A/N: Hey, at least it didn't take me two months again to update *LOL

You know, what really motivates me? Reviews! :)


Previously:

"Could you please sign the check, Mr. Cullen?" I asked again.

He took the check, signed it and handed it back to me. "That's all you have to say?"

"Yes. Good evening, Mr. Cullen." I answered, turned and left his room for the third time this evening.

Chapter 12

BPOV

"Bella?" I heard my name being called.

I sighed and put down my cup of coffee. Since the evening wasn't busy with orders Ben had sent me to the cafeteria for a little coffee break and promised to call me in case he needed me. Actually, this was my fith try to have my coffee. Every time I tried to have one before, Ben came back in telling me to deliver an order. To Mr. Cullen's room. This was getting ridiculous. He had ordered the simplest things, the stupid croissant only turning out to be the start.

A small portion of honey. To go with the croissant of course.

A bottle of Pinot Grigio.

A bottle of sparkling water. To go with the Pinot Grigio of course.

A bottle of Merlot. He had figured he wasn't in the mood for white wine or something.

Whenever I delivered one of his orders, he had politely opened the door for me. I knew he expected me to address his earlier apology but I truly didn't know what to say.

"I'm on my way, Ben," I called getting up. I didn't have to ask who would be the guest ordering. I just wondered what it would be this time. A glass of milk maybe?

I entered the room service office meeting a grinning Ben. He just handed me a plate containing a box of matches.

I raised my eyebrow. "Seriously, Ben?"

"Sorry, Bella," he answered. "He insisted on having you deliver his order."

"Just like the last five," I grumbled. I took the plate and stomped into the elevator. Stupid, rubbish-ordering VIP guest.

Two minutes later I knocked on Mr. Cullen's door. Again. For the.. what was it? Sixth? Seventh time this evening? I lost count.

He opened instantly, gesturing me to step in. I entered his room, standing right in the middle of it and faced him.

I held out the plate to him. "Matches?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered. "To light up candles."

"You smoke," I said. "Don't you own a lighter to light up a candle?"

"Candles shouldn't be lit with a lighter," he answered.

I didn't know what to answer. Instead I looked around the room. I couldn't see any candles.

"You don't have any candles," I remarked.

"Oh," he said. "Yes, you're right. Hm.. do you think room service could deliver some?"

He couldn't be serious. I tried to hold back a smile. This was silly.

"Hey," he said, bending over to look at my face. "Do I see a smile?"

That did it. I guess my defense was already crumbling between the sparkling water and the bottle of Merlot but now this silly explanation about the box of matches was simply too much. Even if he was an arrogant asshole, he definitely had a good sense of humour. And although he was persistent to make me accept his apology, he wasn't pushy.

"Okay," I said, smiling a little.

"Okay what?" he asked, a crooked smile on his own face.

Damn, he was beautiful.

"Okay, apology accepted," I answered. "But only under one condition."

His smile faltered. "That would be?" he asked.

"No more weird orders," I said resolutely.

"What do you mean by 'weird'?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"You know, what I mean, Mr. Cullen." I answered. "Could you please sign the check now?"

"I will, but only under one condition," he said taking the check from me.

"And that would be?" I asked, mocking his tone.

"We start all over," he said while signing the check and adding a generous tip. "You know? Pretend we just met."

"Isn't that something couples who have been married for thirty years do?" I chuckled.

"Probably. But as you are working here and I'm a freguent guest, I'm sure we'll have to work together at some point and somehow we haven't been able to accomplish that so far. A new start could help." he replied. "I heard, it helps a lot of thirty-years-married couples, too." He grinned.

I knew this man was weird but given our short history I had to admit he had a point. Plus I couldn't resist that grin.

"Okay. So what should I do? Go outside and knock again?" I asked turning for the door.

"No, I think we can skip that part," he answered smiling. He handed me back the check and cleared his throat. "Hi, I'm Edward Cullen. You must be a new employee here," he said.

