Thank you guys so much for your feedback and for continuing to read, I know my updates are a little spotty with this story but bear with me because there's a lot on the way! Enjoy!

Chapter 8

B POV

I spoke with Emmett on the phone when I got up, and he agreed that Jake deserved to be let down gently in person rather than over the phone, especially when he hadn't done anything wrong.

I still found myself twitching nervously as I approached the restaurant he'd booked for lunch, of course it was a great spot with bottomless mimosas and delicious looking dishes. He stood up when I approached the table, giving me a wide grin that would make any other woman swoon.

"Bella" he murmured, reaching out to give me a hug before pulling out my chair and taking a seat. He was dressed casually today, in light wash jeans and a black wool long sleeve shirt with dark work boots. If I didn't have Emmett this might have been a whole different conversation, but in my eyes my man was unbeatable…my man. I got butterflies every time I thought about the fact that after all this time, the man that I'd forced myself to not even dare to think about was actually mine.

I snapped myself out of my reverie as Jake picked up his menu, giving it a glance before looking up and giving me a warm smile. I felt uneasy, I'd never been in this situation before where I was rejecting someone and didn't know whether or not to get it over with right away or after the meal or…

"Jake, I—I need to talk to you about something" I blurted out. Okay right away it is.

He froze, looking at me with trepidation, "you've got someone else?" he guessed, tenting his fingers together as he rested his elbows on the table, looking a little too smug.

"I—I—how'd you know?" I asked, flustered.

"Come on, Swan, there's no way a girl like you didn't already have someone poking around" he continued at my raised brow, "you're smart, funny, kind, and of course, very beautiful." I blushed at his appraisal, twirling my menu around on the table with a finger.

"I'm really sorry Jake, I just, I didn't think anything was going to happen, he's been away but then he caught wind of me dating and, well, he'll be back soon, and I agreed to try something out with him. I just wanted to be honest with you now because you're pretty amazing, and you deserve a woman who's going to be focused solely on you from the get-go." I reached out and grabbed one of his warm hands in mine, giving it a squeeze as I smiled.

He leaned his head back with a heavy sigh, other hand coming up to grasp at his chest, "Beautiful Bella Swan, I will mourn what could've been. Seriously though, I appreciate your honesty and will always be here if you need anything…platonically of course. You're a cool girl and I'd love to stay in touch. If you ever want any boxing lessons or self defense classes or anything, just stop by my gym and I'll set you up." He finished, flashing me a broad smile.

I smiled back, "I may just take you up on that offer one day, but with my clutzy disposition I might be a hazard already."

He laughed along with me before picking up his menu again, "Alright, I believe I am owed a lunch with my friend, and I've been dying to try the chicken and waffles here, so let's get to it!" I grinned, two dates, two new friends, who would've thought?

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I was settling in to go to bed, I had back to back meeting tomorrow because why not make Monday even worse? My phone started to ring and I picked it up, pulling out the charging cable when I saw Em's name on the caller display.

"Hey"

"Hey gorgeous, how'd your lunch go?" he asked.

I couldn't resist teasing him a little, "how long have you been waiting to ask me about it?"

He sighed, "since I left you at the airport. Now come on, babe, spill."

"Wellllll" I stretched out, laughing at his huff, "it went fine, he took it really well. We had lunch as friends and I agreed to set him up before Alec whenever I find a single friend worthy of his awesomeness. Oh, and he offered boxing or self defense classes at his gym if I ever needed them."

"Self defense, eh? You're already a one woman tornado with your lack of stability, but maybe some classes might actually help with your balance" he mused, surprising me that he seemed to be okay with Jake and I having one on one time.

"Of course, I'd rather you wait until I'm back so I could be the one working you out" I blushed thinking about all the different ways he probably meant that statement.

I groaned, "how much longer?" I felt a little needy, but it was a long, long, long time coming, and I was ready to jump in on this relationship with him, consequences be damned.

"Soon, baby, I promise. I actually found a couple guys I think will fit in perfectly with the company and be really good leaders for the branch out here. I just have to get them onboarded and properly trained which should only take a couple weeks tops."

I bit my lip, smiling at the fact that we may be able to come back to Chicago two weeks earlier than his original timeline.

"Well, that's more bearable than four weeks…I'm sorry, I don't want to pressure you, I know you're already stressed it's just—"

"Oh, I know" his voice had dropped down, making my legs rub together a little at his tone, "trust me, I'm aching to be back with you. And I will be, soon. I promise."

I smiled, "Better be, or else you'll be coming back to a very put off girlfriend—"

I paused, even though we'd already admitted to wanting to be exclusive we hadn't exactly defined terms.

"Well I wouldn't want that, now would I? I aim to please, which means I'll have to make sure I can come back to my girlfriend as soon as possible."

