Is it? Could it be? SPANK my ass and call me CHIPPER!

Yes, one more for all of you, and if had a clue what birth was like, I'd say this one was pretteh damn close. ;)

Snugglies to my awesome betaPufferfish, HammerHips, who continues to amaze me with her time management capabilities, and the way she lubes this fic. Also, to Alexis Danaan and GemGem020507 who continually blow fairy dust up my ass about this thing. 3

Oh, and a special shout-out to my Twitchy Coconuts, even though he doesn't deserve it, for his inspiration for a key line in this fic. There. Ya happy? ;)

Chapter 7

Edward's Tunes:

In the car:

Sound of Madness – Shinedown

Mystery of You – Red

On the stereo:

Dance with the Devil – Breaking Benjamin

Save Me – Burn Season

What Lies Beneath – Breaking Benjamin

Waking Up the Devil – Hinder

It was 7 a.m., and Edward was making the Stevenson look like an obstacle course of cars and trucks suitably spaced to show off his Mercedes' suspension and handling, not to mention his precision driving ability. Once again, the music was at a decibel just shy of his speed, but it worked for me, because inside my head was the sound of madness, screaming like a banshee bitch. But even as he maneuvered through traffic, his arm rested over the center console holding my hand, both resting on my thigh. I didn't want to admit to him I felt better that he did. I didn't want to admit to myself that I felt better when there was some part of him touching me…connected to me.

But I did.

That night had been something out of a horror film I usually refused to watch… mindboggling, groundbreaking, and yeah, if I admitted something else to myself…

Terrifying as all fuck.

I took a deep breath, stealing a sideways glance over at Edward. He didn't even have to look at me as his fingers tighten around my hand...

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

That shittastic night at my condo, Edward's arms had been around me in the doorway of my bedroom before I'd even comprehended what was happening, what had happened, or at least it felt that way. His hand pulled at my elbow, leading me from the room through the condo and out the door, as if in slow motion, but not. Or maybe a more like a dream. I let him lead me, my mind flashing images of the white feathers, the blood, and the headless thing on my bed. We'd made it all the way down to the car, Edward talking on his cell halfway, when it finally registered that he had called Emmett. Swift in opening my door, his hand softly ushered against my lower back to get into the car. But it was at the moment when I finally sat, and the silence draped around me for just enough time for the full force of what I had witnessed to smack me upside the head.

"That horsefucking, son of a mothercocksucking WHORE!"

Edward's door opened, his head ducking in, my head whipping not because I knew it wouldn't be him but because I was about to lay a path to Jasper Whitlock's dick with my tongue and then rid him of it Lorena Bobbitt style.

"There you are." Edward's grin to me was quick, but I could see it fade as he stood back up, his phone still at his ear as he slid into the seat. "Emmett, meet us back at my place to get Bella's key…No, no cops. Get your people to handle this discretely….Yes…We'll be fine. We have to go in…It's not me he…Bro, don't fucking argue about this with me. See you in a few." Edward threw the phone in the center console, and sat back in his seat, his omnipresent hand wrenching once again through his hair.

"I want him dead, Edward. I want to shoot the motherfucker myself. I want to rip his dick-"

"Yes, Bella, we're in complete and total agreement on that." He sighed long and hard, staring straight ahead.

Throwing myself back in my seat, my palms running over the tops of my thighs, all I could think of is how I wanted the club to be open, how I needed Heaven, and everything that had been within its walls, to take me away from all this. To find the control that seemed to be slipping through my fingers faster than a handful of pristine white sand. I needed the rush, the thrill, and I needed it to be…

Yours.

Who just happened to be sitting next to me.

Almost as if he sensed where my thoughts were, Edward started the car, took one look out the rearview mirror and tore out of the parking space. Anticipation flew through every one of my nerve endings from my toes, up to my nipples, and then settled like a bonfire between my legs. I wanted Edward, oh fuck yeah, but I wanted him my way.

We reached his condo, and I didn't even wait for him to open my car door, flinging it open and jumping out like a woman on a mission. A mission to fuck. Edward had grabbed my hand as he came up beside me after leaving the car, and as we walked, nearly ran, to the elevator doors, my tongue ran over my bottom lip remembering his taste, wanting to run it over every last inch of him before I set him free from whatever restraints I could find in that damn dresser of his. I wanted him cuffed, on his knees, quivering with the same anticipation my knees were now shaking with. The elevator was empty as we rushed in, no one joining us, and as soon as the doors were closed, my hands were at his chest, forcing him against the wall.

