Chapter Three

Bella handed Edward the cup of coffee after it finished brewing, this time doing her best to give him a genuine smile. He looked momentarily stunned when she beamed at him, then again, maybe her overactive imagination read too much into it.

"So how does a guy from IT not know how to use a Keurig?"

Edward quickly looked down at his cup he'd been stirring for far too long after adding a splash of creamer and a dash of sugar. "Honestly, I hate those things. Got one for Christmas and its been collecting dust after my first attempt. The convenience is nice, but it doesn't heat the water for the coffee enough."

"Thank you!" Bella threw her hands in the air. "Finally, someone that understands why I dislike it. Give me some freshly ground beans, a percolator, and a proper filter and I'm a happy woman."

"Happy?" Edward dared to form the word as a question.

It instantly put her back up, and with her hands on her hips, she gave him her best Bitch Face. The hot fucker stepped back, likely awed by its avenging glory. When he realized he did move, he shuffled half a step closer.

Her eyes narrowed. "What did Carlisle tell you?"

Was that a bead of sweat dripping down from his temple? The charming flush in his cheeks tapped at her guilt for a second. Then she remembered what he implied; they had talked about her, as in gossiping.

Plus, it was no one's business if she was happy or not.

"I'd rather not throw my new boss under the bus, or in this case, sexy as fu…uh, I mean, heels, on my first day." He looked around wildly for a second, his eyes having a eureka moment when he spotted what he was looking for. He stepped toward his salvation and returned with a chocolate cookie for her. "Uh, here. He did say you were amazing at your job and to never get on your bad side. And he may have of mentioned that Lauren is still finding glitter sticking to her after you glitter bombed her desk."

"Allegedly glitter bombed her desk, it was never proven." She grabbed the cookie from his hand and proceeded to bite the delicious Nutella stuffed piece of heaven she made the night before. She moaned as the taste hit her tongue, licking the chocolate from the corner of her mouth.

Chocolate in most forms was her weakness.

All the while, Edward stared with his jaw dropped, his tongue making a temporary appearance to mimic the sexy as fuck display of food eating porn he'd ever seen. He had two choices at the moment, run like his ass was on fire to avoid embarrassment or sit down to hide the big problem below the belt.

"Sit down, Cullen. You look like you're about to be sick." She pushed him down into an awaiting chair behind him. His replying grunt was not due to pain but the way the scene continued in his head. He imagined her pushing him down with her heeled foot, then proceed to climb onto his lap to do wicked things to him.

Something registered before he could find an appropriate response. "Wait? What did you call me?"

Bella popped in the last bite of the cookie into her mouth, her eyes closed in pure bliss, sucking on the tip of a chocolatey finger. "Cullen." She shrugged. "Your aunt complained about her nephew not shaving for the entire month of November. Plus, you have her hair color."

Edward's parents died when he was a kid and his aunt and uncle adopted him.

"You're not going to tell anyone, right? I'd rather people here didn't treat me differently."

"I won't tell anyone. As long as you stay out of my lane, we're good."

Bella had to step back when Edward looked at her with laser-focused eyes, accompanied by a devastating half-cocked smirk. His lips looked inviting and soft, surrounded by his beard.

Nom, nom, nom.

Just as he seemed to pluck up the courage to say something, Lauren sashayed her way into the employee lounge. The double D's were soon followed by all her blonde hair, blue eyes, and ass. "There you two are. Here, fill those out. I need them by lunch and everyone is doing it." She gave Edward bedroom eyes and batted her lashes at the tail end of her demand.

Bella rolled her eyes, hiding a smile when Edward shuddered after Lauren's overly perfumed wake. She looked down at the sheets of paper her nemesis dropped off and started to curse.

Secret Santa Questionnaire.