Before the Wedding by Kinolaughs

A Twilight Fan Fiction Story

Summary

Edward and Bella are working on building up his tolerance and control before the wedding, and
Bella learns what it means to live with a family that has no secrets.

Chapter 1.

Light streamed through the windows and onto the floorboards when I woke up in the morning. I
was groggy and fighting consciousness--a product of the lack of sleep from the night before. My
legs fidgeted under the covers restlessly as I tried unsuccessfully to fall back asleep. There would

be no more rest for me today.

The night before seemed almost like a dream; Charlie neither had a heart attack or actually shot
Edward much to my surprise. All in all the reaction was much better than anything I had dared to
hope for. Now I simply had one more hurdle to face. Telling my mom. Charlie had only relented
last night because he was certain that Renee‟s objections would be enough to stymie the wedding
and put things on hold. Although he was probably right about her impending reaction, the wedding

would go ahead as planned anyway.

There was too much at stake to delay. My mortal days were dwindling to a close and the wedding
was an essential part of the compromise that I had made with Edward to get the promise of

forever fulfilled.

A cool hand ran down my arm to my restless leg and held it still. I looked up to see Edward, my

fiancé, smiling down at me.

“Up so soon?” he asked.

“I can‟t sleep,” I sighed.

„You didn‟t get much sleep last night,” he murmured to me; his voice low but still with a smile in it.

I blushed deeply at his words remembering just how little sleep I‟d had. Charlie‟s acceptance of our
plan to marry had elated Edward and he had carried his joy with him when he‟d returned to my
room after taking his Volvo home. He hadn‟t been as cautious as usual…much to my delight…when
he‟d held me in his arms. His kisses and been deeper, and his touches more meaningful as we‟d

snuggled with each other in my small bed.

I felt his lips caress my forehead, and then he began kissing me softly down the side of my face
working his way toward my lips. My pulse raced in my veins bringing me to full consciousness. His

arms wound around me holding me closer to him.

“Hmmmm….” I sighed.

“What should we do today?” he asked as his lips moved to my throat. It was hard to think of

appropriate suggestions while he was touching me. I had to fight my urges to give him a response.

“Something more frightening than what we did yesterday I‟m afraid.” I answered hesitantly.

“More frightening?” he asked as he pulled his head up to look at me.

“I have a phone call to make to Florida.”

“I think you are worrying too much about that,” he smiled at me. “It will go better than you think.”

“Did Alice tell you that?” I asked.

“She didn‟t have to,” Edward answered simply. I stared at him looking deeply into his eyes for an

answer. “Renee has actually been expecting this phone call since April,” he said smugly.

“What?” I asked stunned.

“You didn‟t get your silent mind from her,” he answered. “When we went to visit her, I was able to
hear her thoughts quite clearly. Charlie is actually much more difficult to make out than she is,

although he‟s getting easier,” he mused.

“So what was she thinking in April that you didn‟t fill me in on? And why didn‟t you tell me at the

time?” I demanded, a little petulant now. He smiled at my frustration.

“When we went to visit her she assumed that we were already engaged, and you were waiting to
tell her because you were afraid of her reaction. She felt a little bad about it; she was trying to get
you to tell her when you went for a walk that morning,” he chuckled. “She‟s probably been
expecting this call ever since then; a little afraid that we would get married without bothering to
tell her, even though she knows that you are far braver than that…even if she doesn‟t completely

understand the extent of your bravery. I still don‟t completely understand that myself.”

“Bravery?” I asked, confused.

“You‟re engaged to marry a vampire who you allow dangerously close to you. You run off at a
moments notice to Italy to save that same vampire from the largest non-vegetarian coven in

existence. You keep company with werewolves without fear…need I go on?”

“Please don‟t.” I said, blushing. “So you didn‟t answer the second part of my question. Why didn‟t

you tell me what my mom was thinking back in April?”

“I didn‟t want to put you more off the idea of marriage than you already were,” he said a little
sadly as he picked up my left hand and kissed it. He looked down at it now, at the ring on my
finger as he continued. “You still don‟t seem entirely convinced. If you don‟t want to go though with

it, I‟ll respect that decision.”

“I‟ve already said yes.” I responded; a little startled by the direction that the conversation had

gone.

“Saying yes and meaning yes are two different things. I don‟t want to force you into this. It isn‟t

too late to back out,” he said, still looking down.

I saw the sadness in his expression and it felt like my heart would break. I couldn‟t believe that he
doubted me, but when I looked back on our conversations over the last couple months since he‟d
first asked me to be his wife, I could see just how my words would have planted those seeds of
doubt in his head. They wounded him, though until now he hadn‟t shown it.

I put my hand under his chin pulling his eyes up to mine. They were flat black, but still containing
so much emotion that I could see the pain in them, the uncertainty.

“I meant what I said. It was more than a word to me, and I‟m ready now. I want to marry you. I
want to spend eternity by your side. You are my soul mate, I suppose that‟s why marriage may
have seemed a little silly to me at first because in a way I feel like I‟m married to you already, and

that goes deeper than words and vows.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Isn‟t it like that for you?”

“Absolutely,” he said as he leaned in to kiss me again.

His lips against mine were very serious but very gentle, conveying his emotions in a way that
words could not. I put my arms around his neck and pulled myself closer to him, knowing that he
would probably pull away any moment. But his lips lingered, and for once he pressed himself
against me. My breathing accelerated as the gentle kiss transformed into something else entirely.
His lips parted a little and I could taste his sweet breath in my mouth, my skin warmed as his cool

hands began to cautiously explore my body.

My thoughts were a jumble as I felt his breath speed up and his hands tighten on me ever so
slightly. He kept going; far beyond anything that I expected and in my excitement I began to get a

little dizzy.

He pulled away and looked at me with burning eyes. We stared at each other for a long moment,

and then he removed his hands.

“Sorry about that, I got a little carried away,” he said with his crooked smile.

“You know,” I breathed. “It‟s probably a good idea at this point.”

“Bella,” he warned, a little disapproval in his tone.

“I‟m serious,” I insisted. “The wedding will be here before you know it. A little practice makes a lot

of sense.”

„Oh really?” he said, exasperated. “Bella…I just don‟t know.”

“No way! Yesterday you practically attacked me in the meadow and now you want to back out?

Edward!”

“It‟s a good thing you stopped me yesterday. Bella, you really don‟t understand how dangerous this

is.”

“Edward, I trust you. You need to start trusting yourself.”

He started to argue and I put my finger against his lips to stop him.

“Do you remember the first day in the meadow? How hard it was for you to kiss me then?” His
eyes narrowed a bit as he nodded. “It isn‟t that hard for you anymore is it? In fact you can spend a
lot of time kissing me now can‟t you? Why do you think that is?”

“It isn‟t that easy Bella,” he frowned at me. “But I suppose the difference has to do with two
things. Familiarity of course being one of them,” he leaned in to kiss me again quickly. “And,

knowing how painful it is to lose you,” he shuddered.

“Well familiarity can help here too don‟t you think?” I smirked at him. I could see that he was
trying to argue with me, but my reasoning on this point seemed pretty sound to me. I could see

from the look on his face that the logic registered with him as well.

“I suppose,” he said warily. His fingers tracing my face as his expression softened slightly. I smiled
at him and reached up to touch his face as well. He cupped his hand under my chin and leaned in

to kiss me again.

“I don‟t know what to do,” he admitted.

“Well….you have human instincts. What do you feel like doing?” I asked slyly.

He laughed then. “I probably shouldn„t tell you that.”

“Why not?”

“Because then we might both get carried away,” he leered at me.

“Tempting,” I murmured against his neck

“Very,” he breathed. Then he composed himself. “But not a good idea right now. I think you should

get dressed and call your mom.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked.

He looked at me a little dubiously “If you want any more practice then I need to go over to the

park for a couple of hours.”

I reached up to trace the dark circles under his eyes, realizing how bad the thirst was for him; and

how much my nearness must make his throat burn right now.

“I‟ll be back soon,” he promised before leaning down again to kiss me softly one last time. He

smiled at me before launching himself out of the window.

*******

It had been a long morning without Edward. As predicted, Renee hadn‟t had a problem with the
fact that I was getting married. In fact she told me with much eagerness that she would be calling
Esme to make plans as soon as she was off the phone with me. I was sure that Charlie would be a
little miffed when he heard about that. I tried to occupy my time to keep myself from going crazy,
after doing the laundry and cleaning the house, I was left with too much time on my hands to dwell

on the wedding.

I knew that I wanted Edward forever, and marriage really wasn‟t the problem. I could never
imagine marrying anyone but Edward. I just really wished that I didn‟t have the wedding part to

endure.

Ugh! I could just imagine Alice‟s idea of what a wedding should be like. If the graduation party was
any indication it would be completely overdone, and I was going to be thrust into the spotlight.
Forced to walk down the aisle in front of heaven knows how many people while trying not to trip on

my train and land flat on my face.

I picked up the newspaper hoping to distract myself from my growing panic. I only got to the first
page when there was a knock on the front door. I wasn‟t expecting anyone so I was a little

surprised when I opened the door to see Alice smiling at me.

“Hey Bella!” she said as she danced into the house, a large bulging bag on her shoulder.

“You knocked,” I said a little surprised. Alice had a tendency to materialize in the house without
any warning. The only time she ever knocked was when Charlie was home. I guess she didn‟t think

it was right to startle him half out of his wits.

“We have some plans to make,” she said clapping her dainty hands together and ignoring my sour

expression. She took my hand and pulled me into the kitchen.

“Wedding stuff?” I asked.

“Sort of,” she said winking at me. “I‟ll take care of most of it as promised. But I thought you might

want the opportunity to at least look at some of the options.”

“I‟ll pass.”

“Fine. But I think we should have a girls‟ trip to the city to do some „shopping‟.”

„Alice. I‟m really not much of a shopper,” I insisted. As she glowered at me I tried to appease her a
little. “After all, you really have much more of a talent for these kinds of things than I could ever
hope to. I know that I can trust you with everything.”

She seemed a bit mollified by this, but was still insistent. “I still think we should get out of town.”

“What are you up to?” I asked, suspicious now.

“Trust me Bella,” she said with an impish glint in her eye. “You‟ll thank me for this.”

I knew that I was going to have to go along with her when she said that. It never really did to

argue with a psychic.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Where are you taking me?”

“You‟ll see,” she sang.

I really wondered if I had ever made it clear to her how much I truly hated surprises. I grumbled
as she pulled one wedding magazine after another from the bag and laid them out in a haphazard
fashion on the table. Then my eyes widened in surprise as she pulled out a selection of magazines

solely dedicated to wedding dresses.

“Um Alice; isn‟t it a little redundant to be looking at wedding dresses when you already have mine

hanging in your closet?”

Alice laughed her bell like laugh and mumbled something about me needing to understand the
importance of props when I heard Charlie‟s cruiser pull up in the driveway. I raised one eyebrow at

her as she smiled indulgently at me like I was especially slow.

“Hey Bella?” Charlie called as he entered the house.

“Hi Dad! I‟m in the kitchen,” I responded.

“Well hi there Alice!” Charlie beamed as he registered her sitting next to me at the table. “What are

you girls up to?”

“Hi Charlie,” Alice smiled back at him. “Isn‟t it wonderful? Did Bella tell you that I‟m going to be her

maid of honor?”

Charlie hesitated, clearly not wanting to spoil Alice‟s mood, but less than thrilled about the

wedding.

“No. That‟s great Alice. Bella, have you had a chance to talk to Renee yet?” he asked me, a little

more hopefully than I would have liked.

“Yes I did.”

“Oh. She was on the phone with Esme when I left the house to come over today making plans.
They are so excited!” Alice trilled.

Charlie looked like he might go into shock his eyes widening in astonishment.

“Oh,” he muttered.

I was clearly right about Charlie‟s reaction to Renee‟s acceptance. His eyes registered the
impossible stack of wedding magazines on the kitchen table in front of Alice and me. I wondered
where she got them all, surely the small stores in Forks didn‟t carry this vast a selection. Charlie
took a deep breath, unhappy but resigned.

“Actually with the wedding so close I think that Bella and I will have to get some serious shopping
done right away. Weddings take time and with only two months to plan we have to hurry,” Alice

said as she looked at Charlie with an almost desperate and stressed expression on her face.

I narrowed my eyes slightly at her façade.

“Do you mind if I take her for an overnight trip into the city? We really have a lot of stores to go to.
Dress shopping, florists, photographers, bakers. It‟s going to take at least a couple of days of real

legwork to even make a dent.”

“I suppose so,” Charlie said, clearly not wanting to risk getting dragged into any more talk about

wedding details. He turned towards the fridge closing the subject.

I was beyond suspicious at this point. Surely Alice already had most of these things squared away.
She still hadn‟t confessed to the actual date of my dress purchase. I started to open my mouth to

say something but she grabbed my hand and shot me a warning glance.

“Of course, we will probably need to make a couple of these trips as we get closer to the wedding
for follow up meetings with everyone too. There is just so much to do. I should get your
measurements before we go Charlie so I can order your suit,” Alice said as she pulled a measuring

tape out of the bag.

“My suit?” Charlie asked, stunned.

“Of course Charlie!” Alice beamed at him. “What were you planning to wear when you give Bella

away?”

Charlie just frowned at her.

“You‟ll look dashing and handsome I promise,” she continued.

Charlie just sighed and walked into the living room. I heard the TV switch on as he tuned into

whatever game would distract him.

“So when are we going?” I asked her, a little worried now. Was there some new catastrophe she

was trying to protect me from? Had she seen some new menace headed my way?

“Tonight would be best I think. That way we„ll be in the city the minute the stores open in the
morning. Relax Bella,” she smiled. “There is nothing to worry about, this trip is purely for
pleasure,” she finished with a wink.

I could feel the furrow over my brow deepen as I stared at her in confusion.

“Charlie, let‟s get you measured,” Alice said as she got up and gracefully moved to the living room

measuring tape in hand.

If it wasn‟t for Charlie‟s extreme fondness towards Alice I doubted he would be so pliant with either

her requests for measurements or to take me out of town.

“Bella, why don‟t you go ahead and get packed?” she added from the other room.

I slowly got up from the table and walked through the living room where Charlie stood in front of
the couch, arms out with a martyred expression on his face. Alice was measuring across his

shoulders. I gave him a tentative grin as I walked up the stairs and went to pack my things.

What was Alice up to? I wondered. I looked out my window and saw Alice‟s yellow Porsche in front
of the house. I thought she wasn‟t driving that in Forks. I hoped she wasn‟t actually planning on

driving me down to L.A. at top speed…something she had offered up hopefully in the past.

I was also starting to get a little concerned for other reasons. Where was Edward? Did he have to
prolong his hunting trip for some reason? I felt a little uneasy as I finished packing my bag and
headed downstairs. I didn‟t like the idea of being separated from him for a couple of days without a
goodbye.

Charlie was watching the game again when I walked back to the kitchen where Alice was packing
up the magazines, never having opened a single one of them. She smiled up at me as I walked in

and looked at her more confused than ever.

“All ready?” she asked.

“I‟ve got an overnight bag packed,” I grumbled.

“Great. Then let‟s get going,” she laughed.

“You aren‟t taking me to L.A. are you?” I asked as quietly as possible.

“No. But if you want to we can plan that for another night,” she said, grinning widely at me.

I didn‟t ask her anymore questions until we were in her Porsche and headed out of Forks at top

speed.

“Is Edward okay? Does he know we are going out of town tonight?” I asked her, hoping to get

some answers before I went insane.

“Of course,” she smiled at me. “He‟s waiting for us.”

“He is?” I asked, my mood brightening suddenly.

“Sure,” Alice smiled. “I hope you don‟t object much to double dates,” she said, laughing now.

“Alice, I‟m not really dressed to go anywhere,” I complained, looking down at my sweats and

sneakers.

“Oh. I already have everything you need at our hotel. You can change when we get there.”

“What have you done Alice?”

“Oh get used to it Bella. You‟ll be my sister soon enough!” she chided, rolling her eyes.

I decided to be compliant. As long as it involved a date with Edward I figured I could deal with
anything.

When we got to the hotel, I relaxed a little more; until Alice dragged me into the bathroom of my
hotel room where she quickly got to work on me applying makeup and dressing me up like a life

sized Barbie doll again.

This time I managed to look in the mirror in the closet door. I actually didn‟t look too bad after all.
I supposed that I should start trusting her more with these things. My eyes stopped though when I
saw men‟s clothing, Edward‟s clothing, hanging next to a couple of unfamiliar dresses and outfits

obviously meant for me. My overnight bag shoved into a corner underneath them.

This really shouldn‟t surprise me. Edward spent almost every night with me as it was. But it
seemed a little different in a fancy hotel, his clothes hanging in the closet next to mine. I felt
myself blushing suddenly, unable to stop myself. I could tell that Alice was trying not to smile as
she registered my expression, my surprise, as suddenly I reconsidered her earlier words about this

trip being purely for „pleasure‟. I blushed hotter at the thought.

I only just managed to get my expression under control when there was a soft knock on the door.
Alice danced over to answer it and I saw Jasper and Edward waiting for us in the hall. I walked

forward and smiled at Edward as he reached out to me.

He was dressed in a dark suit; looking surreally beautiful. His eyes golden again from hunting, his
cheeks somewhat warmed. I took his hand, my heart thudding happily away the minute our fingers

touched. He stroked my cheek gently with his other hand causing me to blush again.

„Beautiful,” he murmured as he brushed his icy lips against my cheek sending a shiver of pleasure

down my spine.

“You took my line again,” I said as I stared into his eyes. Dazzled. He continued to look at me, a

mischievous smile playing around his perfect lips.

“There‟s just one thing missing,” he said as he stepped behind me and caressed my neck with both
of his hands. As he moved his hands away I felt something cold lingering around my neck, dangling

down my collarbone, where a sparkling pendant now hung.

“Edward,” I gasped at the unexpected addition.

“Just another hand me down,” he smiled as he traced a finger around my lips. I tried to remember
that I had promised to be a good sport about these kinds of things and bit my tongue. Really, how
much more could be possibly give me? The only things I wanted from him were the ones that

couldn‟t be wrapped, and even then I felt like I was getting way more than I gave in return.

As I stared into his eyes I forgot everything else. He leaned in closer to kiss my lips softly and my

heart began to overreact as always.

“If we don‟t get going they will start the show without us,” Jasper reminded us, a slightly amused

expression on his face.

We went to the symphony; private box of course. Edward handed me a pair of opera glasses so I
could see the musicians more clearly, none of the others needed such assistance. But I didn‟t really
mind not seeing. I was content leaning into Edward in the dark, the beautiful music swirling around

us as he caressed the skin on my arms, my face.

The only time I wanted to use the glasses was when a soprano came out to sing. Her voice so
beautiful I felt tears well up in the corners of my eyes. Edward smiled as he kissed my tears away.
As dressing up and dates went, this was pure heaven and I felt grateful to Alice for creating a ruse

to get me here.

Returning to the hotel I realized I was a bit famished. Edward heard my stomach grumble at me,
an apologetic smile on his face. I wanted to ask if it would be rude to grab a burger in my fancy
dress but when he opened to door to our room, I was overcome by the smell of my dinner; already
in place waiting for me by the low fire in the fireplace.

He really did think of everything. I gave him a look of amazement as he pulled me over to where
the food was waiting for me. He‟d arranged for a floor picnic by the fire. He sat with me while I ate,

staring at me, which made me feel a little self conscious.

“The symphony was beautiful. Thank you,” I said, trying to distract him.

“I‟m glad you enjoyed it,” he smiled at me. He still hadn‟t stopped staring at me. I could never
figure out why he looked at me like that. Like I was a dream he was afraid of waking from. The
way I had always felt about him.

“And the dinner is perfect; impeccable timing.”

“Not quite impeccable. If I‟d been more thorough you wouldn‟t have gone so long in between

meals,” he laughed, remembering my impatient stomach no doubt.

“It‟s exactly right. My body always has ideas of its own; you can‟t take responsibility for that.”

“Are you finished?” he asked.

“Stuffed.”

He quickly picked all the remains of my dinner up off the floor and had them on the room service
tray out in the hall before I could move an inch to pick anything up myself. He stood over me

holding out his hand to help me up.

“I think I need to change into something a little more me,” I said as he helped me to my feet. He

smiled at me as I went to the little hallway to grab my overnight bag from the hall.

I walked to the bathroom where I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled a brush
though my hair. I took off the dress and hung it on the back of the door. But when I went to my
overnight bag to pull out my pajamas, I noticed they were missing. In their place was a new pair of
pajamas.

I held them up a little surprised. They were comprised of a tank top and a very short pair of satin
shorts. The material for the top was nothing like what I wore at home. Flimsy white material,
practically see through, with a deep V in front that was only made slightly less offensive by the fact
that there was a small satin tie at the top. I cringed; any gratitude that I felt towards Alice quickly

melted away by my embarrassment and anger.

How mortifying!

I grabbed my bag hoping that my sweats were still in there from earlier in the day but that hope

quickly disappeared. The bag was empty.

Alice!

So that was it. I was left with no other choice but to either put on the embarrassingly suggestive
and potentially revealing pajamas or sleep in the uncomfortable dress that I‟d just taken off.

I sighed as I slipped on the pajamas refusing to look into the mirror. Taking a deep breath I walked
out.

Hopefully Edward would realize that this wasn‟t my idea.

When I entered the room I saw that he had changed too. His black suit put away, he was in a t-

shirt and sweats. Nothing as horrific as what I was wearing.

He turned to look at me and I could see the surprise on his face, his eyes seemed locked on the
pajamas for a minute. I gave him a slightly apologetic smile that he returned a little tentatively. I

saw him swallow hard before turning back to a small stereo for a quick moment.

Music filled the room from the CD he put on. He walked slowly towards me eyes darting to the

pajamas a couple of times as he crossed the room.

“Dance with me?” he asked.

“Here?” I questioned, surprised.

“You‟ll have to get over your fear of dancing sometime,” he replied with a small smile. “After all

you will have to dance with me at our wedding soon enough.”

“You know I have no clue what I‟m doing.”

“We‟re alone. There‟s no one watching. Besides,” he said, smirking at me now, “a little practice

makes a lot of sense.” He was twisting my words from our conversation that morning.

“So you‟re saying that I would be more comfortable dancing at our wedding if there was some
familiarity to ease me into it?” I asked, my lips pursed a little as I eyed him.

“Exactly,” he laughed as he reached for me.

I felt his arms wrap around me and before I knew it he had me slowly spinning around in the small
space in the hotel room in time to the music. I had to admit I enjoyed myself as we danced. Time
seemed to disappear whenever I was in his arms.

As the sky grew darker he released me from our waltz.

“Are you tired?” he whispered.

