Beneath The Surface

by MyBella

One summer, an internship in Africa, bloodlust, sharp teeth, and a boatload of fear are all that stand in the way of Bella Cullen landing a job at the Atlanta Aquarium - As long as she doesn't count cocky shark expert Edward Masen on her list.

3. 3 Let Me Introduce Myself

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters, plot, names, and nicknames are all the property of the author of this fanfic. Unauthorized use of such material is plagiarism. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. And of course just in case that doesn't cover it, Stephenie Meyer owns anything and everything relating to Twilight. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 3 – Let Me Introduce Myself

Bella was still struggling to catch her breath when the arm that had been holding her leg up was suddenly yanked away. She would have fallen if Whit hadn't been there to catch her.

The man she had been kissing and holding so tightly was at least a full foot away from her now. She could no longer see the green of his eyes since he had them narrowed into such tiny slits. The jaw she had been touching was hard as rock now and the lips that had felt so soft against her own were pressed together so tightly that they looked thin and white.

She couldn't take her eyes from his hands, watching closely as he roughly jerked his plaid shirt straight onto his shoulders, covering up the thin white v-neck shirt beneath and the spots that had become see-through from his sweat. She followed those hands as they traveled up and disappeared into his hair, remembering how it had felt to have her own hands there. When he'd first approached her at the bar, she'd thought she was dreaming—no way was he there for her. But he had been and he'd wanted her hand so she'd given it willingly. Seeing him now, clearly angry and unsure of the situation, she wanted to put her hand in his even more.

"I'm going to guess you guys didn't ask names," Whit said, looking between Bella and the guy she'd been kissing.

"I was just standing there and then he was … and it was … really fast," she blathered. She was trying to focus but her mind was too busy replaying those kisses.

Whit looked as though he wanted to laugh but then he looked over at the guy and his expression immediately went neutral. "I better make introductions then. Isabella Cullen, this is Edward Masen."

Her stomach clenched and she felt her face drain of blood and color. Edward had the opposite reaction—his face and neck turned an alarming shade of red and his hands curled into such tight fists that it made the tendons in his forearms flex before her stunned eyes.

"What kind of bullshit is this? Did you think it was funny? Some kind of joke?" He was not quite yelling the questions at her but it was pretty darn close.

"I could ask the same thing," she defended. "I know I look like the picture I sent Esme but you don't look anything like the one I got."

"What's going on?" a female asked, sliding in beside Edward and wrapping her arm around his.

"Major case of mistaken identity," Whit quickly answered. "Esme must have used an old pic of Masen here."

"Very old," Bella agreed with a stiff nod. "Short hair, clean face, dark glasses, red tie. Complete opposite of … of you."

The last two words came out as an accusation and the addition of her finger pointing at him seemed to be more than Edward could handle. The distance between them was completely gone and his body anchored hers against the wall. His warm breath felt like a rough wind against her face as he spoke. "If I find out this was some kind of plot to screw with my research or discredit MMR, you will be sorry you ever stepped foot in Hawaii."

Before Bella could respond, Whit had already pulled Edward away and was towing him out of the bar. Her initial reaction was numbness. It had all happened so fast and had been such an overload of sensations.

Her second reaction was to feel shocked. It was true that he didn't know her but what kind of people had he come in contact with in his life to automatically assume she could be here to ruin his career and his company?

Her final reaction, and the one she would stick to until she realized it was pointless, was to get angry. No, not just angry. Down. Right. Pissed.

"I can't believe that guy. What an asshole!" she ranted, pointing toward the direction Whit had pulled Edward. "I just arrived tonight and I've only met Whit. I have no idea where the rest of the people are or when I'll meet them and … And I didn't ask him to come up to me. He was just … just there."

"So let me get this straight," the woman said, speaking each word slowly. "Whit brought you here and then Masen approached you?"

