A/N: If you liked how last chapter ended, then you'll like this one, too. But don't get too used to the harmony…

Chapter 6

December 28-29, 2007

The sun was streaming through the open blinds when I woke up for the third time. We'd forgotten to close them, which was understandable under the circumstances. I stretched feeling pleasantly sore. Edward was on his stomach, his head turned away from me, still fast asleep. I gazed at his broad, muscular back and thought about how those muscles had felt moving beneath my palms. The sheet gave me just a peek at his glorious glutes.

The first time I'd woken up, it had been with Edward's fingers grazing my breasts and his tongue tracing my jaw. Things had quickly escalated after that, and we'd fallen asleep again once we were sated. The second time I'd woken up, Edward was spooning me, and he placed soft kisses on my neck and shoulder as he slid into me from behind. We'd rocked unhurriedly in that position until we both fell apart again. That had been the most intimate moment I'd shared in longer than I'd cared to admit. I hadn't let it bother me at the time; I was too overwhelmed with pleasure. But now those seeds of doubt were creeping back over me as I watched Edward sleep peacefully beside me.

His arm twitched, and he slowly rolled back towards me. His face broke into a sleepy smile when he saw I was awake, too. I was treated to an uninterrupted view of his spectacular chest, shoulders, abdomen, and the V of his pelvis that hinted at the promised land. His hair was in glorious disarray, and he reached for me gathering me into his chest, our noses almost touching. He gave me a chaste kiss. He looked so young and vulnerable. It made my heart clench.

"I like waking up this way," he said with a scratchy voice.

"Oh?" I asked teasingly, willfully pushing all heavy thoughts out of my head, determined just to enjoy this beautiful man in my bed. "I can think of some other ways you like to wake up, too."

"So crass," he complained, and then looked a bit sheepish. "I don't have any more condoms." He looked so apologetic that it made me giggle.

"That's all right," I reassured him. "I think you've worn me out for a little while." I rolled my eyes at his proud expression.

"What are you going to do today?" he asked pushing the hair out of my eyes in a tender gesture. I shrugged as best I could in my lying down position.

"I have to take care of bills before the 31st, but that won't take long, and I don't have to do it today. I guess I need to keep studying, maybe get in a walk or a work out. I'm sorry I'm so boring," I told him. He raised his eyebrows.

"You, my dear, are anything but boring," he declared devilishly. His eyes raked regretfully down over my breasts and beyond. I shoved his shoulder playfully. He pretended to give me a contrite pout and continued. "I need to put in a couple of hours on the piano in one of practice rooms at Shepherd. I've been neglecting that over the last week. Would you want to come with me?" His face was hopeful.

I considered it. I was very curious about his musical talent and thought I'd enjoy listening to him play. I could bring a medical book with me and get some work done, too. What worried me was that I also didn't want to be away from him, and that was a frightening motivation to me. I thought about what I'd said about him being obsessed with me, and I wondered where the obsession really lay. Plus, Shepherd was all the way at the end of Rice's campus, by the stadium. I doubted I'd run into anyone I knew there. So, I smiled and told him I'd love to hear him play.

"We can go for a jog afterward, if you want. I need to stop by my house and pick up some stuff for tonight," he replied. I pulled my head back with a frown, and he grinned at me. "I'm not letting you out of my sight now," he declared. A trickle of unease crept up my spine at his words, but I didn't tell him no. I wanted him back in my bed tonight, but I knew it was going to become a problem at some point.

"We can take separate cars, so you can stop by your place," I suggested. His brow dropped, and he frowned.

"Why don't you want to come by my house, Bella?" he sounded hurt. "Don't you want to meet my friends?"

"Sure, I do. I just…it's just...underage drinking…" I trailed off unable to articulate it. He let out a frustrated huff.

"God, you are taking this age thing way too seriously!" he exclaimed. "I'm only 4 years younger than you are. When you're 44, I'll be 40, and no one will care." The naivety of his statement showed he hadn't really thought it through, but I didn't want to ruin our (up to now) perfect morning. So I just leaned forward and kissed his lips. That shut him up quickly.

"Fine, we'll stop by your house, but only because I want you to get more condoms," I told him playfully. He gave me a deep searing kiss in response to that, and I wasn't even worried about morning breath.

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We had to stop at Edward's house before going to the music school since he only had his dinner party clothes with him. I had hoped that any roommates back from break would still be sleeping, but apparently they were dedicated college athletes like Edward had told me. There were two sleep-rumpled guys in the kitchen when we walked in. I recognized the dark skin, dark hair, and long lashes of the Hispanic guy who pumped my beer at the party last week. He smiled pleasantly, but I didn't like the knowing smirk on the face of the blonde guy. He took in Edward's obvious "walk of shame" clothing and eyed me up and down.

