Welcome my lovelies to my new story. I have had this one floating around in my head for quite some time and it wasn't until a prompt in The Fic Lab that made me decide to actually get the words down on paper.

I don't have a set schedule yet for this one, not that any of my others have one, but I hope you enjoy this witty romance.

Normal disclaimers apply.

Why is it when you're sick your dreams get more and more bizarre?

I mean if dreaming about eating grapes off of Kevin Hart's chest and waxing a guys hairy thighs aren't bad enough, then the dream I was having just before my best friend and roommate Alice woke me up was downright mad.

I was running down a dark corridor full of faceless people in cloaks. All I could hear was a baby crying, Alice calling my name in the distance and creepy voices in the shadows beckoning me to them.

"Bella! If you don't wake up right now Jazz and I will have sex on your bed!"

"Really?"

"No Jasper. Not really. I just want her to wake up." I could practically hear Alice rolling her eyes at his question.

"Maybe she's just tired. She has been unwell. We should let her rest."

Thank you Jasper. You're a saint.

"No! I need to get her ready for the hospital fundraiser tonight."

Go away Alice. You're a demon.

"She's just gotten over a nasty ear infection. I really don't think you shouting at her is going to do her any favours. How about you go and get yourself ready first then you can see if Bella is feeling well enough to go out." Their voices faded as Jasper ushered Alice down the hall to their room.

I waited until I heard their bedroom door close before throwing off my slanket and darting for the safety of my own room.

"I knew you weren't really asleep."

I froze in my tracks and turned in horror to see Alice perched at my dressing table.

Fuck.

"Oh come on Alice. It's only two in the afternoon. The ball doesn't start until seven this evening and you even said yourself that you don't plan for us to get there before eight. Why do I need to get ready six hours early?" Yes, I'm aware that I'm whining and no, I don't care that I sound like a petulant toddler.

"I have so much work to do Bella. I have to style and set your hair. Make sure that the corset and skirts fit you properly. Make your complexion look like an actual living person and not an extra from the walking dead. Now please take a shower and throw away those ratty pyjamas. I swear they have stains on them older than I am!" She called after my retreating form.

"I don't think that feasible considering I'm eighteen months younger than you." I yelled back, closing the bathroom door behind me.

I've known Alice since middle school when I skipped a couple of grades and was placed in her class. Where others decided names such as nerd and geek were apt for me, Alice looked past my big brain and saw the girl beneath. She declared us best friends the moment we met and nothing had changed since, except maybe we've grown closer over the years. She's more like my sister than my friend, especially since her parents practically adopted me after I lost my own. She's been with Jasper almost as long as she's known me. They got together freshman year of high school when his family moved up from Texas and they've been inseparable ever since. Their relationship hasn't stopped her from being there for me though. She helped me through each of my messy breakups.
First there was Benjamin, my high school sweetheart. We spilt on amicable terms as he was going over seas to study, but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt any less. He was my first for everything.
Then during college there came James. He was a little older and a bartender at the club Alice and I frequented on girls night. Things were great until it turned out I was his bit on the side. Didn't find that out until his psycho wife tried to kill me. Alice took me to the gun range after that night. Said it was for protection instead of attack. Got pretty good at it too. Can hit a target with the best of them.
And more recently there was Sam. We were engaged and had our whole future together planned out, but then I caught him fucking our neighbour Emily in our bed. Once again I was cheated on. I punched them both in the face, threw a bunch of clothes into a case and turned up on Alice's doorstep crying my eyes out and cradling a broken hand. That was ten months ago. Since then I've sworn off men. Alice keeps telling me to let loose and have some single girl fun, but I would rather stay responsible Bella. The woman who never get's into trouble and works hard on our bridal business.

"Bella? Have you been washed down the plughole? You've been in there over an hour! There's going to be no hot water left for me and Jazz at this rate." Alice called through the door.

"You'll have to shower together then." I called back, stepping out from under the spray and wrapping a towel around my body and hair. I opened the door and let out a billow of steam around me making Alice cough.

"Jesus Bella. How many products did you use in there? It smells like a strippers boudoir minus the stench of sex!" She complained.

"Thanks Alice." I rolled my eyes. "Just so you know it's your coconut shampoo that I used." I gave her a cheeky wink and high tailed it into my room to dry off before she caught me.

By the time six o'clock rolled around I was primped, primed, squeezed and coiffed to within an inch of my life dressed up like a renaissance princess and we still had ninety minutes to wait before the taxi got here. I was starving but I'm pretty sure if I ate even a morsel of food I'd bust out of my dress like Merida right before she took part in the archery competition. I couldn't even sit in the damn thing as the bottom part of it dug into my hips, so I had taken to laying on the couch with my head hanging off the end so I didn't 'flatten' my hair.