"Yeah. Whit left me at the bar. He said he was going to find his friends Lee and Gopher and bring them over to meet me. He said he wasn't sure if Edward—or Masen—whatever he calls himself, was even here. But before Whit ever came back, there was this guy and he wanted to dance and I … I don't know what happened." Her voice had gone soft on the last few words as the memory of the way she'd felt when Edward had first appeared flooded her mind. It had been sort of like flying and falling at the very same time, like when she was younger and would hold her arms out and spin herself in a circle as fast as possible.

Her quietness only lasted a few seconds and then her anger ramped her voice right back up. "I know it wasn't my fault. I didn't do anything wrong."

"I told him this intern idea was ridiculous."

Bella looked closely at the woman standing in front of her and thought about how she'd been holding onto Edward's arm before. "You're Lee, aren't you?"

"Yeah. I'd say nice to meet you, Isabella, but that's not exactly the case, is it?"

Bella was stunned silent by the woman's remark. She had known there was a chance she could be treated like an outsider but for it to happen so quickly and in this way … Maybe she should have thrown the application away after all.

A tall guy with cropped blond hair came over and put his arm around Lee's shoulders. "Why's Whit shoving Masen into your car?"

"Ask the intern," Lee said. She slipped out from under the man's arm and stalked across the bar.

"Isabella, right?" the guy asked, holding his hand out for a shake.

"Yes, that's right," Bella said as she put her hand in his. "Well, almost. It's really just Bella."

He frowned at her while letting her hand go. "Then why did you put Isabella on your papers."

"I thought it sounded more professional."

He laughed heartily. "Anything is more professional than my name." He put his hand over his heart and bowed his head a little as he introduced himself, "I'm Gopher."

"Why? I mean, Esme sent me everyone's names and I just couldn't figure out why a Gopher."

"'Cause I go for whatever Masen tells me to get."

Bella couldn't help herself; she giggled. "That's sort of mean."

"Nah. It's just a name. Besides, it's kind of grown on me the last few years."

"What's your real name?"

"Emmett. Emmett McCarty. But just call me Gopher like everyone else."

Bella nodded but she wasn't really thinking about what to call this man. She was thinking about Edward. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"If Lee is Edward's girlfriend, why did he ever kiss me?"

"Wait! What? Masen kissed you?" His shocked expression turned into confused as he added, "And why would you think Lee is his girlfriend?"

"Yes, he kissed me. But now he's mad at me and that's why Whit made him leave. He thinks I knew who he was and was trying to mess with his career. But I didn't know it was him. He's older and taller and a lot scruffier than his picture. And Lee seems to dislike me simply because he's mad at me and then there was the way she was holding his arm."

Gopher chuckled and put his hand on her shoulder, leading her over to a table to sit down. "First of all, Lee is my girlfriend. She's just real protective of Masen. He's the same way about her. You mess with one, you deal with the other kind of thing. Secondly, there are very few things in this life more important to Masen than the success of MMR. Just the implication that it could be threatened would be more than enough to set him off. But I wouldn't worry about it. Whit will calm him down and talk to him, get him to see this was just a crazy mix-up."

"Do you think Whit can really do that? Because I'm pretty sure Edward would like nothing more than to send me right back to Florida."

"Yeah, well, lucky for you MMR is mostly a democracy. If we don't all vote to send you back, then he can't do shit. And I can tell you right now, Esme's not going to vote his way and I'm not going to vote his way. Whit probably won't either."

"But Lee will?"

"Yeah, but that's just Lee."

Bella took a moment to digest his words and to work on calming down. As shocking as this whole situation was, it wasn't an excuse to behave unprofessionally. And now more than ever she needed to come off polished and composed. "I came to learn, not to get sent home on my first night here. What can I do to fix things?"

"Oh, you're going to learn alright," Gopher said, laughing once again. "You are the Guppy, Masen's the shark, and Lee is the fisherman all too happy to offer you up as chum."

"Is there anything I can do to salvage this?"

"I think the best thing to do is for me to take you up to the house so you can get some sleep. Masen's kind of slow to cool so it's best to just leave him alone for now. As for Lee, just leave her alone. Once Masen is cool with you, she will be too."

