This story is unbeta'd, so any and all mistakes are solely mine.

Disclaimer – Twilight and the characters belong to SM. I am just borrowing them.

EPOV

Chapter Six

It was Monday and I was more nervous than I could ever remember being in my entire life. It was my first official day at UW and I was going to have to face Bella. There was a party for the faculty so that I could meet everyone and I knew that she would be there. I had to find a way to talk to her alone beforehand so that I could tell her that I was her boss. I knew it would be a shock to her and that she may not take it too well at first. I was just hoping that if I explained everything to her that she would listen and understand.

On top of the stress over letting Bella know that I was the boss she already hated, I also was stressed over the entire Tanya situation. I had booked a flight to Chicago for the coming Saturday so that I could tell her we were over. It was going to be a really short trip due to the fact that I had to be in Seattle on Friday night for a party at Emmett and Rose's house. I was planning to fly to Chicago Saturday morning, give Tanya the news and fly back on Sunday. It was going to be a quick trip, but it had to be done. The longer I put off telling the Tanya the harder it was going to be. I already felt terribly guilty every time she called. I either had to pretend like things were find and normal or give her some excuse as to why I couldn't talk. No matter what I did I was lying to her and that was not fair to her.

When I got to the university on Monday morning I immediately went to Bella's office. I was hoping to catch her early so that we could talk, but she must have already been in meetings. I wanted to stay and wait for her to get back to her office but I had meetings with the dean of the college that I couldn't miss. I tried throughout the rest of the day to catch her, but I never did. I was really busy getting settled at the university and I didn't have as much time as I really wanted or needed to find Bella and have a talk with her. I knew that I should have called her over the weekend and talked with her, but I had stupidly put it off. Now it didn't look as though I would catch her before the party that night.

By the time I made it to Jack Mitchell's house the party was already in full swing. I was running late due to trying to finalize some of the paperwork that needed to be done for the administration so everyone was already at the party once I arrived. As soon as I walked in I saw Bella. It would have been hard to miss her. She was easily the most beautiful woman at the party and it was as though my eyes were drawn to her. And just then her eyes snapped to mine, as though she could feel me watching her.

I could see the confusion in her eyes when she saw me. She wrinkled her brow and just stared at me as she tried to figure out what I was doing in the same room as her. I couldn't help but smile at her. I finally walked over to her and asked "Surprised to see me, sweet Bella?"

I was shocked when she threw her arms around me and hugged me. I didn't expect this kind of welcome from her, but I definitely was not complaining. It only took me a second to get over my surprise and wrap my arms around her tiny waist. I buried my face in her hair and was immediately met with the soft scent of strawberries. It brought back memories of having her in my arms Saturday night as I carried her out of the club to my car and then from my car into her house. She smelled just as delicious as she looked.

"I will take that as a good kind of surprised," I whispered in her ear. She pulled back and looked at me with a huge grin on her face. "Edward, what are you doing here? Did you come to find me? How did you know where I would be?"

The question immediately reminded me that I had yet to explain who I was to Bella. She obviously had not yet made the connection as to who I was and thought that I was at the party to see her. As much as I had looked forward to seeing her tonight, I had to let her know the real reason that I was there. I suggested that we walk outside so that we could talk, but before we could get outside we were interrupted by another professor who asked Bella how she knew me. Of course she called me Dr. Cullen, which would have been a dead giveaway to Bella.

I saw the question that was on Bella's lips a split second before I saw realization come across her face. Shit, she had figured out exactly who I was before I could talk to her privately. I heard the wine glass that Bella had been holding hit the floor and then she surprised me once again by doing something that I did not expect. She slapped me right across the face.

I deserved that. I truly did. But what neither Bella nor I deserved was the stares we were now getting from half of the faculty that had seen what happened. I knew that if she were thinking straight that she would be beyond embarrassed by the attention that she was now getting. Not to mention the fact that I really didn't want to have to explain anything to the rest of the English faculty and Bella probably would not want to explain either. It was a private matter.

"Bella," I said to her as she stood in front of me shaking with anger. "Let's go outside and talk about this. We need to talk about this because like it or not, we have to work together. And we should probably do so in private because right now we have a really big audience."

She finally remembered where we were and I saw her blush. I knew she would hate the attention. I could tell that it was a struggle for her to keep her temper right then and not lash out at me, but she refrained. I saw her take a few deep breaths and then she finally said "You are right, Edward. Or do you prefer Dr. Cullen? Regardless, let's step outside. There definitely are a few things that we need to discuss."

She marched past me and out the door. I could still see people staring at me, but I just couldn't bring myself to even attempt to speak to any of them or offer any explanations. My mind was focused on Bella. I walked outside and saw her standing next to a car waiting on me. And from the looks of her she was still very, very angry.