Jasper was sat in the arm chair twiddling the tricorn hat Alice is making him wear in his hands. Both of us were bored to death of waiting for Alice to hurry up.

"I told her we didn't need to get ready so early. I'm wasting away here. I'm pretty sure my stomach is trying to eat my intestines." I complained.

"Bella, in all the years we've known Alice, have you ever known her to not get her own way? It's easier to just go along with it because it will inevitably happen anyway."

"I blame Carlisle and Esme. They spoiled her too much."

"She's an only child. What did you expect?"

"Hey, I was an only child too. I didn't get that level of treatment from my parents."

"So they're enablers. Can't say no to her."

"Neither can you." I raised an eyebrow in his direction.

"True, but if I say no she withholds sex and as a very virile man, I can't go that long without."

"Yeah I didn't need to know that Jazz." I replied, pulling a face. "Help me up please?" I asked, holding out my hands. "I gotta pee again. I swear this corset is out to kill me or at least make me pee myself."

"No time for that Bella. We've got to go." Alice trilled, coming out of her room.

"What? You made all that fuss about us not getting there until later and now you're saying we're leaving now?!" I fumed, leaning up on one elbow.

"Yes. I left our masks at the boutique and we need to swing by to collect them. If we leave now we can make it to the hotel just in time for the ball to start." She replied, checking out her lipstick in the mirror by the front door. "Jasper help her up will you." She nodded to where I was still laying on the couch with my arms held out.

"Swing your legs round Bella and I'll stand you up." He reached down and grasped my hands in his warm ones, pulling me into a standing position.

"Thanks."

"My pleasure little lady." He grinned, his Texan twang showing through.

The cab ride was excruciating. I swear the cabbie was out to hit every dip and bump in the road. My bladder felt like it was holding enough liquid to fill an inflatable kiddie pool. By the time we pulled up outside of the hotel I was fit to burst. I ignored the guy trying to help me out of the vehicle and pushed past him, darting into the lobby and straight into the nearest restroom. Little too late did I realise it was the men's room. I guess I could have waddled back out to the lobby on the brink of pissing all over the place, but instead I hoisted up the skirts, situated myself over a urinal, pulled my panties to the side and let the dam burst.

Oh fuck that felt good. So good in fact I had to hold myself up with one hand planted firmly on the tiles above my head while I let out the loudest moan of relief ever.

Only once I had finished did I realise what I had done and where I had done it.

I heard a shuffle of feet behind me and cautiously looked over my shoulder at the lanky teenager watching me with a horrified look on his face.

Shit.

Thank fuck I was wearing my masquerade mask.

"Hey...uhh...be a doll and grab us some toilet paper from out of that cubicle for me." I smiled sweetly, hoping to not scare the kid further.

He did as I asked and handed me the equivalent of the whole roll.

"What the hell?! I don't need this much. I'm wiping my vagina not the fucking grand canyon!" I snatched what I needed from out of his hands and hurried about cleaning myself up before situating my clothes into the right place and flushing the soiled paper down the nearest toilet. By the time I had done the teen had disappeared and the floor was littered with streams of toilet paper. I hastily washed my hands and hot footed it out of the men's room before I was caught by anyone else.

I slipped into the ball with ease. The party was in full swing when I entered. The walls were lined with black drapery. Faux pumpkins were piled high in the corners, the lights flashing a whole rainbow of colours inside of them. Decorations littered every surface and imitation candles flickered like real ones in the little tealight holders. Party goers milled around in groups, working on their connections and flashing their cash. I'm thankful that I wasn't born into this lifestyle as I gaze out across the crowd, stopping when I noticed Esme and Carlisle. I pushed my way through the throngs of hospital workers to greet them.

"Good evening Esme. Carlisle."

"Oh Bella honey. It's so good to see you." Esme pulled me into a warm hug. "How are you feeling dear?"

"Much better thank you. I finished my course of antibiotics this morning."

"That's what I like to hear." Carlisle smiled, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "A patient who actually finishes a course of medicine. You would not believe the amount of people I have come in complaining that their ailment has returned because they didn't finish all of their prescription. 'I felt better so I stopped taking them'." He mocked. "Honestly if some people had braincells they'd be dangerous." He kissed my temple and smiled down at me. "I'm glad you're feeling better. You always are my favourite patient."

"Bella! There you are!" Alice called out, barging through a group of doctors and dragging Jasper behind her. "You got out the cab so fast I didn't see where you went."

"I told you I needed to use the restroom before we left home. That cab ride was the most painful one of my existence."

"Don't be so dramatic. Honestly anyone would think I was out to torture you."

"Alice, if I didn't know your intentions purely came from the heart I would think you were out to torture me too." I smiled, pulling her in for a hug.

