Thanks as always to my amazing ladies, Kitty & Mary and to you guys for such a wonderful response. I still can't quite believe it!

Chapter 11

The alarm going off at five the next morning made me want to cry. Having spent the better part of six weeks ignoring me, Edward had come to the decision he had a lot of making up to do. Not that I was complaining of course, it just meant we didn't get much sleep.

"That is the most hideous fucking noise," Edward muttered and pulled a pillow over his face. "Turn it off."

"It was your bright idea for me to spend the night," I reminded him and sat up yawning. "If you'd been a gentleman and walked me home last night we'd both be asleep right now."

He peeked out from behind the pillow and smiled. "I'd rather you be here," he said sleepily. "And like I said last night, I've six weeks of asshole-ish behaviour to try and make up for."

I couldn't help but smile—a really huge, face-splitting grin and I was thankful for the near-darkness in the room. "That is true," I agreed.

"And as we're both awake now…" he said gruffly. "I can think of a way to make it up to you that little bit more."

"Don't even think it," I growled and he chuckled.

"You really aren't a morning person."

"I'm serious, Edward, I don't do sex in a morning." I yawned. "Ever."

"Is that a challenge?" He laughed. "I like a challenge."

"If you want to consider it a challenge then I guarantee you'll be going down, Mr. Cullen," I warned him. "This is one challenge you will not win."

"If I really turned it on, Bella," He smirked, "Trust me you wouldn't stand a chance."

"Cockhead." I hit him with my pillow and stood up. "

"What?" he asked, throwing the pillow to one side. "What did you just call me?"

"A cockhead," I said, trying to find my clothes.

"Should I be offended?" he asked, pouting and I laughed.

"Mm, honestly? Yeah you should. I gave you that name after you were a huge cockhead to me in your office on my first day." I wiggled into my jeans. "I nearly called you Mr. Cockhead to your face so many times."

"I guess I deserved that," he said sadly and sat up.

"For the record, I use it now in a purely affectionate way. I don't, in fact think you're a cockhead, quite the opposite really." I blew him a kiss. "I need to go."

"Stay?" he whispered, climbing out of the bed grabbing my hand. "Just a little longer?"

"Stop it." I backed away. "We'll be late."

"So?" he said seductively.

"We have a meeting." I pressed my hand against his bare chest and tried to push him back. "I have to go… I really do. You won't win."

"This challenge is still in play." He laughed and reached behind me open the door. As he kissed my cheek he said, "But I think I won the best thing of all."

"You really do have the best lines." I blew him another kiss and left him standing extremely naked in the doorway.

TBMOA

I kept my clothes extremely professional knowing we really needed to be on our best behaviour when the building was open as normal. Edward was already in his office when I arrived and I'd not even taken off my coat when my phone buzzed.

I hope you're not wearing that shirt again, Miss Swan? E x

I smiled to myself and looked through the glass. He kept his eyes on the computer screen but I could see the huge grin on his face.

Different shirt, I promise. The same can't be said for my underwear. B x

I turned on the coffee machine and then sat down at my desk with the intention of getting on with my work.

Now I know that isn't true, Miss Swan. They're still in my office. E x

I ignored his message and instead took him his coffee. "Cinnamon?" I guessed and he laughed.

"Assume it's always Cinnamon from now on, Miss Swan." He took the cup from my hand and let his fingers graze my wrist deliberately. "Thank you."

"Are you ready for the others?" I asked, referring to the usual morning debrief.

"Yeah, let's get it over with." He pulled a face and then asked almost anxiously, "You will behave?"

"Behave?" I laughed.

"In the meeting," he said and stood up. "I don't think I could concentrate if you're being all sexy and seducey."

"Seducey? That's not a word."

"It's a word," he said walking a few steps closer to me. "You're all seducey when you bite your lip and pretend to work."

"I do work!" I told him. "And I don't try to be seducey, you just have a one track mind."

"You don't have to try to be seducey, Bella, you just are. I'm not the only who's noticed as I'm sure you're aware." He got all angry again, so I discreetly placed my hand on his arm.

"I only wanted you to notice," I admitted and he relaxed.

"Oh I did." He smirked and went back to his desk. "So no seducey behaviour?"

"I'll do my very best, Mr. Cullen," I said sweetly and turned to leave, wiggling my ass as I did.

"You're so not going to behave." He chuckled.