"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"

Masen paced up and down the hallway with Lizzy following at his heels. He'd changed out of the tight sweaty clothes that had been constricting him and was now in a pair of his favorite boardshorts. He'd wanted to spend the night on the boat but Lee and Whit had refused to take him to the dock, citing the big breakfast Esme had planned for the morning as their reason.

They were each leaning against a wall, facing each other except for when Masen's pacing blocked their view. They had hoped he would walk off his anger and be receptive to hearing what they had to say but with each step he took, the more it seemed to them that talking to him tonight would be pointless.

Masen came to a dead stop and glared at the floor in front of him, his long fingers flexing and rolling into fists before loosening again. "Who the hell does she think she is to come here and put my company at risk?"

"Our company," Lee corrected. She changed the cross of her arms but otherwise didn't move from her spot.

"Yeah, exactly. Our company," Masen agreed. "So why the hell aren't you two as pissed as I am about this?" he asked, looking between his friends.

Whit was all too happy to offer an explanation and a smirk. "Because we didn't have our tongues down her throat."

"Look, it doesn't matter what he was doing before he knew who she was," Lee stated. The fact that she was taking up for Masen in all of this didn't surprise Whit in the least. "The point is that we know now she's the intern. Do we let her stay and put this ugly incident behind us? Or do we send her home and scrap this intern program?"

"Ending something before it starts because of a miscommunication would be stupid," Whit replied. "We've never been stupid about anything dealing with MMR. It means too much to all of us to risk it."

"What if letting her stay is a risk? What if she holds a grudge against Masen and tells people the intern thing is just a way for him to hook up with girls?" Lee questioned.

"I don't think she would do that," Whit said.

"You just met her," Lee reminded him. "You have no idea what she'll do."

"Exactly," he replied, smiling at her. "And neither do you or Masen. So I say give her a chance." Whit's smile widened as his eyes focused on Masen alone. "If for no other reason than because Esme wants the intern program to work."

Masen sighed and shoved his hands into his hair. His mom was not going to be happy to hear about this mess. She would probably order him to apologize and that was the last thing he felt like doing. He didn't consider any of this to be his fault and therefore felt no need to apologize. Of course, if she asked him to do it, he would no matter how he felt about it.

"How the hell did this happen?" he asked, shaking his head.

Whit answered him right away, smiling as he did it. "An old picture, an early flight, and a horny Masen."

Lee couldn't help it—she snorted and giggled. When Masen turned his glare on her, she just laughed harder. "I can't help it! He's right. I warned you it had been too long since the last time you'd been out. If you'd listened to me then you wouldn't have went after the first girl you saw."

Masen just barely managed to keep himself from blurting out the thought in his head—she wasn't the first girl I saw tonight. She hadn't been the second or third either. She had just been the first and only to catch his interest.

"Look, just apologize and be done with it," Whit suggested.

"Apologize?" Masen all but roared. He was only mad because he'd just been thinking he would have to do it and now Whit was bringing it up. "What the hell do I have to apologize about?"

Before Whit or Lee could start listing possible offenses, the front door opened. There stood the woman who had turned Masen's night upside down with Gopher standing right behind her.

Masen glared at her for a long silent moment before picking up Lizzy and heading out the backdoor. He closed it with so much force that he could feel the door rattling in its frame as he stomped down the steps that led to the beach below.

"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"

"Damn, Guppy. You know how to clear a room," Gopher joked as they watched Lee slip out the backdoor, following after Masen.

"What did you just call her?" Whit asked as he took the bag Bella was holding from her. They'd gone straight to the bar after the airport so all of her things had still been in the car Whit had driven.

Gopher had a proud smile on his face as he explained the name. "Guppy. I figured it was appropriate what with the way Masen tried to make her dinner and Lee practically filleted her for upsetting him."

Whit shook his head while laughing lowly. "Dude, of all the nicknames. You know Mase is going to have something to say about it."

