Chapter 10

Scheming Strategies and Invitations

BPOV

My heart was soaring as we rode the elevator to our room. Edward took my hand and brought it to his lips, brushing it lightly. I smiled at the sweet gesture and took my free hand around his waist, pressing my face into his chest. He gently removed his fingers from mine and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, bringing me closer as I shifted so I could look up at him.

"Thank you so much for bringing Jake back." I could feel the tears starting to pool in my eyes so I looked quickly down, burying my head back in his chest.

"Anything for you, love," he said as he stroked my hair. The elevator stopped at our floor and we walked hand in hand to the door.

It was still early so Edward lit the fireplace and pulled a table and a couple of plush chairs in front of it. I stared at what he was doing, curiously, wondering what he had planned. Edward motioned for me to take a seat while he went to the closet, and pulled out a beautiful wooden chess set.

"Do you know how to play chess?" He asked as he started pulling out the pieces and setting up the board. My first thought was to tell him the truth that I was on the chess club in high school. But then I thought about the fun I could have with him, so I shook my head.

"No, I've never played before." I smirked inwardly, if only he knew about the first place trophy currently stored away that I had received in high school.

"It's really a game of strategy." He then proceeded to explain the game in the simplest form, writing down the directions that each piece could move for me. I would occasionally ask questions, while discreetly plotting a little strategy of my own.

"Do you think you know enough to get started?" I gave him my most innocent look and nodded.

The game started off slowly while I positioned myself to take his king, Edward still being unsuspecting and clueless.

"So, I wanted to let you know that my parents are flying in Friday for the anniversary party for the New York office." Smiling slyly at me as he pushed his knight where I wanted it. This is too easy.

"Really…You've told me a lot about your siblings but almost nothing about your parents. I remember you saying that your dad was a doctor but that's about it." I moved my queen and took his knight. He looked slightly surprised at the move.

"That was a good move; I didn't even see it coming." He confessed, as he focused on the board more closely.

"Was it?" I asked, playing the innocent card yet again. He ran his fingers through his hair. He must have realized that he only had a few moves to get out of the situation he had put himself in.

"Carlisle is pretty amazing. He invented a "power knee," which was the first motor-powered prosthetic. He sold his idea to the military to help with the wounded veterans coming home from the Gulf and ended up donating most of the proceeds to the Walter Reed Military Hospital to help vets get back on their feet, literally."

"Wow, so genius runs in the blood?" Shaking his head, he chuckled, moving his queen and trying to block the attack that was inevitable.

"No, he's not my biological father. I was adopted as a baby." I decided to move my bishop, so that he would take it, giving him a false sense of security.

"Does it bother you that you were adopted?" I hurried on to explain. "I mean, some people feel resentment towards their birth parents for giving them up." Sheesh Bella, lose your compassion? He waved his hand at me, dismissing my worry over the directness of the question.

"Not at all. Sometimes I'm curious about them but my parents told me that they were really young, so I'm grateful to them for doing the right thing."

"Did your parents meet them?"

"No." He took my bishop, with a smug smile on his face. Oh, I can't wait to wipe that smile of his handsome face.

"So, let's have a little wager on this game." He looked at me slightly surprised.

"I don't think that would be fair for you." He had so much confidence. He didn't even realize I was two moves away from squashing him.

"I can hold my own. What do you want to bet on?" Make it good. Make it good. I chanted in my mind.

"Hmmm, anything?" He had much too devious of a smile on his face.

"Within reason." I stated giving him a warning glare.

"If I win, you give me another kiss, not just any kiss, an amazing kiss." He requested, smirking.

My mouth dropped open and I stared at him, as a wicked smile lit across his features. I may throw the game if he keeps looking at me like that. I had to clear my throat to get the squeak out of it, before I made a fool of myself.

"All right. If I win you have to do whatever I say for twenty-four hours." He clapped his hands together, rubbing them vigorously, then he pointed at the board.

"It's your move." He was intently staring at the board, as if staring at it would make his pieces fall into place.

