Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living, dead or undead, is entirely coincidental. I don't own Twilight, clearly.

Big thanks to betas bigblueboat and kitchmill! Thanks to them I discovered that ellipses are the bane of my existence.

Hello! Welcome back! Over four years ago I submitted a one-shot for a contest planning to make it a multi-chapter story. Now I'm finally doing it. Enjoy!

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THE RENDEZVOUS GAME

CHAPTER 2

"So how was the big wedding? I'm so sad I missed it." Angela had been in Tokyo for an emergency company summit meeting or else she would have attended as well. She was Bella's first real friend in the city, someone she would have liked to have had by her side at the wedding to prevent her from making several mistakes.

In the silent café, too soon on a Sunday morning, Angela noticed the telltale blush in Bella's cheeks while she responded, "It was great. Emmett and Rose are awesome together."

"What are you not telling me?"

Bella raised her head to look into her friend's eyes that were scrutinizing her. She knew her chest and whole face, that felt hot and probably appeared red, were giving her away. Angela had always been supportive of her in every way, except maybe her relationship with Jasper. And she didn't really know the extent of it—nobody did—but for some reason, her friend and her boyfriend didn't click. So Bella feared that when they approached the inevitable answer, Angela would jump at the opportunity to encourage her in the chance of having a different partner.

"I...ran into Edward," Bella said quietly, returning her eyes and hands to the coffee mug in front of her.

"Edward? The Edward Cullen?" Angela knew all about their history together during college, a few years ago, and her grin couldn't have been any bigger at that moment.

Bella simply nodded. Since coming home from the wedding, she often recalled that last night with Edward. It felt like a dream, like an out of body experience, too good to be true. And at the same time, the guilt ate at her when she thought of the strain that had formed between her and Jasper as of late. They'd been almost unconsciously avoiding each other, even though they still shared some sporadic affectionate moments. Their sexual encounters, although not as frequent, were always rough and intense. It was more a way of communicating their mutual frustrations than expressing love through intimacy.

Angela could tell it wasn't happy news for Bella, so she asked tentatively, "Wow, so how is he? Was it too weird?"

"It was weird," Bella responded. "He's ..." She sighed before her friend tried to lighten the mood.

"Still hot?"

Bella glanced up at Angela with a suffering look, trying so hard to repress her feelings for that man. "So much more."

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Bella was furiously typing into her laptop, so engrossed in the words that she didn't notice someone sneaking up on her and brushing his lips against the back of her exposed neck. She gasped and jumped in her seat at the minimal contact, startled. She relaxed a little when she heard him sigh behind her.

"Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me!" she exclaimed before standing up and rubbing the spot he'd attempted to kiss. It still tingled.

"Sorry," he said. "You looked so cute, all flustered and excited about whatever you're working on."

"Well, you messed it up now." She regretted her annoyed tone right away. It had been a long day for her. She experienced an inspiration boost recently, and she could go hours and hours writing without even realizing that the sun had set. Jasper often found her sitting behind her desk, typing, and then had to insist that she eat something, because she would forget.

He moved to embrace her, not ready to give up, and kissed her shoulder, then her neck as he whispered, "Break?"

She melted in his arms, feeling the exhaustion and her stiff muscles from sitting in the same position for so long. "Sorry. Yes, I'm actually done for the day."

After saving her work and shutting down the computer, Jasper took her hand and led her to the kitchen. He cooked a quick dinner for both of them while she sat with a glass of wine, watching him. She admired his cooking skills and the grace he showed moving around the room. Before she could stop them, her thoughts shifted to someone else, though. She remembered him cooking for her, doing all those weird experiments that most of the time tasted so good. The opposite of Jasper, he was disorganized, worked quickly and was a bit messy, but that was only in the kitchen.

It had been a couple of weeks with barely any contact with Edward. They texted here and there, occasionally. He was always the one initiating. Bella kept using the excuse that she was very busy, which she was—and wanted to be, just to take her mind off him—and had been postponing his insistent requests to take her out on a date. She had needed the distance, at first, so he gave it to her. But lately he had been more and more present in her thoughts. She didn't feel guilty about what happened at the wedding, but she wasn't ready to deal with the array of emotions it implicated, deep emotions she had buried years ago and he could so easily bring back.

So Bella wrote nonstop without running out of ideas or inspiration and kept in contact with Emmett, at least every three days via email. He'd also come to dinner with his wife and sister to Bella's and Jasper's once, but she didn't go by his office. She knew the minute she went in the building knowing Edward was working around there, she'd go looking for him, or he'd find a way to see her somehow, maybe trap her in a utility closet and caress her thigh, running his hand up her skirt inch by agonizing inch. She shook her head and took a sip from her cup.

It wasn't that she didn't want to see him. It was the fact that she felt still so very much attracted to him that kept her from following through on her dirty and sometimes scary thoughts. The terms of the relationship between herself and Jasper had always been clear to the both of them, so actually to start "dating" Edward, she felt, could potentially end up ruining what she had with Jasper. But then she had to think about her future and wonder whether that kind of relationship would work in the end.

