Chapter 8

EPOV

I wanted the world and time to stand still when I looked at Bella Swan lying on my chest. But like all good things in life, they never last forever. Before I could stop her, she slid off onto her knees on the floor next to me. Still staring into her eyes, I was at a loss for words. She was so beautiful as she looked at me like an angel watching over her charge. I must have died because she was my vision heaven.

I nearly lost control of myself to not attack her with my mouth when she spoke, "I'm so sorry Dr. Cullen, I didn't see you. I was trying to get downstairs, but I tripped on my heels when you came in. I hope you head is alright, do you need me to get some help. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry, I'm a horrible klutz." She was nervous, I could tell because she was rambling. I do the same thing every time I get nervous.

I tried my best to sit up, my head was throbbing as I held the back of it with my hand, "It's ok. I'm… fine, I think." I was still having a hard time acknowledging she was really there. She looked worried and a little scared as she continued to look at me. I wonder if she was injured in the fall.

"Are you ok Ms. Swan? You took a spill too." She blinked when I said her name. Shit, was I supposed to know who she was, we hadn't been introduced yet. I hoped she wouldn't catch that.

"I'm … uh how do you my name." Crap. My damn luck. My heart raced as I tried my best as I came up with a half truth.

"Um, well, my father told me you were here and that Jasper brought you with him tonight. I figured who you were when I saw you sitting next to him when I arrived." Oh and I want to spend hours upon hours kissing every inch of you and worship at your feet, you divine goddess. I did my best to compose myself and stood up. My head was a bit dizzy, but thankfully I didn't sway too noticeably. My slacks were bunched up a bit and wrinkled, so a patted them out.

Bella was still kneeling on the floor, looking up at me. It felt wrong to have her being the one to look up. She was the beauty and I should be the one kneeling to her. I held up my hand to help her, and it felt so right and perfect when she took it.

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen. Again, I'm very sorry for knocking you over." Her cheeks flushed and she looked down. She was embarrassed to be around me, why. Did she not know she had this power over me? I looked at her and followed her gaze.

Oh dear, her dress had slipped and she had just noticed that. I swallowed back the saliva that pooled in my mouth at the sight of her chest being more exposed. I was having an eternal struggle in my mind. Wanting the dress to fall lower and reveal to me the perfect supple breast I knew were covered behind the thin blue fabric was battling the need to cover her up and prevent her from further embarrassment for exposing herself to her boss at our first meeting. I snapped out of it when I saw she was pulling up her dress. I was disappointed to be denied of that sight, but then laughed at my own ridiculousness.

"Its fine, I'm still alive and I'm conscious. No harm, no foul." I looked at her and saw she was still a bit shaken and nervous; her eyes kept looking from my eyes to the floor. "Are you sure you are alright though? You sounded very panicky before I came in. Did you lose something?" I looked around the room to see if there was anything that looked like it had been left here by someone else, when I realized I was no longer holding the book I brought up. I saw it on the floor next to my feet beside the green leather chair and picked it off the floor.

"Yes, well, Esme had given me a tour of your beautiful home earlier tonight, it's quite a sight and when we stopped in here she said I could borrow a book from the collection and then return it after I promised to come and visit. When we went to dinner, I couldn't remember where I had placed it. I came upstairs to look but didn't see it anywhere. Then I remembered I left it on one of the side tables near the bar downstairs. I was going to go get it and then… well… you know what happened next." Her face flushed again, it was simply endearing. And then she bit her lip, and I almost lost it. That one action started to make me hard instantly.

Wait. She said she was in here earlier this evening and Esme allowed her to borrow book. I looked at the one I held in my hand and thought that this wasn't just a coincidence. "That book wouldn't happen to be Pride and Prejudice, would it?"

Her head shot up and she saw the book I held out to her. She looked relieved and thoroughly happy. She was about to say something when I flashed a smile at her. Suddenly Bella's legs gave out on her.

She wasn't very coordinated.

I reached out and caught her pulling her close to steady her stance. Her face was against my chest and I couldn't help myself when I quickly buried my face in her hair and inhaled deeply. She smelled of strawberries and freesia.

I nearly fell over with her scent intoxicating me. It took all my strength to contain my composure. "Are you sure you're fine, Ms. Swan?" My voice was a bit off. I was worried she was injured since she couldn't stand. I should have let her go, but it felt nice to have her close.

"Yes, yes, I'm ok. I just lost my footing. I'm not used to wearing these heels."

I looked down at her feet and saw sexy navy high heels with what looked to be at least a five inch heel; I was surprised she didn't break her delicate and small ankles. While I continued to look down at her feet, she slipped out of my grip, and I suddenly was filled with a sense of great loss. She quickly stepped out of those death heels and she started to bend over to get them. I stopped her.

