Seven AM on the dot I wake up. Not just on the weekdays because of work but weekends a well. I head downstairs and make myself a protein shake and start my thirty minute elliptical workout. Thirty minutes every day actually does work, I must say. As I'm at a speed walk, I read. Sometimes it's my Bible (I made a resolution to be more faithful), other times it's whatever book I happen to receive from my baby who's still asleep upstairs.

When my thirty minutes are up, I squat. Not completely sure if it's working or if I'm even doing them right, but whatever. I bend down then straighten up thirty times then it's time for my shake. Secretly I hate these things but I don't let my body know that. After finishing half of it, I shower, twice I lather my body, wash my hoo-ha, then hop out. I crawl back on my bed naked and bite down on his ear as a wake-up call. He groans in protest but he knows that I'm naked so he pulls me down and makes out with me like always and tries to get me in the mood, but I never let it get that far. You'd think he knows this by now.

As I drown my body in coconut oil, he's getting his shower in singing to whatever song is caught in his mind. Today it's Hopelessly Devoted To You. Go figure. I always laugh because low key, my babe is actually a pretty good singer—I've heard better, but he's pretty good.

I get dressed and head downstairs to finish off my shake as I watch the news. It's always the same tragic story and I'm getting tired of it. I don't even know why I watch half of the time.

Eight fifteen on the dot, my assistant texts me leading with a good morning then lists the agenda for today. I like having a copy but not on paper because I always seem to misplace it. When everything is on my phone, I know that I'll always have it no matter what. I've never lost a phone and I don't plan to. That's why I have two.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

"You didn't make me breakfast?"

"When do I ever make you breakfast, Stefan?" I look over at him pouring coffee. "I made you that coffee though."

"You did not, you don't drink coffee, you don't know how to make it."

"I did too, I googled it."

"Baby. I made this before I showered, how do you even think it got here, by our imaginary maid?"

I shrug. "It was worth a shot."

He chuckled then makes his way over. I sigh as he kisses my neck before nibbling. "Tonight."

"Tonight what?"

"You know what. You're always in a mood in the morning, but I can break you down tonight."

He kisses me and suddenly I can no longer play hard to get and kiss him back. He reaches out to place his mug on the counter but misses having it break on the floor which does nothing but turn us on even more. He lifts and sits me on the counter, stepping between my legs and just as I was about to undo his belt, the alarm goes off telling us that we need to get our asses out the door. I pull away, but he pulls me back in so I decided to hop into his arms so he could take us outside which he does and almost slips and breaks his ass in the process. I return my feet to the ground and bit his lower lip in help to stop.

"I need to go." I exhale as his lips trail my neck.

"I love you. I'll see you later."

I nod then stop my frown when I feel his lips and touch no longer on my body. We watch each other until we completely have to get in our cars. I pull off first and since his job is close to mine, he follows me most of the way until I make a right and he goes left. I miss him.

My assistant, Ann greets me by the elevator then we go over the schedule again then I pause by the door when I hear something that either I didn't read or I just forgot I did.

"Wait. I have a lunch with James?"

"Look, I know your past, but he's the boss and he requested you and I said yes. Plus you know that he wouldn't ask you if it wasn't something business-wise."

"I guess." I shrug then continue into my office.

The rest of my day is the same as always, meeting here, proofing there. It's the same but I love my job.

Lunch rolls around quicker than I thought and I'm off. I decide to arrive a little late but I see him seated outside eating a salad. I walk up to him and he smiles once we make eye contact and I sit across from him skipping the hug.

"You hungry?"

"If you're gonna offer me your salad then no."

He chuckled. "You know me too well. So let's get down to business, shall we?" I nod. "I want you to talk to Men's Attiré."

"You mean our rivals?"

"I wouldn't look at it like that,"

"OK so they advertise men and we advertise women, but last I checked, we're still at war."

"You see that attitude of yours is why I'm putting you on the case. I want to call a temporary truce, we work together for this advertising gig-"

"What gig?"