I wiggled around in my bed a little, trying not to squeal at his reply. God, I feel like teenager dating her first crush.

I heard him chuckling, "alright, well I know my girlfriend has tons of meetings tomorrow, and so do I, so I'll let you go now angel so you can get some sleep."

"Goodnight, Emmett" I murmured, still grinning ear to ear.

"Goodnight" he replied before we hung up. I plugged my phone back in and sat back against my pillows. Two weeks, two more weeks and he'd be here, and he'd be mine. He already was mine, but with him so far away it made it more difficult to believe.

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My company had been hiring a bunch of new employees to replace everyone who jumped ship and moved to the west coast. The best thing to come out of that was currently walking into my office, blond hair tied up in a slick ponytail, heels clacking across the polished floors as her ice blue eyes had a hard look in them. She ripped open my office door, letting it close behind her before strutting into my office and slumping into the chair in front of me.

"Tell me I love my brand-new job" Rosalie Hale huffed, dropping a bundle of files down on my desk. It was Thursday, and Rose had been hired on Monday in one of the meetings I was asked to sit in on.

I'd loved her almost immediately, and within five minutes of meeting her, I stopped the interview, turned to the interviewer and just said "You're hiring her." I'd then grabbed my stuff, shook her hand, and walked out. That was the best five minutes of my day on Monday.

I looked up from my computer and smirked at her, "you love your job, and your boss is pretty damn cool too" I responded. Rose was single, had moved to Chicago recently following a failed engagement to some shitty trust fund baby whose family owned a major law firm in Houston. On Tuesday, she spent the morning shadowing me as she'd be joining my team. By the time lunch rolled around we had our feet kicked up on my desk, heels off, chowing down on Thai food and trading stories about our exes. I told her about Emmett yesterday, and she'd told me I was one lucky bitch after seeing pictures of him. I had a feeling I knew exactly who she'd enjoy getting to know but decided to hold off on the hook for now until she'd settled into things in her new life.

"That's true, I've got the hottest boss in the bizz" she agreed before leaning forward and waving her file in my face. "I do need your help though, this client said that they'd been working with someone here who was also new and that they completely missed the mark on the campaign they wanted to build. They're requesting someone new give them a new mock up and soon or they're jumping ship. It was pushed onto me, so I just wanted you to take a look at what I came up with before I submit anything." I rolled my eyes, Rose didn't need my approval, but it was still flattering to have someone of her talent looking up to me and respecting my opinion so much.

"You know you don't have to run everything by me, but I'll look it over" I offered, holding out a hand for her tablet which she passed over before sitting up.

I took the time to look over her designs, calendars, and proposal before dramatically handing it back and sighing, "ugh never seen anything worse, take it away". I joked, her work was good and highly impressive; it would take even experienced agents at least twice as long to write out what she'd done with the same level of finesse.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Thanks, B," she smiled, standing back up.

"Hold on, Rose, who was the original employee submitting for this client?" she cringed at my question and I knew who it was before she replied.

"It was Stevens" she muttered, casting me a look before pursing her lips at my drawn-out sigh, shrugging apologetically as she turned and left my office.

I tapped my pen on my desk, Mr. Stevens was hired one week before Rose in a meeting I hadn't been a part of. If I'd been there, he never would've seen the inside of this building a second time, but we were trying to rush through our hiring process to keep up with the demands of our clients, so we needed help fast. This meant there were bound to be a couple duds. But Stevens wasn't just a dud, the man gave Rose and I the creeps.

The first time he'd sat in on a team meeting, his beady eyes had been piercing, following my every movement as I presented our quarterly projections and listed the expectations and roles of everyone coming aboard. I'd brought him up at Kate's last night, and she'd told me to just keep a running file of anything he does wrong so I could let him go before his probationary period was up. I was a little hesitant to do so, nervous I'd misjudged him, but when Rosalie came by my office first thing this morning and told me he'd loitering around my door before I'd arrived until she scared him off, I'd decided maybe Kate's idea was the way to go.

This was his first actual strike, but before I documented it, I had to go see him myself to get to the bottom of things as his superior. I rose from my desk, grabbing my laptop, and headed over to his cubicle, which was a few over from Rose's.

I knocked on the side of it as I approached, catching his attention. "Got a few minutes?" I asked as he fussed around on his desktop for a few seconds before turning to face me fully and nodding. Those sharp eyes almost unnerving in their intensity.

"For you? Always. Whatsup boss?" he asked. I was a little shocked, his demeanor seemed pretty normal for a guy around my age, and this was the first time I had actually conversed with him one-on-one.