"Girls your costumes look wonderful. Where did you get them?" Esme asked, fingering the royal purple fabric of her daughters dress.

"I made them Momma. These are my designs."

"Oh sweetheart they're wonderful. You've done such an amazing job on them. They look like the real thing."

Alice beamed under her mothers praise, but all I could think about was getting my hands on some food. I scoured the crowd and spotted some waiters carrying around some platters laden with entrees.

"Daddy, when is Edward getting here?" Alice's question broke through my hunger induced fog. "I thought he would have shown his face by now." I snorted at the irony. Showing your face at a masquerade ball is a bit beyond the point surely?

Edward Cullen Jr is Alice's elusive cousin on his fathers side. He's the only child of Carlisle's older brother Edward Sr and his wife Elizabeth. He's just finished his residency at Chicago Med and he's transferring here to be the new obstetrics doctor. At thirty years old he's going to have all of the women in Seattle queueing at his door. Unless of course he's ugly, which judging by Alice's gene pool is highly unlikely.

"There was a storm in Chicago that delayed his flight for a couple of hours. He will be here soon."

"I should hope so. I put a lot of effort into this evening." She pouted.

I groaned internally and went in search of some food since the demon in a puff skirt wouldn't let me eat anything earlier. I pinched a whole tray of mini hors d'oeuvres off of the nearest waiter and settled myself at one of the tables near the back of the room. Yeah I was definitely going to have to get a burger later as these tiny portions of food on a stick were barely enough to keep a mouse alive.

"Care to share?" A warm male voice sounded in my ear, running over me like liquid silk. It was pure sin. "I haven't eaten all day."

The man sat down in a seat at the table next to me and I slid the half eaten tray over to him. "Be my guest."

"What are they?" He asked, picking up a stuffed mushroom cap and examining it through the eyeholes in his mask.

"Breaded mushroom caps with a melted gouda sauce in the middle." I replied to his question as he shoved the entire thing in his mouth. "Why don't you take your mask off so you can see them properly for yourself?"

"Because this is a masquerade ball." He replied around a mouth full of mushroom and cheese before swallowing. "Won't me taking my mask off break the rules or something? Besides, where's the air of mystery if I reveal who I am?" He winked, making me squirm in my seat.

"That's true, I guess. Alright. I'll help you identify your food." I conceded, not wanting my time with this stranger to end.

"Thank you." He grinned beneath the gold, black and green plastic covering half of his face, showing off two rows of perfectly straight white teeth. "Now what's this?" He asked, picking up a slice of mozzarella wrapped in parma ham with a dab of green pesto on top. I told him as such and he proceeded to place the whole bite in his mouth in one go.

"Oh this is good." He moaned, quickly snatching up two more and stuffing them in. "What's next?" He asked, grabbing two flutes of champagne from a passing waiter. He set them both down on the table and slid one towards me.

I graciously accepted the drink and took a small sip. The cold, bubbly liquid felt like heaven against my tongue. I resisted the urge to run the cool glass over my heated skin and placed it back down on the table, looking over the remaining food left on the platter. "This one can be a little spicy if you're not used to it. It's a hot cherry pepper filled with a garlic and herb ricotta."

"You know, for a bunch of health conscious doctors they sure do love their cholesterol raising foods." He said, picking up a pepper and popping it into his mouth.

"I guess they thought that by teaming all the cheese with vegetables it might be okay." I shrugged. "The last one is a cube of sharp English cheddar with pineapple."

"What an odd combination." He mused, twirling the cocktail stick of cheese and fruit in front of him.

"I guess the caterer was going for that salty and sweet mix. Some people like that kind of thing."

"I suppose. You're not the caterer are you?" He put it in his mouth and gave a thoughtful chew before swallowing. "Not my favourite but I can see the appeal. Kind of like those who choose to have pineapple on pizza."

"Hey! It works on a Hawaiian pizza, but I agree it doesn't go with any other combo and no, I'm not the caterer. I'm just here as a guest. My best friends father works at the hospital."

"Meh. I just don't like mixing fruit with cheese. It's odd. Like those who mix pears with blue cheese and honey. Why? Why ruin a perfectly good pear like that? Who's your friend?"

"Not telling. So you don't like cheesecake then?" I asked before he went off in a tangent about more cheese or asked about Alice some more.

"Of course I do. Who doesn't like cheesecake?"

"But you just said..." I trailed off, completely confused by this man.

"There are more flavours to cheesecake than just fruit ones. You can have salted caramel, chocolate fudge, white chocolate and ginger, or my personal favourite plain baked vanilla. Ugh. I'm getting hungry for sweets now. I hope they bring out the dessert trays soon." He rubbed his hands together in anticipation of treats to come, while I did the same with my thighs under the table. "Do you like sweets?"

