Disclaimer: S. Meyer owns all things Twilight. I just decided it was time to shake things up a bit in her characters' world. And I wanted a bitchy Bella, so here we go!

Oh, and all of the references used in this story in relation to the advertising and marketing company and accounts are only used here for entertainment purposes; no copyright infringement intended.

A special thanks to my wicked awesome beta, Flyaway Dove. Bella and Edward thank you too, hon!

Thanks also to angelicwish for helping me learn the ropes and to Selita, as well as all of the "fans" of my story out there! You all keep me writing!

Do you all like my choice of chapter title?? Get it – B Side – so many different meanings! Sometimes I'm clever. On with the show!

Chapter Eight: The B side

Working on weekends was not my favorite thing to do, but I had logged many hours in the office on my technical "days off." So when I asked Edward to come in as well, I didn't relish the idea of working with someone else – especially him – but reasoned it would be much more productive. Besides, in this case it was a necessity.

In my new effort to be a nicer boss, I picked up lunch for the two of us. Wasn't it the least I could do for asking him to come in and work on a Saturday? I wasn't sure. What was the protocol for this sort of thing? I usually didn't care enough to consider it.

The day had passed with surprising speed. The two of us had worked through most of the problems I identified with the marketing materials we'd be presenting at the conference.

This was a big deal to me. I'd be presenting Edward to the rest of the industry representatives and together we'd be peddling our services and showcasing some of the latest marketing, ad and PR strategies to come out of Swan & Platte. The products and the conference were not to be taken lightly.

At sporadic points throughout our workday, it seemed like Edward was trying to strike up conversation, and I really did try to engage him. The wall I had up, however, was still too high and too thick; I struggled even to smile at him genuinely. During our lunch break, when he attempted to ask me a few personal questions, I panicked.

It turned out they were benign: how Esme and I started the business, and then whether I had any siblings. After I started breathing again, I found it easier to answer him and actually provide him with more than a few-word answer. He could definitely be charming and kind.

And then things got weird. I spoke of Alice and Rose and Esme, and was reminded of that horrible night at The Alibi Room, and at once, we both started trying to apologize. I didn't know what to say; I just knew the way I had treated him was wrong. But my apology was pathetic and came out sounding cold. Sometimes I really am a social pariah. I fucking suck.

We were working on one of the mock-ups and I was getting pissed off; it just wasn't working and I couldn't figure out why. My brain was fried and I was angry with myself for my personality shortcomings. And then I felt this electricity, and I looked up to see Edward staring at me.

Immediately I felt the heat in my face and my heart took off at a full gallop. The way he looked at me…he seemed ravenous. It was unnerving, certainly, but parts of my body reacted instinctively to his intense gaze. For a moment I got lost; I was a hot mess of sexual frustration, desire and irrational thoughts. My breathing grew heavy. My throat was dry. Each little hair on my body stood up as though statically charged. Time stood still as he and I sat a mere inch away from each other, just staring. Oh my God. What is he going to do?

I struggled with my attraction to Edward on a regular basis, and it irked me to no end. It was obviously impossible to avoid him, so I reacted the only way that came naturally to me – I was a jerk to him. Admittedly, I treated him far worse than anyone else; the fact that I was aware of my behavior was proof of that. Still, he hadn't quit, and still I wanted those long fingers on me, and so I continued to reject the idea and him.

But in that tiny space between us, I could no longer deny anything about Edward Cullen. I wanted him – badly. Lately, when we were together, I felt this pull; like two giant magnets, we were drawn together. It wasn't egotistical on my part to see that something about me intrigued him as well. At least, I thought that was the look. Sometimes it was hard to decipher whether he wanted to kiss me or kill me.

He drove me crazy. And I was really starting to like that about him. This is not good. I could easily close the distance between us and kiss him. It scared me how much I wanted to do that, and I knew I'd want more when I finally touched him. Shit. This was just not acceptable – impossible, really. Boss and employee: very messy and completely off-limits.

Edward's skin was flawless and slightly wrinkled around his eyes. The day-old stubble, usually not my thing, looked good enough to lick. My gaze flickered to his strong jaw and refined nose and then down to his lips, which were slightly open. Damn. His eyes appeared greyer today against his dark t-shirt, but they were every bit as alive as when they were the color of emeralds, a Caribbean sea or the cobalt of a cloudless summer sky. Suddenly I wanted to dive into them and never surface.

But I knew I couldn't. That was the bottom line – no matter how much I wanted him, Edward Cullen was forbidden fruit. How could I, as the president and CEO, even entertain the idea of getting involved with one of my employees? It was true that Swan & Platte didn't have an official policy on workplace romances, but the lack of a policy, in my mind, spoke volumes. Don't do it. Period.

