Five

*Edward*

I stood in the middle of my silent living room, staring hard at the dark red carpet beneath my feet as I tried to think of something to do.

Anything to do.

I was bored.

And it was driving me absolutely crazy.

I finally unpacked my bags, hanging up the wrinkled mass of clothing that Alice would kill me for and shoving things into the overpriced, intricately detailed wood wardrobe. I did the measly amount of laundry that I’d scattered all across the floor in my room. I’d cleaned the bathroom, kitchen and living room.

I’d even called my parents before remembering that the both of them were at work. I called Alice before remembering that she was probably going to be holed up in her studio all day. I even called Emmett in a desperate last attempt at someone to keep me busy, but I’d only gotten his voicemail.

I was running out of things to do and people to call to keep me occupied.

In my previous visits, I’d never been bored before. I’d had all the time in the world to do absolutely nothing and I loved it that way. I never wanted it to change.

I’d spend most of my time running around and trying to remember everything I had to do on any given day that I relished in the fact that I didn’t have to do anything when I was here if I didn’t want to.

And now… I was out of my mind bored.

And it was all because of one Bella Swan who was currently at work. Not home, with me, keeping me entertained like she’d been doing for the past three nights.

I’d had someone to spend time with, someone to talk to, someone to interact with like I hadn’t before and I’d gotten spoiled.

I’d somehow managed to start relying on spending time with her in a few short days and now I honestly didn’t know what to do without her.

It was really rather pathetic the way I counted on her company so much. What was even worse was that she didn’t even need me around her at all; she had her own life and her own friends right in this small town while I had nothing.

I’d taken a risk by asking her to dinner, clearly not thinking about the uproar it would cause until it was out of my mouth. And I’d been pretty well mortified about the whole thing, spending the rest of the day in my bed and dreaming about Bella.

Yes, I dreamt about her. I didn’t really dislike it all that much, but it still didn’t make it right, either.

I’d spent most of the day after dragging my lazy ass out of my bed sometime around four that day walking in between my living room and my kitchen. My stomach was grumbling at me, demanding that I fill it with something of substance.

I’d almost broken down and walked over to Bella’s to ask her to dinner again, figuring the consequences would be worth it if I could stop my stomach from talking to me but stopped short when I saw Jake’s car and two other vehicles lining her driveway. I watched from the window as two other boys that couldn’t have been more than twenty years old dragged furniture and boxes out through the garage to pack them into their cars.

It really was over between them. He was moving out and they were over.

I hated myself for the smile my reflection shot back at me at the realization and quickly turned away from the window, walking back into the kitchen to stare at the still empty refrigerator and hope that something would magically appear in front of my eyes.

So I’d continued pacing back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, attempting to watch whatever might’ve been on the television at the time and ignoring how empty my stomach really was.

I’d even been too scared to go to the local supermarket down the road. Not only was it overpriced, but it always felt slightly unsanitary whenever I walked in there. And I really didn’t want to repeat the Price Chopper incident anytime in the near future.

Hell, at that point, I was scared to even leave the house so going down to the pizzeria in town was completely out of the question, too.

By seven that night, I’d given up and prayed that I’d be able to wait until tomorrow to find something to eat. Even if that meant driving halfway to Maine, I’d do it if it meant that I could shop without people screaming at me.

So I walked back upstairs, intent on taking a shower and turning on my dreaded laptop to see if there were any important emails that needed to be tended to.

I was halfway to the bathroom when I heard a loud crash outside of the house. Prepared for the worst, I slowly walked back down the stairs and grabbed the phone from its cradle before standing in the doorway to the living room.

Maybe someone had finally found out where I lived and were throwing things at the house in a sad attempt to make me come outside so that they could attack me.

Gripping the phone tightly in my hand as I searched through the directory for the police number I’d stored in there upon my first visit, I swallowed hard and slowly walked towards the door.

I heard more shuffling as I looked through the peephole, but didn’t see anyone on the front porch.

