The Firm

A new associate joins Cullen, Hale, and McCarty law firm, a top-notch team of handsome attorneys. Will she be an asset or their undoing, particularly for the most reclusive senior partner?

So, here is my new offering. Be patient, it'll be a slow burn.

I do not own Twilight, never did. That, in all its glory, remains Stephenie Meyer's. Thank you, Steph.

Dollybigmomma is beta once again. Without her, my stories would still be hidden away deep in my "my documents" folder. You rock, Dolly!

Prologue

EDWARD

Being a senior partner of Cullen, Hale, and McCarty law firm had its benefits; well, sometimes that is. I had a lifestyle that someone as young as twenty-eight should not have had. I had a luxury penthouse apartment with a view from the balcony to die for, situated in one of Seattle's swankiest addresses. I had more money than I knew what to do with, although my personal investment manager had other ideas about that. Women, lots of them, were always available. I could take my pick, actually. Tall to short, blondes, brunettes, or redheads, it rarely mattered; they all loved me, they all wanted me, or rather my money and my status, mostly. I was never without a beautiful woman on my arm for events and charity balls if I needed one.

The thing about me, however, was that I did not date. I had no time, no inclination, and no one had interested me enough to make me want more than what I made certain any woman who associated with me knew to expect, which was nothing. I was not the romantic type; casual sex and the occasional companion for a specific event, that was me in a nutshell.

I was just too busy most of the time for anything else. Work was my life and that was the way I liked it. I was a hard-working attorney, creating quite a reputation in Washington State. I had been told that in full flow in the courtroom, I was "sex on a stick," not exactly how I would describe a shit-hot legal counsel who had yet to lose a case, but hey, who was I to judge.

Jasper Hale and Emmett McCarty were my business partners as well as my most-trusted friends. We had been the terrible trio since our first year at Princeton. The faculty there had their eyes really opened when Cullen, Hale, and McCarty rolled in. That first semester had us in more trouble than I cared to remember and at one point, I thought my dad was going to revoke my financial support and haul my ass home.

Those were fun days and I remembered them fondly; women, different ones every night…drink, lots of that, more than any of us could handle, actually. Jasper and Emmett were a whole lot more open than me, both having a constant stream of beautiful women at their disposal then, as well as flowing in and out of our offices even now. Thinking about it now made me roll my eyes. They wouldn't change, though. They both loved women too much to do without for any length of time. Me, I kept my door closed and my head down, point-blankly refusing all efforts on my friends' parts to set me up with a friend of their latest squeeze.

My mum, Esme, kept telling me I was just waiting for the right one to come along. I was not so sure that there was such a thing, for me especially. I was too fussy, it was too much like hard work, and I was certainly too selfish. What woman in her right mind would put up with fourteen-hour days, seven days a week? What woman would put up with a man who didn't want to talk to her about her day and who was definitely not interested in all the trite things she most certainly would be interested in? I could see myself old and grey and lonely; very, very lonely.

Today, we had an early meeting. We had a new associate lawyer, a Miss Swan, coming in. Jasper and Emmett had interviewed her last week while I was in court. They seemed pretty impressed. Her resume was outstanding and her references glowing. We were lucky to get her on board so early in her career. The meeting this morning was mostly introductions seeing as I had missed the interviews, followed by a short presentation by Jasper to bring Miss Swan up to speed on where we were as a firm, our policies, and what cases she would be handling. I was looking forward to meeting our newest employee. If her resume was right, she sounded a bit like me, a workaholic. I pictured her in my mind as short, round, and quite masculine, with thick-lensed glasses and certainly old before her time. I smiled as I set off, looking forward to today.

BELLA

I looked at my resume and sighed; Isabella Swan, aged twenty-five, from Forks, Washington. Most people had never even heard of it. That did not surprise me. I mean the little town in the far northwest barely registered on the map. It was always raining there and people brought up there tended to leave as soon as they could. I couldn't wait to leave, either, and I did. After spending four years at Brown getting a law degree, I headed back towards home, but I never actually got that far. No, I stopped off in Seattle and immediately fell in love with the vibrant cosmopolitan city and all it had to offer.

The last two years of my life had been busy to say the least. I was lucky enough to secure a position in a well-respected legal firm who took me on as a paralegal and let me show them what I could do. Now, two years later, I was fully qualified and looking for my next challenge. Well, I had actually found it.

Just last week, I found myself being interviewed by a Mr. Jasper Hale and a Mr. Emmett McCarty for an associate position within their firm. The interview had gone well and I was excited about the possibility of being a part of such an up-and-coming law firm. It didn't even put me off when Mr. McCarty told me about the other senior partner, a Mr. Edward Cullen, who, in their words, was a bit of a grumpy bastard, and a workaholic. He was a no-nonsense sort of guy. Okay, I could work with that, I'd just keep my nose to the grindstone. I knew my work would prove what a good lawyer I was.

The phone call came the next day from Mr. Hale. He offered me the position, and then he proceeded to ask me out on a date at the same time. I accepted the position, but politely declined his request for a date, telling him my personal policy was to never mixed business with pleasure, for professional reasons, of course. I had a week before I started my new position so I decided to do some more research on the firm and its reclusive third partner.

Google, my ever-faithful friend, did not let me down. The write-ups and biography on Edward Cullen made him sound like a demi-god. Words were used frequently like successful, handsome, and single. Before my interview, I had read reviews of all the firms' successful cases. Mr. Cullen had yet to lose one. Opponents in the courtroom described him as ruthless and driven. I wondered for a moment why I had not looked at the images of him then. I looked now and fuck me, and I did mean fuck me; handsome was not a word I would have used. It just didn't say it like it really was. Words like breathtakingly hot, sexy, and jaw-dropping were more appropriate.

All I could say was that it was good job he hadn't done the interview because there was not a cat in hell's chance I would have survived an hour in a room with him without either jumping his bones or fainting flat out on the floor. Mr. Hale and Mr. McCarty were both exceptionally handsome; both of them were good-looking in a very different way, but Edward Cullen? Fuck. Me. All I could say on that would be…yes and please.

Today was the day I started my new job. I dressed carefully, wanting to be professional while remaining stylish and a little sexy. I wanted to create the right impression. Alice, my best friend and resident fashion designer, helped me choose just the right undergarments to accentuate the positives, mainly my generous bust, round-but-firm backside, and small waist. I chose to wear a well-fitted YSL pantsuit in charcoal with just the hint of a pinstripe, and Alice matched it perfectly with a white silk blouse that plunged at the neckline, giving a hint, but only a hint, of what was hidden beneath. I finished with a pair of Manolo wing pumps, my signature style.

Glancing in the mirror, I had to admit I looked amazing and felt confident as I headed off into the unknown.

So, worth carrying on?

Again, this one will be slow burn and I mean slow, if you want me to carry it on. Edward, as you can tell from his introduction, is not in the market for a relationship. Bella will not be looking to mix business with pleasure. Heck, she's already turned down Jasper.

Let me know what you think.