a nosy kind of guy.

I shook myself. I was reading way too much into this. He would probably just check my ID and then give the bag to Alice to give back to me when we went shopping. Yeah, yes. That's what he would do.

I kicked off my heels with a small whimper and flexed my feet, pulling my dress over my head and throwing it over the end of the couch. I grabbed a drink of water, two aspirin and put them next to my bed ready for the morning, just in case I got a hangover. I didn't usually drink, so I never really knew how my body was going to react.

I walked through to the kitchen table and slumped into a chair, flicking open my planner. I looked up to the clock and sighed when I read that it was 3:35 am. That was going to hurt in the morning. At 9:00 am I had an appointment with my agent, Victoria. I was supposed to be getting a wax as well, but I was going to cancel. It was at one o'clock and I had my overnight appointment starting at three. I didn't want to have pink skin with a client.

After my overnighter which finished at nine the next morning, I had a client at ten. A short one though… Sam wasn't one of my favorites and I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Maybe I could ask to be squeezed in for something after that. I didn't have anymore clients for two days then. Luckily, I was going to fill my time by way of shopping with my new friends.

After all of my thinking, I glanced at the clock to see it was 4:05 am. I could usually go about forty-eight hours before I had to sleep, so I decided caffeine was going to have to pull me through. At this point in the night, I figured it would be easier to just stay awake.

I went through to the bathroom and grabbed my shaver so I could make my legs smooth in the shower. I hated not showering after drinking alcohol, anyway. I didn't need the cloud of 'Ode de Bar' aroma floating around me, so I scrubbed my hair three times, making sure to get all traces of the cheap scent well and truly gone and gave my legs a quick shave.

I managed to fill the rest of my night with reading and bills. As you can imagine, it was great fun, but at least I was able to get it all sorted for the next few months. By the time 8:30 am swung around I had my hair curled and pinned neatly back, my make-up fresh and natural and a pair of low rise jeans and a modest red top on, which I had bought a few days ago. Victoria was all about appearances and rightly so. Her livelihood was completely dependant on how we presented ourselves. Basically, she got bitchy if we turned up to appointments in sweats and a jumper.

We were meeting in a restaurant uptown, but I wouldn't be eating. In the beginning, I had been running late one morning and walked into the appointment with a pastry in hand. The look she gave me nearly melted me where I stood. I don't eat in front of Victoria anymore. I don't think she approves of her girls swallowing food.

It was the usual group of girls around the table when I arrived. The actual restaurant was closed at the moment, but Victoria had some kind of deal with the owner and was therefore allowed to have it as her little collection area for the morning. I sat down next to Jessica, who smiled at me, and put down my bag. Victoria was mid-speech and gave me a short smile, which was as real as Lauren's boob job.

"…So you owe me the usual forty percent this month which works out at…" she punched some numbers into her calculator, "…two thousand three hundred." She looked up at Lauren who began counting out cash. Lauren then pushed it over to Victoria, who recounted it. Twice.

"Great. Any problems?" she asked.

Lauren shook her head, "No, but I would like to talk to you about pushing up my fee."

"No," Victoria said shortly, turning to me. "Glad you could make it, Bella."

I smiled and nodded, "Taxi took the long route. What can I say?" Victoria fixed me a cool glare. I smiled back. I was past the days when that one would get to me. "So, how much do I owe you."

She looked down and began to punch numbers into the calculator, glancing at my bookings every now and again with an almost indecipherable smile on her lips.

"That's five thousand two hundred."

I nodded and pushed the envelope with the cash over to her. She ripped the seal and did a quick count. After a year, she knew I paid up and didn't mess her about, so, no double count for me. Wasn't I a lucky girl? After being with Victoria for over year I had gotten a little entourage of clients changing on a biweekly basis. Due to my rather hefty income I had managed to push Victoria down to only taking twenty percent of my earnings. For some reason, I didn't think Lauren was ever going to get the chance to push that forty percent boundary.

"Okay, so that's all the money collected. Good month, girls. Jessica, I've got somebody who saw your online ad. He wants two hours this Saturday night…about ten, how is that for you?" Jessica nodded frantically. She was a new girl, still walking on the egg shells with Victoria.

"I've got two for you, Lauren; a bachelor party and a married couple." Lauren smiled happily and began scribbling into her diary. "Bella, business as usual for you." I nodded, that was just the way I liked it, "Any questions?"

I slipped her my apartment phone number and explained the mobile situation. She gave me a speculative look, but carried on, shooing us away for the next group which would be arriving any minute.

Once I was free of my appointment and the girls who continuously asked me out for drinks, I made my way over to my work apartment and dug out my fancy workout gear. This client was one of my favorites of the week. I nicknamed it the GFT shift, in other words, The Girlfriend Treatment. That's what this client wanted. I met him at the gym, we acted like we were dating, we'd go back to his apartment --- which he kept just for us --- and I'd sleep over.

I had been with this client since the very beginning and knew that, strangely enough, over the last year we had become, well, friends. If he was particularly stressed he would call me and we'd meet up. He had also told me numerous times if I wanted to talk I could call him. I never did of course, but it was nice to know…like a safety net.

Unfortunately, my friend status was marred by the terms of our relationship. He didn't care if I shared my opinions or spoke my mind, but that didn't mean I acted completely like myself, either. He was paying a hefty sum of money to have me for the night and I was still a professional.

He had been married for a year now and he had explained to me that he loved his wife. He loved his wife a lot, but sometimes…she could be a bit uptight. I reckoned that was code for she was an uptight bitch. Ah, well.

I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail and kept nearly all of my face vacant of makeup. Didn't want sweat lines. I had my bag repacked; clothes, lingerie, toys --- the usual ---and began the long trip to the other side of the city towards the fancy gym he paid both of our memberships for.

Once the cab had pulled up outside and I had paid, I walked through the doors and grabbed a locker for my bag. Didn't want to be carrying around a suitcase in the gym. Once that was all locked up securely, I had enough time to do a quick hair and makeup check before making my way back towards reception.

I had been running five minutes behind today. Usually, I always got there before he arrived, but he was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs in the lobby. The moment I saw him I couldn't help the smile that grew on my face.

Worrisome, I know. No matter how much you try and keep yourself detached in this business, being with somebody for a year with the partner only showing you their good side makes a mark on your heart. I noticed the little things about him. Like how he would run his hands through his short, curly brown hair and balance his elbows on his knees, propping his head up on his hands.

The moment he saw me, the cutest toothy grin stretched onto his pouty lips and he stood. "Hey, Baby," he said easily, like he said it every day. His hand pressed into the crook of my back and pulled me gently against him, surrounding me in his protective embrace.

"Hey, Emmett," I smiled, pressing my lips softly against his. "I'm gonna win today."

He laughed and tugged me towards the entrance of the gym and the treadmills. "You say that every week."

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Author's Note 2: Tell me what you think! It's going to get risky soon… I hope you don't hate me for Emmett!