“Not really,” I admitted. I knew I should be tired after getting so little sleep the night before, but I

was wide awake. “I think I may just sit by the fire for awhile. Will you sit with me?”

“Let me get you a pillow and blanket, just in case you doze off.”

Clearly he didn‟t believe me about my lack of exhaustion.

Edward was back in a flash. He pulled me down to the floor and put the blanket around me,

obviously hoping that I would drift off to sleep.

“I missed you today,” I told him.

“There were definitely too many hours apart for my liking too,” he murmured.

„Were you out hunting all day?” I asked.

“No. I had some things to talk to Carlisle about, and then I spent a little time with my brothers,” he

explained, a slightly tense undertone to his voice.

“Is everything okay?” I asked; seriously starting to wonder if there was more to this trip than Alice

let on.

“Of course,” he answered a little too quickly. I rolled over to look at him, kicking off the blanket

that was now too hot in front of the fire as I did so.

“You just sounded like you were a little worried,” I told him; searching his eyes for some clue as to

what had caused the tension in his voice.

“It‟s nothing,” he said as he brushed the hair away from my face.

He must have sensed that I was starting to grow tense too and in need of distraction now. He
cupped my face in his hand and leaned in to kiss me. He was far too good at distractions. I
immediately forgot my worries the second his cool lips pressed into mine and lost myself in the

kiss.

Like this morning he seemed to get lost in the moment too. His lips began to move against mine
urgently; his hand twisting into my hair and holding my face to his. I crushed myself against him

and his lips moved to my neck slowly moving down.

I could feel his perfect body through the thin layers of our clothing and suddenly my urge to feel
him even closer became too strong to ignore. My hands slid down his sides to the hem of his t-shirt

and I slowly began lifting his shirt up away from his skin.

He knew what I wanted and shrugged out of his shirt at once tossing it behind him as he leaned
down and kissed me again, my lips shaping around his. The cool skin of his chest though the flimsy

fabric of my pajamas felt nice against the warmth of the fireplace and I didn‟t shiver at all. I felt his
hands on my face, one hand tracing down my side to my hip and down my leg which he hitched up

around his waist.

My body was thrilling to the sensations running through me as he rolled until he hovered over me.

He supported himself with one arm leaving his other hand free to trace my face.

As I ran my hands over his stone chest and down his back he moved his free hand down to my
body tracing my ribs. His hand moved slowly back up to the tie on my pajamas and I felt him tug
gently at the satin ribbon that kept the deep v of the top closed. The fabric at the top of the
pajamas fell open exposing me to him, my skin on his skin. Pleasure was ripping though me

burning me.

I felt Edward shudder a little from the heat as our skin made contact and he kissed slowly down my
neck to my collarbone. He paused there kissing my collarbone before he continued on; kissing
down my chest and moving slowly over until his lips were at my exposed flesh. I felt his nose brush

against me sending tingling waves of pleasure and desire through me.

His hand moved down to my hip, wrapping my other leg around his waist and as he pressed

against me I could feel that his desire and arousal matched my own.

I was too far gone in my need for him to think about stopping. He could have all of me now. I was

his for the taking.

Edward seemed to feel my willingness for him and his hand rubbed against the satin of my shorts

as if he was trying to decide what to do next.

With a deep moan that only increased my desire he pulled himself away. I lay there panting, my
heart pounding, my body flushed. My skin exposed to him in new ways. His eyes smoldered and

burned. He was breathless as he looked at me.

“I have to stop now,” he groaned desperately.

I didn‟t want him to stop, and I could tell that he didn‟t really want to anyway. So I reached up and
kissed him again. He kissed me back and this time I let my lips travel down his neck until I was
kissing his chest, the delicious scent of him filling my nose and my mouth. He moaned again, and

then I felt his hands locking around my wrists and pulling them up.

“Bella, if I don‟t stop now I won‟t be able to.”

“I don‟t want you to stop.”

“We have to Bella,” he whispered.

He kissed me gently and pulled the flaps of my shirt over my exposed skin before laying his head

down on my chest to listen to my heart.

I wasn‟t sure how much good the thin material would be as a deterrent to more temptation. Even
with my weak human eyes I could see my skin beneath the fabric; I was sure it was much more
obvious to him as he stared at the subtle mound of my flesh from his resting place between my

breasts.

I sighed and took a deep breath, the action causing the fabric to fall away again from the mound

that had his attention.

His hand reached up, I assumed to pull the fabric back over and cover me again, but instead his
fingers gently traced the curve of my flesh following the lines. Very gently he ran his cold finger
over the center of my breast where my own arousal was the most prominent. His eyes and his

fingers lingering on that one spot.

“Forbidden fruit,” he murmured.

“Hmm?” I questioned.

Edward sighed. “My human instincts seem to be getting stronger all the time. The closer I get to
you I find myself wanting to be closer still. And every touch only leaves me hungry for more. It‟s

impossible to deny. I want you. I‟ve always wanted you. The hunger gets worse…what do I do?”

“Practice?” I asked hopefully.

He looked up at me without removing his hand. “Right now I‟m struggling with myself to keep from
ripping those ridiculously tempting pajamas from your body and ravishing you now. Any more

practice and we won‟t have any need for a honeymoon.”

I sighed as he retied the ribbon that closed my top.

“Like it makes so much of a difference,” he muttered. “That top is nearly transparent. Alice is going

to have some answering to do for forcing you into this.”

“Right now I don‟t really mind so much,” I told him.

He smiled at me before leaning down and nuzzling my breast with his lips and nose though the thin

fabric almost purring. I laughed and could feel him laughing a little too.

“You need to sleep, love,” he insisted, picking me up off the floor and moving me to the bed.

Edward set me down and recovered the pillow from the floor. I drifted to sleep in his arms, my
dreams taking on a slightly erotic tone as our stolen moments on the floor wove through my

consciousness.

When I woke up in the morning it was to Edward‟s gentle kisses. I looked up at his face and he was

very amused.

“What?” I asked a little concerned about what I might have said to cause that particular level of

amusement on his face.

“Nothing,” he said, suppressing a laugh.

I glared at him. “What did I say now?”

“Mostly my name.”

His eyes were wide and innocent but he was starting to lose his composure. I continued to glare at

him until he clarified.

“Except…well you were more moaning my name than anything else. I actually had a very hard time
behaving myself with the way you were carrying on. From the sounds of things I‟ll have some
serious expectations to live up to after we‟re married. If you keep that up I‟ll have to soundproof

your bedroom to keep Charlie from shooting me!”

He was a little too smug as he looked at me and I felt my face blush hot and bright red.

“Bella, don‟t be embarrassed. I wish I could dream like that about you. I‟m glad that at least the
thought of me can give you so much pleasure. Perhaps you should tell me about your dream since
I can„t read your mind to see it for myself…give me some pointers?” I could hear the real curiosity

in his voice combined with the amusement at my nocturnal fantasies.

“How loud was I?” I asked, horrified.

“Well no one came up from the front desk to complain so I think you‟re safe,” he smirked.

“Great. Small miracles.”

“The fact that you dream about me like that is a miracle,” he said seriously before kissing me

again. Edward kept the kiss going until I was nearly faint and then pulled away.

“Those pajamas really are completely unfair. Perhaps you should put something less tempting on

before I start to lose control again,” he said.

“If you insist,” I grumped at him.

Huffing loudly, I grabbed an outfit out of the closet and went to the bathroom to get cleaned up
stuffing my indecent pajamas back into my overnight bag. Somehow I rather wanted to keep them

now. I blushed at the thought that Alice probably knew I would feel that way.

When I came back out Edward was dressed and breakfast was waiting for me. Jasper and Alice
were in the room with him and I could tell that he and Alice were having another one of their silent

discussions.

Jasper smiled at me and then quickly looked away making me think about what Edward had said
about the possibility of needing to soundproof my room. I turned away from them until I could get

my blush under control and walked over to the breakfast nibbling on the fruit and toast.

“So Bella, do you want to go look at florists and photographers today?” Alice asked brightly,

turning away from Edward who was looking at her a little stiffly.

“Um…..really?” I asked.

“Well you don‟t have to since I already have everything lined up, but I thought if you decided that

you wanted to have some input I would leave that option open for you,” she answered.

“I don‟t think it‟s necessary, but thanks.”

“Okay then,” she chirped lightly, clearly having already anticipated my answer

“Emmett is coming up today. We‟ll meet him over at the bookstore. Bella is desperately in need of
some new reading material,” Edward suggested. I remembered his remarks as we discussed

Wuthering Heights not too long ago.

After I finished my breakfast we walked to the large bookstore downtown. Outside I could see
Emmett waiting for us, leaning casually against the building. The pedestrians on the sidewalk were

giving him a wide berth.

“Hey, how was the performance last night?” Emmett asked as he greeted me.

“It was amazing!” I exclaimed truthfully.

“Glad you had a good time,” he smirked looking over at Edward. “Personally though I prefer
something you can dance to.”

Emmett‟s smile twisted until it was almost menacing in appearance. I looked questioningly back at
him but he didn‟t say anything else.

As he led the way into the bookstore I could hear him humming a faint pop tune under his breath.

It sounded familiar, retro, like something from the 80s. I struggled to listen to it.

I felt Edward stiffen at my side and saw Jasper trying to suppress a laugh as Edward glared at
Emmett.

Emmett met his glare with a look that was taunting, knowing that there was nothing that Edward
could do with an audience of humans so close by. Suddenly the tune clicked into place and I
wanted to glare at Emmett too. He was humming Madonna‟s “Like a Virgin”, just to annoy the crap

out of Edward and make me blush, which to my chagrin I did.

I remembered Edward telling me when I first met his family that they had no secrets. I began to

realize that there was one thing about being a Cullen that might not be so great after all.

Most of them probably knew exactly what Alice had planned last night in order to get Edward and
me alone and worked up in a hotel room. I felt my cheeks color again at the thought. I couldn‟t

imagine why she would interfere and set us up like that.

Determined to put on a brave face, I tried to push all of my embarrassment and anger aside and
just focus on finding a couple of good reads for the summer as I perused the sections in the
bookstore. Edward stayed with me picking up and skimming one book after another. He snorted as

he picked up some of the vampire books and I grinned at him.

I‟d pretty much read most of the classics and he had as well so we went over the new publications
section where I tried to find something interesting that he might not have read already. I was
looking over some sci-fi books and was about to ask his opinion on one when I noticed that his
eyes were a little unfocused and he had a look on his face that was a cross between exasperation
and annoyance.

“Edward?” I asked.

His eyes slid down to me and I could see that he was trying to give me his full attention, but his

mouth was set in a hard line.

“Yes?” he responded, peering at the shelves in front of us.

“What‟s wrong?”

“Nothing at all.” he replied a little too casually. “That author isn‟t too terrible I suppose,” he said
looking down at the book I was holding. “But the storylines are too farfetched sometimes even for
science fiction. The characters usually aren‟t developed enough to give the stories much depth. But
you may have a different opinion. Have you read any of the books in that series?” he asked, clearly

trying to distract me.

“No I haven‟t. Now will you please tell me what is going on?” I demanded.

“What?” he asked innocently, picking up a different book and examining the jacket. Clearly he was

playing dumb, but I knew him well enough to know better.

“Don‟t insult my intelligence please,” I insisted, putting my hand over the book he was staring at.

He sighed and looked up reluctantly, obviously still annoyed. Then his eyes unfocused again and
his brow furrowed. He let a small frustrated growl slip out before pinching his finger and thumb to

the bridge of his nose.

“Edward?” I asked again.

“Emmett is being rude but he thinks it‟s funny. Don‟t worry about it. I‟ll get my chance to pay him

back later.”

Edward tried to keep his tone matter-of-fact, but there was a little snarl at the end that gave him

away.

“Please tell me he isn‟t singing again,” I muttered.

He rolled his eyes. “I wish that was all it was.”

I looked at him for clarification and he didn‟t offer any.

„That is really frustrating you know,” I pressed.

“Sorry, but I really don‟t want to talk about it.”

“Fine. Perhaps I should find Emmett and ask him what he is doing myself. Can„t you just tune him

out?”

“I wish I could. But it doesn‟t work that way, especially not when he is deliberately thinking at me
to force me to hear him.”

“Deliberately thinking at you?”

“He‟s taking advantage of the ability to have a one sided conversation where I don‟t have the

opportunity to respond,” Edward explained. “He was making some…reading suggestions.”

“Huh?”

“Well first he was in the magazine section and then he moved into the non-fiction area near…the

self-help books. Hopefully he will knock it off soon.”

“Self-help books?”

“I told you, he thinks he‟s being funny.”

„Okay.”

I tried to drop the subject and pay attention to the book I was holding, but when I looked up again
Edward still looked annoyed. I caught a glimpse of him rolling his eyes and once heard him grit his
teeth together. I couldn‟t imagine what there would be in the self-help section to make him react

like that. Was Emmett silently flinging diagnoses at him for different neuroses?

Suddenly Edward stiffened again and looked at me a little panicked.

“Bella, I think that Alice is over by the fashion magazines. Why don‟t you get her for me?” he

asked.

„Why?”

What on earth was going on with him anyway? I stood there looking at him and he just looked

back a little frustrated.

“Hey Edward!” I heard Emmett call out behind me; louder than was necessary considering how
sensitive their hearing was. It was like he was trying to get the attention of half of the other people
in the book store with his bellowing and a couple of people did turn around to take a look at him as

he walked towards us holding up two books for our examination.

The people looking at him suddenly averted their eyes a little embarrassed and I felt my face color
as the titles and covers of the books made everything that Edward had been trying not to tell me

fall into place.

“Do you think these will help?” Emmett asked, enjoying himself as he held the books out towards

us.

In one hand was a copy of the Kama Sutra, in the other The Joy of Sex. I really wished that a hole
in the floor would open up and swallow me right then and there. If it was possible to die from
embarrassment I was sure it would happen right now as I felt my face burning, saw Edward
glowering at his jerk of a brother, and saw Emmett grinning ear to ear clearly pleased with the

effect his little joke was having.

I turned around and walked away. Edward could find me later. Hopefully after he finished crushing

Emmett into a pile of vampire rubble.

Running to the back of the bookstore where I was planning on hiding until my embarrassment

subsided, I bumped right into Alice.

Seeing her really didn‟t help much as I thought about the slightly awkward situation she had
created for me last night. I was about to turn around and walk the other way when she gently

caught my arm.

“Bella?”

“Just leave me alone,” I mumbled, my face reddening again.

“Emmett can go a little overboard on the obnoxious big brother thing sometimes. He‟s more trying
to pester Edward than you and enjoying himself way too much. Let Edward deal with him and try

not to worry about it too much please,” she pleaded.

I could tell she was trying to comfort me but I was still too mad at Emmett and her to relax.

“You‟re one to talk after last night!” I accused.

“Bella,” she said slowly like she was trying to explain something very carefully. “I wasn‟t trying to

embarrass you last night. I was trying to help you.”

“Help me? How on earth was taking my stuff and leaving me that exposed supposed to help me?” I

asked angrily.

“Because you are right about what needs to happen before the wedding if you want him to make
good on his promise,” she said seriously. “And you know how Edward is. He needs a little push in

the right direction.”

“What do you mean Alice?”

“Practice, familiarity. Sound familiar?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.

I nodded my blush deepening as I wondered just how much she knew about my life with Edward

behind closed doors.

“What you are asking for is dangerous and demanding. He needs to prepare; he needs some alone
time with you and a good hard shove to push him outside of his comfort zone if this is going to
work. I‟m sorry if you‟re upset by that, but I‟m trying to make sure you get what you want and I‟m

trying to protect the both of you at the same time. Can you please try to understand that Bella?”

“I need you to go along with this if you are going to insist that he follow through because there will

be more trips before the wedding and I don‟t need you biting my head off!”

I suddenly realized that Alice was completely sincere. She really had thought through the best

course of action on this and while it was embarrassing, she was right.

“Sorry Alice. It‟s just so…”

“Mortifying?” she asked with a smile.

“Yes,” I mumbled.

“Bella, I can‟t help that I see. I don‟t know if it will make you feel any better to know that I see
almost everyone we know; way more than I‟d like to see to be perfectly honest. Just think of me

like your doctor. It could be worse…” she trailed off with a laugh.

“How could it be worse?” I asked.

“I only see possible futures, sometimes it„s helpful and sometimes it makes me feel like a voyeur.
But, Edward sees everything that people are thinking which means he sees what they are doing
too; and his talent has a pretty wide radius. Can you really blame Emmett for picking on him just a

little now after all of the private moments we know he has unwillingly witnessed?”

I grimaced at her, feeling a little guilty about my own reaction. That wasn‟t something I had

thought about before.

Although Edward was inexperienced when we met, I remembered how he had been too good at
everything at the same time. I cringed a little as I wondered if that was a result of all of the
intimate moments he had borne witness to. His talent must also feel like a curse.

“It‟s going to be okay Bella,” Alice said as she hugged me lightly. “Do you want Jasper to calm you

down? Or would you like to see if Emmett has reined his inappropriate jokes in yet?”

“I think I‟ll give Jasper a rest. I should make sure that Edward hasn‟t dismantled Emmett over by

the best sellers.”

“Come on. I‟ll go with you,” she said as we walked back over to where I had abandoned Edward to
face Emmett‟s books on sex alone. I actually didn‟t feel quite so bad now that I understood, but
that still didn‟t really excuse Emmett‟s behavior. Hopefully he would get tired of his jokes soon and

move on to something else.

Edward was still where I left him and when we came around the corner he looked at me warily,
clearly concerned that Emmett had upset me. I smiled at him, trying to reassure him but it didn‟t

erase the concern from his face.

Emmett was still Emmett. He was blatantly standing in the middle of the book store flipping though
the pages of the books he held laughing occasionally at some of the more impossible looking
positions they suggested. I suppose it was a little funny. Catching a glimpse here and there when

he would laugh I could see how ridiculous and awkward some of the possibilities looked.

Edward looked at Alice, the relief evident on his face and I was fairly certain that he had overheard
my conversation with her. Perhaps he was more wary about the revelation to me regarding his
knowledge about the private lives of others. But that was actually pretty silly. I really should have
realized something so obvious, and it made me respect him a little more to know just how many
secrets he diligently kept for people. Secrets that they didn‟t even know he was aware of.

I leaned my head against his shoulder while looking back at the best sellers.

“So…since this book is probably a wash do you have any other suggestions?” I asked, replacing the

science fiction book back on the shelf.

I felt him relax and his arm wound around my waist.

“That depends, is there a particular genre or topic that interests you?” he asked, hugging me a

little closer to him.

Chapter 2.

I wasn‟t ready for our weekend to end, I mused from the passenger seat of Edward„s Volvo.

Driving back to Forks with Edward was a little fraught with peril as it started with a race between
his silver car and the yellow Porsche. One that left me gripping my seat for dear life. Fortunately it
was dark out so I couldn‟t see the blurring scenery as we sped along the highway at reckless

speeds.

Edward decided, half an hour into my panic attack, to concede defeat to Alice for the sake of my
sanity. Watching the yellow Porsche take off in the distance also allowed us some time on our own.
With all of the wedding plans, and Alice‟s exuberance, it seemed like it was rarely just the two of us

anymore.

Apparently he wasn‟t ready for our weekend to be over with either, I noted, as he shot me a sly

glance and steered the car off the main highway.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“Well, I remembered another human tradition you haven„t experienced. I thought we could try it

out on the way home,” he smirked.

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what possible tradition that could be.

He leered at me, taking his eyes off of the road completely and giving me a crooked smile.

“Parking,” he growled lowly, his eyes shining mischievously.

Oh my! I couldn‟t control the grin that spread across my face when he said that. This was a whole
new Edward! He was opening up and I was definitely enjoying the benefits. As I watched him, I

saw his brow furrow a little and his expression began to change.

“I know that sounds a little old fashioned. I think it was more popular a couple of decades ago. We
don‟t have to if you don‟t want to…I don‟t want to make you uncomfortable Bella. I can turn back

to the highway and catch up to the others,” he said self consciously.

Couldn‟t he see the stupid smile plastered across my face? Knowing Edward, he was concerned

that he had crossed a line. Always so worried about being a gentleman.

“Edward,” I said firmly as he peered at me a little nervously. “Don‟t turn the car around. It may be
an old tradition but if you haven‟t noticed, I like those sorts of things.” Wow. I was obviously
feeling pretty brave tonight. I was a little shocked that I managed to say that without turning five

shades of red. “By the way, I love you.”

Edward beamed at me, clearly pleased by my response. I could never understand how he could
shift from such highs of confidence to such lows of nervousness almost instantaneously. I wanted

him to never doubt my love or my need for him.

He drove the car through seldom used back roads until we found ourselves in a secluded little spot
that ended at a small grove of trees. He turned off the engine and peered at me shyly, his

nervousness returning.

I reached out across the space and cupped my hand against his cheek. Sighing, he pressed into the
warmth of my hand and turned slightly to place a kiss on my palm. When he opened his eyes to

look at me they were warm and I felt my pulse race and my body quiver slightly at his loving gaze.

I wasn‟t sure exactly how long we stayed there like that, caught up in each others eyes. But, alone
in the darkness that enveloped the car, the electric current that had sparked and hummed between
us since the first time his cold skin made contact with mine in biology, picked up in intensity.

Before I could register my actions my other hand was running though his hair and it seemed like
we were being pulled closer together by our own special magnetism. Soon his lips met mine and I
felt myself fall apart completely under his touch. His hands, grasping at me, pulling me tighter to
him, seemed to wander with a purpose, running along the lines of my body until they eventually

found their way under the hem of my shirt.

Once he made contact with my skin he became gentle again as he hesitantly began tracing circles
on my abdomen, his fingertips gliding over the ridges of my ribs as they slowly made a path up my

torso. The gentleness of his touch tickled a little and I jerked slightly, giggling in response.

“Sorry about that,” he whispered, his lips dancing along the shell of my ear. I heard him swallow

hard as his touch became firmer and his hand made contact with the bottom of my breast.

“It‟s alright,” I practically moaned.

His breathing quickly turned to panting as his lips made their way down the column of my throat.
In an instant, he had pulled me across the space of the car until I was on his lap, the steering
wheel pressing a little uncomfortably into my back. Lost in the sensation, the awkward position

failed to bother me.

I found myself in the same state I was in just the night before, not caring if he took it too far. It
didn‟t matter that we were in a car with the windows steaming up or stuck in an uncomfortable

position. I wanted him. Badly.

His kisses and caresses became more urgent and forceful, moans escaping his lips as he breathed
my name over and over again. I only wondered for a moment if he had lost his self control. I

couldn‟t find it in me to really care at that point. I was too far gone.

I tangled my hands into his hair, holding his head to mine, as I crashed my lips onto his with as
much force as I could muster, parting my lips slightly. He pulled back a little and groaned, his
thumb caressing my face.