"Please, allow me to get those for you, I don't know if you have all your balance back yet." I bent down in front of her to pick them up and I gently placed them in her hands.

"Thanks." She started to leave the room and I was hurt she was leaving, when I remember I was still holding her book.

"Wait, you don't want to forget the book, now do you. I know Esme would be rather disappointed if she found out you didn't take it with you. She wouldn't have a good excuse for you to visit and help her with one of her little projects." I didn't know where the confidence to speak with her like this came from, but it was nice. It was new. I decided to push myself a bit more as I held out her book flashing another smile.

She reached for the book and took it from my hands. "I would have come to visit anyways. She did promise to finish her tour from earlier. I'm leaving now, so I'm hoping to cash in on a rain check later." Why was she leaving? No, she had to stay.

"Oh, you aren't going to finish it tonight?" I couldn't stop the sound of disappointment in my voice.

"Yes, unfortunately. I asked Jasper to take me home after dinner. I'm feeling a bit jet lagged from my flight and I had a few drinks with dinner the combination makes it hard to stay fully conscious. Better to get home and get some sleep. Still need to settle in before Monday morning meetings." She did have a long day, and me keeping her here was probably not a good thing.

"You're right." I conceded. "It's probably best for you after having to deal with the lot downstairs."

She had a few drinks tonight, so that probably explained her lack balance. I wanted to make sure she didn't have any more accidents. "Let me make sure you get down the stairs in one piece." I motioned that I would follow after her as we left the library.

She waited for me outside as I turned off the lights to the library and locked it up for the night. She held on tightly to the banister while her book was tucked under her arm and her free hand held her shoes.

I wanted to hear her voice again. How could I get her speak? I remembered that being part of the fellowship, the university placed her as a resident advisor in one of the halls on campus.

"So what hall did the university place you in?" I tried looking at her without her catching me. I was surprised she didn't notice.

"I think its Hammond Hall?"

I knew that building, I walked past it every day on my way to my office. "That's the co-ed one next to the Behavioral Science building isn't it?"

"Yes, I believe so." I figured it wouldn't look to suspicious if I would stop by her apartment and walk with her into the lab every morning, I could say for the first few weeks I was making sure she wasn't getting lost.

"I'm still not familiar with the campus. I think Alice Brandon pointed it out to me when we came back from the grocery store today." She met Alice. That little pixie would probably love Bella. I looked back at the woman and I could picture the two of them becoming fast friends.

"You met Ms. Brandon?" She nodded. "She's a little spitfire, that one." I laughed thinking of all the times Alice would start heated debates in my lectures. I never discouraged it because it was a nice every once in a while.

We were close to the bottom of the stairs and I saw Jasper waiting for Bella with coats over his arms, and he waved at us. It was then that I saw out of the corner of my eye Bella tripping over something and falling forward. She dropped the shoes she held and reached for the banister with both of her hands, in time to safe her from eating it big time. I could hear soft chuckles from Jasper, which made me feel a twinge of anger towards him.

"Did you throw back another shot up there, Bella?" He was holding out a jacket for her to put on. Drinking was obviously not a good idea for her. I would note that for future reference.

I picked up her fallen shoes and placed them in front of her feet once she had her jacket on. I was going to let her step into them on her own, but I couldn't control myself. I needed to touch her again. As gently as I could, I wrapped my firm hands around her thin ankle and placed her foot in the first shoe. I was totally out of line, but no rational thought was left in my mind. Once her first foot was secured in place, I did the same to her other foot. When I was done I stood up to say my good bye, even though my heart was pounding so hard that I couldn't breathe. It would be difficult to wait until Monday to see her again.

"Thank you Dr. Cullen. It was very nice to meet you, and again I'm so sorry for earlier." She held out her small hand for me. I felt that a soft hug or a short kiss would have been more appropriate, but then I remembered I was technically her boss and a handshake was the only acceptable option.

So I took her hand and I felt the electricity I felt before, it coursed through me. "You're Welcome Ms. Swan, and the pleasure was all mine. Don't worry about earlier, I'm still alive, that's all that counts right?" She nodded and her face turned slightly red. "And please, you can call me Edward when we are away from the University." Or anything you wish. I will come when called by any name you give me. I was still holding her hand and I didn't want to release it. I realized that I was rubbing her hand with the pad of my thumb. This is so wrong, you need to stop Edward. Her eyes closed and I knew she needed to go.

"Then I guess you can call me Bella in that case. Good night Edward. I will see you on Monday?" She opened her eyes and I tried to convey with mine the want I had for her.

"Until then, Bella, sleep well." I know I will. I shot her another smile, seeing her go a deeper shade of red once more and turned away. I needed to leave before I followed her to Jasper's car and asked to tag along.