The surprise on his face only lasted a second as my mouth found his, my hand cupping his dick, working it and feeling it harden as our tongues fought and lashed out. His fingers gripped my shoulders, forcing me even closer, and then down my back to my ass, squeezing it possessively and lifting, my legs responding by wrapping themselves around his waist, my hands working their way up to his neck, my fingernails digging into his hairline and skin.

Until the ding let us know both know the doors were opening.

Gently, he set me on my feet - his hands on my hips, guiding me to his door - his now rock-hard dick pressing into the top of my ass and my lower back. We were both fighting for control now; I could feel it in him, his hands not only on my hips for protection, but for possession. So to tease him, I stopped on a dime a foot in front of his door. Since he wasn't expecting it, he nearly ran me over, but I bent over just slightly, just at the right angle and he had to bend with me, the full forward force of him running into me, my hand reaching out to the door to prevent us both from falling.

"F-fuck, Bella, I'm going to-" It wasn't his normal voice, it was deeper, hungrier, the lower register of a torture victim.

"Oh, you most certainly are, Edward." I breathed back, looking over my shoulder. "But not before I say you can." A slow, lazy smile started to form on my lips as his fingertips dug into my hip, and I slid to the side to let him open the door.

But I didn't realize how much I had actually awakened the monster.

With the turn of the key and knob, Edward pushed the door open, grabbing my arm and pulling me in, his foot slamming the door behind him, his hands at my shoulders pressing me against the wall as his body slammed into me, his mouth once again demanding on mine.

Fucking hell, this was so damn hot.

My fingers clutched the bottom of his shirt tugging it from his shorts. His hands roamed under the base of mine, pulling it up with them. Burning, driving, moaning, parry for parry.

"Um, hello?"

We both jumped at exactly the same time, Edward stepping back from me. He was were already straightening my shirt and then tucking his own before I'd even picked my own jaw up off the floor. He took my face in his hands and whispered, "Looks like we both forgot about him," then smiled, brushing his fingers over my hair, and then lightly kissing my forehead before taking my arm and leading me forward.

Pussyblocked by Buff Bodyguard.

"Yo, bro… s'that you?"

"No, it's the cable guy." Edward huffed out as we reached the living room.

"I didn't hear a thing." Emmett didn't look up, but continued to thumb through a copy of Maxim that I knew wasn't Edward's.

Bullshit. I wanted to yell and tell him to drink, as Edward led me over to the bar.

"I believe you and I need something calming." Edward said knowingly to me as he tossed the remote to Emmett for the stereo, a grin playing at the corner of his lips. I couldn't return it, as my frustrations started to take over, along with anger at what I'd seen, what Assper had done… Dance with the Devil and the clink of glassware and bottles brought me back momentarily, my blood reaching a boiling point.

"So lemme get this straight. He chopped off the head of a duck, and then left it—blood and all—over at Bella's."

My muscles tensed as Emmett tactlessly recounted the scene. I huffed from my perch on the stool, and walked halfway into the center of the room, my fingernail playing with the edge of my teeth. It wasn't just the blood and gore, it was the violation of my things, my space, my home. Somehow, he'd gotten in. God only knew what else he did that we hadn't even seen. I seethed wondering just how he'd managed it.

"A swan, Em." I felt Edward's eyes on me as I turned my back to both of them.

"Oh yeah, well, I've got my guys over there now getting rid of as much of it as they can. Bella, you're going to have to get new stuff for your bed, and most likely new carpeting in there. The feathers are easy enough, but the blood-"

"Em, enough." I turned back to them as Edward handed Emmett a beer and walked toward me with a martini. "Here, drink up." His one hand wrapped around my hip as the other held the drink in front of me. I would've ripped it out of his hand if I could without spilling it.

I took back half of the drink, feeling the burn and the salty taste travel over my tongue and down my throat. "What the fuck am I gonna do now?" It was somewhat of a whisper, but from the back of my burning throat.

"You'll stay here." Edward said decisively, his chin nudging my shoulder.

Jerking myself from him, I took two steps away and spun around to face him. "Dammit Edward, staying with you short term is...is…merely tolerable."