I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. There were a hundred small places someone could hide on my property and I’d never see them until it was too late.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped back and yanked the door open, the phone up to my ear as I stuck my head outside.

And there was Bella, kicking what looked like chicken wings across the road.

Relief flooded through me and I smiled, breathing easily and setting the phone down on the small table just inside the doorway.

I called out her name and the relief I felt immediately disappeared when a sob sounded through her lips.

A million different scenarios ran through my head at that sound and I stood up straighter, not bothering with shoes or a coat as I stepped out onto the porch and watched as she shook her head and hurried over to the twelve pack of beer by the bottom steps that I’d missed.

Stupidly, I asked her if she was okay as I walked down the steps as she approached, grabbing the beer case before she could.

And her voice was nothing more than a small squeak. I’d never heard anyone sound quite like that and immediately, a small flare of anger surged through me as I looked over at her house.

Maybe Jake had hurt her somehow. And if he’d laid one hand on her, I would find him and nothing would stop me from ripping him limb from limb.

There were very few people in the world that I would do that for and Bella Swan was one of them.

I wasn’t exactly sure when she’d become one of them, but as I listened to her squeak out answers in between sniffles and choked out sobs, it was painfully obvious that I would do anything and everything in my power to make sure that no one ever hurt her again.

Even as she answered me, she wouldn’t look at me. And this was just one of those times when I needed her to look at me; I needed to make sure that she wasn’t hurt despite her claim that she wasn’t. If there was so much as one bruise on her…

So I grabbed her chin, the small jolt I got from just touching her spiking up through my arm and into my chest. I ignored it for the time being, more concerned with making sure that she was in one piece and still as pale as ever.

She started stuttering, flustered, so I dropped the beer and did the only thing that I could think of: I grabbed her face in my hands and told her to breathe.

It was nothing short of a miracle that the shock I experienced upon having my hands fully cupping her face didn’t send me clear across the porch or that I merely managed to dry her tears without even showing her what she managed to do to me.

And I swear I could feel my heart swell when she finally told me that she’d brought food over for us to eat. In fact, I wanted to get down on my hands and knees and kiss her feet or propose marriage just because she had two large cheese pizzas, chicken wings and beer to share with me.

Instead, I invited her inside and listened to her tell me about her horrible day.

And as we sat on the couch, stuffing our faces and telling each other about how horrible our days were, I found myself moving closer to her. I leaned in close to listen to everything that she had to say and only snapped out of it when she sat up straight and cleared her throat.

Was I going to kiss her? No, leaning into someone did not necessarily mean that I had to kiss them. I was just listening intently to everything that she was saying.

Even if she was saying how she enjoyed spending time with me. Or the way she’d whispered it when she said it. Her words lingered in my ears, making my heart skip a few beats and I almost missed it when she asked me to go shopping with her.

I watched her face flush and stared at her cheeks, slowly chewing on the pizza I’d shoved in my mouth as I continued telling myself that I had no intentions of kissing her. Whatever she was saying was slowly starting to make its way through my brain and I wanted to smirk at her.

She wanted to go grocery shopping with me and had even suggested wearing a hat of some sort to deflect the attention I’d get thrown my way.

Why hadn’t I thought of that before? I’d never really been a hat person, but it might throw some overly excited people off my trail long enough to get some shopping done.

It took me a minute or so to realize that I hadn’t actually said anything to her and when she reached up to cover her face with her hands, I finally got my jaw to do something other than chew.

And as I stood in the middle of my living room, still staring at the red carpet, I smiled.

I was going grocery shopping with Bella tomorrow when she got out of work.

I’d see her tomorrow.

It didn’t help the issue of curing my boredom right now, but it was something to look forward to.

Grumbling at the carpet, I finally looked up, my gaze unintentionally landing on the house across the street.

Not helping, Edward.

I turned on my heel and stalked into the dining room, staring at the laptop bag I’d unceremoniously dropped there a few hours ago.

I was trying to avoid looking at my email. I didn’t want to know if I had to leave this place earlier than I’d anticipated. Just because my agent said that I didn’t have anything to do until after the New Year, it didn’t mean it would stay that way for very long.

