She's alive!

Hi everyone, I hope you are well. My apologies for the long delay for an update. My Mac was out of commission for a week about 2 weeks ago. It abruptly shut down on me while I was completing an assignment and while I had the word document for this story opened. You guessed it. I was unable to recover some of my work (over 7000 words were lost; always remember to save!). Anyway, after Apple fixed my Mac and returned it to me, as you can imagine, I had other priorities (school and work-related) than rewriting chapters for this story.

Long story short, this chapter which was originally supposed to be about 6k words long has been cut short to 4k. It was either that or wait possibly another 10 days to post as I have a lot coming up next week.

Thank you to those who are still here and welcome to those who present for the first time.

Without further ado...

I diverted my gaze from the manuscript and took a look around me. I realized all the other students had left. We were alone. When I turned my attention back to Edward, he had pulled out the document from his briefcase. He went to sit at his desk, turned to a page, and started to read silently.

Ok. Now, this was embarrassing.

"No, Professor Cullen. I was - I was just about to leave."

He looked up from the manuscript and focused his intent gaze upon me.

"I'm glad to see you back in class. I guess that means I'm not as horrible a professor as you thought last week. It would have saddened me to lose one of the only students who seems to be knowledgeable about French literature. Great summary earlier by the way."

"Thank you." I replied in a breath, choosing to ignore the first part of his statement.

"You're welcome... Bella." he spoke in a husky voice as he came down the stage between us.

The fact that he went from 'Ms. Swan' to 'Bella' did not go unnoticed by me. I loved the way he pronounced my name. It sounded so much more sensual flowing from his lips. He could have no concept of what he was doing to me.

Oh, I think he precisely knows…

I had to say something, anything, so I could spend a few additional moments with him.

"Which chapter were you reading?" I asked, breathy.

"Chapter 15. For the third time. After the accident. I was reading the scene in which Kristen thinks Robert is going to kiss her right after she told him she still wanted to be his… And he gave her back the necklace..."

He spoke that last word in a manner that seemed indecent... Although I was completely hypnotized by his lips, I could tell his gaze was on the piece of jewelry I had around my neck.

"It's a very frustrating scene." I managed to utter.

"You tell me." He whispered, reducing the distance between us.

I could not take my eyes off of his mouth, a few centimeters away from mine. I watched him lick his lips slowly. He then opened his mouth and brought his lips closer to my right ear.

This was all far too sexy for my sanity. My heart was beating at such a frantic pace I was afraid it would escape my chest. I held my breath when I saw him raise his hand towards me. He brought it down to my neck and ran his index along the fine silver chain whose pendant was hanging at the top of my cleavage. I was unable to stop my body's reaction at the sensation of Edward's finger so close to my breasts: I felt my nipples harden and I had to bite my lower lip to keep from moaning.

"Beautiful necklace." He secretively commented in a husky voice in my ear.

I pulled away just enough to look into his eyes. I suppressed a gasp when I noticed the dark, incandescent, almost "hungry" look in his eyes.

The sight sent a wave of heat rushing over my skin unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I felt a delicious ache build in my center. I knew if I stood there any longer, I would do something very, very inappropriate... something like tearing off his clothes.

No, no, no.

"I – I have to go." I stuttered pathetically, breathy, my gaze transfixed on his mouth.

His lips stretched into a smirk, and my heart skipped a beat.

"I will see you next week then, Ms. Swan." He replied, pulling his hand away from my neck, instantly creating a feeling of loss on my skin.

I would have given anything to be able to read his mind in that moment.

"Goodbye, Professor Cullen."

-,-

I was certainly glad I had chosen to return to class to see how my dear professor would behave with me.

There was no word to describe what he had just done to me.

Actually, there are. Many.

Indecency. Paradise. Sensuality. Boldness.

Edward Cullen had flirted with me and intentionally turned me on. My literature professor had devoured me and undressed me with his eyes. Me, Isabella Swan, his student.

Urrrgghh.

Not only had he struck the match, he'd had the audacity to fan the flames, consuming me entirely. And he had achieved this with nothing but his actions. Replaying our interaction tirelessly and examining every detail meticulously, I couldn't remember him saying anything the least bit inappropriate. No. He had managed to turn me on solely with his actions, the tone of his voice and the fire in his eyes. I had left the classroom feeling breathless. Our interaction had taken my breath away.

I had nearly passed out when he stroked my necklace.

By the way, you are never taking that necklace off.

Oh, absolutely not. Never. I would rather die of asphyxia than to part with this necklace for an instant. I was addicted to the feeling the softness of his fingers brushing my skin had provoked. Already.

Alice had had a brilliant idea suggesting that I wore the necklace. Knowing that Edward had made the parallel between the jewelry worn by the heroine of my story and my own necklace drove me to the brink of insanity. For a moment, he had associated us: Kristen and me. Robert's submissive and his student.