"Merely…tolerable?" It was said slowly, and I could tell his patience was nearly as thin as one of my thongs as he brought his drink up and took back half of the warm brown liquid.

"It's long term. It's my home, for fuck's sake. I don't know if I can...go back there, but I sure as hell am not living with you." I hauled back what remained of my drink and stormed over to the bar, fully intent on mixing another or heading straight for the Patron.

"Oooookay. Everybody just calm down." Emmett said taking a swig of his beer. "Bells, my guys can have this all done in a couple of weeks, even if you'd prefer to go hardwood this time around. You know, in the bedroom." Emmett's smirk, while he tried to hide it, showed aplenty as he sat up in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Get it done, Emmett, whatever it costs." Edward's tone was boardroom-esque, and I knew he was watching me pour what was left in the shaker into my glass.

"Oh hell no, Mr. I'll-handle-everything-Cullen. I will manage this." I glared at him and then glanced at Emmett. "I want hardwood. So I can punish the next fucker who dares to step into it." Emmett didn't hide his laugh.

"Emmett, I think it's time for you to go. See to it you're at the office bright and early, before we arrive. You're going to have to drive yourself, so as to not arouse suspicion. Bella and I will arrive at our normal time. I've already made the necessary calls to have the workstation set up for you."

"Yes, Emmett, and do make sure that you keep your lunch hour open so I can introduce you to the fuckroom and keep up appearances."

It was all Emmett could do not to run to the door. "I'll call you, Ed." He took once glance at me as he walked over, setting his beer down on the top of the bar, as Edward's eyes seared a hole in either Emmett's back or through me. I wasn't sure because I refused to meet him eye-to-eye. Fuckwit.

"We'll get him, Bells. Try and…relax." He said as he nudged my chin but I jerked it aside, not in the mood for his playfulness. He exhaled long and hard as he turned, and with one last glance at Edward, and a "Later, bro," walked down the hall, the slam of the door behind him telling me I was on my own. If I'd thought my blood was boiling earlier…

"Just what the hell was that, Bella?"

I glanced at him over the rim of my drink as I took a sip and then turned to the view out the windows of the lake, which was completely dark now as far as the eye could see, with only a smattering of tinkling lights of sailboats littering nearer the shore. The view was dark, just like my mood, and getting darker. Frustration built upon days of shitstorm after shitstorm, uncertainty as to what to do, where to go, how to maintain, and not just control, but…equilibrium. Life had thrown down her corset and garter, along with a torrent of lust embodied in one Edward Cullen, and some pussy-whipped assbackwards cowboy on crack who had set his eyes on me and revenge. Of those three, I latched onto the one that I could.

"Edward, let's get something straight. You may be fucking me, but you don't own me." My back to him, I heard his glass hit wood, probably the coffee table, and then his purposeful footsteps until he stood directly behind me. My God I could feel it, the heat, the anger emanating from him, and my body's response to it. It went through my like molten lava, spreading, overpowering everything in its path, and I caught the reflection of his eyes behind me in the glass in front of me.

"Is that what you think that was?" He questioned, his voice steady but the anger just beneath the depths.

I took another long sip of my drink, debating for a moment what was in my head rather than blurting it out. He took another step towards me, and I glanced down, the reflection in the window showing his hands in fists. "I am not your employee here, Edward, nor anywhere else outside the office. I have my life, you have…" Before I could say yours, his hand reached out for my drink wrenching it from my hand, causing me to turn as he set it on the bar.

"Hey-" It hung in the air, as his body forced me up against the window, his hands grabbing my wrists and forcing them above my head where he held them, a slight pop in my shoulders made me wince from the too-quick movement.

"Bella…" he said through clenched teeth, "I should whip you for being so…" Just as suddenly, his lips were on my neck, and then his teeth, nipping, grazing a path to my chin as his free hand roamed over and squeezed my tit, "…utterly wrong." I could smell the alcohol as his breath came over me, and his eyes lifted to meet mine. "How can you be so intelligent and yet…"

"Yet, what?" I squirmed against him, pulling at my imprisoned hands, ducking my head, and considering for a split second a straight shot of my knee to his balls. The chill from the air-conditioned glass pressed against my back made me unexpectedly shiver even though I was hotter than the core of any currently active volcano.

"So…infuriatingly…not." His words came out hushed but not whispered, low but not growling, as his hand slid down my side, over my hips, and between my legs. My head shot up as his fingers teased my pussy through my shorts, most likely feeling the warmth and wetness there, and I glared right back at him. But I knew my quick inhale was a dead giveaway to what he was doing to me.