“Love, I want to kiss you like that but I can‟t. Please, be safe,” he said, before pressing his lips
back onto mine. I moved my hands from his hair and traced the muscles in his arms as his hands
went down to my hips, pulling me closer to him.

“Mmmm, Bella,” he rasped, moving one of his hands back under my shirt as the other held my hip
in place.

Edward must have been really into what we were doing as he was caught off guard by a sudden
rapping on the window. Someone was outside the car. Busted! I was turning a whole new level of

crimson at being caught in such a compromising position.

Edward‟s reaction startled me more than anything. He gripped me tighter to himself, hunching his
shoulders around me, and turned to the noise with a terrifying expression on his face. A loud growl

ripped from his chest in the most threatening way imaginable.

I‟d seen Edward defensive, I‟d even seen him in battle. His growls, occasional snarls and hisses of
annoyance were familiar to me. This particular growl and posture was something new. It was

possessive and animalistic.

A loud booming laugh cut the tension.

“Calm down brother, I‟m not here to try to steal your mate,” Emmett chuckled as his smirking face
appeared at the window. I felt Edward loosen his grip; his face was wearing a horrified expression

as he looked back at me.

Shakily, Edward relaxed his grip on me and opened the car door. I stumbled out, a bit shocked,

and stood next to Emmett who was shaking with suppressed mirth.

Edward exited the car after me, his head hung down a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck with
his hand.

“Emmett, I‟m sorry. I didn‟t mean to react to you like that, I don‟t know what came over me,”
Edward fumbled.

“Oh no! Edward had an instinctual reaction! Seriously brother, calm down. It‟s about time you
actually had a normal response like that,” Emmet laughed. “Man, is that the first time you‟ve had

that one?”

Edward shifted uncomfortably, his feet scuffing the dirt.

“I let myself get caught up in the moment. I shouldn‟t have let go of my control like that,” he said

in a self admonishing tone.

“No, you needed to go through that,” Emmett insisted, placing a hand on Edward‟s shoulder. “How
are you supposed to handle normal reactions when they pop up, if you don‟t ever allow yourself to
experience them in the first place?”

“I have to control them Emmett. You aren‟t in my position, I can‟t ever loose control,” Edward
snapped. He looked at his feet again and took a deep breath before turning back to me. “Bella, I

swear I didn‟t mean to let that out. Are you frightened? Can you forgive me?”

He was clearly worried that his display had affected me. To be truthful it was a little scary. It was
so raw and powerful, like he was making his claim on me. I didn‟t want to worry him with that, and
I didn‟t want to embarrass him, or myself, by admitting that fear wasn‟t the only emotion that his

little outburst caused in me. It was, truth be told, kind of sexy.

“There is nothing to forgive. I‟m fine, and I‟m not scared,” I insisted. I wanted to reassure him, let

him know that I trusted him and that he could trust me. “What happened though?”

Emmett started snickering again. “Well it is kind of my fault. I tried really hard to keep my
thoughts clear when I was getting closer. I thought, with Edward distracted, it might be my one

golden opportunity to sneak up on him.” He was laughing heartily now.

“That was great though! He‟s always so self-contained; I thought he didn‟t have it in him to go all

Discovery Channel on me.”

Edward just glared at Emmett, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“Perhaps I should explain instead,” he huffed. “I wasn‟t totally in control to begin with, and I wasn‟t
paying attention. When he knocked on the window, all I was able to register at first was that there
was another male intruding on us, and I reacted instinctually. I never meant to behave like that

around you. I apologize.”

Edward‟s constant apologies for his nature were really getting annoying.

“Edward, please quit saying you‟re sorry for what you are. I love you, all of you,” I said, placing my
hand over his silent heart. Now that we had his reaction explained, there was one other answer I

needed.

“Emmett, why on Earth did you feel the need to come out here and interrupt us in the first place?”

“Oh yeah. Well, Alice had one of her visions of you guys getting busted by the on duty patrolman
out here and it getting back to Charlie. I almost didn‟t want to stop it. I can only imagine what your
Dad‟s face would have looked like when he was told you were caught getting freaky in a car with
Edward! I would‟ve paid money to see that one!” he chortled, as he came over and put his arm
around me. “What do you think he would have tried to do to our boy over here? Oh, it would have

been priceless!”

“Why did you get the honor of delivering this message to us?” I practically hissed, my face colored
with my embarrassment and annoyance. Couldn‟t they have sent someone less obnoxious?

“Well, Alice thought it would be nice to spare Jasper the emotional trauma of having to experience
your lust secondhand. She is actually detaining the cop at this exact moment; you owe her one for
that. Right now my dear sister is charming her way out of a speeding ticket, after allowing herself

to get caught.”

At this point Emmett was practically glowing with happiness; apparently he enjoyed other people‟s

humiliation.

“Edward, I have to thank you again for not killing Bella. This is the most fun I‟ve had in decades!
Man, that growl, and before that…I never thought I‟d live to see the day that I hear Edward moan

like that. Way to go Bella!”

I know we owed Emmett one for helping us out of a precarious situation, but right now I really
wanted to smack him for being such a jackass. I tried to remember Alice telling me that he was

only trying to get a little brotherly revenge on Edward, but did he have to be so crass?

“Emmett…” Edward warned, glaring at his brother.

Emmett raised his eyebrows and smirked in response as he gestured to the car.

Edward was quiet and pensive as we all piled back into the Volvo and headed to Forks. Emmett sat
in the backseat where, unfortunately, he refused to remain quiet.

“You know, it would be really awesome if the Discovery Channel would do Vampire Week instead of
Shark Week one year. Can you imagine the shows we could put on? Granted, if humans really

knew, they‟d crap themselves, but that my friend would be great T.V.!”

“Oh really Emmett, and do you think that they would get volunteers to line up for the show on

feeding?” Edward replied sarcastically. He was still tense from his episode.

“Come on Edward, like it‟s ever going to happen. I‟m just talking about theoretically. Do you think
that they have cameras that are fast enough to follow our movements when we really cut loose?

Cheetahs have nothing on us man.”

“I doubt it,” Edward replied. Despite his anger, he was actually beginning to calm down a bit, his
shoulders unfreezing to a more relaxed position. “They have high speed cameras available, but I

don‟t think that they are really all that fast.”

“True. Hey, what about a show on our mental capabilities. Can you imagine it? Vampire vs.
human—battle of the wits. It wouldn‟t be much of a challenge. I can just imagine someone like

Mike Newton going up against you. The boy can barely speak a coherent sentence.”

Edward chuckled at the idea of a battle of wits with Mike.

“Well it depends on the human Emmett,” he said as he reached over and grabbed my hand, kissing
it. “Some are remarkably intelligent, and capable of causing even the most educated of us to falter

in our thought processes.” He smiled at me, throwing me a playful wink.

“Yeah, I can think of one in particular that alters more than just your thought processes. You‟d be

center stage for a show of male territorialism tonight! I should have videotaped that.”

Edwards light mood vanished in a moment and he hissed a little under his breath at Emmett.

“Okay, whatever. I‟ll lay off,” Emmett grumbled from the back seat. I could have sworn I heard
him mumble something about it being a good thing for me that Edward couldn‟t piss to mark his

property. Edward just glared at the road, his jaw tensed as we pulled up to the Cullen house.

Chapter 3.

One week. It had been one week since our near run in with law enforcement. It had also been one
week of Edward‟s boundaries being more rigorously enforced than ever before. He was so upset
over his reaction to Emmett‟s intrusion that he had deemed himself an uncontrollable menace and

quashed any progress we had made.

His all too rare kisses were quick and chaste, I felt like we had gone back to square one. I was very

worried that he was about to go back on his side of the bargain we had made.

Emmett must have felt a little bad about the situation, he‟d refrained from teasing us after he
realized just how deep a pit of self loathing Edward had buried himself in. But by the fifth day after
our return his guilt turned to irritation and he grumbled about Edward needing to snap out of it and
get over himself.

So here we were standing in the Cullen‟s living room on a sunny Saturday. Going into town was out
of the question for obvious reasons, but no one wanted to be stuck inside all day. Apparently the
Cullens had a couple of secluded spots that they liked to get away to on nice days for some „fun
family time‟. Right now they were getting everything ready for an excursion to one such location. A

remote mountain lake, difficult to hike to and almost completely unexplored by humans.

“You‟ll love it there.” Alice trilled as she pulled me towards the garage. “It‟s so clean and you can

almost see all the way to the bottom, even with your eyes.”

“It sounds a little cold Alice.” I knew the temperature wouldn‟t affect any of the others.

“It is, put there are also a couple of hot springs near by that you can take a dip in. They‟re plenty
warm. I‟ve already packed everything you need.” Alice handed me the duffle bag she was holding.

“Everything else is already loaded in Emmett‟s jeep, none of us felt like carrying while we run.”

“The jeep can make it all the way there? Are you sure we won‟t run into anyone?” It wouldn‟t be a
good idea for the locals to get an eyeful of seven sparkling creatures. It could result in mass

hysteria in the local towns if word of that got out.

“The jeep can make it part of the way there. We‟ll have to run everything in from that point. Don‟t

worry though. I‟ve already looked ahead,” she said tapping her forehead. “Alls clear.”

Edward came over to me to grab the duffle and smiled as he kissed me quickly and then turned

away.

“Gee, a kiss like that, are you sure she‟s your fiancée and not your sister.” Emmett chortled.

“Emmett, don‟t start. Unlike some people I have chosen to treat Bella with some respect and that
means that some things are going to be done the traditional way.” Edward said in an irritated

clipped tone.

“Traditional?” Emmet snorted. “Oh yes, how can I forget, sleeping with her vampire boyfriend

every night is soooo traditional.”

Edward just glared at Emmett.

I heaved a big sigh. Here we go again.

“There isn‟t anything untoward going on and it isn‟t any of your business.” Edward hissed.

“Wrong! Bella is now my little sister. So, it is very much my business.” Emmett glared back and
Edward and then looked quickly over to me, a small smile forming on his lips. “ I think you are
absolutely right Edward. Things ought to be done the traditional way. I‟m going to help with that,

starting now.” Emmett crossed his arms across his puffed out chest and smiled at Edward who
looked a little confused.

Rosalie just rolled her eyes at her hulk of a husband as she prepared to take off with the others.

Emmett was unphased by her reaction and leaned his enormous frame against the jeep.

“Aren‟t you going with the others?” Edward asked.

“Nope. I‟m going with you.”

“Why?” I was a little surprised that Edward had to ask, I figured Emmett must be trying to block
his thoughts. When I saw Edward cringe a little I realized that I probably didn‟t want to know what

Emmett was running though his mind to keep Edward out.

“Let‟s see, to be traditional perhaps. If you are going to insist on acting like it‟s 1918, then so am I
and that means you and Miss Swan need a chaperone for this outing. I am dutifully providing that

service as her big brother.”

“We don‟t need a chaperone.” Edward said, his fists clenched at his sides.

“Yes you do. I wouldn‟t want you to try anything with our delicate little flower over there. Besides,

it‟s my jeep. If you want to use it to transport Isabella then I‟m driving.”

“Like I‟m going to try anything Emmett.” Edward snapped. I felt a little blush crawling up my
cheeks, and tears threatened to form in the corners of my eyes. With Edward‟s distant behavior his
comment was a painful reminder of just how far we had regressed. I tried to push back the feelings

of rejection.

“Of course you wouldn‟t. But if we‟re going by your rules we might as well go all the way with it. So
as her protector, I am going to make sure you don‟t besmirch her reputation by going
unchaperoned.” Emmett stood tall now a slightly arrogant expression on his face as he grasped

either side of his button down shirt like a suit jacket.

“If you would like to get there sometime today Edward I suggest you help the lovely lady into the
vehicle so we can embark on the day‟s adventures.” Emmett was being overdramatically prissy at
this point. I wondered if we would make it there in one piece or if I would be trying to break up a
knock down drag out fight between two vampires.

Edward helped me into the jeep and fastened the harness around me. I looked over to Emmett as
he climbed in the drivers seat and he turned around and winked at me quickly. I couldn‟t imagine
what was going on in his mind. He was deliberately antagonizing Edward, and I doubted that his
presence in the car was likely to help with my current situation. I didn‟t think that the solution to

my problem would be even less alone time with Edward than I already had.

“Emmett I really think that you are taking this too far.” Edward said. It seemed like he was trying

to clam down a bit.

“Don‟t be ridiculous Edward, we must protect Miss Swan‟s virtue. Can you imagine what would
happen if the Stanleys saw her out with a boy unsupervised? My goodness surely you wouldn‟t

want word to get around town that she was acting like a wanton harlot, a trollop even.”

I couldn‟t help myself at that point, Emmett‟s ridiculously old fashioned parody of Edward‟s
behavior was pretty funny. I couldn‟t stop the giggles that escaped me. Emmett smiled at Edward

who was shaking his head as we sped down the highway at breakneck speed.

“Point taken Emmett.” Edward sighed.

“Bout time!” Emmett hollered. “Now, if you are done acting like an idiot I would like to reclaim my
personality. Yours is a bit stifling. Hey I downloaded a song for you!”

Emmett hooked his iPod up to the stereo and grinned evilly as he pressed play. Oh great! I knew
this song, „The Bad Touch‟ by the Bloodhound Gang. I wasn‟t sure it would help Edward‟s mood

any, but then Emmett decided to sing, badly, off key, making my eardrums ache a little.

“You and me baby ain‟t nothing but mammals so let‟s do it like they do on the discovery channel.”
Emmett screeched out. I managed to pull my face out of my hands where they had been buried for
the first couple of verses to sneak a peek at Edward. He was facing the window his chin propped on
the back of his fist shaking with laughter. Hopefully that meant that a recovery from his freak out

was imminent.

When we reached the end of the road Edward released me from the complicated harness and lifted
me out of the jeep. Emmett had already taken off to join the others with all of the gear loaded on

his back.

Edward put a hand on either side of my face pushing me back against the frame of the vehicle, and
stepped in closer to me. “Hmmm. This reminds me of the first time you rode in the jeep you

know.”

“Does it?” I remembered all too well how he had used his seductive talents that afternoon to con

me into another breakneck run though the forest.

“Definitely.” he breathed. I stood stock still, my breath coming slightly quicker as he leaned into
me and pressed his lips against the hollow at the base of my throat starting to repeat his
ministrations from that day so long ago. He ran his nose up the line of my throat and softly
brushed his lips against my jaw sending tingles of electricity down my spine.

“Can you forgive me again?” he asked.

“There is nothing to forgive.” I whispered.

He reached up and kissed my eyelids and began to work his way down my cheek to the corner of
my mouth. “I‟ve been unfairly distant. I‟ve deprived you because of my own foolishness,” he

murmured against my lips before kissing me softly.

“You were upset. I understand.”

“It still wasn‟t right,” he said as he ran the tip of his nose across my cheek. “I made a promise to
you.” His lips pressed against my skin right below my ear. “I‟m going to do my best to keep it,” he

whispered.

I could tell that he was trying to be seductive but his last remark stung a little. “I don‟t want you to

touch me out of obligation Edward.”

“What if it isn‟t an obligation? What if I want desperately to be able to touch you? Can I be selfish?”

He had begun kissing down my neck again while he spoke, his voice trembling against my skin.

I swallowed hard trying to think of a response, or even my own name. All that came out was

“Mmmm.”

“So am I forgiven?” he asked as he brushed his lips against mine once more.

“Always.”

That was all the answer he needed. He pressed his mouth firmly against mine in an impassioned
kiss, his lips moving urgently. My hands quickly found their way into his hair as I pulled myself

closer to him while his arms wrapped around my waist. If Edward was trying to make up for lost
time he was doing a brilliant job at this moment.

Just as I was starting to get a little dizzy from all of the kissing, I heard the sound of someone
coughing slightly. We broke apart to see Jasper standing at the end of the car looking a little

uncomfortable.

“Sorry to intrude. Emmett said that there were a couple of bags left in the jeep still. I figured you

could use a hand since you will be carrying Bella.”

I felt my face burning brilliantly red as my embarrassment rolled over me. Jasper must have
noticed my discomfort and responded as I felt my uneasiness quickly drift away, replaced by
excitement and contentment. It was a little off putting to have my emotions tampered with, but in

this instance I was grateful.

“Thanks Jasper,” I said. He nodded at me and went to the back of the jeep smiling slightly.

Edward just looked at Jasper and shook his head.

“You wouldn‟t have actually done that would you?” he asked.

Jasper raised one of his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders at us. “I might have. It was a

tempting idea.”

Edward groaned.

“What an I missing?” I asked

Edward looked at Jasper a little menacingly. “Plan B. Which I have to say, would have been a little

inappropriate don‟t you think?”

Jasper just laughed. “Maybe, but I bet it would have worked. I can still try that option out now if

you want.”

“No thanks. I think we‟ll be just fine on our own.” Edward said.

“Suit yourself. I‟ll see you up at the lake.” Jasper called before disappearing in a blur of motion.

“And what exactly was Plan B?”

Edward rolled his eyes. “Apparently everyone thought that I was being a little pigheaded. If I didn‟t
come around soon, they were going to sic Jasper on me. I‟m not sure if it would have been a good
idea for us to be in a room together while he shot wave after wave of lust at me trying to get me to
break.”

“Oh. I‟m glad it didn‟t come to that then.” That was a slightly creepy idea. Where exactly had they
planned on locating Jasper while this little stunt was occurring? I didn‟t want to think about the

possibilities.

“Why, I thought you would appreciate my boundaries being removed?” Edward asked, curiosity

burning in his expression.

“Yes, but only if you are the one removing them. I don‟t want you to be forced to feel things for

me. I want you to want me without anyone else making you. It would feel like a lie otherwise.”

Edward smiled at me tenderly and cupped my face in his hands.

“Then we have nothing to worry about. I will always want you. Forever.” He murmured before
leaning in to kiss me again.

Chapter 4.

The first time Edward carried me though a forest with his immense speed I thought I was going to
die, or be sick, or both. After all of our trips through the forests that surrounded Forks, I was finally
accustomed to the rush of air as it ran by, stinging my face. Instead of fear the sensation brought
exhilaration, of course that excitement could have also been caused by the fact that I finally had
my Edward back.

The few days of his emotional and physical distance had been heartbreaking, it had brought back
all of my fears of abandonment and insecurities. I knew that it was because of Edward‟s nature. I
could never understand how someone so perfect, so amazing, could be filled with such a sense of

self loathing.

I wondered if he had been prone to fits of melancholy like this when he was human. That train of
thought would get me nowhere though, the past could not be changed. There was no going back
for us, only forward. All I could do was hold on for dear life as we traveled though our existence,
forever. I would hold on to him when he got lost in himself, he would be there to catch me

whenever I fell. It was love and security. It was us.

I could hear the others‟ laughter as we neared the lake, a symphony of tinkling bells and baritone
chuckles. I wasn‟t prepared for the sight that met my eyes when we approached though. The lake
was large, crystal clear water sparkling and reflecting the rays of the brilliant sun. On one edge,
where the water appeared deepest, it was closely rimmed by large evergreens, and near where
everyone was gathered there was a clearing filled with grass. Surrounding us on in all directions
were the peaks of mountains purple against the pale blue sky. If heaven was a physical place,
surely this was it. The only thing more breathtaking was the group of magnificent sparkling beings

gracefully darting around, surreal and beautiful.

“What do you think?” Edward asked as he gently set me on my feet.

“Is this real?‟ I gasped.

“Of course,” he chuckled. He nodded over to his family who were moving around in a blur of
motion. In one moment where there had been nothing a volleyball net had been set up. The next
instant a large tent and chairs set out. They moved so quickly I could barely take it all in as one
thing after another popped up and was set into place. “I understand how that might be a difficult

sight to believe.”

“Well they are something to behold, but that wasn‟t what I meant.” I smiled at him. “This place, I

can‟t believe people haven‟t found it. Its perfect.”

“It‟s a bit of a trek to get here. Not many people are up to the challenge when there aren‟t any
trails or markers for miles all around. Alice is bouncing up and down over there by the tent. If we

don‟t join her soon she‟ll probably explode.”

I looked up to see Alice frantically waving at us over by a tall narrow striped tent. It was clearly a
changing station like people had at the beach. Alice was nothing if not thorough. She of course was
already in her bathing suit. The pink material of her bikini clinging to her sculpted curves perfectly.
I could only hope that she had selected something that covered a bit more for me to wear.
Standing next to three beautiful women with perfect figures was going to be enough to give me a

complex even if I was wearing a muumuu.

Edward seemed to sense my unease as we got closer. He squeezed my hand in a reassuring
manner. “It‟s only family Bella, you have nothing to be nervous about. Besides,” he smirked, “there

aren‟t any electrical outlets here for curling irons so she can‟t torture you too much.”

“That‟s what you think.” Edward just rolled his eyes at me as he passed me off to his eagerly

awaiting sister.

“Be nice,” he warned her.

“Whatever Edward. Come on Bella, we need to get you changed,” she sang as she shoved me into
the tent.

“I think I can take care of that myself thanks.” I complained as she skipped inside with me.

“Quit being so self conscious, Bella. It isn‟t anything I haven‟t seen before or have you already

forgotten that I had to bathe you for five weeks last year.”

I tried to gain control over my inevitable blushing as she bent over and rummaged through the bag

in the corner.

“Now no arguing. You‟re going to put this on.” She ordered handing me two ridiculously small

scraps of blue material.

“What is this?” I gasped.

Alice crossed her arms over her chest and smiled at me. “It‟s your bathing suit. Put. It. On.”

“No way. I can‟t wear this!” Really, did she think that I needed to have my human imperfection

displayed in such a pitiable comparison to the rest of them?

“Yes you can. Now Bella, I know you are having one of your typical moments of insecurity and I
have to tell you it is absolutely ridiculous. You can either put the bathing suit on yourself or I can

call Jasper in here and the two of us can force you into it. Which scenario do you prefer?”

“You wouldn‟t dare!” I hissed.

“Try me.”

“Why are you doing this to me? I though Edward told you to be nice.” I was used to Alice being a
little pushy at times, but this was going way overboard.

“Because we are at a lake, if you haven‟t noticed there is water and you will get wet, so obviously
you need a bathing suit. In addition, I have very kindly picked out a cut that I know will flatter you
and it‟s in Edward‟s favorite color. Besides, it‟s not like I‟m dragging you down to an overpopulated
beach full of lusty boys who will ogle you. Well, there is one lusty boy who will definitely ogle you,
but otherwise it„s just us. This is your last chance to do this willingly, put on the suit!” Alice had
repositioned herself so that she was blocking the entrance to the tent effectively blocking any

escape that I might have.

I huffed at her and began to undress since there was obviously no getting around this. After I had

what she called a bikini on my body I looked up and glared at her. She just smiled at me.

