Sitting at the table, I couldn't help but be drawn to her. Her thick hair with its barely-there wave hung heavy around her shoulders and practically begged someone to run their hands through it. Her eyes . . . so brown but with flecks of gold around the edge, pulled you into the warmth her gaze offered. Her nose begged to be touched when she said the things that made her smile bashfully. Her breasts, so round and full, sought the touch of a man that pays them proper attention. Her ass was perfect. Tight and round, and practically made for accepting a spank or two. Her lips. Jesus, help me. Her lips – soft, pink, and forming the perfect cupid bow that needed to be kissed endlessly not to mention spoke of knowing exactly how to suck a cock.

I watched her, laughing and smiling with my sister, and could barely contain my ever-increasing hard-on. She was perfect in every physical way. Alice knew Bella for a few years and finally convinced me into going out with them for post-work drinks and the occasional club night on the weekend. It only took six weeks of going out with her and Alice, for me to realize quickly that Bella was someone I could easily be friends with. And I had. Nearly seven months later, she and I often met for lunch or dinners, saw a few movies together, and once Alice met "Mr. Texas Twang," Bella and I began to hangout more exclusively – sans Alice and her "Texas Stud," as she called him.

But we were never anything more than great friends. I helped her realize her break up with some jack-hat named Jacob was really in her best interest just as she had reminded me that my last girlfriend, Rose, lacked even the personality of a gnat and that I deserved better.

We'd taken to pints and martini's every Wednesday after work as our only chance to really spend any time with Alice and what's-his-name. It was somewhere between the third and sixth rounds that I started to see her as more than "Bella", my sometime wingman, and more like "Bella", the girl I wanted to fuck.

As quickly as the idea crossed my mind, I immediately forced it out of my head. There was no way in hell I could view Bella as someone to fuck. Well, I sure as hell could, but she was my friend first, always had been. It wouldn't do any good to dwell on something that would never happen. Yet I was helpless to stop the onslaught of images – her sucking my cock, her riding my dick, my going down on her, fingering her. Not the best thoughts while sitting at a fucking table, listening to your sister go on and on about her recent engagement. Not that I had issues with the guy, but I didn't really need to hear her in-depth plans for every flower, type of tulle, or music and when it would be played. Jasper, her long, tall Texan, was as nice as a guy could get. Maybe that is why he was pissing me off. He had his arm lightly wrapped around Alice, enjoying her "Martha Stewart" run-down of the wedding plans, and here I was, as thoughts of how to bang my best friend filled my mind. Clearly, he was the better man. Jerk.

The seventh round was ordered, and Alice was still going on and on about the wedding. "Bella, I have been just chatting away about all this and I haven't actually asked. Will you be my maid-of-honor?"

Bella's expression was classic. Her mouth popped open; she immediately glanced at me with a pained "help me" look on her beautiful face. "Oh, Alice. That's really . . . unexpected."

"You'll do it right? Oh, Bella. Please? I know it seems like a lot, but really, it won't be. I've been planning this wedding for five months."

"Five months?" I asked shocked. "You only met Jasper seven months ago."

Alice gave me her best "silly brother" look before saying, "Yes, and we knew after two weeks we wanted to be married. It's the rest of the world that wasn't ready."

Jasper actually looked uncomfortable – a first for him. "Edward, I do apologize if this is a bit shocking, but Mary Alice is everything I could ever want in a wife and best friend. It's not too unlike you and Bella."

What?

"Care to clarify that statement?" I asked, quirking my brow. I only hoped Bella wasn't listening to him. If he had caught on to my general state where she was concerned, I was fucked. And not in the way I hoped.

Jasper removed his arm from Alice and leaned forward against the table on his forearms. "It's like, when you know you have this fabulous friendship, and everything is perfect - sometimes you just need more."

"I'm not entirely sure I understand what you mean." I felt a bit of panic. Had he caught on to me? As soon as the shocked registered, I wanted to punch the guy for having thoughts about my sister that were sexual, but I sat on tenterhooks waiting all the same.

Jasper leaned closer, dropped his voice, and said, "You know, Edward, when something is this obvious, you need to just make a move. You know, before someone else does."

