Just a short little story about coworkers at their holiday party. I didn't forget about 'What Happened Before'. You'll see a few posts later this week and this weekend :)

As for this story, a short fluffy holiday romance.

BPOV

Every year, Eclipse held their annual holiday party at the locally owned pub down the street from the office. It was called Twister's Bar and Grill. Ever since the company's inception two years prior, the owners Emmett McCarty and Rosalie Hale, made a conscious effort to support the local community during any of our outings. We never went to franchises. Rosalie and Emmett had met at a conference six years ago in Silicon Valley. It was a far trek from the small town in which they planted their roots. Two trust fund babies with the same life mission - to give small businesses access to the same technology that the giants used and for a more reasonable price.

It also helped that the two had fallen in love with one another during their short stint in the Valley. They married, and Rosalie kept her name. They stayed in the Bay until they had enough of that rat race and so they moved to the Midwest - Chicago to be exact. They'd joined a new rat race - a more enjoyable rat race.

That was two and a half years ago. When they'd founded Eclipse, it was the two of them and their IT guy Jasper Whitlock whom they stole from another gig. From there, Jasper brought on software engineer Kate Andrews. Kate knew sales leader Carlisle Cullen from college - they'd still kept in touch a decade later. Carlisle snagged the gig and six months later, he had his sales team up and running and soon, the small group began stumbling through the chaos of a startup.

I wasn't one of those who were there from the beginning. I didn't have many war stories from when we were selling to a world that had never heard of us. I came to Eclipse because Rosalie and Emmett recruited me after seeing my presentation for my old company's go-to-marketing strategy. They were impressed to say the least - that I had such a substantial resume, that I had as many connections as I did. I'd even known Carlisle before I worked at Eclipse!

So a few months into my tenure, I realized that I needed help. Eclipse was growing faster than any of us had expected and a team of one could not possibly handle this workload. I'd requested a meeting with Rosalie to discuss expanding the team and by the end of that week, they'd already hired a team to assist. Mary Alice Brandon, a woman from Minnesota with an intuition for "what works best" joined first. Alice, as she preferred to be called, ended up being the missing piece to the puzzle at that point. We'd worked seamlessly together.

A few more months passed, and we realized we'd need even more help. Our small enterprise account base grew by three hundred percent, and we didn't have enough account executives to manage our pipeline. So, they had another hiring surge six months ago. That happened at the same time a major player in the tech world announced massive layoffs, which meant we had a very valuable pool of people to choose from. As a result, we were able to pick from the cream of the crop. We were truly reaping the benefits of that layoff.

And tonight, we would celebrate the year at Twister's.

"Bella," Jasper threw his arm around me. "We don't see you enough!"

By the time I had arrived at Twister's, everyone had been drinking for half an hour. One of my favorite things to do was to show up fashionably late so everyone else was already drunk. I could sip and laugh.

"I know, Jasper," I groaned. "I work too much. You should tell Em and Rose to let me have a break for once."

We both laughed at that. Rosalie and Emmett had established an incredible culture and if anybody needed time off, they were granted it.

I don't care what you do as long as you do your job.

There had been many times when Emmett had forced me out of the office because I was there late. He and Rosalie took turns staying late. He didn't leave until I did.

So he made me go home.

I appreciated that. I had a tendency to get wrapped up in work. Tonight was one of those nights where I was rushed out of the office.

This time though, it was one of the sales guys.

"Okay, let's go by the basketball players. Alice is over there."

Jasper and Alice had been seeing each other for the last six months. Everyone knew they were dating, but for some reason they denied it. I knew the truth.

I looked over at the 'basketball players'. Anyone outside of sales always joked that there were two criteria for being a successful 'sales bro'. The first was that the bro had to be above six feet tall (really they all were giants), and the second was that they had to play some kind of sport with the rest of the bros. The women on the team always made fun of the guys. They were truly bros, and we loved them for it. They were nice guys, and they were nice to look at.

One of them, the one - the emotional bro as I called him - was standing over there, too. I was always superficially attracted to the sporty guys but never truly attracted to them and this guy...this guy was the one that everyone loved. Really - every person who met him loved him. He was the guy to vent to about a problem and he would have a solution. He was our sales operations director.