His.

I was now confident that Edward Cullen saw me as something more than just his student. He was attracted to me. I had seen the lust in his eyes. Yes, he desired me. Was there a better feeling in the world than being desired by a creature such as him?

Well, perhaps the feeling of being loved by him…

Shhh. I did not want to listen to what the rational part of my brain had to say. I realized Edward certainly did not love me. He probably was not looking to have a romantic relationship with me. As for me, I wasn't even sure of the nature of my feelings for him.

The reason was simple: I did not know Edward Cullen. I knew nothing about him. I did not believe in love at first sight, and I had never been in love before. So how was I to know if what I felt for him was in any way close to love? It was far too soon to tell.

Truth be told, even if I was in love with him, I did not want to torture myself over it. Not now. Not after what I had just experienced. I simply wanted to linger in that heavenly moment and rejoice at the prospect of many more to come. I was ready to take whatever that man was willing to offer me and not worry about the rest.

The more I thought about it, the more I was struck by the similarities between the heroine of my story and myself. I was that young woman desperate to catch this mysterious young man's attention, willing to submit to him, desperate to belong to him, body and soul. Just like Kristen, I believed it would be enough for me. It had to be. If that was all we could hope for from the man who fueled our passion, then we owed it to ourselves to accept it.

Perhaps, I was getting a bit ahead of myself. While Kristen had managed to worm her way into Robert's personal life, I hadn't quite done the same with Edward. I was simply his student at this time. A student who he was not entirely indifferent to… which wasn't too bad for a start.

I felt too overwhelmed to go and look for Alice and Rosalie to tell them about my precious interaction with Edward, so I decided to return to my dorm to settle down and take yet another cold shower.

-,-

The rest of the afternoon went by uneventfully. In spite of my lack of concentration, I had managed to take decent notes in my other classes, thanks in large part to Angela whose attention to the lecture was admirable and who nudged me every time she noticed I was lost in my thoughts to bring me back to earth.

At the end of the day, I decided to suggest a night out to Rose and Alice. I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner. I had been so unsettled after my interaction with Edward earlier that I had completely forgotten about lunch. My only meal of the day had been a strawberry smoothie, and I was now starving. Alice immediately expressed excitement about my idea. I strongly suspected she was just eager to have me alone with Rosalie so they could grill me about what had happened with her brother during his seminar. Truth be told, I did not feel like sharing. I wanted to keep my intimate moment with Edward just between the two of us… at least for now. Something told me Alice would not give up so easily, however.

Alice and I headed to Rose's dorm room to see if she wanted to join us. We were quite caught off guard when we opened her door and found that she was not alone. Emmett was there, his head underneath the sink, tampering with the water pipes. As for Rosalie, she was standing by the bathroom door, shamelessly staring at Emmett's ass with barely contained lust in her eyes, completely hypnotized… so much so that she did not even notice our entrance into her room.

"Hello!" I greeted to alert her to our presence.

Surprised, Rose let out a shriek as she turned towards us. At Rosalie's cry, Emmett made to stand up but bumped his head loudly against the cabinet. The high-pitched cry he let out caused Alice and I to burst out laughing.

"Relax, it's just us." I said, still laughing.

"God, you scared me!" Rosalie replied, bringing a hand to her chest.

"Pull yourself together, Emmett." Alice told her cousin who still had a glimmer of fear in his eyes and who was vigorously scratching his head at the spot where he had bumped it.

"Oh my God, Emmett, are you ok?" Rosalie inquired as she saw him half-wince.

She went to kneel beside him and started running a gentle hand through his hair, carefully examining his head, looking for a possible bump.

"Don't worry, sweetie. It takes more to knock me out. I have a pretty thick skull."

'Sweetie' huh? Well, well, well. Clearly, Rosalie had been making some progress. I shifted slightly to take a good look at her face: she was positively glowing.

"Rose, we just came to see if you wanted to have dinner with us. What do you say?"

"Well, Emmett is kind of helping me out here, fixing a few things… so I don't want to leave him alone. It was so kind of him to offer..." She replied, batting her eyelashes.

I couldn't help but jump on the chance.

"Emmett, why don't you come with us?!"

Since he knew Edward, his presence would give me a good excuse not to delve into the details of my interaction with the latter, which meant I would be safe from my girl friends' interrogations until tomorrow at least. Alice and Rosalie shot daggers at me. The former because she knew what I was trying to avoid, and the latter because I was stopping her from spending the evening alone with Emmett. But their glares left me completely indifferent. I was in far too good of a mood to let anything upset me.

"Pizza?" Was Emmett's only response.

"Works for me." I replied, flashing him my brightest smile.

