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Chapter 12 – Lady at Lunch

BPOV

A few minutes later, Felix and I were settled down at a four top in the cafeteria with soup, sandwiches and iced tea.

"So, any chance I can get you to explain what happened this afternoon?" Felix was understandably curious. I bit my lip.

I was certain that the details of mine and Edward's arrangement were not for Felix to know. I thought quickly.

"James is my former employer, obviously. I left rather abruptly not too long ago when I accepted a job here at CE. It seems he's angrier about me quitting than I thought he'd be." None of it was a lie, though the whole truth was artfully hidden.

Felix nodded. He seemed satisfied with my answer.

"How are you enjoying your new job here at Cullen?"

"It's been terrific so far. Everyone's been very welcoming."

"Good. Glad to hear it. Have any trouble with the elevator key card?"

"Nope, you were a good teacher."

Felix smiled at my silly compliment.

"Bella!" I looked up when I heard my name being called.

"Mike, hi." I grinned at the guy who had helped me fill out my employment paperwork earlier this week.

"I'm hurt, Bella," Mike pouted, "I thought we were going to have lunch this week and here you are with our intrepid Head of Security." He paused before turning.

"Felix." Mike greeted Felix casually with a nod and a small smile.

Felix returned the nod. "Newton."

"How's Heidi doing, Felix?" Felix shot Mike a dirty look and was about to respond when we were interrupted again.

"Bella, it's nice to see you again." I glanced up, not immediately placing the voice. I recognized the new man standing at the table as Tyler Crowley. Edward had introduced us last night. He was a department head here at CE, but I didn't know which department.

"Tyler, it's nice to see you again, too."

Tyler was bolder than Mike, placing his tray on our table and sitting down next to me. Mike took this as an invitation to join us as well. He turned the last empty chair around and straddled it while sliding his tray in front of him.

The men spoke haltingly with one another. Occasionally, one would ask me a question and I would answer. Once, I jumped in with an opinion when the conversation turned to sports. I knew a little about baseball because of Phil's time in the minor leagues and my dad's obsession with the game.

"Ben!" I called out as Angela's not-so-secret crush walked past the table. He stopped.

"Bella? Hey, I didn't know you were here today."

"I had to stop by to pick something up. How are you?"

"I'm well, how are things with you?"

The three men sitting with me stopped talking. All of them were now looking at Ben. I introduced him and he joined in the general conversation.

It was a complete coincidence that I was looking out the cafeteria door when Jasper walked by. He was on his cell phone, but caught my eye as he made his way down the hall. Through the glass wall, I could see him freeze in his tracks a few steps past the entrance to the café before taking three steps backwards and standing in front of the open door. His eyes were on mine as he said a few more words into his cell and snapped it shut. He entered the cafeteria and approached our table.

"Good afternoon, Bella. Here to pick up the item I'm holding for you?"

"Hi, Jasper, yes," I answered.

"Good. Come up to my office with me?" Jasper looked at the men gathered around the table.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen."

The four men around the table suddenly looked like little boys caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Whitlock," they answered. Mike and Tyler jumped to their feet, gathering the remnants of their lunch before excusing themselves and heading off.

Ben smiled at me and said goodbye before heading straight out of the cafeteria.

Felix rose to his feet more slowly. He nodded to Jasper before turning back to me.

"Thank you for joining me for lunch, Bella."

"It was my pleasure, Felix. It was kind of you to invite me. I hope we can do it again sometime. Next time it's my treat." Felix grinned broadly.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

I smiled at him as he cleared away our dishes. He winked at me as he followed the path Mike and Tyler had taken.

I looked up at Jasper. He was looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

"I didn't realize you were so well acquainted with so many of the, ummm...other employees, already, Bella."

We walked together through the halls, towards the elevators.

"Well, I met Mike when I was filling out my New Contractor packet, and Edward introduced me to Tyler at the party last night. Ben set me up with a laptop and Blackberry. Felix helped me with a problem I was having today."

"A problem? I'm sure Edward would have helped you. What's wrong?"

"Oh, it wasn't a problem here at Cullen, it was with my old employer. I was talking to Felix about it, and he offered to help me."

Jasper raised an eyebrow questioningly, but didn't respond. We were quiet as the elevator rose. I followed him out when it stopped at his floor.

"My office is this way," he said.

We walked down the hallway and through a cubicle farm. We entered a small room through an open door. There was a woman sitting behind a desk off to one side.

"Do you have that envelope I gave you for Bella Swan?" Jasper asked her.

"Yes, Jasper, it's right here." She held out a manila envelope. Jasper took the envelope from his assistant and thanked her. He indicated I should follow him.

He closed the door to his office when we entered. It wasn't anywhere near the size of Edward's, but was still large and tastefully furnished.

"You have a lovely office," I commented.

"Thank you. So, here's your credit card."

I reached over and took the small gold card from Jasper's hand.