There was always the small chance that something would pop up that I couldn’t avoid no matter how much I begged and pleaded with Jeannie. She was ruthless when I needed to appear somewhere and the word ‘no’ failed to exist to her.

I was really hoping that there was nothing sitting in my inbox, waiting to take me away from the only piece of serenity I’d get until sometime around March of next year.

Grudgingly, I walked to the table and slipped the laptop out of its case, flipping open the top and pushing the button to turn it on.

I stared at it while it booted up, running my hands through my hair before finally sitting down and clicking on the internet link when the damn thing stopped groaning at me.

It was ancient; there was no other way to put it. I’d gotten it even before I’d moved out of my parents’ house and as much as I hated what came with it lately, couldn’t find it in me to get a new one.

My email popped up and I quickly typed in my password, sighing as I saw that I had entirely too much email that I didn’t have the energy to sort through.

I looked through the names, recognizing Jeannie’s name as one of them from early this morning and quickly clicked on it, closing my eyes tightly as my laptop moaned and groaned a little more at the effort.

There wasn’t a subject line. Whenever she left that intentionally blank – the woman never did anything unintentionally, even when it came to subject lines on emails – the contents were never very good.

Opening one eye, all I saw in bold type was:

I think you should see this.

I cringed, swallowing hard and opening my other eye as the rest of the email finished loading and my hunched over form popped up in a grainy picture.

I cursed whoever thought of phones with cameras because there I was. Hunched over the shopping cart at Price Chopper, an expression close to pain on my face as I stared at the screaming, awe struck lady in front of me.

It was taken about two seconds before I fled the store.

Great. Perfect. Absolutely amazing.

I scrolled down, past the picture, to see that Jeannie had sent a little message along with it.

My phone has been ringing non-stop, Edward. People want to know what you were doing in upstate New York. I’ve even been asked if there’s someone you’re there for. Call me. I mean it. There are only so many things I can tell them when even I don’t know the truth. Call me.

I had a bad habit of ignoring her when she sent me things like this. And I had purposely not given her this number, merely promising that I’d check my email or drive somewhere that I could get reception on my cell phone every so often so that I wasn’t completely cut off from my real life and her, in turn.

Truthfully, I was surprised that it had taken people this long to find out that I was even in upstate New York to begin with. When I disappeared for weeks at a time like this, most of the media assumed that I’d gone home to Washington. It seemed that most of the people in Lake George didn’t seem to mind that I was invading their town, which was a huge part of the reason that I kept coming back.

The other part was because there weren’t any paparazzi hanging around, lurking in corners with their long lenses and snippy attitudes, trying to get a rise out of me so that they could make some decent money off of my enraged face. I couldn’t exactly walk freely around town without being gaped at, but I didn’t have to worry about camera flashes, either.

Or, at least, I didn’t until now.

Looking behind me and out the front windows to the house across the street, I wondered if she’d be able to handle something like this. If something thankfully happened to work out between the two of us, would she be able to handle people practically stalking the both of us each time we stepped foot out of our house?

And then I actually realized what I’d been thinking and shook my head fiercely.

No. I wouldn’t subject Bella to this life. There were entirely too many factors pushing against us as it was; I was not going to make it worse.

Plus, she wasn’t over Jacob yet. That much was clear last night. He’d been a very large part of her bad day yesterday and I wasn’t going to push anything.

Sighing, I ignored the rest of the emails in my inbox, clicking out of the internet and shutting down my laptop before rising out of the chair and slowly grabbing the phone from its cradle.

Well, I’d wanted something to do.

I should’ve known better.

Dialing in Jeannie’s cell phone number after I’d blocked my own, I shuffled into the living room and plopped onto the couch as the line rang, covering my face with my arm as I concentrated on breathing evenly.

“Hello?”

Jeannie’s clipped, deep, frazzled voice greeted me from the other end of the phone and I winced.

Not a good sign.

“Hey, Jeannie,” I said meekly, attempting to laugh.

