Bella
A few days into November, I stop by Edward's office for an early lunch. He's tied up with meetings for the rest of the week, so I want to get some time with him while I can. I stopped at the cafe next to his building for a chai latte for Irina. I haven't seen her since she put in her notice, and I want to congratulate her. We're not friends by any means, but I have no ill will toward her. I grab a cappuccino for Edward and a drip for myself before heading up.
When I reach reception, I find Irina with her head in her hands at the desk. Approaching her slowly, I softly say her name, worried she may have a headache or be sick.
"Oh, Bella. Hi." She startles when I speak. "Mr. Cullen is in his office."
"I figured. Are you okay? I brought you a chai. I noticed you had one every time I came by." I pull her cup out of the carrier and pass it over. "Is everything okay?"
She smiles as she takes the cup from me. "That's really nice of you; thanks." She takes a sip with wide eyes. "Is this oat milk?"
"I wanted to play it safe."
"This is definitely the highlight of my day." She takes another, longer drink before looking at me directly. "My third replacement quit today."
"Third? What are you talking about?" Leaning across the counter, I listen as she tells me about the college-age applicants they hired to take over for her that haven't worked out. Even with the base pay being more than the going rate for the type of work, they have quit after either full or half days; but the new hire today really took the cake. She left while she was on her first break.
"Do you have anyone else lined up? When is your last day?" Coming around the desk, I pull her into an awkward side hug.
"My last day is the end of this week." She drops her head to the desk. "I just need someone who can run a multi-line phone system, Excel, and Outlook. Am I asking for too much?"
"I doubt you are. I tell you what? Why don't you go take a break, and I'll stay at the desk for a few minutes, okay?" I nudge her gently up and out of her chair.
"Bella, that's nice, but I can't—"
"I know the entire office's calendar is on your computer, log back in, and I promise I won't screw anything up. You can trust me. Go splash some water on your face, get some air, whatever you need." I turn her around and guide her around to the front of the desk by her shoulders.
"You'll be late for your lunch with Edward." Her eyes widen at her use of his first name.
"Then I'll just have to sit in his office and stay here all day to see him. Scoot." Before she leaves, I hand over her jacket and her latte before I call for the elevator. Once she's in the car with the doors closed, I sit down and call Edward's office.
"I'm here and I brought you coffee, but I'm stuck in reception. Can you come out?" I don't give him the opportunity to answer before hanging up. I only have to wait a couple minutes before he comes out and looks around to find me. I clear my throat, and when he whirls around to find me behind the desk, his confused expression is almost comical.
"Okay, what alternate universe have I stumbled into?" As he walks behind the desk to press a kiss to my lips, I fill him in on what I found when I came in.
"I can send someone else out here to take over. I need to speak to Irina, and you don't need to be out here." Edward runs a hand down my hair.
"As soon as Irina comes back up, I'll send her back. I'm perfectly fine out here; I promise." I shoot him a wink, and just as he grins, the elevator dings and Irina steps out.
"Mr. Cullen! I was just—"
"Irina, you're fine. Let's talk; I want to hear about everything that's happened." I watch as Edward leads her down the hall and hope for the best.
After an hour, I've fielded a minimum of three phone calls, answered two emails, and received two packages by courier. I can absolutely see why people are quitting this job. It's not that it's boring, but it could have more responsibility. I look up when I hear voices to find Edward and Irina approaching reception. Irina looks so much more relaxed and relieved.
"Thank you for your help today, Bella. I really appreciate it." Irina comes to shoo me out of her chair. "Now go salvage what you can."
With Edward and I locked away in his office, I order food as he sets up his next conference call. "Irina is really grateful for your help. You didn't have to do that, but I'm really glad you did. She hadn't told me about the last two hires, just the first."
"She must have been so worried to tell you," I say as I wait for the food to be delivered.
"We'll have to figure something out. Maybe we'll just go with a temp agency for a bit," he tells me as he straightens his tie and apologizes for the delay as everyone connects.
I leave him be while I go down and collect our food. As I'm riding the elevator back up, it kinda hits me—I could take Irina's job. I'm not really thrilled with the idea of working for Edward, but it's a job, and it needs to be filled. I'm pretty comfortable with everyone in the office, or at least somewhat familiar with them.
And I'm pretty sure I could work out some social media element to it. Real Men has its own media team that posts about upcoming issues, articles, and whatnot, but what if there was something direct and behind the scenes? Something that was slightly more relatable. When I get back to Edward's office, he seems to be wrapping things up.
When I hand him his salad and we sit down on the couch to eat, he can tell that I have something on my mind. "Whatever it is, spit it out, baby."
So, I tell him my idea … with my twist. I can see the gears moving in his head as I explain everything except he isn't smiling like I hoped he would. He doesn't automatically agree with me. He's quiet when I finish my elevator pitch.
"We'd be working together," he starts slowly.
"Not necessarily directly," I answer immediately. "And we'd have the opportunity to see each other."
"You recently quit a job where you were a receptionist," he points out, emphasizing with his fork.
"I recently quit a job that was basically created for me out of good will. This is an established position." I set my container aside. "And I'm suggesting an amendment to it."
"I don't know if it's a good idea," Edward says flatly.
"Because Lauren wanted to work for the magazine? Edward, I only care about Real Men because it's yours. I don't care about the industry or fashion or anything really related to this."
He raises an eyebrow at me.
"And you. I love you of course."
"I love you too. I need to think about it." He focuses on his lunch again before speaking to me. "It's not that I'm not interested. I just need to think about it."
