Christina: Yikes. The response to the last chapter has given me a major case of performance anxiety. Thank you to every reviewer, we laugh, snort and gasp at each one. So...here’s the thing, this chapter turned into a flippin nightmare. Just under 15000 words, making it necessary for us to split it. There were just too many things that needed to happen to give Edward a terminal enough case of blue balls to make Caveward RSVP for dinner. And because we’re suckers…um I mean nice, and promised you dinner, we have decided to post both this week. This is part 1 and depending on the response, part 2 should be up within a day or two. Big thanks to Tasha, Moi and especially our resident beta goddess Rachel, who worked on 3 things for us this week alone.

Dawn: I want to thank all of our thread bunnies over on the forum, and our resident peens!! It’s an unceasing amazement to me every day that people are so passionate about something I am involved with that I get lost in my own forum thread when I’m writing the topic’s story. There is really something to be said for that. Thank you darlins!!! And all my usual love to Rachel and Christina, who are my absolute inspirations, and all my little Tweeters!!!

Disclaimer: You know the deal. Beautiful Bastard is ours! But Twilight… isn’t.

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The burning in my chest was almost enough to distract me from the torment inside my head. Almost. Reaching out, I increased the incline on the treadmill and pushed myself harder. It always worked. That was how I lived my life. There was nothing I couldn’t accomplish if I just pushed hard enough; school, career, family, women. Shit. Woman. Disgusted, I shook my head and turned up the volume on my iPod strapped around my bicep, hoping it would distract my mind long enough to get some fucking peace.

I should have known it wouldn’t work. No matter how hard I tried, it was always there. I closed my eyes and it all came back; hovering over her, feeling her wrapped around me, sweaty, aching, wanting to stop but not being able to. Being inside of her was the most perfect torture. It satiated the hunger I felt at that moment, but like a junkie I found myself consumed by the need for more as soon as it ended. I’d been with a lot of women in my life, but had never experienced anything this all-consuming. In those moments with her, I’d do anything she asked. She brought me to my knees and made me weak. And that’s why it had to stop; why I had to say the words out loud. So it was clear to both of us that it couldn’t happen again. We’d never really talked about this thing that was happening, and I thought that was for the best. Because once it was said, it was real. And I knew that if I could just control myself long enough and wean myself from this addiction; I’d get it out of my system. I had to. There was no other option.

I felt the earbud being tugged from my ear along with the sudden disruption of my blaring music. I tried to keep pace with the treadmill, but had to slow it down so I wouldn't fall. I turned my head towards the source of my annoyance on the next machine. “Emmett, what?!”

“You keep that up, we’re gonna be peeling you off the floor and investing in hearing aids for you before you’re even thirty, bro,” he replied, shaking his head. “What’d Bella do to piss you off this time?”

I watched him roll his eyes as he spoke and I felt my stomach tighten at the sound of her name. I focused my attention back on the treadmill and increased the speed again. “What makes you think this has anything to do with Ms. Swan?”

“Um, maybe because your nostrils just flared twice as much as usual when you said that,” Emmett pointed out and I looked over to see that annoying ‘know-it-all’ grin on his face.

“For your information, smart ass, there is absolutely nothing bothering me. And even if there was, it would have nothing to do with my assistant,” I said nonchalantly, trying to return my focus to my workout.

“You are so full of shit,” he laughed heartily, shaking his head. “I’ve never met anyone who gets this kind of reaction out of you. And you know why, don’t you?” He had shut off his machine and was now focusing all his attention on me. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a little unnerving. My brother was perceptive; too perceptive at times. And if there was ever anything I wanted to keep from him, it was this.

I kept my gaze forward as I ran, trying not to meet his eyes. “No, but something tells me you’re going to fill me in.”

“Because you two are too much alike,” he said smugly. Was he fucking insane?

“What!?” Several people turned to see why I was yelling at my brother in the middle of the crowded gym. I stopped the machine and turned to face him. “How could you even think that? Ms. Swan and I are nothing alike.” I was sweaty, out of breath, and exhausted from running six miles; but right now, the rise in my blood pressure had nothing to do with my workout.