“Perfect! I really don‟t know why you worry so much Bella. I know I‟m pushy but you really are

beautiful. I just wish you could understand, see in yourself what we see in you.”

I couldn‟t help but laugh a little at her ridiculous praise. “You‟re just trying to make me feel better

about being forced into these scraps of fabric.”

Alice just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Bella,” she sighed, “you‟ll never get it will you?”

“Do I at least get a cover up or something?”

“Nope.” She replied as she pulled me with her out of the tent.

I tried to hide behind her body as she walked me over to the makeshift volleyball court where
everyone was gathered. Edward still had his back to me and I could hear him laughing at

something Emmett was saying in tones too low for me to hear. As we got closer and he started to
turn around Alice yanked me so that I was standing in front of her, left feeling a little too exposed.

As I tried to regain my balance I looked at Edward‟s face. His expression was unfathomable and he
seemed frozen in place. He didn‟t even notice at first when Emmett spiked the volleyball right into
the back of his head. Slowly he began to regain mobility and I could see him swallow hard as he

brought his eyes up to mine.

In an instant he had closed the space between us and was standing next to me.

“I take it Alice bought you that suit?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I still couldn‟t make out the expression on his face. He reached up and stroked my hair

from the top of my head down to the middle of my back.

“I‟m not sure which one of you is trying harder to undermine my self control.” he murmured before

pressing a kiss into the top of my head.

“Hello! Earth to Edward! Are we going to start this game anytime today?” Emmett bellowed.

Edward rolled his eyes and made his way over to the court. I had a hard time taking my eyes off of

his glittering shirtless form as he walked away from me.

“Would you like to help me keep them in line again?” Esme asked as she joined me on the
sidelines. Even in a one piece swimsuit she looked like perfection. I‟d never seen the other Cullens
in the sun, and when I looked up at her it was like looking into the face of an angel. Even she, my
future mother-in-law was absolutely stunning. I tried to pull myself together and forget my
insecurities as she put an arm around me in a gentle hug.

“Alice really does have the ability to find the most flattering apparel. I think Edward will have a
hard time keeping his head in the game.” I wondered if Esme had sensed my discomfort and was

trying to be reassuring.

„Thanks.” I managed to get out as I tried to stop blushing furiously.

The game was played with three to a team. Despite her small size, Alice proved an adept player as
she could „see‟ where the ball would wind up and make it there in time, jumping up to incredible
heights to send the ball whizzing back to the other side of the net. The speed of the ball and the
blur of their quick motions almost made me feel a little dizzy as I tried with my weak eyes to keep

up with their movements.

Rosalie stood firmly in front of the net every bit as toned as an Olympic athlete and with the curves
of a swimsuit model. I was beginning to think that red was her signature color and she looked like
a pale version of a Sports Illustrated cover girl. I didn‟t see how Esme or anyone else could even
think to compare me to that. Her movements were surprising quick and powerful as she
aggressively beat the ball back time and time again. I still wondered how it was possible that
Edward had never shown any interest in her, and how I could have possibly captured his attention

so completely.

The play continued until at last they were at game point. With how quickly everything had
progressed I hadn‟t managed to be any help to Esme in tracking the game whatsoever. Emmett

was getting ready set up the last serve when Jasper piped up from the opposite side of the net.

“You know I‟m going to win this bet!”

“No way, my team is winning this. You may have Alice, but I have Edward.”

“Hah! Just get ready to pay up Emmett.”

Emmett snarled at him and launched the ball up into the air, as it came down he bashed it with his
fist. The impact of his hand on the ball was so hard that it literally exploded. Bits of it scattered the

court and a few pieces even made it all the over to where I was standing.

Jasper just smirked at Emmett. “I win.”

Emmett grumbled at him and stalked over to where I was standing with Esme.

“Esme, you‟re calling this, don‟t you think that antagonizing the server counts as cheating?”

“Sorry Emmett, it‟s up to you to control your strength, you know that.” she responded sweetly.

“Ah hell, fine. Now what are we going to do?”

Jasper slapped him on his back and looked over to Edward. “Perhaps it‟s time to do a scientific

study on water displacement.” he said seriously.

“Cannonball contest, YES!” Emmett shouted. Edward just shook his head and laughed at his
brothers. I wasn‟t sure exactly how they were going to accomplish doing that at the lake. Could

they possibly jump that far out from the shore?

“Isn‟t that a little tough to do without a diving board?” I asked.

Edward chuckled and pointed to the far end of the lake that was rimmed by evergreens. “Trees,

love.”

“You‟re going to climb trees and then jump out of them?” That didn‟t seem very safe. But then
again, I was talking about vampires.

“Yes.” He chortled, “you should see the look on your face right now.”

“Well have fun I guess.” Edward winked at me and took off with the boys. I was a little surprised to
see Carlisle join them, he always seemed less mischievous than the others, but I supposed that
even the serious doctor must enjoy these types of activities.

“Should we watch?” Esme asked as she guided me over to a row of camping chairs set up by the
other edge of the lake.

“I can‟t believe they‟re going to do this.”

“You get used to it after awhile. Boys will be boys after all.”

Rosalie and Alice were already settled in their respective seats by the time we came over holding
what looked to be score cards while their skin glittered in the sun. I wasn‟t sure I would ever get
used to seeing them all like this. They were all so otherworldly. As I took my seat I could hear the
boys arguing on the other side of the lake. By the time I looked over to where they were all I could
make out was sparkling rays of light coming from the very top of four of the trees that lined the

water.

“Emmett‟s sure he can beat Jasper. He can‟t stand that he lost the volleyball game.” Rosalie

whispered to Alice.

“I know. They can all be so competitive. Should I take a peek at the outcome?”

“No. Then Edward will use that to cheat.” Rosalie laughed.

“Good point. I‟ll just have to wait it out like everyone else.” Alice looked like she was a bit put out
by the idea, but she just sighed and trained her eyes to where the boys were preparing for their

first jump.

Jasper sprang out of his tree over high over the water. As he got closer to the surface of the lake
he curled up into a tight ball and rolled his back. When he hit the water it was like an explosion.
Streams shot up high into the air at his entry point and the whole lake was rocked by the waves
that the impact generated. Carlisle, Edward and Emmett followed in the same manner, each one
scrambling back up into the trees after their attempts. I could only stare at the display of sheer
force and power that they seemed to generate. Their playful banter continued the whole time as

they teased and prodded each other into tempting more complex acrobatic feats on each leap.

Finally they were on their last jump and Emmett apparently decided that it was time to really let
loose. After the others had taken their turns and come to join us where we were watching he gave
a loud tarzan like call from the trees and jumped out causing the pine he had perched on to tumble
over with the force. He launched himself farther over the lake than I thought was possible and

rolled his huge body into the water with amazing speed.

Water shot out in every direction like a geyser going off and a large spout of it heaved over the
shore to where we were sitting drenching us completely. I sat there stunned and cold from the
freezing water that had just washed over me, everyone expect for Rosalie was quiet for a minute,

she was grumbling something about her hair.

Emmett still had not re-emerged from the water. I couldn‟t see him at all. I know that Edward said
it was really hard to kill a vampire, but part of me was a little concerned. As the seconds ticked by

and he failed to come back up I started to get worried.

“Should we be concerned about Emmett, he hasn„t come back up yet?” I asked as I stood up and

walked over to the edge of the lake.

The next thing I knew two arms reached up out of the lake and pulled me into the frigid water

screaming the whole way.

“Shark attack!” Emmett yelled. The following minute was a blur. I heard some growling, a little
swearing, and lots of splashing. I think I was lucky that I hadn‟t drowned. Suddenly I found myself

shivering cold and on the shore again in Edward‟s arms.

“Bella are you okay?” I nodded. “Emmett, that wasn‟t funny. You don‟t have to pick on Bella all the
time!” Edward yelled. I noticed that Emmett was still in the water submerged up to his eyeballs like

an alligator grinning at us. I was really starting to get tired of all his antics.

Edward‟s cold skin on mine coupled with the freezing lake water was causing me to shiver. I could
feel the droplets running down my body in ice cold rivulets. Part of me didn‟t want to say anything
about my current condition though, it hadn‟t escaped my notice that this was the most skin to skin

contact I‟d had with him.

Edward seemed to realize how close we were as well. He looked down at my freezing form and
shuddered, I could have sworn his eyes locked directly on my chest for a moment.

“We need to get you warmed back up. Perhaps now would be a good opportunity to show you the
hot springs.” He said, his voice a little strained.

Before I could agree to the idea he had me curled up against his chest and we were running
through the forest again. Within a couple short minutes we were standing next to a murky pool of

water that rippled ever so slightly with the heat that emanated from it.

“I don‟t think it‟s too hot.” Edward said as he dipped a finger into the water. He slowly walked into
the pool holding me against him. “Does it feel okay?” He asked once we were submerged in the

warm depths.

“Perfect.” I whispered as my shivering slowed.

“I can‟t believe you fell for Emmett‟s little prank.” he chortled. “I thought I had explained that we

don‟t need to breathe, among other things.”

“I was concerned.” I scolded. “He may be obnoxious but I still care.”

“Still, he‟s going to laugh about that one for a long time to come. He really wasn‟t all that sneaky

either.”

“And I take it that you are the master of stealth?” Edward grinned at me and then disappeared

completely. All I could see was a ripple in the water where he had been before.

“Edward?” I called out suddenly alarmed. I received no response, but under the water I could have
sworn that I felt something brush by my leg. “This isn‟t funny!” I yelled, this time I felt something
tickle my foot. I reached down into the water, but there was nothing there. A minute later I was

grabbed by two strong arms from behind and pulled into a hard chest.

“Gotcha,” he snarled playfully into my ear. I tried to twist around, but he held me firmly to him,
laughing at his little joke. I squirmed again against him and heard him gasp slightly as I
inadvertently made contact with a rather intimate part of his anatomy.

“Bella,” he groaned pushing away from me. I turned around in the water and began backing away

out of the pool.

“Sorry, I--I didn‟t mean to.” I stuttered as I began to pull myself out of the water. Edward‟s gaze
shifted to my body as I started to ease myself out of the depths of the pool. Instantly he was
beside me, pulling me back against his body.

“Don‟t be sorry.” He said as he pressed me tightly against his chest hugging me to him. “Don‟t
leave. It‟s nice in here, so warm. Stay with me.”

He pulled back a bit to look into my eyes and reached up tucking an errant stand of hair behind my
ear. His hand came down to caress my cheek.

“Do you feel how warm the water has made me?” He was right. While his temperature was far from
hot, it was definitely much warmer than his normal icy cold state, it almost felt like it was matched
to my own.

“Yes.”

“Being in here with you, it makes me feel almost human again.”

Edward bent down and kissed me softly, his lips lingering against mine. I locked my hands around
his neck and pressed myself closer to him, his normal chill dampened by the warmth of the water.
I opened my mouth slightly and traced his lips with my tongue before I could realize what I was
doing.

Instead of pulling away completely Edward moved his lips to my jaw and then down to my neck,
his fingers traced my collarbone before moving lower to the edges of my bikini top. I gasped loudly
at the contact and he brought his mouth back up to mine, his lips moving with a fevered passion. I

didn‟t think that I could get close enough to him and felt a desperate craving to taste him again.

I broke away from the kiss and moved my lips down to his throat lightly grazing over his neck with
my teeth. For a moment I lost all sense of self control and propriety, I bit down on his neck ever so
gently with my teeth. Edward hissed and grabbed the tops of my arms a little too tightly pulling me
up to meet his lips again. This time he opened his mouth and I could feel his tongue against my
lower lip begging for entrance. I was about to part my lips for him when he suddenly pulled away

panting.

“Incoming.” he muttered. His breathing was ragged and he pulled me to his chest hugging me
tightly before loosening his hold.

“Hey how‟s the water?” Alice trilled as she danced over to the pool. I felt myself shaking slightly
from the desire that was still coursing in my veins, trying desperately to calm myself down.

“Fine.” Edward answered tensely.

“Oh good. I was looking forward to taking a dip.” she said as she slid into the pool. Surely she had
to know what she was interrupting. I was a little annoyed with her sudden appearance and resisted
the urge to yell at her to go away. She seemed to sense the frustration I was feeling and smiled at
me a little apologetically.

“Sorry about this, but there really wasn‟t a choice.” she said as she scrunched her nose slightly.

“What are you talking about?” I was really perturbed, surely she could have given us a little more

time together.

“Um, you do still want to wait until the wedding right?”

“Alice, nothing was going to happen.” Edward countered. Alice looked at him and pursed her lips a
little like she was trying to think of something very specific. Edward stiffened behind me and let out

a gust of air. “Oh.”

“Yeah. I didn‟t look much further than that.”

I turned around to look at Edward who smiled at me a little sheepishly and grabbed the back of his

neck with his hand. “Sorry about that.” he muttered.

Suddenly I had a pretty good idea of what Alice had „seen‟, in my embarrassment my face began to

flush hotly. Alice just giggled and shook her head.

“So, where is everyone else?” I asked. I was really hoping that we didn‟t have an audience for the

conversation that had just occurred.

“Oh, Jasper‟s a little grumpy about Emmett evening out their bet by winning the cannonball contest
so he stayed behind to get things packed up with Carlisle and Esme. Emmett and Rosalie…well you
don‟t want to know.” Both she and Edward shuddered at whatever mental picture she had just

pulled up.

“I‟m going to head back now and help Jazzy. We‟ll leave the tent up until you can get changed
again.” She started to get out of the pool and then looked back at us. “Do you two think that you

can handle being alone right now?” she asked with a wink.

“We‟ll be just fine.” Edward said with a frustrated look on his face. Alice nodded and was gone in an

instant.

“I can‟t believe that she saw…” I couldn‟t even complete the sentence, I was too mortified for

words. I stood there staring down at the water trying to regain my composure.

“I know. It‟s my fault, Bella. I didn‟t realize that my restraint had slipped and I shouldn‟t have
avoided intimacy with you all week, I think that only caused everything to build up. Your tiny little
swimsuit did nothing to help the situation either, you really are too desirable for your own good.”
he teased.

When I didn‟t respond he lifted my chin up to meet his gaze. “Really, sorry about that.”

“You aren‟t the only one who was getting carried away.” I countered.

“True. According to what she saw you actually had a lot to do with it.” Edward pulled back slightly
to leer at me. “You really are quite the temptress you know.”

“Please.” I scoffed.

His expression softened and he brushed his fingertips across my cheekbone. “Six more weeks,” he

sighed.

Yes, six more weeks until we would belong to each other. Bound together…forever.

Chapter 5.

After our trip to the mountain lake, Edward seemed to be fully resolved to continue the progress
that we had made in our relationship. He was concerned that he had been so close to losing control
and taking things too far when we were in the pool, but seemed convinced that he could keep

himself in check.

I felt a little guilty. He seemed to be shouldering all of the responsibility for making sure that some
boundaries remained in place, at least until we were married. The truth was that he wasn‟t the only
one who needed to work on self control. I knew all of the times that we had been so close, I was
just as guilty, perhaps more so, when it came to getting carried away.

My own lack of restraint when we were together worried me. When we were finally married, when
we could try to be fully together before my change, I would need to help if things were going to
work out right. One thing was certain, if I continued on the path that I had been on I would be no

help to him what-so-ever.

So the past week I dedicated myself to working on being more responsible. One thing that helped
was that it would have been very unwise for us to get too carried away at my house with Charlie
asleep in the next room. Edward had told me that his thoughts were more difficult than average to
read, and I worried that if he got lost in the moment he might not be observant enough to hide

should Charlie come to check on me during the night.

It was a fine line that we were walking between desire, need, and discretion. Truthfully, I wasn‟t
getting much sleep. Instead of his three second kisses that ended too soon, we were rapidly
disintegrating into careful make out sessions that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. While
there were types of kisses that weren‟t possible yet, I enjoyed what we were able to do. I relished
in the taste of his breath as his lips gently traveled over mine only slightly parted. It was exquisite

torture.

Currently I was in my favorite place, in Edward‟s arms. His lips were leaving a tingling trail down
my throat and across my collarbone as his hands traced circles up and down my sides, occasionally

brushing against by breasts. He wasn‟t making my resolve to behave any easier.

Since I knew Edward wouldn‟t get too carried away on my small little bed, I thought it would be
acceptable to reciprocate his teasing gestures by sneaking my hand under the hem of his shirt and

mapping the muscles of his chest and abdomen with my fingertips.

“Bella,” he scolded.

I bit my lower lip as he pulled away from my neck to look at me.

“Hmm?”

“What are you doing to me?” he growled lowly, the corners of his mouth turning up in a smirk

“Shouldn‟t I be asking you that?”

Edward glared at me playfully, his eyes shining with mischief. “I think you‟re misbehaving more

than I am right now.”

„Oh, I don‟t think so. I‟m not even close.” I responded running my hands intentionally over his

chest, feeling it rumble slightly with another little growl.

“How do you figure that, love?” he responded while drawing his hands up my sides again.

“To really be anywhere near your level of misbehavior tonight I would need to do this while I touch

you,” I said as I leaned up to kiss and gently nibble the side of his neck.

“Mmmm. I see what you mean,” he said before pulling out of my reach. “I think that is enough
temptation for one night. You need your sleep now.”

I tried to level my best pout at him, but he just smiled and shook his head. He removed my hands
from his shirt and held them together against his chest with one hand while pulling me to him with

his other.

“You have to spend time with Alice tomorrow, you‟ll need the rest.”

I groaned. “Can‟t I just sleep through that? Why do we have to start practicing up dos for my hair
anyway? We still have five weeks.” I really didn‟t feel in the mood for a session of Bella Barbie
bridal edition.

“If you do she‟ll only prolong the torture,” he chuckled. “Besides, she‟s already told Charlie that it
will be an all night hair and make up session so that he would agree to the sleep over.”

I grumbled a little at that. I was nearly nineteen years old and getting ready to walk down the
aisle. I really wished that Charlie would treat me a little more like an adult, but knowing that I
would be leaving him forever in such a short amount of time kept me from wanting to fight this

issue with him.

“She isn‟t really going to make me sit there in her makeshift salon for that many hours is she?”

“I won‟t let her. I‟ve given her a time limit and if she tries to draw it out any longer I‟ll break down
the door and rescue you.”

“What will you do with me after you rescue me?” I grinned at him.

“I can think of a few things.” He returned my grin and then leaned in to kiss the top of my head.
“But, right now you need to close those beautiful brown eyes of yours. I‟ll stay until you„re asleep,
and I‟ll be back at the house in the morning before you get there.”

He drifted his fingers over my eyelids and began humming my lullaby. I could feel his arms tighten
around me slightly as I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was driving to the Cullen house in my truck, trying to keep my mood upbeat
despite the impending beauty treatments I would be forced to endure. That was when one of the
worst things imaginable occurred.

My truck began to slow no matter how hard I pressed on the accelerator. I thought I had just
bought gas the day before. When I looked at the fuel gauge it confirmed my memory, the needle
still pointing all the way to full. Suddenly the engine spluttered and the truck jerked a few times

before completely dying.

“No, no, no, no!” I yelled banging my fists on the steering wheel. I tried turning the key in the
engine a few times. Each attempt was met with absolute silence from my truck‟s engine. I was
close to the halfway point between my house and Edward‟s, miles away from either one, with no

cell phone. Worse yet, it was raining.

“Ugh! This cannot be happening.” I muttered.

“I‟m afraid it is.” I heard a voice murmur from the passenger seat.

“GAH!” I screamed as I jumped half out of my skin. “Edward!” I had been so lost in my own rant

that I had completely missed him driving up and sliding into the cab of the truck with me.

“Sorry love,” he said as he reached over and rubbed my back soothingly. “I didn‟t mean to frighten

you, try to calm down your heart sounds like it‟s about to beat right out of your chest.”

“I‟m okay,” I lied.

“It looks like your truck won‟t be going any farther. I can call for it to be towed back to Charlie‟s,

and then we can drive back to the house. Does that sound all right?”

I nodded in response while he pulled out his cell phone. How was I going to get my truck running
again? I couldn‟t afford the mechanic in town, and my other mechanic…well he was missing. I
wasn‟t about to ask Rosalie, we still weren‟t exactly close, and I couldn‟t imagine requesting that

type of favor from her. This was not good.

While I was frantically running though every option I had Edward made arrangements for a tow
truck and grabbed my overnight bag.

I reluctantly got out of the truck and started walking toward the car. It only took a moment for me
to notice that it wasn‟t Edward‟s Volvo. This was a vehicle I hadn‟t seen before.

“Did Carlisle get a new Mercedes?” I asked.

“No.” Edward said. I couldn‟t help but notice that his facial expression was being kept perfectly

smooth, but there was something there in his eyes I couldn‟t quite make out.

I got into the passenger seat and noticed the new car smell that hung in the air. Although the

Cullen‟s kept all of their vehicles meticulously detailed, this particular one was pristine, fresh, new.

“Whose car are we riding in Edward?”

“Yours,” he said nonchalantly.

“I don‟t own a Mercedes Edward,” I said trying to keep my voice calm. A Mercedes, what was he

thinking, really?

“Your right. You don‟t own a Mercedes, this one is on loan until your ready for your after car.”

“There is a second car?” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Well I do believe that you agreed that I could buy a replacement for you should your truck stop
working. When Alice saw your predicament on the side of the road coming up she let me know and
I made a few arrangements. I promised to take care of you Bella, I can‟t leave you without

transportation.”

„Yes, we agreed to a car…not two.” I knew that he was very generous but this was over the top.

“Technically it is only one. Like I said, this is on loan. It has better safety features than the one
that I purchased for later.”

I slumped in the seat and let out a loud harrumph. I wasn‟t going to win this argument. He was
such a cheater.

“I thought you were going to make an attempt to accept gifts more graciously Bella,” he teased.

“Thank you,” I grumbled. “Satisfied?”

“It‟s a start,” he smirked.

“Couldn‟t you have warned me about my truck?” He just shrugged and looked out the windshield of

the ridiculous Mercedes, his mouth twitching as he tried to hide his smile.

When we got to the house I scrambled out of the car as quickly as humanly possible, trying not to
trip in my haste. Edward continued to control his facial expressions, but I could tell he was
entertained. He‟d been trying to get rid of my beloved truck since the first time he rode in it. That‟s

when the idea hit me.

“Did you have something to do with my truck dying?” I asked while narrowing my eyes at him. I
hadn‟t forgotten about the time I tried to sneak out to go visit Jacob only to find that Edward had

disabled my truck‟s engine.

“Of course not,” he said, his face contorting into shocked surprise. I really thought his hurt

expression looked a little contrived.

“Honestly?”

“Bella, I swear that I did not lay one finger on your truck‟s engine. It was an ancient vehicle, I‟m

surprised it lasted as long as it did.”