As it happened, I did behave. Mr. Cullen on the other hand, did not.

TBMOA

"Miss Swan?" he asked in his usual cool, curt office-manner. "I need the details on the Yorkie deal. I'd like to show Jacob what I've planned so far. You'll find the file in my desk drawer."

"Right away, Mr. Cullen." I saw the faintest, ghost of a smirk on his face but thought little of it until I opened the drawer. There sitting right on top of the wanted file was my torn panties.

"Something wrong, Miss Swan?" he asked innocently. "We're waiting."

"No, Sir. I've got it right here." I stuffed the panties into my pocket and shut the drawer quickly. "Here you are, Mr. Cullen."

Jackass

"Jacob, I need this to be your top priority. You have my permission to delegate your other assignments until this is complete. It's a big deal for us and we need to give him our very best work." He was all domineering and bossman again and I couldn't help but think about Saturday morning.

"I also want to discuss this," he said sharply and nearly everyone jumped when a file landed on the table with a loud slap. "This was a rejection… notice I said was?"

Uh-oh.

It was the manuscript Edward had caught me reading and then overridden the original rejection after I went on the mini-rant.

"It's your genre, Colin, am I right?" he asked icily and I gulped.

"I didn't think…" Colin began to say nervously. "It didn't really grab me and…"

"You did read a few chapters of course?" Edward asked and Colin nodded. "No you did not. Let me tell you what I think happened, Colin. You read the summary, decided that it didn't sound like anything worth publishing and dismissed it. The summary stinks, I'll give you that but, anyone who read the first chapter would have snapped it up."

"My mistake, I'm really sorry," he mumbled. "Thank you for catching it, Mr. Cullen."

I wasn't expecting him to acknowledge my part in this so his response shocked me.

"I didn't. You should be thanking Miss Swan for that, Colin, and make sure you do at some point." Everyone looked at me and I blushed furiously. "Cleaning up your mistakes is not one of her tasks, so may I ask you all to raise your game. We can't afford to miss out on the books worth printing and I won't tolerate slack work."

"Thank you-" Colin began to say to me but he was interrupted.

"Not now, Colin." Edward shook his head and added, "I want to see every manuscript that comes to you for the next two weeks. As soon as you've made your assessment, bring it to my office. I need to establish if this was a one-time mistake or something else. Are we clear?"

Colin nodded once and I wanted to kiss Edward right there in front of everyone for giving me the acknowledgement. However, I didn't think he'd class that as good behaviour so I just plotted other ways to thank him later. The meeting was over a few minutes after the Colin-humiliating and Edward excused all of us bar Emily who had to go over a few other things with him.

As soon as I was back at my desk I picked up my phone and texted him.

Thank you. That was really nice. B x

I watched him pick up his phone and smile.

Credit where credit is due, Bella. Make sure he thanks you. E x

I grinned to myself; the sweeter side to his personality was too good to keep hidden behind the asshole façade he put out there. Speaking of which…

Oh and on a separate matter… cockhead! B x

His smile grew wider for a split second before he composed himself.

I'm not following. E x

Of course you aren't. BTW I returned the panties back to their rightful owner. B x

I just couldn't resist. Forgive me? E x

You might have to add some more making up time to that long list of yours. B x

Consider it done. Did you not appreciate it at all? E x

Actually, Mr. Cullen, it was kinda hot. It made me think about Saturday… me naked… on your desk… that was fun. Can we do it again soon? Or maybe this time I could return the favour ;) B x

I laughed quietly when I saw him tug on the top button of his shirt and fidget in the chair.

You okay, Mr. Cullen? You look a little flustered. B x

He glanced through the glass, trying to seem angry but he was failing. I could see he was dying to smile and I just laughed again.

You're an evil, evil woman. E x

I decided to let him focus on the meeting and got on with my work. I heard the elevator doors open, but I hadn't looked up before the visitor spoke.

"Good morning, Isabella."

I stiffened when I heard Royce's voice and glanced nervously into Edward's office. He had his back to me, looking over some artwork Emily was working on.

"Morning," I mumbled.

"A little birdy told me you were a little hung over on Friday." He smirked and sat on my desk. "I hope Cullen didn't give you too much flack."

"I wasn't hung over," I said casually. "Who told you that I was?"