I had to bite my inner cheek to keep from laughing out loud. He really was serious with this start-over thing so I decided to play along.

"Yes, good evening, Mr. Cullen," I answered. "I'm Bella. I started this week, usually I'm at the reception but I'm getting to know the departments this week."

"I see," he replied. "Well, I guess I'll see you more often then as I'm checking in this hotel every week."

"It was nice meeting you, Mr. Cullen." I said. "It's good I got to know your name though. I heard there are certain guests who will only talk to supervisors if new employees don't know them."

He stared at me open mouthed.

I took the check from him and winked to show him I was only making fun of him. And before he could reply anything to my brazen comment I left his room.

There were no more weird orders that evening.

"Wake up, sleepy head," Alice's voice ripped me from my dreamless sleep. I pried one eye open and looked at the clock on my nightstand.

10.48 a.m

"It's my day off, Alice," I murmured and pulled the covers back over my head hoping she would get the hint and leave me alone for another hour or two of peaceful sleep.

Sleep didn't come easily to me last night. My thoughts kept going back to Mr. Cullen's behaviour over the week. His moodswings were really giving me whiplash. One second he treats me like a piece of dirt, the next he is trying to kiss me only to make me feel like a slut afterwards and then he is being all polite and apologizing. His good looks and my hormones' reaction towards him weren't really helpful in staying professional. Having two days off and not seeing him would help me to clear my mind and hopefully go back to a professional employee-guest relationship. I had finally drifted into sleep at some time in the early morning hours.

Alice, however, hadn't planned on me spending my day in bed. Being the little annoying pixie she is, she jumped right on my bed next to me and pulled the covers away, exposing my tired eyes to the daylight coming through my window. I guess sometimes it's a good thing sunny days are so rare in Seattle.

"Oh no, missy," she laughed. "You're going to get up and go shopping with me. I won't start work until five so we'll make it through at least four shoe stores."

"Ugh, not before I had at least one coffee," was my answer.

"Already done," she smiled triumphantly and handed me a fresh venti latte. Sometimes I really believed this girl had second sight.

Three hours later I found myself sitting in the second shoe store, sipping my third latte and watching Alice trying on the what felt like eighty-seventh pair of shoes.

I just stared out of the window contemplating how I could manage to keep professional towards Mr. Cullen.

It would be so much easier if he wasn't so handsome. God, even thinking about him sitting on his hotel room bed in his simple t-shirt and boxer briefs made me feel hot. Okay, since knowing that simply because he was a guest and therefore off-limits wasn't helping, maybe I should try to pretend that he was gay? I mean, Jake was handsome and he was gay and I didn't start to feel hot when I thought about him.

I couldn't say I ever felt hot thinking about Jake. I've known him like forever and he felt more like a brother to me. Plus, Mr. Cullen obviously tried to kiss me in the club so I was pretty sure, he wasn't gay.

"Are you even listening to me?" Alice asked holding two black shoes in front of me.

"Sorry, Alice," I said, shaking my head to clear it. "What did you just say?"

"I asked you if I should take the leather pumps or the buckskin ones," she said.

"Erm, Alice. I dunno. They're both black," I answered shrugging.

"Geez, I really should have taken Rose with me," she sighed. "You're completely useless when it comes to shoe shopping."

"I'm sorry, but don't say I didn't warn you. You know me."

"Yeah, I do." She sat next to me and leaned on my shoulder. "So, what's got you so brooding?"

"What? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking," I said taking a sip from my latte.

"Yeah, I could see that. Must be something serious, because usually you're better in pretending to be interested when I'm talking about shoes," she laughed.

"Nothing serious, Alice," I replied. "I was just reviewing my first week at the hotel, that's all."

"Yeah, pretty eventful, wasn't it?" she smiled. "I mean, I knew you would leave an impression, but I hadn't expected that."

"What?" I asked. "What do you mean? Did Victoria say anything about me? Did I do something wrong?"