While Edward might not always be forthcoming with information I doubted that he was outright
lying to me. I couldn‟t help but feel there was something. I continued to try to read his expression
as we made our way to the large open living room where Rosalie was sitting with Emmett watching

the T.V.

“Hey Bella, sorry about the truck.” Emmett said while grinning widely at me. Rosalie didn‟t break
her gaze from the television, but oddly enough a small smile pulled up the corners of her mouth

and she had a satisfied expression on her face.

“Yeah. I really loved it too.”

Emmett snorted, “It couldn‟t go above 50.”

“It was a classic,” I countered.

“It was a rust bucket.”

“Hey no knocking my truck.”

“You‟d really rather drive that monster than a Mercedes?” he scoffed.

“You can‟t call my truck a monster when you drive the world‟s biggest jeep. As for the Mercedes,

Edward and I will have to talk about that, we don‟t know that my truck is beyond repair.”

Rosalie piped up then, “oh, I‟m pretty sure it is.”

I was about to forget my latent fear of Rosalie for a moment to ask her exactly what she meant by

that, but I was distracted by Alice‟s sudden appearance beside me.

“You can talk trucks later Bella, we have work to do.” she chirped as she started to drag me up the
stairs. I sighed and gave in realizing that I wasn‟t about to win any argument at that point, either
over the car, or the enforced beauty session. I would just have to go to my happy place and count

down the time until Edward would rescue me from my self appointed stylist.

Chapter 6.

I tried to be a good sport as Alice dragged me upstairs to her bathroom for what would
undoubtedly be a long, drawn out beauty session. She sat me down in a chair near the counter
that was covered with bottles and jars of various shapes and sizes and began flitting around

picking up one thing after another as if deciding where to start.

“Okay Bella, I think we‟ll begin with cleansing and exfoliating before we give you a detoxifying

nutrient mask to rid you of free radicals,” she sang happily.

“Um, in English please?” I felt a little less than girly as she looked at me with a slight expression of

shock on her face.

“Tsk. We are beautifying your skin Bella. I went to the best cosmetics counters over at Macy‟s and
made a side trip to Sephora to get all of this,” she said while waving her hand over the counter

dramatically, “It‟s all top of the line. We‟re going to pamper you!”

She opened a drawer and pulled out a stack of clean wash cloths, cotton pads, and Q-tips.

“I thought we were just going to practice hair styles for the wedding,” I said hopefully. I realized I
should have known better as she glared at me ever so slightly before pulling my hair back into a

ponytail.

“Quit being difficult. Skin care is an essential part of your overall look. I want to make sure that
everything is perfect.” She began slathering a creamy substance that tingled a little on my face
before I could make any other objections. She continued adding products, washing them off and
repeating multiple times.

Since I was stuck in my current predicament, I thought I might try to get some information out of
her regarding the demise of my beloved truck, I wasn„t feeling charitable at the moment, so I went

with the blunt approach.

“Alice, Edward said that you saw my truck breaking down, did you by any chance see what caused

it to stop working?”

“Oh! I have the latest copies of Allure, Vogue, and Cosmo here. Did you want something to read

once it‟s time for your mask to set?” She answered, completely ignoring my question.

Surely she knew me better than that. Alice was always hopeful that one day I would develop an
undying love of fashion and beauty, after all this time she should have realized that it wasn‟t going

to happen. She also knew that I was unlikely to give up on the question I had just asked.

“Alice, my truck?”

“Like you said, I told Edward that I saw you break down on the side of the road,” she said
dismissively while placing more layers of product on my skin. She was determined to avoid the
subject. “Okay, now we just need to let it sit for minute,” she continued, changing the topic.

Clearly I wouldn‟t be getting any answers from her today.

I snuck a peek at the mirror to see what she had done to me and the sight was somewhat horrific.
Splotchy blue goo was drying in patches on my cheeks and chin while another type of brown crud
was crusting over on my forehead and down my nose. My eyes were ringed with a nasty looking

yellow substance.

“What is all of this?”

“According to the lady at the counter it will all even out your skin tone.” Alice replied, apparently

quite satisfied with my odd appearance.

“I wasn‟t aware that I had a problem with my skin tone,” I complained. My skin was the one
feature I had that I was somewhat comfortable with. While I didn‟t have any type of tan, and it

may not have been as perfect and luminescent as the Cullen‟s yet, it was clear and smooth.

“I know, but we can still have fun.” Fun? Alice thought plastering my face with gunk was fun?

“Then why aren‟t you wearing this stuff too?”

“Bella, that would just be silly,” she laughed. “It really won‟t do anything for me.”

“That‟s kind of my point Alice.”

“Yes, but your still human so according to my magazines your skin can still get something out of

this.” My argument was going nowhere, again.

“So after I‟m a vampire I won‟t have to put up with this anymore right?” I asked hoping that I

might get a guarantee that my eternity wouldn‟t be filled with these torturous sessions.

Alice just shrugged at me.

“You worry too much. Do you know that women spend hundreds of dollars at spas for these types
of treatments?” I realized at that point that no guarantee would be forthcoming. “Perhaps I should

get started on your nails while your mask finishes setting.”

“I didn‟t agree to a mani/pedi today.” Really could this get any worse?

“Well you‟re just sitting there and I‟m not going to do things halfway,” she scolded.

“Alice…..”

“Please Bella, it‟s not like your doing anything right now anyway,” she pleaded using her best

puppy dog eyes on me.

“Fine.” I huffed.

Alice bounced up and got to work on my hands and feet. I could feel my face tightening up
uncomfortably until it felt like my skin was encased in plaster while my nails were soaked, buffed,

filed and finally polished in a pale pink. All I could think was thank goodness it wasn‟t red again.

While my nails dried Alice resumed attacking my face with warm washcloths removing the layers of
hardened goop. I was surprised she didn‟t have to chisel it off. When I glanced in the mirror my
skin looked red and slightly raw. Women paid hundreds of dollars to look like they‟d been attacked
with sandpaper? I was pretty sure that wasn‟t the effect we were going for, but Alice seemed
unconcerned as she proceeded rubbing fragrant smelling creams on my face.

“Am I done yet?”

Alice scoffed. “Of course not, that was just the prep work.” I tried to be sneaky and slide out of the

chair but she caught me and pinned me back down.

Before I could make any further escape attempts Alice was back in my face holding a compact and
tapping a cosmetic brush on her chin contemplatively. Suddenly it was like a light bulb went off.
She spun the chair away from the mirror and began her assault.

“I don‟t get to see what you are doing do I?”

“Nope, at least not until I‟m done,” she smiled.

After finishing my face Alice spent a ridiculous amount of time trying out different styles on my
hair. It was braided, straightened, curled, brushed out, pinned up, twisted and contorted into more
arrangements than I could count. Just as I was about to start screaming there was a knock on the

door.

“Time‟s up Alice,” came Edward‟s voice from the other side.

“I know,” she called as she ran the brush through my hair one more time. “Just give us one more

second.”

Alice turned the chair around to the mirror. “So what do you think?” she asked.

I looked a little like me still, but my skin was glowing, my eyes were highlighted ever so slightly
making them brighten and my lips had a faint pink shimmer. My hair was fluffed out and full. I
didn‟t look like a blushing bride, I looked like one of those girls in a lingerie catalog.

“It‟s nice, but why all of this tonight?”

“You‟ll see,” she said as she shoved a bag at me. “Here. You should put this on.”

I nearly rolled my eyes when I opened the bag. Deep blue. I should have known. I slipped off my t-
shirt and put the long blue shirt on over my jeans. It was made out of clingy material and hung
down to mid-thigh with cap sleeves and ruffles that ran part way down the buttons in the front,
when I peeked at the mirror again I noticed that the shirt made me look thinner than usual. Alice
then thrust a pair of dark ballet flats at me before declaring that I was presentable.

When I got to the door Edward was still waiting for me, a slight smile gracing his lips as he took in
Alice‟s handiwork.

“Care to explain?” I asked, gesturing to my ensemble.

He chuckled. “You didn‟t even put up a fight over the clothes this time.”

“I‟ve learned that it doesn‟t do any good. Am I dressed up to hang around in the living room?”

“No. I thought we could catch dinner and a movie over in Port Angeles.”

“Oh. I didn‟t realize that they had mountain lions roaming the streets there,” I teased.

“Very funny,” he said while playfully glaring at me. “So do you want to go? Or, should I allow
Emmett to try making something in the kitchen? He mentioned that he watched a show called

Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern for inspiration.”

“Port Angeles sounds great!” I yelped. I‟d heard about that show, I could only imagine what ideas

Emmett might have picked up.

Since I didn‟t want to have a formal dining experience with only one of us eating, I convinced
Edward to take me to a little corner deli where I felt we would be less conspicuous. After quickly

eating my sandwich we made our way to the theater.

I was a little surprised when we got there to see some of our former classmates standing in line

before us. Mike and Jessica were talking animatedly with Lauren and Tyler when we approached.

“Bella, hi!” Mike waved. At least he seemed happy to see me, I was a little bothered that he didn‟t
acknowledge Edward. Jessica broke off her conversation with Lauren and smiled at me. Lauren just

glared at us a moment before turning her attention back to Tyler who nodded in our direction.

“Bella, Edward! Mike and I both just got the wedding invitations! Oh my gosh, I can‟t believe it‟s in
just a few weeks. I didn‟t know you were engaged. When did that happen?” Jessica asked

excitedly.

Her question seemed to stun Lauren. “You‟re engaged?” she asked incredulously. Before I could

answer she looked pointedly down at my stomach. “Why?”

Edward tensed a little and I could guess what Lauren was thinking. “We‟ve been engaged for a

couple of weeks now,” I replied.

Lauren sneered at me as if I had confirmed her suspicions. “That‟s pretty quick, isn‟t it?” I could
feel my cheeks start to burn at her obvious insinuation. Jessica looked like she was anticipating

some juicy gossip about to be dropped in her lap.

Edward picked up my left hand and kissed the ring before looking straight at her. “Not really. I‟ve
been asking her ever since my family returned from California, I‟m just glad she finally said yes.

But we thought it would be a good idea to have the ceremony before we head off to Dartmouth.”

Lauren looked like she had just been slapped. Jessica‟s jaw dropped open and Mike‟s face paled
slightly. The only one who didn‟t have a reaction was Tyler who was studiously looking at the

movie listings. He and Mike quickly made their escape to the ticket counter.

“Dartmouth?” Jessica gasped. “I thought you were going to some school in Alaska.”

“We changed our minds when we both got accepted there.” Edward replied smoothly.

Jessica‟s eyes narrowed and she reached over to grab my arm as Edward made his way up to buy
our tickets. “Oh my gosh Bella, Edward Cullen proposed to you months ago and you didn‟t tell me.

I thought we were friends,” she pouted.

“I just didn‟t want to say anything until I knew what I was going to do.”

I could tell that Jessica was trying to maintain a friendly expression, but she was unable to hide her
irritation over missing out on some potentially great gossip. When she thought that Edward was

out of earshot she leaned in and began her questioning again.

“Bella, are you pregnant?” she whispered. Edward‟s head twitched a fraction in our direction. I was
a little surprised that she would be so bold as to ask something like that, clearly she was looking

for information that could be quickly dispersed around town.

“No, of course I‟m not.” I laughed. I was trying to maintain a light attitude about her rude
question. I didn‟t want her to see that she had gotten to me. She looked at me as if she was a little
skeptical but before she could continue her inappropriate interrogation Mike had returned with their

tickets.

As Jessica grabbed Mike and they entered the theater with Tyler and Lauren I turned to Edward.

“I told you that people would think we were having a shotgun wedding.” He just laughed and rolled

his eyes.

“It doesn‟t matter what they think.”

“I know.” Truly it didn‟t matter, but I still didn‟t like being the focus of small-town rumors. “But I‟m
sure Charlie won‟t appreciate hearing people‟s theories about our wedding whenever he goes to the

Lodge for lunch.”

“I don‟t think we have that much to worry about. Right now they‟re more shocked with the fact

that we are running away to an ivy league school together, and then there is some jealousy,”

“Jealousy?”

“Mmhm. Lauren is steaming about your collegiate opportunities seeing as how she was declined by

all of her top choices. Plus, Mike and Tyler are both extremely jealous of me right now,” he gloated.

“I doubt that,” I said, disbelief coloring my tone.

Edward placed his finger over my lips. “Quit putting yourself down, love. They have both tried to
ask you out on more than one occasion, and now you are beyond their reach forever. It‟s natural

for them to be jealous of the man who you‟ve chosen.”

Before I could object he pressed his lips to mine and took my hand to lead me into the theater.

Chapter 7.

We walked into the theater, our hands locked together. We were supposed to be seeing a new

romantic comedy, only Edward had other ideas.

When I started to move towards one of the middle rows of seats Edward tugged me back slightly

and shook his head, grinning.

“Up there,” he said as he pointed to the empty back row.

I raised an eyebrow at him. It wasn‟t the best place to watch the movie from.

“Trust me,” he said while pulling me up the steps. We shuffled our way across the sticky floor and
sat down.

“You know, this movie got terrible reviews,” he remarked casually.

“Then why are we watching it?” I whispered.

Instead of answering me he leaned in and began slowly trailing kisses from my collar bone to my
neck continuing to the hollow below my ear. I felt my breathing pick up, and heat spread across
my cheeks as I blushed. I was used to him giving me chaste kisses in public, frequently in
response to the presence of other boys, what he was doing right now was a little…different.

“What do you think you're doing?” I attempted to admonish him. “And, why did you take me to a

movie that you heard stinks?”

He smirked at me. “I took you to a horribly uninteresting movie because I want your undivided
attention obviously.” He lowered his head and began assaulting my neck again. “Also, I
remembered another human experience,” I could feel him smiling against my skin. “necking in the

back of a dark movie theater.”

“That‟s really cliché, don‟t you think?”

“Maybe, but it‟s something you haven‟t done before.”

“What, do you have a checklist of all the things you think I need to experience? You don‟t have to
do that for me.” I liked what he was doing, but I really didn‟t want to get caught, and I didn‟t want
him touching me like this if it was only to fill some ridiculous square.

He pulled away from me and rolled his eyes. “Experiences matter,” he stated.

I started to argue but he kissed me quickly to stop me.

“Besides, what makes you think I‟m doing this just for you? I haven‟t had this experience either
and I rather like the idea; so are you going to complain the entire time, or are you going to relax

and enjoy the „movie‟?”

I had to admit he might just have a point there, perhaps I shouldn„t complain about his checklist. I
gave him a little grin which was all the encouragement he needed to get going again. He leaned

back in and started placing kisses along my jaw line while I tried not to hyperventilate.

“You know,” he breathed while brushing his lips against my throat. “I‟m haven‟t decided which spot
is my favorite yet. Perhaps it‟s here,” he said while kissing the hollow right above my collarbone.
Then he pressed his lips just under my earlobe. “Of course, this spot is rather delectable too.” He
moved down slightly and oh so gently licked my pulse point. “Mmmm. I think it might be too hard

to choose, every inch of you is mouthwatering.”

By this point my hands were clenched into fists on my lap as I tried desperately to keep control. My
hormones were working on overdrive and I felt the overwhelming urge to launch myself over the
arm rest and tackle him right there in the dark theater. I took a deep breath to calm down,
remembering my promise to keep myself in check. Edward was such a cheater, he knew what he

was doing to me and it really wasn‟t fair.

I decided to take action. Two could play this game.

I pulled away from him. When he looked at me with an adorably confused expression on his face I
leaned in and kissed him gently and them started moving my lips down to his chin. I kissed around
the edges of his jaw, his skin cold and sweet against my mouth. I worked my way down to his neck
and since I knew I couldn‟t hurt him, I started sucking roughly on the stony flesh that covered

where his pulse would have been.

He gasped quietly and leaned his head back ever so slightly giving me more access. It felt a little
strange to have this type of control over him. Usually he was the one directing everything we did.
It was new, a little unsettling, and wonderful all at the same time. The odd part was for once I
wasn‟t totally lost. I was able to make all of my actions deliberate and I felt like I could pull away if

I needed to.

However, right now I really didn‟t think that pulling away was necessary. Edward was the one who
was breathing erratically at this point and I wanted to see what other reactions I could get out of
him. While I continued to kiss and nibble on his neck and earlobe I slowly ran my hand down his
chest trailing it over to the side slightly and down his hip until it was resting on his upper thigh,

then I squeezed.

Edward yelped and nearly jumped out of his seat, clearly surprised.

“Shh!” came an exasperated voice from a few rows ahead of us.

I looked up and immediately felt my cheeks redden with embarrassment. I had failed to notice
earlier that our former classmates were in the same theater as us. All four of them turned around
in their seats staring at us with different expressions on their faces ranging from amusement to

disgust.

At that point we sheepishly broke apart and attempted to watch what was quite possibly the worst
acted film in history. The storyline was flimsy, one that had been overdone in different variations
dozens of times. I sighed heavily, less than thrilled with the fact that we had an unintended

audience. Edward chuckled.

“What‟s funny?” I asked trying to distract myself.

“You look so uncomfortable.”

“I am,” I grumbled. “I don‟t see why that‟s funny though. Can you imagine what they‟re thinking
right now?” As soon as I said that I realized how stupid it sounded. Edward just raised an eyebrow

at me.

“I don‟t have to imagine, I already know,” he laughed.

“So then you know why I‟m uncomfortable.” He nodded and smiled widely at me. “What is so

amusing about this?”

“You‟re still worrying about what people like that think when we are getting married in just a few
weeks,” he lifted one finger, “you‟ve already tried to seduce me,” he ticked off another finger, “you
don‟t plan on seeing them again,” a third finger was raised, “and they aren‟t as innocent as they

seem either. You have to admit it‟s a little comical.”

I was speechless against his argument. I couldn‟t control the fact that I was embarrassed, but at
the same time I knew I shouldn„t have to feel that way about being with my fiancé of all people. In
the weeks to come I was sure that I would need to keep his various points in mind while I
attempted to rein in my self-consciousness and cope with whatever news got spread around our

tiny town.

After another fifteen minutes of excruciating boredom we both agreed that the movie was a wash

and snuck out of the theater. As we were leaving I noticed Mike and Tyler look over at us wistfully.

“I can‟t believe those two have to sit through the rest of this,” I whispered. “They looked

miserable.”

Edward smirked. “They were, and not just about sitting through the movie. Mike‟s still depressed
about the wedding invitation he received. He‟s lamenting the fact that he never had his chance

with you.”

“Ugh. Please no more Mike.”

“I think I can happily agree to that. You‟re sure you won‟t miss him after you change?” he asked. I
could tell that he was trying to keep his tone light and teasing, but there was real curiosity behind
the question. I knew he was asking about more than just Mike. He was still trying to find ways to
postpone my transformation, missing my friends would be an argument he might try to use yet

again if given any more ammunition.

I sighed. “I‟m sure that I might think about my friends later, but they aren‟t my future, you are.” I
knew I wouldn‟t be able to see any of them again. Even without the bloodlust I would be so

different. They would never recognize me.

“I wonder how different I'll be afterwards?” I mused.

“You‟ll still be you,” he said rubbing my arm gently.

“I know about that part. I was just wondering about my appearance, will I be recognizable?"

“It‟s hard to say, but I think you‟ll still look fairly similar.”

“Do you…um… do you look much like you did before?” I asked. I regretted it immediately. Edward‟s
face dropped a little and I could tell he was thinking hard about what I‟d asked. I wondered if I‟d

inadvertently thrown another reminder in his face of the life that he didn‟t get to live.

He grabbed my hand, playing with my fingers for a moment before responding. “Do you want to

see for yourself?” he asked quietly. “I still have my family‟s photos.”

I was stunned. I‟d heard most of the Cullen‟s talk about their human lives, but I didn‟t think that
they had more than a trinket or two to remember them by. Not one of them had ever mentioned

the possibility of photographic evidence of their previous existence.

“Are you comfortable showing the pictures to me?” I asked.

“If you want to see them you can. I don‟t want to hide anything from you Bella.”

“Okay?” I wasn‟t sure what my answer should be. On one hand I was very curious, on the other I

didn‟t want to cause unnecessary pain.

Edward nodded and we drove back home in contemplative silence as Ludovico Einaudi‟s Le Onde

CD played on the car‟s stereo.

When we entered the house there was a ruckus in the living room. I looked around Edward to see
Jasper and Emmett both standing in front of the large plasma TV waving around plastic game

controllers. Psychotic looking cartoon bunnies were running around screaming on the screen.

“Take that Jasper, I‟ve got the gold medal, you have the toilet paper, HA!” boasted Emmett.

“It isn‟t over yet,” Jasper retorted.

“I‟m so winning this. Get ready to pay up.”

“Not again,” Edward moaned.

“What is that?” I asked pointing at the screen.

“Rayman Raving Rabbids.” Edward muttered.

“They like to play video games with bunnies in them?” That was a little off. Two big, strong, mature
vampires waving sticks around like idiots to control demented bunnies. I really wasn‟t sure how to
react to that. Emmett looked boisterous bouncing around, When we first came in Jasper had been

nearly and active, but his expression was changing into something more serious.

“They aren‟t bunnies, Bella. They‟re rabbids, and they are awesome!” Emmett scoffed.

“If you say so.” I said uneasily.

“Come over here and give it a try if you don‟t believe me.” Emmett said while holding the controller

out to me. “You just need your Wiimote and nun chuck and you‟ll be ready to go.”

“Not now Emmett. Bella and I have something to take care of upstairs,” Edward said while pulling

me away from his brother.

“Ooooh. Upstairs so early in the evening Edward? Will there be a necktie on your doorknob?”

Emmett teased.

“Knock it off Emmett,” he countered. Emmett just grinned back at us. Jasper on the other hand sat
down on the couch his face looking a little forlorn. Was he really that worried about Emmett
beating him at such a ridiculous game?

As we started quietly up the stairs I heard Emmett laugh. “Bow chicka wow wow!”

Edward just huffed and rolled his eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“I‟m getting used to it.”

We slowly made our way up to the third floor in silence the mood seeming to deepen with each
step. When we got to his room I scooted over to the middle of the large gold bed while he went to
his closet and pulled down a box that was high on the shelf. He moved at a human‟s pace as he
brought the box over and laid it on the couch. He opened it and pulled out an old black leather

album with brass fittings.

He hesitantly carried the tattered old album over to where I was sitting on the bed and sat down

next to me, placing it on my lap. He looked sad and a little nervous.

“Here it is, this is who I was,” he whispered.

I opened the top cover carefully, aware of it‟s age and fragility, and gasped at the sight before me.
The last photos to be taken of him in his human life. Two set in brackets side by side, one a full
length photo of him dressed in a three piece suit, standing in a parlor. The second a close up of his

face. Seventeen, young and innocent, when vampires were still the things of novels and fantasies
and he didn‟t live in a world filled with blood.

