BPOV
I rub my eyes after staring at this brief for what feels like hours. I was supposed to be assisting Rose, but for some reason, I got saddled with this brief like I was one of the firm's paralegals.
My laptop seemingly floats away to the coffee table.
"You're done for the night," Edward tells me as he puts my feet in his lap.
"But—"
"This is work you're only assisting on, Bell. Rose is the one who should be stuck at home on a Saturday night but I know for a fact that she went to a dinner being hosted by the Bears," he says with a sigh.
Em is a tight end for the Bears, so I know where his intel is coming from.
"Alec is expecting—"
"Fuck Alec too. You have a problem with saying no. Your willingness to help others is one of the things I love about you, but it's also one of the things that drives me crazy. You need to start being a little selfish," he says, giving my foot a squeeze.
I know he hates Alec, thinks he flirts too much with me. He was also less than thrilled that I've been teamed with him yet again.
I get his ire but I know he trusts me.
"We both seem to be free tonight," I point out.
"Do you want to go out?" he asks as he leans in to kiss my neck.
"I'd rather stay in," I say, placing a kiss on the side of his head.
"Before you, I'd be itching to go out," he admits.
"What changed?"
"You," he says simply, pulling back only slightly to look at me. "I used to people-watch and sip my scotch. Going out with Em and Jasper kept my mind busy, but then you came along and I wanted you to keep me busy."
I cup his face.
"I love that we keep each other occupied," I confess, giving him a kiss.
He deepens it.
~PR~
I add just a dab of lip gloss to my lips and glance at the photo booth chain of photos I stuck in the corner of my mirror.
Edward took me to a party of a friend of a friend last week and it so happens they had a vintage photo booth in their studio.
In the first photo we were making silly faces, me sticking my tongue out and him going cross-eyed. The second, he presses his cheek to my cheek and the third his lips meet my cheek and I sport a look of surprise.
It was perfect really. The only issue is we're still referring to each other as friends.
I sigh, shoving my lip gloss into my purse.
"Are you ready yet?" Ang asks in my doorway.
"Yes, I'm coming," I grouch.
"You know you have a habit of being late everywhere," she muses as we make our way to the front door.
I give her a mock glare before I open the door for her and lock up.
"So, do you make it a habit to always be running late?" Ang snarks.
I roll my eyes at her.
I order the Uber before we make it down to the lobby.
Edward is having a party tonight at his loft and assured me Rose wasn't invited. Tanya would be there because a lot of his musicians will be there.
I understood that he still had to be cordial with her and he proved that he wasn't romantically involved when he pulled me out of that bar a month ago.
Rose and I have been avoiding each other. I knew if I talked to her that I would lose it on her and give her exactly what she wanted. She wanted a confrontation so the peers in our classes wouldn't respect me.
I believe she'd go as far as to ruin my reputation whether it's my personal or professional one.
"Are all his parties work involved?" Ang asks from beside me in the car.
"He told me his friends are mostly through work but Emmett and his cousin, Jasper are his closest friends that aren't work-related," I explain.
When he spoke of Emmett, I could tell he was one of his best friends. They grew up together and though they had vastly different paths in life, they were always supporting each other.
Emmett would travel in the off-season with Edward to shows or if he had a movie he was composing for and Edward went to as many of Emmett's games as he could if he was in town.
Edward teased that Emmett held all his secrets.
"You do know that you've gotten real dreamy lately," Ang says knowingly as the driver pulls up to Edward's building.
"Dreamy," I repeat dryly.
"Yeah, all eyelash fluttering," she says while batting her eyelashes at me.
I huff out a laugh before getting out of the car.
A lot of people are scattered about outside and in the lobby. It was like this the first time we were here.
His loft is big enough not to look overly crowded when we enter.
"This place could fit like two apartments in here, I meant to say that the last time we were here," she says looking around.
"It is very spacious," I say, guiding us through his loft, not sure of where Edward might be.
"I see Tanya is no longer playing hostess," I hear a girl say as I pass in the hall.
"Rumor is he's seeing someone," a girl with short spiky hair and a nose ring replies.
"Did Jazz tell you that?" a girl with longer dark hair asks, it was the same girl I initially heard.
"He said there is a girl that he's been hanging out with," she says skeptically.
"I wonder who she is. This has definitely knocked Tanya down a few pegs."
"All I know is he met her through Rose," the pixie responds.
"I thought Edward wasn't close with his sister?"
"He isn't, but you know how Rose is—"
"Closed off?"
"She doesn't play well with others," the shorter girl says with a snicker.
"Well if that doesn't confirm anything for you," Ang says close to my ear.
I nudge her and we make our way further into his loft to the living room.
Like the last time, Edward is surrounded by people while he tells an animated tale to the group. He vapes when he pauses and has everyone hanging off his every word after he exhales.
His eyes meet mine in between a puff.
His smile widens.
He excuses himself and is met with some protests from his audience.
"I'm here all night," he jokes with them holding his hands up as he walks toward me.
"So charismatic," Ang says with an eyelash flutter.