Now, Jasper's situation was a different story. He found in Alice a very interesting person and friend. He felt attracted to her the way he felt toward Bella physically, but sometimes it seemed like there was something deeper between him and Alice. She challenged him constantly with her knowledge of art, and he loved it when she approved of his newest work and gushed about his old. She made him feel. She made him get hung up on her sweet and spicy words, carefree personality, and her looks were just the greatest bonus. Bella always appreciated his art, but she didn't know the depth of it. Alice got him. Still, her age was always present in his mind, so he never let it get too far, although he couldn't ignore her sexual allure. So yes, there had been some heavy kissing here and there, and for the most part they had been satisfied, but for how long could it go like that, Jasper wondered.

The only thing that didn't feel right was the fact that he hadn't told Bella about any of it. She knew Alice and he were good friends, but she warned him once about Alice being Emmett's sister, which could potentially put in jeopardy Emmett and Bella's work together in addition to their friendship. So he chose not to bring up Alice too much around Bella and not at all around Emmett and Rosalie. Of course, he'd had a brief conversation with Alice about it. She knew he was officially in a committed relationship with Bella and was aware of the dangers of her and Jasper getting too close together, but she assured him she didn't expect anything grand. She was having fun with her new friend. Jasper believed that as long as he had it all under control, nobody would get hurt, even himself.

The problem was the recent tension between him and Bella, which definitely didn't help matters. He felt at a lost as to how to fix it, and he also didn't want to interfere in her writing process with anything major. Their relationship had survived so far, so Jasper hoped things would get better.

Before he finished dinner, he saw Bella go over to the phone and listen to the messages left on the answering machine. She had been so focused on her new book lately that she didn't even get up to take calls. He heard Emmett's voice as he plated the pasta.

"Bella, I know you're there ... Anyway, just wanted to let you know that I'm taking a weekend off with Rosalie before I go to New York next week. I have it all filled up with meetings and stuff, so I might not get a chance to read everything you send me, which I know will be a lot, hence this voicemail. Listen, I don't want us to get behind, and Edward offered... So if you wouldn't mind emailing him your progress, we'll have a meeting next week and go through it together, okay? Bye!"

Bella re-entered the kitchen a few moments later with her empty glass of wine and sat down at the table opposite Jasper.

"Everything okay?" he asked, seeing as she looked a bit dazed.

"Yes, of course," she responded, looking up at him with a small smile. "This looks delicious."

They ate in silence for a while. Jasper noticed that since the wedding, she often had these moments of staring into space thinking about something. He knew something went on between her and Edward. He wasn't blind and could notice the chemistry, even her blush every time his name came up, but she had been so busy he didn't think she'd seen him again. Plus, she hadn't said anything about it either.

"Are you guys working with Edward, too?" Jasper asked, curious.

"Well, Emmett asked for my permission to consult with him on a few things because he was supposed to be so good." Bella paused for a second to measure her words. "He's shared some of my stuff with him."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yes, he's great."

Bella was still thinking about the voicemail. She knew Emmett recently worked with Edward a lot, but she hadn't, not directly. She didn't read all of Edward's notes as everything was done through Emmett, and her work had improved so much thanks to them. Knowing that Edward would probably read her words should have made her feel self-conscious because she always wrote from a very personal perspective, and especially when she was experiencing so many skin-deep feelings. She trusted him and his vision, but she was scared of what the future might bring.

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"Hey." He stood up when she arrived at his table, ready for a hand shake or a hug. Something. But she kept her distance and sat down opposite him instead.

"Hi, Edward."

There was an awkward moment of silence while they stared at each other. Then he motioned at the young waitress so that Bella could ask for her drink. She quickly scanned the menu and ordered her meal when the waitress brought her wine.

He'd finally convinced her. Bella thought she could get away with emailing back and forth, but Edward wanted to meet with her to discuss her progress while Emmett was gone. He was completely amazed by her work, and he told her so.

"Thank you."

She was still debating whether it would have been more professional or rather dangerous to meet at his office, behind closed doors and a lock, than it was here eating lunch in public, where he could easily consider it a date more than a work meeting. Bella felt his hand on hers and decided that every possible scenario was a bad idea with this man.

"Relax," he whispered softly.

She resisted the urge to turn her hand and grab his, but didn't slip it off either. She liked feeling the warmth.

"This is not a date, Edward," she said with a slight shake in her voice.

"You don't sound convinced," he countered, smirking. "Do you want it to be?"

"It's not."

After a long moment, he finally conceded. "Okay."

The waitress appeared then with their meals, and so the afternoon went on. They talked endlessly about Bella's book, both of them enjoying greatly each other's company and conversation. To anyone around, they were the perfect picture of a couple, exchanging meaningful looks and finding a way to touch the other—one hand here, a brush of fingers there—without even realizing.

Anyone including Alice, who was on her way to the beauty salon to get pampered before having to return to campus at the other side of the country soon.

She was running late or else she would have gone in to say hi to Bella and her brother's friend and coworker ... or maybe not, because they looked very engrossed in each other. Alice wondered if Jasper knew about their date and in that case, if he didn't mind that another man was making googly eyes at his girl. Then again, Jasper himself wasn't exactly innocent in regards to her. As she kept walking down the street, she tried not to think about him, about his pleasing words and soft kisses. She'd be at the other side of the country in less than three weeks, right after her birthday. She would miss him.