His face was less angular and although the photo was in sepia tones, I could detect a sparkle in his
eyes. He was a young man eager for his future, happy.

My fingers hovered over the photos afraid of damaging them with my touch.

“I can still see you. Your features are a little softer, but it is without a doubt you,” I told him.

“It was me,” he said sadly.

“No Edward, it is you,” I asserted, he scowled a little at me.

“You know, I would have fallen just as hard for you, vampire or human.” I said trying to lighten his

mood. “I‟d love you in any lifetime. In any way.”

He tried to laugh a little, but it sounded forced. “You‟re always so determined to see me as a man

instead of a monster.”

I grabbed his face between my hands and looked him straight in the eye. “I see you as Edward, my
soul mate, nothing less than that will do even if it sounds a little corny. You said once that you
didn‟t regret being changed, considering you had to wait almost a century to find me perhaps you

should consider yourself lucky that you were.”

I saw the corners of his mouth twitch slightly, I hoped I was getting through to him.

“Besides, if I‟m still going to be me, then you are still you,” I stated gesturing to the picture.

“You‟re impossible,” he muttered.

“Stubborn too, don‟t forget that.”

“I don‟t think I could. You‟re determination to give up humanity for me is unprecedented.”

“I‟m getting something much better,” I persisted. He frowned at me and shook his head.

Just as I thought we were settling in for a long night of arguing I heard intentionally loud footsteps

outside the door.

“WHAT THE HELL?” Emmett yelled as he burst into the room causing me to fall over in shock. “I‟m
downstairs, my rabbid about to beat Jasper‟s at belching down Paris and he gets all morose and
says he doesn‟t want to play anymore! Edward are you being moody again? You need to suck it up

because can‟t exactly take Midol for that you know.”

“I‟m sorry about your game Emmett. Edward was just showing me some pictures,” I offered.

“Man, it‟s been ninety years. You really need to work on acceptance.”

“It isn‟t that easy, Bella wanted to know what I was like before, she has questions about how the

change will affect her physical appearance.” Edward fumed.

“At least you have pictures. Here Bella, I don‟t have anything to show you, but I think I can sketch
it out.” Emmett walked over the desk and grabbed a pencil and paper and started drawing. After a
couple of minutes he lifted up his picture. It was two crude stick figures with ridiculously
exaggerated muscles. On one side the figure was sprawled out under what I can only assume was
a bear. The second figure was standing on top of a bear on the other side of the page with silly

fangs drawn on and a bubble over it‟s head that said „Rawr‟. Underneath they were labeled „before‟
and „after„.

„That‟s about it,” he stated. “Lesson over. Now since you‟ve bummed out Jasper you get to take his
place Edward and I‟m putting in the first one the rabbid series so I hope you are ready to dance!”

Chapter 8.

Time has a funny way of speeding up and slowing down on you. The week had been going by very
slowly. It was odd. When I was waiting for graduation, time seemed to speed by in a blur. Partly

because although I had already made my decision, I wasn‟t ready to handle the consequences of it.

Now I was ready. I was ready to be married to Edward. I was ready to start my new life with him
and leave my old one behind. I was excited for it. But, now that I was ready time was slowing

down dramatically.

It was summer, and Forks was, for lack of a better word, completely dull, which didn„t help to
distract me from everything else that was going on. During the week Edward and I would lounge
around reading, listening to music and trying to avoid my pixie like future sister-in-law and her
maniacal wedding plans like the plague. The only problem was that it is darn near impossible to

avoid a psychic.

Edward and I decided to camp out at my house in the hopes of hiding from cloth swatches, we
were also hoping to have a reprieve from Emmett and his incessant teasing. I felt like he was on a
one man mission to make me blush as much as possible. Every word out of his mouth alluded to

my practically non-existent sex life.

Sadly there wasn‟t much I could do about it. I was hardly a physical match for an enormous muscle
ridden vampire. Edward tried to talk to him once about his crude sense of humor. Emmett just said
that he was already holding back and he could get a lot worse. Jasper was caught in the crossfire
of it all, experiencing Emmett‟s mirth, my embarrassment and Edward‟s irritation all at the same

time. He attempted to calm us down, but he wasn‟t very successful.

All in all things seemed to be in utter chaos. I knew that weddings and the blending of families
could be tense, but this was getting a little out of control. I nearly lost it on Wednesday when Alice
came over with a mile long list of songs she wanted to run by me for the reception. Honestly, I
didn‟t care about the songs. I had told Alice that I was turning over control of this overblown event
to her and I would have thought that with her extra abilities that she would already be able to

make better decisions than me anyway.

When she flipped to the third page of possible first dance songs and popped up her tenth play list
for me to listen to I finally burst.“Do the songs really matter that much Alice? I can‟t dance anyway

and I doubt anyone really cares.” I huffed.

She looked affronted. “Of course it matters. Don‟t you want your first dance with Edward to be
perfect? We need to set a mood and a theme with the music. Really! Also, can you imagine having
your father/daughter dance to just any old song? You will want to remember this someday I

promise you.”

“If you say so. But can‟t you just „see‟ what the right songs would be? Do we really have to go

through all of these?”

“I can‟t see how things will go until a decision is made and then we can adjust the music if need

be.”

“Well if someone doesn‟t like what they‟re hearing can‟t Jasper just, you know…change their

opinion?” I joked.

Alice‟s eyes grew huge. “Bella, you can‟t possibly want people to be forced to enjoy themselves can

you?”

“Maybe?”

Alice glared at me.

“Okay, no.”

Alice pursed her lips. “You know, I think you‟re in need of a mini vacation from all of this don„t you

agree?”

A vacation sounded like a wonderful idea to me. Time away from wedding plans and worrying
about how to say goodbye to everyone. It would be nice to get out of town too. I didn‟t want to
admit this to her, but driving though Forks looking at all of the „missing‟ posters that Charlie put up

when Jacob left was rather heart wrenching as well.

“Let‟s see. Where should we go?” Alice mused. She stilled and her eyes took on a far away look.
“No. No. No. Hmmmm.”

She brightened up after a moment and looked at me. “I‟ve got it,” she announced. “We are going
to San Francisco.”

“What?” I gasped.

“You need to get out of town Bella, don‟t even try to argue that with me.”

“I wasn‟t going to, but I didn‟t think that you meant going out of state.”

“It‟s far enough away that you‟ll be able to take your mind off of things here and close enough that
Charlie shouldn‟t have a problem with you going. Plus, it will be overcast for the next week. It‟s

perfect,” she declared.

“Um, Alice when are you planning this trip?”

“Immediately. Jasper and Edward are out hunting so they‟ll be in good shape. Oh, and Charlie will

be home early tonight, we should get dinner ready,” she sang brightly.

“We?”

“Of course. I want to help cook! I haven‟t had much of an opportunity to, I think it sounds like fun.
Besides,” she said turning on the music, “this way we can kill two birds with one stone. Let me

know if any of these songs jump out at you.”

I got up and followed Alice into the kitchen where she proceeded to pull out various pots and pans.

“So,” she chirped while rubbing her hands together, “what are we making for dinner?”

“If we‟re going to ask Charlie to let me go out of town we should butter him up a bit. I‟m thinking

beef stroganoff.”

“Sounds good!”

Alice ran over to the fridge and started pulling though the different things occasionally scrunching
up her nose and saying, “ew,” at some of the ingredients. I pulled the beef from the freezer and
put it in the microwave to thaw it out. When I pulled the package out Alice looked at the blood
dripping off of the meat and gagged.

“Not your favorite?” I teased.

“It‟s so stale Bella, how can you eat that without getting sick?”

“Well, for one thing I cook it,” I laughed. Alice shuddered and told me in no uncertain terms that I
would be handling the beef, she wasn‟t about to touch it. She happily chopped some onions and

boiled the noodles while I browned the meat and prepared almost everything else myself.

When Charlie came home Alice declared it time to eat. I was a little surprised when she pulled out
three plates and piled on the food.

She smiled at me. “Appearances, Bella. Don‟t worry,” she winked, “I‟m an expert, you may want to
start taking notes.

We sat down to dinner and Alice lifted her napkin up slightly to show me a baggie sitting on her
lap. I wasn‟t sure how she was going to make that work. She asked Charlie about his day and his
upcoming plans for the weekend making small talk for the first half of the meal. For the most part
she pushed the food around her plate, occasionally lifting up a forkful like she was going to eat it.

Whenever Charlie turned his head she would quickly sneak part of her meal into the baggie.

“Great meal Bells,” Charlie said after he was full.

“Thanks Dad, Alice helped.”

Charlie beamed at Alice. “Well thanks to both my girls then.”

“So you‟re going to be watching sports all weekend with Billy?” Alice asked.

“Yeah. There are some big games coming up. Don‟t tell anyone but we have a friendly bet on a

couple of them.”

“Since you‟re going to be so busy would you mind very much if I took Bella away for the

weekend?” she asked batting her eyelashes up at him.

“Well, I don‟t suppose that would be a problem. Where are you planning to go?”

“San Francisco,” Alice trilled. “We‟ve seen all of Seattle lately and with the stress of the wedding
plans I think Bella and I need an extended weekend to get away from it all. There‟s a great spa

there where we can unwind. Oh, and I can get started on Bella‟s trousseau.”

“Her what?”

“Clothes and unmentionables that are bought for a bride in honor of her wedding,” Alice smiled.

“Unmentionables?” Charlie asked gruffly.

“Lingerie!” Alice happily explained. Charlie looked like he was about to choke. I‟m sure that the last

thing he wanted to think about was Edward seeing me in lacey underwear and skimpy nighties.

“I suppose a trip would be okay,” Charlie mumbled grumpily.

Alice jumped up and hugged Charlie clearing his plate from the table. I got up and went to the sink

to help her clean up the dishes.

“Oh Bella, you‟re going to love San Francisco!”

After we finished cleaning up from our dinner Alice and I went up to my room where she
immediately dived into my closet and began throwing things around. I heard frequent tsks as she
tossed around my t-shirts and muttering as she lovingly pulled out some of my nicer outfits that

she had purchased for me and I had never worn.

Before long she had a stack of clothes neatly folded that were deemed acceptable to pack for the
trip. She whipped out her cell phone and made a few hurried calls, presumably to coordinate travel

and hotel arrangements before heading out for the night.

When Edward climbed into my window, his eyes golden and warm from the hunt, all I wanted to do
was curl up against him and settle in for the night. Alice was such a little ball of energy that I

couldn‟t help but be exhausted after spending a day with her even if we never left my house.

“Did Alice tell you that she‟s kidnapping me and taking me to San Francisco?” I asked somewhat

grimly remembering Alice‟s talk about spas and shopping.

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head. “I‟ll be there with you love. I won‟t let her get too

out of control.”

“You‟re going?” I smiled up at him. My mini vacation was sounding even better all of a sudden.

“Of course,” he replied. “We all are,” he added a little under his breath.

“Who‟s included in this group?” I asked suspiciously.

He shrugged, “Alice and Jasper are obviously coming and when Emmett heard about the trip he

insisted that he and Rosalie go too.”

Normally I would have been okay with any member of Edward‟s family, scratch that--our family,
coming along for a trip, but Emmett had been so obnoxious lately that I wasn‟t sure I„d be able to

calm down and relax while he continued with his antics.

Edward seemed to sense my distress and I think he must have shared in it a little.

“Don‟t worry about him,” he said as he gently caressed the side of my face with his fingertips. “I‟ve
told him that we really need to be able to relax on this trip and he agreed to try to behave

himself.”

I raised an eyebrow at him in disbelief. Emmett…behave…really?

“I think the operative word was try,” he admitted. “You really need to get some rest now Bella.
Alice has scheduled us on a morning flight out of Seattle.” He kissed me quickly and then began to

hum my lullaby as I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning the trip to the airport was exactly what I expected. Fast. We somehow managed
to find decent parking before shuffling into the building. Like everyone else we stood in the slow
lines to check our bags, the people in front of us and behind us ever so subtly trying to give us our

space and shooting wary glances at all of the Cullens.

Once we got our boarding passes I noticed that I wasn‟t sitting next to Edward. He just smiled at
me and whispered in my ear a quick apology, explaining that it was necessary for him to sit next to

Alice and Jasper.

When we were situated I noticed that the three of them were in one row of the plane, with Jasper
stuck in the middle seat between Edward and Alice. Although his eyes were golden from the hunt,
he appeared tense and I could tell when I looked closer that he wasn‟t breathing. Alice was rubbing
his hand soothingly. I knew that he had the most problems with self control, but I hadn‟t thought
about what it must be like for him to sit in such a small enclosed space with the scent of humans

crashing over him intensified by the recycled air.

That‟s when I understood the seating arrangement. Alice would see if Jasper was about to slip up
and Edward would monitor his thoughts through the flight. They were essentially acting as his
guards. I tried to be supportive and offered a small smile when he caught me looking at him,
knowing that once I was a newborn I would most likely be guarded just as carefully. He just

nodded and returned a slightly sad smile of his own.

Unfortunately, Emmett sat next to me on the plane, his massive bulk spilling over slightly into my
seat. He leaned into me and whispered dramatically, “You know I‟ve heard about all of the human

traditions that you and Edward have been trying out. You have the perfect opportunity to try
another one here.” he nodded his head towards the small bathrooms up front and grinned evilly.

I heard Edward hiss slightly under his breath as he threw Emmett a murderous look.

I was shocked. “Edward and I aren‟t joining the mile high club Emmett,” I snarled at him.

Emmett just smirked at me and I knew that the chance of him behaving on this trip was pretty

much zero.

Chapter 9.

As promised, San Francisco was overcast when we arrived. I‟d never spent much time in California,
my previous foray having occurred while I was escaping a sadistic vampire in Carlisle‟s Mercedes.
Since racing though the state at breakneck speeds in the dark of night didn‟t give me much of an
impression; the only images ingrained in my mind were the ones of beaches and perfect bodies in
bikinis that seemed to be the focal point of so many TV shows and movies.

Being in Northern California was very different from that. The city was hilly and bustling with

activity. It had an atmosphere to it that was a far cry from the cheesy beach movies of the 60s.

No sooner were we at the entrance to the hotel when Alice began talking about the shops in Union
Square. I wanted to protest immediately. Hadn‟t she promised me a relaxing trip? Shopping
definitely didn‟t fall into that category. Fortunately the others seemed to be on the same page.

“Alice, you can shop anywhere, online even. Why, oh why, do you insist on that first thing when we
get to a new city? The chain stores will be almost the same as they are anywhere else you know,”

Emmett said. At that moment I could have hugged Emmett.

“Besides you don‟t want to tempt our little virgins with the idea of doing it in a changing room now
do you?” he yelled loudly. A couple of pedestrians turned around and stared at us with shocked

expressions on their faces. I no longer wanted to hug Emmett, I wanted to hit him with a crowbar.

Edward took care of the situation this time, reaching over and smacking the back of Emmett‟s head

with a loud crack.

Alice pouted at her thwarted shopping plans. Looking at everyone she turned on her sad puppy dog
eyes and let her lower lip tremble slightly. I tried really hard to keep from buckling. I knew she was

a faker. Vampires didn‟t have trembly lips. What a cheater!

Even though part of my brain was rationally telling me that it was all an act, the other part that

loved Alice like a sister was the one that kicked in.

“Bella, I really did want to go to a couple of stores here that aren‟t in the malls at home. Who
knows when I‟ll get the chance again. I promise it will only be for a couple of hours and then we‟ll
do anything else that you want. Oh please, please, please, please, please come with me?” she

pleaded.

“Ugh, Alice. Ok. Fine.” I figured I could handle it for a couple of hours.

“I‟ll go with you,” Edward added helpfully. Alice got a strange look on her face.

“Oh, you don‟t have to I promise I‟ll behave,” she said while tracing a particularly fascinating crack

on the sidewalk with her foot.

Edward looked at her intensely like he was trying to make out every non-existent pore on her
perfect face. I‟d seen that look before, usually when he was trying to unsuccessfully read my

thoughts or when someone was intentionally blocking him.

“Alice?” he asked, his features contorting into a pained grimace. She looked up at him an
expression of supreme innocence on her face. Like I said, what a faker. “Why are you mentally

replaying the Hamster Dance song?”

“It doesn‟t matter. Wouldn‟t you like to go do some fun things with the boys for a while?”

“No, I think I‟ll join you.”

“You know, I told Bella we were going to do some trousseau shopping,” she said through her teeth.

“I think I can handle it,” he ground out.

“Fine!” she huffed. “But don‟t say I didn‟t warn you.”

“Pfft. I‟m not shopping,” Emmett grumbled. Then he got a wicked gleam in his eye. “Hey Rosie,” he

started as he sidled up to her. “Perhaps we should…make sure the hotel room is in good order.”

Yuck. I didn‟t want to think about what their inspection would include. Judging from Jasper‟s

uncomfortable squirming and Edward‟s cringing I think I had an idea already.

At least I would be spared from any embarrassment for a couple of hours right?

An hour and twenty minutes later I realized just how wrong I was.

At first everything was fine. Well, as fine as it can be when your future sister-in-law is dragging you
around to designer boutiques and spending a small fortune on you. But then we got to the store
that she had been looking forward to the most. The one she had been trying to hide from Edward

by playing annoying songs on a repetitive mental loop since we began this whole ordeal.

I found myself standing in…Agent Provocateur…with Edward. I wasn‟t sure I had ever blushed quite

as hotly as I was now. Did Alice hate me or something?

I knew we were in trouble when I noticed mannequins dressed in see-through itsy-bitsy lace bits of
god-only-knows-what with garter belts and thigh high stockings. A couple of them were

wearing…holy crow…pasties!

“Alice! I can‟t be in here!”

“Of course you can. You are a woman now and you‟re getting married. There is nothing to be

embarrassed about.”

Right. Nothing to be embarrassed by. Who was she kidding?!

Jasper was snickering a little and Edward was frozen like a statue by my side while we stood in
front of a very expensive grouping that was, oh yes, called the Virgins Collection. Only, I‟m pretty

sure that no virgin ever wore some of the things we were looking at.

Right now she was holding up a lacy see-though slip and looking at me speculatively. I noticed
Edward‟s hand grip his thigh tightly. He stayed like that as she held up one skimpy lacy piece after
another. When she held up a tiny half-bra and panties I heard him make a strangled sounding
noise in his throat. I shot a look at Alice only to see that her eyes were glazed over and then I

realized what was happening.

Alice was deciding which pieces to buy me by „seeing‟ how I would look at them and Edward had a
front row seat. He actually dropped the bag that he‟d been holding in front of himself and I saw

just what kind of a reaction the mental images were having on him.

“Alice, knock it off!” I screeched.

I wasn‟t sure what was worse. The fact that she was looking or the fact that Edward probably had a
pretty good idea what I looked like naked by this point. Jasper must have decided that I was finally

too distressed for his amusement and I felt a wave of calm wash over me.

Fortunately I no longer felt like I was on the brink of having an aneurism, but I knew the minute

his special influence was removed I would be back to dwelling on my discomfort.

“Ooh!” Alice trilled as she held up some pasties with tassels attached.

“I‟m never wearing that,” I hissed at her.

“Oh, it isn‟t for you,” she winked at me. Ew. I didn‟t need to know that. Apparently neither did
Edward; while Alice‟s eyes took on a far away look as she fingered the pasties his face contorted
into a nauseated expression.

“Bella and I will meet you back at the hotel,” he told her tensely, then he grabbed my hand and led
me out of the store, muttering under his breath the whole way.

Once we were a couple of blocks away he stopped and pinched the bridge of his nose between his

forefinger and thumb.

“Are you okay?”

He was breathing heavily, a couple of shopping bags hitched up his arm to his elbow and his free
hand clenching and unclenching. He looked at me and then pulled me into a little alley that was off
the road. Before I knew what was happening I had my back against a brick wall and he was
hovering an inch from my face practically panting.

He dropped the bags and lifted my chin up with one hand while his other pulled me tightly to him,
his lips began assaulting my neck in a feverish manner.

“E-Edward?” I‟d never seen him this uncontrolled and while it was a somewhat exciting it was a

little frightening too.

“Do you know what Alice‟s visions did to me in there?” he growled.

“Um…I-I have a pretty good idea,” I stammered.

“Never have I wanted anything more than I want you and she flaunted you in my face. It was
completely unfair.” He started tracing the outside of my ear with his tongue and I could feel him

hard against my stomach though our clothing.

I was pretty sure that Edward had completely lost it, his carefully crafted controlled façade was
severely cracked. While normally I wouldn‟t mind his uncharacteristic amorous advances I didn‟t
think that a dirty alleyway was the best place for them and I knew he would wallow in self loathing

later if it went much further.

I placed my hand on his chest and pushed to let him know that he needed to back up and cool off.
Fortunately he responded like I knew he would. He stepped away from me with a sheepish
expression on his face.

I cradled his face in my hand and stroked my thumb against his cheekbone.

“Perhaps we should continue this later?” I asked. I bit my lip a little nervously hoping that he
wouldn‟t either begin browbeating himself for his behavior or think that I was being too forward in
my suggestion.

He looked at my mouth longingly and groaned before nodding his head.

“That would be more…sensible,” he agreed. “I apologize for the alleyway. It was inappropriate.”

I grabbed his hand.

“Don‟t apologize for that.”

“Bella, that was hardly gentlemanly behavior, the least I can do is..” he started, but I rudely cut

him off, my hand covering his mouth.

“You don‟t have to always be a gentleman and worry about other people‟s rules. The only thing you
have to do is love me, and you do a wonderful job of that.”

He took my hand and kissed it before pulling it away from his mouth.

“I know. But loving you means treating you like the treasure you are, not flinging you up against
walls.” I could see the self chastisement beginning, and I really wanted to thwart it if possible. I
ran a finger down his chest seductively trying to distract him.

“Who says you can‟t do both?” I whispered slyly. Edward swallowed hard, surprised by my

forwardness and then leaned in to kiss me.

“You are a dangerous creature love,” Edward purred, running his nose along my jaw; then he
straightened himself and picked up the bags. “But we aren‟t exploring the alley any further today.
We have to meet everyone back at the hotel in just a moment, that is as long as Emmett and

Rosalie haven‟t destroyed it yet.”

“I really don‟t want to think about that,” I shuddered.

“Neither do I,” he sighed. “I hope Alice didn‟t make you too uncomfortable back at the store
either.”

“I think I‟ll survive.”

“You‟re really learning about what it‟s like to be a Cullen. Are you sure they haven‟t scared you

off?”

“Well they are pretty terrifying,” I said rolling my eyes. “But I think I can handle it.”

He laughed. “You might want to change your mind about that, you haven‟t seen Emmett‟s plans for

the afternoon yet.”