"It's the Robe-ins account, the client contacted customer service and requested a new rep for their account. I've got Ms. Hale submitting something I approved as we speak, but I just wanted to come see you to figure out what went wrong. I know sometimes clients can be tricky their demands so if you don't mind just walking me through…"

His head fell forward and he rubbed his temples as he released a frustrated breath, "Damnit! I knew, I knew they were going to reject it. I spent hours on that mock up, even stayed late this week working on it before the deadline!" I leaned back a little, surprised by his outburst.

"Mr. Stevens, while I understand these types of situations can be very stressful and frustrating, I need you to remain professional while in the office. This happens. I'm offering you the opportunity to go over the account and your mock up with me at the end of the day to see if I can offer any insight moving forward." I was stern in my delivery, letting him know that I wasn't very impressed with the outburst. While I understood how enraging it could be when tons of hard work was flushed down the toilet, employees were expected to keep their cool in the office, especially around others.

He looked up at me, holding my gaze steadily before nodding, "of course, I appreciate it, five o'clock?"

I nodded my approval then turned and stalked back to my office, casting Rose a relieved glance who shot me a discrete thumbs up as turned the corner.

As the day dragged on, I sent Emmett a quick text, letting him know I'd have to push our date night back. He knew I would be with Kate tomorrow and suggested we have dinner over video tonight. I wasn't sure what made me like him more; wanting to set up long distance date nights, or the fact that he remembered what I'd be doing this weekend. It's the little things…

I guess I can wait…maybe you can find a way to make it up to me ;) Let me know when you're heading home.

I smiled, but was snapped out of my Emmett-haze when my office door was pushed open, and Stevens came strolling in. He had a file in his hand which gave me hope that he'd printed everything off which was a good start. The first thing everyone learned about me was that I preferred to go over or edit things by hand, I'd just always been that way and something about having a hard copy made things feel more professional, especially in in-person client meetings.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," he said, sliding into the chair across from mine, setting down his bag and draping his jacket over the back of the chair.

I pursed my lips, "alright let me have a look…wait, where's the rest of it?" I asked, flipping through the pages, looking for his proposal. Right now, all I was seeing was a bare bones event calendar and one design. That means he spent most of the week, stayed at work late racking up overtime hours and pay…to do two thirds of a half-assed report.

I clenched my fist on the table, taking a deep breath. What he'd actually done wasn't all that bad, he was just missing a lot. I reached across my desk, grabbing a copy of Rose's file that I'd asked her drop off before she went home.

"Okay, see here? This is a copy of the full mock up that Ms. Hale submitted, I'll let you look over it and then we can discuss what you believe you need to change in the future." I kept my tone light and professional to avoid sounding like I was as unimpressed with his work as I really was.

He scanned over the pages, not quite taking as long as I thought he would. He looked up and pushed back from the desk, "alright, looks good, I guess next time I'll just add the proposal thingy or whatever at the end. No biggie, just don't know why I have to hold their hand and break everything down for them." He huffed, leaning back.

"Woah, hold on there," I said, stopping him from collecting his things to leave, "there's still more you should be looking at here, Mr. Stevens, this is detrimental to your time here, you need to make sure that in the future this doesn't occur again. As of one hour ago Robe-ins has selected Ms. Hale to run their account so you will now have to find a new one to fill that spot on your roster. I've taken the liberty of making you a copy of this file. I strongly suggest you take it home with you and pour over the details, it will help ensure your success moving forward." His eyes narrowed as I finished, clearly not liking being reprimanded by me but I couldn't be bothered; I'd been with the company for ages and I'd be damned if I let some arrogant, lazy agent tarnish the reputation I'd helped build.

"Of course" he said a little too sweetly, scooping the papers up off my desk along with his own before stuffing them in his bag, grabbing his coat and striding towards my office door.

"See you tomorrow, Ms. Swan" he said, beady eyes locked onto mine before he pushed through the door and strode off to the elevators.

I blew out the breath I'd been holding, gathering my things and sending Em a quick message to let him know I was leaving already before grabbing my things and shutting down my computer. My heels clicked along the floors and I pressed the button for the parking garage once in the elevator. I kept my coat on in the garage, feeling the usual chill in the musky area. I was about to press the unlock button on my keys as I neared my car when I could've sworn I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. I paused, looking around before hastily unlocking and climbing into my car, shutting and locking the door behind me before taking a deep breath. I really needed to stop listening to so many murder podcasts, they were making me a little too jumpy.

When I finally got home, I tossed my keys in the bowl on the kitchen counter and opened the crockpot on the counter, ladling out some of the shepherd's pie I'd had cooking all day. I poured a glass of wine and placed everything on the table before I was struck with an idea.