He shrugged and asked, "Didn't Cullen have to reschedule the meeting because you didn't show? Gee, I hope we don't lose the contract for that, but rumour has it Eric Yorkie was talking exclusively to Felix Green first thing this morning."

"You need to find another, more well-informed source for your gossip and hearsay then, Mr. King," I told him icily. "Edward secured the contract on Saturday morning, so there's nothing to be worried about."

Royce didn't look happy about that, but he disguised it quickly and put his hand on my shoulder. "It was great to see you at the club. We should do it again… just you and me."

"No thank you," I said politely but my heart was racing and not in the same way Edward made it race. I moved my chair back to try and break the contact, but he leaned closer over the desk.

"I'm serious, Isabella, you looked good enough to eat. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get to leave together." He rubbed his thumb on the back of my neck and I pushed away quickly.

"I'd rather you didn't do that," I told him angrily.

"Why?"

"It's inappropriate and I'm not interested." I stood up and stepped away from my desk. "I'm really busy, Mr. King. Did you need anything?"

"I just wish you'd let me take you out and show you what you're missing," he said, closing the distance between us again. I looked to Edward's office again, but he was still facing away from me. "We'd be great together."

"I disagree. Men with girlfriends, wives, or fiancées do not interest me and to be completely honest, Royce, you're making me really uncomfortable, please step away."

"You won't cause a scene, Isabella. You need this job, remember?" He laughed and tried to touch my face. "I think there's a lot you'd put up with before you'd go running to daddy."

He was almost right—I didn't want to cause a scene and not because I feared for my job… I feared for Edward's. I thought about how angry he'd been yesterday and I wasn't sure how he'd react to Royce now. I was just about to push him away as hard as I could when we were interrupted.

"Miss. Swan, I really need to talk to you." Alice was standing by my desk looking seriously pissed off. "It's urgent."

"Excuse me," I mumbled and pushed him away.

Alice turned and walked into the bathroom and I followed. As soon as the door swung shut I was just about to explain what had really happened when she asked, "Are you okay?"

"Oh." It wasn't what I'd been expecting at all and I nodded once. "Yes."

"He looked a little full on."

"He can't take a hint," I said quietly. "I wasn't sure how to deal with him without causing a huge scene."

"He's a jerk," Alice muttered. "Mrs. Goff asked me to keep an eye on you. Apparently, she noticed he had a fondness for you on your first day. I was just going to the bathroom when I heard his voice."

"Thank you," I whispered and she smiled.

"No problem. You should tell, Mr. Cullen," she suggested.

"I was hoping it would pass," I admitted, still unsure if this amicable behaviour was genuine. "Why are you being nice?"

"Yeah, I guess I owe you an apology for how I acted." She laughed and shook her head. "I hate to admit it… but I think maybe we were wrong and Mrs. Goff was right about you. I thought you were here to get fast-tracked to an important position like Mr. King. Everyone knows he only got the job because of Mr. Hale and Rosalie. I just assumed…"

"You aren't the only one." I smiled.

"You're doing a great job," she said. "No one can deny that and Jessica also owes you an even bigger apology for letting you take the blame for her screw up."

"It's no big deal," I said, still feeling unsure. "I should get back… Mr. Cullen doesn't like me leaving my desk."

"He's a hard ass that's for sure," she agreed. "Don't tell the others I said this, but I respect him for what he's done here in such a short space of time. I do sympathise with you though."

"Why?"

"We get his company for an hour in a morning and maybe one or two other instances during the day." She laughed. "You get it for nine hours… I don't know how you can stand it."

I shrugged. "I think I've learned to drown out his barking."

"You'll have to teach me how to do that." She grinned.

As we left the bathroom, I noticed Royce still loitering around my desk.

"I can wait?" she offered but I shook my head.

"No, I got it. Thanks, Alice," I said sincerely.

"Sure." She gave me a friendly smile and then asked, "Are you going to the party on Saturday? It's the retirement party for Mr. Hale and Mrs. Goff."

"Oh, yeah. That should be fun," I said, not sure if mixing alcohol in the company of Edward would result in anything other than totally inappropriate behaviour.

"Cool." She grinned and walked back to the editing office.

When I returned to my desk I asked Royce icily, "Did you need anything?"

He inclined his head to Edward's office. "I need to see Cullen."

"I'll just see if he can be disturbed." I wouldn't normally interrupt Edward, but there was no way I was staying alone with that creep and I honestly had no idea how to handle it without the end result being my knee in his groin. I walked quickly over to the door and knocked once before opening it. "I'm sorry to disturb you, Mr. Cullen."