I sounded like I was a deflating balloon.

“Edward!” she shrieked.

I had a very great urge to hang up. This was not going to be one of those easy, comfortable conversations we had while discussing a new movie I’d been thinking about taking on.

No, this was going to be a long, drawn out, draining conversation that I suddenly wanted absolutely nothing to do with. Calling her was the worst decision I’d made today. And it was merely noon.

“You need to give me some answers! I’m drowning over here!”

“What are the questions?” I sighed, uncovering my eyes long enough to run a hand down my face and lean forward on my knees.

“The most frequent one is, of course, are you seeing anyone over there?”

I could hear her tapping papers together and imagined her sitting at her large mahogany desk in her expensive, wide, well furnished office on the thirteenth floor of the large agency she spent most of her time in.

And, once again, without my permission, my eyes flicked to the house across the street.

“No,” I sighed heavily, quickly closing my eyes and reaching up to cover them again.

I couldn’t look over there if I couldn’t see.

“Are you sure?”

“Pretty damn positive, Jeannie,” I sighed, keeping my eyes covered as I leaned back on the couch again.

“Okay. Why are you in Queensbury?”

“To get away from the people that are asking those questions.”

“I can’t tell them that!” she shrieked again.

I winced again. The woman needed a very long vacation.

“I’m there because,” I sighed heavily, uncovering my eyes and forcing myself to stare straight ahead at the silent television, “I was visiting an old family friend.”

“They’re going to ask who the family friend is, Edward.”

Her voice was back to being the normal, calm, deep Jeannie voice that was merely placating me until she could get what she really wanted out of me.

She sounded like this often. Every time I talked to her, actually. I was probably half the reason she ate antacids like candy. I didn’t mean to be difficult, but I liked my privacy. My fans, however, didn’t. And she was pretty much obligated to give them whatever they wanted because they were the ones that kept me employed.

I wasn’t ungrateful to them. I just wanted a little time to myself after working my ass off for them twenty-four-seven.

“I don’t want them here, Jeannie.”

“You ruined that, Edward.”

“I just wanted food!”

“You should’ve done something different, then.”

I rolled my eyes, reaching up to pinch the bridge of my nose as I launched myself off the couch and stiffly walked into the kitchen.

“It’s a friend of a friend of a friend,” I mumbled as I yanked open the refrigerator door and grabbed the box of pizza Bella had left with me last night. “He’s sick so I’m helping him out for a little while.”

“Ah, yes, make you sound like you’re doing something charitable,” she mumbled.

I could practically hear her pen writing everything down as I grabbed a piece of pizza out of the box and stuck it in the microwave.

I would regret not using a plate when the cheese melted all over the turntable inside, but couldn’t quite muster up enough energy to care at the moment.

My safe haven of solitude was being compromised and I wasn’t very happy about it.

“All right, when will you be returning?” she continued.

“I go to Washington on the twenty-second of December. I’m spending the holidays with my family.”

The microwave beeped and I opened the door, pouting slightly at the prediction I’d made a few seconds ago. I cradled the phone on my neck and reached in, separating the cheese from the glass turntable before shutting the door again.

I’d clean it when I got off the phone.

It wasn’t like I had anything else to do, after all.

“Okay, hm,” she mumbled, talking to herself.

I rolled my eyes as I bit into the pizza and stood over the sink.

“I got sent a script for you to read over when you come back, by the way.”

“Any good?” I mumbled, pulling the pizza away from my mouth when the cheese refused to let go.

“It’s completely up to you.”

Her way of nicely saying that it probably wouldn’t be anything I’d touch with a ten foot pole. She’d been my agent since I first started out as an actor; she knew very well what kind of roles I’d take and which ones I’d never even consider.

“I’ll read it.”

“I think those were all the questions they had,” she sighed. “If there’s anything else, I’ll email you.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you for calling me back in a timely fashion.”

I rolled my eyes again, savagely biting off another piece of pizza as I mumbled a ‘your welcome’ and hung up.

