A/N:

G'day!

I hope chapter ten finds everyone well. We're starting to get into the fun stuff!

Special thanks to Dolly Reader for pre-reading and Kitty Vuitton for betaing this one so speedily.

Thanks to everyone reading, alerting, favouriting and reviewing, I appreciate you all and keep every email sends me!

Thanks so much to my loves over at the Lemonade Stand too, Duet was on the Fic of the Week poll a few weeks back, and although it didnt win, it did send me a few new readers. If you havent seen the blog over there, go! It's full of great M rated fic recs! www(dot)tehlemonadestand(dot)net

Hope you enjoy chapter ten! Let me know what you think!

Nat xx

~Edward~

"He-lloooo?" Jasper sang, clicking his fingers in front of my face to get my attention.

"What?" I turned my head slightly towards him and reluctantly moved my eyes away from Bella at the last second.

"That," he motioned towards Bella then back at me.

I glanced back at Bella who was smiling flirtily at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. She winked, then turned and walked back down the bar, her hips swaying in those tight black jeans.

"That!" Jasper yelled. "What was that!" He practically jumped out of his seat he was so excited.

I turned my full attention back to him and cleared my throat.

"Nothing," I said seriously.

Jasper cracked the fuck up.

"If that's nothing, Edward, then I'm a monkey's uncle. What's going on between you and Bell?"

I cleared my throat again, buying some time, and then took a deep breath.

"Well..." I started weakly. "I'm not sure." It was all I could come up with.

I shrugged my shoulders and tried my hardest not to look back at her, failing miserably.

Jasper was still laughing maniacally. "Shit man, you've got it bad."

"I kissed her last night," I suddenly blurted.

His laughing stopped abruptly. "Well, now we're gettin' somewhere. But you do know as her friend I'm required to give the 'you hurt her, I kill you speech'?" he raised an eyebrow at me.

I nodded. "Of course..."

"And..." he continued, "...as your best friend I have to give you the 'it's about fucking time' speech." He laughed again and patted me on the back.

I couldn't help but laugh along with him.

I was glad I had come back to Seattle for Jasper's wedding. I would have never had the chance to catch up with my best friend and spend time with my brother. I had also taken the steps to repair the distance between me and my parents. And I had met a great woman, who not only is the best singer in town, but is hot as hell. And she may have even liked me too.

I watched Bella as she worked. It had never bothered me hanging around the bar by myself all afternoon and now that things had... happened between me and Bella, I was quite happy to just sit and observe.

The way she smiled at customers and how she interacted with Alice. Sometimes she would glance over at me, probably conscious that I was staring, but each time she met my gaze she would smile brightly for a second before getting back to what she was doing. Her smiles were like sunshine and she would occasionally throw me a heated gaze that promised me much more, something that had been on my mind for the past twenty four hours. I wanted her, that was true, and judging by the way she would sometimes look at me, she might have felt the same way about me.

Things had changed so much in such a short time. Not long ago I would have been staring at her for a whole different reason, and she sure-as-shit wouldn't have been smiling back at me.

I was waiting for her to take a break so I could spend some time with her before our boy's night this evening. Jasper and Emmett had been eager to get together, they'd used the excuse of 'wedding stuff' but we all knew they just wanted to get drunk and watch sports. And maybe talk about the girls.

Jasper would come and go, walking between the office behind the bar and the apartments upstairs, sorting things out with my brother no doubt, who I could hear clunking up and down the stairs as he came and went. They had most of the renovations upstairs completely stitched up, which was great for Jazz with the wedding coming up.

I played with my cell phone, knowing I would have to call Jay, my agent, soon and see whether he had anything coming up for me. He knew I'd be unavailable up until the wedding but that usually didn't stop him trying to book me. I was surprised he hadn't tried to contact me yet, though I hadn't checked my email and there was bound to be something in there.

"Hi!" Bella said brightly as she pulled out the seat opposite me and sat down. "I hope you're not waiting around just for me?"