It never seemed like he was paying attention when you'd bring up the issue, but then the next day he'd send a simple message saying:

I solved your problem.

When I had reached out to upper management about a problem with our reporting - specifically a gap between sales initiatives and what marketing was capable of doing - they sent me to him.

I expected him to be exactly like all the other sales guys I worked with - lovable, but arrogant and likely enjoyed a lot of fist bumping. I expected him to be likable but also condescending in his tone. I was mostly right.

When he had come over to where my desk was, I'd been on my last nerve. We had released a new campaign for Eclipse, and everyone had been messaging me about when the report would be ready. I kept receiving an error message any time I saved a report with fresh new leads to send the sales team. Time was of the essence to reach these people, and every minute wasted, the leads got colder. I knew that neither Rosalie nor Emmett were looking into this, but I had dealt with the pressure from previous roles to produce, so I was feeling the typical work PTSD.

I had never met him but I had heard good things. I had seen him around but barely acknowledged him because he seemed to be another work bro. He met the typical criteria by being above six feet and being interested in sports.

And then he helped me.

While he worked through the report bugs, I vented about a problem I couldn't even truly define - a problem that seemed so insignificant but it was affecting my entire day. The report crashing was only a small problem in the multitude of issues I faced in my role - all because of technology. I fell silent after he didn't appear to be paying attention, and I felt like a fool.

After a moment, he responded by asking, "In an ideal world, what would this look like for you?"

I laughed, but humored him.

The next day, I'd received two links - the first was for a CRM dashboard that I could update each time we had a large amount of new leads coming in and the second was to his calendar. He had said the second link was for if I ever needed him for anything else.

It turned out, I would be working very closely with him after that.

"Is that Bella Swan?" Carlisle yelled as Jasper and I approached him. The small group of tall men all glanced over at me. Alice somehow looked even tinier standing next to them all. Jasper stood by her. "You finally made it."

"I did," I laughed. "I'm ready to party with you all."

"I have a feeling you won't be able to keep up with us," Carlisle joked. He elbowed the man to his left. "Remember last time, Edward?"

Edward Masen, Eclipse's sales operations director, the man who saved everyone's ass. He was the man that everyone loved and everyone could rely on.

I was head over heels in love with him. I wasn't the only one, either. Jessica Stanley who had recently been let go told me all about his girlfriend when he first started. How she knew the information, I wasn't sure, but it was clear that I was obvious in my pining.

He grinned, taking a sip of his beer. I watched as his throat bobbed. "I thought we all decided not to talk about Bella being too drunk to remember her address."

"Hey!" I slapped his arm. "Don't make fun of me for that."

"Ow," he laughed, rubbing his arm. He was wearing a dark green button up with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. He then flicked my reindeer antlers that were attached to the headband I was wearing. Most of us had changed before heading to the pub. Yes, I went all out around the holidays. "Fine, drink as much as you want, but don't blame me like you did last time despite me giving you a place to sleep that night."

"You kept buying me drinks! It was only fair that I slept on your couch." I had wanted to sleep in his bed, but that wasn't appropriate to say. Also, his girl wouldn't have been pleased. It was strange because he never talked about her.

"Because you kept downing them like they were water." He pointed his finger at me. "And again, you couldn't remember your address so you kind of had to sleep on the couch."

"Yeah and you guys made me sleep on the floor." Jasper mumbled. I had forgotten he was there.

"That's right," Edward laughed. "Bella tripped over you when she woke up."

"And then I threw up," I covered my face with my hands. "Okay, can we stop talking about what happened three months ago?"

"Hey now," I felt Edward's hands on mine as he pulled them off my face. "I fixed you up with some greasy breakfast that made you feel better."

"That's why we call him the problem-solver," Carlisle slapped Edward on the back. "He always has what you need."

"He certainly does," I smiled involuntarily. He had solved many of my problems, but there was one more. The thing I needed - no, wanted - was him. I realized I was still staring at him.

Edward's cheeks turned pink, and he took another sip of his beer. Before long, Carlisle was getting a round of shots for everyone. I passed.

Sales bros knew how to party.