I finished my pizza, cleaned the microwave and stalked into the living room, shutting the curtains – I wouldn’t be able to long for the neighbor that wasn’t home if I couldn’t see her house, now could I? - before plopping back onto the couch and grabbing the remote from the coffee table.

There had to be something on television, right? It was all I had to keep me company today. Something interesting had to be on one of the channels, didn’t it?

~*~

I jolted awake when I heard a loud scream sounding from outside and sat up straight, rubbing my eyes and looking around my living room, confused.

I’d fallen asleep. Great. I’d never get back to sleep tonight.

More importantly, I’d have nothing to do then, either.

I looked at the television and saw an old rerun of Charmed. Shaking my head, I quickly grabbed the remote and turned it off, rubbing my hands furiously over my face. Standing up, I stretched and looked at the clock on the DVD player, pursing my lips as I dropped my arms to my sides.

It was six o’clock. I’d been asleep for six hours.

And then I heard the scream from outside again and furrowed my eyebrows, walking over to the window and flicking the curtains open again.

It wasn’t Bella, that was for sure. I’d know her voice, screaming or otherwise, anywhere. I took comfort in the fact that my neighbor hadn’t managed to hurt herself again, but was slightly annoyed that the screaming banshee didn’t have any consideration for other people on this street.

It was dark, but I could make out a figure standing in the driveway across the street in the dim light from the porch light next to Bella’s front door. She appeared to have long blonde hair and her hands were on her thin hips, her right foot impatiently tapping her pointed heels on the driveway.

“Isabella Marie Swan!” she screamed. “If you are not out of that house in the next ten seconds, I’m coming in!”

Why didn’t she just go in to begin with? It probably would’ve made things a whole hell of a lot easier for everyone else in the entire neighborhood.

“Rose! Would you just get back in the car? She’ll be out – Rose!”

I watched, amused, as another girl with curly brown hair hastily climbed out of the driver’s side of the car and started running after the blonde as she gracefully stalked her way to the front porch of Bella’s house.

The blonde began banging on the front door of the house, still shouting at Bella when she didn’t answer while the brunette attempted to pull her back down the stairs.

I laughed, shaking my head in disbelief until I saw the door fly open and Bella appeared in the doorway.

At least, I think that was Bella. Her hair was pin straight around her shoulders, the light blue halter top graciously hugging every curve I didn’t know she had was covered quickly as she shrugged on a black dress jacket of sorts and the jeans she’d poured herself into should’ve been illegal.

My mouth watered and my jeans tightened simultaneously.

I quickly stepped back from the window, letting the curtains fall back into place as I pressed my back against the wall and took a few thousand deep breaths through my mouth.

Oh, that was not good.

Why would anyone let her out of the house looking like that? She was newly single and… she was most definitely not coming home alone.

My heart sank as I closed my eyes and gently started banging the back of my head against the wall.

But that was her right as an attractive, single woman. She didn’t have anyone waiting for her when she returned home and she had every right to find someone to come back home with.

She had every right to find a rebound guy if she felt so inclined.

I’d never pegged Bella as that type of person, but anything was possible. They were going out, undoubtedly having a few drinks, and it was very possible that some guy would latch himself onto her and never let her go.

He’d be able to take advantage of Jacob’s loss and my personal torture.

No. This would not bother me. I didn’t have her. I didn’t need a girlfriend. I didn’t want a relationship. It only ended badly and there was nothing that either of us could gain from it.

It didn’t make me feel any better about watching the sexy woman I’d barely recognized as my neighbor walk down the stairs in dangerous heels, but it was the truth.

I was bad for her.

We both knew it.

She’d probably never even thought about it.

I could learn to accept it.

Running my hands through my hair, I plopped back onto the couch and turned the television back on, pouting as I watched one of the Haliwell sisters battle some sort of evil demon on the screen.

~*~

It was nearing midnight and I hadn’t moved. I’d been watching the same channel since six o’clock and I hadn’t actually seen a damn thing.

She’d been wearing a halter top. In December, she’d walked out of the house wearing a damn halter top.