I grinned at her. "Maybe." Then turned my gaze to the table top, scratching at it with my fingernail. "I wanted to see you before we went out tonight," I admitted quietly.

She laid her small hand over mine.

"Me too."

I looked back up at her, she was blushing slightly and her smile was a little shy and I couldn't keep the stupid smile off my own face in return.

"I've gotta go upstairs and take some window measurements, do you want to come up and help?" She asked holding up a tape measure.

"Of course," I answered rising from my seat.

I followed Bella to the stairs, passing Jasper on his way to relieve her behind the bar.

I tried really hard to avert my eyes on the way up, but her ass was just too tempting, her jeans were so tight I could clearly see the outline of her cell phone in her back pocket.

Emmett was just finishing up when we arrived. He clapped me on the back as he walked past and gave Bella a quick hug before he took off loudly down the stairs yelling something about it being 'beer o'clock'.

"I can't wait to move in," Bella exclaimed as she walked through the apartment towards a window.

I watched as she took measurements of the window width, typing them into her cell phone. When she tried to measure the height she reached up causing her t-shirt to ride up slightly revealing a slither of perfect skin above the top of her jeans and just a hint of ink on her side. She was nowhere near tall enough to reach the top of the window, not even on tiptoe.

"Damn," she said quietly as she looked around for something to stand on.

"I'm sure Emmett has a ladder next door," I told her, "I'll go get it." I took off to where I had seen the ladder last.

"I can do it if you like?" I offered when she showed me where to position it and then stepped up onto the first rung.

She shook her head, "no thanks, Edward, I've got it."

Then she climbed her huge motorcycle boots up the next two rungs and resumed measuring. I moved closer and held onto each side of the ladder with both hands to support it, also giving me another perfect view of her ass as she worked.

When she started to climb down I didn't move out of the way, caging her in with my arms the further she descended. She laughed and turned around to face me on the bottom rung, our faces almost level.

We stared at each other for a minute and her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip before biting it nervously. My eyes darted between hers and then down to her mouth, I was dying to kiss her again.

I leaned in slowly and caught her top lip between mine and she let out a quiet gasp, releasing her bottom lip from her teeth. I was craving so much more, so I let go of her top lip and then took her bottom lip between my own and sucked on it.

I backed away just slightly so that my face was less than an inch away from hers. I could feel her breath wash over me as we both panted loudly.

Her eyes fluttered closed as I advanced again, brushing my nose along hers breathing her in and then placing my lips firmly on hers. She opened her mouth and her tongue touched my lips causing them to open and welcome her in eagerly.

I moved my hands from the ladder to Bella, cradling her head gently and opened my mouth wider, my tongue entering her mouth and repeatedly caressing hers, kissing her long and deep.

She tasted a little minty and sweet and I could have spent all day kissing Bella up against the ladder in her new apartment.

She moaned slightly and a slight frown appeared on her face as pulled away to take a breath and so I tilted my head then pressed my tongue back in her mouth harder, kissing her more aggressively.

Her hands that had remained around my neck moved slowly up into my hair, sliding into the roots and grabbing on. I groaned and moved a hand down around waist to her lower back and pulled her closer. Our bodies were pressed tightly together as I explored her mouth over and over.

We remained in our passionate embrace for what felt like hours, the only sound in the room our heavy breathing until footsteps up the stairs alerted us to someone coming.

"Bella?" Alice's voice came from just outside the room. "Are you in here?"

Bella pulled her mouth away from mine and smiled. She nipped roughly at my mouth one more time before she answered.

"In here, Alice." Her voice was rough and she took a deep breath before slowly releasing her hands from my hair.

Alice walked into the room as I stepped backwards and ran my hands through my hair, still slightly breathless and a lot turned on.

"There you are!" Alice said eying us both. "I just wanted to let you know that you've been gone for almost an hour."

Bella's eyes grew wide, "Shit, an hour! You should have come and found me sooner."

Alice waved her off, "it's okay; it's not very busy and Jasper had nothing better to do anyway," She grinned right at me and then turned and left the room.

