Chapter Five

Didn't they tell us, "Don't rush into things"?

Didn't you flash your green eyes at me?

Haven't you heard what becomes of curious minds?

~ Taylor Swift, Wonderland (Taylor's Version)

BPOV

I was fucked.

And not in the good way.

Well, hopefully in the good way. Eventually. Or sooner rather than later. Because I was also fucked in the way that after three dinners with the man I was hooked on every word he said. I watched him laugh beside me at that secluded table on top of the Space Needle and tried to think of the perfect way to describe that pretty way his green eyes gleamed when he smiled. And I was suddenly a very die hard Seahawks fan. Knew nothing about the team besides the playfully sarcastic and heartbreakingly gorgeous quarterback but it was enough for a girl who couldn't have cared less about the game a matter of weeks ago.

But the way he talked about his job had me, me, excited about going to a game. Me, the girl who didn't even have enough school spirit to go to a football game in high school.

And, for some reason, he seemed just as interested in me and my life. I followed up his question about the number of grammys I had with the disclaimer of how snubbed my last album was and he looked at me like I had five heads. And said I wasn't snubbed, I was blacklisted. And I could hardly call myself a flop with four Grammys under my belt.

It was amazing. Stupidly eye opening as I watched him get so invested in every word I said. Genuinely listening to me and asking questions about my life and work and caring about the answers.

I wasn't sure the last time anyone had truly cared about me. Not my name or status or job, but me.

The pretty face and the way he seemed to have to keep reminding his hands to stay by his side all night were a few extra perks.

We ended up on a cozy little swinging bench he had between a few giant pine trees in his backyard. Edward lazily threw a tiny little stuffed football toy across the yard and Daisy sprinted after it.

I had kicked my heels off in the grass beneath us and tucked my legs up underneath me. Even the small sprinkling of rain drops couldn't ruin the evening. Because as soon as we sat on the swing Edward's free hand that wasn't playing fetch with Daisy was sandwiched firmly between both of mine.

It was about double the size of my own palm. Covered in calluses but gently squeezing mine every few minutes as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

This entire thing… it felt too easy. Too perfect. A wonderland that had been so perfectly placed before me to enjoy. And while my instinct to protect myself usually led to me not enjoying things, I had this gut feeling that I would regret it if I let that get in the way.

Or I had eaten too much desert after dinner.

Either way, I was fucked.

I chuckled to myself as Daisy apparently decided she was done with her game of fetch with Edward and happily plopped herself down in the damp grass to lay her head on the stuffed football.

"Bella," Edward sighed softly.

I turned my head in his direction, immediately dazed by how close he suddenly was. Those green eyes were deadly and I had learned it took me a good twenty seconds to be able to form a sentence after getting dazzled by them.

Edward's hand reached up and brushed a heavy rain drop off of my cheek right after it fell. His lips curved up to the side as his fingers lingered underneath my chin. My heart sputtered out an embarrassingly uneven beat as his lips just barely brushed against mine.

It was quite possibly the softest, most romantic kiss I had ever received. A girl could only take so much, though, so the desperate whimper that got stuck in the back of my throat as he pulled away was hardly my fault.

"You're going to be the death of me, princess," he mumbled against my lips.

I had to press mine together to stop from smiling. I never realized I was the princess kind of girl. Would have thought it was an almost demeaning nickname coming from just about anybody else in the world. But the way it rolled off of Edward's tongue had my toes curling up underneath me and a hot blush rushing to my cheeks. He always said it with the perfect mixture of playfulness and innuendo that only he could pull off.

Because I was the kind of girl who could write one hell of a love song off of one stolen glance, who could fall head over heels for someone in a matter of hours, I was so completely fucked when his fingers threaded through my hair and he pulled me in for a full mindmelting kiss that had my lungs screaming and my heart forgetting about anything besides him.

—How You Get The Girl—

Sex dreams had never been my thing. Even as I was going through puberty with hormones running wild, I couldn't remember a single erotic dream. Daydreams, sure, but none that actually penetrated my subconscious.

I blamed the whole princess thing.

Because all I could remember from the dream was the feel of soft hairs tangled between my fingers and teeth against my thigh as Edward muttered "You'll be the death of me, princess," against my skin.

I couldn't even be mad at Daisy as she punched my bedroom door and woke me up just when it was getting good.

We plopped ourselves back in bed, Daisy curling up right beside me and nudging my hand with her head until I was scratching the exact spot behind her ear she wanted.