Yeah, okay, she had a dress jacket. What good would that do? It probably wasn’t going to keep her warm.

And those jeans were absolutely pathetic. They were a joke.

I briefly wondered how she’d been breathing all night.

And that led me to wondering how many drinks she’d had at this point.

Which led me to wonder how many guys were drooling over her perfect shoulders and trying to get into those painted on jeans.

I was driving myself even crazier than I had been this morning. Boredom was nothing compared to this torture I was putting myself through at the moment. I would take boredom over my crazy, overactive imagination any day.

I heard a car coming up the road and immediately jumped up, wincing and forced to grab onto the coffee table and couch as my legs fell out from underneath me.

That was a good reason why I probably should’ve moved at some point during the past six hours.

Falling to my knees, I crawled over to the window, resting my chin on the windowsill to see Bella tripping out of the car.

She was alone. Thank God, she was alone when she got out of that car. No greasy men followed her out and I relaxed, tilting my head to let my cheek rest against the windowsill as well.

Then I winced as her heel found a patch of ice. Great, she’d be on her ass in ten seconds and she’d probably hurt herself even worse than before.

I continued to watch, amazed, as she waved to the two girls in the car and started to walk up to the porch, gliding evenly and gracefully on icy ground.

Maybe she should get drunk more often. She was way more stable on her feet when she had a few in her.

“Go talk to him!” I heard from the blonde as she poked her head out of the open passenger side window. “It can’t hurt!”

I licked my lips, raising an eyebrow and watching as Bella turned on her heel again, a finger pressed against her lips as she demanded her friend to be quiet.

“Do it or I’m spending the night in your driveway!”

I laughed and shook my head at her. She was persistent. I wasn’t really sure what she was so persistent about, but it was pretty obvious that she wanted Bella to talk to someone.

“I will go over there and knock on his door if you don’t!”

My eyes widened and I stood up quickly, having to grip the edge of the windowsill tightly when the pins and needles in my legs only got worse.

Me. The blonde was talking about me. Bella wanted to talk to me? What did she want to talk to me about?

Why was my heart beating faster and ready to jump out of my chest?

I mean, it had to be me, right? Who else did Bella really talk to on this street? Sure, we had other neighbors, but they’d never bothered us and as far as I knew, Bella never really bothered them.

I was the only one on this street that Bella talked to freely so I had to be the one they were talking about, right?

Oh, God, that meant that I was a conversation piece with them.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

My heart, on the other hand, seemed to love it.

“Rose, you get back in that car! Rosalie!”

I snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Bella’s voice and smirked when I saw the blonde halfway across the road, her eyes trained on my house with what could only be described as a determined look on her face.

I side stepped towards the door and watched as Bella sprinted across the driveway – impressively, might I add – to grab this Rosalie person around the waist and drag her back to the car.

“I will go talk to him if you leave right now!”

“Promise me!”

I watched, highly amused, as Bella stuck her hand in front of Rosalie’s face, her pinky held up high. Rosalie’s own pinky wrapped around it as she nodded once and got back into the car.

I laughed loudly, throwing my head back. I didn’t realize that grown women would still do something like a pinky promise to seal some sort of deal.

Shaking my head and still highly amused, I looked out the window again to see the car backing out of Bella’s driveway and taking off down the road. Bella stood where she had been, her hands on her hips as she looked across at my house.

Was she really going to come over here now?

Not that I minded, really, but I wasn’t sure what it was that she wanted to talk about. It could’ve been bad news, no matter how much I hoped that it was something else entirely.

Maybe she was moving, too. She’d had enough of the house and this town and she was going to pack up all of her shit now that Jacob was out of her life and move clear across the country to a place where I’d never see her again.

Swallowing hard, I watched as Bella confidently walked across the road, her keys that I hadn’t noticed before dangling off her fingers and jingling as they hit her hips with every step that she took.

It was amazing the things that a person could hear when the rest of the neighborhood was deeply asleep and everything was quiet.

I slowly backed away from the window, my legs fully awake now, and stood in the middle of my living room, the only light from the flickering television screen as I listened to Bella’s heels on my porch steps.