Why was I finding this so incredibly…hot? Why could he make me forget what I was, who I was? Make me want to chuck to the curb my principles and ideals it had taken years to develop and master? Was it the power struggle, the thought of winning, conquering, or something else?

But most of all, why in the midst of all of this bullshit and mayhem, didn't I care?

I swallowed hard as his eyes searched mine, and I met them, unwilling to give away the thoughts that were in my head. I couldn't let him have the upper hand anymore. No. But before I could move my legs closer together, the push of his foot inside one of mine stopped any movement forcing me to stay put and meet two very dark and angry emerald eyes.

I wanted to knee him. I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to fuck him until we were both senseless.

"I will do everything in my power to protect you, Bella. Whether you like it or not." With that, his mouth came crashing down on mind, his hand around my wrists pulling up the window stretching me, rendering me fully incapable of responding even if I wanted to.

Protect.

For some reason, my mind latched on to the word, repeating it over and over again, as our tongues once again fought for dominance, or was it just…hunger. Before I could decide, he slid his fingers from between my legs to squeeze into my hip, as his body pressed into mine, grinding his still rock hard dick into my pelvic bone. For a minute, I thought he would push me through the glass.

Screw principles, screw crazy-ass cowboys, screw thinking. Just give me that cock inside me. Now. I didn't give a shit if I was buck naked, my ass pressed flat against the windows for the entire city to marvel over.

As if he read my thoughts, his hand let my wrists go finding the back of my neck, grasping, kneading, winding their way into my hair, twisting. My arms dropped to his shoulders, my own fingers now digging, pulling…

"Enough." He pulled his mouth, his hands, his body from mine, taking a step back and turning.

What the motherfuck?

The burn on my lips grew from where his had just been, my arms dropped like lead weights to my sides, my hands pressed against the glass, my breaths came swift and short.

I watched stunned as he walked away, the back of his hair a mess from where my fingers had been, the back of his shirt half untucked even though I had nothing to do with it, his ass…that ass sculpted and still fuckhot even under the cotton of his khaki shorts. The ass that was…

Mine.

I pushed off from the glass, taking two steps and then breaking into a sprint.

"Oh no you fucking don't." I grabbed his forearm, pulling just enough to spin him, and then threw myself into him and him against the wall, the crash of a picture frame and the glass in it shattering on the floor. But neither of us cared, as he glared down at me and I glared right back up at him, nostrils flaring, both of us speedbreathing.

"What do you want, Bella?" He countered, pressing his lips into a thin line. The words took me by surprise, my face most certainly blanching.

I stared back at him, losing focus as my mind threw speedball questions. What did I want? I wanted to fuck him, I wanted him to fuck me. Yes. I wanted that. But what he was asking, it implied something else, and something within me grumbled as if waking out of a deep sleep. What did I want?

The questions came like images, visions, microcosms of memories.

Yours, no Edward, on his knees? Yes and no.

Edward in his office, his fingers at the base of my spine, our tongues entwined? Yes.

Edward cuffed and clamped and sweating with pain? Yes, kind of.

Edward's skin pressed up to my back, his arm around me, holding me, protecting…

"I…Edward…"

"Fuck, Bella." He murmured, his hands inching up until his fingers dug into my shoulders, pulling me closer still. The green of his eyes burned, searing into my own.

"Exactly." I didn't want to think anymore, clenching and twisting his shirt in my hands pulling him and his mouth to mine, forcing my tongue in and finding his. One of his hands traveled to my ass, the other to my neckline, his long fingers stretching and tangling in my hair, tilting my head, his mouth pressing hard, his tongue seemingly punishing me for all that I had said.

Or not said.

I tugged at his shirt, intending on using anything I could find in his special room, but his hands at my hips turned me toward his bedroom. One of his hands left me reaching out for the light switch, our mouths unable to disconnect. I had been on a mission since we'd left my condo. A mission to erase the all of the bullshit Assper was trying to fuck me with. He was trying to mess with my head, because he no longer would touch my body. Because…because…

I didn't give a fuck about the room.