Chapter 10.

We got back to the hotel at about the same time as Alice and Jasper. She was holding out a bag of
purchases that she had made for me at the…er…lingerie store after Edward and I had left. I noticed
she was holding on to one of her own, a very small bag. I tried not to visibly shudder at the

thought of what was most likely in it.

It was decided that we all needed the opportunity to freshen up a bit and get the bags put away.
Since vampires didn‟t require refreshing I knew that was their nice way of saying that the human

needed a „moment‟.

Edward led me up to our suite. A gigantic room with a view of the bay, plush couches and an

enormous bed. I hated to think of the cost. I sighed as Edward and I set the bags down.

“Is everything alright love?”

“Yeah, it‟s just been a bit much today.” I answered.

“I‟m sorry about that last store, Alice shouldn‟t have dragged you in there. You were

uncomfortable,” he said while hugging me tightly to his chest.

“I have a feeling you suffered more than I did.”

“Seeing her visions of you hardly counts as suffering,” he murmured. I felt his lips pressing against

my hair. “But it wasn‟t fair to you.”

I blushed a little at the thought of all of the scenarios he must have seen in Alice‟s mind, but

knowing the reaction it caused made me feel a little warm at the same time.

“It was a little embarrassing at first, but we‟ll be married soon so I don‟t suppose it‟s too bad

really. I was thinking more about her other visions that you had to endure.”

I felt him stiffen a little and shift his weight slightly.

“There are times when I wish I could turn my gift off, you wouldn‟t believe what was running
through her mind.”

I pulled back and raised my eyebrows at him wondering how bad it could have been.

He shook his head. “Let‟s just say I‟ve never been a fan of country music and hearing her mentally
sing „save a horse ride a cowboy‟ while she contemplated certain.... items, did nothing to improve

my opinion of the genre.”

“I can‟t believe you told me that,” I choked out. Although I had to admit I was curious about the

things that Edward overheard in the minds of others from time to time he very rarely shared.

“Well I can‟t believe she dragged us in there so I guess we‟ll call it even.”

After I had a bite to eat, we went downstairs where Alice and Jasper were already waiting for us.
Alice was flitting about the lobby inspecting the floral arrangements while Jasper looked at her

adoringly.

Alice glided up slapped Edward on the arm when we got down there.

“So you „saw‟ our conversation earlier?” I asked timidly.

“Uh huh,” she smirked. “However, he left out the part about the cowboy hat and spurs.”

My eyes must have been as wide as saucers when she told me that. I was used to Alice and Jasper
being more subdued about their love life, I couldn‟t believe she was telling me this now.

“Oh please,” she giggled. “Just wait until you‟ve been married for a few decades and have all of
eternity to look forward to, you‟ll be looking for ways to spice things up yourself.”

Jasper just looked smug.

Alice then pulled me aside to discuss how she thought that the flower arrangements in the lobby
were wonderful and how she was certain that I‟d like to have something similar to that at the
wedding only on a grander scale. It already looked like a florists shop in here, I couldn‟t imagine
what „grander‟ could possibly include. I quietly hoped that none of our human guests suffered from

hay fever.

After a few minutes of discussing the meanings of different flowers and how she could have the
florist create arrangements with messages tied to them, an topic I knew little on, Emmett and

Rosalie finally made it down to where we were waiting.

Emmett was grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Finally we get to have some fun!” he exclaimed. “Not that I wasn‟t having fun with Rosie while you

guys were gone,” he added with a wink.

“Emmett, we do need to remain inconspicuous,” Edward reminded him.

Emmett shrugged. “That doesn‟t mean we can‟t have a good time. So, first stop on our list is the
wax museum!” He was so enthusiastic I couldn‟t help but smile even though I wondered what
possible fascination a wax museum could have for a decades old vampire.

When we got there Emmett was practically bouncing with excitement and Jasper looked like a kid
on Christmas morning. I supposed that Emmett‟s mood was catching. Alice was smiling to herself
and shaking her head slightly and Edward looked like he was trying to decide whether he ought to

be amused or annoyed.

Upon entering the museum we walked past scores of celebrity wax „tributes‟ and I listened as the

Cullens scoffed at the figures.

“Oh please!” Rosalie groaned. “The facial symmetry on Brad Pitt is off my more than a nanometer

on the left side!”

“The color isn‟t even right,” Jasper added.

“Rambo looks like he has droopy basset hound eyes,” Alice commented.

“They look alright to me,” I said. I got a few raised eyebrows for that remark. Okay, so they didn‟t

look that good, but I can‟t imagine making full sized figures out of wax was easy after all.

“They would to your eyes,” Rosalie snickered. Yes, another dig on human imperfections. I
remembered Edward teasing me about my eyesight the first time he took me to the meadow and
wondered just how different it was from a vampire‟s.

“Feeling contemplative Bella?” Jasper asked. I shrugged my response.

“The color spectrum is a bit different for us you see. We are able to determine differences in tone

better and we see colors that aren‟t visible to your eyes,” he pointed out helpfully. More colors?

“We also have much better visual acuity. Measuring distances and spaces instantaneously although
that is part of the increased mental functioning,” he continued as if giving a college lecture on the

subject. He went on for a few moments ranging on topics from depth perception to distance vision.
Fortunately there was no one else around just yet to overhear.

I had some idea of the differences from little things Edward or one of the others said here and
there, but it was pretty different listening to Jasper deliver the information like a formal oration.

Edward tensed a little before adding his opinion.

“They are all a part of the predatory advantages possessed by our kind,” he ground out.

Alice rolled her eyes at him and Emmett shook his head.

“Seriously?” She asked him.

He just huffed and took my hand pulling me into the next room. We continued on, seeing historical
characters in period costumes and were just entering an area with movie monsters when we heard

the sounds of a couple of teens behind us.

“Hey John, you think that they make these things anatomically correct?” I heard a boy‟s voice

chortle.

“That‟s creepy man,” another voice, who I could only assume was John, answered. “I don‟t want to

think about someone crafting a wax dong.”

“Yeah, but I bet you wouldn‟t mind a look at some waxy chi-chis,” the first voice laughed.

“Don‟t need to see wax ones when I can look at the real thing anytime I want.”

“Oh please, like Jennifer‟s giving you any,” the first voice teased.

“Believe me, she‟s giving me everything,” John bragged.

“Psh. Right, like what?”

“Dude, the other night we were in my mom‟s car and she totally went down on me in her parent‟s

driveway no less.”

“No way man!”

“Oh yeah, and it‟s almost as good as when she lets me tap that ass of hers,” John stated proudly.

“No shit? I need her to talk to Chloe „cause I swear she‟s giving me the worst case of blue balls

ever.”

“If she doesn‟t give you what you want why don‟t you get a little side action going? I‟ve got a

couple of chicks on reserve for the nights Jennifer isn‟t around.”

“Your still keeping Valerie and Miranda on the side? Man she‟ll be pissed if she hears about that,”

the first voice said in awe.

“Shut up man, I think I hear the girls coming.”

“Yeah, I‟ll bet that Jennifer will be coming later right?” the voice snickered.

“You bet she will. Now shh!” John answered.

I couldn‟t believe the conversation I was overhearing. I looked over to Edward who had a disgusted
expression on his face. I expected him to say something as he was clearly appalled by what was

being said in the next room, but it was Emmett of all people who spoke up.

“What a pig,” he said. I looked at him, shocked since he was always going on about his sex life

with Rosalie. He caught my surprised glance.

“It‟s one thing to be proud of giving your lady a good lovin‟, but that jackass doesn‟t give a crap
about her. He‟s cheating on her and she‟s probably totally head over heels for the creep,” Emmett

practically growled. He looked at the exhibits for a moment thoughtfully.

“Emmett are you sure that‟s such a good idea?” Edward asked suddenly. Alice giggled a little

mischievously watching their interaction.

“The jerk deserves it. It‟ll be funny.” Emmett defended.

“If you get caught it could cause problems, and you„ve never cared much for involving yourself in
human dramas,” Edward continued.

“Hey I was hoping to get a chance to mess around anyway, they‟ve just given me a perfect
opportunity. It‟s a win-win situation as far as I‟m concerned. As for human dramas….well my

newest sister has given me a new appreciation for the species, what can I say?”

“I don‟t know…” Edward said concerned.

“It looks like it‟ll be okay,” Alice chipped in.

The next thing I knew they were all talking animatedly at high speed, but in voices so low I

couldn‟t make out a thing that any of them said.

“It‟s decided then,” Rosalie grinned smugly.

“No, Bella still hasn‟t voted,” Alice replied. Rosalie rolled her eyes.

“Voted on what?” I asked, totally confused at this point.

“Love, Emmett and Jasper would like to play around with the human males in the next room, scare
them a bit. Since it could be risky, it seemed only right for us to all provide an opinion on the

matter,” Edward explained.

“Since you are one of us, you get to put in your two cents,” Emmett added while giving me a

pleading look.

“You need to understand that there is a possible risk of discovery,” Edward said seriously.

“I don‟t see that happening,” Alice chirped.

“Even if we get caught we don‟t live here, so…” Jasper trailed off.

“They are jerks who are totally taking advantage of those girls they're with,” Rosalie stated.

“Pleeeease?” Emmett begged. It looked to me like they already had a majority vote, obviously my

opinion was only asked as a courtesy, but oh well.

I squared my shoulders looking directly at Emmett and Jasper. I couldn‟t believe I was going along

with this.

“Do it,” I told them. The second the words were out of my mouth Emmett and Jasper took off in a
blur. Edward looked at me incredulously, I gave him a small smile in return earning a chuckle.

“You only have one minute until they reach this room,” Alice whispered.

I saw Jasper for a moment as he quickly got in position replacing the figure from Friday the 13th ,

he smirked before pulling the hockey mask into place.

Emmett had apparently gone the kitsch route, taking over for Dracula and repositioning his wax
„victim‟ away from himself. He‟d used Rosalie‟s red lipstick to draw lines of „blood‟ down either side
of his mouth. Once in place both stood still as statues, too close to the railing that would separate
them from the patrons. Neither of them was breathing. Suddenly I realized something….didn‟t they

at least have alarms or something to keep people from tampering with the wax figurines?

Before I could voice my new concern the teenagers from the other room walked in. There was a
blonde boy wearing a baseball cap and baggy jeans with his underpants hanging out the top and

another guy with brown hair and a t-shirt that read „Morningwood Lumber Company‟. How tasteful.

They were practically dragging two girls with them, who I could only assume were the poor
Jennifer and Chloe. I didn‟t suppose that they would have believed me if I told them about the

conversation we‟d all overheard just a few moments before.

When the boys saw Rosalie standing over by Emmett they dropped their date‟s hands and openly

ogled her. Jerks. Rosalie flipped her hair over her shoulder and purposely looked away from them.

Chloe and Jennifer went over by the makeshift torture chamber with the droopy pants boy. They
were cringing and pointing at the different horrific devices being depicted while „Mr. Morningwood‟

tried to hit on Rosalie.

“Are you sure you shouldn‟t be in the exhibit?” he asked her. I recognized his voice as John‟s.

“Whatever do you mean?” she sighed.

“You‟re too beautiful to be real,” he continued. “You could be Helen of Troy, the face that launched

a thousand ships.”

“Please.” she scoffed while glaring at him.

“Well I can tell you that you‟ve launched at least one boner,” the idiot persisted.

At that point I heard Emmett growling low in his chest although not a single one of his muscles

moved to give him away.

“Did you hear that?” John asked while jumping slightly.

“Hear what?” Rosalie asked innocently.

“N-nothing. They must have some special effects in here or something.”

I could see Emmett‟s lips trembling slightly behind John as if he was barely whispering something.

John‟s eyes grew large and he glanced around shakily.

“Is something wrong?” Rosalie inquired.

He shook his head and kept looking around as one of the girls came over to him. It must have

been Jennifer.

“Everything okay sweetheart?” she asked sweetly while sneaking a nervous look at Rosalie.

He nodded and winked at her.

“Course it is babe,” he said, then he glanced over to me and shockingly enough gave me an
obvious head-to-toe once over while licking his lips causing Edward to pull me closer to him, his
chest rumbling slightly.

He backed up closer to the exhibit, and Emmett, after seeing what I can only guess was a
murderous expression on Edward‟s face.

The moment his back hit the railing there was a commotion from the other end of the room.

“Aaaahhhh!” yelled the droopy pants boy as he ran out of the exhibit. The girl he was with looked
stunned and a bit angry. She was standing over near where Jasper was still immobile in his mask.

Alice was a few feet away trying to stifle a laugh.

Emmett must have used the distraction to his advantage. He had shifted just a fraction of an inch
and made his face look marginally more menacing. When John jumped again and tried to move
away from the bar the edge of his shirt was caught on Emmett‟s finger and tore.

“What the hell?” he screeched.

“John, quit trying to scare me,” Jennifer said shakily. “It isn‟t funny.”

“Dracula just grabbed me!” he complained.

“It‟s wax John, it can‟t grab you!” Jennifer poked one of her fingers at Emmett‟s hand. “See it‟s

totally cold and hard.”

I briefly wondered what her reaction would be if she knew she had just poked a real vampire…or

was in a room with a total of five of them.

“It did, I swear look at my shirt,” John said turning around to show her the tear.

“You must have caught it on a nail,” she replied, clearly annoyed. Chloe stormed over at that point.

“Matt just took off without me,” she complained. Well at least droopy pants boy had a name now.
“He said something about Jason over there coming to get him,” she jerked her thumb over in

Jasper‟s direction.

Jennifer whirled over towards John, her anger growing to unreal proportions and her face flushed
with rage. “I‟m really getting tired of you and Matt playing these sick jokes all the time!” With that

she pushed him back towards Emmett and stormed off.

I barely caught Emmett poke him in the back when John stumbled after Jennifer roughly shoved

him.

“Ow!” he yelled.

I saw Emmett barely mumble something causing John look around quickly before darting out of the
room. In a whoosh of motion Emmett and Jasper had everything put back in place and stood with
us again. Emmett was just wiping the lipstick off of his face when an employee came around the

bend.

“You aren‟t supposed to go over the rails, you know,” she chided us. “It sets off the system.”

“Oh we know,” Emmett said innocently, his voice getting velvety and smooth. “It was a couple of
guys that were in here reaching over, they just ran out ahead of you.” He looked at her through his

eyelashes and smiled subtly.

I‟d seen Edward dazzle people before, but seeing Emmett in action was a little unsettling. However,
as disturbing as it was it worked like a charm. The woman‟s eyes unfocused a bit and she batted

her eyelashes at him.

“Oh, well I guess I‟ll have to go catch up with them then,” she mumbled almost incoherently. She

nearly tripped over herself as she walked out in her dazed state.

Once I was sure she was out of hearing I brought up a concern that had been growing since I‟d

voted for the little prank.

“What if they have security cameras in here?” I asked.

Alice smiled at me. “Let‟s just say they‟re on the fritz today.” After that I figured it was better not

to ask.

As we were leaving we saw John and Matt being detained, they were both looking around

nervously and muttering about the wax figures threatening them.

Emmett chortled. “I told that John guy that I knew where he lived and would come to his house

and suck out his blood at night, but he wasn‟t my type. Get it? Type?”

I groaned. Only Emmett would make a blood joke and a lame one at that.

Edward shook his head. “That‟s just corny Emmett. If it wasn‟t for Jasper sending out waves of fear

and terror to those two I doubt any of it would have worked.”

“Don‟t forget the massive amounts of annoyance I fed their girlfriends. By the way I think you owe

me fifty dollars,” Jasper added happily.

“That is totally not fair! You used your gift to get your guy to run out first that nullifies the bet,”

Emmett accused.

“We didn‟t specify any restrictions.”

Emmett grudgingly dug in his pocket and handed the money over to Jasper.

“How many years have they been around again?” I asked Edward.

He just sighed. “Apparently not enough yet.”

“Don‟t worry I‟ll get my money back Bella; we still have Ripley‟s,” Emmett said as he slung his arm

around my shoulders. Great…another adventure with the juvenile vampire patrol.

Chapter 11.

Not long after leaving the wax museum I found myself standing in the Ripley‟s Believe it or Not
museum looking at a portrait of Van Gogh… made from toast. It wasn‟t like one of those mishaps
where people swear that they get a cheeto that looks like Jesus, it was an intentionally toasted
portrait made out of hundreds of slices of bread browned to varying degrees of darkness. I stood
there for a moment, my head tilted to the side, wondering where the compulsion came from. Did
toast as art count as mixed media? Did they get funding for this type of thing from the National

Endowment for the Arts?

My mind was immediately filled with images of a bored farmer in Wisconsin with a propane torch
and a few hundred loaves of wonder bread toasting portraits in his barn. I‟d never thought of toast
as anything but a breakfast food before… huh. Oh look, some guy named Bennett in New Zealand
made a lot of these things apparently. Before I could ponder things like shipping overseas and

preservation techniques a comment broke me out of my mental ramblings.

“Well that‟s definitely a better use for bread that eating it,” Emmett said

“According to you,” I shot back.

“Oh, you‟ll see… hey after ‘you know‘, I dare you to try some and tell me if you still think it‟s

good,” he smirked.

Edward reached over and smacked him in the back of the head, unhappy with Emmett‟s public

reference to my change.

“Like I even said anything anyone could make that inference from,” he muttered under his breath

while walking away from Toast Gogh.

We made our way through the museum seeing a cable car made out of matchsticks, a rather

frightening looking shrunken torso, and a two-headed calf among other oddities.

I tried not to get sick to my stomach when Emmett started pondering which neck you would go for
if faced with a two-headed animal on a hunt. He thought it had the potential to be like going to a
soda fountain in the 1950‟s and sharing a two-strawed drink with your girlfriend. The mental
picture was rather disturbing. Fortunately he kept his voice down, but Edward kept shooting furtive

glances around, terrified that someone would overhear Emmett‟s speculations.

We found our way to a display where you could stand in front of a mirror and see what you would
look like if both sides of your face were perfectly symmetrical. When the Cullens stepped up, the
reflected images were practically identical to how they already looked, of course they would have

no imperfections.

When I stepped up I saw a reflection that wasn‟t really all that appealing. My eyes looked a little
too close together and my nostrils seemed to flare out a bit, if anything I looked even plainer than
normal. I hoped that I wouldn‟t look like that post-transformation.

Alice giggled and explained that most people had slight imperfections and that they usually
balanced out a human‟s face. She told me in a low whisper not to worry, that she‟d already seen
what I would look like and it was nothing like the reflection staring back at me now. But I couldn‟t

help the feeling of unease that washed over me.

Jasper looked at me with a cocked eyebrow sensing my mild distress, but I just shook my head at
him. I didn‟t need him to fix my feelings of inadequacy for me, I would need to deal with it on my
own. I just hope that Edward didn‟t pick up on it, I felt like I was always asking him for

reassurance.

After a couple of hours I was exhausted and hungry. Edward told the others that we‟d see them

tomorrow and took me back to our hotel room.

While I took a shower and washed my hair he called room service to order my dinner. Alice had
been trying to convince us to go to some upscale restaurant, but I wasn‟t about to drag everyone

there so that we could spend a ridiculous amount of money on food that would go largely uneaten.

I slowly worked the shampoo into my hair and cleaned myself under the warm water feeling all of
my muscles relax and unwind. By the time my dinner came I was admittedly just wasting water as
I stood there allowing the warmth to cascade down my body. If it was possible for me to fall asleep
standing up I would have, it was a good thing I wasn‟t using the large jetted tub that was next to

the shower or I might have become a drowning statistic in my languor.

The sound of Edward‟s velvet voice calling to me through the bathroom door shook me out of my
state of inertia and I was inexplicably overcome with desire. His honeyed tones speaking my name
while I stood naked under the wet stream sent my mind spinning into fantasies that I knew I
couldn‟t indulge in and I had to fight the urge to ask him to come help me out of the shower.
Weird.

I shook my head bringing me back to reality and stepped out of the glass enclosure. I quickly dried
my skin and ran the towel over my dripping hair before I realized that I had forgotten to bring my
overnight bag with my pajamas into the bathroom with me. With just a small amount of trepidation
I wrapped the towel firmly around my body and cracked open the door to the bathroom preparing

to make a mad dash to the closet for my bag and back again.

I had just reached the bag and was turning around when I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around

my towel clad figure.

“Forget something?” Edward murmured in my ear before placing a kiss just below the lobe.

“Yes,” I managed to squeak out.

“I would have brought you your bag you know.” I could feel his cool breath washing over my neck
as he spoke, one of his hands was now making a slow path up and down my damp arm as he

clutched me tighter to him. “All you had to do was ask.”

I shivered at his words, thinking back to my naughty thoughts a moment ago. When he felt my
body‟s reaction he loosened his hold and stepped back.

“It would probably be a good idea for you to get your pajamas on. You are simply too temping in
terrycloth,” he smirked while steering me back towards the bathroom.

Remembering my last time in a hotel room with Edward I wondered out loud. “I‟m a little worried
about what type of pajamas might be in this bag.” I wouldn‟t put it past Alice to have plotted a
repeat of the white silken pajamas that had pushed our boundaries so thoroughly just a couple of

weeks before.

“I told her that you prefer to sleep in cotton. Although, she mentioned that she‟d packed some silk

sleep pants for me. I don‟t foresee those being a problem though,” he chuckled.

“Cotton doesn‟t sound so bad,” I answered both slightly relieved and mildly frustrated at the
thought. Comfort was definitely a high priority for me, but I wouldn‟t have minded a repeat of the

activities that followed as a result of the risqué sleepwear last time.

Once in the bathroom I opened up the bag to pull out the pajamas. They were cotton alright, dark
blue, stretchy and…...very thin and clingy. The tank stretched across me like a second skin without
being uncomfortable. Its impossibly thin straps looked like they were about to snap off my

shoulders at the lightest touch and led down to an extremely low cut scoop neck.

She shorts were miniscule and just as clingy, they could have been underwear for how tightly they
hugged my hips. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for whatever reaction Edward might have to

my sleep apparel and opened the door walking briskly out into the room.

I expected to see him facing me when I walked into the room, the way he usually waited for me.
However, when I came out of the door he had his back to me. He was wearing a pair of black silk

sleep pants, his t-shirt hanging from his hand. His head was down and his back appeared tense.

“Edward, are you alright?” I asked, concerned about his unusual posture.

“Mmhmm,” was all the response I got from him, his stance never changing. Perhaps he knew what
I was wearing and was trying to ignore me. I turned to face the mirror on the wall, checking for

myself to see just how bad I it was.

The ensemble looked just as clingy as it felt. The tops of my breasts were peeking out of the scoop
neck, and in the illumination from the lamp I could see the curvature and details of the covered
portion clearly outlined under the thin material. If anything this was worse than the light colored

silk last time.