My heart was rapidly beating in my chest and I kept swallowing hard as I stared at the door, waiting to hear her knock when her footsteps stopped.

Even though I knew it was coming, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the three sharp knocks.

Why was I so damn nervous? It was Bella.

A different version of Bella, but it was still Bella. Still the same clumsy neighbor that hurt herself more than she accomplished anything she wanted to do. Still the same girl with bright brown eyes, a lopsided mouth and a nervous stuttering problem that fed me and kept me company when I didn’t even realize that I needed it.

Still the same girl. The same Bella. Nothing had changed but her clothing and that should not be the one thing to undo me.

I’d seen numerous other girls dressed in less than what she was wearing and had not had this reaction to them.

I could control myself.

I would control myself.

Taking one more deep breath, I smoothed down the front of my shirt and walked to the door, pulling it open to find that Bella’s hand was raised to knock again.

“Edward!” she exclaimed, her voice slightly higher than normal as she dropped her arm to her side. “Hi!”

I laughed and nodded at her. “Hello, Bella.”

“I’m so glad that you’re awake! I wasn’t sure.” She tilted her head to the side, pursing her lips. “Why are you awake?”

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“Well, you aren’t in your pajamas, silly! You can’t sleep if you aren’t in pajamas!”

She’d obviously never tried filming a movie.

“Would you like to come inside?” I laughed, moving out of the way.

“Are you tired?”

She scrunched her face up, peering up at me curiously before even stepping foot into the house.

“No.”

“Then I’ll come in!”

She threw her hands in the air before walking over the threshold and turning on her heel to watch me as I closed the door.

“I was told to come over here,” she pointed to the floor, her eyes trained on me.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I talked about you a lot tonight,” she giggled, throwing her keys to the floor for reasons unknown to me.

“Good things, I hope?” I chuckled nervously, swooping down to pick up her keys and set them on the table next to the door.

This way, we’d both remember that she needed them before she sashayed her way back to her own house.

This way, I’d remember that she actually needed to go home at some point. It was entirely too easy to get wrapped up in everything about her when she was over here.

She nodded enthusiastically, grinning widely at me.

“Really good things, Edward.” She walked up to me until she was looking up at me with that grin still in place as she bit her bottom lip, an inch of space between us. “There’s something I’d like to try before my buzz wears off.”

“Are you sure it’s just a buzz?”

Why was she so close? Why was the smell of her flowery perfume still lingering on her even after she’d spent so many hours in what I was sure was an overcrowded bar? Why did that wicked glint in her eye scare me and excite me at the same time?

“Oh, yeah. I’ll remember all of this in the morning.” She waved a hand at her side flippantly. “And I’ll probably be embarrassed as all hell so please… there’s something that I’d like to try with you.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, nodding.

If possible, her grin got wider. I was too busy marveling at how it lit up her entire face to notice that she’d fisted her hands in my shirt and was standing on her toes, her lips a breath away from mine.

I jumped back, slamming into the wall behind me when she gently touched her lips to mine. That spark, that jolt I’d felt when I’d had her face in my hands the night before was there in full force.

And it hadn’t deterred her any, either. When I jumped back, she merely stepped forward, her fists still tight around my shirt and her lips still lingering lightly on mine.

I was at a loss. I honestly didn’t know what to do. I’d wanted this; oh yes, I’d wanted this the moment she stepped onto her porch earlier this evening and despite her claims that she’d remember this, would she?

Or would she remember and regret it? Was she merely doing this because the blonde made her promise that she would? Was this one of the things they’d talked about tonight?

“Edward,” she breathed against my lips.

I swallowed hard, closing my eyes tightly and grinding my teeth together as my body reacted in a way that would probably only scare her away.

The way my name sounded when it rolled off her tongue in a breathy whisper was something my dreams were made of. I never actually expected to hear it and now that I had, nothing was stopping the way the bottom half of my body was reacting to it.

“Yeah?”

