Copyright © 2011 Kirsty Moseley

The chapter is dedicated to Uphillbattle3  because she correctly guessed the name of the book that's in this chapter - in a little competition on my facebook page! So well done Nissy!! :D

Pic is of Ashton and Anna for those of you that haven't read NLTL!

Chapter 5

I glanced in the mirror messing with my hair for another couple of minutes trying to make myself look the best I could before I headed over to Ashton's. I really needed to give it my best effort tonight, I didn't want to come on too strong in front of Ashton seeing as he'd already told me to stay away, so I needed her to do a little of the work.

I sighed and looked myself over, jeans and a white t-shirt. I didn't want to go there dressed to the nines tonight and make it too obvious that I was desperate for her attention. "Get your game on Nate." I mumbled as I slipped on my sneakers and headed to my best friends house to crash their dinner. Well crash dinner wasn't exactly right because I'd called this morning and managed to talk Anna into inviting me over; whining that I hadn't eaten properly for ages and how I'd had a hard week. As always she fell for it, well she probably saw through me too but she still invited me as I knew she would. 

I stopped at the closest gas station and bought a bunch of flowers for Anna and a bottle of wine. By the time I pulled up at their apartment I felt a little sick with nerves. If it didn't work tonight should I just give up and admit defeat? If she loved her guy that much then I shouldn't really split them up just for one night of passion with her, that really wasn't fair on her or him. The fact that I was ready to give up also scared me a little, I'd never cared if I hurt a girl before or what she wanted; it was all about self-gratification. So why was I bothered if she got hurt?

After letting myself up I knocked on their door and quickly straightened my shirt and running my tongue over my teeth to make sure I didn't have anything stuck there or anything. Ashton answered the door laughing at something, he waved me in and walked back into the kitchen where Anna and Rosie were giggling hysterically.

"What did I miss?" I asked looking at the three of them.

Rosie smiled and nodded towards Anna, "Just these two flirting. It's burning my ears so I'm glad you're here, maybe they'll stop now." she joked rolling her eyes.

"I'll stop." Anna giggled nodding making Rosie laugh too.

Ashton stepped to Anna's side, "I didn't agree to that Mrs Taylor." he said playfully as he wrapped his arm around her waist. She grinned and gripped the front of his shirt and pulled him closer to her looking at him with that look that she has for him all the time, not love but something else, almost like he was the centre of the world or something, like he was the sun and she'd been inside all her life. It was embarrassing and way too much for me to be seeing when I had no one to look at me like that.

I cleared my throat loudly making Anna sigh and pull away from him, she tore her eyes away from his to look at me. "Nate I could un-invite you you know." she scolded playfully.

I grinned, "Well then I'll give these flowers to Rosie if you do." I shrugged and put them on the counter with the bottle of wine.

Anna picked them up smiling gratefully, "Thanks Nate these are beautiful." she hugged me and headed over to get a vase to put them in.

I flicked my eyes to Rosie who was looking at me a little shocked. "What? You didn't think I was a nice guy?" I asked faking hurt.

She smiled apologetically, "No I just..... I don't know." She shrugged and turned back to help Anna put the flowers in the vase.

Ashton looked at me knowingly as he stepped to my side, "I know why you're here so I'm just gonna say this; please don't hurt her. If this is just about sex then be straight with her about it, don't lead her on ok?" he asked looking at me pleadingly.

I nodded innocently, "Chill bud, she's not interested anyway. She already told me she has a man so I've got no chance."

He frowned and looked at me strangely, "She told you that?"

I nodded sadly, "Yeah some dude called DJ, right?" I shrugged not really wanting to talk about him, Ashton must know him because he was the one who asked about him the other day.

A wicked grin spread across his face as he nodded, "Yeah she has a man called DJ, he's..." he looked like he was about to say more but Anna turned round wrapping her arms around his waist which of course caught his interest immediately.

"Let's eat then I'm starving." she suggested nodding to the table. "You pour the wine and I'll get the food. Oh and before you ask me Nate; yes I did make the lasagne myself." She stuck her tongue out at me and I grinned happily. Anna was a really good cook and hopefully it wouldn't all get eaten tonight and I could take the rest home with me to save me from beans on toast or takeout like I usually lived off of.

"Sweet." I slipped my arm around Rosie's waist and guided her to the table, "Muffin you can sit near me and we can save each other from all the flirting those two will do over dinner." I suggested pulling her chair out for her, remembering this time how to behave like a gentleman.

She laughed, "And who's going to save me from all the flirting you're going to do over dinner?" she asked smirking at me.