I moved my queen and with a triumphant smile said. "Check". I looked up from my victorious move and was confused by the look on his face. He was smiling at me like he knew a secret that I didn't, his gaze scrutinizing me.

"You are a big fibber, Isabella." I tried to keep my cool at being caught.

"Whatever do you mean?" I said in my best Scarlett O'Hara voice.

"You've played chess before. You are too good to not know what you are doing." He leaned over the board so that he was inches from my face before he continued.

"Checkmate, my dear." He said in a breathy whisper, the sweet smell of him dazzling my senses briefly before I realized what he had just said. My eyes snapped to the board and sure enough he had me.

"Nooooo! How did you do that?" I stomped my foot in agitation. "I had you!" His shoulders were shaking hard as he watched me throw my temper tantrum. I gave him a swift kick under the table at laughing at me.

"Now who's the brute?" He rubbed his shin, laughing.

"You cheated." I pouted as I turned away from him.

"It's not my fault you're so unobservant. Now, I have a prize to claim." He stood up and swiftly pulled me out of the chair. I was stunned at how quickly he had me in his arms. If this was what losing entailed, I wouldn't mind doing it all over again.

The fireplace crackled and I was acutely aware of all of my senses. My chest was pressed up against his and one arm was wrapped tightly around my waist while his other hand was sliding from my shoulder up to my neck pulling my even closer. His warm breath blew across my lips caressing them softly. He smelled like honey with a touch of red wine. His eyes didn't hold the mirth that was there a minute ago, instead it was replaced by a fire that I had come to recognize as desire.

"Bella," he whispered against my lips as he lightly brushed his mouth with mine. I gave in with my whole being when he said my name; it was a whisper as if he was making love to me. I could not resist him, I didn't want to. His hand that was on my neck threaded in my hair and he aggressively took my lips with his.

His mouth opened and I followed his lead as his tongue entered my mouth. A small shudder shook my body at the contact and I felt him smile against my lips as he continued to stroke my tongue with his. I slid my hands up his well defined arms and pulled him even closer; a small moan came from between his lips and into my mouth by the full body contact. I knew that if this didn't stop soon I wouldn't be able to. He broke the kiss and started kissing a trail down my neck. That's when I pulled back, keeping him at an arms distance.

Breathing heavily I tried to compose my thoughts enough to speak. "Well, Mr. Cullen, I think you've claimed your prize." He groaned loudly, showing his displeasure as he dropped his arms from around me and fell back into his chair. His fingers rubbed his forehead and then pulled them through his hair.

"Edward." He held up his had as if to stop me from continuing.

"Go to bed Bella." He growled at me.

I blinked a few times, trying to digest what he said. I turned on my heel and went to our room without a word, not wanting to push his control any further than I already had. I closed the door and leaned against it, lightly pressing my fingers to my lips, still feeling the passion that had just passed through them.

I quickly got dressed and went to the bathroom to finish my evening routine. I chanced a glance out the door to see Edward sitting in the same chair he was in before, staring at the fire, a bottle of brandy and a glass now on the table where the chess game once was. It felt like things were changing between us. It was the hardest thing I had ever done pulling away from him. Why exactly did I pull away? The reasons were harder to remember the more time I spent time with him.

EPOV

I need a drink.

I ran my hands through my hair for the hundredth time in the last ten minutes, tugging on it tightly wanting to feel any little bit of pain to help forget about the little nymph in the bedroom. I shoved all the pieces to the chess set back in the box and set it on the floor then I stood up and went to the bar pulling out a bottle of brandy and a glass. I poured a glass and downed it quickly before pouring another one and walking over to the chair and plopping down, bottle still in hand.

I tried to slowly drown all thoughts of Bella from my mind. It wasn't working. Why was I so drawn to her? She constantly surprised me. I never knew what she would say next. One moment she was shy and the next she was a vixen. She would pull me closer and then when I was too close shove me away. Just like the kiss. I knew she wanted it as much as I did. Her reaction was proof enough. She was so responsive and…and…perfect.

"Grrrrrrrrr!" My frustrated growl slipped from my mouth as I continued to stare at the fire. Why am I denying this? Why is she? My hand curled around the bottle as I brought it to the glass, pouring another drink. In one shot it was sliding down my throat.