"Okay. I understand." I pack up my lunch as Edward stares at me with a confused look. "I'm going home."
"Wait, why?"
"So you can think about this without me here as a distraction." I lean down to kiss his lips. "I'll see you later."
"Bella, I'm not saying no." Edward tries for a smile, but it doesn't fully reach his eyes.
"Edward, I understand that you want to think about it. So think about it, finish out your day, and then come home to me. Whatever your answer is, I'll still be there." Sending him a wink, I step out of his office. I say goodbye to Irina as I wait for the elevator before making my way back to his house.
I've been staying here more often than not, and I'm comfortable with Edward and among his things and in his space. When a couple hours have passed and not a peep from Edward, I wander to the kitchen to decide on whether making dinner is an option. I finally text him, asking him if he'll be home to eat, but I get no response.
Another hour passes, and Rose FaceTimes me to check in and asks whether I'm staying at Edward's or coming back to Emmett's and her house. When I fill her in about my day, she tells me she'll leave the porch and living room lights on for me, just in case. As night falls, no word from Edward, and the clock ticks later, I decide to leave.
It's clear that he isn't coming home anytime soon. I leave a note on the little table in the entryway telling him that I went home before locking up and driving to my friend's house. It isn't late by any means, but I enter quietly and slip into my room without notice. My nighttime routine is accomplished quickly, and by the time I'm crawling into bed, I realize I'm hungry. I never finished my lunch and didn't eat dinner.
I reluctantly get up and pad down to the kitchen to find a quick snack, phone in hand, and slippers shuffling against the hardwood floors. Settling on crackers and cheese, I eat quickly, leaning against the island, when Rose comes shuffling in after me.
"I thought I heard you." She opens the fridge, reaching for the Britta pitcher and grabbing a glass out of the dish rack for each of us. "What's going on?"
It's not that I don't want to talk to Rose; she's my best friend after all, but I've never wanted to take advantage of the fact that she's a trained therapist. I've always tried to be very careful about dumping on her. When I look over at her, I can see she wants me to open up to her as much as I feel the need to do so.
"I get that Edward is worried about me coming into his workplace like Lauren wanted to, and all of this is still relatively new between us, but I guess I just thought that things were different now that we were in love." I sigh, reaching for the water glass.
"Do you really want to work there?" Rose asks, and I shrug.
"I don't know. Realistically, no. It was a solution to a problem, but I can see why he's uncomfortable. What I don't understand is why he's gone radio silent on me now." Picking up a piece of cheese, I gesture with it. "I'm going to rescind my offer. I mean, I think it's obvious this won't be a good idea."
"If you think that's the best idea, then do it. But don't do it to make it easier for Edward to stomach or just so you two don't have to talk about it. That doesn't help anything. You can't back down from everything just because he doesn't like the idea; especially if he won't vocalize his reasons." She pats my hand before replacing the pitcher and setting her glass in the sink.
I watch her walk away, appreciative of her advice but still no clearer on what I'm going to do or say. When I clean up and head back to my room, I check my phone one last time before I settle in. As I'm trying to get comfortable, my phone starts dancing across the nightstand, and I pick it up to see Edward's face.
I don't want to answer at first, and in my hesitation, I miss his call. I stare at my device, waiting for another call or text, but when I receive neither, I call him back. It's just after ten at this point, but when he answers, Edward sounds like he hasn't slept in several days, his voice thick with emotion and gravelly.
"Sorry, I missed your call. I was getting ready for bed."
"You're not here though. Are you at Rose and Emmett's?"
"Where else would I be, Edward?" I roll my eyes, sighing as I sink deeper into the mattress. "I haven't heard from you since I left your office. Is everything all right?"
"You said you would still be here … Bella, I know you're probably frustrated with me right now, but when you say you're going to be someplace, I expect you to be there." Even through the roughness of his voice, the commanding daddy tone rings clear.
"I'm sorry. I meant I would be there as in, I'm not going anywhere. I'm in love with you, and I'm not throwing that away over a disagreement. But, if you're trying to insinuate that I need to be at a specific place when and where you expect me to be, then maybe we should take a step back and reevaluate what we're doing here." I can feel the tears brimming in my eyes. I refuse to cry on the phone with him.
He sighs deeply. "I somehow knew from the very beginning that you were going to push all of my buttons. I don't want you working for me, Bella. And if you tell me you're going to be someplace, then I expect you to be there when I arrive." He repeats himself, and I can sense that I'm on the losing end of this conversation.
"Of course, Daddy. I understand." Swallowing back the tears, I take a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Daddy. How can I make it up to you?"
Listening to his sharp intake of air, I smirk. If he wants to play this game, I'll play it, but I'm playing to win.
"Don't act like a child, Bella—"
"Isn't this what you want though? You want to keep someone accountable and under your thumb? Be where you want, when you want them, how you want them? That's what I initially agreed to, so that's what I'll do. Might as well have your lawyers draw up the NDA for me too. Let's do this properly. I wouldn't want to cross any boundaries." On an exhale, the first few tears start to fall.
"Bella, this isn't what I want."
"Then why don't you tell me what it is you want? Because this is what we both agreed to, and you won't talk to me. You just started to freak out when you realized I wasn't at your house and had expectations for me. If you can't be clear about what you want from me either as your sugar baby or your girlfriend, then …" I trail off, not wanting to say the words out loud.
"Then what? What are you saying?"
"Then maybe the love we have between us isn't enough. Maybe we should stop before we go any further."