Shit. I needed to cover this up – fast! He was dangerously close to figuring things out. "It's really not like that. We are – Bella - she's . . . we are friends. Nothing more."

He looked at me for a few seconds before he spoke. "All I'm saying is that girl is giving you the same looks you've been giving her all night. So in the words of my darling fiancé – either put up or shut up."

My breaths stilled. Was she really looking at me? Could I actually make a move and hit on one of my best friends? I chanced looking at her – shit! She was looking at me. Fuck. Now what?

I tipped my glass to her; it was our standard greeting when we couldn't really talk at the bar. She smiled warmly, returned the tip, and went back to talking with Alice. Then she did something she never did before. While looking at Alice, she licked her lips, bit lightly on the lower one, and tossed her hair over her shoulder, baring her milky white flesh of her neck. She cast a sexy glance at me, and bit her lip again before she righted her head and looked at my sister.

"Still feel the same way?" Jasper asked, sliding the just-delivered beer over to me.

Fuck. I didn't know what to think, but I wasn't going to tell him that. Bella had never flirted with me, and we had our fair share of drunken nights. What the hell changed? What brought on Flirty Bella? Because believe me when I say what she just shot at me, I had seen many times before from girls tying to get my junk.

I tried again to shove the image of her from my mind – both Flirty Bella, and the Bella in my mind that was I was currently fucking against a wall. It was useless. I needed to get the hell out of the bar, away from the liquor, and lock myself up in my house until all the urges I was having for Bella went away. Hell, I might actually take my father and brother up on their offer to go camping this weekend. Anything just to get space between Bella and me.

The thoughts continued to assault me until I was about to snap. Without warning, I threw a fifty-dollar bill down on the table, shoved my wallet back in my jeans pocket, and bolted for the door.

Two hours later, the buzz and my hard-on finally wore off. It took a heavy amount of X-Box, blasting the shit out of intergalactic bad guys to liberate my mind from the list of things I wanted to do to Bella. I knew I would have to go to bed soon, it was nearly three in the morning and I had to be to work at eight, but I knew going to bed would only jumpstart the images of Bella sweaty and naked, writhing beneath me as I fucked her hard.

"Jesus, Cullen. What the fuck?" I expelled the words harshly as I tossed the controller onto the coffee table. "What the hell brought this shit on? She's your friend. Nothing else."

I believed every word of it, even if my mind mocked me by scoffing as I spoke the words. I had spent the past seven months hanging out with the girl, viewing her as nothing more than a friend. Nothing sexual, ever. Then like a bolt of lightning strike strikes the ground without planning or forethought, I couldn't help but see her in a sexual way. I couldn't fight the images – not that I really wanted to. I knew it was wrong and I felt like a damn monster over having thought of her the way I had in countless scenarios I pictured us in.

"You're such a fucking pussy, Cullen. Just admit it's because you haven't been laid in almost a year, and move the fuck on," I chastised myself.

When Rose and I broke up, it wasn't anything I hadn't seen coming. The playful touches to my brother's arm were my first clue. When she balled him in his car – well, the writing was on the wall. Emmett still hadn't stopped apologizing over it, but truth be told, I was grateful it happened. I hadn't enjoyed being with her after the second month, and sex between us was lacking to be polite. She just didn't do much for me, and all totaled, I think we only had sex three times. Sad, right? Our short-lived, boring-sex relationship gave way to Emmett and Rose's intense and heated one. I hadn't bothered to seek out a girlfriend since. Now that Alice was engaged to Jasper, add to it the fuck-a-thon at Casa Emmett, I started to question if maybe I was just bitter, and if maybe a fast fuck would be the answer. No strings attached, get it out of my system, and get back to seeing Bella as I always saw her and not the vessel for my sexual needs.

I turned off my TV, and started to get ready for bed. Teeth brushed, doors locked, I plugged my cell phone in next to my nightstand and dropped on top of the bed, staring at the ceiling. My plan was starting to have merit, not that I really wanted to be "that guy," but guys had been doing this for ages and women were starting to use men, too. I would just have to strike out on my own one night, sans Bella, find my playmate-for-the-night, and fuck for all I was worth. I hated keeping anything from Bella, but this was one of those guy things that some girls, nice girls like Bella, just wouldn't understand.

I decided Friday was as good a night as any to launch my plan to find a girl, and purge the sexual energy once and for all. Two nights and counting. I could surely last that long, couldn't I?

Thursday was dragging its sorry ass, barely limping along in the afternoon. Sometimes, I really hated my job. It was bad enough I was still at the same job I got after college, making it to management before thirty was sure to take any cool points I might have had and flushed them. Not that being a software architect was sexy to start with, mind you, but it was definitely with its perks; one of which being that I could work from home. I'd gone to the office that morning for meetings but given that the day was sucking life right out of me, I split after lunch to work from my home office.

My cell phone rang and seeing it was Bella, I smiled. Finally, something would break up the damn boredom and monotony.

"Sup, Bella?" I said as I answered.

It didn't take her long to launch in to her reason for calling. "So guess who just Facebooked me? Freaking Narcissus!"

I had to laugh. "Freakin' Jake. Did he need to remind you of the beauty you broke up with?"

"Ha-ha, Edward. Do you want to know why he contacted me?"

"Because he realized the love of his life was merely his own reflection and hence, he suddenly realized he can't live without you?" If I had been sitting next to her, I would have covered my balls and ducked.

"Shit, don't make me gag. I'm already pissed enough that the douche left a comment on my wall, don't add to it." She sounded irritated, but in a mildly humorous way.

"Alright, so no reunions. Got it. So what did the asshat have to say?"

"He wanted me to know that he is getting married!"

"What?"

"Yeah, that's what I said." Bella dropped the humor, and was full on irritated.

"So Narcissus finally found his Echo? How sweet. A bit of a twist in mythology . . ."

Bella sighed heavily. "I know, right? Wasn't he supposed to just fall in love with himself and call it day? No, wait, he already did that."

I laughed again. Bella and I always seemed to use mythology as a way to joke and vent. It wasn't a normal thing, I know, but it worked for us. "Bella, listen, he's a douche who was lousy in bed. You are better off without him."

"Problem is he wasn't that bad in bed. I mean, he was okay, but I haven't faked shit that much since taking that stupid gym class in high school," Bella said, her words taking on a sad tone.

I needed to try to make her laugh. "So, what's the name of this girl?"

"Oh my god, it's Nessie! I mean, who the hell names their kid that? It's like the name of some fake monster or something!" Snarky Bella was back, which meant it was a short trip to making her laugh about all of this.

"I hope to God it's short for Vanessa. Can you imagine the alternative?" I joked.

"Honestly, I am trying not to. He included a link to their Twitpic page. She has the body of an eighteen year old. Probably has the mind to match," Bella scoffed.

"You're not jealous, are you?" I teased.

"Yeah, right. Totally jealous. I'm off in a no sex, post-break up coma and he's found his slice of forever? Some things are just not fair."

"Bella, might I remind you this is Jacob we are talking about. He probably tattooed her ass after sleeping with her the first time or peed a circle around her to mark her as his. Either way, you're so much better off not having to worry about him trolling around your life and showing up when you least expect him to." We had talked before about Jacob trying to weasel his way back into her life, and now it seemed that option was dead. I beamed just thinking about the ass being gone permanently.

"I guess. I need to get shit-rocked, watch Love, Actually, and cry over all the happy."

"Bella," I started, "not everyone had a happy ending in that movie." We watched the movie with her shortly after she and the King of Douches had broken up, and I had to admit it was pretty decent – as chick flicks go.

"No, but I can pretend they did," she defended with a giggle.

"Speaking of shit-rocked, are you sure you really want to drink after last night?" As soon as the words left me, I knew it was the perfect intro to a question I hadn't thought about. Maybe Flirty Bella was a result of too many Lemon Drops and Stella's.

Bella giggled again, and immediately, an image of her hair as it played over her bare shoulder filled my head. Both of them. Did that mean she was coming on to me, or was that just another moment when I was thinking with the small head, and not the big one.

"Anyway, I gotta get going. For as suck ass as my job is, it pays the bills. Ping ya later tonight?" she asked.

"Yup, I'll be on," I replied.

"Later, Eddie." Her use of the one nickname I hated clearly accounted for the chipper tone in her voice.

"See ya, Bell," I returned, using the nickname she hated. My day was less boring for sure, but now I would send the next few hours anxiously awaiting her ping. What the hell happened to me? Two days ago, I wasn't dependant on hearing from her, let alone have her starring in fantasies that even a porn star would blush.

I had no sooner replied to an email when my chat box popped up, pinging its announcement, and Bella's arrival.

Bella: Hey, stud. What's up?

I laughed at her intro, but secretly loved it.

Edward: Waiting on your lazy ass. Always waiting . . .

A few seconds later, she pinged back.

Bella: Oh shut it. You love waiting around for me and you know it.

Edward: Sure. I love waiting at bars for you to show up, drinking myself half blind in the process.

Bella: When was the last time you ever waited for me? You usually pick my ass up!

Edward: . . . and babysit your ass all night while the wolves of the dating world stalk you.

Bella: So . . . You see yourself as my protector?

Edward: More like a guardian.

Bella: . . . so that's it? That's the only way you see me?

Holy shit! Was she kidding me? Panic started rising in my chest, and I was stunned as to what to say to her. I had to play it cool, act as if I had no idea what she was talking about, and treat it like a normal bull shit statement friends make.

Edward: Is there another way you would like me to see you? I already have admitted my wingman is a woman. ;)

It took a solid minute, but I finally got a reply.

Bella: There are plenty of other ways you *could* see me.

Edward: And those would be?

Bella: Horizontal.

Holy hell. My dick went hard in two seconds flat. If she was yanking my chain, I would be yanking it post-chat until I came.

Edward: Good one. ;)

Bella: It could be. Haven't you thought about it?

Edward: Have you?

My heart was pounding as I typed my reply and doubled as I waited for hers.

Bella: More than I think you realize.

Edward: Bella, how much have you had to drink tonight?

Bella: Nothing. I've been sitting here tonight, thinking about you, and wondering if maybe you were thinking of me, too.

Edward: I wondered where you were, sure.

I still couldn't fathom the conversation. I was sure she was either drunk or not meaning what I thought the conversation was sounding like.

Bella: Edward. Cut the crap. You know what I'm talking about here. I know you do.

Edward: Bella, what I think you are talking about is far removed from our normal chats.

Bella: Fair enough. With Alice and Douche both announcing this week that they are getting married, I realized just how on edge I have been lately. I almost smacked Alice over how freaking happy she is. I know I'm not ready to date anyone, but the stark fact is, if I don't get laid soon, I may kill someone.

This was so not what I was expecting. I may have actually gulped reading her ping.

Edward: Bella, that isn't always the answer. Having random sex with some guy isn't smart.

Not to mention pissing me off. I didn't like the idea of her banging some guy. I could feel my protective side start to rage at the conversation. I would do everything I could to stop her from fucking some random guy – even if I was thinking of a meaningless hookup for myself just the night before.

Bella: Jesus, Edward. Open you fucking eyes. I don't want random, either. For such a playboy, you can really be thick. Let me spell this one out for you. I like you, okay? We have a good time when we go out, and I trust you. You're a handsome man, and I would be lying if I said I never noticed it.

Edward: I'm not being thick – and I am not a playboy. I'm just looking out for you.

Bella: Edward, I saw you looking at me last night in the bar. I didn't throw down my best flirts at you for shits and giggles, you know. Hell, I've been coming on to you since I logged on.

Edward: So . . .

Bella: I'm not asking you out, if that helps here. I'm actually suggesting something a bit less conventional.

Edward: And that would be?

My cock strained against my jeans as I waited for her reply. If she was actually suggesting what I thought – and hoped she was –, there was no way I was turning her down.

Bella: You know, this sounded so much easier in my head earlier.

Edward: I'm sure.

Bella: Fuck it. Here goes nothing.

Bella: Will you be my fuck buddy?

Holy Motherfucking Hell!