My voice was shaking and I took a deep breath, hoping that it would restore some rational thought into my brain as soon as possible.

“You’re going to give me a complex.”

I opened my eyes, looking down into hers, confused.

“What?”

“Kiss me back,” she demanded.

“Bella, are you…”

“Stop thinking so damn much and kiss me.”

“Bella, I don’t…”

“Do I have to get rough with you?”

Oh, yes, please do.

I shook my head, swallowing hard again as I watched her smile again.

I… melted. There was no other non-cheesy way to put it. And I would give anything in the world just to see her smile at me that way over and over again.

“So kiss me,” she whispered, stepping up onto her toes again and lightly kissing me once. “Kiss me, Edward.”

And when her lips landed on mine once again, I didn’t hesitate to respond to her this time, pushing off the wall and wrapping my arms around her slim waist.

I caught her top lip in between mine, savoring the taste of beer and something distinctively different, something that was entirely Bella as I splayed my hands on her back, pulling her tight against me.

I felt her lips curve underneath mine in what was undoubtedly a triumphant smile as she ran her hands up my chest, over my shoulders and into my hair, running her tongue along my bottom lip.

I opened my mouth to hers, eagerly caressing her tongue with my own as I moved my hands in front of us, wrapping my arms around her inside of her jacket, feeling every little curve of her body in my arms.

She tilted her head, gaining better access to my mouth as she pressed herself against me even more, wrapping her arms around my neck as she ran her hands through my hair.

I moaned when she wedged one of her legs in between mine, her thigh rubbing up against the part of me that was entirely too excited about this whole ordeal.

“Bella,” I breathed, backing away from her. “Bella, wait.”

“Why?” she breathed back, kissing a trail down to my neck.

“I… you… we…”

“I’ve wanted this,” she whispered into my ear, gently nipping on the bottom of it.

My knees felt weak. What was she doing to me? This wasn’t supposed to happen this way. This wasn’t supposed to happen at all.

“Bella,” I tried again, my voice a little stronger.

“Yes, Edward?”

I closed my eyes tightly, dropping my forehead onto her shoulder and holding her hips in place as I moved her leg from in between mine. Every time she shifted only made small starbursts shoot up behind my eyes and it was making it very hard to concentrate on doing the right thing.

“If you really want this,” I whispered into her ear, not able to resist placing a small kiss on her neck. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“Why not now?” she pouted.

I’d never had the urge to laugh and cry at the same time until this very moment. She was doing delightful things to my neck that were making it even harder to concentrate on anything I was trying to say and yet she still managed to pout about it.

I was having a hard time staying upright, much less concentrating on anything but the way her lips felt against my skin, or the shock I felt each time I touched her.

This beautiful, dangerous woman was going to be the death of me.

“You need to go to work soon,” I reminded her, breathing her in deeply. “And then we’re going shopping. We’ve got plenty of time to talk about it then.”

“You don’t hate me for this?”

I stood up straight and looked down at her, watching as she bit her swollen bottom lip and slowly shook my head.

“No,” I said softly, rubbing her back. “God, no.”

She took a deep breath, nodding and pressing her lips together.

“Buzz is wearing off,” she smirked softly, stepping back from me and crossing her arms over her chest. “I’ll see you later.”

I opened the door for her, neither of us having moved far from it, and handed her keys to her. She smiled softly, thanked me and walked out the door, her heels sounding loudly against the wood planks of the porch.

“Bella?” I called out, hanging out of my doorway.

She turned, her arms over her chest again as she stood at the top of the stairs. “Yeah?”

I stepped out of the house, disregarding the freezing temperature as I made my way over to her, cupped her face in my hands and kissed her once more.

“I’ll see you soon,” I whispered, backing away from her.

She nodded, the corner of her mouth lifted in another smirk as she walked down the porch stairs and across the street.

I watched as she safely made it into her house before walking back into my own and closing the door behind me.

My entire body felt like I’d just been electrocuted. I was practically humming with the feeling and as much as I wanted to, I couldn’t control the stupid, big ass smile that spread across my face.