Okay, I am apologizing. I never meant to make you wait so long for an update. Real life has been kicking my ass. Thank you to all of you who have been reading from the beginning and those of you who just joined in. I really appreciate it! Also, many thanks to Tarbecca who recommended Good Times at Masen's over on A Different Forest. That was such an unexpected but wonderful surprise!

AN: I do not own Twilight and all errors are my own.

Chapter 7

The No Touching

EPOV

Over the next couple of weeks, things between Bella and I returned somewhat to normal. We'd joke, tease, laugh, but there was still no touching. Bella never initiated anything of the sort and I was intent on taking her lead on that. I had seen what happened to the last guy who touched her without permission and let's just say I felt fond of my ball sack and never wanted it to be ripped from my body. Ever.

No. Fucking. Way.

That did not mean I didn't want to touch her. Because oh my fucking Christ I did. I wanted to know if her hair was as really soft as it looked. I wanted to know if the bottom of her foot was ticklish. I wanted to know if her lips felt like the little pillows that they resembled. I wanted to explore and investigate all of the secret little places that would make her come undone. I wanted to feel the firmness of her hips underneath my fingertips as I fucked her from behind. I wanted to touch her everywhere.

The unspoken no touching rule was going to absolutely kill me. I wanted to blame the damn article. If it wasn't for that written piece of shit Alice wouldn't have felt the need to air my sexual laundry in front of Bella, even if it was for the most part true. I did have a history of keeping it very casual with women. And as much as I didn't want to admit it, assuming that Bella would be satisfied with just an occasional fuck did not sit right at all.

I looked over to see the girl in question looking quite desirable in her skinny jeans and faded AC/DC shirt sitting on the customer side of the bar. On Tuesdays she came right from school even though her shift didn't start for a couple hours later. It wasn't worth the time to go home so she usually camped at the end of the bar and hovered over some text and a notebook until it was time to clock in. I loved watching her on these days. As usual she had her hair piled on top of her head in a messy pony tail thing with a pencil sticking out of it. She had these glasses that she only wore for reading that framed her eyes perfectly, sexy librarian style. And the way her nose scrunched when she realized something she read was important and needed to be written down was just so damn cute.

If there was one thing I had learned about Bella, she was fucking ambitious. She wants to write historical fiction novels but she's getting her Master's Degree in English and Social Studies education. She wants to be a teacher too and feels this degree will help her do both. Like I said, ambitious and she works damn hard at it.

Since I have been reduced to stalking, I noticed that today she has added an iPod to the mix. Curious as to what she was listening to I walked over and tugged on her ear bud wire, careful not to actually touch her.

God, I just want to fucking touch her.

"Whatcha listening to, Crash? One Direction?" She scowled at me as she hit the pause button. I knew she hated it when I teased her about liking pop music, which is exactly why I did it.

"You know I don't listen to that shit." She removed the other ear bud, her glasses, and raised her arms in a stretch. Her t-shirt rode up just enough to give me a glimpse of the smooth skin underneath and even though I shouldn't have, I looked and loved every second of it. When Bella caught my gaze she quickly put her arms back down and tugged on her shirt. Little did she realize the damage had been done and it was something else about her that I was now addicted to. "Actually if you must know, I have a big European History test on Thursday. My professor makes his lectures available for down load and it usually helps to listen to them again."

So damn ambitious.

"Sounds like a good idea. Well, I'll let you get back at it."

"No. it's almost time for me to start anyway and I've had enough. I did want to ask you if I could cut out at closing tomorrow. My test is at ten o'clock the next morning. I'd like to get some good sleep and get up early to get in an hour of studying before hand."

"No problem. Charlotte and I can take care of it." On Wednesdays Bella and Charlotte usually closed down the bar and took care of the cleaning while I did some paper work. I had no problem letting Bella go early and helping Charlotte.

"Thanks, Edward. It should be just this one time." I waved her off like it was no big deal, because honestly, it wasn't.