"I cannot believe you, you liar!" She yelled at me once I got close to her. "How could you not tell me who you were? Do you know how completely despicable that is?"

"I am truly sorry, Bella. I never meant for any of this to happen. I figured out on the plane that you had to be talking about me, but I didn't know what to say to you. I didn't think that I would see you again until today and that I would have time to prepare myself to talk to you and to explain myself to you. When I saw you sitting with Rose and Emmett Saturday night I knew then that I should come clean. But we were having so much fun and I just wanted a chance to get to you know before you realized that I was the boss you were determined to hate. I thought that maybe if you got to know me, the real me and not the professional me, that we might have a chance to get past what you heard about me and move on. It was a mistake on my part and I regret not telling you. But I don't regret that we spent time together, Bella. I meant what I wrote to you in that note."

"That's no excuse, Edward! You deceived me! I am so embarrassed. Not only did I talk about you to you, not knowing that it was you, but I fell for you! Was that your plan? Did you think that if you made me like you that you could make me forget that I know you don't deserve this job? Did you act nice towards me Saturday night just to make it easier for you when we were working?"

I shook my head and ran my fingers through my hair, tugging at the ends in frustration. "It's not like that! None of what you think about me is true! First of all, I do deserve this job. I know what you think, but it isn't true. And second of all, I didn't use you in any way! I was nice to you on Saturday because I wanted to be. You intrigue me, Isabella Swan."

I knew that she was overwhelmed and just trying to figure out what to say to me, but I hated the uncomfortable silence between us. Time seemed to drag on as we stood there not saying a word, but finally she spoke. "I'm so pissed right now that I don't think I can have a rational conversation with you. But will you answer a few questions for me?"

"Of course, I will answer anything that you want to know."

"Ok, my first question is about your name. Rose told me that her last name is Hale. Did she lie? Did she know who I was that night and just decide to help you out with me? Because your last name is Cullen and Emmett is your brother."

I couldn't help but smile slightly at her question. "No, Rose didn't lie. Her last name is Hale and Emmett's last name is Cullen. Rose was already practicing law by the time her and Emmett tied the knot and she didn't want to change her last name. It is a bit of a sore spot with Emmett, because he really wanted her to change her name. But anyone that knows Rose knows that she always wins over Emmett. I still tease him about it all the time. But Rose wasn't a part of any plan on my part because there was no plan. She does know who you are, but I know she wasn't trying to embarrass you or play some game with you."

"Ok, that makes me feel slightly better. So next question. You had to know after I told you that I was a professor at UW that I was talking about you. Why didn't you just tell me then? Obviously I was going to figure it out once I met you here. No matter what we were going to end up having some version of this conversation."

"I wanted to keep talking to you on the plane," I replied. "I thought that if I told you that you would quit talking to me and I was enjoying myself. I know that is selfish and stupid, but it's the truth."

"Is it true then? Did your parents really donate the money so that you could get the job?" She asked.

"No, it isn't true. Well not really. They did donate a lot of money, but not until after I already had been offered the position. I did actually get the job by my own merit. I have busted my ass for a lot of years so that I could get this type of position. I don't need my parents getting it for me."

We once again stood there in silence as Bella thought about all of the things I had said. At least she was still standing there and hadn't left yet. That gave me some hope.

Finally she spoke again and said "I believe you. But I am still so pissed off, Edward. You made a fool of me. And even if it wasn't intentional, it still happened. And not only did you make a fool of me in front of you, but I embarrassed myself in front of my colleagues. So maybe that is more my fault than yours. I probably should have controlled my temper and not made a scene back there. But if you had told me the truth from the beginning, or even Saturday night, then I wouldn't have."

"I know and I am sorry. I still want to get to know you, Bella. I know it may be a little awkward now, but I want to get past this."

"Please just give me some time to process all of this. And to calm down. We can talk again later, but right now I just can't talk to you. I will be civil and professional to you at school, but that's it. Hopefully by Friday night things will be better and then we can talk some more at Rose and Emmett's party. That is if you are going."

I nodded. "I will be there. And I will give you space until then. Please just try to forgive me, sweet Bella."

She gave me a small smile. It wasn't anywhere close to the ones that she had given me on Saturday, but I would take what I could get.

I watched Bella get in her car and drive off. I was so screwed. That girl had me coming completely undone. Never before had I chased after a girl and never before had I been so hell bent on having a girl want me. And while I would have liked instant forgiveness I knew that it was probably for the best that we would not talk again until Friday night. It was getting harder and harder for me to not just come out and tell her my feelings every time I saw her and I still had to deal with Tanya. I owed all of us that much. But once I got back in Seattle next Sunday I had every intention of going after Isabella Swan. I didn't know exactly how much I wanted from her, but I knew that I needed to have her in my life so that I could figure it out.