His hands clutched the base of my shirt until I felt a stretch and heard a rip as he tore it straight up the middle. I'd been stumbling backwards, neither of us able to tear our mouths from each other and the ferocity of our tongues. His hands went behind me, unhooking my bra, as he tugged my arms from where they still fisted his shirt, sending everything that was left on me to the floor. He shoved with his body and his hands until I fell back, landing on the bed. Dropping to his knees at the foot of the bed, he worked the button and zipper on my shorts until they were around my ankles. The swift way he was making work of my clothes had me breathing faster as my panties were forcibly pulled from me and off my ankles before I could utter a word.

"Know this…" he breathed against the skin of my calf as he ran his lips and tongue up it and then up along the inside of my knee, stopping mid-thigh "…I'm Yours tonight, My Queen…" and then repeating the same movement up my other leg, stopping at my inner thigh, "but I plan on making you come…" his hands slid up my legs slowly pushing them apart "…my way."

Fuck me….all ways.

I lifted myself up on my elbows just in time to see his shit grin and his tongue lick all the way up to my clit, his eyes on mine the entire time. My insides went straight from helicopter to Mach 20 as his tongue licked and swirled, his hands pushing me further apart, as my thigh muscles tensed.

My God he was a master with the tongue too, and the sound that left me told him just how much.

I couldn't help but watch as he slid his hands inward, his thumbs now teasing my entrance, spreading me open, as his tongue pressed, his mouth sucked and worked me over. I knew my breathing, or lack thereof, was a sure sign, until I felt his fingers sliding inside me. My head fell back, my eyes closed, as I just…let him and all the fuckawesome sensations pulse and tense through me, my mind losing all vocabulary except for three words.

Yours. Mine. Always.

Always.

Always? My eyes suddenly flashed open. It was blurry, but I knew the ceiling was up there somewhere, but fuck if I could see it, fuck if I could concentrate on anything except for that tongue…those fingers…my insides wanting to…

"Ed…fuck..." On an exhale it came out and I nearly-

"Don't you dare come, Bella."

I groaned out of sheer frustration combined with the effort it took to do what he asked.

Wait. What?

Why was I…waiting? Why was I…following his command?

His fingers slid further in - those incredibly long, supremely divine, amazingly talented fingers – in and out, curling, his tongue the most blissful torture ever-

"Now."

I barely heard the word as he sucked my clit into his mouth, his teeth barely touching it, his fingers directly on…

Omyfuckinghelluva…and I let go with a noise that was more of a scream than not, my hand grabbing for his hair and pulling, the other keeping balance while clenching the material underneath it.

"Edward…" I panted, my body rocketing, my hips jutting up each time his tongue touch my now overly-sensitized clit, my insides rolling over and over as his fingers continued to push and spread and curl, and…

"Fuckin'-A!" I fell back, once again unable to focus, to remember my name, existence as a philosophical metaphysical principle became clear and I drifted on a plane of merely being.

My God, I love you.

My eyes shot open, my entire body jerked so violently, Edward's head came up suddenly and I could see his face. His eyes were now like emerald rays solely focused on my own, holding them, me, in some state of complete paralysis.

Had I said it out loud?

Had he heard me?

Holy fuckin' euphoric eureka.

His eyes stayed on mine, as he knelt back undoing his shorts, standing briefly to send them flying. Holy bonanza Batman, he'd been commando. His one hand reached behind his head, pulling his shirt over his head and then in the direction his shorts flew. His gaze never faltered, as he slowly crawled up the length of me. I couldn't look away.

Now on top of me, propped up only by his elbows, his eyes darted over my face, while his hands on either side brushed away my hair. All I could do was stare back at him, wondering what was going through his head. Until he slowly brought his lips to mine, a gentle brush, and then once again his tongue, his taste and my own mingling. Soft, yet almost questioning, his lips took my top one, then my bottom, and then his tongue again, my hands finally finding the strength to wander up his sides and then up to his shoulder blades, my fingernails softly scraping over his skin. My nerve endings were still firing, the aftershocks going off inside me, the two sides of my brain fighting each other and the feeling that was rushing over me – indescribably incredible.

I wanted him inside me. Needed him inside me. More than ever.

"Edw-"

"Shhhh." He moved down me again, knowing what he didn't allow me to ask. He stood at the foot of the bed, his eyes running over my body, until his palms ran over the tops of my thighs and then to the side, his fingers wrapping purposefully, and suddenly I was pulled toward him. He took my leg, kissing the inside and caressing it as he raised it to his shoulder, while stroking himself with the other. He stared back at me, teasing his tip over my clit making my hips buck again, until I felt that perfect cock of his mercifully push inside me. Slowly he moved in and out, torturing the both of us.

