Hey Guys, I know I'm really late updating! 5 months actually, and so I'm not going to bother trying to make excuses for myself, I'm a crappy updater, I know.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter, Love you all and thank you to all who have stuck with me this far.

Special thanks to Sakura2112 and Sowfii for reviewing the last chapter.

AN: This story is definitely up for a re-write when I finish, as looking back on some of my previous chapters makes me cringe!

Happy Reading!

Mixing Business With Pleasure

Ellie

Yet again, I checked my watch. It still read the same time; twenty to eleven am. The second hand slowly edged around the clock face, taking its time. I kept my eyes fixed on it, as though I could somehow unleash psychic powers and make time go faster. Having given up on the psychic powers, I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. Taking one last glance at my watch, which now read 10:42, I stepped out of my house. Immediately, butterflies began to flutter about inside of my stomach. I pushed them away and began to walk; it was only Kaiba. The butterflies reappeared at just the thought of him. I forced them away and instead began to pay more attention to my surroundings. A row of brightly coloured shops lined the pavement on my left side, each offering me a different way to part with my money. Trees clung to their golden leaves, and brave flowers peeked from the faintly shadowed ground beneath the trees in man-made flowerbeds.

I shivered under my thin cardigan as the cool autumn air swept over me. I was fairly close to Kaibacorp now, I turned the last corner, and there it was, standing confident and proud, reminding me uncannily of its owner. He stood leaning against the wall, gorgeously casual in jeans, a T-Shirt and a jacket. His chestnut hair flopped partially over his eyes, and he tossed his head to the side, to sweep it away, before spotting me.

"Hi," He smiled. "How are you?" Intense blue eyes met mine.

"Fine thanks, you?" I replied, smiling back.

"I'm good." He answered and pushed himself away from the wall. He caught my eye and waited for me to step up next to him, before he began to walk. I watched him from the corner of my eye as we walked, but snapped my gaze away, when I saw him turn to look at me. Instead, I turned to face the other side of the street. The breeze tugged at my fingers and arms and blew cold air down my spine. I shivered and rubbed my hands over my arms.

"Cold?" Kaiba asked me, frowning.

"A little." I replied, and shrugged slightly. I went back to peering at the other side of the street, but an action from Kaiba snatched my attention. He shrugged his jacket from his shoulders, and held it out to me. I looked at him, slightly puzzled. Was he offering me his jacket? When I made no move, he reached out and draped it over my shoulders. I pulled it around my arms and smiled gratefully.

"Thank you." His bright cobalt eyes flashed to mine in acknowledgement. We walked the rest of the way in silence, one of us occasionally catching the others eye, before looking quickly away.

Eventually we arrived outside the grand building that I had come to know as the Kaiba mansion. It stood tall and strong, demanding my attention, but there was something about the curve of the windows, and the smoothness of the brickwork, that felt, comforting. Kaiba unlocked the door, and held it open for me. Smiling, I stepped in, only to be ambushed by a bundle of wild raven hair, and small limbs, that I recognised to be Mokuba. He threw himself at me and hugged me fiercely, whilst Kaiba, having already stepped in and shut the door, grinned at him. Having just managed to detach him from me, I turned to Kaiba, and handed him back his jacket. He took it, hung it up, before turning to me and smiling.

"Come with me." He placed a cool hand lightly on my back and led me through a series of rooms. I paused slightly when we passed through the room containing the Steinway. Kaiba noticed and smiled.

"Later." He winked. Finally we came to a huge kitchen. Swinging open a cupboard door, Kaiba pulled out three mugs and swung it shut again. He lined them up on the counter and looked over to me.

"Could you grab the milk from that fridge there?" He nodded towards it, whilst reaching into another cupboard and pulling out various tins and small bottles of flavouring. 5 minutes later three mugs of warm hot chocolate topped with whipped cream, tiny marshmallows and sprinkles were laid out on the table.

"Mokuba, hot chocolate's ready!" Kaiba called. Mokuba came bouncing into the room and into a seat, dived at his hot chocolate, and left himself with a whipped cream moustache. Chuckling slightly, Kaiba nudged one of the mugs towards me. I carefully picked it up, and took a sip. Warm chocolaty liquid caressed my tongue, whilst cool and light cream tickled the roof of my mouth. I could taste the chocolate, but also a hint of vanilla and strawberry. I opened my eyes to find Kaiba watching me closely.