I walked back to the living room, looking for Ben or Angela and saw them standing next to my parents, hand in hand. I made my way over to join them.

"Edward, my boy. You look like you are feeling better." Carlisle had a small smile and took a sip from his glass, his usual after dinner dink of Crown on the rocks.

"Yes, a little bit. I think I just ate to much today. I needed a quick walk and it felt better." I looked to Ben and he nodded.

"That's good to hear." My mother patted my arm and held it in hers. "Did you get a chance to meet Ms. Swan before she left? I was going to introduce her to you when I continued the tour of the manor, but Jasper said she was exhausted from today and needed to get some sleep. The poor dear has had a busy day."

"Yes, I was able to meet her before she left. She seems really nice." And is absolutely breathtaking to the point my heart races at the very thought of her. "I think she will do just fine with the team." I fought to keep the stupid grin that was trying to break through at bay when I spoke of her. My mother smiled warmly at me with a strange look in her eye but I tried to quickly change the subject.

"Where's Emmett?" I didn't see my annoying brother or my soon to be sister-in-law anywhere when I looked around the room.

"They took off about a half hour ago, something about an early start in the morning." Angela answered and yawned a little.

Was I really talking to Bella that long upstairs? It felt like it happened so fast. "You look like you are getting a little sleepy there Ang. Are you going to be able to drive?"

"I'll be fine, besides I'm the only one here that didn't have a drop of alcohol, you boozers." We all laughed, my mother most of all.

"Before you go, I had Maria pack up some leftovers. Jasper took some for Bella after he told me she hardly ate tonight, so I figured I could send some off with you all." Bella didn't eat? I hope she's ok.

Ben, Angela and I followed my mother to the kitchen after we said goodbye to my father who went to speak with Aro Venicci, a member of the board of trustees. When we pushed through the swinging doors there were many containers of food stacked on the counter.

"I know you two don't have any food in the house right now, so I packed up a bit of everything." Esme started to put the containers in a large paper shopping bag then held it out for Angela to take. When she was done, she packed up three containers for me in a smaller bag.

"You didn't finish your desert so I had Maria pack you two of them." She handed me my bag and gave me a small peck on the cheek and wiped it with her thumb to remove her lipstick that marked me. "I love you dear. I'm so happy that you could make it tonight."

"I'm glad I could make it too, mom. Everything was wonderful." I leaned in and gave her a hug.

"Please visit me more often. I do miss you." Her words were soft when she whispered in my ear.

I couldn't deny my mother when she spoke like that. "I promise." I squeezed her tightly once more before I released her.

"I love you."

"Love you more, mom."

The three of us left her in the kitchen as she composed herself before returning to the guests.

Once we loaded the week's worth of food in the trunk, I remembered that there was half a bottle of scotch by the greenhouse still.

"Hey Ang, go ahead and warm up the car I'll be back in a moment." She got in and I heard the ignition as I ran off to the greenhouse to retrieve the bottle. No one seemed to have missed it inside, so it was going home with me.

When I was back and slid inside to the middle of the back seat Ben turned slightly and gave me a thumbs up and a wink when I showed him the bottle.

"So what was Isabella like? I wish I had a chance to meet her tonight, but I didn't see her after dinner." Angela signaled on to the main road back into the city.

"Like I said, Bella's very nice. She didn't speak a whole lot, but I think she was just overwhelmed with the whole night. I did most of the talking anyways." I kept seeing her beautiful brown eyes look at me in my thoughts.

"You did most of the talking?" Ben asked incredulously. "Edward Anthony Cullen controlled the conversation?"

"Um, I guess so. Yeah. What's the problem with that?" I was confused. Why was that an issue?

"Nothing, I guess there's nothing wrong with that." He looked and Angela and there was a quick exchange of smiles I caught between them quickly. What the fuck was that about?

"When are you going to be stopping by the lab on Monday?"

"I don't know. I meet with the board of trustees at nine and then I think there is a quick brunch and meeting with the heads of the departments around ten thirty. I'm thinking I'll be by around noon. You think the rest of the team will be able to get in then?" I was hoping that one member of the team would be able to make it just fine. Maybe I could give her a tour of campus afterward. She did say she wasn't familiar with the campus yet.

"Angela and I looked over the schedules that the team sent in, and it looks like that should be a good time. Newton will be done with his adventure hike before nine; I know Yorkie doesn't have anything that day until after six. Tyler is free all day and Alice and Bella should be done with the RA introduction meetings by eleven."

"Perfect. I think I'll order lunch for all of us. We can meet at the lab, give everyone a quick review of responsibilities and the stations and then the food can be here by one."