Halfway through the night, when Rosalie and Alice were singing Christmas songs on the karaoke machine and Carlisle and Jasper were yelling at each other over who won the last game of cards, I decided to step outside for some fresh air. I only had two drinks and was already feeling the effects. It was chilly outside but I found the cold air refreshing.

I pulled out my phone and began responding to a few texts that I had received from my parents.

"You're not trying to bail are you, Bella?"

I jumped at the familiar voice and lost my hold of my phone. I winced as I heard it hit the cement. "Oh no."

"Ah shit, I'm so sorry," Edward said as he reached down and picked up the phone. "I didn't mean to startle you."

He handed it to me and his fingers brushed mine for a moment. Despite the cold weather, I felt warm.

"It's fine," I responded, examining my phone for any cracks. Fortunately, there were none. My case made this phone indestructible. "No harm, no foul."

"So what are you doing out here alone?" He asked.

I held up my phone. "Not leaving, I promise. I was replying to my mom and dad's texts."

Edward nodded but didn't move to go back inside. Our breath was visible. The fact that he stayed out in the cold and waited made me giddy.

"I thought you might be trying to dip out early," he crossed his arms.

I laughed. "Where else would I go?"

He smirked and raised an eyebrow. "I don't know. Maybe a hot date or something?"

I looked away. The only hot date I wanted was with him. I was pathetic.

"No, no hot date," I replied quietly.

"Oh, well then," he shrugged. "Alice wanted me to bring you back inside for a song."

So that was why he was sticking around. My eyes widened. "No, I will not be singing."

He grinned. "Karaoke is not your thing? You clearly haven't had enough to drink tonight."

"Oh, I am behaving tonight."

"That's a shame," he sighed. I raised my eyebrows. "You were funny last time. It was cute."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, sloppy drunk is so adorable."

"You were. I also am digging the antlers tonight. I didn't think you'd be the festive type."

"I love the holidays," I responded, dreamily, still caught up on the fact that he thought I was adorable. Maybe I should get drunk. I shook my head. "You know everyone is really happy you joined Eclipse. You've really changed a lot of what we do for the better."

"Is that what you think?"

"Of course."

He nodded and looked up. "Oh, it's snowing. We probably should head inside."

I wasn't sure what gave me the courage but I asked him. "Edward, why don't you ever bring your girlfriend around to hang out with us?"

My tone was playful, but my question was serious. Edward's eyes locked with mine, and he frowned. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before shaking his head.

"What?" He laughed. I felt my face heat. I shouldn't have asked.

Before I had to repeat the question, the door of the bar swung open, knocking Edward over. He stumbled into me and before I could fall, his hands were on my arms, steadying me. His scent overwhelmed me - fresh laundry. That was another thing - he always smelled so clean.

"What are you two doing out here?" She wiggled her eyebrows when she saw how close he and I were standing.

"Uhh we...were…" I couldn't concentrate on what I was saying because Edward's hands were still on me. Alice fortunately saved me from further embarrassment by interrupting me.

"Oh awesome, it's snowing!" She giggled, slurring her words. "Bella, come back in! I have the perfect song picked out for us!"

I groaned and opened my mouth to speak but Edward beat me to it.

"Bella already promised to join me at the gingerbread house-making station at the back of the bar."

Alice frowned. "There's a ginger making bread station?"

Edward and I laughed at her nonsensical statement and followed her back in. When Alice tried to drag me to the karaoke machine, Edward steered me to the back of the bar, where there was, in fact, a gingerbread-making station.

I solved your problem.

Rosalie and Kate were finishing up their own gingerbread houses when Edward and I sat at their table.

"Ta da!" Kate exclaimed as she showed us her house. It actually turned out really good. "This only took me forever."

"Well, that's because you kept leaving to get a drink." Rosalie showed us her house. "Mine looks awful."

Edward and I laughed.

"No," Edward responded. "All you need is to add candy canes to the front of it, and it will look great."

Rosalie glanced up at him and added two large candy canes to the front of her nearly finished home. A small smile broke out on her face.

"Well will you look at that? It doesn't look entirely awful. Edward saves the day again."