Her depth surprised me. She has a kind heart and serving spirit. I was thoroughly impressed by her willingness to volunteer during the 911 crisis. She didn't mind getting dirty. She went where she was needed, with no thought to public recognition. The compassion was pouring out of her at the memorial; she had said that the hardest part was watching other people suffer.

My mind traveled back to Tanya and how her acts of service were usually only done if she could wear four inch heels and there was a cameraman waiting close by. She would have never been caught working in a kitchen feeding the relief workers. I can't believe I married such a shallow woman.

Bella is definitely not Tanya.

I only wished that I would have met Bella before I married Tanya. Unfortunately, wishes only come true in fairytales. But what would I have done? Would I have married Bella? I scoffed at the thought and downed another glass of brandy.

That would suggest that I loved her. Did I? I know that I have an extremely strong attraction to her, but love? I wanted to keep her safe and protect her from the outside world. If I could keep her here with me I would, but soon I'll have to return back to Washington. Then what? Would I see her again? The thought of not seeing Bella again made my heart squeeze painfully.

My thoughts continued like this for hours, the more liquor I drank, the more it kept my heart from feeling anything. I woke up a few hours later sitting in the chair, still feeling the effects of drinking half a bottle of brandy and stumbled into the bedroom, pulling my clothes off and leaving a trail from the living room to the bedroom where I collapsed, face down, on the bed in nothing but my boxers.

Small warm hands were touching my back, running up and down the muscles in a deliciously sinful way. I raised my head to be met with warm brown eyes staring at me. I flipped over onto my back and her hands moved to my chest grazing over my abs and up towards my shoulders.

Bella leaned down and hungrily took my lips. This wasn't the sweet kiss that we shared earlier, this one was filled with every unspoken desire I had for this woman. I broke the kiss, pulling her down on top of me so I could reach her neck easier.

She moaned in pleasure as I took her earlobe into my mouth, sucking lightly. She pulled away from me, a wicked grin on her face as she placed a kiss on my chest, above my heart.

"Do you know what I'm going to do to you, Mr. Cullen?" Why is it when she called me Mr. Cullen I instantly got hard? She continued downward and placed another small kiss in the center of my chest, looking up at me quickly as I watched her caressing my body with her lips. I shook my head, answering her question, knowing that if I spoke now it probably wouldn't sound very masculine.

Bella placed another kiss on my stomach just above my naval. "I'm going to kiss you all over." Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm sounded in my ear making my head throb with the pulsing beep. I groggily slapped the stupid thing, knocking it off the nightstand. I let out a long frustrated groan. It was only a damn dream!

I groaned as I rolled over to a wide eyed Bella. She looked slightly panicked. Why would she be panicky? I flipped over onto my stomach and buried my head under the pillow. I could not look at her right now. Not after the way I had just imagined her ready and willing.

Her warm hand touched my shoulder softly, just like in my dream.

"Edward?" she whispered

"Go back to sleep Bella." My tone was clipped with annoyance at myself for the things I was thinking about her, and for drinking as much as I did last night. My head throbbed and I knew there was no way I was going into work until this headache was gone.

"Don't you need to go into the office?"

"Later, now go back to sleep." Her hand slid off of my skin and I became acutely aware that I had a breeze on my legs. I lifted my head enough to look down and saw that they were completely bare except for the silky boxers that covered my rear.

I growled as I tried to maneuver under the covers, shooting pains ran through my head with every movement. When I got settled under the covers I felt the bed slightly shake and then heard a sniff from the woman next to me. I pulled the pillow quickly off of my head and stared at the shaking shoulders of Bella. Damn, I did it again! How the hell do I keep doing this to this poor girl? I reached out and pulled her against my chest, brushing her hair carefully away from her face.

"I'm so sorry, Bella." She shook her head violently a small sob escaping her lips.

"It's not your fault, Edward. I just don't want anything to come between us."