"Hey, guys, this is Bella. Bella, this is Sam," he nodded toward the dark-haired guy, "and Paul." He indicated the blonde guy, whose smirk got wider. He opened his mouth obviously to make some comment, but Edward glared at him, and he closed it right back.

"Hey, Bella, nice to meet you, officially," Sam mumbled, while taking another bite of the cereal on the island in front of him. I wondered if he was a junior like Edward and if he had a future professional career or would end up in grad school or the work force like Jasper. Edward helpfully filled in the blanks.

"Sam's my year and plays mostly left field," he explained. "Paul's a senior and plays short stop. Bella's a third year at Baylor," he told them. Sam raised his eyebrows, indicating he was impressed. He looked like he wanted to comment, but Paul interrupted, continuing to leer at me.

"What are you doing with, Ed, then Bella?" Paul asked with a surprisingly nasal voice. "Cougar in training? Get it? Since UH's mascot is a cougar!" He laughed uproariously at his own joke, and the rest of us just stared at him. I regarded him with particular chagrin since I specifically didn't like the cougar label. My mom was about seven years older than Phil, and she was still called that ad nauseam by women in their ritzy neighborhood and by other nurses at the hospital. Edward noticed my silence.

"Paul, you're an asshole. C'mon, Bella, let's go up and get my stuff." And with that he ushered me out of the kitchen without another word and up the stairs. There were four doors off the small hallway at the top. Edward ushered me into the first one on the left.

"This is my room," he said simply. "Sam and Jared have the other rooms on this floor, and Paul converted the garage into a bedroom. It's where he belongs. The three of us up here share a bathroom." It was typical for a young man. A double-sized bed without a bed frame was against one wall. It had a plain navy blue comforter and sheets. A closet made up the wall opposite, and a dark wooden dresser was next to the door from the hall. A matching bedside table sat next to the bed with a lamp. A single window was in the wall above the pillows of the bed. It was surprisingly neat. The most outstanding thing was a bookshelf between the dresser and the closet. Instead of books, it was filled with CDs, cassette tapes, and records.

"Wow, your room is neat," I said as he watched me cautiously. He nodded in agreement.

"My parents taught me to be organized and clean up after myself. Coach Graham teaches us discipline. I try to take all the lessons to heart," he said simply. He was referring to Wayne Graham, the legendary coach of the Rice Owls, one of the few faculty members at Rice I'd never met and really wanted to. I just hummed a noncommittal response and crossed the room to run my hands over his cassette collection.

"Do you even have a cassette player still?" I asked him. It made me think of my dad, and they way he hoarded cassettes in his truck. They were always all over the place, and I had to shove them on the floor in order to sit when I rode with him. Edward grinned at me.

"Of course, I'm a music collector. You can see I have all genres archived there," he gestured at the bookcase. I perused it for a few minutes while he threw a few things in a bag and gathered some schoolbooks, I assumed for the practice room.

"I'm going to take a quick shower," he announced. "I worked up a sweat last night for some reason," he smirked at me knowingly. "I'd invite you to come along, but somehow I know you'll refuse to use my shared bathroom." He tried to act like he was teasing, but I thought I could detect a hint of censure. I smiled back at him gently.

"Yeah, I don't think now is the time, Edward." I agreed. He nodded back without smiling and left the room. I heard a door slam downstairs and looked out the window to see Paul exiting the front door. I decided to head back downstairs to wait for Edward in a more neutral location.

Sam was sitting on the black leather sofa in the living room watching TV when I came to the bottom of the stairs. He nodded at me in greeting but didn't speak. I sat down in the matching chair opposite him and turned my attention to the show he was watching. It was one of those makeover shows on HGTV. So maybe he was responsible for the relative neatness of the house's environs. We sat for a while before he finally spoke.

"Did you know Ed before the other night?" he asked quietly without looking at me, his eyes fixed on the TV.

"No," I said clearly but offered nothing else. He turned to look at me with his kind dark eyes.

"I'm just asking 'cause I'm surprised to see you here. Edward doesn't bring many girls around," he told me. I arched a brow skeptically, since Edward had already admitted he'd had plenty of girls before me. I wasn't sure why Sam would say that. "I'm serious. I don't think he's ever introduced me to anyone before," he persisted. I tightened my jaw. That statement made me uncomfortable for some reason.

"Well," was all I could say, because I wasn't sure how to respond to his statement. We were interrupted then as Edward pounded down the stairs. He was wearing mesh shorts, a t-shirt, and running shoes, and carrying a duffle bag. He was smiling widely when he rounded the corner into the room. We both looked up at him.

