Bella turned her body around to face him and she knew her face portrayed her shock. Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened in disbelief. "Excuse me?" she responded weakly. He looked at her, his gaze holding hers before flicking down to where she stood biting her lip.

He smirked before repeating "would you care to join me for lunch?" at her continued vacant expression, he couldn't help but chuckle. "I assume you don't have any plans," he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

"I can't sorry", she finally replied. He continued to smirk but his raised eyebrow betrayed his interest.

"Then join me for dinner tonight instead?"

"I- I don't-"

"I'll pick you up at 8, I know your address," he said pointing to the infamous sheet of paper that held Bella's details, all of which were correct apart from her name. Before Bella could open her mouth to object he dismissed her quickly saying, "I will see you later, Marie", his tone leaving no room for debate before he swiftly turned back to the stack of papers in front of him, effectively dismissing her.

The blond man, if Bella had bothered to notice, was gaping at the scene that had presented itself in front of him; he hadn't seen Edward ask a girl to dinner since Tanya, and that was a first.

Half an hour later and Bella was sat in her car outside her flat, wondering how on Earth she had managed to agree to dinner with Edward Cullen. Edward freaking Cullen. She groaned audibly, this job had only just begun and it was already getting out of control. On a plus note, she reasoned with herself, it would be a fool proof way to get closer to Edward and unravel what she needed to for the article.

That being said, Bella knew that she had to be the one in control tonight, from what she'd read and seen, Edward was an arrogant, self-righteous man but he was a man and all men, in his position anyway, think with their dick.

She made a mental note to raid her closet in plenty of time for the night ahead. Tonight was all about making Edward sweat; he needed to believe that he had to have her in his mansion. She needed to make sure she made a better impression.

Bella blushed as the memory of her audition came to surface, 'fuck me' she groaned, 'I'm such a mess'. Before she could dwell on it, she got out of the car and entered her apartment, throwing her shoes off before landing dramatically on her couch and switching on her television and immersing herself into some mindless TV drama.

"Shit, fuck, bollocks, shit, fuck, bollocks", she repeated over and over in irritation. How is it that when you need an outfit, you suddenly find you have absolutely no clothes to choose from. It happens every single time and yet the complete irony of the situation is that on a normal day, you can see that you've got a reasonable amount of clothes to choose from. Of course that's never the case on nights like tonight.

Bella had been sifting through her clothes for the past hour and she knew her room looked like a bomb had hit it. "Awesome," she groaned as she looked over at the clock on her dressing table that was just visible under the bra that lay on top of it. She only had 30 minutes left.

25 minutes later and Bella was finally getting to do her hair and make-up, knowing she didn't have time to do anything with it; her hair was left down in its normal messy but loosely tussled curls. And in a record breaking amount of time, she had donned her foundation, liquid eyeliner, a quick brush off mascara on each eye, and a bit of red lipstick on her lips.

Bella, finally ready, looked in the mirror and smiled. Mission accomplished. Just as that thought ran through her mind, the bell rang. She looked up to the clock that hung above her head and couldn't help but let out an unintentional laugh, leave it to Edward Cullen to arrive right on time.

She opened the door saying "don't tell me you-" but she was stopped mid-rant by the realization that it wasn't Edward who was at the door but someone else entirely.

The man stood in his place, smiled in what could only be described as detachedly, professionally polite despite the amusement that was present in his eyes. The man was huge; not Jabba the Hutt huge but huge in an I-work-out-and-could-probably-eat-you-for-breakfast kind of way. Albeit surprisingly he didn't come off as someone who was intimidating- not to Bella anyway, although it was evident that he could be.

"Miss Hale?" he asked, flashing a friendly, dimpled smile that caught Bella off guard. Yet despite the confusion she felt, she found herself smiling back.

"Yes?" she replied slowly; still trying to understand why it wasn't Edward who was stood at her doorstep.

"I'm Emmett, Edward's driver," he said by way of explanation, " if you'd just follow me," he gestured before turning his back to her and making his way over to the car that Bella only now noticed was parked on the curb side.

Driver!? Seriously, was this necessary? Bella suddenly felt her heart rate pick up. She'd never been on a date before with a man that had a freaking driver. Mind you, she reminded herself, she'd never been on a date with someone like Edward Cullen.

Bella quickly turned to grab her bag before following Emmett out to the car where, she presumed, Edward would be waiting. When she had reached the end of her driveway, she took a deep breath and then looked up at where Emmett stood holding the door open for her. She thanked him quietly before ducking her head to enter into the car.