"Nothing will. Look, I have a raging headache from one to many drinks last night. I didn't mean to snap at you, I just need to sleep a little longer because I have to go into the office today." I had a meeting later that day with Mr. Kinsley and his management team, but that wasn't until two o'clock.

"This is what I was referring to when I said that things would get weird," she said.

I plopped my head back onto the pillow, she was talking about last night. Thankfully she didn't know what I was just about to do to her in my dream. She thought the kiss made things awkward, I'd hate to hear what she would say to the direction those thoughts were going in.

"Bella, it was just a kiss. A kiss done on a bet, it doesn't mean anything. Stop beating yourself up over it. It happened and if it makes you feel this bad, it won't happen again."

She warned me that she wasn't ready to take our friendship to the next level, and I had to push it. I was mentally kicking myself at my impatience. I had only thought about what I wanted when I made that bet with her. Now I've probably pushed her too far. She may never open up to me again. Was I any better than that scum Mike? I forced my will upon her without thought to her feelings. She can be so confident and strong at times that I sometimes forget that underneath it all lays a woman with extremely low self worth.

She sniffed and nodded her head. What was she agreeing to? Not doing it again or not beating herself up over it? My head was throbbing too hard to ponder what was going on in her mind. She got up out of bed and went into the bathroom. She returned a few minutes later with aspirin and a glass of water. I gladly took it then rolled back onto my stomach. She climbed back into bed and snuggled up into my side. I sighed knowing there wasn't anything I could do now to fix the mess I had made. I would have to figure out another way to make it up to her. Jewelry. That's it. Women like jewelry. These were my last thoughts before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

A few hours later I woke up to an empty bed. I pulled myself out of bed making note that the headache had subsided, but wasn't completely gone. I grabbed a robe out of the bathroom and went into the living room.

"Bella?" She didn't respond. I looked in the dining area and she wasn't there either. Oh, no. I didn't upset her so bad that she left, did I? I groaned as I went back into the bedroom to find my phone. Under my phone was a note. I read it and instantly relaxed.

Edward,

I had errands to run this afternoon. I'll see you when you get back from work.

Bella

P.S. Sorry about this morning.

Relief swept through me when I realized she was coming back. I made my way into the bathroom and took a steaming hot shower. The heat helped to ease my headache so I got dressed, grabbed an apple out of the fruit basket and headed to work.

I got in the office around one o'clock and had just enough time to get a briefing from our lawyer and meet with Emmett.

"You look like hell, little bro."

"Thanks Em, just what one loves to here when one is closing the biggest deal of the year." I sarcastically threw at him.

"Chill, man. What's up? Why do you look like death warmed over?" he inquired.

"Brandy."

"Who's Brandy? I thought your hot new plaything's name was Bella." I growled at him impatiently.

"I drank too much last night and Bella is not a plaything." I was on my last nerve and Emmett was going to wind up getting the brunt of my anger. He must have realized that I was not in the mood for one of his jibes, so he moved on to the meeting.

"Mr. Kingsley is bringing in his management team so we can meet them and get a better feel for what they do. He'll also be signing all the paperwork today." I nodded my head. This is always the hardest part, meeting the management teams and having to decide who stays and who goes. Most of the time businesses fail it is due to poor management.

I went back into my office and awaited the meeting by lying down on the couch in my office with my arm over my eyes. I could still see her hovering over me while her lips…Stop it, Edward. I could not get the visual out of my mind. Every time I closed my eyes I would see her in one compromising position or another.

I sat up, pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers and rubbing slightly. I'm acting like a sex crazed boy. Hundreds of beautiful women threw themselves at me daily and not one of them has had the effect that this shy, broken girl has had on me.

Emmett came and got me when it was time to meet with the new clients. We walked into the conference room and sitting in the middle of the long table was Mr. Kingsley. He immediately stood, walking over to us to shake our hands. Once all the pleasantries were over we all sat down. Mr. Kingsley had brought several of his corporate executives, his lawyer and four of his division managers.

"How's that great girl of yours?" Mr. Kingsley asked me as we were getting seated.

"She's fantastic, thank you."