"No worries. Just ace your test." I earned a thankful smile before she grabbed her shirt and headed to the back to change.

I would have rather had a hug.

~GTaM~

We were busy for a Tuesday. So fucking busy. Jasper was playing and he usually brought in a decent crowd but this was just…wow. My whole staff was running around like crazy. But that's okay, the money was rolling in. And so were the tips. Bella, Charlotte, and Alec were going to be ecstatic with their earnings tonight.

In exchange for leaving early tomorrow, Bella offered to help with clean up tonight even though she usually went home at closing on Tuesdays. I eagerly accepted because the bar looked like it had been thoroughly fucked. In a good way. People came, drank, ate, and had a good time. It was great, but the mess was bigger than usual too. Having Bella help would make clean up go a lot faster and get everyone out of here earlier.

After an hour of some pretty intense work, everything was in place and the bar was ready to see another day. I had separated the tips and given everyone their share as they had left. The only one left was Bella.

Where was Bella?

Come to think of it, it had been a while since I had seen her. She hadn't left. I would have known that. I set the money on the bar and went off in search of her.

"Bella? Bella? Where are you?" I called as I walked through the kitchen."

I heard an 'oh God' and a 'fuck' being muttered from somewhere. Then the voice got a little louder.

"I'm in here. The bathroom." She called out. I went to where our restrooms are and saw that the ladies' room door was shut.

"Oh, um…is everything okay?" I didn't want to walk in on her taking a shit or something, but I couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah…no. Fuck, no I'm not okay. I need help." Okay, that was a little ominous.

Help with what exactly?

"What kind of help?" I tried to sound helpful but it didn't come out that way because there was just no fucking way I was getting her a tampon. She must have sensed the worry in my voice.

"For crying out loud, would you just come in here?" Tentatively I pushed the door open to see that Bella not sitting on the toilet.

Thank God.

There were paper towels on the counter soaked in deep crimson. She was standing at the sink holding her hand under the running water. Her face had gone a little pale.

"What happened, Crash?" I asked while peering over her shoulder. There was a nice size cut on one of her fingers that was bleeding.

"I dropped a fucking glass in the sink and cut myself trying to clean it up." She seemed pissed at herself. "I am so clumsy."

"None of that, now. It happens to the best of us. Let me see." I reached for some paper towels and took her hand so that I could inspect it more. "It doesn't look too bad. I have a first aid kit in my office. I'll bandage it up so the bleeding stops. Hold that tightly." I wrapped the paper towel around her finger and guided her out of the bathroom. If she weren't hurt, I would have been doing the 'she's letting me touch her' happy dance. As it was, it would have been kind of inappropriate at the time.

When we got to my office, I motioned her to sit on the edge of my desk while I got the first aid kit. Methodically, I smeared some antibiotic cream on it and secured one of the larger Band-Aids around it. I could feel her stare on me as I worked and it only made me want to drag it out. We were close, so close I could feel her warm breath on my face. After inspecting my work for what seemed like an eternity, I brought my eyes up to confirm what I had suspected. She had been watching me.

"I think you're going to be okay. The bleeding has pretty much stopped. Just make sure you replace that bandage tomorrow after you clean it out." I gulped at the intensity of her stare.

"Thank you, Edward. You really are a nice guy." We were still close even though there was no need to be anymore. Neither one of us pulled away. I could feel my heart beating right out of my chest because all I could think of was that I wanted to kiss her in the worst fucking way. And I was pretty damn sure she wanted it too. Her eyes held this intense heat that burned but I couldn't look away. She broke the stare glancing down at my lips and I was lost.

"I…I…" I stuttered as I moved my face closer to hers. I wanted to tell her what I wanted but was reduced to a bumbling mess. It was okay though, because she understood. She leaned in too and I knew she wanted this as much as I did.

"Edward…yes…" And then my lips were on hers.

And she was touching me.

Okay, that just happened. Let me know what you think. And I promise will not let three weeks by before I let you know what happens.