Once she'd managed to successfully enter without fucking up and falling over as she was prone to do, she casually rubbed down her clothes in the hope that she gave off the impression of being somewhat suave before looking up. To her shock and increasing agitation she realized that Edward was nowhere in sight.

"Uh, Emmett?" she asked, in a tone that belied her irritation.

"Yes, Miss Hale?" he replied smoothly.

"Where exactly is Edward?"

Her question was met with a beat of silence before Bella heard a low chuckle.

"Emmett?" she asked again.

"Edward will meet you at the restaurant, Marie" he replied.

After a mostly silent journey Emmett finally pulled the car into the parking lot and cut off the engine. Turning around to face Bella he announced their arrival.

'This is it', Bella thought to herself and she suddenly felt her stomach turn with nerves. 'Time to get down to business, Bella, remember you've got to reign in your temper if you want to be hired as Edward's next girl', her inner pep talk continued as she walked herself to the door of what looked like more of a social club than a restaurant.

Although, she suddenly realized, the fact that it was a club probably worked in her favor, she could show him that he had to hire her.

Edward stood by the bar, swirling his iced glass of whiskey and waiting for Marie to arrive. He smirked as he imagined her reaction when she realized he wasn't going to be there to pick her up. Considering her reaction the day before, he knew she wouldn't take well to being escorted by Emmett. He couldn't wait to see what she'll come out with today. As he went to take a sip of his drink he felt somebody lean in to him and their breath tickled the back of his neck before he heard them whisper, "starting without me?"

He turned around to find himself almost nose to nose with Marie, and before he could control his reaction he found himself smiling.

"Marie," he greeted warmly, before schooling his features into one of a more detached interest, donning his normal smirk he continued, "Can I get you a drink, Miss Hill?"

Hale. Miss Hale, God, and it was so obvious that he knew that. What an absolute di-

Bella took a slight pause to reign in her quick temper and then retorted with a short, "I'll have a Vodka-Orange", not bothering to correct his mistake. She needed this job, she reminded herself.

A few drinks later, they made their way to the back of the club and into a private room which had been set up for their dinner. The table seemed to be set for a three course meal and Bella was suddenly glad with her decision to wear a loose fitting dress.

As she went to take a seat, she was surprised to find that Edward had beaten her to it and was in the midst of pulling her chair back; he looked up at her briefly and motioned for her to sit down. She smiled slightly, recovering from her shock at his behavior. Who'd have thought Edward Cullen had it in him to be a gentleman?

"Thank you", she said quietly. Edward just nodded in response, he'd noticed her surprise but what struck him was the flash of emotion that lay underneath, she looked almost… wistful, sad even. He shook that thought off quickly and briskly left her side to go and take his own seat on the opposite side of the table.

They were silent for a few minutes perusing the menu, occasionally looking up to see what the other was doing. So when their eyes locked for the third time in the space of 5 minutes, Bella decided to break the silence that had managed to stretch between them as it ever so often does when two almost-strangers find themselves in the company of one another.

"So how did the rest of the interviews go yesterday?" she asked, catching his eye briefly before looking back down at the menu in front of her. "Well it turns out after one of the interviewees took her top off and accused me of favoring fake tits over real ones amongst a fair few other allegations, everyone else kind of seemed pretty boring." Bella blushed. Edward smirked at the sight before continuing, "just so you know," he took a minute to let his eyes roam her chest, "I don't discriminate, breasts are breasts but between you and me, I love the feel of real boobs, the way they bounce unrestrained when a woman writhes on top of me, the way they feel in my hands as I-" "OKAY, okay, uh thank you but I think the woman behind you wants to take our order".

Bella's heart beat unceremoniously in her chest, and she tried to ignore the feelings that his words had begun to invoke in her. Edward on the other hand continued on as if nothing out of the ordinary had been said, turning towards the waitress he said "Ah, Jess. And how are you this evening?" his obvious appraisal of her body sparked something in Bella and she felt her stomach lurch uncomfortably.

In a moment of insanity, Bella reached over and placed her hand gently on Edward's thigh. "Edward, honey", she said sweetly, "I'll have the steak, juicy, and then I'll finish with a lemon tart". She glanced up at him and although she didn't let her smile reach her lips, her eyes sparkled mischievously. He coughed suddenly, amusement dancing in his eyes, and then turned to Jess saying "well you heard the girl. I'll have the same", he finished as he looked back at Bella with a wink.

"So, Maria, is it?" Edward asked when Jess had sauntered off, "what's your real name?"