He rolled his eyes before walking to the opposite end of the table. He grabbed what we needed, though I didn't intend on beginning any gingerbread house. I decided I would advise him instead. I was just happy to spend time with him and that he wanted to spend time with me.

"So...what do we do with these now?" Rosalie asked. "Do we just leave them here?"

"I think Alice has a spot around here for them." Kate looked around and pointed to a few other finished houses at another table that nobody occupied. "There!"

"Alice didn't even remember that we had a gingerbread house area." Edward murmured as he returned to his seat. At this point, Alice and Jasper were singing together. I looked back at them, giggling at how drunk they both were.

"Well, she's having a good time," I said. "Her singing is atrocious but hey, most karaoke is."

"Oh, I fully intend on making fun of her until the end of time."

We both laughed again. At this point, Rosalie and Kate had wandered left the table. It was just us. I watched as he began to frost the outside. Fortunately, the gingerbread homes were premade so it wasn't so much a gingerbread house-making station but more of a decorating station. Our legs were pressed against one another.

"Are you going to join me?"

I looked at his face. His cheeks were still rosy from standing in the cold. He was focused on decorating and didn't look at me. The typical Edward Masen way - to discreetly pay attention without paying attention.

"Join you?" I asked.

"Yeah." His lips twitched. "Are you going to decorate one?"

I looked at the mess that he was already making. "I think you need an apron or something. I'm going to just watch."

He looked at me, raising his eyebrows. "You're just going to watch me do this? That sounds boring."

"It's not," I responded quietly, looking away. I felt his eyes on me still, and neither of us spoke for a moment. I returned my gaze to his face. "Plus, you saved me from having to sing Christmas songs, so I guess I owe you one."

He nodded, focused again on his craft. I watched as he smoothed over the white, somehow gracefully. I sorted out some candies for him to use, popping a jellybean in my mouth.

"So," he began, as he continued covering the gingerbread in white. "You asked me a question earlier."

"Yeah, I did." I bit my lip. Why did I ask him about his girlfriend? "It's really none of my business."

He smirked. "You're right."

My face turned red for what felt like the twentieth time that night. "I'm sorry."

He must have heard my tone because he stopped spreading the frosting. "Hey, I'm kidding. Do you need another drink?"

"Um, sure." I responded awkwardly. I watched as he set down the knife and stood.

"Is it a bad idea to get you a vodka water?" He teased. The last time we all were out, the vodka was what did me in.

I shook my head. "I'll go with whatever beer they've got."

He saluted me jokingly. "Make sure nobody steals my house."

I watched as he walked over to the bar. Jasper came up beside him. Apparently, he was finished singing with Alice. I watched as they exchanged a few words. Jasper's eyes met mine and he frowned. I tilted my head, trying to decipher his expression. There was no way that Edward would tell him about what I asked, right? It wasn't that embarrassing. Still, though, I was feeling insecure from Edward's dismissal and his non-answer.

I mouthed, "what?" to Jasper. His frown turned into a drunken smile. He whispered something to Edward who then looked back at me. It was clear now that they were speaking about me. Edward's expression was amused. When he got the beers and tipped the bartender, I looked away and pretended to play on my phone. I felt incredibly uncomfortable.

When Edward came back to the table, I asked, "What was that about?"

He handed me my drink and furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

"You and Jasper talking and looking at me like that." I sounded annoyed because I kind of was. "It looked like he was sharing secrets about me or something."

He narrowed his eyes. "Oh, he was. I learned a lot in the two minutes I was at the bar."

I crossed my arms. "Oh really? What did he say?"

Edward's lips twitched. I huffed. He laughed as he took a seat.

"He didn't say anything mean, I promise."

I didn't believe him, but I let it go. He was pressed up against my side again. He was confusing me.

After a moment, he spoke again. "Do you think anyone is going to remember to take home their gingerbread houses? I feel like this bar is going to have a lot of them here when we all leave."

I shrugged. "Maybe people will remember."

He looked behind us at the rest of our group. They were all drunk, singing loudly and off key. "I don't know about that."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I definitely won't be closing down the bar with everyone. I can grab some on the way out when I'm leaving."

He eyed me for a moment.