"Glad to hear it. Please tell her hello for me." I nodded my head and chuckled at the thought of Mr. Kingsley being slightly smitten with Bella.

"So, Mr. Kingsley, why don't you tell us what your current projects are so we can get a feel for what will be needed in the near future." I threaded my fingers together and leaned back in the chair, waiting for him to begin.

"We have several projects started already. The most extensive is our sporting goods division. We have opened several chain stores and have four more planned in the next year."

"Who's in charge of getting them up and running?" Mr. Kingsley pointed to a blonde man sitting at the end of the table.

"Mike Newton has just recently taken over. Mike, why don't you tell Mr. Cullen what has been planned for the upcoming year." Mike had a deer in the headlights look on his face. I could smell incompetence a mile away, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. He stuttered through his ideas for the future of his department and I found them lacking in several areas.

"Mr. Newton, what is it you did before you took over this department?" I inquired.

"I worked in the marketing department of the sporting goods chain." Ahhh…just as I suspected, he was under qualified for the job he was in. I could tell by his demeanor that he was flying by the seat of his pants.

"So is this your first time working with Mr. Kingsley?"

"Yes, I started a few days ago." Well maybe he's just getting his bearings. Then to be thrown to the wolves in your first week at a new job can be daunting. I made a mental note to watch his department closely over the coming months but I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I turned back to Mr. Kingsley and he continued filling us in on the companies that he still possessed. Our lawyers had all the paperwork signed and finished by the time our meeting ended. Emmett and I walked them out to the lobby.

"Well Mr. Kingsley, welcome to the Pacific Northwest Trust family." I said as I shook his hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Cullen, I'm looking forward to our partnership." He said genuinely.

"Don't forget, this Saturday is our New York branch's fifth anniversary party. We would love to have you and your staff attend," Emmett reminded him.

"Fantastic, who doesn't love a party," Mr. Kingsley said enthusiastically.

"Great, I'll have my secretary send you all of the details." Emmett shook his hand one more time then went back towards his office. I went over and shook all of his staff's hands and welcomed them under the PNT umbrella before I made my way back to my office.

Emmett knocked on my door. "Hey, you got a minute?" I waved him in.

"So what did you think?" We always had these chat sessions when a large merger happened, but they usually happened over the phone. He walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink.

"Well, most of the divisions seem to have it together. But—"

"The sporting goods division." Emmett finished my sentence for me. "Yeah, I got the same impression."

"We'll have to watch it over the next few months and see where it goes." I commented, not wanting to end the program before it had a chance to start. Emmett shook his head.

"You sometimes need to be more cut throat Edward." Emmett commented letting out a loud bark of laughter. "You're just too nice sometimes. We both know that that Mike guy isn't qualified to do his job."

"I just don't like ending someone's lively hood on a whim. I always believed that if you put high expectations on people they usually try to live up to them. I'm willing to give him a chance and see what happens. Besides, what if he has a family, kids? Mr. Kingsley obviously saw something in him so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt until he proves otherwise."

"Whatever you say, boss." Emmett finished his drink and went to the door, pausing before he went out.

"When are you gonna tell me what's up with Bella?"

I shook my head blowing him off again. "There's nothing much to tell."

"I think you like her a lot more than you're letting on." He smiled slightly before walking out the door.

I finished up the paperwork that was on my desk and went back to the hotel. Bella was curled up on the couch with a book when I arrived. Half empty Chinese food containers were on the coffee table.

"I hope you like Chinese food; I didn't know when you were going to be back so I ordered in."

"That's fine, I'm just going to eat and then go climb in bed." I told her as I filled a plate.

"You really shouldn't drink that much." She chastised me with a playful smirk.

"Yes mother. I'll remember that next time." My sarcastic comment sent her into a fit of giggles. We chatted lightly until I finished dinner, and then I went and crawled into bed, glad to see this long day over.

And…by popular demand we have the ever charming Mike added back into the story. Honestly, my first idea was just to leave him as a horrible little man that haunted Bella's memories but you guys were ready to lynch him so I couldn't let him off the hook so easily. So….let's have some fun with him, shall we?