"You ready to go?" he asked me. His hair was damp from the shower, and it was all I could do from jumping on him right then. I nodded and bit my lip. Sam spoke then before we could leave.

"Paul wants to have a get together tonight. It's Friday night and all," he said warily. Edward looked at me, and then he looked quickly away.

"Sure," he responded. "Just make sure my door is closed. I don't want anyone in there. We're busy." Sam looked surprised by his statement and turned to stare at me curiously, but finally he nodded and agreed. Edward gestured for me to go ahead of him out the front door. Sam called after us.

"What about New Year's, Edward?" he asked. I turned back to look at him, and Edward winked at me.

"I told you that I've got my parents' thing," he called back.

"Oh, yeah," Sam replied. "Well, I can't make any promises about the state of this place on January 1," he laughed. Edward just waved his hand behind him at Sam and let the door close behind us. He ushered me back to his car, and we headed to campus.

"Well," he asked once we were driving. "What did you think?" I shrugged my shoulders.

"Your house is well kept? Sam seems nice? I'm not sure what you want me to say," I admitted. He chuckled a little.

"Yeah, Paul's an asshole. He keeps thinking he has a future in baseball, but it's not going to happen. I don't know what else he'll do either, since he's not that bright," Edward admitted. I laughed a little at that, too. "We used to get along better, but now…" he let the thought trail off. I hoped I wasn't the reason. I didn't want to come between him and his friends, despite the size of their assholes. He'd still be living and playing with Paul once whatever we were doing was over.

The rest of the day was quiet. We spent several hours in a practice room at Shepherd, and I never saw anyone who might recognize me. Edward was extremely talented as far as I could tell, and I really enjoyed listening to him play. He was beyond adorable with his brow crinkled, mouth turned down in a pout, as he hunched over the keyboard. His baseball cap seemed discordant combined with the regal looking instrument. Finally, after enjoying watching him work, I pulled out one of my books and spent some time reviewing things for my new rotation. We were able to exist together well, and to my great surprise, we both accomplished a lot in just a few hours.

We went for another walk around the campus loop afterward, incorporating a bit of jogging at Edward's urging. I knew he needed more exercise than I did to get ready for his intense practice schedule looming, so I did my best to keep up. I think he slowed himself down though a little. Or a lot. I didn't say anything, because I was having fun.

When we got back to my apartment, Edward declared that he needed another shower, and this time he wouldn't take no for an answer from me. My t-shirt was off before the front door was even closed, which wasn't so bad since I was wearing a sports bra after all. His duffle ended up underneath the bar, and he toed off his running shoes immediately. His eyes locked me in a predatory stare, and he stalked across my small living room towards me.

His fingers gripped my waist firmly and began to slowly slide up to the bottom of my sports bra. I was sweaty, but he didn't seem to care as his large, capable fingers slipped enticingly underneath the elastic band. He smiled cheekily, his eyes never leaving mine, as he slowly peeled the offending garment up over my arms and shoulders. It joined my t-shirt on the living room floor.

He stared with open lust at my bare breasts and reached for them immediately, running his thumbs over my nipples teasingly like he'd done the night before. I pressed into his hands eagerly and brought my arms around his shoulders, pulling him toward me. I kissed him hungrily as he abandoned my breasts and moved lower to the waistband of my shorts. I allowed him to pull them down and stepped out of them obligingly, but then I took a step back from him.

"Ah, ah, ah," I cautioned and skipped backward further when he tried to grab for me. He groaned in frustration and let his head drop to his chest as I skipped into the bathroom and quickly turned on the water in the shower. "I want it to be warm by the time, we're ready to get wet," I explained suggestively with a huge grin when I peeked back into the room. His answering grin was just a large, and he quickly removed his shirt and shorts.

He stood completely naked in all his glory in my living room, and I couldn't help but stare speechlessly. He was perfect, a Greek statue. Every muscle was sculpted just so, not too bulky, but not too lean. There was not a blemish on him. His erection was straining towards me, large and inviting. I was filled with desire, but a small part of me knew that this perfect being could not be meant for me.

I tried to ignore that knowledge and beckoned him towards me and removed my underwear at the same time. He slammed me up against the bathroom door shortly afterward, enveloping me in a searing kiss. His erection was sandwiched between us, and I could feel it twitching, eager and ready.

"Edward, I can't wait for the water to warm up," I murmured into his shoulder. He disappeared into the living room and returned in a flash with a condom in his hand.

"Don't worry, I made sure we have plenty of these," he promised with a smirk as he lifted me onto the bathroom counter next to the sink. I leaned back against the mirror, and some of my toiletries skittered to the floor, but I hardly noticed. The height was perfect, and without further ado, Edward rolled the condom on and thrust into me. My legs wrapped around his waist, and he picked up speed, pounding into me with abandon.