"You need to sign for it." He handed me a piece of paper and a pen. I wrote my name on the indicated line.

"Initial here." He pointed to the spot.

"You also need to sign the back of the card." I quickly took care of that.

"Okay," he said, "you're all set."

"Thank you."

"Going up to Edward's office?" Jasper wanted to know.

"I wasn't planning on it. Why? Did he mention needing to see me?"

"No, nothing like that, I just thought you might be stopping in to say hello."

I smiled. "I wouldn't want to bother him, I'm sure he's busy. I'm going to be in the office on Tuesday. I'm joining you, Edward, Emmett and J.J. for dinner. If he needs me before then, I'm sure he'll let me know."

Jasper eyes had narrowed as I spoke. I sensed a change in what I had thought was a friendly conversation.

"Okay, Bella," Jasper sighed, "I guess I'll be seeing you soon, then. You don't mind if I tell Edward you were here, do you?"

"Oh! Of course not."

Why would he think I'd mind something like that? I was starting to feel a little concerned by Jasper's attitude. I wondered if I'd done something wrong.

"Is something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, no, Bella, not at all."

"Okay…" I hesitated, "Well, thanks for the card, Jasper."

"You're welcome."

I smiled at him as I left his office, nodded to his assistant and made my way back downstairs.

I decided it was time to hit the check-cashing place, then I'd do some grocery shopping before heading home for the day. I felt a little guilty about letting Felix pay for my lunch, but I swore to myself that I'd definitely return the favor once my checks from Cullen started rolling in.

EPOV

"Good morning, Mrs. Cope," I said as I walked through my outer office.

"Good morning, Mr. Cullen, how was your party last night?"

"Terrific, thanks for asking. There was a little trouble with J.J., but otherwise everything went off without a hitch."

Mrs. Cope pursed her lips distastefully at the sound of J.J.'s name. She liked me and didn't appreciate the fact that J.J. often went out of his way to, well, not make trouble for me, but be a constant pain. He was like a toddler who needed attention.

"What did he do this time?"

"He pulled Bella away from me and then invited her to join us for dinner next week. She was uncomfortable, but pulled it off rather well, I think. She will be dining with us Tuesday night." Mrs. Cope nodded before turning all business again.

"Your schedule is full today. I'm holding all your calls, unless there is someone you need to speak to…?"

"No, I really need to get through today's marathon. Take messages, but let me know if something important comes up. Would you call down to the cafeteria and have a lunch sent up around one?"

"Certainly, anything specific?"

"Whatever the special is will be fine." I walked over to the coffee service that was already set up and poured myself a generous cup of coffee and snagged a mini muffin from the tray.

The morning flew by. Before I knew it a server from the cafeteria brought my lunch into the office. I shoveled it in quickly before returning to the laundry list of phone calls and reports that needed to be completed today.

I was surprised to hear my intercom buzz around three.

"Mrs. Cope?"

"Mr. Cullen, Mr. Whitlock is here. He would like a few minutes of your time."

I exhaled loudly and looked over the mess on my desk before shaking my head.

"Sure, send him in."

A moment later Jasper entered my office.

"Hey, Jazz."

"Hey. Busy?"

"Honestly? Yes, but I could use a break. What's going on?"

"I called Bella today. Her card was already here, and I offered to have it messengered to her place. She was out, though, and stopped by to pick it up instead."

I perked up. "Bella's here? Tell her to stop up and say hi."

"She left already. She was downstairs having lunch when I came back from my meeting earlier."

"Oh, she should have let me know she was coming in today. She could have had lunch up here with me—I had mine delivered earlier. It would've saved her the cost of lunch, anyway."

"I don't think the cost was a problem… seems that Felix bought her lunch."

"Felix? From Security?"

"Yeah." Jasper was looking at me closely.

"That was nice of him."

"Nice." Jasper said the word like it tasted bad. "I guess they were all being nice," he muttered.

"All of who?" I asked.

"All of the guys who were sitting with her at lunch today. Felix, Crowley and some kid from HR--Mark, Mike, I don't know his name--and one of the techs from IT."

"Oh."

Jasper raised his eyebrows and looked at me.

"How well do you know this girl?" he wanted to know.

"Not well, really, but she made a good first, well, second impression. Why?"

Jasper pursed his lips.

"What?"

"Well, it was pretty obvious that all four of them see her as available. She wasn't doing anything to discourage them that I could see."

"Was she leading them on?"

"Honestly, no. When I walked in there was a pissing contest going on, though. The four of them were so interested in one-upping one another that they practically forgot she was there."

I chuckled at the thought.

"Aren't you concerned?"

"About what?"

"Well, she's supposed to be your girlfriend, or whatever the hell it is you're calling her. Shouldn't she be a little more selective about her lunch companions?"

I thought about it. I could see what Jasper was getting at, but didn't really feel it.

