EPOV

Chapter Eight

I didn't sleep at all Monday night. I couldn't believe just how royally I had fucked up everything with Bella. I should have been upfront with her from the beginning. I should have told her that I knew who she was and that she and I needed to talk. I was such an idiot for putting it off. I don't know why I thought that it would be a good idea to just surprise her at the school.

After I left the party that night I went to see Emmett and Rose. I was hoping that they would have some good advice for me. Unfortunately all they could tell me was what I already knew, which was that I was a complete dumbass. Then not five minutes after I got there Rose got a phone call from Bella and rushed over to her house. It was obviously bad enough that she called my sister-in-law. I was such a jerk.

If all of that wasn't bad enough, I also had to deal with Tanya. I had so much guilt already over how I had handled the Tanya situation. I should have never left Chicago for Seattle without telling her it was over. I didn't want to have to deal with it so I was naïve and hoped that by just leaving the problem would go away. Well it didn't and now I was in a complete mess. I had fallen for Bella, but I was still technically dating Tanya. And even though I knew that I was going to be ending things with Tanya in just a few days, I still felt terrible for making Bella think that I was available when I wasn't quite available yet. Not to mention that I was being beyond unfair to Tanya.

All of this had me up all night worrying about what I needed to do. I finally decided that the best thing for me to do would be just to take it one step at a time. First I had to get through the next few days on campus with Bella. We were on a committee together that was going to meet the very next day and we had to be professional. Once we made it through the week then I had to get through Friday night at the party. I needed to let her know that I wanted her without actually doing anything with her. I couldn't let anything physical happen with Bella until after I talked to Tanya. So I would get through Friday night and then Saturday I would go to Chicago and end things with Tanya so that finally I could start everything over with Bella and make things right with her.

~SoaP~

Tuesday morning I was a bit of a wreck. I arrived at work at eight, hoping to get some of my office organized before my meetings started at ten. I immediately noticed that the faculty members I ran into in the halls were definitely curious about what happened. I saw the strange looks and I knew that if I were anyone but their boss that they would have already asked. However, no one wanted to be the person that asked me and I wasn't about to offer up any information on my personal life to people that I had only known for a day. So I closed myself in my office and had my secretary hold all of my phone calls.

At exactly ten I walked into the conference room where my first meeting was being held. I had been anxiously awaiting this particular moment because I knew that Bella would be in attendance. She was on the committee that had been set up to help me come up with new ideas for the department. I nervously ran my hands through my hair and straightened my tie.

As soon as I walked into the room my eyes landed on Bella. It was like there was no one else around when she was near me. I was drawn to her. I stared into her beautiful brown eyes until I saw a blush come across her cheeks and she looked down at the notebook in front of her. I finally tore my eyes away from her and sat down at the table. Everyone was already there, so I started the meeting.

Throughout the talks of raising enrollment for upper level classes, ways to incorporate more creative writing into our program, and the role of the writing lab, I couldn't keep my eyes away from Bella. She didn't talk a lot throughout the meeting, but when she did contribute it was always worth listening to her. She really was extremely intelligent and I could see her being completely in control of a classroom. Not only was she smart, but she was gorgeous. I was certain that she had dressed for the day just to torment me. She had on a skirt that showed off her shapely legs perfectly and a top that gave me a hint of her cleavage. It was pretty sad that I spent the majority of the meeting fantasizing about how she would look naked, laid across the conference table. I could just imagine her beautiful legs parted with my hand skimming up her thighs as I attacked her lips with my own.

All of a sudden the meeting was over and I couldn't even stand up to leave the room because of a slightly large problem in my pants. Jesus, I had just gotten hard in the middle of a meeting because I couldn't stop thinking about Bella. I needed to get myself under control. I had not even kissed her yet and I was already fantasizing about fucking her on a table. I was in serious need of relief or I knew that I would walk around for the rest of the day with a semi-hard on.

Bella, however, didn't let me escape easily. She waited until everyone else had left the meeting before walking over to me. I had to pretend like I was entering something important into my iPad so that I didn't have to stand up. There was no way that she would miss the reaction that I was having to her presence if I were to stand up in front of her right then. So I just looked up at her and smiled, trying to act like I hadn't just been thinking of her naked for the past hour.

"Edward," she said. "I just wanted to see how you are doing today."

"I'm much better now that I know you are speaking to me again, Bella. How are you? Were you ok last night?"

She nodded and smiled. "I'm doing ok now. I talked to Rose and she explained some things. I'm not mad anymore, Edward."

I grinned at her then and was about to reply when she leaned down so that her mouth was close to my ear. "I can't wait until Friday night," she whispered to me, running her hand across my chest. Before I even had a chance to process what happened, she was out the door and I was left alone. That woman was going to be the death of me. It was time to go to the bathroom and take care of the state that she left me in.