Bella wasn't paying attention to either of them; she was too busy staring at the closed backdoor and wondering if she would ever be forgiven, much less accepted. She still felt she'd done nothing wrong but she knew that often didn't matter—life was rarely fair.

"Alright, Guppy, let's get you to your room so you can get some sleep," Whit said, pointing toward the stairs.

"Any chance I can just go by my own name?" she asked as she followed after him.

"Whit, what do you think?" Gopher questioned from behind her. She could hear the smile in his voice and knew he was only pretending to consider her request.

"I think we'll vote on it over breakfast," Whit replied, shooting Bella a smirk over his shoulder.

They left her with all of her bags in a very nice room at the top of the stairs. Her wide window looked out onto the moonlit beach and the water beyond and a soft breeze was flowing in and ruffling the white lace curtains. She enjoyed the cool air for a bit before turning from the window to sit down on the bed. During her earlier talk today with Alice, she'd promised to call and as much as she wasn't in the mood for it, she would do it for her sister.

Alice answered on the first ring. "So how amazingly awesome is it? I want every detail! Are they all as nice as they sounded in the emails?"

"It's great so far, but I'm really too tired to give details." It was only half a lie since the jetlag had finally caught up with Bella now that the adrenaline and anger had left her system.

"Well then you should be in bed."

Alice's matter-of-fact tone had Bella laughing despite her tiredness. "I will go to bed as soon as you get off my phone."

"Then I'm off. Love you."

"Love you too. Good night." No sooner than Bella closed her phone, there was a knock at her door. "Yes?"

The door opened and a woman who looked exactly like her picture poked her head inside. "May I come in?"

"Please," Bella replied as she stood.

Esme came into the room and gave her a warm hug before taking hold of her shoulders and searching her face. "Oh, but you are not an Isabella at all. Is it Izzy or Bella?"

"How did you know?" Bella blurted out, her brown eyes wide with shock.

Esme laughed softly. "I have an eye for these things. So which is it?"

"Bella."

"Then welcome to the island, Bella."

Bella only smiled. Her reaction had Esme narrowing her gray eyes and looking even closer at her. Bella felt as though any second now Esme would pull the whole sordid scene from earlier right out of her mind.

"Were all the kids on the playground well-behaved?" Esme questioned. "Whit sent me a text that he was taking you to meet everyone. And I'm sorry again I wasn't able to greet you at the airport. There was no way to reschedule my meeting. I had also hoped to get out of my date tonight to be here when you arrived, but I wasn't able to get out of the flaming disaster in time."

Bella couldn't help herself and her laugh filled the room.

"Not kidding," Esme said, putting her hand over her heart. "The guy was such a klutz that he knocked over a cart and very nearly set the place on fire. I'm all for imperfections, but not the kind that leave behind a trail of fire. But enough about me. How did it go with meeting everyone?"

Bella tried to be diplomatic with her answer. "It wasn't what I expected."

"So which of my kids do I need to pull aside? I'm sure I can narrow it down to two. Gopher being inappropriate or Edward working instead of hanging out."

Bella tried her best to keep a smile on her face and not let herself feel upset again over tonight's events. "It was fine. Everyone seems great so far."

"MMR has really pulled us closer together, made us more of a family. Or as my son likes to call us, Team Masen. He has yet to figure out that I'm the Masen in that team, but that's okay. We all need our little stories we tell ourselves." Esme gave Bella a wink and then laughed when she saw Bella's eyes widen in shock.

"My son is a wonderful man. He really is. But he's far from perfect and I know he has a tendency to be a bit brash without realizing it. Actually, that's something I'm hoping you'll help him with. I'm hoping he can learn from your experience with public speaking and become a more influential spokesperson for us."

"I'll do what I can to help." Bella truly meant those words; she just wasn't sure Edward Masen would let her help.

"Okay, well, I just wanted to meet you and tell you how happy I am to have you here with us. I'm sure you're jetlagged so I'll let you get to bed. If you need me, I'm two doors down the hall on the right."