"Then I'm in!" He winked at me and smiled back.

Alice let out a soft sigh and threw me a discreet look that meant "sooner or later, you will tell me what happened!". She then suggested that we also invite Jasper along since it was no longer a girls' night out. I was immediately a fan of the idea. I hadn't seen my brother much since the start of classes, not taking into account the times I had caught him making out with Alice in our dorm. A few texts later, Jasper confirmed he would be joining us for dinner. We all grabbed our jackets and after Jasper met us at the entrance of our building, we all got into Alice's car and headed to a nice Italian restaurant in downtown Seattle.

Once there, we each ordered a pizza (extra-large for Emmett), a glass of rosé for everyone else and a soda for myself. I hadn't had a drop of alcohol since the freshmen welcome party after which I had proceeded to strip in front of Edward. I was forever mortified and likely forever disgusted by the taste of alcohol. We had a wonderful time at dinner. I enjoyed getting to know Emmett. He was very charming and quite funny. Despite his tough exterior, he was actually just a teddy bear. Rose spent the entire evening contemplating him and barely touched her pizza.

"Aren't you going to finish your Margherita pizza, Rosalie?" he asked, pointing at the now cold last slice of pizza sitting on my friend's plate.

Instead of responding, Rose grabbed the slice and brought it to Emmett's mouth. The latter bit into it with his full teeth and chewed loudly. Rose did not take her eyes off of him for half a second, seemingly fascinated by the scene before her. Apparently, she found the sight of Emmett chewing food loudly highly erotic. Once he bit into the last piece in my friend's hand, Rose licked her fingers suggestively, which caused us all to look away, uncomfortable. Subtlety was not in Rosalie's nature. Astonished by her bold action, Emmett swallowed hard.

By the look of things, it wouldn't be too long before those two got together… And when that happened, I predicted they would make quite the explosive couple – and slightly indecent I might add.

As for Alice and Jasper, they were behaving in the exact opposite way. Their couple was nothing but sweetness and tenderness. Whispered exchanges and loving looks. Seeing my brother so lovey-dovey was so unusual. He was usually so shy and reserved. I liked Alice's effect on him. He seemed happy, openly so.

Around 10:30pm, we decided to head back to campus. After paying the bill, we got into Alice's car. 5 minutes later, her phone rang. Because her phone was connected to her car's audio system, her caller's name was displayed for everyone to see.

Edward.

I unwillingly let out a high-pitched scream. I suddenly felt very warm as though a hot flash was coming over me. I put considerable effort into seeming normal to Emmett and Jasper. The latter who had heard me was giving me a curious look through the rearview mirror, his eyebrows knit together in a frown.

Pull yourself together, Bella! He can't notice anything...

"Hi Eddie! How are you?" Alice answered while staring at me through the rearview mirror as well.

Edward sighed which made me sigh as well. God, could I be more pathetic?

"Alice, for the millionth time, stop calling me that. You know I hate that ridiculous nickname."

"Sorry, my dear brother. To what do I owe the honor?"

"Esme just called me. She's having a small dinner at the house tomorrow night. She asked me to tell you. She tried to reach you but was unable to."

"Oh, there was probably bad service at the restaurant."

"The restaurant?"

"Yeah, Jasper, Emmett, Rose, Bella and I just had dinner at an Italian restaurant."

Edward was silent for a long moment.

"Edward? Are you still there?"

"Y – yeah. Yes. Tell Emmett he's invited as well. Mom is looking forward to seeing him again after such a long time. And um, she also said you could invite the few friends you talked to her about…"

"Oh nice! I will ask them right now! Jasper, Emmett, Rose, Bella, how do you feel about dinner at my parents' place tomorrow night?"

"I'm always up for free food! And I would love to see aunt Esme and uncle Carlisle again. It's been a while." Emmett replied, excited.

"I'm in!" Rosalie said, unwilling to miss the opportunity to spend more time with Emmett.

"Jasper?" Alice inquired.

"I would love to meet your parents." He answered sweetly, reaching for Alice's hand on the gear stick, intertwining their fingers.

I had to say I was shocked. They had been together for barely two weeks and already, he would be meeting her parents. It was starting to look like my brother was in love…

"Great! What about you, Bella?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, Alice, but I'm working at the library tomorrow night. My student job, remember? I'm really sorry."

"Oh right, I forgot. Well, that sucks. I would have loved for you to come!"

Me too! Damn it! It would have been the perfect opportunity to see Edward outside of class, and I couldn't go. Unbelievable. Whatever had possessed me to look for a job?

"Maybe another time." I said shyly, aware that Edward could hear me due to Alice's Bluetooth hands-free car kit.

"Of course. There will be plenty of other times! Did you get it, Edward? Rose, Emmett, Jasper and I are coming. Unfortunately, Bella will be working, so she can't make it."