"Hmm you're right, there's no hope for you, you're screwed." I shrugged making her laugh as I sat down next to her.

The rest of the night went like that, it was fun as it usually was hanging out here but Rosie just seemed to add something extra. We were all laughing all night and she was definitely warming to me. I kept the flirting to a minimum and tried to keep my conversation intelligent and interesting, we actually had a lot in common which I was surprised about. We liked the same kind of movies and music, hell even her favourite book was the same as mine! I'd never met a girl who liked Shutter Island before, the film yeah but no girl I knew had read it before they made it into a movie. Well actually maybe they had but I'd never taken the time to ask them because I was too busy checking them out. Rosie was actually getting scarier and scarier by the second.

At about half past ten Anna looked tired, she was covering it well but I could see it, so I thought it was about time to leave. I turned to Rosie and looked at her hopefully, we'd had a really great night and we got on really well, if I asked her out again would she still say no and go home to her man? One last try and I'm calling it quits.

"Want a lift home?" I offered standing up.

She smiled gratefully, "Really? You don't mind?"

I shrugged easily, "Sure it's no problem."

She grinned happily and pushed herself up saying goodbye to Anna and Ashton and followed me to the door. I purposefully stopped next to the mirror in the hallway and waited for her to catch up to me. She slipped on her shoes and smiled.

"Come here a second." I gripped her hand pulling her closer to me showing her where to stand. I stepped closer to her side and pulled her arm around my waist while I draped my arm around her shoulder and nodded towards the mirror. "You definitely look good on me." I teased. Actually that wasn't really a joke, we made one hot couple even if I do say so myself.

She gasped and pushed me away laughing and rolling her eyes. "Come on player, all your flirting is going to give me a nose bleed if you don't stop soon." she joked putting her hands on my back and pushing me out of the apartment making us both laugh.

Anna shouted me quickly just as we were about to walk away and handed me a dish with half a lasagne in and I grinned happily. "I want my dish back and please wash it this time." she said grimacing slightly.

I laughed and hugged her kissing her cheek, "You really are the best you know that? And when you decide you want a real man you let me know." I winked at her and smirked as Ashton just rolled his eyes behind her.

"I've got your number I'll give you a call." she teased laughing as Ashton wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"Thanks for dinner guys it was great." Rosie smiled happily.

"Good luck at work tomorrow, call me and let me know how you got on." Anna said hugging her quickly.

"So how are you finding LA so far?" I asked as we walked to my car.

She shrugged, "It's ok I guess. Too big for me really but I think once I get used to it it'll be ok. The people are rude here sometimes, I accidently bumped into a woman earlier when I was at the store and I swear I thought she was going to kill me or something." she said shuddering a little.

I couldn't help but laugh, Barstow was a far cry from LA that's for sure so she'd have to get used to a lot of that kind of thing compared to what she was used to. "You'll get used to it, just learn to stay away from the weirdo's, or become one and then people will stay away from you." I suggested making her laugh.

When we got to my car I made a point of opening her door and doing a little bow as a joke, "My we really are being a gentleman today Nate; pulling out my chair, opening a door. What's next? Will I be getting flowers?" she teased.

"If you agreed to come out with me you would." I winked at her as I closed her door and walked round to my side of the car with a hopeful smile on my face, this was going well, I was doing good, she'd had a little to drink so maybe my luck was changing.

She directed me to her apartment and I looked at her sideways as we drove down her road, it wasn't exactly the nicest street in LA but then again who was I to judge, she'd only just moved here and got her job, maybe this was all she could afford.

"This one's me." She pointed to a really crappy looking building that was covered in graffiti but still looked ok, there was no one hanging around outside it anyway which was good. I pulled in and cut the engine deciding to walk her to her door just in case.

"I'll walk you in." I got out before she could protest and tell me she didn't need my help, but to be honest I actually wanted to see her safely inside, I was a little worried about her living in this crappy part of town. I mean she would be safe here and stuff but if I could chose a different place for her I would.

She met me on the other side of the car smiling gratefully as she dug around in her purse for her keys. "You don't have to, I'll be fine." she said heading to the door and punching in a code for the external door to unlock.

"I want to pumpkin." I shrugged. She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open and I was pleased to see it was a lot nicer inside than it was outside, no graffiti or anything inside and it looked fairly clean.

I followed her up to the second floor and she stopped outside her door, "Want to come in for a coffee or something?" she asked. I felt like doing a little happy dance just because she didn't actually want rid of me yet, not that she wanted anything else but at least that was a step in the right direction!

