Cullen's extra flirty at our next practice. We're on opposite scrimmage teams. He grins at me from his spot in the goal, and I grin right back as we talk trash. But when we arrive separately at the bar, we're back to awkward. I've never been good at this part, pre-social lubrication. I eye him and quickly look away before he can catch me. When I feel his eyes on me, I turn mine to him only to find that he's engrossed in conversation with Mikey and Whitlock.

This thing is too complicated.

I spend the first part of the night talking to Jessica, but she leaves after a while, so I glance down at my phone to text Alice, who opted out tonight. When I look up again, Cullen is situating himself on the barstool next to me.

"Are you texting about me?" he asks, smirking like it's a joke, but Jesus. I was.

"Nah." I sincerely hope I'm not blushing and giving myself away. "Just asking Alice if she wants to come out."

"What, we're not enough for you here?"

I narrow my eyes at him.

"I'm kidding."

"You kid a lot."

"You know this, Swan."

He's right. I do. But will he ever be even the tiniest bit serious about this thing he's started between us? I need a minute, so I excuse myself to the restroom. When I come back, he corners me against a far wall, away from our group. His long, strong arms cage me in as he leans forward with his hands on the wall.

"When are we going to stop this dancing around each other?" he asks.

I'm completely taken aback. "What are you talking about? I'm not dancing around anyone."

"I like you. You like me. Everyone knows it."

I fist my hands in the hem of my t-shirt. Though I've wanted to have this talk for some time now, it's suddenly making me very nervous. "I…"

His smirk widens as he drops his head close to mine. "Bella…"

I almost swoon when I hear my first name drop from his lips. The rest of the world calls me Bella, but hearing it from him feels intimate somehow. And for the five hundredth time since we met, I want him.

But not like this.

I close my eyes and bring a hand up to rest against his chest. If I look at him, I won't be able to stop this. "I don't want you to kiss me in a dark corner of a bar."

His laugh is just one short puff. "We can go outside."

I laugh, too, and shake my head. "I want this to be…real."

"It's real." He tips his head farther forward, and I feel his lips brush my neck faintly, just under my jaw. With the tingle of his touch there and his hands pressed against the wall on either side of me, I almost cave and let him kiss me. "Salty," he says against my ear. "Sweat."

Heat blooms over my skin, and I'm half turned on, half embarrassed. "Cullen…"

He chuckles and stands back up to his full height. I peek around him to make sure none of our teammates have seen.

"Whatcha doin'?" he asks, drawing my eyes back up to his. He's backed away, and while we weren't exactly touching aside from my hand on his chest and his lips on my neck, I miss him.

"Um."

"I don't care if they see."

"I—"

His brow furrows. "Do you care?"

"I mean…not exactly…"

"Swan."

I gulp and tamp down the feeling that bubbles up in me at hearing him speak my name again. "It's just…they might've teased me a little."

"Who's teasing you?" He looks mad at first, but then his features relax. "That's my job."

I roll my eyes. "You know, it's kind of impossible to get anywhere with you."

An inscrutable grin takes over his face, and all seriousness has flown out the proverbial window. "What." It's a statement, not a question, like he knows but is still goading me. This is his thing. I mean it's our thing, but tonight I'm not into it. Not after the somewhat heavy moment we just shared.

"Know what? I can't do this tonight. I'll talk to you later." I push past him and go to our table to grab my keys. He calls after me, but I ignore him.

"Where ya goin', Swan?" asks McCarty.

"Early day tomorrow," I lie, downing the rest of my beer and slamming the can on the table.

He pulls me into his side and leans in to whisper, under the guise of kissing the top of my head, "He giving you a hard time?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

McCarty chuckles and releases me with a final squeeze. "Handle away, then."

I stalk out of the bar without looking back, without saying goodbye to anyone else.


A/N: The consensus was that I post two chapters today since this one's a little bit of a cliffy. Part two is coming in just a little while. Thanks for reading!