oOo
Bella was nervous.
Alice and Jasper were having a dinner party and, naturally, had invited her and Edward to come. It would be a small thing, Alice had said, which didn't help one bit to ease Bella's anxiety. That way, Jasper would just be able to interrogate Edward the better.
Or would he do that?
Bella sighed as she brushed her hair in front of her bathroom mirror. She was spending so many nights at Edward's, her own flat seemed cold and uninhabited.
He was going to collect her in half an hour, and he'd sounded quite cheerful on the telephone just now. He had finished his painting of the couple waving at the station this afternoon, and was planning to put the finishing touches on another painting the next day.
With the exhibition only two weeks away, he was working like a madman, often staying up into the small hours. Bella suspected that some amount of whisky was involved in his nightly sessions, but whenever she tried to broach the subject, Edward would tell her he only used it to "get going" – whatever that meant.
Bella was aware of the fact that many artists drank, and on some level, she didn't want to judge. Who was she, after all, to understand the workings of a great mind such as Edward's?
She only hoped that he knew what he was doing, but as far as she could see, he did. He liked to have a couple of glasses of wine, yes, but many people did. Just because she didn't drink much didn't mean that he couldn't.
Shaking her head free of her musings, she put on mascara and a tiny bit of rouge, slipped into her dark blue, knitted dress, and put on a pair of black pumps.
Edward was very appreciative of the shoes once he'd arrived, grinning and softly biting her ear, whispering some sweet and dirty words that made her skin tingle.
"You didn't drive?" she said as they stepped outside and a taxi was waiting.
"No." He cocked his head to one side. "I thought I might have a drink or two."
Bella said nothing and he opened the door of the car for her.
"That okay?" he asked before she could get in.
"Yes, sure."
He took her hand when they were sitting side by side.
"You're awfully tense, love."
"I know, I'm sorry."
She sighed. Edward kissed her cheek.
"What is it?" he murmured, gently nuzzling his nose along her jaw line.
But she couldn't tell Edward that she was scared about him and Jasper meeting because Jasper had, time and again, told her not to get involved with him.
"It's nothing." She turned so she could catch his lips with hers, and that helped. Warm and familiar, and pure Edward. She would never get enough of him, and no matter how difficult he might be at times, she wanted this to work, because she knew that Edward was it for her. The right one.
The only one.
oOo