"Quit it," I grit.
"Hey," Edward says, pulling me into a hug and placing a kiss on my cheek.
"Hey," I say back as I step out of his embrace. "You've met Angela before."
"Nice to see you again," he says, giving her a quick hug.
"You too," she says with a grin.
She loves a charmer and a charmer he is.
I notice him doing a once over of my outfit.
"Here let me take your coats," he says, helping us both out of them. "I'm just going to run these to my room. Feel free to grab a drink at the bar over there or from one of the cocktail waitresses floating around."
"Thanks," Ang and I say at the same time.
"Be right back," he says walking backward and quickly turning around to hurry in the direction of his bedroom.
"Up close he is ridiculously good-looking, like how do you stand it," Ang says, fanning herself off.
"He's more than just a face," I defend.
"I mean that ass in those pants—"
"Stopppp," I whine.
"Bella likes a boy," she sings.
A cocktail waitress walks by and we both snag a glass of champagne.
"You, Bella?" A booming voice asks from beside me.
"I am," I say carefully.
"I remember you," he says with a big cheesy grin and I know this is Emmett. "That and Ed's always googly-eyed over your Instagram."
"Googly-eyed?" Ang asks suddenly, very interested.
Emmett nods excitedly.
"Thinks she's the prettiest thing he's laid eyes on," he sings.
It's quick but Edward is back and shoving him.
"You never know when to quit," Edward says gruffly. "Don't listen to a word he says, he has been concussed one too many times."
"Hey, CTE is a real circumstance of my profession. Not cool, bro," Emmett mumbles.
Ang giggles.
Emmett perks up at this and offers to take her to get food from the caterers in the kitchen. She happily accepts.
"I'm sorry," Edward says once they leave.
"About what?"
"Emmett. He can be… a lot," he finishes.
"He was fine."
"He was right though."
"About?"
"You are the prettiest thing I've ever laid eyes on," he murmurs.
I try really hard not to swoon.
"Cheesy," I say making a face.
"So pretty," he croons.
He takes my hand and leads me to where he just came from.
"Where are we going?" I ask as he gestures for me to enter his room.
I notice that Ang's and my coats are the only ones in here.
"I just want a minute with you… without all that out there," he says with a sigh as he takes a seat on his bed. "I have to be 'on' out there."
"Why?" I ask curiously.
"Networking is what I do at these things, or at least one of the main reasons I host them," he explains. "I'm able to get more upcoming projects from these."
"Really?" I say surprised.
"Yeah, but it gets exhausting," he says, running a hand over his face.
I don't know where my boldness comes from but I toe my flats off and climb up onto his bed and cross my legs.
He smiles and turns to face me.
One foot on the ledge of his bed and his other knee resting close to mine.
"I understand exhausting," I tell him.
He cocks his head.
"I suppose you do," he says with a soft smile. "Don't you have finals?"
"Next week, but I needed a breather," I reply.
In all honesty, I should be cramming, but I wanted to spend my night with him.
Our lunches were easy and I enjoyed his company.
He also checked in a lot to see how I was doing. He knew law school was stressful and might have had dinner sent to my apartment on more than one occasion.
I don't think I've ever met anyone this attentive or thoughtful.
"Well I'm glad you could make it," he says as he reaches out to squeeze my hand.
"Me too," I smile, turning my palm up in his hold.
We talk about anything and everything and when I finish my champagne he goes to get us more.
He makes a few trips.
We curl up on our sides and face each other at some point. He reaches out to brush back the hair that has fallen in my face.
His eyes are a vivid green and I never noticed that or maybe I just haven't been this close to him before.
He leans in.
I lean in.
And we kiss.
There is something delicate in his kiss like he needs to be careful with me. When he pulls back I can see his vulnerability.
I fist the collar of his t-shirt and slam my mouth to his in return.
We get so carried away in our making out, that I'm surprised when he's the one to stop whatever is brewing between us.
"I want to do this right," is all he says and I see that vulnerability again.
I nod in agreement.
We both lay back down facing each other.
I'm not sure if I'm the first to close my eyes or if he is.
~PR~
"Do you remember the first time we did this?" I ask through my panting.
He gives me a peck before he pulls back.
"What, make out? Foreplay?" he asks a little winded himself.
I let out a laugh.
"Yes, making out," I say, resting my hands on his shoulders as he hovers above me.
"I do," he says with a wistful smile. "That was the night I knew I wouldn't let you go."
"Sap," I say, giving him a playful shove.
His eyes implore.
"I'm being serious," he murmurs.
I know he means it.
"That was also the first night I had a dirty dream about you," he says with a cheeky grin.
Now he's teasing.
"Oh yeah?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
He nods again.
My fingers travel up into his hair and I give it a good tug, knowing how much he loves that.
"Want me to show you what happened in that dream, Bell?" he whispers in my ear while he grinds into me.
A throaty moan escapes me before we both slowly undress each other.
A/N: Does anyone know where we are at in the song? Thanks to CoppertopJ for betaing!