Thankfully, my cell phone saved me the trouble of making a decision.

"Bella?" Alice's excited voice jumped through the earpiece.

"Oh, hi Alice," I said, catching my breath and not looking over at Edward.

"Where are you, B? Are you still working," she asked incredulously when she took in the silence around me.

"Yeah, I'm still at work." I offered short answers so that my voice wouldn't betray me. Hopefully she'd simply lose interest.

"Is Edward still there?"

Or not.

"Yes," I answered.

"Are you two actually working?"

"Yes," I said again, this time with a more emphasis. God, she's so fucking nosy!

"Have you guys thrown in the towel yet? You know, just grab that delicious piece of man, throw him on the table and kiss him," she suggested, her smugness clear. Sometimes I could swear Alice was clairvoyant. Damn gypsy woman.

"No!" I exclaimed, horrified. "Okay, I'm going to go now." I didn't even wait for her reply. "I'll call you when I get home, okay? Can't wait to hear all about your date. Hanging up now. Bye."

Slowly I closed my cell and tried to regain my composure, although I could feel the heat in my face, ears and neck. There's no hiding this blush. Turning back to Edward, I noticed he watched me with rapt fascination. But thankfully he didn't ask me what my phone conversation was about. He simply offered one word that encompassed it well.

"Alice."

After the phone call cleared my thoughts, I moved away from where Edward sat, knowing that distance was a necessity. Edward mentioned how our friends seemed to be pairing up; it hadn't gone unnoticed by me. He and I were now kind of the odd man and woman out within our respective circles.

We worked for a while longer and then I suggested we call it a day. Once we walked into the parking garage, and I saw two identical Audis parked together, I couldn't contain my laughter. One more thing we have in common, I guess. I quizzed him about his car; we had purchased identical models, down to the black leather interiors. My Audi was my baby – I couldn't help but gush a little about it.

Having run out of car talk, I walked over to the driver's side and opened the door. The silence was awkward, and frantically I searched my brain for something light and kind to say to him. But my mouth couldn't form any words. God, you're completely useless outside the boardroom. And then he spoke.

"Umm…well, I guess I'll see you on Monday," he said. It seemed like he wanted to say more, so I waited. "That wasn't too bad, today. I mean, we got a lot done. It should make things easier next week. Um…thanks."

He was thanking me for making him work on a Saturday. It was so adorably disarming that I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face. I thanked him in return, and then got in my car before I said something stupid. I seriously need to work on the art of idle conversation.

After calling Alice to catch up with her and hear all about her date with Jasper, I dialed the one person who might be able to help me. As I pushed down on the accelerator heading toward home, I heard the line connect and her voice on the other end.

"Hi Esme," I said cheerfully. "So, what did you do today?"

She told me she had spent the day outside, and part of me was envious, until I remembered that I had spent the day with Edward. I got lost in my recollections of the last eleven hours. As usual, Esme didn't miss a beat when I grew silent.

"Bella, what is it honey," she asked nervously. "Is something wrong? Did something happen today at work?"

Rolling my eyes at her motherly concern, I realized that, of course, she'd expect the worst from me. Given my track record with Edward Cullen – since he walked into the office almost two months ago – she was probably worried that today had been the last straw for him. I sighed, frustrated at this knowledge and also with the burden of what I needed to tell her.

"No, nothing's wrong, Esme," I assured her. "I mean, nothing bad happened at work today. Actually, Edward and I got a lot accomplished." I paused, not knowing where to start with the real issue.

"B, there's something you're not telling me," she said. "I can hear it in your voice." Then she waited. And I waited for the Earth to swallow me. Finally, I decided it was better to get it off my chest; Esme was the most understanding person I knew. She wouldn't judge me.

"Okay, well, see, I might have this problem," I began. It sounded ridiculous and completely vague, so I tried again. "What I mean is that…shit, this sucks. Sorry Esme, I'm struggling here. Okay, here goes. I'm attracted to Edward, and I'm not sure what to do about it."

By this time I had gotten home and was now flipping through news channels with the TV on mute. The silence was killing me. At last, Esme spoke.

"I know Bella."

Three simple words and a piece of my impenetrable wall crumbled.

"What?" I exclaimed. How could she possibly know? Had she caught me looking at him? Nope; I was definitely sneaky about that. Had I said something to tip her off? I couldn't think of anything that would have had sexual or even flirtatious undercurrents. My behavior toward Edward Cullen had been nothing but stuffy, businesslike and tyrannical. Of that much I was certain.

"Honey, you don't give me much credit," Esme replied patiently. "Do you honestly think that in all the years we've known each other, I haven't tuned in to how your mind operates? B, I can see it in your eyes, and I certainly saw how you reacted the night we all ended up at the bar together. We all saw it happening."

