"I swear to god, Whitlock, if you even think about telling her, I'll turn you into a fucking soprano faster than you can say "Maria Callas."

"Maria Callas?" Isn't she that hot brunette who works in the coffee shop on Market Street?"

"No, you idiot, Maria Callas was a famous op…"

"Relax, bro, I'm just yanking your chain. I know who Maria Callas was. You really are tense today, aren't you?"

Pressing the heels of my hands into my eyes, I let out a groan.

"Yes, Jasper, I'm unbelievably fucking tense today."

Jasper clapped a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

"Listen, she's just a girl, an ordinary person, like you or me. She's not gonna bite. Well, maybe if you're lucky, she will," he said with a sly wink.

I rolled my eyes in return, but my balls tightened a bit at the thought.

"First of all, Bella is not "just an ordinary girl". She's the most intelligent, funny, sweetest, beautiful girl I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I want to ask her out, but I'm afraid if I do and she turns me down, I'll have fucked up our friendship forever, you know?"

Jasper nodded his head in agreement.

"I hear you, Edward, but seriously, how long are you gonna be satisfied with the way things are now? If you don't ask her, you'll always be wondering, "What if…" Can you live with that?"

I knew he was right, of course. I had to do this. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control myself around her. Whenever she would come over to my desk to review some documents, she would lean in close and I could feel the heat from her body, smell the shampoo in her hair and whatever perfume or other girly product she used on her skin. It was driving me fucking crazy and if not for the fact that it would be highly inappropriate, I wanted to clear my desk of its contents, lay her back and kiss her, suck her, lick her, bite her and fuck her—pretty much in that order.

I knew she liked me as both a co-worker and a friend. Sometimes I even got the sense that she was flirting with me, which is what put the idea of asking her out into my head in the first place. The more I thought about her, the more obsessed I became. If she said yes, well that would be fan-fucking-tastic. If she said no, well then…

I didn't even want to think about that possibility.

"Well, I guess I should get back to work, those numbers aren't gonna crunch themselves," Jasper said, drawing me back to reality. "Good luck, Edward, and let me know whether or not I need to make a stop at the liquor store after work."

Clapping me on the back, he walked out of my office, leaving me alone with my conflicting emotions.

Sitting down, I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair, propping my feet on my desk. I folded my arms behind my head and contemplated my options.

I was just drifting into one of my favorite Bella fantasies when a knock on the door pulled me out of my erotic daydream.

"Come in," I said, and lo and behold, in walked the goddess herself.

Bella always looked fabulous in my opinion, but the skirt and blouse combo she was wearing today was particularly sexy. Definitely one to store in my mind to use as future wanking material.

"Hey Edward," she said with a glorious smile, threatening to reduce me to the maturity level of a 15 year old about to come in his pants.

"Hi Bella," I managed to squeak out in a not-so-manly manner. "What can I do to…er, for you this afternoon?"

Shit.

If Bella noticed my little slip of the tongue, she didn't let on.

"Mike's division sent over the final report for the Walker account. I looked it over and it seems pretty good, but not perfect. I wanted to get your opinion on it, if you don't mind."

"Sure, let me take a look."

Bella handed me the papers and sat down on the chair in front of my desk. I skimmed over the words and numbers, but frankly, I couldn't have told you what the hell I was reading, because her very presence was distracting me to the point of complete stupidity.

She must have thought I was frowning at the content of the report, when in reality I was simply trying to get through the first few lines. I kept re-reading them over and over again. Nothing was making sense.

I was truly fucked.

"Is there something wrong, Edward?" Bella asked, her voice laced with concern. She stood and walked around the desk, stopping beside me. "You seem a little…perplexed." She reached her hand out and gingerly touched my forearm.

Pulling my vacant gaze from the papers in front of me, I turned to look at her hand on my arm. Who knew such a simple gesture could feel so damn exquisite? If just the touch of her hand on my arm felt this good, what must if feel like to be buried inside her?

Swallowing that vivid thought, my eyes traveled from her hand, up her slender arm, past her sexy shoulder and delicate neck until finally settling on her beautiful face. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn I felt her hand trembling, just a teeny bit. A lovely blush crept across her cheeks and she suddenly pulled her hand away and started to retreat.

I knew right then, the time had come.

I grabbed her wrist before she completely bailed on me.

"Bella…there's something I want to ask you."