Taking a long drink from his water bottle, Emmett continued to smirk. “Who do you think you’re talking to, big brother? I’ve never met two people more alike. First of all,” he paused, clearing his throat and bringing his hand up to dramatically tick things off on his fingers. “You’re both intelligent, determined, hard working, loyal, and have the biggest hearts I’ve ever seen. And,” he continued, pointing a finger at me. “She’s the first woman in your entire life that stands up to you and doesn’t follow you around like some lost puppy dog.”

Had everyone lost their minds? Sure she might be some of those things; even I couldn’t deny that she was incredibly intelligent. And she was a hard worker; I was often surprised at how well she kept up with things. She was definitely determined, although I would describe it more along the lines of pig headed or stubborn. And there was no question of her loyalty. She could have sold me out a hundred times since we’d started this sick game. But big hearted? I guess I really didn’t know anything about that.

I stood, glaring at him as I tried to formulate my response. “Yeah, well she’s also a raving bitch.” Stepping down, I quickly wiped off my machine and made my way across the gym in an effort to escape.

“Pffft,” he scoffed behind me and laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

Lying on my back, I began counting off sit ups; almost groaning when Emmett chose to lie on the mat next to mine. I was up to 154 and contemplating putting my headphones back in when he decided to speak, “Honestly man, do you not see the truth in any of this?”

I stopped, letting out an exacerbated sigh, and looked at him. “Look, it’s not that-,” I paused not even knowing what I wanted to say. “I’ll admit that Ms. Swan has her strong points. But beyond that, I don’t have much to add. It’s no secret that we don’t get along personally and I really don’t see the need to keep having this discussion. If it’s not you, it’s mom or dad. It doesn’t interfere with our working relationship, so topic closed.”

He was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. “All I’m saying is that I think you two are more alike than you think. And maybe if you try to respect her for that, it will make things easier. Dad wouldn’t have offered her the job if he didn’t think you two would make a great team.” Ignoring him, I continued with my sit ups. I was done talking about this.

Five minutes later, he sat up. “Well, I think I’m heading home. You still coming over for lunch today?” he asked, gathering his things as he rose.

“Yeah, I’ll be here for at least another hour, so let my girl know I’ll be there in time for tea,” I chuckled; Carrington had gotten a tea set for her first birthday and we had a running date for tea parties, which consisted mainly of her banging the plastic tea pot on the table or letting her feed me all of the cookies.

“I will,” he laughed, turning to leave before remembering something. “Rose wanted me to see if you managed to convince Bella to make it to dinner Saturday?”

Suddenly becoming interested in how my shoelaces were tied, I answered, “Yea, she said she’d be there.” I purposefully didn’t meet his gaze hoping he would quit and leave. Unfortunately, I’m not that lucky.

“Am I the only one here who thinks it’s hilarious that mom wants to set her up with Mike Newton?” There went that feeling in my chest again. What the fuck was that about? Emmett and I had gone to high school with Mike, and he was a pretty decent guy; but something about the thought of the two of them together made me feel like I wanted to punch something. “I mean, Mike is great, but Bella’s a bit out of his league. Don’t you think? He’ll be the luckiest son of a bitch alive if he can pull that off,” he chuckled turning to leave again. “Later, bro!” he yelled over his shoulder.

“Yeah, later,” I mumbled. Suddenly feeling the need to expend a bit more energy, I moved to the punching bags to relieve some stress.

An hour and a half later, I pulled into the garage of my condominium. Shutting off the engine I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. I was exhausted. It didn’t escape my notice that in trying to keep the memories of last night out of my mind, I had nearly driven my body into the ground.

Without thinking, my eyes opened and inadvertently wandered to my glove box. Just the thought of what was tucked away in there caused my jaw to clench and my dick to harden slightly. Fuck. Disgusted with myself for even considering opening the damn thing, I grabbed my gym bag and moved to open the door. I froze with my hand on the handle. It’s like they were calling to me. With a resigned sigh, I turned, flipped the latch and reached in, removing the white lace and shoving it into my bag. “I am so screwed,” I mumbled to myself, climbing out and slamming the door behind me.