Her admission shocked me. And then my brain rewound her last statement, and recoiled at one particular word.

"Esme, what do you mean by we?"

"Well, me, Rose, Alice…" she began, and then paused.

My heart leapt into my throat as I realized she was going to continue.

"..and Jasper and Carlisle," she said. "B, please say something!"

Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Her plea snapped me out of my self-induced freak-out, and I started stammering, the words proving to be elusive.

"Es, it's one thing for you and the girls to be aware of this, but another entirely for his friends to know," I yelled. "Shit! Was I that obvious? Oh my God. What am I going to do?" I let my head fall into my hands, my channel flipping long-forgotten.

"Hold on, B, okay? Please calm down a bit," Esme implored. "You know you don't need to worry about any of us girls spilling your deep, dark secret. And Carlisle, I'm confident, won't say anything to his little brother; he knows it's not his place to interfere. Alice can handle Jasper."

Her reassurance provided me little comfort, but it didn't answer the question of how they all knew of my feelings toward Edward. So I asked Esme again.

"Well, like I said, us girls pretty much know the way your mind operates, and we could see the sparks flying between you two," she said. "Plus, I've seen how you treat him at work as well, which only strengthened our inklings. As for the guys, that's tougher to say. Alice thinks Jasper reads people very well – probably something he picked up during his military training and government jobs. Carlisle was funny about it; he didn't say anything after that night at Alibi, but one night a few weeks ago, he was making me dinner and he just blurted it out. And he didn't even ask me; it was more of a statement: 'So, Isabella and Edward.' It was like he already knew it somehow."

My mind worked feverishly as Esme explained; I tried to devise ways of ensuring the guys would keep this information from Edward, but short of showing them cement shoes, I had no solution. This was out of my control – and I despised that. I needed to regain the upper hand here.

"So what should I do about this," I asked my friend. "Obviously this is an impossible situation. And he can't know how I feel about him; it would ruin the professional climate we've worked so hard to create. Shit."

Esme chuckled softly and once more proved to me just how good she truly was.

"Bella, I can't tell you what to do about your feelings for him; that's something you need to decide," she began. "But office romances happen every day, I can assure you. In fact, Jacob and Angela have been dating for about six months now, and I don't think that it's affected their working relationship in the slightest."

"What? Really?" I was stunned by this bit of news. But I suppose I shouldn't have been, given my apparent obliviousness to what was going on at Swan & Platte. It's not like any of my employees would share their personal lives with me; that was Esme's forte. With a sigh, I attempted to refocus on the current crisis.

"Esme, if Angela and Jacob want to date, that's their prerogative," I said with a bit of a jealous tone of voice. "But as the president of our company, I can't do whatever I please; and I certainly can't do it with a subordinate. What else can I do but just ignore the whole issue?"

She was silent, surely not wanting to interfere beyond her previous bit of advice, and I felt as hopeless as I had before. It was a good thing I was alone tonight; I was going to need some time to resign myself to not having feelings for Edward.

After I said good night to Esme, I curled up again on my sofa, this time with my favorite silk pajamas, the throw made by my grandmother and a large glass of red wine. Tomorrow is Sunday and I don't care about the consequences of the wine. I'll have time to sleep it off.

Though the television screen flickered with colorful images, my eyes didn't register them. Instead, I saw, through my mind's eye, images of Edward – him in his suits, his perfectly messy bronze hair, his penetrating blue-green eyes, his strong jaw, high cheekbones, full and pouty lips. And then I added the new images of him from the day – him in jeans and a dark t-shirt and the hard planes of his chest that I had begun noticing through his shirts.

Not helping yourself, here. After draining my glass, I switched off the TV and decided bed was in order – now that I had completely worked myself into a sex-starved frenzy. Tucking myself into bed, I searched for my battery-operated friend, but came up empty. Shit. Feeling disparaged at my own inability to control myself and my world, I threw the covers over my head, still unsatisfied. Before drifting into a fitful sleep, I decided what must be done.

Edward Cullen was under my employ, and as long as he continued in that capacity, I would not deviate from my role as his boss. I could not allow myself to have feelings for him. And because I felt certain of the mutual attraction or at least fascination between us, I was now even more determined to ensure that his distaste for me was complete. My heart clenched a bit at the thought of it; I had never considered myself a devious or purposely detestable person, but this was the sacrifice of a successful businesswoman and nothing more.

Parts of my mind scurried to find an alternative, but my rational brain could determine no other way. Surely he'd hate me, professionally and now personally, and then it would be settled. One cannot care for that which one despises. Love and hate simply cannot occupy the same space. And by ensuring my survival, I was guaranteeing his as well, I reasoned.

This was business.

Okay, now don't shoot me for having Bella be so damned stubborn. You can understand the position she's in, right? What would you do?