"Huh? Oh. Yes. Who doesn't love chocolate? Chocolate dipped strawberries are my absolute favourite."

"Interesting. You seem full of surprises Princess."

"Princess?"

"Are you not dressed as one? This is a costume party after all."

"Oh. Of course. So you know my name, but what should I call you?"

"You can call me Doc." He rest an elbow on the table and leaned towards me. "Princess, I really want to kiss you. May I?"

"You may." I smiled, mirroring his pose and leaning forward too. I don't know if it was the amount of alcohol I had drank while eating the cheese, or the fact I was craving a little intimacy that made me kiss Doc. But boy am I glad I did. After the first initial touching of our lips he practically dragged me out of my seat and into his lap. He let out almost an animalistic growl as his lips attacked my own once more. My evening shot from zero to a hundred real fucking quickly.

It was in this moment that I was thankful I had chosen a table at the back of the room.

"I've been wanting to do that since I saw you sneak out of the men's room and walk in here. I'm so glad I did now." He moaned as we broke for air.

"Do you have a place near by?" I panted, desperate to get this man into a bed.

What? Alice is always telling me to loosen up a little and let go of my inhibitions. This would happen to be one of those moments.

"Shit. I don't." He replied, bucking his hips up and letting me feel his very prominent arousal, even through all the layers of this ridiculous costume. "I could get us a room?"

"The hotel is fully booked. Fuck." I pouted, not wanting to let this fine specimen go. "We could find a secluded area? I know for a fact this hotel is loaded with them." I suggested, knowing full well there is one hidden just down the corridor by the facilities.

"Lead the way." He grinned, showing off those perfect teeth again. He let me off of his lap and not so discretely adjusting himself in front of me.

I sidled along the edge of the room trying my hardest to not seem too eager. To any one watching I hoped it just looked like I was heading to the ladies room. I ran my hand along the black fabric covering the walls and I know as soon as it gives way under my touch that I have found the hidden alcove where I can relieve some pent up sexual tension with this complete stranger.

After tonight I wouldn't have to see him ever again. I can go back to being responsible Bella. The one Alice is constantly complaining about.

The corridor is empty as I push the fabric aside and duck into the alcove. It's dark, almost pitch as very little light is let through by the material. Doc follows close behind me, his hands not letting go of my hips.

"Think you can work with this space?" I ask, turning around in his arms so we're chest to heaving chest.

"Most definitely." He hoisted me into his arms and pressed my back against the wall. He ducked his head down and kissed and licked across the tops of my breasts which were spilling out the top of my corset.

"Oh fuck! Don't stop." I panted as he pinned me to the wall with his hips. His hands ran up my legs, gathering my skirts as he went.

"Fuck your skin is so smooth and you smell like the most mouth watering coconut on the planet. I can't wait to devour you."

"No time for that. I need you in me like yesterday." I groan, clawing at his shirt and waistcoat.

"You ready for me Princess?"

"Fuck Doc. Yes. I'm so ready."

"Wait."

"What?"

"I don't have any protection."

"I'm covered. I take the pill religiously and I'm clean. I swear."

"Me too. Kind of have to be in my line of work. These have to go." Doc pulled my black lace panties off and stuffed them in the back pocket of his pants. I'd have to remember to get them back off of him later. Then he was filling me. One long stroke had me practically seeing stars. He felt so good.

Of course he's going to feel good. It's the first cock you've had in almost a year.

Oh shut up and let me enjoy this.

Oh fuck. Sex has never felt this good before. Is this what it's like to have sex with a stranger? I've only ever had sex with men I've loved before. Or maybe it's the thrill of being caught having sex in a public place. Sure we're hidden, but only by some draped fabric. Anyone could walk past at any moment and hear us.

"Damn Princess. You feel amazing. It's never felt like this before." Doc grunted in my ear, his breath hot and heavy against my skin.

"Same. Oh god you feel the same." I cried, clenching around his cock as it pummelled me from the inside.

"Ah shit shit shit." He moaned, blowing his load and stilling his hips so that I remained impaled on his glorious shaft. "That was...wow." He panted, resting his damp forehead on my cleavage.

"I know."

"I don't ever want to leave."

"Sorry stud. We can't stay like this forever. I have to take care of a little clean up." I clench around him again and he slides from my body, slowly lowering me to my feet.

"Hurry back." He chuckles as I leave him standing there in the alcove.

I don't though. In fact I bypass the ladies room altogether and hot tail it outside, flagging down the first cab I see and going home.

Uh oh, Bella seems like the fuck and run kind of girl. Did any one spot her vital mistake?

This turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated for a first chapter. The rest of the chapters won't be quite so lengthy.

Let me know what you think.

Much love x