~SoaP~

Wednesday went much like Tuesday. I spent most of the day in my office getting everything together that I needed, while attending meetings with various faculty members. And every time I saw Bella my body would immediately react to her. It didn't help that she would go out of her way to touch me, by either brushing her body against mine when she left a room or running her fingertips across my shoulders. She always made sure that there was no one else around when she would do so, but the sexual tension was driving me insane. I knew it was her way of letting me know that not only was I forgiven, but that she wanted to give a more personal relationship a chance. I knew that Friday night was going to be hell trying not to touch her. But I also knew that the minute my plane landed on Sunday I was going straight to her house so that I could finally taste her lips.

Thursday morning I found myself once again in my office trying to work instead of thinking about Bella when there was a knock at my door. I yelled for whoever it was to come in without even glancing up. I knew it was Bella immediately. My body started to pulse as it only did when she was around. I looked up and saw her closing the door behind her. She was biting her bottom lip, which I had already figured out was a nervous habit of hers.

"Bella, this is a pleasant surprise. What can I help you with?"

"Edward, I know that we need to talk about things, but I was hoping that we could wait until after the party. I thought that tomorrow night we could just have fun together."

I was slightly surprised at her request, mainly because I assumed that she would want to talk as soon as we had a chance. But I wasn't opposed to waiting. It would actually be better, because I would be free of Tanya before Bella and I had a serious discussion.

"Of course, whatever you want," I told her.

I saw her hesitate and I assumed that she was deciding between saying anything else or just leaving. I was surprised when I saw her straighten her shoulders and walk to my desk. She walked around the side of it until she was standing right next to me. Then she grabbed the arms of my chair and swiveled it to where she was standing directly in front of me. I couldn't breathe. She was so close to me and my heart was hammering in my chest. It wasn't until she was leaning down close to me that I finally snapped out of my Bella-induced haze.

"What are you doing sweetheart?" I asked her.

She leaned down until her hands were on my shoulders and her face was just inches from mine.

"I've been wanting to do this since I first saw you on that plane," she said to me and before I had a chance to respond her lips were on mine. Her lips were so soft and she tasted much better than I ever imagined. I grabbed her hips with my hands and groaned at the sensation of finally feeling her like this. Bella opened her mouth and I slipped my tongue against hers. The kiss was soft, sweet and slow and it had me wanting so much more from her. Before I could get too carried away, though, Bella pulled away and looked me in the eyes. I could see the flush across her face and neck and that alone had me wanting to grab her and pull her into my lap so that I could kiss her all day.

"Thanks, Edward," she said before I could do anything. "I will see you tomorrow night." And with that she turned and walked out of my office, closing the door behind her. I sat there staring at the door that she had just walked out of. That girl surprised me more and more every time that I saw her. I knew that I probably had the biggest, goofiest grin on my face, but I didn't care. I had finally kissed Bella.

I left campus not too long after that because there was no way I was going to be able to concentrate on anything else. All I could think about was Bella. I texted Emmett to see if he was free for lunch and luckily he was in between patients. I pulled into a diner close to his practice and found him waiting in a booth for me.

"So bro, why do you look like you just got fucked?" He asked me the minute I sat down. Leave it to my brother to just get straight to the point.

"Because Bella kissed me. And after the sexually frustrating week that I've had, a kiss at this point is almost as good as a fuck."

"Hell yea!" He exclaimed. "I knew she wouldn't be able to resist your Cullen charm. So did you finally decide that flying to Chicago wasn't necessary and just call Tanya to end things?"

Well that definitely ruined my good mood. I had completely forgotten about Tanya. Shit, this wasn't good. The look on my face must have given it away because Emmett said "Damn Edward, you better hope that Bella doesn't find out about Tanya."

I sighed. "She won't. I am supposed to be leaving Saturday and breaking things off. You know that I have been planning this. Even though I know that I technically did cheat on her, I don't feel like I did because I've known for so long that I was going there to end things. I'm going to come back Sunday and talk to Bella. I will tell her that I had dated someone back in Chicago before coming here, but I will just leave out the exact timeline of our break up. We are here in Seattle. There is no way she will find out. I'm not going to let my shit relationship with Tanya screw this up for me."

"I'm not judging you, bro," Emmett said. "I know things are over for you and Tanya and I know how you feel about Bella. Besides, she kissed you, not the other way around. Just be careful. And I will make sure that Rose knows not to mention Tanya to Bella. It should be fine."

I knew that I shouldn't have anything to worry about. The party tomorrow night would have a lot of people at it, so while I'm sure Bella and I would definitely be spending time together, it wouldn't be any alone time where anything could happen. But if I was honest with myself I knew that I didn't want to have to stay away from Bella or not be alone with her. It was no longer a possibility for me. So I made up my mind. I found the next flight to Chicago and booked it, with a return flight for the next afternoon. I was ending things right now and I would be free before that party tomorrow night.

Well there you have it, Edward has finally figured out that he needs to fix this situation sooner rather than later.

I know that I've been alternating POV, but I believe the next one will also be EPOV.. I don't want to keep you guys waiting for the big break up!