Eden's Pov

When Stephanie and I came out of the bathroom, I took a deep breath as we made our way back to our table. When we got there, Lester jumped to his feet, held out my chair, and helped me to sit back down. When he returned to his chair he slid a hand over mine and when I felt the contact a warm tingly feeling moved up my arm. I looked up from our hands into the best pair of green eyes I had ever saw on a person, Lester motioned for me to come to him with his finger, when I leaned over he leaned over and his warm breath swept along my ear.

"Are you ok?" he whispered and I nodded feeling my heart rate speed up. Could Stephanie be right? Could Lester really be into me?

"I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" he said

"You didn't" I told him and he smiled. I rose back up and poured the dressing over my salad. Truth be told and I'll never admit it, but after I was in his arms on the dance floor, I never wanted to leave. I loved the feel of the tiny electric shocks that happened when his hands touched my hips and the warmth of his arms made all the bad things go away if there were anything out there. Lester's chest was hard and his heart beat to a steady rhythm as he moved us on the dance floor. When we stopped and he moved in to kiss me, I was so drawn in to his eyes that had grown darker in their color. It was Mr. Manoso who had appeared at our side that broke the spell that I was under. When I looked and saw him standing there, reality hit me like a ton of bricks. I wasn't here to make out with my clients co-worker in front of him, I was here to close a deal for my office. I stabbed some greens with my fork; I still had a job to finish.

"Lester, Eden guess what?" Stephanie called out from the other side of the table

"What Beautiful?"

"Ranger is throwing a party next Saturday to announce his decision" she said and my heart fell into my salad bowl. If this was true I would have to stay here another week and I was all ready to get back to Cali tomorrow.

"Boss man?" Lester asked and I looked at Ranger as well. Would this assignment ever end?

Mr. Manoso turned from looking at Stephanie and looked a little flustered "Yes, I'll hear your proposals tomorrow as planned, but I'll need a few days to think everything over"

"The party" Stephanie cut in "will be on the fifth floor in one of the conference rooms and everyone will be able to come even if they have to work" Stephanie announced

"At least my part will be over tomorrow" Lester said and he glanced over at me. We were still battling each other, how if Stephanie was right, would a relationship work if we started it out as enemies, trying to one up each other, and then one of us ultimately win the grand prize? How could we deal? We just couldn't.

"Eden" I heard and lifted my eyes from my salad ending the mental ramblings "you can stay another week right?" Stephanie asked me

"Probably, I'll email my office and explain the situation" I told her. I knew my boss wouldn't care for me staying another week, he would want me to land this deal no matter what and I'd better. I had spent a lot of time, energy, stress, and tears on this project, I should be rewarded.

"Great and that other dress you bought will be perfect for the party" Stephanie beamed, yea great indeed.

Over the next hour all the drama from earlier faded away and we shared numerous glasses of wine and stories of cases that Mr. Manoso and Lester had been on. Lester began to tell about some of the things Stephanie had done and saw and I found myself laughing along with them. When our evening had come to a close and Mr. Manos had settled the bill, we were on our way back to the house were I was staying. I was never so glad to see the house come into view as I was when Mr. Manoso turned and pulled into the driveway. My feet were killing me being in these shoes that I never wear and I wanted nothing more than take them off and throw them out the back door. All I wanted to do was to take my hair down, get my dress off, and cuddle into my big fluffy, but worn robe.

"Babe" I heard Ranger say as he gently shook Stephanie in the front seat

"She always falls asleep on long car rides" Lester told me "And she isn't a big drinker, she can only hold two glasses tops and she has had way more than that tonight"

"You are more than welcome to stay here" I surprised myself by saying "She still has her car parked here and by tomorrow we all can go into the office and she can grab her car"

"Lester, grab the duffel and sleeping bags from the back, I'll call into control" he said and I watched as they moved into action.

Several minutes later, I was holding open the door to the house for Mr. Manoso as he carried a sleeping Stephanie in and then for Lester who was loaded down with bags and big poster boards. When everyone was finally inside and Stephanie was laid on the couch, Mr. Manoso unzipped the sleeping bags, laid one on the floor, and used the other as a comforter.

"Eden thank you for letting us stay here tonight" he said as he stood up

"Well it's really your house"

"But as long as you're here it is considered your private space" he said

"Well umm I'm going to shower and head to bed, do you believe Stephanie will also want to shower or you guys?" I asked looking back and forth between Lester and Mr. Manoso.

"No we're fine and I think Steph is out for the count. I don't think she will wake up enough for a shower"

"Ok goodnight" I said and head the chorus of nights from the two men

Once inside the bedroom, I closed the door and then went over to the dresser. I pulled out the pins that were keeping my hair in place and pulled the earrings out of my ears that I had been wearing and tossed them onto the dresser top. Bending over I slid the straps of the shoes that I'd worn over my ankles and flung them to a corner on the other side of the room, taking my hand and bending it around my back, I slid the zipper of my dress down and let it pool on the floor around my feet.

I then went into the bathroom and pulled off my remaining clothes and turned on the water. When I got it to the right temperature, I stepped under the shower spray and began to wash away the fake Eden of tonight and re-emerged as the old Eden that I truly was. I no longer had to pretend I was something that I wasn't.

Pulling the towel that I was drying off with around me, I walked back into the bedroom and sighed. I had packed all my stuff up since I thought I was leaving tomorrow and now I had to undo everything so that I could find stuff to wear tonight. When I finally got some clothes on and brushed out my hair, I crawled into bed and closed my eyes hoping sleep would come shortly. For a while I laid there staring up at the ceiling and tossed and turned. I rolled over onto my side, closed my eyes, and forced myself to lay there until I fell asleep, but sleep didn't come. Finally after a long time I gave up and remembered there was food in the kitchen that Stephanie had gotten for me. Throwing off the blanket, I grabbed my robe, and tied it around me.

When I stepped out into the hallway, I stopped and listened to see if there were any noises coming from the living room. Hearing none I went on my way up the hall and quietly crept into the room and paused just for a minute to survey the scene before me. Ranger and Stephanie were on the floor between the sleeping bags, her dress laying on the back of the chair that was in the room, Lester was stretched out on the couch and I had to suck in a breath when I saw his massive bare arm laying at his side and thoughts came of being in those arms earlier tonight. Stopping my little peepshow of my house guests, I made my way to the kitchen.

Not being able to see much in the dark, I went over and clicked the overhead light on from the stove. Going over to the fridge, I opened the door and found the white Styrofoam box from the restaurant and said a silent thank you to Stephanie for her understanding. Grabbing the box and a soda to go with it, I grabbed a fork from the drawer.

"Stupid salad" I said opening the box of food. As the food smells came out when I opened the box, my stomach came to life and let me know how hungry it really was. Popping the top on the soda, I shhhhed it when it popped loudly through the quiet house and fizzed.

As I stood there eating, I noticed the poster boards that lay just to the side where I was standing. Scooting over, I picked one up and began to read and realized they were Lester's proposal notes.

"Shit" I said reading over his proposal. With Lester not knowing his ass from a hole in the ground concerning my job and what it entails, he did a really good job and now I was worried for the first time that I really could loose this account. Looking over at a cup that sat out that held pens and markers an evil thought came to me just for a second.

"No, I wouldn't ever do something to sabotage another, I am not like that" I said to myself "This all right here just proves it would never work between us"

"Couldn't resist?" I heard a voice say and the boards i'd been reading dropped back to the counter and the fork I was holding fell to the floor.