I liked to think I knew myself pretty well. Maybe too well thanks to the copious amounts of therapy I had been through.

I knew my relationship with Jacob had never been made to last. I knew I was not a casual dating kind of girl or (thanks to an incredibly awkward encounter six months after our break up) the kind of girl who could move on from someone by getting under someone else.

I knew I was a girl who still had this fairytale daydream of a life floating around in my head even though I had more than enough evidence to prove it was unlikely to ever happen.

It didn't make me want it any less, though.

So, I wanted a happily ever after. Sue me.

And I was falling embarrassingly fast for the crooked smile and soft smiles and kisses that had my mind turn to mush. But the real kicker was that it didn't feel one sided. At all.

We might have spent a good hour entangled on that bench, most of it spent with our breath intermingled and hands testing the limits of a practically two-day-old relationship. Limits Edward was excellent at pushing and teasing, but never crossing. Limits a man who was only after sex wouldn't have cared to respect.

After an hour of cuddling with Daisy and attempting to solve all of life's problems, I begrudgingly got out of bed. Perfect timing because just as I was walking down the hall toward the kitchen, Sam was setting a bag of something that smelled amazing on the counter.

Sam was a man of few words. A look from him could say more than his lips ever could. So the chuckle and gleam in his eye as he left the food and went back outside told me three things.

One: My feelings for Edward were written all over my face. The giddiness and excitement and happiness that had been missing from me for longer than I would like to admit were impossible to hide.

Two: The food was not from him, or Angela who knew I would be useless on my own.

Three: Edward had unknowingly passed Sam's own tests.

Sam was a professional. But he was also a friend. I spent more time with him than just about anybody. He would never admit it, especially to me, but I was fairly certain he broke Jacob's nose the day after he called off our wedding.

He never made it a secret that the few men I had seen in the last few years weren't on his good side. To be fair, he was right on all accounts.

Still. The fact that Edward had somehow charmed the nearly uncharmable Sam was impressive, even to me.

My phone vibrated in the pocket of my leggings.

Had some lunch delivered for you if you're up. Hope the guacamole is up to your standards. Are you up for another date tonight?

I plopped myself down at the counter, reading and rereading the text before I worked up the nerve to respond.

Thank you for lunch, I appreciate it. I've never met guacamole that I didn't love. And I would love another date tonight.

There was a response waiting for me by the time I had plated myself up a serving of a delicious looking quesadilla with a generous serving of guacamole.

Good, because I already left you a surprise for the evening in the bag in the foyer. I'll pick you up at five.

I frowned down at the text and then shuffled my way to the foyer and sure enough, a simple brown bag sat on the table in the entryway.

I choked out a laugh as I peeked inside.

—How You Get The Girl—

I was putting the finishing touches on my hair when he materialized in the doorway of my bedroom.

After pulling my ponytail through the back of the cap I had been given, I smiled over at him and did my best little cheer pose with a fist bump in the air. "Go Seahawks!"

Edward pressed his lips together, eyes darkening as he looked me up and down. I expected a chuckle or laugh, but then his tongue came out and brushed against his bottom lip as his eyes slid back up my body and my mind blacked out for a few seconds.

My surprise had been an outfit for the evening. Most of an outfit. A Seahawks t-shirt, cap, and tennis shoes. The t-shirt was surprisingly comfortable, and cute. A dark navy blue fitted tee with Seahawks written in the center in green. Even the tennis shoes had matching green laces, and the cap was embroidered with the Seahawks logo.

I paired it all with a pair of well-work black jean shorts I had brought with me and was enjoying my walking billboard ad of an outfit a little too much.

Edward, it seemed, was enjoying it as well. Enough to have my stomach twist in a knot as he stared.

"It's um—very impressive that you got everything in the perfect size," I blubbered out, desperate for something to slice through the tension that started suffocating me.

Edward shook his head slightly, smiling over at me. "Your brother is very helpful."

I scoffed out a laugh. He was lucky I loved him.

Seth.

My brother.

Not Edward.

You are so fucked, I thought to myself. Over and over as Edward took a few steps toward me, his fingers absentmindedly twirling my ponytail in a twist.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek that left my skin on fire. "You look beautiful."

My toes scrunched up in my tennis shoes. "I've never felt so sporty in my entire life," I admitted.

Sports were not my thing. At all. I couldn't emphasize it enough, really.

Edward smiled at me, wrapping a strong arm around my waist and simultaneously stealing all of the breath in my lungs as he tugged me toward the door. "Excellent."

Half an hour later Edward held my hand as we walked onto the grass at Lumen Field.

I had practically lived in stadiums the last year and a half, but the sight of an empty stadium never failed to take my breath away. And this one, with the grass underneath my feet and the fresh late summer air and the warm hand in mine, was breathtaking.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, turning toward Edward.

He pressed a gentle kiss to the back of my hand. "I have to woo you somehow."

I swallowed back a laugh. "Is this where you take all the girls on your second date?"

His answer was immediate. "No. I've never brought another woman down here. And, technically, I believe this counts as our third date. Which means you're now free to tell me what had you so frazzled when we shook hands at your place."

I could have played dumb, pretended I didn't remember what had me frazzled. Except I did remember. And my eyes subconsciously went to Edward's hands as he picked up a waiting football in the center of the field.

The way his fingers wrapped around it had my stomach in knots.

"You know what they say," I mumbled. "About the size of a man's hands correlating with the size of… other things."

He didn't laugh. Well, he did, but not in a condescending way. It was a soft laugh that went right to my core as his eyes darkened as he looked me over.

His smile tilted up to the right as he casually tossed the ball back and forth between his hands. "You'll be the death of me, princess," he chuckled, mostly to himself, as he walked by me and left a painfully casual kiss to my lips.

Then, a football was flying toward my face and I had to duck with an embarrassing squeak to save my life.

"What the fuck?" I gasped. "Did you bring me here to kill me?"

Edward rolled his lips together, eyes shining at me from only a few feet away. "You're really not a sports girl, huh?" he chuckled.

"I've been very honest about that," I reminded him. "Gym teachers stopped making me participate in group sports by the time I was in fourth grade because I was a danger to everyone around me. That's when the music teacher, Mrs. Cope, had a free period. She started teaching me guitar instead."

Edward smiled at me, jogging over to pick the ball up. And, somehow, within an hour, had me throwing a rather impressive toss his way. It was only a few yards. Maybe. I wasn't sure, really. Ten, maybe? But it made it all the way to him. And I managed to catch it eighty percent of the time when he threw to me.

We tossed the ball back and forth, talking and laughing and sharing inconsequential little details of our lives with each other.

"How far can you really throw?" I asked eventually. Because we were probably throwing a laughably short distance compared to what he could do. Shit, I had the best quarterback in the NFL playing catch. But he didn't mind. Had a casual smile on his face the whole time, always offering a shout of praise every time I caught it or actually managed to throw it to him and not three feet to the right.

Edward shrugged, throwing what I knew had to be a pathetically soft toss in my direction.

"Oh, come on, hotshot. I wanna see," I asked, throwing the ball back and surprisingly not wanting to disappear as it landed with a thud two feet in front of him.

No matter how shitty my throw, Edward found something to compliment. And never once said a single negative thing about me or my utter lack of knowledge about his career.

He nudged his head to the right. "Come over here."

"So you don't try to kill me with the football again?"

Edward chuckled. And I heard him mumble smart ass under his breath as I walked by.

It was an amazing throw. Arched beautifully through the air as it landed, I'm sure, exactly where he wanted it to.

I, however, could only think about the arm that did the throwing. The way the muscles constricted as he shot the ball in the air. What else those muscles could do.

It was still constantly in the back of my mind as our game wound down and Edward somehow produced a large blanket and a warm bag of food for us.

"You really never brought any of your other girlfriends down here?" I asked hesitantly. It seemed like such a natural thing for him to do.

He shook his head. "No."

"Is it because they weren't as terrified of footballs as I am?"

He chuckled. "No. It's because I always knew, even from the beginning, that they were never going to last. Hell, that I didn't want them to last."

He said it so casually. Lying back on the blanket beside me after our food was long gone with his hand securely wrapped around mine.

My first instinct was to panic. To dive into every layer of what he said and what it could mean. But I didn't want to panic. I wanted to enjoy every moment I got to spend with the man because he was quickly becoming my favorite part of every day and I knew our time together would always be limited thanks to his work and mine.

So I pressed a searing kiss to his lips and buried my fingers in his hair instead.

A/N: Long time no see, and I'm really sorry about that. I've got some family health issues that are going on and it's a lot for my overly anxious brain to handle. But I'm starting to feel a little better and get back into the swing of things, so while I can't promise an update every week I can promise that I'm trying my best to post as regularly as possible.

I hope you guys enjoyed this one, and I'll see you next time!