Bella bent down to pick up the tape measure that I hadn't even noticed she had dropped and then grabbed my hand and led me back down the stairs to the bar. She went back to work and I excused myself to go to the bathroom, trying to find what was left of my composure.

It was going to be a long night that was for sure.

I had nowhere else to be until Jasper and Emmett were ready to go out so I took a seat at the same table that I had been sitting at all afternoon.

Without my even asking Bella brought me a drink, which was something I could easily get used to. She set it down in front of me with a sexy grin then turned and sashayed around the room collecting empty glasses. Her ass was like a homing beacon for my eyes and I was beginning to think she knew because she kept bending over in front of me.

Eventually Jasper and Emmett joined me at my table, each bringing with them their drinks and a bevy of bad jokes. We joked and talked about nothing in particular and watched as the girls worked. Rose had arrived not long ago and Emmett was already in fine form, cat-calling as she walked by and just being his loud annoying self.

I was still not sure why we couldn't just stay at Twilight but they were adamant it was going to be a boy's night.

"I think it's time to get outta here, boys," Jasper announced rising from his seat and ambling lazily towards the bar. Emmett and I followed and gave our farewells to each of the girls.

"Have a good time," Bella said before she leaned across the bar and took me by surprise by grabbing my shirt and pulling me forward and then kissing me deeply. It was hot, slow and made me forget my own name for a minute or two.

I grinned at her and then turned around, ready to leave, only to find everyone staring at us.

"What?" I asked annoyed. Emmett grinned and clapped me on the back and everyone else just smiled and shook their heads and we made our way out the door.

Our night was a blur of drinking, sports and pizza. We had decided to go back to Jasper's place to hang out and watch the game, but it turned into more of a drink-fest than anything else.

Emmett grilled me about Bella every five minutes and as I got drunker the more I'd tell him.

"I can't believe it, Em," I slurred. "She's just soooo hot. And beaudiful. Did you hear her sing the other night? It was just... greaaaat. And her kisses are just.. unbelievableeee"

"It's about fucking time you made a move, little brother." Emmett laid his huge arm over my shoulder.

I smiled and closed my eyes, leaning my head back, feeling dizzy from the alcohol and happy with how things were.

Later in the night, Jasper suggested we go back to meet the girls at the Tavern, they would be closing up soon and we figured they would probably be looking for us anyway.

We stumbled out of the cab towards the bar, following the loud music. The closer we got, the louder the music became.

Alice, Rose and Bella had all been working and being so late the bar should have been empty, and a lot quieter.

Only the girls weren't working.

I followed Jasper inside and stopped in my tracks just inside the door at what I saw. Emmett walked into the back of me almost knocking us both over.

The girls were dancing. Together. In the middle of the empty space delegated as a dance floor, near the piano. Bella was shimmying her shoulders and her hips and singing along to the song playing loudly from the speakers, her head flung back and her long dark hair swaying with each movement she made.

"...so stay there
cause I'll be coming over
and while our blood's still young
it's so young, it runs
and won't stop til it's over
won't stop to surrender..."

Alice was bopping along and then threw her arms up and did a little spin. And Rose, who looked more like a burlesque dancer than someone just dancing with her girlfriends, dipped down seductively then flipped her blond hair before rising back up.

"...songs of desperation
I played them for you..."

I literally could not stop staring at the sight across the room.

"...a moment
a love
a dream
a laugh
a kiss
a cry..."

"Fuck... me..." Emmett swore from next to me.

"I know..." Jasper said in a shaky voice from just ahead of us.

All I could do was nod.

Bella and the girls often danced but this was something else, something a lot... sexier.

My mind was racing with all the dirty things I wanted to do with her. Dancing with Alice and Rose had done nothing to help my... situation and the alcohol in my veins was spurring me on.

I licked my lips, took a deep breath and strutted over to join her.

Songs from this chapter:

Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap (If you haven't heard it, you really should check it out, it's a great song)
http:/www(dot) youtube(dot)com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU&ob=av2e