"Or something would be nice." I looked at her suggestively and she groaned.

"I walked right into that one huh?"

I threw my arm around her shoulder and nodded sadly, "Yep sweetness you did."

She laughed and pushed the door open holding it open for me to go in after her. I followed her in eagerly, the place was basic and it looked like she was still unpacking as there were boxes everywhere. "Coffee?" she asked looking a little embarrassed as she headed to the kitchen.

"Sure." I followed her in there watching as she made it, I couldn't keep my eyes off of her ass. Every time she turned around and my hands were itching to grab her so I shoved them in my pockets to remove the temptation, but I still couldn't keep my eyes in check. "So it looks like you're almost done moving in." I said trying to distract myself from staring at her body.

She sighed and nodded frowning at the two boxes in the corner labelled kitchen non-essentials. "Yeah, jeez I hate moving, it's such a pain in the ass. You don't realize how much crap you store until you're boxing it all up." she muttered handing me a coffee and nodding towards the sugar pot for me to help myself.

I shook my head smiling. "I'm sweet enough." 

"Of course you are I should have guessed." She laughed putting a spoonful in hers.

"And you obviously need more sweetening, take off the hard defensive edge." I joked.

She laughed and rolled her eyes, "Come on flirt, let's go sit down." She headed into the lounge and plopped herself onto the two-seater sofa. I could have sat on one of the chairs but I decided to just go for it so I sat on the opposite end of the sofa to her, making her shift slightly and turn towards me a little more tucking her legs up under her ass.       

"So did you make it to work on time the other day? You obviously got the train ok." she asked sipping her coffee and moving slightly getting more comfortable.

I nodded, "Yeah but I had a pretty bad day that day so I kind of wish I'd missed the train." I admitted.

She looked at me curiously, "Yeah? What happened?" she asked. 

"I killed someone." I stated waiting for her reaction.

She gasped and frowned, "Really? How?" she asked looking shocked, her eyes searching mine, probably to see if I was lying to her. She put her coffee down looking at me intently.

"It's a long story that I don't want to bore you with." I shrugged.

"Sorry, you probably don't want to talk about it...." She trailed off looking at me apologetically. I smiled looking at every inch of her beautiful face, she was looking at me worriedly and it made her look adorable. I'd never really had someone want to listen to me talk about my day before, well apart from my mom but that didn't really count.

"It's not that I don't want to talk about it, it's just that I don't want you to think I'm a bad person because of my job." I stated watching for her reaction.

She frowned and shook her head, "Nate I won't think you're a bad person. Someone has to do that job and you just so happen to be the guy with the stomach, the guts and the determination to be able to see and do horrific things everyday. I'd never look at that as a bad thing, people like you keep the streets safer. How could that be a bad thing?" she asked, her eyes not leaving mine.

I smiled gratefully, damn this girl's incredible. "I'm not, but sometimes it just feels like it's a bad thing." I admitted.

"Because you had to kill someone?" she asked.

"Yeah, I needed to do it otherwise he would have killed one of my team but that doesn't stop me thinking about it after. It's hard because the guy was a drug dealer and all round bad dude but I was the one to kill him and part of me still feels bad about it. That's the worst part of my job." I nodded not looking at her, not wanting to see her reaction in case it was bad.

Her hand moved across the sofa slowly and took mine and I felt my heart stop at the casual touch, that was the first time she'd willing touched me and it made me feel a little strange for some reason.

"Nate, not everyone can do a job like yours because most people aren't strong enough. I don't know what to say to make you feel better about it and maybe there's nothing I can say, but you did the right thing. You might not like that part of your job and you wouldn't be human if you didn't feel guilty, but don't ever lose sight of the fact that you're one of the good guys. You took a life but you saved at least one life because of it, who knows how many people that guy might have killed in his lifetime, even just by accident because of the drugs he sold. Don't ever forget that your job is important. It makes people like me feel safer to know that there are people like you out there in the world." she said fiercely, squeezing my hand a little.

I couldn't help but smile at her, that was a really nice thing to say and although she said she didn't know what to say, that was somehow perfect. "Thanks Rose."

Her breath seemed to catch in her throat as she looked at me and I desperately wanted to lean in and press my lips to hers just to see what she'd do. Would she push me off and scream at me to get out or would she kiss me back now that she'd started to get to know me? She was just looking at me as I was her, neither of us spoke and I didn't want to be the one to break the silence. I could almost feel the little sparks of electricity in the air that I felt when she was looking at me like that, the hair on the back of my neck was standing up slightly and my whole body was trying to force me to at least reach out and touch her. I don't know how long we sat there like that for, it felt like an age but it was probably only a few seconds. 