“Good morning, Mr. Cullen,” The doorman greeted me, and I did my best to remove the grimace from my face and smile. Judging from the concerned look he gave me, I don’t think I was successful. I lived on the 87th floor in one of the most luxurious and prestigious complexes in all of Chicago, and as I walked in the door, I felt my nerves calm a bit.

Walking into the kitchen I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and headed into my room. My favorite part about living here was the floor to ceiling windows that graced every exterior wall. My room was no exception, and the view it afforded was spectacular; especially at night. Although, I had to admit that the thoughts those windows evoked over the last two weeks had changed dramatically. Fucking windows were giving me hard-ons now. Jesus. Sighing, I threw my bag onto the bed and stripped off my shirt as I headed into the bathroom.

Letting the shower warm up, I began going through my gym bag, taking the dirty clothes out. My hands stopped when they touched the smooth lace. I knew I didn’t want to do this. Not here. My home was the one place she hadn’t invaded. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I mean, I had jerked off to thoughts of her more times here than anywhere else; but nothing of hers had actually been here. Sitting down on my bed, I pulled the scrap of material from the bag and held it in my hands. La Perla. Of course.

Fingering the tiny white bows, I was instantly taken back to last night. I hadn’t meant to make her upset with the credit account. To be honest, I didn’t really know what my intent was. Was it to replace the things I’d ruined or to provide new ones? Fuck. If I didn’t understand it, how the hell could I expect her to? Before I had even known what I was doing I had made a quick phone call and set it up. I’d been a mess all day going back and forth over whether this was a good idea. I’d almost handed it to her twice; the first time when we’d been going over the schedule and the second in the limo. And each time I’d been distracted or chickened out.

Finally as I walked out, I’d gotten the balls to just do it, and tossed the papers on her desk as I passed. What I wasn’t prepared for was her reaction. And when she’d gotten offended, I didn’t know how to respond. I was bombarded with so many different emotions; anger that she thought this was all a game to me, shocked that she would have so little respect for my character, hurt that she was upset, and lust at her anger. Fighting with this woman turned me on more than anything. That was something I was surely going to need to seek therapy for one day.

When she’d shoved the papers back at me and walked out, I knew the smart thing would be to just let her go, but I couldn’t. I ran down eighteen goddamn flights of stairs to find her; and even then she surprised the hell out of me. I tried to explain myself, but she wouldn’t even shut up long enough for me to get a word in.

And then she fucking hit me. I’d never had a woman hit me before. I’d deserved it plenty of times, but no one had ever had the guts to do it. I didn’t know whether to hate her, respect her, or just fuck the hell out of her. And before I knew it our mouths were inches apart. I could taste her breath and I wanted more than anything to close the gap and feel her lips on mine. For all she’d done tonight, I still wanted her, and my body moved closer to her as if by gravitational force. She whispered ‘maybe’ so quietly I didn’t know if it was meant for her or me. That little word struck me so hard my chest that ached. I wanted it so badly. I wanted her one more time.

She said she hated me. I knew she hated me; hated the way we were together. I hated it too. But even as much as we despised each other, there was no denying the perfect way our bodies melded together. I’d never been with a woman who made me feel as if I was with my equal. But she matched me with every word, every kiss, and every touch. And I just needed to feel that way one more time; to be with someone I didn’t hold back with. She teased me and tortured me and I knew I would still come back on my knees for more. And that is what I hated the most.

As anger and resentment rushed through me, I kissed her and roughly pressed against her body. It felt so fucking good to feel her and my cock was so hard it was throbbing. When she pulled me into the car, my senses were overwhelmed. Everything about her was so concentrated in the small space and I franticly began undressing her. I nearly came the moment I saw the garter belt. It was the same one I looked at in the store; white with little bows. Did she wear it on purpose? Did she hope that I would see it? My mind couldn’t comprehend that maybe she was thinking of me as much as I was thinking about her.

My walls were dangerously close to slipping. “You don’t know what you’re doing to me,” I had said. And she toyed with me; making me tell her. What did she want to hear? That I jacked off almost every day to fantasies about her? That even though I resisted, the images of my cock moving in and out of her filled my dreams at night? So I told her. I wanted her to fuck me, and that I hated her for it. No words I’d ever said had been more true.

