I wanted to do this chapter in both perspectives. I hope you enjoy!

Paul tossed the rest of his drink back and set his glass down while debating if he wanted more. It wasn't really having the effect he wanted, it wasn't numbing anything. She was still there in the back of his mind. Her eyes, her smile, the way her soft lips pressed against his had felt when he said goodbye. The worst of all was the feeling of knowing it really all was over.

Now he had to pick up the pieces, put them back together and try to find a way to move on. It was easier said than done and he was in no way ready to try to start moving on. At least not with someone new, even if it was for a night. No matter how hard the blonde at the end of the bar kept eyeing him like she was trying to get his attention. She could have any man in the bar she wanted and yeah it would probably be easy to take her back to his place for the night and get lost in her. Try to forget about Stephanie for at least one night but he just couldn't do it and he didn't want to. Instead he paid for his drinks and left without even glancing in the direction of the blonde.

He was in no hurry to get home but with nowhere else to go Paul got a cab and decided to go home. Without Shawn being there now he just pretty much moped around. He was waiting on a cab when he heard someone behind him.

"Hi" a soft feminine voice came from behind him. He could bet money on who it would be before he even turned around. "I think you left these back in the bar."

"Thanks" Paul replied politely with a small smile as she held out his keys to him. He was surprised he had left his keys, but he was starting to feel a little inebriated. Plus, he was sure she jumped at the chance to come up with a reason to talk to him.

"Kelli" she offered her name.

"Paul" he replied to be polite.

"So, Paul going anywhere interesting from here?" Kelli asked flipping her hair over shoulder.

"Just home."

"To the wife?" Kelli asked and he noticed her trying to look at his left hand "or girlfriend?"

"No just me" Paul replied trying to be as nice as he could, but he was ready to go home. He hoped she would take the hint and go on. Maybe he should have lied so she would have left him alone.

"It's early, don't go home yet. What would you say to grabbing a cup of coffee?"

"Thanks, but I'd rather call it a night" Paul smiled politely at her hoping it would cushion the blow.

"Oh, come on it's just a cup of coffee."

"I'm not interested, sorry" Paul replied hoping he hadn't hurt her feelings but at least he got his point across. No point in dragging it out to be polite and try not to hurt her feelings.

"Well if you don't want to have coffee then how about just skipping that part and we'll just go to your place, or mine. Whichever is better for you" Kelli offered which surprised him with how blunt she became. She wasn't taking no for an answer. That or she actually took his not interested to meaning the coffee and not her. Or she thought he was playing hard to get.

"Listen I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I'm really not interested."

"Wow. I wasn't sure you were being serious" Kelli replied not even upset by the rejection. "I don't think I've ever known a guy to turn down a one-night stand. I'm not saying that I think every guy wants me either. It's just usually something guys don't turn down."

"I guess I'm not most guys."

"No, I guess not. You just looked lonely in there and well as you can tell I'm definitely interested. As bad as I probably made myself sound, this is not something I usually do. I kind of feel embarrassed now" she laughed while pulling her purse strap on to her shoulder.

"Don't feel embarrassed. If things were different for me, I would have probably been interested" Paul replied trying to make her feel better but not give her hope something would change.

"Well thanks for trying to make me feel better at least" Kelli smiled "are you sure you don't want to get a cup of coffee and just talk? It's nice having someone to talk to and to be honest you look like you could use some company. No hidden agendas, I promise."

"I don't know" Paul replied unsurely. It felt like giving her hope when there wasn't any and honestly if anyone saw him out with her and it got back to Stephanie... Well, honestly now that he thought about it, he wasn't even sure she cared, and she was going back to Boston. Hell, for all he knew she could already be back in Boston, leaving him behind as a distant memory.

He sighed and looked over at Kelli who had a hopeful look and was patiently waiting for his answer.


Once Stephanie made it to Paul's apartment building, she raced inside the building not even checking her reflection in the mirror or thinking about what she was going to say. Everything had changed from the moment Shane told her the truth. Even though she had made up her mind that she wanted him back before she knew the truth. Now that she knew Paul had never cheated on her though it made the feeling of betrayal go away and honestly, she was mad at herself for not trusting him like she should have. She just hoped he could forgive her for not having enough trust in him and it was something she was going to have to learn to start doing.