"We have a plan. Bella's a little concerned about something she heard last night. We've decided to slowly build up to our quote/unquote relationship. She's worried that people will assume I was cheating on Tanya with her. J.J. actually played right into our plans by inviting her to dinner with us on Tuesday. She'll be out with us, but not at my invitation. Lunch today was probably something similar. It makes sense for her to eat with someone besides me. After all, I don't eat in the cafeteria often and rarely have anyone other than you or Emmett up here for lunch."

Jasper nodded, but still seemed concerned.

"Jazz, seriously, it's nothing to worry about."

"What about the pictures?"

"What pictures?" I asked.

"Emmett sent me another link today. Seems as though someone caught you and Bella arriving and leaving the party last night."

"What did the article say?"

"Very little, actually. The arrival shots weren't that good, but there were a couple of clear shots of you leaving. Bella was wearing your coat."

"She was cold."

"Mmhm. I'm not sure how well your plan is going to work out if more pictures of her in your clothes start circulating."

I sighed. I still wasn't too concerned. We weren't going to drag this courtship out for months, just a few weeks. If the timetable was sped up we'd deal with it.

"We'll deal with the fallout if it becomes necessary. Frankly, you've been with Charlotte so long that I'm wondering if you've forgotten what it's like when you first meet someone. Sure, there's that initial attraction," my mind flashed back to my first glimpse of Bella, "but there's always some back and forth and false starts before you settle in to a routine."

Jasper nodded. He seemed to be coming around.

"You know, you're not that good an actor."

I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing at his statement. He seemed startled at first, but then chuckled at my amusement.

"What's so funny?"

"That was exactly what I said to Bella when she recommended this whole building-up-to-a-relationship approach."

"It was Bella's idea?"

"Yeah. I was concerned, too. I told her that I wasn't a good actor, just like you said. That's why I was laughing. She insisted that I was a salesman, though, and that I could sell our relationship."

Jasper nodded thoughtfully. He was definitely softening.

"Watch her at dinner next week. If you see anything unsettling we'll talk again. I'm sure you'll see that she's dedicated to this plan. She has a lot to gain from our arrangement. I don't think she'll jeopardize it."

"Okay. I've got to get a few things done before heading home for the weekend. Oh! Did you get the invite to the reunion next month?"

"Yeah, Bella mentioned something about it. I haven't had a chance to go over the itinerary yet, though. Anything good?"

"A few pub crawls and a flag football tournament that will probably turn into an exercise in binge drinking. There is a formal welcome dinner the first night, though. Will you bring Bella?"

"Yes, I told her I'd let her know what events I'd need her for. What is Charlotte going to attend?

"I haven't had a chance to tell her about it yet because she's been so busy at work. Her new boss, Peter, is working her pretty hard. It stinks because she interviewed for the position as well. She has trouble discussing what's going on there now. I know she's upset that they brought someone in from the outside to do the job she was essentially doing while her old boss marked time until retirement. We're getting together tonight. I'll talk to her about it then and let you know."

"Great. Have a good weekend."

"You, too."

Jasper left my office, and I turned back to the pile on my desk and sighed. Looked like another long night ahead. Something Jasper said came back to me, and I picked up my phone.

"Emmett?"

"Edward, what's up?"

"Jasper was just here. He said you sent him a link earlier today? Could you send it to me, too? I want to see these pictures."

"Um, okay." I could hear key clicking in the background as Emmett sent me the link he found earlier.

"Done."

"Thanks, see you this weekend?"

"Yep. Bye."

"Bye."

I refreshed my email and found the link Emmett sent me. Clicking on it, I was sent to a popular website. It was updated frequently, so I had to scroll back a little to find any mention of me. "Edward Cullen and an associate attend the Cullen Enterprises Fortune celebration." There were a few pictures from the back that could have been anyone, but the shots taken when we left were clear. Bella and I were waiting for the valet. I noticed that our heads were slightly tilted in towards one another. She had my coat wrapped around her tightly. I hoped she'd take the hint I offered last night and buy herself a decent jacket.

All in all, I didn't think the shots were bad. Certainly nothing anyone would mistake for a romantic encounter. We weren't touching at all, much less intimately. I think that Jasper was blowing the pictures out of proportion. It was probably a slow news night.

Closing the website, I returned to the work on my desk.

?POV

I looked at the pictures online again. I kept coming back to them, even though it was probably foolish to worry. The girl in the shot wasn't even pretty, really. However, seeing her wrapped up in Edward's coat gave me an uneasy feeling.

The site described her as "an associate." She wasn't anyone I recognized, but that wasn't surprising.

I sat back and picked up my glass, swirling the ice cubes around before taking another drink.

"Babe?" I could hear the guy from last night calling me from the other room. I shook my head. Standing, I clicked off the monitor before turning and walking back to my bedroom.

- - - - -

Who could that be? Leave your guesses in your review!

This one was short – sorry! I didn't see any point in moving on to Tuesday night's dinner here because that'll be a longer one. The good news is that Chapter 13 is already with the betas!

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