"Oh, I wish you could see us from this angle," he panted. My eyes had drifted closed in pleasure, but they snapped open.

"Why?" I asked breathlessly.

"Because, I can watch myself fucking you, and it's pretty awesome," he ground out. And he picked up speed, halting any attempt I might have made to answer that. I saw stars, and he climaxed just after I did. If I'd thought we were sweating before, now we really needed a shower.

We both smiled stupidly at each other as our breathing began to return to normal. Edward tossed the condom, and we climbed into the shower together. We spent the time kissing, touching, and finally, actually washing each other. We finished the shower without any more funny business.

After we were both dressed, I made us a dinner of eggs, bacon, and toast. We washed it down with a couple of beers and snuggled on the couch watching silly TV. It was one of the nicest evenings I'd had in years. Our desire for each other couldn't last the night, so we came together again before going to sleep and maybe another time during the night. And definitely when we woke up the next morning. It was scary how easy it was to be with Edward. I worried how easily I could get used to it.

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Saturday was shaping up very similar to Friday except that we went to IHOP for breakfast and skipped the trip to Edward's house. My phone rang as we were climbing the stairs to the apartment after our jog, so there would be no repeat of the bathroom sex from the day before, unfortunately. It was Alice. Edward quirked a brow at me, and I tried to decide whether or not to answer. He was watching me closely, and I knew he worried that I was trying to hide our relationship. And he wasn't wrong to worry about that. I felt guilty so I took the call.

"Hey, Alice," I answered, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear as I unlocked the door. Edward followed me inside and went straight to the bathroom to shower alone, and, I guess, give me some privacy. "What's up?" I said, dropping onto the edge couch, facing toward the sliding glass door to the balcony.

"Not much. Are you busy tonight?" she asked. I was quiet for a minute, glancing toward the bathroom, trying to figure out how to answer. She must have heard my hesitation.

"Wait, are you not alone?" she squealed. I shook my head at her enthusiasm.

"No, I'm not, but he's in the shower right now," I told her and then kicked myself for offering so much information.

"Well…" she drew the word out offensively. "I guess it's way past kissing stage then. I'm so happy for you, Bella," she gushed. I cleared my throat uncomfortably and said nothing.

"Right, I know how you don't like to talk about your feelings, so I'll stop," she assured me. I heard the shower go off in the background. "Anyway, I'll assume you're busy tonight." I sighed in relief, pleased that I would get a repeat of last night's perfect evening.

"But, you're not off the hook!" she trilled. I was unsurprised as this was classic Alice. I waited for her terms. "You've got to come over tomorrow night for dinner and bring Edward. Jasper will be there, and we'll have a couples evening." I groaned at the thought and rubbed my fingers over my sweat-stained forehead.

"Alice, I don't know. It seems a little soon, you know," I began to argue but strong arms slid around my waist, and warm, damp lips found their way beneath my ear. I leaned into Edward and quickly realized he was wearing only a low-slung towel around his waist. I lost my train of thought.

"No, I won't take no for an answer," she insisted, and suddenly, I had no desire to argue with her anymore. In fact, I wanted off the phone immediately.

"Fine," I told her, turning towards Edward, who moved his attention to my jaw, then my collarbone. I was wearing too many clothes.

"What?" she asked incredulously. "That's all you're going to say. Well, then be here at 6," she demanded.

"Okay, bye," is all I said, pressing the end button. And in a short time, Edward needed another shower.

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A/N: I will be on vacation next week and probably won't have a Wifi connection until I get back home on the 17th, so the next chapter will probably go up then, a couple of days late.

Thanks to everyone for continuing to read and review!

CAS (who reviewed as a guest) and anyone else interested: I am very familiar with Methodist Hospital since it was a part of Baylor when I was a student there, and one of my closest friends is a staff physician. Methodist and Baylor had a messy, spectacular divorce in late 2004, and Methodist created their own residency programs unaffiliated with a medical school (for the most part). The original Orthopedics Dept from Baylor sided with Methodist in the divorce, hence its ties with the major sports teams in the area (I did see Hakeem Olajuwon once on a rotation at Methodist!). The Internal Medicine and General Surgery Depts sided with Baylor, and the residency programs associated with Methodist in those specialties are decidedly weaker.

However, my story doesn't work unless Bella wants to stay for her residency at the place where she is in medical school. So, I've taken some artistic license and am ignoring the existence of Methodist Hospital in this universe. I think that's fair since I have also created a fictitious baseball star, making anything I write about the Astros less than accurate. But I am a great stickler for accuracy in my stories, so I felt obligated to explain the above since it was brought to my attention. Thanks.