Vanilla. I couldn't remember the last time I'd had it. But more than that, I couldn't ever remember anyone making me feel…

The boy had some serious control.

"Dammit, Ed…please." It was barely a whisper, as the light reflected off the small beads of sweat on his forehead.

But it was enough to break the spell, as his hand tightened around my hip, and he rammed into me, my back arching to meet him. The words "hell yes" caught on my tongue as his sounds and moans quickened with each deep thrust.

Until I felt it starting to build inside me again, that sweet cinching of my walls around him, the tightening of every muscle I had tits to toes. I knew he felt it to.

"Bella…"

My fingers slid down my stomach to touch myself, finding the sweet spot, and the mere sight of them sent Edward over the edge, his primal grunt music to my ears overpowering the music still on the stereo.

It was all I needed, as he pushed my leg from his shoulder, and fell forward, catching himself on his hands until his elbows bent and he balanced on his forearms. My body exploded from within and shook from the force of his thrust as he came. I had just enough strength left to lift my hand to his shoulder, and then to his cheek.

"My…King." I breathed out.

He rested his forehead between my tits for only a moment, his body shaking and jutting into me, riding out the intensity, until he raised his head thrusting one last time. The sweat lingering on his forehead made me want to reach up and wipe it away, until I glanced down, meeting his gaze. His breath rushed across my chin as his lips pressed to mine, and then softly brushed over them. Rolling to the side, he took me with him, our lips only coming apart to allow us to breathe. My head fell to his chest because I didn't have the strength to hold it up, his heart racing beneath my ear.

"Cullen?" I managed to mutter.

"Yes…My Queen?" He panted.

"Guarantee…that every night, and I'll…most definitely stay." I smirked, turning my head and licking his nipple.

"Every?" He questioned with a snort.

I took his nipple in my teeth, pulling it as I lifted my head up slightly and just enough that his head came up as he inhaled sharply. I smiled slowly, letting it go. "Well, there is that fine art of compromise…" I trailed off, laying my head back down still holding my grin.

He busted a gut, his arm coming up around the center of my back and hugging me even closer to him. "Indeed, My Queen."

o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I glanced at his hand in mine, and then surreptitiously up at him and then back out the windshield. That next morning, and every morning since, I had been put to bed in a similar fashion, although Edward had let me play with a few of his toys one night. Yes, I had managed to pick out a few things from his collection, and I smiled inwardly at the memory. He'd done his best to give me my space in the evenings, although I liked being with him, watching him from my spot on the couch, my laptop on my legs. Every time his frustration set in, my Surething would run that huge hand with those amazing fingers through that fuckhot bedhair, and I would feel it right between my legs.

And that. That…feeling wasn't just all about sex, although I'd decided all about Wednesday he wasn't just the fuck of the century, but the fuck of the millennium.

No. That night, when the words I love you had flitted through my brain in an orgasmic haze, something had changed. Groundbreaking, earthshattering, call it what you will, but it had fucked with my head ever since.

Because Edward hadn't mentioned a thing. The one time I needed a tell - hell even for him to find the stones to admit to me he heard it – he never said a word. Nor did he even come close to muttering those words to me, himself, and I didn't have the stones to ask him.

Stalemate.

Asshat.

Which of course made me stew even more. My fuckhot protector Edward, my stalking-psycho Assper, my eye-candy bodyguard Emmett, now stationed right outside my office flirting with every skirt that walked by.

It was the closest to fucking insane I'd ever been.

The work week had been uneventful, aside from getting ready for the National Sales Meeting which would officially start on Monday, but Edward and I were required at meetings on Sunday. It was now Friday, our last full day in the office until we spent next week in a room, our room, at the Trump Towers with the rest of the company. Edward was adamant about sharing a room, and none to happy about the hours that we would be apart in separate conference rooms. I had presentations to give, reps to school. Edward had higher level meetings to attend, but I knew he would be sneaking out and finding me, even though Emmett had been assigned to shadow me.