"Good?" His slightly arrogant smile told me he already knew the answer, but I didn't care.

"Wow! This is great! How do you get it to taste this good?" I asked him, eagerly taking another sip, and popping a marshmallow into my mouth. He just smiled and tapped the side of his nose lightly, then picked up his mug and sipped it.

5 minutes later, the only evidence that the hot chocolates had ever existed was the foamy moustache adorning Mokuba's top lip.

"What do you fancy for lunch then?" He asked me, shifting to cross one leg over the other and clasp his hands behind his head.

"I don't really mind, I do like pizza though." I replied.

"Pizza it is then!" Kaiba exclaimed, and reached into his pocket for his mobile. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"That's odd," Said Kaiba. "I haven't asked anyone else over here." He frowned. Mokuba had shrunk down in his seat and suddenly seemed to find the floor very interesting.

"Mokuba!" Kaiba narrowed on the boy. "Who did you invite round?"

"Nobody." He tried, but seeing the look in Kaiba's face, he relented. "Just Yugi and the gang."

"You invited the Geek Squad over!" It was a statement, not a question. Kaiba pressed his eyes shut, sighing. "Mokuba, answer the door and invite them into the lounge, the one without the piano, we'll be through in a second." Mokuba scrambled off to do as he had been told, and Kaiba turned to me.

"I can't stand these lot." He explained. "They're Mokuba's friends but-" He stopped. "You get on with some of them, don't you?"

"A few; Serenity's sweet, but a little young and childish, Yugi's alright, but all he ever talks about is duel monsters." I replied, Kaiba nodded and placed a hand on my back to guide me through to the lounge.

"Hello Kaiba!" Yugi smiled politely at him. Kaiba nodded towards him.

"Yugi."

"Ellie!" serenity exclaimed, spotting me behind Kaiba. "What are you doing here?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kaiba tense at the question, what should I say? I knew Kaiba didn't like these lot, so probably wouldn't want them knowing he'd invited me over.

"Mokuba invited me over for lunch." I replied. I saw Kaiba relax, as he moved across the room and sat next to his brother on a posh looking sofa. I made to follow and sit next to him, but someone caught my wrist. I looked down into bright green eyes.

"Come sit next to me baby, there's much more room on this sofa." He said, flicking a long strand of black curly hair from his eye and budging up to make room for me. I cringed inwardly, but smiled politely and took a seat next to him, trying to keep as bigger a distance as I could between us. I glanced at Kaiba across the room, his eyes were fixed on the guy next to me, Duke, I recalled his name from the party. Kaiba had noticed and was glaring icy daggers in Duke's direction, but he conveniently didn't seem to notice, as he was busy twirling a strand of his hair around his finger. I caught Kaiba's gaze and shot him a reassuring look at which he relinquished his icy stare, and narrowed his eyes at the green eyed boy, before looking away. I turned my attention towards the conversation instead.

"So I bought one in red, blue and purple." A girl with short brown hair, whose dress sense wasn't exactly modest, finished.

"How do you get colour anyway though?" Asked a lazy looking blond guy. Kaiba raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his seat, obviously bored by the conversation. Duke jumped on the question. "Anything that is red, absorbs red light, that's why we see it as red." He smirked and slung an arm around the back of the sofa, effectively putting his arm around me. I turned towards him and frowned.

"I thought anything that was red reflected red light and absorbed every other colour of light." He shook his head.

"No, it definitely absorbs the red light." He disagreed. I decided it wasn't worth arguing with him.

"Actually," Kaiba spoke up. "Ellie's right, it reflects the red light." Duke scowled at Kaiba, but turned and smiled at me.

"So, you're pretty smart then." He commented, edging slightly closer.

"Not really." I replied, edging away. His flirting was creeping me out.

"Well, you must be baby, to outsmart me." He smirked. God, he was so vain. I smiled back politely.

"Thank you, but I'm really not." I protested, not liking the intensity of his gaze.

"Don't be so modest, baby." He smiled smugly, reaching to brush a strand hair from my face and tuck it behind my ear. It was all I could do, not to flinch away from him.