"What about the bathroom?"

"Next door on your right and it's a 'women only' domain so don't worry about having to deal with left-up toilet seats. The guys all use Edward's bathroom downstairs. There are plenty of towels in the closet to the left of your room if you want a shower to wash the airport off. And of course feel free to raid the kitchen because I'm quite certain they forgot to offer you anything to eat in their excitement to meet you."

"Thank you, Esme."

"You're very welcome, Bella. Get some sleep and in the morning we'll get to know each other better."

The bedroom door closed and Bella let go of the smile she'd been holding. Esme certainly seemed to like her but then again she didn't know about the incident in the bar. Bella's mind immediately filled with images and sensations and her thumb rubbed against her lower lip as if that would erase the tingling from it. It didn't matter what kinds of feelings she'd had in that brief encounter with him because nothing could ever come of it. For one, he was Edward Masen of Masen Marine Research. And for another, he spent his life in the water. She wasn't what she would call a picky woman, but being in a relationship with any man who lived in the water was a deal breaker. It was why she'd broken up with her last boyfriend after nearly a year of being in a practically perfect relationship.

It was best for everyone concerned if she just pushed this night aside and pretended it had never happened. She would focus on what she came here to do, which was learn from everyone at MMR and get the experience she needed for her future in Atlanta. Her mind was completely made up on this matter and she ended her mental discussion with a stiff nod of her head. With her course set, she took a shower, put on comfy shorts and a t-shirt, and then slipped between the cool sheets of the bed. She was asleep within minutes.

"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"

Masen's walk along the beach finally took him back to the house and he looked up to see if Esme's light was on. Now that he felt ready to be rational about tonight's events he wanted to talk to someone who would be completely unbiased and he knew that would be his mother. She loved him unconditionally but she also was the first to say he wasn't perfect whereas his friends tended to side with him no matter what, especially Lee.

He brushed the sand from his feet and then entered the backdoor where Lizzy was anxiously waiting to greet him. Her little nub of a tail was wagging so hard that she was practically sliding on the hallway floor.

He smiled as he leaned over and scratched behind her ear. "Hey, girl. You should be sleeping and not waiting up for me." He'd let Lee take her inside at least an hour ago and he'd thought she'd be fast asleep in his bed by now.

After scooping up his puppy and depositing her on his bed, he climbed the stairs to see his mother. There had been a faint light coming from her room which meant her lamp was on and she was mostly likely reading one of her romance novels. He didn't understand how she could be so rooted, so pragmatic, and yet love romance novels; he considered them to be the most fictional of all books ever created.

He knocked softly at her door and called for her at almost the same level just in case she was asleep.

"It's open," she called back.

He opened the door to find her curled up in bed with a romance novel and smiled at having been right. "How was the date?"

"It blew chunks," she said, closing her book and smiling up at him.

"Not on you, right?"

"You know what you can do with that cocky smile, right?" she shot back. She waited until he lifted his hands in surrender before smiling at him and then she reached out to pat the empty space next to her.

He smiled as he stretched out beside her, careful to keep his dirty bare feet off her bed. She smiled right back and ruffled his hair until he pushed her hand away. "You know that's why my hair is the way it is," he accused, giving her a fake scowl.

"Oh, right," she laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "Because I don't see your hands in your hair at least five times a day."

"Two," he countered, grinning even wider.

"Five," she replied, showing him the exact number of fingers.

He scoffed and closed his fingers over hers. "Three, max."

She rolled her eyes at him once more and then planted a kiss on his forehead. "So how was the meet and greet with the intern?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "About that …"

"Yes, what about that?"

Masen's eyebrows shot up toward his forehead. "What did you hear?"

Esme gave him a toothy smile as she leaned in toward him—and then she flicked him in the forehead. "Nothing yet. So get to telling. And don't leave out anything I would consider important to know."