"That's nice of you, but you're not leaving soon, are you?"

I looked at my phone. It was already ten. Fortunately, it was a Friday, but the whole week hit me hard.

"Um…" I stumbled over my words. I felt awkward on top of being tired.

"Isabella Swan, I swear if you 'Irish Goodbye', I'm going to make your dashboard crash on Monday."

"Fine, I'll stay until eleven. Is that okay with you, Edward Masen?" I said, using his full name, like he used mine.

He shook his head. "I think you should stay later, but that's just me."

After finishing the gingerbread house, Edward and I both decided we should mingle with others. I used this opportunity to mess with Jasper.

"Hey, Jerk," I pushed him playfully when I reached him. "What were you saying to Edward about me?"

"Ow!" he moaned. "Don't hurt me. I just said that it looked like you were checking him out."

My eyes widened, and I gasped. I looked around, and fortunately nobody was paying attention to our conversation. I hit him again. "I was not!"

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes. "You two have been dancing around each other ever since that night he let us crash at his place."

I shook my head. "No, we haven't. He has a girlfriend."

Jasper's drunken confusion was displayed on his face. "What? No, he doesn't. He's into you, idiot."

"Wait." I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him away from our colleagues. "What are you saying? He doesn't have a girlfriend?"

His eyes were crossing at this point. "No, man. Who told you that? Did he?"

I removed my hands from his shoulders. "No, it was Jessica."

He blinked slowly. "Jessica? Jessica, the girl who got fired?"

"They let her go," I corrected him.

"Bullshit, they fired her because she was a liar, Bella. You can't trust a word she says."

I thought back to the last few months and how Edward never even spoke about a girlfriend. I thought back to how he would always come around my cube, even if I didn't need any help. The playful jokes, the touching, the nearness...

Had we really needed to work together as much as we had?

"I'm so stupid."

Jasper's eyes bulged. "Wait." He attempted to stand on a stool and failed. "Wait. Everyone!" I watched in amusement as he yelled for everyone's attention. "Bella has something she has to say about herself."

I threw my hands up in the air and walked away from him.

"She said she's stupid!" he shouted as I moved to the opposite end of the bar. I laughed at how drunk he was.

"You're stupid?"

I turned to Edward who I had unknowingly moved near. I grinned at him. "Apparently, I am."

He shook his head and chuckled. "No, you're not. You're one of the smartest people I know." He paused for a moment. "And...I have to admit something to you."

"You don't have a girlfriend?" I asked.

His eyebrows hitched. "You know?"

"Jasper told me."

He sighed. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was really taken aback by the question and then, you looked so flustered that I couldn't help but mess with you." He reached up and tugged my reindeer antlers.

He thought I was adorable. I decided to be brave.

"Edward," I said, looking him the eye. "I like you."

He smiled. "I like you, too."

I stepped closer to him. "No, I mean...I really like you."

The rest of the group was beginning to clear out behind us. His expression softened. "I really like you, too."

"Yeah?" I felt my face break out into a large grin. It was reassuring to hear it.

He was fully grinning, too.

Then Edward's expression turned playfully serious. "I have a problem, though."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," he leaned closer. My whole body warmed at his nearness.

"But you are the problem-solver." I didn't even know what we were talking about anymore.

"It's a big problem," he said, though he was smiling. "I really want to kiss you, but the mistletoe is all the way by the gingerbread houses."

I glanced back to where had been sitting, and sure enough, he had placed us right under the mistletoe. I looked back up at him and laughed.

How had I not noticed how obvious he was?

"Well, follow me, then," I winked, grabbed his hand and led him over to where we had been sitting, directly under the mistletoe. He looked a little nervous and at this point, the only people left were Alice, Rosalie, Jasper and Emmett. They were loud and drunk, so I had no worries about anybody seeing or remembering us.

So, I slid my hands up his chest and hooked them around his neck.

"I solved your problem," I said, repeating the words he had used on me many times before.

He smiled softly, leaned in, and kissed me.

Thank you so much for reading! I hope you and your family have safe, healthy, and happy holidays!

Also - I worked for a startup for a short period of time. Every guy was over six feet tall, and they were very nice to look at :)

-Bravery