Once again she met my challenge. Pushing me off her, she straddled my hips and tore open my shirt. I’d never been so turned on in my life as I was in that moment. I heard the buttons scatter along the leather seats and my only thought was that I needed to be inside her. And fuck, every time I felt her it was better than the last. Her hips rocked back and forth, taking me deeper, making me pant and groan into her breasts.

Time lost all meaning when I threw her onto the seat, intending to teach her a lesson. I needed more and I placed her legs on my shoulders, driving myself deeper inside. But somewhere inside that quiet dark space, alone with only the sounds of our pleasure, something changed. The anger was replaced by… desperation? Desperation because I was losing myself to her. Desperation because this would be over soon and I’d never see this beautiful woman beneath me again. And I didn’t want that, because as much as I hated what she made me feel, I wanted it again and again. I wanted it every day and every night. I wanted to see her hair across my pillows and to hear her scream my name. “Oh God,” I panted. “Fuck… I can’t stop.” One more wall came down. When we were together this way, my mask was gone. And just as I started to panic she saved me.

“Me either.” Never before had I been so soothed by two simple words. She felt it too. We didn’t have to explain; we understood. In this way, we were the same. Two selfish people taking from the other, and for a moment I wondered if it could continue. Was there a way to be like this, to have each others bodies and nothing more? She began to tighten around me, arching her back and bringing her gorgeous tits near my face. I tried to hold on, to make this last but her orgasm spurred my own and soon I was grunting and thrusting and cumming deep inside her.

Completely exhausted, I removed her legs and collapsed onto her. I wanted to be careful, but I couldn’t find the strength. This was so different, lying together like this. She ran her fingers through my hair and my eyes closed. My mind was telling me it was time to go; to put the walls back up, but my body begged me to stay. The air was cool against my damp skin, her heaving breath pushed her breasts into my chest and I tried to make the moment last as long as possible. Eventually, as reality came back into focus, my brain won out and I pulled away from her. Even though the situation was far from funny, I almost smiled as I pulled my torn shirt on. Was it really only two weeks ago that she had run from me wearing a similarly ripped shirt? Once again she had turned the tables.

Clenching my jaw tightly, it all came back. This just couldn’t continue. I was her boss, she was my employee. I’d already broken about a hundred corporate rules not to mention moral ones. And as much as the idea of using each other for sex appealed to me, it would never work. Even though we didn’t consider each other friends, or even like each other for that matter; I could never put her in that kind of position. We had already put ourselves in a dangerous situation; if anyone saw us…well, I couldn’t even think of that. And I knew for a fact that I didn’t want what being with her would mean. I didn’t want any type of actual relationship with her.

“This can’t happen again.” I said, not even looking at her. And then because I knew I had to make her hate me more, I glanced over to her and added. “Do we understand each other, Ms. Swan?”

The look on her face was that of confusion. Even I could see how she would be confused. My words and actions hadn’t exactly gone hand in hand. But then her expression changed, and I knew I was in trouble. Good. “Tell Esme I’ll be there, Mr. Cullen. And get the hell out of my car.”

Shit. I knew it. Suddenly I didn’t want to leave. I knew what her agreeing to go meant. She wanted to meet Mike. Fuck.

I was brought back to reality by my cell phone ringing. Jumping slightly, I searched through my bag to find it. My mother. Not right now, I would call her later. Looking down at my lap, I realized another problem; I was hard as a rock. This is exactly why I had tried to avoid thinking of last night. Tossing my phone back onto my bed, I looked at the white lace still in my hands. This was the last pair. That part of our relationship was over and we would have to continue to see each other each day and keep our distance. No problem, I could do that. Walking over to my dresser, I opened my briefcase and set the panties inside. They would just join the others and I would get rid of them all at once. Which I had to admit sucked, because I really liked having them. Closing the lid, I stripped off the rest of my clothes and headed into the shower. I had problem to take care of before I met my family for lunch.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I was determined to have a relaxing afternoon, with no intruding thoughts of Ms. Swan at all, as I entered my brother’s house. “Hello? Anybody here?” I called out as I closed the door behind me. A tiny giggle greeted me from the adjoining living room as I watched Carrington push herself up onto her feet and start waddling toward me. “Ah, ma petite chérie,” I felt the smile spread across my face as the curls of her blond pigtails bounced. She moved quickly and I swept her up into my arms.