Emmett, in only four days and approximately 32 hours, had solidified himself as the office go-to guy for all of the single gals, and not so single gals, and I'd even caught him flirting with Rose. With my door opened that first afternoon, I happened to overhear Em's first attempts at the bitch on heels, not to mention her snippy refusal, and stifled a giggle as she reached my doorway. But as the days went by, and Emmett kept at it, Rose became less…Rose. I might even say she softened to him a little, as soft as Rose could ever be, and I was probably the only one who noticed.

Edward pulled into the underground garage, deftly maneuvering his car into his assigned space. He had mentioned to Emmett one night that the way he saw it, work was the safest place for me – too many people around, not to mention the fact that if Assper even made an appearance, he would be recognized even if he got past security. Emmett's reminder of a potential accomplice had silenced Edward, but sent my mind into action. I wracked my immensely overloaded brain trying to come up with any asshole who might actually have been on his side, do his dirty work, and the only person that I knew had been that close to him, the only person who could conceivably be a possibility to anyone who had been paying attention…

…was myself.

As we reached the service elevator alone and walked in, Edward let the doors close before he reached around my hip to pull me close. "I have a VP meeting at nine, which might last a couple of hours, but Emmett-"

"I'll be fine, Edward. I've got a shitton of stuff to get organized for next week, a meeting with Production at eleven, and a nice solitary lunch in my office planned. So you can tuck your cape into your desk drawer." I didn't look at him, instead watching as the number on the screen flashed five.

"Perhaps I should call you in for a two o'clock. A two o'clock that lasts til four."

I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn't see. "I'll have my phone on 'Send all Calls'." I said, walking through the door.

"I'll send an Outlook request." He kept on, walking behind me.

"I'll decline." I grinned, my back still to him, until I felt a tug on my hair, which I'd conveniently put in a low ponytail.

"I'll fire your ass." He whispered as I whipped around, his grin as I glared up at him offsetting the uberbitchface I was giving him.

I eyed him up and down, thanking the gods there was no one else in the corridor. "I wonder if Jacobsen at Wadsworth is still looking for that director position…" I threatened as I as I did the heel-toe-shift, sauntering away making sure to sway my ass just enough.

"I have just enough time to call Harry in HR…" I heard him jest through a chuckle.

"Have a good day, Edward." I cut him off as I rounded the corner to go down my hall, holding in my laugh until I was just in front of Emmett's cube, until I saw who was standing in the threshold, tossing her blond locks.

Oh Emmett, you have no idea what you're up against.

My laughter now clearly audible, I opened my door and walked through, noticing a long white box tied with a red ribbon on my desk.

Now why the fuck would Edward…

Hanging my suit jacket behind the door, I shook my head as I sat in my chair, taking my laptop out of my briefcase and setting it into the docking station.

"Bella?" Rose's head peeked through the mostly-closed door. "Oh! Flowers!" Rose walked her gorgeous ass in, closing the door only partly behind her. "I didn't know you were seeing someone?"

Even though she had her lips stretched in a gorgeous smile, I knew Rose better, and could hear the sarcasm. I smiled back at her, not giving a yes or no, and pulled on the ribbon letting it fall and grabbing at the edges of the box pulling it up.

"Bella, I..." Emmett's voice came from the doorway, but I didn't hear the rest of what he said.

People say moments like this happen in slow motion, a way for your mind to process and yet have enough time to guard itself from harm.

I remember hearing Rose scream. I remembered hearing Emmett's roar, something that sounded like a No!

I remembered looking into the box, seeing the plastic, the black tissue paper and the white of a swan's head, what was left of its neck covered in blood and some pooling around in the plastic that was over it.

I remembered my lower back hitting the lumbar support behind me on my chair.

I didn't remember what Edward only described to me later as Emmett's attempt to control the situation, nor Edward actually even arriving in my office, or even Emmett telling people as they knocked on the door that Rose had seen a spider.

Emerald eyes, only their corners pinched hiding concern. A faraway voice saying my name over and over, louder and louder. Hands on my forearms slowly rubbing back and forth until they ran up my shoulders and held my face.

"Bella!" That voice. His voice. Edward.

"I swear to God I'm going to kill that fucker myself." I said out loud and to those emerald eyes, which then knelt down in front of me, a long hard exhale as they did, and two very large hands taking mine in their own.

"Not before I do." Edward whispered, bringing my hand to his lips and kissing it softly.

Erp. I know! Another cliffie! Please don't stone me! LOL!

As always, thanks so much for reading, and for sharing your thoughts if you so choose.