His eyes narrowed as he turned fully on his side to face her. "You know what I would like to know? Why did you send this girl an outdated picture of me? I know it was you 'cause said it was the one of me in that red tie you bought me."

"First of all, Bella is not a girl."

"Bella," he scoffed, interrupting his mother. He felt annoyed that this girl had spent enough time around his mother already to have a nickname.

Esme narrowed her own eyes, daring her son to interrupt her again. "Bella is a lovely young woman. I spoke with her earlier and I like her a lot already."

"Well if you had sent her a recent picture of me, maybe I would have liked meeting her too."

"Edward, I know you are not trying to pin whatever went wrong tonight on me."

He growled at her words and got up from the bed to pace around her room.

She left him alone for almost a full minute before breaking the silence. "I sent you the email with her picture last week so we would both know what she looked like when we went to get her from the airport. If you haven't looked at the email, I can't help that."

"I planned to look at the email. On Friday, when her plane is due in. But it's Wednesday. Why is she here two days early?"

"She was attempting to be considerate to all of us."

"Considerate?" He knew he was being too loud and he stopped pacing long enough to force himself to take a calming breath. "How was she being considerate?"

"A bad line of storms is moving into Florida tomorrow night and is supposed to stay until late Friday. She knew if she stayed there was a very real chance her flight could get grounded and that it would throw off our schedule of leaving on Saturday. To make sure we didn't have to change our timeline, she took an earlier flight out."

Masen said nothing but he did hang his head.

"You must have really given this young woman a piece of your mind if you're feeling that guilty about it," his mother commented.

He glared at the floor in front of him, not quite daring to do it to her. "I'm not feeling guilty. I just … I wish we wouldn't have gotten off on the wrong foot right away."

"Edward, there's something you're not telling me. What happened tonight?"

This time, he did glare at her but the anger he felt was only toward himself. "I kissed her, alright."

Complete silence met his words. But only until Esme lost the battle with herself and her giggles filled the room.

He growled and slid his hands into his hair. "Thanks, Mom. Just what I need."

"Come on, Kid. Put yourself in my shoes for a minute. We've both been so worried about what could go wrong on the water with our intern idea and here we are facing our first dilemma and we haven't even shown her the boat yet."

Masen really didn't want to laugh but only because he didn't want his mother to know he saw her point. Of all the many scenarios of something going wrong, none of them had involved him kissing the intern.

"I see your smile, you know," she told him as she patted her bed. "Come sit down and let's talk about what to do to fix this situation."

He sighed heavily but did as she asked. He even put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze to show there were no hard feelings about her laughing at him. "I don't know that she'll want to fix things. She'll probably just want to go back to Florida."

"Wrong."

"What do you mean wrong? How can you possibly know I'm wrong?"

"Because when I spoke with her earlier the only thing she said about tonight was that it wasn't what she expected. Edward, if you go to her—in private—and you sincerely apologize, she'll put tonight behind her. But you have to mean it and you can't let it come off as 'my mommy made me'. Bella is a smart young woman and she will know the difference."

He let out another drawn out sigh. "I just don't want her to think I'm the kind of person who hits on every female who joins our crew. I don't want that kind of reputation for me or MMR."

"Then tell her that."

"What if she doesn't believe me?"

"If she doesn't right now, she soon will. She'll see how dedicated you are as soon as we're aboard the boat and you're working."

He nodded and then turned his head to grin at her. "So I guess I'm apologizing."

"I wouldn't smile like that while doing it if I were you."

He rolled his eyes at her silly response. "I think I know how to apologize, Mom."

"Can I ask you something without setting off your pacing again?" she asked as she used her fingers to brush his hair off his forehead.

"You can try."

"Is the kiss bothering you because Bella is the intern?"

"Of course it is. I already told you I don't want to get a bad reputation."

"That wasn't how I meant it and we both know it."

He didn't answer right away and he also didn't look her in the eyes when he finally did speak. "It's only about work."

She cupped his chin in his hand and studied his face for what felt like a long time to him. Then she smiled and ruffled his hair. "If you say so, Kid."