I peeked over at Edward who was still frozen with his back to me on the other side of the room.

“I‟m sorry about this. I‟ll sleep in the clothes I had on earlier. I didn‟t realize it looked so bad,” I

sighed.

His head snapped up and he looked at me over his shoulder, I could barely make out the sound of
a groan before he was standing behind me in the next instant. He stared at my reflection in the
mirror, his hand on my waist holding me in place and his t-shirt a forgotten lump of fabric on the

floor.

“Don‟t ever say that,” he rasped. “You look tempting, but not bad. Never bad.”

“But, I thought….I mean you didn‟t look at me when I came out, and I figured you knew what Alice
packed and maybe you were mad, so I was just going to change and…” I babbled, but he stopped

me with a finger placed over my lips.

“That didn‟t have anything to do with you, well not exactly anyway.”

“Huh?”

Edward looked down and I could swear he was a bit embarrassed.

“I‟ve never worn silk pants before,” he muttered, “and I was thinking about you in that towel, and
I‟m afraid I let my imagination get the best of me. It was unforgivably rude of me to entertain such

thoughts.”

“You‟re allowed to have those thoughts, but I still don‟t understand.”

“Well, the silk, it feels….nice,” he explained nervously. Edward looked guilty and for a second I still
didn‟t quite get where he was going with this; but then I shifted my weight a little and my backside

pressed into him causing my mental light bulb to go off.

“Oh…oh!” I exclaimed.

“Sorry Bella,” he said as he pulled himself away from me.

“Edward, don‟t apologize, I thought we were past that.” I grabbed his hand and held it in place on

my waist before he could get away.

“I know, it‟s just difficult getting over the social conventions I was raised with. You‟d think that
living through the sexual revolution would have had some kind of impact on me, but I‟m afraid I‟m

frozen in time. You‟re engaged to an antique…literally,” he chuckled.

“I thought I told you that I liked old fashioned things,” I teased back. “I‟m just glad it wasn‟t me
this time that made you freeze up.”

“Well it seems that Alice has gone above and beyond this trip with nighttime apparel. I think she‟s
trying to drive me crazy. First these pants and then that,” he said gesturing to my pajamas. “I

don‟t want to embarrass you, but you‟re top is pretty much see through.”

“I know it‟s tight and thin, but I can‟t see that much,” I argued looking back into the mirror.

“You don‟t have my eyesight, love,” he growled.

My mind flickered back to Jasper‟s long dissertation on the superiority of vampire vision in the wax
museum earlier in the day. In the mirror I could see my eyes widen and jaw drop, my blush
crawled across my cheeks. I made a conscious effort to pull myself together and tried to think
about something less embarrassing.

“After Jasper‟s talk earlier I wonder, when you see me in the minds of other humans do I look the
same to you as I do when you look at me with your own eyes?”

“Mostly.”

Okay, now I was really curious.

“So what‟s different?”

“Well,” he smiled, “You know what you look like don‟t you?”

I nodded and rolled my eyes, that was a silly question.

“You look pretty much the same, but I can see the red in your hair more clearly when the sun
shines on it,” he said lifting my tresses to his nose and inhaling the scent.

“I can see the blood traveling under your skin as it brings that delightful blush to your cheeks, and
I can see it as it pulses along your beautiful ivory neck” he murmured brushing his fingertips along

my cheekbone and down the column of my throat.

“Your skin glows, it‟s absolutely perfect. I can see its luminosity even in the pitch black of night,”
he breathed bringing his lips to my neck and placing gentle kisses there. The hand that was on my
waist pulled me back into him and I could feel him firm against my backside once again. He ran the
fingers of his other hand across my collar bone and to my shoulder brushing against the flimsy

strap.

“May I?” he whispered.

I couldn‟t speak, I just nodded as I watched him in the mirror pulling the strap down my arm and

moving over to the other side.

“Jasper also made a point about being able to visually calculate objects with mathematical
precision I believe.” He was looking at my eyes in the mirror as he spoke, gently pulling the straps
down my arms until they hung loose by my elbows. Then he slowly ran his hand across the top of

the scoop neck on the tank.

“Pardon me for being forward, but I have to tell you that you have the most perfect breasts ever,”
he purred while pulling the fabric down exposing me to both of us. “Size, weight, roundness,

absolutely perfect. I want to touch you so badly.”

At that point I went weak at the knees and stumbled back into him a little as he ran his hand

across the top of my chest, teasing me.

“Perhaps you ought to lay down,” he chuckled before picking me up and carrying me over to the
bed. Without the image of Edward touching me in the mirror to double the sensory overload I
always experienced when I was with him, I was able to calm down enough to regain some of my

senses.

We were on the large bed, Edward propped up on an elbow lazily next to me, his fingers continuing
to torment me my tracing the top swell of my breasts in intricate patterns. His eyes were still

fixated on mine.

Curious about the pajama pants that seemed to be the cause of so much trouble I looked down
and noticed the rather large bulge that had previously been pressed against me straining the silky
fabric. I tried to be discreet; but at the same time once I looked I couldn‟t seem to tear my eyes

away from the sight.

“Does it bother you?” Edward asked. I looked back up and saw him biting his lip nervously; I felt
my face heat up in a combination of embarrassment over my ogling and pulsing desire that said

ogling had caused.

“Not at all,” I replied. Why were we both so embarrassed? I reminded myself that we were
supposed to be working on this. Determined to shut down my shyness I steeled myself for making

a bold move.

“So Mr. Cullen,” I said licking my lips in what I hoped was a seductive manner, “are you ready to

begin practicing?”

I saw Edward gulp before he nodded his head. His silk pants made me want to push his boundaries
a little further than normal this evening, so I sat up and pushed on his shoulder. Following my lead
he allowed me to roll him so that he was laying on his back.

I leaned down and kissed him with as much passion as I could muster, pleased when his hard cold
lips met my intensity. Not breaking the kiss I slowly crawled over him placing a leg on either side

of his hips and ran my hands down his sculpted marble chest earning a shudder.

“Ohhhh Bella,” he moaned as I wiggled on top of him, adjusting my position. I was worried for a
second that I had crossed whatever line he had set up for the evening already; but then his hands

reached up and cupped my breasts, his thumbs caressing their hardened centers.

Tingles shot out all over my body at his touch and I couldn‟t stop myself as I instinctually rolled my
hips over his again; the movement intensifying the feelings coursing through my body. I knew I
had enough control to keep myself from trying to remove the silken pants from his body; but at
the same time I didn‟t seem to be able to stop myself from continuing to rock my hips over his.

After a few seconds of my movements over his still form his hips thrust up once meeting me.

“Ungh,” he grunted before moving his hands to my hips, stopping their movement.

He sat up, and my legs curled themselves around his waist. We looked into each other‟s eyes for a

moment panting heavily, trying to calm ourselves down a bit.

“Was it too much?” I asked, worried that I‟d pushed him too far.

“I don‟t know,” he replied in a strained whisper. “I think I‟m still in control, what about you? Did I

hurt you at all?”

“No, I‟m fine.”

“I tried to hold still, I don‟t quite know how much pressure I can apply safely with my movements,
and I don‟t want to damage you,” he said running his hands over my hips like he was inspecting

the bones for breaks.

“Edward, I‟m fine, really. I don‟t know what you think will happen on our wedding night, but I‟m
pretty sure you‟ll need to be able to move with me.” I couldn‟t imagine what he was planning. I
hoped that his idea of how to handle being intimate with me didn‟t involve laying there like a

statue while I was the only active participant in our love making.

“It would probably be safer if I was still,” he said thoughtfully.

No way. I was not going to have our first experience together like that.

“I don‟t think that would be good for either one of us. I trust you. Those concerns are why we‟re
using this time to figure things out. You can‟t tell me that laying there and basically allowing me to
use you would be very fulfilling. It certainly isn‟t how I picture us being together.”

He sighed and nodded his head.

“I have to figure this out Bella. I can modulate the pressure of my touch, but I have to figure out
the boundaries before I can do that. I already know how to caress your face, touch your skin with
my fingers, kiss and hug you, but this other area is something that I don‟t have any bankable

knowledge on.”

I couldn‟t believe I was about to be this forward. “Well then, we should build up your knowledge

bank,” I suggested.

He raised an eyebrow at me, not quite sure where I was going with my suggestion. So I leaned
back on the bed and pulled him to lay on top of me. His breathing picked up as our bodies pressed

together.

“I‟ll tell you softer or harder,” I clarified once we were in position.

His breath whoosed out of his lungs shakily and he leaned down and placed a closed mouth kiss on
both of my breasts before barely pushing his silk covered hips against me.

“Harder,” I told him.

He pressed against me a couple more times with slightly more pressure, still barely brushing

against me.

“Harder,” I pleaded this time.

He groaned and thrust against me enough for me to really feel it, but still not as firmly as I would

like.

“Harder,” I begged through my ragged breath.

“Nnnnnn….Bella,” he moaned as his hips began to finally rock against me with enough pressure.

“Oh yes Edward, that‟s perfect!” I groaned, praying that now this rhythm had started he wouldn‟t

stop.

“Like…unh….this, love?” he panted, his eyes scrunched closed in concentration.

“Yes! Oh yes!” I screamed out before feeling my whole body quiver and shake violently. A second
later I felt Edward tremble as he yelled my name so loud it echoed off the walls in the room.

Both of us completely stilled and I looked up at him. His eyes opened wide in shock, he looked…..

horrified.

“Oh Bella, I‟m so sorry! I should have stopped,” he said panicking.

“What? No, Edward it‟s fine. It‟s better than fine,” I insisted grabbing his face in both my hands.

“Are you sure?” he asked uncertainly. “I feel like I„ve disrespected you.”

“Of course. Please Edward, I‟m happy about this. We‟re still waiting until after the wedding to make
love, but that doesn‟t mean we can‟t enjoy other things before then. Please don‟t be ashamed. In

case you didn„t notice, I rather enjoyed myself.”

He nodded and leaned down to kiss me just as my stomach began rumbling.

“Your dinner,” he groaned. “I can‟t believe I got caught up like that, your food is probably cold.”

I wasn‟t going to allow him to find something else to beat himself up over.

“I think it‟s rather obvious just how much I like cold things,” I whispered into his ear before
nibbling on the lobe. My distraction technique seemed to be working as he made a little moaning
noise in the back of his throat before lifting my straps back into place and carrying me over to the

table where my cold meal was set out.

He calmed considerably as I ate. After a couple of minutes he smirked at me, his eyes twinkling

mischievously.

“So, since I‟m not aloud to be disappointed with myself, can I be proud of making you feel so

good?”

Chapter 12.

I‟d practically fallen asleep at the small table after eating dinner the night before. When I stood up,
I‟d tottered slightly and was only saved from my impending face plant by Edward‟s strong reflexes.
I somehow convinced him to let me brush my teeth before allowing myself to be carried over to the
bed and tucked in. I was pleased that despite his worries over our earlier activities he still held me
close, and I was able to fall asleep cradled in his arms.

The next morning he was still there, having never moved, his arms wrapped around me.

“Hi,” I smiled as I rolled over to face him.

“Good morning my love,” he grinned back, he seemed so much more relaxed. I was happy to see
that during the night whatever musings he‟d occupied himself with led to a more cheerful Edward

instead of a brooding one.

“You‟re in a good mood,” I noted, running my fingers through his wild mop of bronze hair.

“You were very talkative last night,” he chuckled. “You said some very nice things about me.”

“Is that different than any other night?”

“Not really, there was just a lot more of it. I think I heard „I love you‟ about twice as much as

usual.”

“Well all things considered that should be expected I guess,” I murmured while running my hand
down the hard plains of his chest. He stopped the path my fingers were taking across his frosty

skin and his smile faded into a frown.

“Bella,” he sighed. “I promised I wouldn‟t get worked up over pushing things too far, but I don‟t
think it would be a good idea for us to repeat what happened last night until after we‟re married,”
he said while removing my hand from him. My stomach twisted into a little knot and my happiness

evaporated as a feeling of unease moved in to take its place.

“Edward we didn‟t do that much. I thought you enjoyed it.” Maybe I was wrong, maybe he didn‟t

like being with me like that.

“I did enjoy it, but that doesn‟t change the fact that things went too far. The problem is it could

have gotten even more out of hand, I could have lost control and hurt you so easily; I almost did.”

“You didn‟t hurt me!” I exclaimed. If anything last night ought to have been proof that we could be

together fully once we were man and wife. Would his second guessing never end?

“That doesn‟t change the fact that it was wrong,” he said firmly. His words cut right through me

and suddenly my unease intensified into something worse, I felt dirty and unwanted.

“Why do you want to marry me Edward?” I blurted out. I wasn‟t sure where that came from, but in
a way it seemed like a good question to ask. If he was going to regret every intimate moment
between us afterwards, why did he want to bind us together in a relationship that should have that

type of intimacy as a key component?

I regretted the words almost immediately after they left my mouth. Edward looked liked I‟d

slapped him across the face.

“How can you ask that?” he choked out.

“Every time you touch me you regret it afterwards. You have no idea what that feels like because I
don‟t regret it at all, and hearing you say that you do hurts. That isn‟t how it„s supposed to be.” I

wiped my fingers under my eyes removing the tears that had started welling up.

“Bella you don‟t understand,” he said angrily.

“Maybe I finally do,” I mumbled dejectedly before rising out of the bed. I couldn‟t have this
conversation anymore. All the times I‟d wanted to flee a room before during tense moments with

Edward didn‟t hold a candle to how I felt now. I had to get away.

“Bella,” he called. But whatever Edward planned on saying was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Somewhat grateful for the interruption, I threw on one of the plush hotel robes before answering.

Alice stood on the other side of the door an apologetic smile on her face.

“Can I come in?” she asked hesitantly.

I nodded. Hopefully Alice knew I needed some time away from Edward right now. We would figure

out our problems, but I needed to calm down a bit before I could discuss anything with him.

“Good,” she said, sashaying into the room. “I promised you a relaxing spa day. Our appointment
starts in fifteen minutes so we just need to throw something on you and get downstairs. They‟ll

have your breakfast waiting for you too. I even got you a mimosa, but shhh…don‟t tell.”

“We?” I was a little confused, what was Alice going to have done at a spa?

“Yep. Rosalie and I are joining you. I can‟t wait to try out the warm mud baths, they‟re so

calming.”

Alice dragged me over to the bathroom, shooting a pursed lipped look at Edward along the way. He
hadn‟t moved from the bed, one hand was gripping his hair, the other rubbing his forehead

roughly.

“Here we go,” Alice said in a soothing voice as she handed me a comfy looking pair of cargo shorts
and a plain white cotton t-shirt. She was being very nice if she was letting me wear clothes that
were more comfortable than fashionable. “I‟ll let you have your morning ritual in private,” she

continued, slipping out of the door.

A brief look in the mirror ascertained that I was an absolute mess. My eyes were puffy and red,
and so was my nose; my lips were still swollen from last night‟s passionate kisses…they seemed to
mock me now. I ran a brush haphazardly through my matted and tangled hair and threw it up into

a messy bun, not caring how it looked.

I stripped off the blue pajamas and tossed them in the corner, never wanting to see them again,

before quickly pulling on my clothes.

As I buttoned up my shorts I winced at a sore spot on my stomach. That was weird. I peered down
and saw a black and blue bruise on my lower abdomen. Huh, I didn‟t remember running into
anything. Great, I was clumsy and forgetful now; I couldn‟t even remember the cause of my

injuries. Perhaps I‟d run into one of the stanchions in the museum yesterday without noticing.

I shrugged off my lapse in memory, attributing it to the amount of stress I was under before going
back out to the room.

Alice was picking through the few items I had hung up in the closet and Edward was standing over
by the window more clothed than before with the addition of his t-shirt. He looked almost as
horrible as I did. His eyes met mine and they were tortured. I wanted to run over to him and hold

him, but I wasn‟t ready.

I didn‟t have long to dwell on my actions as another knock on the door announced the arrival of the
other Cullens. Jasper tensed up the minute he entered the room looking back and forth between

Edward and me. He shot a questioning glance to Alice who very subtly shook her head.

Rosalie quickly followed and joined Alice by the closet.

Last to enter was Emmett who true to form was grinning ear-to-ear. He plopped down on one of
the chairs and made a show out of pulling out a piece of paper and a pen.

“Survey time!” he cheered as he started marking off boxes on the page.

“What?” I asked.

“Hotel survey,” he smirked. “I‟m going to tell them that they need thicker walls. Oh Bel-la!” he

moaned loudly in a mocking imitation of Edward‟s passionate cry the night before.

I briefly registered a hiss before all of the blood rushed out of my face, leaving me dizzy. I felt like
I was going to be sick. Sometimes these things just weren‟t funny. I felt the tears rapidly returning

to moisten my eyes and ground my teeth in an attempt to hold in the sob that wanted to escape.

Emmett noticed my reaction immediately.

“Bella, hey are you okay?” he asked racing over to me. My whole body was tensed up, trying to

hold back. “I‟m so sorry I didn‟t mean to….”

I shook my head, I didn‟t want any more attention right now and all of the Cullens were staring at

me.

“What did you do?” Emmett snarled in Edward„s direction.

“Emmett don‟t,” I pleaded. I just wanted to get out of here.

“Hey, hey sis look at me,” he said, carefully lifting my chin. “We‟ll make it better, it‟ll be okay.”

“Alice and I are going to take her down to the spa Emmett, they‟re expecting us,” Rosalie said

calmly.

Unexpectedly Emmett wrapped me in a rare gentle hug. “We‟ll take care of him Bella. Sounds like
it‟s time for the guys to have a talk. We love you sis,” he said before passing me off to Rosalie and

Alice who practically swept me out of the room.

The next few hours were an exercise in distraction. After filling me up with omelets, fresh fruit and
mimosas I was dunked in a group mud bath while Rosalie and Alice filled my head with stories of
Emmett‟s crazier escapades.

As I relaxed in the steamy sauna with my new sisters, and a light buzz from the champagne, I was
given the sillier details of Jasper‟s bets against the big bear-like vampire who was both my

tormenter and friend.

I dozed off during my massage while I made out bits and pieces of a conversation concerning the

fall fashions that were coming out of Paris and New York.

I argued with Alice against full body waxing while she tried to convince me of the advantages or

being er….hair free.

At lunchtime I was stuffed to capacity with gourmet food while my toenails were painted bright red.

Much later I emerged from the spa buffed, polished and a lot calmer than I was when I went in.
Every inch of me had been pampered to the point where I was practically a puddle of goo slogging

down the hall in my flip flops.

I didn‟t even complain when Alice pulled me into her and Jasper‟s room for a Bella Barbie session,
and I still felt relaxed even as I tottered around in a tight little dress and dangerously high stilettos

a while later.

All dressed up, I sat in one of the plush chairs in her hotel room, my eyes closed while slow jazz
tunes danced out of the radio on the nightstand. I was roused by a slight rustling noise and a

gentle cold kiss that accompanied Edward‟s sweet smell washing over me.

“Hi,” I whispered as my eyes fluttered open. The room was empty except for the two of us; Edward

was on his knees on the floor in front of me, his amber eyes pinched with remorse.

“I don‟t regret it,” he said sadly.

I bit my lip feeling like the tears might start welling up again. Edward‟s hand reached out and

cupped my face.

“I‟ll never regret loving you,” he insisted. “or touching you in any way. God Bella, you are my life.”

“You said it was wrong,” I reminded him.

“I wish I could take that back. I didn‟t mean it.”

“Didn‟t you?”

He sighed. “I‟ve spent the last ninety years burying my needs as a man only to have them
resurrected in the most wonderful way. When I hid that part of myself away, it was placed in a box
that was bound by locks made from antiquated social notions of propriety. I‟m afraid a little
modernizing is in order,” he chuckled humorlessly. “Coupled with the worry that I could cause
harm to the most precious thing in my world in a moment of selfish fulfillment, my old-fashioned
decorum dictated a ridiculous overreaction.”

His formal words were used as a reminder; the man I loved, the man I planned to spend eternity
with, was from another era. One where at most an engaged couple could exchange a brief kiss on
the lips without invoking censure. Denying himself for so long, he was still learning to play by the

new rules that had evolved through decades of change.

“Do you understand?” he asked. His eyebrows were pulled together and he chewed on his bottom

lip as he waited anxiously for my response.

I nodded as a small tear escaped and rolled down my cheek.

“Can you forgive me yet again?” he murmured while leaning in to kiss the tear away.

I held his face between my hands and pressed my lips against his. No forgiveness was needed. He

overreacted, but I had pushed, failing to think about the impact it might have.

“I won‟t push you anymore,” I promised.

Edward pulled back and blinked in surprise. “No, no love, you don‟t understand. I‟m yours. My

heart, my body. Please, from here on out, do with me what you will.”

What? After everything we‟d been through and all his rules he was just going to give me the green

light on intimacy? What the hell had Emmett said to him today?

The shock must have been easy to read on my face because Edward looked intently at me before
grabbing my hand and placing it over his lips.

“Yours,” he said while delicately kissing my fingers. He lowered my hand and placed it over his
silent heart.

“Yours,” he promised holding his hand over mine on his chest.

“Yours,” he huskily repeated one last time as he moved my hand so that I was cupping him

through his pants.

Whoa!

I pulled my hand away quickly; my thoughts running blank for a minute. Edward took the
opportunity grab me by the back of the head and kiss me passionately. When he pulled away his

features were calm and a little more confident than I was used to. He was resolved.

“I love you Bella,” he said, kissing me again. “Now, would you rather stay in and have a quiet

evening with me or do you want to go out?”

I still had some mental processing to do before I had more alone time with my suddenly and
surprisingly sexually available fiancé. I pointed to the door unable to form words. At first I thought

he looked somewhat disappointed, but he pulled his expression together quickly.

“The others are waiting in the lobby for us. Alice wanted to go a club tonight. She said something

about Emmett getting his,” he smirked. “Are you ready?”

“Uh huh,” I said dumbly, still dazed by what had just happened. Edward helped me up and led me
out of the room to the elevators. On the way down the hall I contemplated what he‟d done and
said. He may have just handed over the keys to the kingdom, but after this morning I was resolved
too. He was going to have to make the first move.

***********************************************************************

We arrived at a brick building in downtown San Francisco within minutes of leaving the hotel,
during which I‟d had my face touched up by Alice who was leaning precariously over the headrest
of the front passenger seat to reach me. When the car stopped she practically bounced out of her
seat, jittery with excitement.

Normally Alice was exuberant but this was just…beyond.

I looked at Edward who was stifling some chuckles of his own. He tilted his head toward the back
row of the SUV where Emmett was still blissfully unaware and caught up in a rather intense lip lock
with Rosalie.

I got out of the car and looked up at the blue neon sign that hung over an arched door. