Her fingers went to the strings of her top. Edwards's lips parted as if to protest, but nothing came out.

She pulled at the black fabric, and in two movements, it had fallen off landing between them. Bella picked it up and tossed it to the side, she slid up Edward's body farther. Taking his head between her hands, she pulled him toward her, rubbing herself against the stubble of his chin. Her nipples, already so sensitive, pebbled into hardened peaks.

Edward was forced to hold himself perfectly still as the tips of Bella's soft breasts grazed his chin, her hard nipples brushing against his mouth. He met her gaze with a smoldering one of his own. He parted his lips ever so slightly until the slightest shift on her part had her nipples brushing against his tongue.

It was a daring move, one that just skirted the edge of the no touching policy and could get him kicked out of the club. But he hated being forced to just sit there and endure the endless teasing. Bella needed a taste of her own medicine.

He heard her stifle a gasp as she pulled away. Edward's eyes drifted to her breasts – the hard buds had puckered up completely now.

As Bella continued to tease Edward, her lips lowered to his ear as if to tell him a secret.

"I'm addicted to buying shoes. This is funding my bad habit."

He lifted his gaze, narrowing his eyes at Bella. Needless to say, he hadn't appreciated her answer. Shoe addiction his ass!

"I ought to smack you for that," he growled. Edward's cock twitched in his pants at the thought.

His words did nothing to dampen the heat between Bella's thighs. A wicked thought crossed her mind as she imagined herself bent over Edward's knee as he sensually smacked and massaged her backside, his fingers exposing her, exploring her sex; her entire body went warm at the thought. She found herself grinding herself over Edward's hardened cock, needing to find a little friction of her own. She moaned.

He clenched his jaw. That hadn't been the first time his hand had itched to do something like that. God only knew how he had managed to restrain himself time and time again. She was the most exasperatingly stubborn creature on Earth, and if anyone needed a good smack on the ass, it was definitely her. Maybe it would teach her a thing or two about her constant smart-aleck remarks.

"I suggest you don't tempt me," Edward said darkly before he paused, trying to get his thoughts back in order.

"You're not being forced to work here or anything, are you?" he asked abruptly. It was a horrifying thought, but not entirely impossible… in any case, it was the only worst case scenario he could think of.

Bella stripping of her own free will wasn't necessarily something that sat well with him, but he would prefer it over finding out that she was being forced into it or something fucked up like that. His jaw tightened.

Edward frowned as Bella leaned in close, she was practically pressed up his chest at that point. And try as he might, Edward could no longer move back in his seat to create that little gap of space he needed to keep his mind clear.

He glanced up at her breasts which hovered tantalizingly above him. He could see a light sheen from when those hardened nipples had brushed against his tongue, and the way she angled herself again seemed to invite him to take them in his mouth.

You know you want to...her coy smile seemed to whisper as she swayed above him.

Bella was getting frustrated. He was still talking about her work, something that was really beginning to irritate her. Couldn't he see that she didn't want to talk about this?

"What would you do if I was…" she asked coyly. She looked up at him through her eyelashes. Her fingers danced across his chest as she leaned in again to offer her breasts once more. Maybe he'd take her nipple in again, she hoped he would suck it, bite it… Anything!

"Would you save me, Edward?"

Edward took a deep breath, steeling himself against such temptations.

He narrowed his eyes at her playful question. She was mocking him. He was sure of it. But Edward wasn't so much bothered by that as much as he was by the truth to that question that nagged at him no matter how hard he tried to get away from it.

"I'm serious, Bella," he said a little sharply.

Bella took his head in between two hands, but instead of pressing his face against her breasts, she tilted it so he was looking at her. "Edward." She pursed her lips as she tried to formulate the best response in her mind. "It's sweet that you care, it really is… But I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. I've got my reasons for doing this, and you're just going to have to respect that."

Edward turned his head, brushing her words impatiently away. Why couldn't she just answer the damn question? He could sleep at night if he knew she wasn't being forced into something sordid.

He didn't want to care about Bella. After all, she had never given two hoots about him before. But that had never stopped Edward from being drawn to her. It wasn't an attraction really – at least, that's what he tried to tell himself. It was more like an interest. She fascinated him with her exasperating ways and doggone stubbornness... her passion… and the way she could hold a conversation with him and throw back just as many quick-barbed retorts his way as he did hers.

In short, Edward had never met anyone quite like Bella.

She was touched that he cared. His words had affected her more than they should have and it disturbed her, somewhat. Bella and Edward usually bickered and carried on or else completely ignored each other all together.

"Does anyone know? I mean... Rosalie, Alice? Do they know?"

"Of course not," Bella replied, flinching backward. She'd gone to great lengths to make sure her friends didn't know. She didn't want to feel the shame every time she left the house, seeing Rosalie's disapproving eyes or Alice blushing whenever Bella mentioned anything about it.

"I haven't told them," Edward assured her. "I haven't told anyone. I wanted to see you tonight first, to ask you about it..."

Sorry, that's a bit of a rude place to put the end of a chapter but I promise the next one will be a bit longer. And it'll be up in a couple of hours. :)

Tell me what your thoughts are so far! I'm so keen to know.