"Whatever," he grumbled as he got up from her bed, suddenly not wanting anything to do with her unbiased opinions.

He had her door open and was halfway out of it when she called him back in. "While I will in no way hold it against you if you wait to apologize until morning I'd appreciate it a whole lot if you did it tonight," she told him.

He only nodded before telling her goodnight and closing her door. He looked down the hall toward the room he knew Bella was staying in and after staring at it for at least a minute he sighed and moved toward it.

As Masen's hand touched the cool metal of the doorknob, a flash of this very same hand clutching Bella's waist filled his mind. He could feel her curves against his, taste her on his tongue, and smell the fruity scent of her soft skin.

He let go of the knob as if it had abruptly caught fire and practically sprinted down the stairs, suddenly in need of an open sky above him and cool air filling his lungs. He was halfway to the backdoor before he stopped and admitted he was panicking. And really, what was there to panic about? So he'd kissed the intern. Big deal. He hadn't known it was her. And he certainly wasn't going to do it again. Hell, if it weren't for the shock of finding out who she was he wouldn't even be giving a second thought to what it had been like to kiss her. He never spent time thinking about women in that way; his mind was always focused on work and family.

His mother's words came back to him … if you go to her and you sincerely apologize, she'll put tonight behind her. And if Bella put tonight behind her, then Masen could put tonight behind him. No harm, no foul. No need to ever think about what had gone on in that dark corner of the bar ever again.

Grumbling and huffing under his breath, Masen slowly climbed the stairs and approached Bella's door again. Since he could see light coming from under the door, he gave one soft knock and then opened it. The lamp next to the bed was on, casting a soft glow on Bella's sleeping face. Those hard lines he'd seen earlier when they'd been arguing were all gone and her lips were pursed a tiny bit, sparking fresh flashes in his mind of what it had been like to kiss her.

A muttered "fuck" fell from his lips as his head and shoulder leaned on the doorframe for support. He didn't close her door right away, not like he had planned on. Instead he stood there trying to figure out what it was about her that had him feeling so unlike himself. It wasn't until she shifted in the bed that he closed the door; the last thing he needed was for her to wake and see him there and think he was a stalker.

He would just apologize in the morning. Before breakfast. Before the others showed up. He would go to his room for now and finish the reading Lee had interrupted with her bright idea of going out tonight. Yep. He would apologize in the morning and all of this … this weirdness would go away. He and Isabella—or Bella or whatever she wanted to be called—they would agree it had been a misunderstanding and they would be co-workers from here on out. Co-workers.

When he got to his room, he found Lizzy asleep on his pillow and decided to leave her there until after he'd had a shower—the second one of the night. But as he was standing under the cool spray, a new idea of how to solve his issue with sun flares came to him and he spent the rest of the night sketching while everyone else in the house slept.

"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"

Two minutes after four in the morning … Bella wanted nothing more than to turn away from the clock on the bedside table, close her eyes and fall back to sleep. But her stomach was very loudly arguing for her to get out of bed and find something to eat. She tried her best to ignore the growling and focus on the waves she could hear through the open window but her stomach refused to be denied and she reluctantly pulled herself out of the very comfy bed.

She found the kitchen easily enough and even found a box of fruit bars in the cabinet that sounded perfect for appeasing her stomach and getting her back to bed quickly. She was sitting at the kitchen island and halfway done with her snack when a low growling-gurgling sound reached her ears. At first she thought it was coming from an appliance in the kitchen but it when grew a little louder she knew it was coming from the hallway. She quietly slipped from her stool and eased her way down the hall and toward the sound.

Light spilled out of an open doorway and across the floor, illuminating the back end of the hall, making it possible for her to see her reflection in the glass of the backdoor. She looked a mess with her hair sticking up and her t-shirt rumpled; she would have laughed if she hadn't heard the growling sound again.