She cleared her throat nervously and looked away from me and I groaned internally. "It's getting late you should probably go. Thanks for the ride home, I had a really nice time tonight." she said quietly as she pushed herself up off of the sofa looking at me expectantly.

What would she do if I refused to leave? Maybe I should just put my hands behind my head and tell her to make me leave. That would actually be pretty funny, but she'd probably get annoyed with me and it'd ruin all of the progress I've made tonight.

I pushed myself up off of the sofa and didn't say anything about the fact that I hadn't even had time to drink my coffee before she was asking me to leave. I had a feeling that the little silence after that heavy discussion made her feel a little uncomfortable so I didn't want to make it worse. Hopefully she wasn't asking me to leave because of me telling her I'd killed someone, I'm pretty sure that wasn't it though, not after the whole long speech she made about me being one of the good guys and making her feel safer.

"So how are you celebrating your first day on the job tomorrow? Going out with someone?" I asked mentally crossing my fingers that she'd say no. This was the last time I was asking her out, I'd continue with the flirting because that was just in my nature but I couldn't keep being rejected by this girl, it just wasn't good for me or my $ex starved dick. Hell I hadn't had $ex for a week which I hadn't ever been able to say since I was seventeen years old, well apart from the time I got measles and couldn't go out, but I wasn't counting that.

She shook her head, "Nope, I don't know that many people. Anna's got Cameron so I can't ask her and my sister Sophie's busy so..." she trailed off shrugging.

"Ok, so I'll pick you up at around seven thirty." I suggested.

She looked at me shocked and then a sarcastic smile spread across her face, as if she thought it was some kind of joke. "Ok player I'll see you then." she teased.

"Yeah? Sweet." I grinned, I know she thought I was joking and that wasn't exactly an acceptance but I'd take what I could get.

She frowned and looked at me curiously as I walked to the door, leaving before she could take it back. "Wait that was a joke right?" she asked almost desperately.

"No way muffin, you've agreed now. I'll be here at seven thirty on the dot." I said grinning wickedly at her horrified expression.

"Nate I can't," she said, her mouth carried on moving after but nothing else came out and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Sure you can, you said you have no one to go out with tomorrow. You need to celebrate your first day at work, your man's still in Barstow so you'll be eating alone. I'll be eating alone, so it makes sense for us to go out. Just as friends if you want to." I shrugged giving her my puppy dog face, girls literally went crazy for it so I didn't pull it out very often, but then again I wasn't used to not getting my own way.

She sighed looking a little pained before she finally nodded, "Ok, yeah sure. I can't let you eat on your own can I? But just as friends though, this isn't a date." she rolled her eyes.

I bit back a growl of victory, I actually wanted to fist pump the air chanting she said yes over and over but I resisted the urge. She said it wasn't a date but hopefully by the end of the night tomorrow I'd be able to convince her that it was a date and not just a friendly dinner.

"See now that wasn't so hard, and I didn't even have to embarrass you for you to agree. We really are on the up and up." I teased winking at her and pulling open the door wanting to run away as quick as I could before she had a chance to change her mind. 

She laughed and leant against the door pressing her forehead against it closing her eyes. "Hmm well I'll see you tomorrow player."

"Try not to dream about me too much tonight huh? I don't want you having hot inappropriate dream flashbacks while you're teaching tomorrow." I smirked at her as she laughed and shook her head.

"I'll try but it's gonna be hard." she answered sarcastically.

"Oh it's always hard, but maybe that's just around you." I joked.

She groaned and shook her head, "Just leave slut before I change my mind. You really are talking yourself into reheated lasagne for one tomorrow." She stuck out her tongue at me and I couldn't help but smirk at her suggestively before turning to leave.

I practically skipped back to my car, for the first time since I met her I felt like I could properly relax, I didn't realize how on edge I'd been all week. I actually couldn't wait for tomorrow night, she'd finally conceded, well slightly conceded because she insisted it was a friendly thing. I had all night to work on her tomorrow, at least there was a slight chance I'd be getting some tomorrow night. Once I'd had her my life would fall back into plac,e and I'd be able to go about everything as business as usual. I smiled confidently and drove home with a smile on my face.

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Sorry it was short but I ran out of time to write it and I thought posting short was better than posting nothing!!! I was going to add the friendly non-date into this chapter too but oh well it'll be in the next one instead!!

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