"I want to combine our companies and create advertising for women and men. It'll just be one magazine, 60/40 we get most of the profit because it was our idea."

I had to admit that it is a pretty good idea. "Alright, when do I talk to them?"

"Today."

My mouth dropped. "Today? I- I need time to prepare."

"No you don't, you got this."

I exhale running my fingers through my hair then I'm more shocked than what I was when he actually thought that kissing me was a good idea. I move away immediately and look at him like he's crazy. "I'm seeing someone. And even if I wasn't, what makes you think that was a good idea?"

"You know I never got over you, Bonnie."

Now I roll my eyes. "You're acting like we didn't talk before breaking up- you know what, this isn't the time. Are we done here?"

"I expect nothing but good results from you, Bonnie."

"Or what, you'll fire me?" I smile then walk away.

I call Ann and ask her to get my black suit with the shots. I'll be around nothing but a bunch of men and what better way to have their balls in my hands then to make them cum in their slacks?

"I got the curling iron."

"Ann, this is why I love you."

I get dressed pretty quickly and as Ann oils my legs down, I add some shine and loose curls to my hair. I leave a button undone on my blazer then we're off. Their building isn't far at all so we decided to walk.

"Here's what I need you to do," I turn to her. "I want you to stare those boys down, while I'm talking you make eye contact with them all until you find the weakest link and focus your attention all on him, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She hits the elevator button and I'm not sure if anyone expected us to show up, but we're here. We stop by at the secretary and ask for the meeting room and she offers to show us, but I decline just because I want to make an entrance and with her there it won't be as dramatic as I want it to be. I turn to Ann for a bugger check, both nose and eyes wise then we check teeth next. Once everything is cleared, were off to that room.

"Hello, boys." I hide my smile at the wide eyes and the curse words from the room.

"Bonnie. Have a seat,"

"I'll stand, Stefan, thanks." I give Ann a nod to sit and once she starts her staring is when I start. "For those who don't know, I'm Bonnie from A. and I'm not one to beat around the bush so here it is;" I place my hands on the table leaning in and focus my attention on Stefan. Damn he looks so sexy. He smiles at me and shoots his eyes down to sneak a peek. I allow it. "Us at A. want to partner with you. One magazine. One edition."

"Why the sudden interest?" He asks and I want to smile so damn bad but I don't.

"Just to spice things up a little." I stand to my full height and decide to do a little walking. "We get sixty percent of sales, which if you ask me is a ripoff to us, but call it generosity. Mercy, if you will. We want to combine men and women's fashion into one unisex line, I mean it's all about togetherness, right? Unity. Why not start with fashion, an outlet that sexes use to express themselves, a subject that sexes obsess over." I end my walk behind Stefan's chair since he's the higher power in the room. "We have a contract written up. Read over it, let your lawyers read over it and we'll hear from you all in a week. Ann,"

She stands keeping contact with a redhead and I make sure to treat her to lunch tomorrow. But first. "Go talk to the weakest link and get him on our side while I talk to Stefan."

His door is closed but I saw him go in so I just open it spotting him facing the window. "I came for a follow-up."

"Come here, Bonnie, I want to show you something." I narrow my eyes but walk up to him, standing beside him looking out the window.

It's not long before he grabs me and we both know that we have to make it quick.

"You know this doesn't affect my decision, right?"

"I know how to separate business from pleasure." He kisses my neck. "Baby,"

"I know," he turned my head kissing my lips. "And who told you you can wear this outfit?"

"I wanted to make your pussy coworkers cum."

He chuckled then I had to leave. Ann eyes me and I choose to ignore her. We arrive back at the office soon and I meet up with James for a little and tell him that the meeting went well and that I am positive that they'll sign on.

The rest of my work day is boring compared to earlier and I'm ready to get home.

...

I turn my head to see Stefan walk in the kitchen. I know that I saw him earlier, but I didn't get the chance to look at him well. Gray suit, black button up underneath it, and black loafers. He's flipping through the mail so I turn back to the stove before he catches me looking at him. A second later, I feel his eyes on me. When I get home from work, I like to strip down and throw on some short shorts and a T-shirt to remind myself that I am still young. Sometimes I let my job overpower me and I start to live and breathe it, which is fine on some occasions, but I don't like doing that all the time.

His hand slides around to my stomach and his lips meet the side of my neck. "How was your day?"

"Perfect."

He chuckles against my cheek then kisses me there. "What's for dinner?"

Let me mention that his hand is now under my shirt touching me ever so gently. "You'll find out later."

"Mm, Bonnie Bennett, always playing hard to get." He turns my head to kiss me. "These clothes would look better off of you."

I roll my eyes, "Remind me why I'm with you again."

"You can't deny love, Honey B." He kisses me again then slips his hand out of my shirt and heads upstairs to change.

The thing is that I do deny love. Love is a tricky thing, whether you stay with the person you love or not, you're bound to get your heart broken someway or somehow. I haven't told Stefan that I love him yet in the three years in which we've been together, but he doesn't mind. He tells me that he loves me and that he knows that I love him back by my actions. Love is verb anyway so I guess that's all he needs.

"You had lunch with James today?" He asks like he just heard this news from the PI he secretly has on me.

"Yes. He is my boss after all."

"He kissed you."

I turn to him, "How do you even know this?"

"I know a lot of people, Bonnie. What the hell,"

"Don't get all jealous, I told him that I was seeing someone afterward. You can't blame him, no one knows that we're dating."

He let out a breath. "Next time he tries something, he's going to get his ass beat. Tell him that."

I trap my lower lip between my teeth and I wish that James will try something so I can see more of this side of him. I walk up to him standing on my toes as my arms go around his neck. "Don't worry, baby, you're all that I want. I would never do anything like that to you." I don't kiss him, just look into his eyes.

He looks at me back then kisses me once longly. "Let me take you out."

I smile. "When?"

"Tonight. Get your fine ass dressed."

I chuckle then head upstairs. Oh, I love gilt gifting Stefan. It's when you make your love feel bad about the assumptions they made on you that they feel guilty and give you things. Tonight happens to be a dinner that I don't need to cook, but in the past, I've gotten jewelry and flowers. Hey. I'm not a bad person.

I get dressed in a halter top black dress that shows off parts of my tattoo with its open back and throw on some red bottoms and clutch.

"Damn, babe." He stares at my legs. "You look sexy as fuck."

I laugh a little then he reaches out his hand in which I take before he's leading me out the door.

Stefan and I usually get kicked out of places when we go out in public. We're both just so hot that it's hard to keep our hands off each other. Like right now, I have to move his hand from my ass as we're walking back to the table. I look up at him but he just kisses me putting his hand right back where it was and as we break away, I don't move it.

"Your waiter should be with you soon."

"Thanks," Stefan says pulling out my chair.

Before I could sit down, he does so and I eye him weirdly then he pulls me down on his lap. "Stefan..."

"I'm treating you tonight which means I need to feed you. How can I do that without you on my lap?"

He does have a point. I smile then kiss him making him groan before I pull away just in time for the waiter to come. She eyes us before snapping back. Stefan quietly chuckles.

"Uh, my name is Lori and I'll be your waitress for tonight. Can I start you off with any drinks?"

"Two double seven in sevens with glasses of water." Stefan orders then she leaves to go get just that.

"Can we talk work for a sec—"

"No."

"Stef,"

"We made a deal. No work talk outside of work."

"But can you at least—"

"Bonnie Bennett."

I let out a breath through my nose but he's right. "Fine."

"Kiss me."

I look at him but before I could meet our lips, Lori makes her way over. "Are you both ready to order?"

"Can we have a few minutes?"

"Sure," she smiles before turning to leave.

"Now where were we?"

"Stef, I'm actually hungry. I didn't eat all day."

"You really need to stop doing that. I'm bringing you lunch tomorrow. And it won't look suspicious either, you did after all seduce me into a deal."

"So you're saying yes?"

"It's not just up to me and that's the last I'm talking about it."

Damn. "But can I just say you looked very sexy in that meeting room."

"Yeah?"

I nod biting down on my lower lip and like last time before we kiss Lori comes back and we suck it up and order.

...

I hate it when Stefan visits me at work. And the fact that I hate it when it's only happened a total of three times should tell you something. He always distracts me and it raises a lot of suspicions that our head rival is visiting me personally in my office with the blinds closed and the door locked.

"Bonnie, I need you to— oh."

Well, it was supposed to be locked. Stefan was in the middle of giving me a shoulder massage and it wouldn't have been that bad if I wasn't shirtless. At least I had a bra on.

"Come in, close the door."

"Hello, Ann."

"Stefan," she cleared her throat a little. "I just need your signature on these. It's for the contract... Speaking of... Stefan?"

I smile.

"We'll give you our decision on Monday."

I roll my eyes signing the papers.

"Just a heads up, you guys might want to consider locking the door."

"Or you can just I don't know, consider knocking?" Stefan said just to be an ass.

Ann squinted her eyes. "You're lucky my boss loves you."

"Is it true, babe? Do you love me?"

I wait until Ann walks out. "Do I have to play Anthony Evans' 'Love Is' for you again?"

"It'll just be nice to hear you say it."

I'm going to kill Ann. "Is this a thing, are we really doing this?"

"Whatever. I need to go anyway."

I sigh. "Wait. I'm sorry, you know how I feel,"

"Then why can't you say it? Just once is all I ask. Please."

I'm stomping my feet internally but decide to put on my big girl panties. "I love you, Stefan."

There it is. I jinxed us, shit is going to start going downhill from now and it won't be my fault. Well, kind of, I could've just let his anger ride out, I didn't have to stop him from leaving. Shit. I need a rewind button.

But he smiles and I have butterflies. "I love you too." He walks back up to me and we kiss slowly before he pulls away only to kiss me once more. "I love you too." He says again and I roll my eyes having him chuckle before leaving forgetting his jacket.

I'm not sure if he did that on purpose or not, but I quickly button up my shirt and luckily catch his eye before the elevator door closes. He holds the door for me and I wave his jacket at him stepping in then the double doors shut and he grabs my face kissing me like we hadn't not even a minute before this. He did it on purpose. Classic. He reaches his arm out pressing a button and stops the elevator completely.

"I think these have cameras."

"Then well be making our debuts to a security guard." He talks against my lips, fiddling with his belt then lifts me before pressing my back against the wall.

"Stefan, I'm pregnant."

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am."

"This isn't funny."

"I'm not joking."

He stares at me with narrowed eyes for a long ass time and I stare right back. "What?"

"You're lying."

"Alright, once your baby comes out of me, I'll tell them that daddy didn't believe mommy when she told him the most exciting news that he'll ever hear in his life ever."

"You know how I know that you're lying, last year you had a scare and you were crying for hours, there's no way in hell you'll be this calm."

I stand from the table. "Fine. In about two months if you notice me getting fat, it's not because I'm eating too much."

... "Babe are you- seriously? You're gonna get my hopes up in a minute."

"So you're happy?"

"Bon, come on. Honestly, are you pregnant?"

I smile. "No."

"Fuck you."

I laugh and sit on his lap. "Do you realize what a baby means to me?"

"Love?"

"Death."

"Hey, don't say that. That's not nice." He moves his hand to the side of my face and I look into his green eyes. "If the day ever comes that you carry my child, I would actually want to keep it, you know that, right?"

I sigh. "Yes. But it's not all up to you."

"I know but I would hope that you'll at least consider it. I love you. I can see myself having a family with you, marrying you."

"My head hurts."

"Bonnie, be a grown-up for a second." Excuse me? "We live together, we're committed, I don't take that shit lightly."

"I don't either."

"Then stop fucking acting like this relationship isn't in it for the long haul. If I'm just a play toy to you, then I'll pack my shit."