It was coming from inside the lit room and when she poked her head around the corner of the door jamb she quickly found herself covering her mouth and nose with both hands to stifle her laughter. Lying on its back with its feet moving and the growling sound coming from its small belly was the little dog she had seen Edward carry out of the house last night. It was obviously having one very interesting doggy dream and she wondered why it was allowed to sleep on the pillows like that instead of in a dog bed on the floor. The next question to enter her mind was where the owner of the bed was at this hour and it was answered almost as fast as she thought it.

Sitting propped up against the bed with a sketch pad in his lap, a pencil in his hand, and his head leaned back against the mattress was Edward Masen. Bella jerked her head away from the doorway, unsure if Edward was just thinking with his eyes closed or actually sleeping. Either way he was not someone she wanted to interrupt or wake up.

And yet there she was sticking her neck out both figuratively and literally. She held her breath at first and watched for any sign that he was about to move. When it became clear to her that he was indeed asleep, she let out the air she'd been holding and took in soft, quiet breaths while studying him.

She knew he had felt built from having held so tightly to him but now she could actually see how toned he was since he was shirtless and in a pair of shorts. She could also see he had a tan and that it was from being outdoors. On the water, she thought as she noticed his feet matched the rest of him—no socks and shoes for this guy.

It looked to her as if he'd fallen asleep right in the middle of working on whatever was on that pad resting on his legs. The deep lines creasing his forehead gave her the feeling that he might even be dreaming about finishing his project. Gopher's comments about Edward taking work seriously came back to her—maybe Edward's overreaction had just been worry for his company. That didn't excuse his behavior at all but at least it was a better option than him being a natural jackass.

There could be another reason for those lines and his sleeping sitting up, she thought as she noticed the way his lips were pursed. Maybe his dream was actually about yelling at her some more. She wondered how long he'd stayed outside on the beach avoiding her before coming inside and crashing this way. Guilt twisted her stomach but just as quickly as she felt it, she pushed it away. This wasn't her fault, whether he could see that or not.

She turned away and was almost in the kitchen before she sighed and turned right back around. She couldn't just leave him like that; she couldn't leave anyone that way no matter how much they'd aggravated her previously. She quietly entered his room and knelt beside him before carefully removing the pencil from his fingers and the pad from his legs.

There was a very old looking fleece throw sitting on a chair in the corner of the room and she used that to cover him, carefully draping it over his shoulders in hopes he wouldn't wake. She was so close to him that she could smell soap on his skin; it was a very different scent from the sun and sweat that had been coming off of him in that dark corner of the bar.

Bella quickly stood and moved away from him, feeling like she couldn't trust herself around him. She had no reason to feel that way but it was still there and it was strong enough to make her sprint across the room to the safety of the doorway.

With all that space between them Bella could now smile and shake her head at her silly behavior and odd thoughts. There was nothing between them—never had been and never would be. It was just jetlag and being in a strange place with new people.

With a flick of her hand, she turned out the light in his room and threw them both into darkness. He didn't move or even twitch and she felt confident he was still sound asleep. With her good deed done, Bella finished off her fruit bar, enjoyed half a glass of cold milk, and then headed upstairs to the soft bed waiting for her. There were a couple hours left before the sun would be up and she wanted as much rest as she could get; she had a feeling her first full day in Hawaii was going to be a very long one.

"~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^~~~^~~~~^"

A/N: So there we have it! Poor, unsuspecting Bella was given a very old picture that in no way matched the man who dazzled her into a dance and then drugged her with his touch and taste. As Eternally Addicted so eloquently put it … One is what Bella was expecting and the other is the Hotness she saw! Head on over to the Masen Marine Blog to get a look at the old picture and the current Masen.

And don't forget! We'll have a Twitter Q&A tomorrow night with (at)teammasen. You can ask the characters questions or chat with EA and me. We'll be on for about an hour, starting at 8pm Central time tomorrow night (Friday, Dec 16th).

If you're looking for something Christmas themed and cute and cuddly with only a hint of drama to read, check out EA's Memories of Christmas Past. It's a favorite in my stories listing!