He leant over to his bedside table drawer to get protection, and I closed my eyes and started to cuddle against him. In just a few seconds, he was doing enough cuddling for the both of us.

Chapter 12

I was woken up around 6:15 in the morning by something nuzzling at my shoulder.

"Go away, Alice," I mumbled, lazily batting her away. I heard a soft chuckle and then felt a light kiss on said shoulder. Awareness of where I was last night came back to me, and I realized that this wasn't Alice at all.

"I hope your roommate doesn't wake you up like this. Don't think Jasper would care for that."

I turned my head and smiled at him. I leaned in for a kiss before remembering I hadn't brushed yet, and quickly jerked back. He quirked an eyebrow, clearly puzzled as to why I pulled back.

"I haven't brushed," I said, putting my hand up to my mouth.

He was clearly undeterred, as he went in for the kill anyway.

After a pleasant thirty minutes or so, Edward went to hop in the shower. He asked me to join him, and as tempting an offer as it was, I didn't want to run the risk of making him late to work. I put on my dress yet again, cursing myself for not having the sense to bring something else to wear.

Well, I didn't exactly plan on spending the night. Did I?

If it happened again, I'd just have to be prepared next time. Big "if", of course.

After he had gone, I was left to my own devices in the sizable condo. The flower shop didn't open for a couple of hours yet, but I wasn't tired enough to try to sleep again. I took a seat on the leather couch and looked around, thinking about what I did know about Edward Cullen. As I watched him earlier this morning munching on a bagel across the table from me, I started to tally things up in my head. Edward was a good conversationalist and a good listener. He had a great sense of humor. He was a good cook. He was incredibly sexy, and very good in bed. I liked Edward quite a lot, and he seemed to like me as well. The many female recipients of flowers were still in the back of my mind, but I also couldn't help but feel in some small way that everything we were doing was something more than that. That it might have been a prelude to an actual relationship.

I drove home, got a shower and changed, then walked to work. I managed to open the shop just before 9 that morning, knowing that I had a lot of orders to fill. I grabbed the stack of invoices to take to the back prepping area where I actually made the arrangements when a slip of paper fell out. It was smaller than the other forms and seemed out of place in the pile, so I picked it up and glanced at it.

Rosalie Hale – remarkable day

Rosanna Hamilton – remarkable evening

Dozen y. roses each

Edward Cullen

My knees felt kind of rubbery, and I had to sit down. I had somehow let myself get swept up in this dream of a whimsical romantic weekend with this playboy, thinking that it would lead to something more, and forgot about everything else that my mind was telling me. Like 'stay away' for example. I did have a great time and some amazing sex, but that didn't change the fact that this could well have been a typical weekend for the man I shared it with. My stomach lurched.

Sigh.

I made the arrangements of yellow roses and filled out both cards somehow without losing that morning's breakfast.

The day seemed to drag on and on once I finished all the arrangements, and I didn't have very many customers. I only saw Emmett briefly, and he was loading up orders while I was on the phone. He must have forgotten to hang around and ask me further details about what little Alice had spilled at the club the other night, or was just waiting to ask me later. I hoped it was the former.

I looked up at the clock and noted that it was nearly lunch time, just as the phone rang.

"Eternally Yours."

"Hey Bells, free to talk?" It was Alice.

"Sure, I'm not too busy right now. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much." She sighed, and I remembered what she'd done this morning.

"Jasper caught his flight okay?"

"Yes, left on time and everything."

"And how are you?"

"I'm just missing him, you know. Counting the days and trying to keep busy in the meantime."

Uh oh. The last time Jasper was away for more than two days, she redecorated the living room, lined all the kitchen shelves, cleaned the oven, and flipped both of our mattresses over. I honestly wasn't sure if there were any odd jobs around the house left for her to do.

"Anything I can do to help?" I offered.

"Well, you can give me permission to clean out, I mean up, your closet."

"Uh, I'd really rather you didn't." I saw the look in her eye the other night when we were looking for an outfit, and I was sure she'd toss half my wardrobe if she thought she could get away with it.

"Oh come on, Bella! Let me do this for you." I could just picture the puppy dog eyes over the phone.

"Well the fact of the matter is that I need my clothes, Alice. I really can't afford to go buy a whole new wardrobe after you throw everything out."

"I wouldn't throw everything out."

"No, Ali, please."

"Look, at least let me organize it a little better for you? Pair up some outfit options and stuff?"

I thought about this for a few seconds. "You promise not to throw anything out?"

"Maybe just a couple of things that I've not seen you wear in a long time, or ever, okay? That's all, I promise."

"Well…"

"Please, Bella? PLEASE?"

Like I could say no to her. "All right, fine. Just a few things maybe, but nothing more!"

"Yay, thank you! That should kill at least a few hours until you get home."

I couldn't wait for this day to be over.

Four years later, I'm finally trying to get back to this story. I know this was kind of a transition one with not a lot of action, but it's taking me some time to get back into the HLM,HLMN world. I also desperately need a beta to bounce ideas off of in addition to error-checking and just generally keeping me motivated to finish this. Anybody interested?