Apart from insulting guests. And slapping them.

"Hey, calm down, Bella," Alice said. "She didn't say anything about you. At least nothing in a negative way. I think she was very satisfied with your work. I'm talking about our guests. Or.. more like one guest."

I put my head in my hands. So much for starting over with him. How could I have been so stupid and believe he was serious? And he just had to go and complain about me to my colleagues? I didn't even want to know what he had said about me. I just hoped, Alice didn't believe him.

"Listen, Alice," I started. "Whatever Mr. Cullen said, it's not true. I wasn't myself yesterday. There was this incident and then he.."

"Bella," she interrupted me. "He didn't say anything about you."

"Then why do you say I left an impression on him?" I didn't understand.

"Well, let's just say, something was odd last night after you went home from your room service shift."

"Okay, would you please stop acting so mysteriously? What are you talking about?" I asked impatiently.

"Nothing," Alice replied and eyed another pair of shoes on the shelf next to herself.

"Mary Alice Brandon, if you don't tell me what the fuck you are talking about, I can go right home and you can continue your shopping trip on your own," I threatened.

"Pfft.. I don't care. I can shop on my own," she replied nonchalantly.

"Yes, you can but you're not allowed to buy anything that's going to end up in my closet."

"But Bella, you know there's almost nothing in it," she whined. "You seriously need more clothes."

"I don't care. I'm well off with the things I already have," I said and pretended to get up.

"Okay, okay," she gave in. "I surrender. Let's just finish with this store and go get some lunch and I'll tell you."

"Spill," I simply said while unwrapping my tuna sandwich. I had been able to convince Alice of grabbing lunch at the small deli close to our apartment and now we were sitting at our kitchen table facing each other.

"Hmph-rmph-prrr," she replied while trying to chew her green salad and a piece of baguette at the same time.

I almost choked on my sandwich laughing. "Not the food!"

She finished her bite, took a sip of her Mango Lassi and started again, "There's not much to spill, Bella. He didn't really say anything about you."

"Then why were you so cryptic before? And how do you think I left an impression if he didn't say anything about me?"

"He didn't have to," she chuckled. "It was so obvious. First, he joins Emmett at the bar. He's only done that three times since I've been working there. He hates sitting there and having to watch Emmett and Rosalie do their weird mating dance."

I chuckled. That was probably the most fitting definition for what Rosalie and Emmett Cullen were doing. Poor Rosalie. "But that doesn't have to have anything to do with me."

"Do you want to hear the rest?" she asked annoyed. I nodded. "Then let me finish." I held my hands up in defense.

"So, he was just sitting there, sipping his beer and looking bored. I told Rose about planning to go shopping with you and as soon as I mentioned your name his head shot up," she said. "At first I thought it was a coincidence, that maybe Emmett had said something important to him but whenever I mentioned your name he seemed to listen intently. It was quite funny watching him trying to look bored and eavesdropping our chat the whole time."

She didn't say anything more and just continued slurping her Lassi.

"That's it? That's why you made such a big deal about it and go all cryptic and mysterious on me?" I asked.

"Hey, I didn't make such a big deal out of it," she replied having resumed to chewing her salad. "You did. So I think it's time for you to spill. And I don't mean your food either!"

I shrugged. "There's not much to spill."

"Then this is going to be a short conversation," she stated. "Okay, so what happened during your room service shift?"

I sighed. She was my best friend. And I felt like I would be feeling better after getting to tell someone about my evening. About Mr. Smith's attack and Mr. Cullen's behaviour and his apology. So I did. It turned out the conversation wasn't as short as expected.

After I had finished telling Alice every detail of my evening we had both eaten our lunch and were now sitting on the sofa in the living room, our heads leaning back against it.

"So, what do you think?" I asked.

"Hmm.. after what you just told me," she replied after a few minutes. "Like I said. You sure left an impression."

As always: What do you think?