He turned around and frowned slightly but his voice was soft. "What is it?"

"Mr. King is here to see you," I said quietly and his jaw clenched. "I can tell him you're busy… um… but…"

He noticed my expression and shook his head. "No, it's fine, Bella. I'm sorry, Emily, we'll have to finish this later."

"Sure, Mr. Cullen." Emily gathered her things from the desk.

"Shall I send him in?" I asked still lingering nervously in the doorway, reluctant to go back to Royce.

"No," he answered tightly and stood up.

"See you at lunch, Bella?" Emily asked as she approached the door.

"Yeah sure." I smiled.

Edward followed Emily out of the room and then addressed Royce stiffly, "I didn't realise we had a meeting scheduled."

"We don't." Royce said, all the niceties gone now Edward was around. "I'd heard that you'd lost the Yorkie deal and thought I'd offer my commiserations. Isabella and I were just talking about it and she seemed to think you'd managed to save it."

"Mr. King was under the impression that we lost the contract because I was absent on Friday morning. I told him that he'd been misinformed and that the deal was made on Saturday," I told Edward pointedly and he nodded once. "He doesn't appear to believe me."

"Miss Swan informed you correctly. Yorkie's agent and I agreed terms on Saturday morning." He didn't elaborate further and his posture was rigid and a little intimidating.

"Does Phil know you were absent?" Royce asked me and before I had chance to say a word, Edward intercepted, moving to stand in front of me.

"Mr. Dwyer will find out about it when we have the twelve week performance review," Edward said, his voice almost venomous. "Miss Swan called me early on Friday morning to explain why she would be late and we simply rescheduled a meeting. I don't see how that would be any of your concern, Royce?"

I had to hand it to Edward, he was so convincing I almost believed him.

"The talk around here is that she was out at a club and too drunk to show for work," he said casually and Edward's cool demeanour slipped just slightly.

Not sure what else to do to diffuse the situation I spoke up, "You saw me, Mr. King, I certainly wasn't drunk and you even bought me a non-alcoholic daiquiri.

"Then why weren't you here?" he pressed.

"Again, I'll ask what concern it is of yours?" Edward said firmly. "Miss Swan is my assistant and besides Mr. Dwyer, there is no one else here that she has to explain herself to. Now do you need to talk to me about something or not?"

"Not right now," he said coolly. Edward remained in the same spot, making it perfectly clear he wasn't moving until Royce left. "Congratulations on the Yorkie deal, but I've got an even bigger one lined up."

"Good," Edward said to him. "Every deal is good for the company."

If he expected more of a response then he was bound to be disappointed because Edward remained completely indifferent. Royce mumbled a disgruntled goodbye and walked over to the elevator. I returned straight back to my desk, but Edward waited until he was gone before moving a muscle.

He walked over to my desk and crouched down beside me. "What happened?" His eyes were studying my face for the truth.

"Nothing much," I lied and Edward noticed.

"Bella?" he asked softly. "Tell me what he said to you."

"It was just a different version of the same creepy come on. He can't seem to take the hint. It's no big deal." I looked up and saw Edward staring at me. "I wouldn't… even when I thought you hated me… I would never… he gives me the creeps."

"And that's it?" he asked as if he knew there was something I wasn't telling him.

"Thanks to Alice, yes," I told him and he frowned. "Alice interrupted him…"

"Interrupted him doing what?" he asked, tense and rigid again. "Bella, what did she interrupt?"

"Can we talk about this another time?" I asked and he sighed.

"Don't shut me out," he whispered and this time I sighed.

"I don't want you to get all angry again," I admitted. "And it was nothing much… he just thinks I'm interested, Edward and I think he was going to… maybe he might have… shit I don't know. Please can we drop it?"

"For now," he said, his voice strained. "But if he does or says anything else to make you feel uncomfortable, please tell me." He glanced quickly around the room and then squeezed my hand. "Or Phil if you'd prefer."

"I'd rather not tell Phil anything, for now at least." I could see how worked up Edward was over this and I certainly didn't want to make it more of a drama. I tried to reassure him, "Edward, Royce King is basically just an opportunistic whore. Everyone knows he's cheated on his fiancée so many times and there are more than enough girls out there that want to sleep with him… I'm sure he'll lose interest when he realizes it's not happening with me."

