Keeping it Professional

Chapter 1

"Here are the reports from last month, Mr. Jones." Emma says. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she looks at her boss. She doesn't meet his eyes, afraid that if she looks into the bright blue, she will turn into ice or stone.

"Thank you, Miss Swan." He replied. He knows about the fear that he puts into his employees. As much as everyone tries to hide it, he can see. Emma Swan is no exception. "You are dismissed." She nodded and walked out of his office.

Killian Jones wasn't a man to be crossed. He had billions of dollars and an entire legal team, ready to go to him at the snap of his fingers. Emma Swan on the other hand, she was just trying to make every penny count.

Everytime she walks out of his office, she was always questioning whether she had done the right thing or not. She hated to knock on his door, afraid that she would be interrupting something. She also hated to be called to his office, afraid that she had broken an unspoken rule.

Emma walked back to her cubicle and sighed as she sat down. A piece of paper was thrown at her desk. She looked up and saw the paper ball and smiled. Any time she had to go to Killian's office for any reason, her boyfriend, Neal was always there to cheer her up. She unwrapped the piece of paper and saw two stick figures side by side, holding hands. One had a ponytail with glasses, which was clear that was her. She giggled quietly and stuck it to the corkboard on the wall of her cubicle. She glanced beside her and Neal was smiling. He blew her a kiss and winked. She smiled and went back to work.

After an hour, Emma got up to go to the restroom. She found her friends Elsa and Ruby standing by the water fountain. Each holding cups in their hands.

"Hey, Emma." The women said at the same time.

"Hi." She said with a sigh.

"Did Mr. Handsome yell at you?" Elsa asked.

"No, but he's just waiting for me to do something wrong. I can tell."

"Maybe he doesn't like you because you haven't swooned over him yet. Every girl in this office does eventually." Ruby said.

"I haven't swooned over him." Elsa argued.

"Oh, Elsa, you just haven't admitted it to yourself yet."

Emma laughed and excused herself to the bathroom. When she came back out, Ruby and Elsa were gone. She went back to her cubicle and finished up her work.

At 5:00, she began to pack up her things. She organized her desk and shut her computer down for the night. She left later than her friends, just so she wouldn't have much work to do the next day. But, it never mattered. Killian always found some ridiculous thing for her to do.

As she got outside to the front of the building, she felt as if she was being watched. She whipped her head around, trying to find the person that was watching her, but no one was. She shrugged it off and got in her car. Emma drove straight home and took a hot, relaxing shower. She made herself a tv dinner and sat down on the couch with her phone in hand. She was twenty six and still going on. She often asked herself if it would be wise to start settling down, but she wasn't sure if she had found the perfect person or not. Neal was a nice guy and a good boyfriend, but when she tried imagining a future with him, it just wouldn't form in her head. Neal was a gentleman. He took her out on dates and bought her flowers. He made her feel good about herself. They had been dating for about three months, and he hadn't asked her if she wanted to move in with him or not. She wondered if he even wanted a future with her, but she was too scared to ask.

But, Emma wasn't even sure if she wanted that. If he would ask her, what would she say? No? It would break his heart, and that was the last thing she wanted. Her friends weren't sure about Neal. David, her brother, wasn't too fond of Neal. Even if he did treat Emma like a princess. David always said that there was something he didn't like, but couldn't place his finger on it.

David was thirty years old. He was married and had a wife. Mary Margaret was a third grade school teacher, and David worked at the animal shelter. Emma was actually adopted by a woman named Ruth Nolan. She wasn't able to have any more children, but she had always wanted a daughter. David had welcomed Emma in with open arms, and she was very happy with the Nolan's. David had always been the protective older brother since day one and had always treated Emma as if she was his real sister. Ruth was a very nice old lady and had taken Emma in when no one else did. She was Emma's savior.

Her phone began ringing on the kitchen table. She went out to see Elsa's name lit up on the screen. Elsa had been Emma's best friend since the first day at the office. Elsa was the one to show Emma around and teach her everything there was to know about the company.

"What's up, Elsa?" Emma asked, but there was no response. "Hello? Elsa?" Emma figured it was just a butt dial and went to hang up, but froze when she heard her name.

"He said that he's going to ask Emma to move in with him." She heard a male voice in the background. It sounded like David, but she wasn't too sure.

"I don't like him. There's a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach." Elsa said.

"I never have liked him. I just hope that whatever it is, it doesn't crush Emma."

She hung up and tossed her phone aside. She couldn't understand why her friends and family were against Neal. Had he done something that she didn't know about?