“Mo ankle bow,” she squealed as she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck and I chuckled, kissing her hair. “Mama!”

I stepped toward the kitchen and Rose walked out just as I reached it, leaning in she placed a kiss on Carrington’s cheek and then my own. “Don’t you ever knock, Edward?” she asked in a sassy tone and swatted me with the spatula in her hand. “And what in the world are you teaching my daughter? She can’t even speak English well yet.”

?"

“Vous aimeriez savoir, oui?,” I replied as I tapped the tip of her nose with my finger, causing her to press her lips together tightly. I could see that she was restraining from calling me a list of names, and I smirked at her knowing she wouldn’t in front of Carrington. “If you must know, I am teaching her how to say mon oncle est beau, which means ‘my uncle is handsome’.”

“Certainly think highly of yourself, don’t you, Cullen?” she retorted with a glare, but I could see the smirk starting to twitch at her lips; which soon became a small laugh. “Go on, you’ve kept your afternoon tea date waiting long enough.”

I laughed as I carried Carrington back into the living room where her tea set was already on the coffee table. I sat down on the couch and set her to stand on the floor between my legs, and began pointing to the different objects on the table. “CareBear, what’s this?”

She wrapped her hand around my finger as I pointed to the teapot. “Pot,” she drawled out slowly and then our hands moved together to the next object. “Cup.” I had to hold back a chuckle as her tiny lips popped on the ‘p’ and then moved over to the plate. “Cookie.”

“No,” I replied softly, shaking my head and watched her forehead furrow in concentration as she looked at the plate. “Cra..” I prompted her.

Her face suddenly lit up and her arms flew up in the air. “Witz!” she babbled excitedly with her attempt at Ritz and then climbed onto my leg and planted a wet kiss on my cheek.

“Is Mommy skimping on the cookies again?” I whispered and caused her to giggle, making a show of looking over my shoulder I pulled the small baggie of chocolate cookies out of my jacket pocket. Opening the bag she reached in to grab one, and held it up to my mouth. I held her gaze for a moment with wide eyes and then made a sudden grab at the cookie with my lips, causing her to squeal with laughter.

“Ooh, did Uncle Eddie bring cookies again?” Emmett bounced onto the couch beside us, grabbing a cookie from the baggie before I could pull it away. I glared at him since he knew I detested being called that by anyone but Carrington, and the smug grin on his face proved it.

“My cookie, Daddy!” Carrington objected loudly with a pout.

There was a loud crash in the kitchen, followed by an even louder ‘Edward Anthony Cullen!’ that rivaled even my mother’s. I looked at Carrington and placed my finger to my lips and she giggled, as I shoved the baggie between myself and Emmett. I raised my gaze to meet Rose’s as she came storming out of the kitchen with the spatula. “Where are the cookies?”

“What cookies?” I asked innocently, glancing over at Emmett. “I haven’t seen any cookies. Have you?”

Emmett shook his head. “No baby, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Rose pursed her lips, folded her arms to glare at us, and then pointed to my lap. “Then what is in your daughter’s hand, Emmett?”

“Cookie!” The little voice from my lap exclaimed proudly. We both looked down to Carrington’s hand, and sure enough there was a chocolate cookie. I chanced a look up at Rose and she shook her head. “I have warned you about that!”

“You snitched,” I whispered in Carrington’s ear before I handing her to Emmett as I sprung off the couch laughing. “Rose, calm down. She hasn’t even had one yet.”

“And she’s not going to!” she growled as she flicked the utensil in her hand toward me. “The next time you give her sugar, she’s going home with you!”

Carrington laughed and clapped from Emmett’s lap as Rose and I continued our chase around the living room. Emmett looked up as I passed the back of the couch. “Edward, I wouldn’t mess with her. Not the best time.”

Rose stopped behind the couch and pinched the muscle in his neck. “Be quiet, honey,” she said in a too sweet tone as Emmett winced, and then looked to Carrington with a loving smile. “Baby, can Mommy have the cookie? You can have it after lunch.”