Ben turned to face me dead on, and scratched his head. "Wow Ed. What the hell happened to you? Usually you aren't this nice to the other members of the team until the semester starts. Not that I'm complaining or anything. Just, what's the deal?" I knew what the reason was for the change, but I wouldn't admit it to them.

I would play the "dick" card as I called it, trying to establish that I would not accept any fooling around and half-hearted efforts into the research. I took this seriously, and this was my livelihood. I would usually have to replace my undergraduate assistants with this tactic, but I never felt bad about it. But here I was, planning on treating everyone to lunch on the first day. I was not taking a good stand.

"Well, I want to try something different this year. We always seem to replace people at the beginning, so maybe if I started off nice, people wouldn't need to be replaced, and they'd actually do what's expected." It sounded like a solid enough reason.

Angela finally joined in as she pulled up in front of my townhouse. "Or maybe a certain wound-up Neuropsychology professor has a certain fondness for a brunette from Washington?" She turned to look at me as I unbuckled my seat belt.

"I have no clue what you mean there Ang, but I can assure you that I have nothing but a professional respect for all the members of the team." Crap, is it that obvious?

"Whatever you say Edward." She popped the trunk for me when I got out, still holding the bottle of scotch and retrieved my bag of food. When I closed the trunk I walked to Ben's open window.

"Thank you again guys for driving. I want you to drive safe and I will see you at noon on Monday."

"Night Edward." They called back in unison.

When I could no longer see them in the distance from my house I let myself in. It was dark so I turned on the hallway light that illuminated a majority of the area. I put the food my mother gave me away in the fridge and then found a glass and poured myself some scotch on the rocks.

I stood in the door frame of my kitchen and stuck my free hand in my pocket where I felt the silver cigarette case I had nicked from my mother's hiding place. A cigarette sounded pretty fucking good at the moment.

After a quick smoke out back, I had finished my drink and decided to get ready for bed. I climbed my stairs easily tonight and I knew there was a significant change in my attitude, and I liked it. I quickly changed into my usual boxers and tank ensemble for bed and brushed my teeth.

Tonight had started off full on anxiety, panic and dread of having to deal with all those people at the dinner. I never expected that a an evening I had hated for all these years would eventually turn into one of the best nights of my entire existence. If I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have met Bella like I did. I knew I would have eventually met her since were to work together, but we probably would never have had the same interaction as we did tonight and I would never forget every moment.

I quickly thought how lucky I was to have forgotten my trench that day back in May. If I hadn't forgotten it, her application would have never been found and I would have chosen someone else. I shook at the thought of how close it could have been.

Now that she was here I had to do what I could to make her feel comfortable and to want to stay. I wanted her to make it through the next three years with the research and the fellowship, and then I wanted her to stay here, with me, for the rest of my life.

As I started to fall asleep, I saw her face in my mind again. Her soft, curly hair falling around her face. I remembered the smell of the strawberries and freesia from that moment in the library. The warm smooth feel of her porcelain skin, and the burn I felt that engulfed me when I touched her. Her wide innocent eyes as they looked into my own, her soft luscious lips I wanted to capture in mine.

I wanted to take her in my arms and never let her go.

I then remembered her dress when it had slipped down after we stood up from the floor after the fall. It had been so low and close to exposing her to me. I cursed now that I was not given the opportunity to see that sight.

I started to drift off in sleep now; dreaming of what I would see if I had stopped her from fixing her dress and had instead pulled it down slowly off of her. I was growing hard when the vision I had of her breasts were realized in my fantasy. I would take my hands and softly run them down her arms, pausing close to her breast and then move in to gently massage them with my palms, making her body go limp. I'd bring her tight into my arms and press her chest to mine, feeling her nipples pert with arousal.

I wouldn't stop myself as I'd kiss her deeply and sucking on her pouty lower lip, her moaning in my mouth making my erection hard against her stomach where it wouldn't go unnoticed. Our kissing would grow until she tried to pull back, gasping for air. When she would, I'd dive my face down and take her exposed nipples into my mouth one at a time, sucking and nibbling on both of them until she moaned my name out loud.

I was just on the verge of going over the edge, gripping tightly on to my enlarged cock as I stroked it hard and fast. I was ready to release, and I knew it would be very big and messy, but I couldn't care less. When I reached my climax I screamed her name, "Bella!" into the darkness of my room. Whimpering and moaning as I emptied myself into the sheets of my bed. There was a immense feeling of joy and sadness that filled when I finished.

A joy that for the first time in over ten years I had not gone to bed dreading the next day or needing to take a Xanax before falling asleep. There was something in my life that made me want to get up in the morning and to move forward.

But also a sadness because the reason for all those things was not asleep beside me.

I quickly stripped the covers and changed the sheets. Once I was back in the comforts of my bed, I fell asleep once more and dreamt of the goddess I would see again on Monday.

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