"His fiancée is Peter Hale's daughter," he said and I nodded. "And now Peter has retired he might be trying to make sure he still has support from the right people. You're Phil's stepdaughter." He kept hold of my hand.

"I'll tell Phil if he doesn't get the hint soon, okay?"

"Please do, Bella." Edward nodded and released my hand. "I should get back to work."

"Do you want a coffee or anything?" I asked, standing up but he stopped me.

"I'll get it." He chuckled and then asked super politely, "Miss Swan, can I get you a drink of coffee?"

"Cinnamon is good." I laughed and watched in amusement as he brought the drink over. "Well, would you look at that? Mr. Cullen is being helpful."

"Don't expect it too often, I have a reputation as a cockhead to uphold." He winked and went back to his desk.

TBMOA

"Is everything okay?" Emily watched as I pushed my lunch around my plate. "You seemed… weird when Royce King came to see Mr. Cullen."

"Thanks to Alice it was nothing really." I looked up at her and shrugged. "He gives me the creeps."

"You can talk to me, Bella." She smiled sweetly. "Friend to friend."

"I don't know… I guess he just doesn't seem to get that I'm not interested." I gave up trying to eat, my appetite had totally vanished. "He's touchy-feely and after Thursday I just feel even more uneasy around him."

Shit.

"What happened on Thursday?" she asked.

"Um…" I hesitated.

"Bella?"

"I went out with Amber and Carmen," I said quietly. "I had one glass of champagne when we first got there and then nothing else. I bumped into Royce at the bar, he bought us a drink, we talked for a few minutes and then I left him there."

"Okay." She frowned. "What happened?"

"Someone sent us a drink and like an idiot I drank it. I don't know who sent it or what was in it, but the girls were convinced it was Royce. I came over all weird and ended up feeling so sick and disoriented. I fell asleep on the bathroom floor and it was lunchtime before I woke up." I saw Emily's eyes widen. "I think that maybe I was… um…"

"You think you were drugged?" she gasped. "Did you call the police, Bella?"

"No… I mean nothing happened to me, the girls took me home." I shook my head. "And what was I going to say? A man I never saw bought me a drink and I think I might have been drugged but I'm really not sure?"

"You tell them about Royce," she said fiercely.

"Tell them what? A guy who has tried it on a few times was in the same club so it was probably him?" I almost laughed at the absurdity. "I should have been more careful."

"What happened when you got to work?" she whispered. "I mean, what did Mr. Cullen say?"

Now how was I going to handle this one?

"He sent me home and then made me work the time back on Saturday." I hoped it all sounded cool and collected.

Emily smirked. "Is that all you want to tell me?"

"Huh?"

"Mr. Cullen cancelled all of his appointments on Friday afternoon… I'm pretty sure he was gone most of the day." She laughed. "And you're totally blushing."

I groaned and banged my head on the table. "Emily," I whined. "It's not what you think."

"Are you two…?"

"No," I said insistently. "Mr. Cullen took me home after I threw up in the trashcan. I got the speech about being irresponsible blah, blah, blah… and then I think he realised I wasn't just hung over."

"You threw up in the trash can?" she asked, amused and I nodded. "I bet he went nuts!"

"Yup," I said. "I don't know what he did on Friday afternoon… I was pretty much unconscious."

"Are you going to tell Phil?" she asked and I shook my head. "Bella."

"Look, I don't want to go running to Phil every time something goes wrong. Everyone else seems to like Royce and save for a few people, nobody likes me. Can you imagine what's going to happen if word gets out that I accused him of something like that?" I groaned. "I'm sure he'll get the hint and it probably wasn't even him who sent the drink."

"Do you really believe that?" she asked doubtfully.

And the truth was I didn't…

Edward…

Maybe I should just go to Phil and express my concern about King's interest? But she doesn't want him involved—she's so fucking stubborn. I don't get his interest… well I do, I mean of course I see his interest but still to drug her when she's with her friends? That I don't get. If he looks at her the wrong way again I'll tell Phil and if he lays a finger on her… I'll fucking kill him.


The Royce thing is a part of the upcoming story, but for now I think it's time for some fun with E&B :)

I'd love to know what you're thinking and if you're interested, there will be a teaser for next weeks chapter in the facebook group MrsK81 Fic.

More to come next week!

xoxoxoxox