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EM POV

I wasn't as stressed as I thought I'd be; the two new guys I'd hired on Sunday were turning out to be real pros. I'd decided to make Felix and Marcus co-leaders at the New York office. We were getting clients and tons of referrals so with the two of them plus Ed things were shaping up to be pretty smooth. I was taking the next week to determine what I wanted each new hire to focus on more, and then make sure they were well situated before retuning to Chicago, to Bella.

I loosened my tie and went down to the Italian restaurant on the corner when Bella let me know she was leaving her last-minute meeting. I got a meatball sub to go and walked back up to my place, snagging a beer from the fridge and sitting down at the table. She texted me that she was in, and I hit the call button on my screen.

I was about to take a bite, raising the delicious smelling sub to my lips when my screen connected, and I was distracted by something much tastier. Two somethings really, encased in a ruby red lace bra, below a gorgeous knowing smile.

"Got a little something on your shit there, handsome" she giggled, making me look down and curse when I saw the red sauce smear on my crisp white button down.

"Shit, babe, dinner and a show? Best date night ever." I muttered, eyes still on the screen as she scooped up some of her own dinner on a fork, bringing it to her red lips. Oh damn, so much red.

"Hungry?" she teased.

I groaned, "yeah but not for food, gorgeous. But I guess this'll have to do for now…" I sighed longingly, gazing once more at my girl's rack before taking a bite of my sub.

"Well you said I had to make it up to you so…" she shrugged, still grinning.

I smirked back, wiping my mouth on a napkin before answering, "damn right you did. Sight for sore eyes. How was your meeting?" I asked, trying like hell to keep my mind out of the gutter while my eyes couldn't help but continue to drift down to her cleavage, and then back up to her full lips.

She grinned again knowingly before sighing, "it was…short. I don't know, one of the new hires just seems a little in over his head but I guess we'll see if he can get it together by the end of next week, otherwise…" she trailed off, shrugging and taking a other bite.

I had a feeling there was more to it, but I didn't push, not one to enjoy rehashing work grievances myself after a long day, and I knew she'd been in the weeds training and overseeing a while new team while managing her own clients and the ones her old coworkers left behind before transferring.

"How about you? How're the new guys doing?" she asked, taking a sip of her wine. So much red.

I shook my head a little before responding, "Uhh, yeah, yeah they're doing great actually. I've caught them up to speed on how things run and our own schedule and expectations for their branch. With their experience this should be a cake walk for them to handle, even with all the business flooding in. All I have to do now is sit down with Ed to outline their responsibilities and what his role will be moving forward." Whenever we spoke, I tried to avoid talking about my brother, the last thing she needed was a reminder of my relation to her ex boyfriend.

I saw her lips press together a little at the mention of Edward before she took another sip of her wine and rolled her shoulders back as if letting all thoughts of him roll off her back.

"Anywayyyyys, how's your new friend settling in?" I asked, changing the subject.

She smiled widely, "I love Rose, she's a lot like Kate actually…god those two would be terrible together. I was actually thinking of setting her up with Jake at some point once she settles in. She's ambitious, a little stand-offish at first, but has a heart of gold."

I whistled, "wow a few days and you're already smitten over this woman, should I be worried, babe?"

She pretended to really think about her answer before saying, "well she is the hottest blond I've ever seen… but don't worry, Emmy, she's got nothing on my man" she finished with a wink, swirling her wine around.

"Hmmm, good to know. Jake's cool, he's just not someone I want dating my girl. He can date the fuck outta your friend though" I grinned, knocking back some beer.

She laughed, standing up to put hr plate away and I choked on my drink, leaning over to cough.

"Em? You okay?" She asked, coming back into the screen still standing.

I gasped, pulling in air as my airway cleared, "jesus fuck, Bella. Warn a man." I wheezed, referring to the red G-string she was sporting with a lace front that matched her bra.

She bit her lip, "oopsie, guess I forgot." She smiled, picking up her laptop and walking over to the couch, placing it on the coffee table then sitting on her couch. This angle allowed me to see all of her and god damn was she a sight.

"If I could, I would fly down there in a heartbeat babe, but luckily for that flimsy piece of fabric you call underwear, I'm stuck here for a while longer." My eyes were glued to her form, and I couldn't resist palming myself under the table as I thought about how those creamy thighs felt wrapped around me.

I was kind of glad we hadn't gone all the way before I'd left, it would make the reunion that much sweeter next weekend. We'd flirted with phone sex a little the past week, the tension getting to us both, but the idea of actually watching her while we did this made me suppress a moan, hell yes.

"Babe, put down that glass of wine for me." Her lips pulled into a devious grin as she set it down, the little minx.

"That's it, now slide that hand…"

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Trouble on the horizon at work? Potential match with Rose and Jake? Let me know what you think!