When she reached his door, she knocked on it and stood waiting impatiently trying to think of how to word everything. She knocked again after a couple of seconds just to make sure he heard her. The seconds seemed to tick by with no answer and she wasn't sure if she was just that impatient and time was going more slowly than she felt or if he wasn't home. After she was sure a couple of minutes had passed, she knocked again but as she stood there and waited, she was certain he wasn't there.

Feeling deflated she decided to head back home because she wasn't sure where he was and how long he would be gone. It was just her luck for things not to go the way she was expecting.

"Steph?" Stephanie heard her name called and looked down the hall to see Paul heading towards her.

"Hey" Stephanie said suddenly feeling awkward. Even though she had so much to say him she didn't want to blurt it out, but she wasn't sure how to start. She never had figured exactly how to word everything even though she had been thinking about it the whole way there and while she waited for him to answer his door.

"I have to say I'm honestly surprised to see you" Paul replied as he got closer to her. She could smell the alcohol on him as soon as he got closer tipping her off to where he had been. "I thought you'd be in Boston."

"I don't think I'm going anymore" Stephanie answered as he unlocked the door to his apartment.

"What changed your mind?" Paul asked looking back over at her with a surprised look.

"I want to be with you" Stephanie confessed and before she could say another word, he was kissing her. With how fast it had happened it took her a moment before she was kissing him back with just as much enthusiasm. His hands twisted in her hair trying to pull her even closer as he slipped his tongue inside her mouth and she moaned. She knew she had to slow things down before they went too far. He needed to know everything she had just learned and then they could spend hours, days or even weeks in bed together.

"I'm sorry" Paul said when she broke the kiss and he put his forehead against hers. "You have no idea how bad I've wanted you to come back to me."

"There's nothing to be sorry for and I'm sorry I was so stupid" Stephanie whispered the last part as tears pooled in her eyes thinking about everything that had happened. She felt like it was all her fault.

"It's okay baby" Paul said trying to comfort her while wiping away some of the tears that fell. "Come on let's go inside my apartment."

Stephanie nodded and followed behind him. She would rather have some privacy anyway.

"It looks nice in here" Stephanie observed the apartment. She had saw it a couple of days ago but now with his stuff being put up in the apartment it didn't look as bare.

"Thanks" Paul replied sitting down on his couch and she sat down beside of him and he took her hands into his. "We have a lot to talk to about I know but I will never let what happened ever happen again."

"You didn't do anything wrong" Stephanie shook her head "you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Or well I guess you didn't think Charlotte would do something like that. Either way it's not your fault."

"So, you believe that nothing happened now?"

"Actually, I know that it didn't. Shane apparently knew all along and he didn't want us together and he was pissed at you so he never told me."

"I can't believe he would do that" Paul replied letting go of her hands and stood up and starting pacing. She could tell he was upset so she just watched as he paced trying to calm himself down. "I knew he didn't really like us dating but I didn't think he would honestly go this far to make sure we weren't together. Is that why you want to be together again? Because he told you the truth?"

"No, actually I had already made the decision to forgive you and try things again. It's basically the only reason Shane even told me the truth" Stephanie answered as he came and sat back down beside of her. "I'm sorry I believed that you would do something like that to me. I promise if something like this ever happens again, I'll trust you unless proven otherwise."

"I promise to never be put in a situation like this again. But you're really going to need to work on trust. Like I said before, if we don't have trust then I don't know how we'll make us work. I mean it broke us up and I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to lose you Steph."

"I know and I promise I will work on it because I don't ever want to lose you either. I was miserable without you and after thinking about going to Boston and leaving you, it hurt so bad. I knew I couldn't do it."

"I'm glad you want to be with me again Steph but I don't want you to just stop furthering your education for me either."

"It's not going to be forever. I'm just putting it on hold a little longer and it doesn't have to be me going back to Boston."

"As long as it is what you want then I'll support you and I'll be here" Paul replied and Stephanie smiled at him before leaning over and giving him a kiss.

"Thanks" Stephanie said before Paul kissed her again.

"You know this is one reason I'm glad to have my own place" Paul said kissing her cheek and putting his lips to her ear "no interruptions."

Then he kissed her with as much passion as they had out in the hallway earlier and this time, she allowed herself to get swept up in the moment. Everything was out in the open and all she wanted was to be right where she was.