I so regret this stupid pregnancy prank. It looked so much more fun on YouTube. Stefan's been acting so serious about everything lately, it makes me wonder what's going on in his head. He's never acted like this before, he was cool with me not saying those three words, cool with me not wanting children, cool with us just going with the flow, but now he's acting so hotheaded over everything.

"Do I need to pack my shit, Bonnie?"

I wonder if he's thinking about screwing someone else. Comparing the other girl with me, she probably wants the whole nine yards when I'm fine with seven. She probably shares more of his values and cares about the things he does. I knew I shouldn't have said those words.

"No. You don't have to pack anything."

"Good." He goes back to reading the email on his phone like he was before I tried to prank him. I want to read over it, but we made a promise to respect each other's personal business lives and I may be shit, but I honor those promises.

I get up then head upstairs feeling drained. All I wanted was some simple fun but it looks like that can't happen. Not anymore.

...

Instead of my elliptical this morning, I decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was a nice day out and I was in need of some fresh air. I rarely get fresh air so this is nice. A mother passes me, pushing her kid in a stroller and I start to wonder if kids are really up this early. If I really do get pregnant and decide to give birth, then I'll have to wake up even earlier to get my "me" time, or worse, what if I get no "me" time at all? What happens then, I thicken out and never lose the baby weight? Holy, I need to stop thinking so much.

I get home and I'm surprised that Stefan is out of bed but I'm mad when I find out that he's in the shower. This is my shower time, I like to shower first. He knows this. I wait for him by the door and he halts looking at me before continuing more into the room.

"What?"

"What? What do you mean, what, I shower first."

"Really, Bonnie. I didn't realize that I had to wait for you to shower before I was allowed to go in."

"Yes you did, I told you that when you first moved in."

"You know what, Bonnie, how about I stay somewhere else that way you can be first at everything around here."

"Why are you so ready to leave? Last week you were practically asking me to kick you out. Are you seeing someone else?"

"When do I have time to see someone else, huh? Does that make any sense,"

"It does actually, you can be screwing that secretary at your job for all I know. What, does she want kids and a marriage too to make your wildest dreams come true?" He chuckled rolling his eyes looking to the left. "So that's a yes, huh? I see."

"You're being so ridiculous right now. I'm not fucking Amber."

"Oh so her name is Amber. That's nice, Stefan and Amber sitting in a motherfucking tree." I yank the necklace off my neck that he gave me and throw it at him before pushing him aside so I can leave. He doesn't even stop me which makes me angrier than I already was.

"Baby, wait,"

Too fucking late for that. I keep going until I'm outside and he actually grabs me to stop me from getting into my car. It's not like I could've actually went somewhere because I forgot my damn keys.

"I said wait."

"And I obviously didn't care."

"I'm not cheating on you, alright. You're being ridiculous."

"Then why are you so quick to pack your bags then, huh?"

"Because we're coming up on four years and... And I don't want to waste my time."

"So loving me is wasting your time?"

"Loving you and not seeing us have a future together, yes, it is wasting my time. I want the house and white picket fence type of life and I know that work is very important to us both, but that doesn't mean we're not allowed to settle down, does it?"

"I guess not."

He exhaled. "Bonnie, I don't want to force this on you and I'm sorry if it seems that way, I just want to tell you how I feel."

I look down when he does and see that he's holding my necklace. I could tell that he wanted to say something else but instead, he just puts it back on around my neck. I close my eyes when he meets our foreheads. "I love you."

I hope he's not expecting me to say it back because I wo— "I love you too." Wait, what? Did I just say that after not wanting to say that? Shit, you say it once and then you can't stop saying it, even if you don't want to? What kind of sick word is this?!

He hugs me, moving his head to the side of mine before kissing my neck. "I have a vacation planned for us for next week. I know it's late notice, but you're going with me."

"Where?"

"Back to Mystic Falls,"

"Stefan,"

"I can't go alone, I need your support."

Mystic fucking Falls. Shit.

A/N: This is chapter one! I hope you all like this story and I already completed it so I can't wait to see if you guys predict things correctly or not in the reviews! Thank you so much for reading!