Seto

How dare he? How dare he? Duke was flirting shamelessly with Ellie! My Ellie! I suppressed a low growl. How dare he call her baby? She obviously wasn't into him! Wouldn't he just take a hint? Couldn't he read body language? At the moment, her folded arms, legs crossed away from him, and body angled in the opposite direction to him practically screamed out 'not interested.' When he reached out the touch her hair, I had to exercise all my self-control not to just march over there and rip him away from her. I had to stop him from talking to her, it was obviously unsettling her too. He was leaning right in to her and fiddling with his hair, caught up in his own monologue. She glanced over to me for a second, her eyes clearly read. 'Help me!' I cleared my throat loudly.

"If any of you actually want lunch, I suggest you decide what you'd like on your pizzas before I order them." I announced, my eyes fixed on Ellie, who shot me a grateful look. People instantly began to discuss what they were going to choose.

"So what are you going to have baby?" He asked her.

"Erm, I'll probably just have a margarita." She answered, smiling politely, before angling herself away from him and trying to strike up a conversation with Serenity.

"I'm having ham and pineapple." He announced. She turned round and nodded with a brief smile, before trying to resume the conversation with Serenity. Duke reached out to tap her, and I quickly coughed again.

"If you want to write down what you want on this sheet of paper, I'll order it." I said, holding up a blank piece of paper and a pen. I scribbled down a margarita, before handing the paper to Mokuba who enthusiastically added a pepperoni to the list. It got round to Ellie, and I watched from across the room, as she elegantly looped another margarita down onto the page, before handing it to Serenity.

"Me next!" Duke proclaimed, flashing a smile at Ellie, who just let her lips curve into a half-smile. As soon as Serenity had finished, Duke reached across Ellie, brushing purposefully against her chest as he snatched up the pen and paper. She shot a glare at his back, and glanced over at me. My heart jumped in my chest, and I tossed the phone to Mokuba, instructing him to ring the pizza place and order the pizzas. I stood up and walked over to the sofa where Ellie sat, facing in completely the opposite direction to Duke.

"Hey Ellie, mind helping me set the table for the pizzas?" I asked her.

"Not at all." She replied, sending me a 'thank you so much' look. I smiled at her in return, and making sure that Duke saw, placed a hand on her back to guide her through. As soon as we walked into the kitchen, she let out a frustrated sigh.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"Fine, its just Duke and his incessant flirting!" She smiled apologetically. "Thank you for getting me away from him." I shook my head, brushing off the thanks.

"I hate men like him." I reached up to a cupboard and pulled out a stack of plates, quickly adding up everyone here, I pulled out a few more and handed her the smaller stack, before picking up the larger one and taking her through to the dining room where we set them out around the large table.

"I don't want to go back in there." She said quietly.

"Then don't." I murmured, moving across the room towards her. Her bright blue eyes looked up into mine, wisps of her golden hair resting just next to her eye. Slowly, I reached out a hand and softly brushed them away. Her eye fluttered shut as my finger neared it, eyelashes softly caressing the pad of my finger. She looked so beautiful right now, I felt myself lean in towards her, and watched her subconsciously mirror my action. I slid a finger under her chin and angled her face upwards, leaning down towards her. Our lips were just a hair's breadth apart when the doorbell rang, making us both jump. She stepped back and straightened up immediately, avoiding my eye contact whilst I too recovered and calmed my heart, which had started to pound at my rib cage.

"I'd better go get that." I excused myself, and returned a minute later with boxes of pizza and a crowd of babbling idiots. She was already seated, so I handed her her pizza, and took the seat next to her. I dumped the rest of the pizzas in the middle of the table and left everyone to get their own.

"Hey babe." Duke grinned as he slid into the seat next to her in a snake-like manner. I shot him a warning glare, which he caught, but just sneered at, whilst sticking his middle finger up at me behind Ellie's back. I growled quietly. Ellie shot me a panicked look, and I responded quickly, dropping my napkin and leaning down to whisper to her.

"Pretend to go to the bathroom." When she shot me a confused look, I managed to mouth a 'trust me' to her before straightening up. She excused herself and left. Everyone else started eating, and I busied myself tidying up the pizza boxes before sitting down just as she came back from the bathroom. I smiled at her, and slid up a seat, to prevent her from having to shuffle past me to get to her seat and putting myself between her and Duke. He glared at me, but I ignored it, and apart from a few 'accidental' elbow jabs, he stayed quiet for the rest of the meal, sulking.

Afterwards, I dumped the pizza boxes in the bin, and cleared up the plates with a hand from Ellie.

"You don't want to go back in there do you?" I asked her, nodding towards the lounge where Mokuba and the Geek Squad were sitting and chatting. She shook her head, a small smile adorning her bow-shaped lips. "So, lets go somewhere else." I said softly. "Close your eyes, I want it to be a surprise." She glanced nervously at me. "Don't worry, I won't let you bump into anything, I promise." She nodded and closed her eyes, her eyelashes sweeping across the smooth, pale skin just below her eyes. I moved behind her, gently took hold of one of her hands and rested a hand on her waist. "Relax." I whispered, my breath ghosting against her ear. She shivered, and I felt the tension leave her body. I guided her through the mansion, coming to a halt in the large lounge that held the Steinway. I moved her around gently, so that she was facing it. On the piano were some duets that I had bought to play with her a while back. "You can open your eyes now." I murmured. She did and I felt, rather than saw her smile. She spun round to face me, my hand still on her waist.

"Wow! Are those duets for?" She tailed off.

"For us to play? Yes." I answered. "But first, I want to hear you play something." I smiled slightly nervously and she smiled coyly, and slid onto the piano stool. She ran her fingers over the keys, feeling the smooth ivory, before beginning to play. I took a step back and sunk into a seat next to the piano, completely absorbed in the music she was creating. A flowing, chromatic bass-line undulated through the air, whilst a beautiful rippling top-line seemed to sparkle on top. Finally, it began to thin, until just the top hand was left, slowing down and quietening, until she gently struck the last note, letting the pedal carry it away, as it softly died out.

Ellie

I finished the piece, and looked instantly towards Kaiba, chewing slightly on the inside of my lip. He had his eyes closed and was leaning back in his seat. He slowly opened them to meet mine.

"That was beautiful." He smiled. I felt heat rush to my face, and I let my hair fall around my cheeks to hide the almost certain blush that was forming upon them. Unfortunately, it's not easy to hide things from Seto Kaiba, and he chuckled softly at me, before coming to sit next to me, on my left on the stool. He reached out and placed a sheet of music on the stand built into the piano. I scanned my part, it looked fairly simple, with the accompaniment mostly based around arpeggios, and a simple, melodic top-line. Kaiba caught my eye, I nodded and he counted a bar before we began to play. The two bottom lines were in unison, but the top lines were different, his was fast moving and rippling, where as mine was slow and expressive.

All too soon, it ended, and I nervously turned to face him. Whatever I was about to say died on my lips, as saw the intensity of his gaze. Deep, sea-blue eyes found mine and I found myself unable to look away. He reached his hand out towards me, still not breaking our eye contact, and catching a stray strand of hair around his finger, slowly swept it back, and tucked it behind my ear. I shivered at his touch and a smile flickered across his lips, before he traced the outline of my face, and hooked a finger underneath my chin, gently tilting my head towards his. The pad of his thumb followed the curve of my jaw, and came to rest softly upon my cheek. He leaned down towards me, and my eyelids instinctively fluttered shut, as I leaned closer towards him. His lips brushed softly against mine and electricity rushed through my body. I felt him pull back slightly and opened my eyes to stare into the deep blue orbs that were fixed on mine.

Seto

I pulled back gently to look into her eyes, what was she thinking? She looked at me from under her eyelashes and smiled softly. The edges of my lips twitched involuntarily, as I gently ran my thumb along the side of her face, and then she did the very thing that was my undoing; she bit her lip.

Ellie

He leant down to gently take my bottom lip between his two. Lights flashes behind my closed eyelids, a kaleidoscope of colours and shapes. His lips were so warm and soft, I melted into the kiss, kissing back. Electricity tingled all over my skin, my heart was beating in my head. The rest of the world dissolved away and it was just us. One of his hands found my waist, the other, the back of my head. Fingers twisted in my hair, pulling me closer. In that moment we were one being, connected, I couldn't tell where he ended and I began, but nothing mattered, nothing but us.

He pulled away very slightly to look into my eyes. His lips were just a hairs breadth from mine, and I smiled at the feeling of his warm breath tickling my lower lip. All ice had melted and the warm ocean blue of his eyes matched the smile that crept across his lips.

"Kaiba." I breathed softly.

"Seto," He whispered. "Call me Seto."

"Seto." I murmured.

The silence wrapped itself around us, warm and comforting. It was a perfect moment that hung like a golden raindrop from a petal, separated from everything else, beautiful in its simplicity.

Seto

I pulled her towards me without thinking about what I was doing. She smiled dreamily and slid closer. I picked up a lock of golden hair from her shoulder, and curled around my finger. Just then, Mokuba burst into the room.

"Big brother!" He stopped when he saw us. "Oh, sorry, am I interrupting something?" He asked innocently.

"No, nothing at all." I lied smoothly. "Got it." I smiled plucking a non-existent piece of fluff from Ellie's hair and uncurling my finger from the shining strands. She picked up on what I was doing and shook out her golden mane.

"Thanks Kaiba." She said using my formal name so as not to attract suspicion.

"We were just wondering where you two had got to." Mokuba told us. "Duke was particularly worried." I held back a laugh.

"I'm sure he was, we'll be right through." I replied. Mokuba bounced off and I caught Ellie's eye. They sparkled and I read the amusement on her face. I nodded my head towards the door and she stood up next to me. Together we walked back into the lounge. I watched Duke's eyes pull away from the film that was playing to dart between me and her, frowning.

"Hey, baby, come sit down here with me." He snatched her wrist from where he sat on the floor. I stepped closer to her instinctively, however Ellie had the situation completely under control.

"Sorry, I'd love to, but I promised Mokuba I'd sit next to him." She replied, nodding towards where he sat on the large sofa that stretched partway across the whiter-than-white walls. Duke scowled and his eyes darted towards mine, but he quickly dropped them and went back to watching the film. She breezed over to where Mokuba was and sat down next to him. Attempting to suppress the smile that pulled at my lips, I made to join her and sat down, clasping my hands behind my head.

The film was your typical sci-fi aliens-invading-earth film that Mokuba had recently become a fan of. I rolled my eyes at the obviously fake graphics and my mind wandered to the holographic technology for the new duel disk, when I felt something on my shoulder. I looked down and saw a head of golden hair, Ellie. She was resting her head on my shoulder. I tensed up instinctively. What was she doing? I felt her gasp and squeeze my hand as a slime-dripping alien jumped out on an unsuspecting human. I mean, yes we'd kissed, but, it didn't really mean anything, I wasn't about to get into any kind of relationship. I stiffened and she tilted her head to look up at me and smile, I let my lips twitch into a false half smile but inside my head was spinning. I'd sworn not to make emotional attachments to anyone. I'd sworn not to make myself any more weaknesses. I glanced around the room to see if anyone was watching us, fortunately they were all engrossed in the film, which was drawing to an end. Nothing could ever happen between us. Nothing would, I amended. I stayed completely still for the rest of the film, all-too aware of the head on my shoulder.

The film ended and she lifted her head and stood up from where she had been curled on the sofa. I let out a small internal sigh of relief and looked over to where the Geek Squad were collecting their things and getting ready to leave. I saw now that the kiss had been a mistake, a spur of the moment reaction to being sitting so close to her. I didn't like her at all, I was her boss, and she was my employee. It was as simple as that, no complications. Yes, that's all, there was nothing between us and there never would be.

"I'd better be off then." She smiled brightly slinging a bag over her shoulder. I smiled briefly in return. She made her way to the door with the others. I opened the door for them and listened as Mokuba excitedly told them how much fun they'd had, and how they definitely should come over again soon. She smiled at me as she left and called back a

"Goodbye Kaiba!" I replied with another goodbye and then firmly shut the door.

I had made up my mind, she was just a normal girl, nothing special, just another one of my employees. I nodded inwardly and cleared all thoughts of her from my mind.

Ellie

I could barely keep the smile from my face! He kissed me, he kissed me! He likes me too! It was all I could do not to spin around and skip the way home! A giggle escaped my lips and I felt the happiness bubble up inside of me. It was too perfect! Yes I'd had boyfriends before, but they had all been small, month long crushes that had quickly passed and none of them had made me feel like this!

I reached my house and whizzed up the stairs two at a time. Pressing my eyes shut, I stepped into my room, dropping my bag to the floor. Quickly, I pulled on my pyjamas. I spun twice around my room, grinning like a Cheshire cat, before collapsing onto my bed and falling into a deep sleep.

Thanks for reading! Love you and please review! *sending virtual cookies* :D