Edward didn't answer.

"Will you let Esme know?" Alice asked.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

"Awesome! Talk to you later, big brother!"

"Goodnight, Alice."

We arrived at campus shortly after Alice hung up. Alice and Jasper who did not have class tomorrow morning chose to prolong their evening together and went to have one last drink. Thank goodness. That meant no interrogation for tonight.

As for Emmett, he claimed he wasn't done fixing the pipes in Rosalie's bathroom and led my friend away who bore the happiest expression on her face. I chuckled softly at his pretext and thought to myself that she would get lucky tonight.

In a way, I had gotten lucky too. Both of my friends would be taken up by their love interest tonight, which meant no interrogation for me this evening. No pushing me to reveal the details of my interaction with Edward. No forced conversations and elusive replies. Tonight at least, I would be left alone, and I would get to enjoy some well deserved peace and rest after an emotionally intense day.

After wishing them all a good night, I took the elevator to my floor. Once in my room, I immediately took off my clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a long hot shower. I then took refuge under the warm covers of my bed and fell asleep with thoughts of Edward stroking my neck…

-,-

"The books that need to be ordered are right here and do not forget to put the ones that are left on tables back on their shelves before you close at midnight, alright?"

"Understood, Mrs. Aubry. I will."

"Perfect. I trust you. Call me if any problem arises. I will see you Thursday, Ms. Swan…"

"Good evening, Mrs. Aubry."

Here I was: stuck in this huge library until midnight while all of my friends were spending time with Edward. I was fuming.

Truth be told, I loved spending time in a library. It was without exaggeration my favorite place on earth. I loved books. I had always been passionate about reading. Novels transported me. They constituted a means of evasion for me. They took me to places I had never been, allowed me to discover aspects of the world I had no knowledge of. Thanks to books, I knew that true love existed, as foreign as a concept as it was to me personally. Indeed, my parents' disastrous marriage had almost convinced me otherwise, and my own – no more glorious – experience with men had not shed me of that idea.

Romantic novels especially captivated me… So much so that once I started one, I couldn't bring myself to put it down until I was done reading it, not even to sleep. I could not tell you how many sleepless nights I had spent devouring novels. I had this almost visceral need to read an entire work in one sitting. Books were my universe, my own personal bubble, my refuge. And over the years, writing words of my own had slowly become my outlet. As a matter of fact, it was a secret dream of mine to one day become a novelist. I too wanted to help people dream, escape…

Yes, books and libraries were usually my happy place.

But not tonight.

Tonight I would have given anything to be at Alice parents' house, to spend time with Edward and see if he would push our little game any further. I wondered if he would have tried anything. I sighed at the thought.

Enough. Pull yourself together, Bella! You are at work. You can think about Edward all you want once your shift is over.

I heaved a sigh.

There were few people at the library. It was the beginning of the semester, so students did not have much to do for their courses yet. By my estimate, there were about 20 people in the building, which meant I wouldn't have a lot of cleaning to do once they left. It had taken me barely half an hour to order and store the books Mrs. Aubry had asked me to. Since I had a few hours in front of me and not much work to do, I chose to take advantage of this time to get started on the assignment Edward had given us.

I went to search for a copy of "Madame Bovary" in the French literature section of the library on the last floor and then returned to my desk. I plugged my USB flash drive into my work computer and opened a blank Word document.

I did not spend much time on the summary. Edward had been impressed by the one I'd given in class, so I simply wrote it down. I did so in less than half an hour. I then proceeded to write my critique of the novel and got a little carried away. Truth be told, that story had given me acne. I thought Flaubert was terribly misogynist, and I found his concern for description and detail unnecessary. It took a toll on his writing style. A style which I initially felt was quite interesting!

The more I wrote, the more I had to say. I supported my statements with references from the novel as well as other works to avoid giving an unfair critique of the novel.

Once I was done writing, I looked at my watch and noted that it was a quarter to midnight. I saved my work and safely unplugged my USB from the computer. I checked the first two floors of the library and put back all the books the students had left on tables on the appropriate shelves. I then went back to my desk, grabbed the copy of "Madame Bovary" and went up to the third floor to put it back in its rightful place as well. I walked through the wooden columns, searching for the F section.

Eberhardt

Erckmann

Eluard

Fénelon

Feydeau

…

Flaubert!

As I stood on my tip toes to place the book, I heard a voice behind me speak softly.

"Flaubert, huh?"

Caught off guard, I dropped the book which fell at my feet. I close my eyes tightly, not daring to turn around. I completely froze. I knew that voice. I could recognize that voice among a hundred. I knew it. It was his voice. Edward's voice.

"Bella?"

Thank you for stopping by.

Next update before the end of the month. Pinky promise.