I watched her hand the cookie over to Rose, and then Emmett sniffed the air. “Um, baby. Speaking of lunch…”

“Shhhh…. nickerdoodles,” Rose corrected herself at the last minute, and then ran into the kitchen. We heard another loud crash a moment later and Rose reappeared in the doorway. “Great. The quesadilla’s burned. So unless you all want to feast on Gerber Graduates, we’re going to have to go out. And this is entirely your fault, Edward Cullen!”

I reached down to grab Carrington and propped her on my hip. “Come on, let’s go. My treat.”

We ended up at the old diner where we used to hang out during high school, and as usual, Carrington refused to sit in her highchair. Much to Rosalie’s dismay, I allowed her to once again sit in my lap to eat her lunch.

I was watching her munch on a french fry when a strange voice sounded beside us.

“Rosalie Hale?”

Rose looked up at the stranger and a shocked smile graced her face. “Jasper Whitlock? Oh my god,” she laughed excitedly and stood up to hug him. I glanced over at Emmett who was giving the man the once over with a raised eyebrow, and then turned my gaze to join my brother’s. He was a tall, blonde man in his late twenties; no one I had ever seen before or recognized. Emmett cleared his throat and she pulled away from him and looked over to us. “Oh, sorry. This is Jasper, we were summer camp counselors in high school together. Jasper, this is my husband, Emmett Cullen and our daughter, Carrington. And this is his brother, Edward.”

Jasper was still shaking Emmett’s hand when Rose motioned to me and his eyes went wide. “Edward Cullen? As in Cullen Inc.?” he asked in an almost astonished tone and I nodded cautiously. “So you’re the B… I mean, you’re Bella’s boss, aren’t you?”

The…Bella’s boss? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

“Bedda!” Carrington announced happily from my lap, causing everyone but me to laugh as I brought my gaze back up to him.

I nodded again. “Yes, Ms. Swan works for me,” I answered warily, looking down to slowly shake his extended hand. So much for having a peaceful afternoon without thinking of her. I felt my jaw tighten slightly as I observed him. “And how are you acquainted with Ms. Swan?”

A smile came to his face and I immediately wanted to knock his teeth down his throat. “Oh, she’s friends with my fiancée, Alice,” he replied and then looked at his watch. “Which speaking of, I better get her lunch back to her. It was nice seeing you again, Rosalie.”

Rose smirked slightly as she linked arms with Jasper. “Here, I’ll walk you to the door,” she replied in an almost amused tone as they walked away. Heading towards the door, I watched her immediately lean over to say something into his ear. I breathed out a sigh of relief. Well at least he’s fucking her friend and not her; I thought and then shook my head. Where the hell did that come from?

I looked over to my brother who was smirking just as his wife had. “What’s so funny, Emmett?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” he chuckled as he popped another French fry in his mouth and then avoided my eyes.

Rose returned a moment later, laughing as she settled back beside Emmett. “Well, that was interesting. What a small world huh, Edward?” she said in an almost teasing voice, a glint in her eye.

I furrowed my brow watching the both of them, as if they were both sharing some kind of inside joke. It was beginning to really irritate me, until a French fry poked me in the cheek, refocusing my attention. I looked down at my niece and tickled her side lightly, and then turned back to my brother and his wife. “Oh yes, truly fascinating.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sunday night as I lay in bed, I replayed my plan in my head. I just had to be tough, and make it a week. Seven days, I could do that. Seven days of not touching her and this thing would be out of my system and I could move on with my life. There were just a few precautions I had to take.

First of all, I couldn’t be alone with her for more than a few minutes, for any reason. Second I couldn’t be goaded into arguing with her. For some sick reason, the two of us arguing was like some sick form of foreplay. And third, no more fantasizing about her. That meant no more reliving sexual encounters, no more fantasizing about new ones, and no more picturing her naked or with any of my body parts coming in contact with any of hers

And for the most part, things seemed to go according to plan. I was in a constant state of discomfort and the week seemed to drag on, but aside from a lot of dirty fantasies, I had remained in control. I tried my best to stay busy outside the office, but during the times we were forced together, I kept a constant distance, and for the most part we treated each other with the same polite distain as we had before.