Paul ran his hand through her hair and held her a little closer as she slept with her head on his chest. He almost couldn't believe she was here in his arms. Part of him was nervous that it was all a dream and if he were to go to sleep then when he woke up, she would be gone. So, instead he was awake and enjoying the feeling of her in his arms. He was even more glad that he hadn't taken Kelli up on her offer of wanting to spend the night with him or the offer of coffee when he turned her down. If he had of went for the coffee then he would have probably missed Stephanie's visit and he would have kicked himself in the ass when he would have found out about it. He didn't even want to think about what would have happened if he would have taken her up on the offer of her wanting to come back to his place. They would have met Stephanie in the hall and then well she would have definitely been done with him, he was sure. Thankfully he was too much in love with the woman in his arms and too hung up on her to have done something like that.

Stephanie murmured something in her sleep that he couldn't make out and he kissed her softly on the head before trying to move her gently off his chest. He really needed to go get something to drink but he didn't want to disturb her. So, he carefully slid out from underneath her and got out of bed trying to not to make too much movements. Once he was out of the bed, he looked back to make sure she was still fast asleep before slipping out of the bedroom and to the kitchen.

On the way he grabbed his cellphone to check the time and see if he had any missed calls. Here lately Shawn had been calling to see how he was holding up because he thought he was on the brink of losing it. Sure enough he had a missed call and he knew Shawn usually stayed up late so he went ahead and called him back.

"Hello" Shawn answered as Paul grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator then leaned against the kitchen counter beside of it.

"You called?" Paul asked twisting the cap off and taking a drink.

"I was calling to see what you were up to. You sound a lot better actually. Did you get laid?" Shawn asked and Paul couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Actually, I did."

"No fucking way" Shawn said in disbelief "you are way too hung up on Stephanie to fuck someone else."

"You're right I am too hung up on her" Paul agreed taking another drink of his water.

"Okay" Shawn replied sounding confused then Paul realized when Shawn finally got what he was saying. "Wait you had sex with Stephanie? When did this happen? What have I missed in the last forty-eight hours?"

"Not a whole lot" Paul laughed and looked to the entrance to the kitchen when he heard footsteps. He couldn't but smile as Stephanie appeared in the doorway with disheveled hair and wearing his shirt that came to a rest at the top of her thighs.

"Sounds like a lot to me. You're not fucking with me, are you?" Shawn asked as Paul put his arm around Stephanie when she got to him. She put her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.

"No, I'm not fucking with you" Paul replied and Stephanie asked who he was talking to "Shawn."

"What?"

"Sorry I was telling Stephanie who I was talking to" Paul said kissing Stephanie's forehead as she lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Say hi so he knows I'm not fucking with him."

"Hi Shawn" Stephanie said with a small laugh.

"Wow so you're not fucking with me. You are one lucky bastard. I just don't understand, what made her change her mind?" Shawn asked as Paul felt Stephanie kiss the underside of his jaw and then he felt her hand cup him over his boxers.

"The gist of it basically is Shane knew nothing happened between me and Charlotte and he lied about it. He told Steph the truth earlier tonight" Paul replied trying to focus on finishing the conversation as Stephanie slipped her hand inside of his boxers and started to stroke him. He sucked in a breath and closed his eyes trying to not to moan because that would have just been weird to do with his friend talking in his ear. It was taking everything in him to not just hang the phone up as he felt Stephanie's lip press softly against his neck. He had no idea what his friend was going on about now but he couldn't take it anymore "Shawn I'll tell you more about it later. I've got some needs I need to take care of."

Then he ended the call and tossed his phone on the counter before grabbing Stephanie's ass and pulling her close to him and kissing her. She moaned as his tongue slid into her mouth and slipped his hand underneath his shirt that she was wearing to find her not wearing any underwear. His hand moving in between her legs to find how wet she was for him. She broke the kiss off and gasped as he ran his middle finger through her wetness to her clit making her moan loudly.

"Paul" she moaned before kissing him. Then when she broke the kiss, she looked him in the eyes "I love you."

"I love you too" Paul replied breathlessly before capturing her lips in another kiss.

It was technically the first time they exchanged those words. He had told her he loved her the day she broke up with him but she had refused to believe it. Hearing her say those words to him and him being able to exchange them back made his heart soar and he would do everything he could to always let her know he loved her.