But part of me swore she was trying to break me. Each day it seemed that Ms. Swan looked sexier than the day before. Every day there was something about what she wore or did that brought my mind back to the gutter. I’d made a deal with myself that there would be no more lunch time ‘sessions’. I had to stop this and imagining her while masturbating wasn’t going to help.

Monday she wore her hair down. All I could think about as she sat across from me during a meeting was wrapping it around my hands as she went down on me. Tuesday she had on a form fitting knee length skirt and stockings with the seam up the back. She looked like some sort of hot secretary pin-up. Wednesday she wore a pant suit. That was unexpectedly worse, because I couldn’t get my mind off what it would feel like to slide those pants down her long legs. Thursday she had on a beautiful chocolate brown V neck blouse, and twice when she bent over to pick up my pen I got a good look down her shirt. Only one of those times was on purpose. By Friday I thought I would explode. I hadn’t jacked off once all week and was walking around with the worst case of blue balls I’d ever had.

As I walked in Friday morning I prayed that maybe she would call in sick. But I knew I wasn’t that lucky. I was horny and in a particularly bad mood, and when I opened the office door I almost had a heart attack. She was bent over watering a plant in a charcoal grey, short sleeved, turtleneck sweater dress. Every curve of her perfect body was shown to perfection. Someone up there really hated me.

“Good morning, Mr. Cullen.” She said sweetly, stopping me as I passed her. Something was up. She never said anything sweetly to me. Turning slowly, I eyed her suspiciously.

“Good morning, Ms. Swan.” I replied coolly. “You seem to be in an exceptionally cordial mood today. Did somebody die?” I asked, not even trying to hide my annoyance.

Her smile dropped for a fraction of a second before the corner of her mouth lifted in a devilish smirk. “Oh no. I’m just so excited to meet your friend Mike at dinner tomorrow. Emmett’s told me all about him. I think we really might have a lot in common.”

Son of a bitch. My mouth dropped and my eyebrows furrowed. “Oh yes, dinner tomorrow. I’d completely forgotten. Yes, you and Mike… well since he’s a mama’s boy and you’re an overbearing shrew you two should even each other out pretty well.” Nice one, Cullen. “I’ll take some coffee now, Ms. Swan,” I said smugly as I turned and headed into my office. So much for the rule about not arguing with her. As I set my things down, the thought occurred to me that it may not be in my best interest to have her make my coffee. One of these days she was liable to put something in it.

Sitting at my desk, I tried to get to work. God, why was this thing with Mike bothering me so much? I’d considered the fact that I could be jealous. But that was ridiculous; I didn’t want any type of relationship with her. I just wanted to be able to fuck her whenever and wherever I wanted with no strings attached. Was that so bad? Jesus. That was bad even for me.

Besides that, she wouldn’t be interested in him, would she? Hadn't Emmett said that she was out of his league? Was she? Hell yeah, she was.

And I knew that one day, whether now or later, someone was going to steal her away. Wait, did I just say steal her? I had to get myself together. I knew she dated sometimes. I’d even seen flowers delivered to the office once or twice. But it had never brought out this…possessive feeling in me. Yeah, that was the word. Possessive. It wasn't jealousy, because that would mean that I had some sort of romantic feelings for her. Possessive implied that I …well that we… Fuck.

Frustrated, I stood up and ran my hands roughly through my hair as I walked towards the large plate glass windows. Even I couldn’t make this not sound crazy. How had this even happened? Nine months ago I was living my life happily a world away in Paris. I had everything a man could want. I was wealthy and successful. I had my choice of any woman I desired, and now? Here I was, a total fucking mess over some angry woman I didn’t even want. Well I wanted her, just not like…God, I couldn’t think about this anymore.

I was interrupted from my insane ramblings by a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I grumbled irritably. It was obvious that she was still pissed as she walked in and headed straight for my desk. Placing my coffee down, she turned to look at me.

“Are we having the scheduling meeting this morning, Mr. Cullen?” She was standing near my desk in a pool of sunlight. Shadows draped across her dress, accentuating the curve of her breasts. Was it cold in here? How could she be cold when I was sweating bullets? Just the thought of what those breasts looked like naked, had me hard. Fuck! I had to get the hell out of here.

“No. I forgot about a meeting I have downtown this afternoon. So, I’ll be leaving for the day in about 10 minutes. Just email me all the details,” I replied quickly heading for the safety and coverage of my desk.

“I wasn’t aware of any meeting today,” she asked skeptically, her brows coming together and her lower lip pouting a bit.

“No, you wouldn’t have been,” I said, suddenly becoming interested in the papers on my desk. “It’s personal.” When she didn’t respond I chanced a glance up, she had a strange expression on her face. What was that look? She obviously looked mad, but there was something else. Was she…was she jealous? God I hoped so. What the fuck, Cullen?

“Oh,” she answered softly, chewing on her lower lip. “Is it someone I know?” She never asked me questions about where I was going. “I mean, just in case your father or brother need to get a hold of you,” she added in a rushed voice.

“Well,” I paused, trying to torture her a bit, “If someone needs to get a hold of me, they can call my cell phone.” If this wasn’t my life, this would almost be funny. Other than our first meeting, never in the entire time that I had known her had she ever acted less than completely collected in front of me. “Is there something else, Ms. Swan?” I asked looking up at her.

She stood there for a moment not speaking, seeming to be fight some internal battle. Suddenly she lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders, “Since you won’t be here, I was thinking that I’d like to start the weekend early. Maybe do some shopping for tomorrow night.”

I sat in my chair, trying to decipher the look on her face. What game was she playing? I kept telling myself that her becoming involved with someone was a good thing. If she was with someone, I would cease to be a temptation and life could get back to normal.

“No problem,” I answered coolly, steeling my expression. “I’ll just see you tomorrow.” Our gazes locked across the desk, and the electricity in the air was so palpable, I could feel my heart rate increase. She waited a minute more, and I tried like hell not to notice her perfect nipples still evident through her dress.

“Have a nice meeting, sir,” she said through clenched teeth, leaving quickly and closing the door loudly behind her. I sat there completely stunned. What the hell just happened? Did she think I was meeting someone? And why the hell would she care?

I was relieved when I heard her leave fifteen minutes later. Deciding it was now safe to leave my office I gathered up my things and headed out. I was stopped just as I reached the outer office door by a man carrying a large flower arrangement.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked the man skeptically. Surely he had to have the wrong office.

Looking up from his clipboard he looked around the office before answering, “I have a delivery for a Ms. Bella Swan?” What the? Who the hell would send her flowers? Was she seeing someone while we were…? I couldn’t even finish the thought.

“Ms. Swan has gone for lunch. She’ll be back in about an hour,” I lied in a tone a bit rougher than usual. I had to get a look at that card. “I’ll sign for those and make sure that she gets them.” He handed me the flowers and I set them on her desk. Signing the clipboard quickly I handed him a tip and watched thankfully as he left. For three long minutes I stood and looked at those flowers, willing myself to stop being such a girl and not look at the card. Roses. She despises roses. I snickered because whoever sent her these knew nothing about her. Even I knew she didn’t like roses. I’d overheard her talking to Angela one day about how one of her dates sent her roses to the office. She'd immediately given them away, disliking the pungent scent. Finally my curiosity got the better of me and I ripped the card away from the arrangement. Why that smooth son of a bitch.

Counting down the days ‘til we meet.

Sincerely,

Mike Newton

A foreign sensation slowly spread through my chest as I crumpled the card in my fist. Retrieving the flowers from her desk I walked out the door, locking up behind me, and made my way down the hall to the elevator. Just as the doors opened I passed a wide chrome garbage can and without a second glance I dropped them in.

I didn't know what the fuck was going on with me. But I did know there was no way in hell she was going out with Mike Newton.

---

Christina: Wow he’s hot when he’s all Grrrrr. Dawn, have you RSVP’d for dinner yet?

Dawn: Hell yea. But you know, I have a feeling the best show will be under the table. Know what I’m saying?

Christina: Where do you think my place card is? And I heard Caveward will be there?

Dawn: Well I hope they show us some love. You know how he hates to be kept waiting.

Leave us your thoughts! Please review, and then come join us on the thread on Twilighted. (link is in my profile) Never a dull moment over there lol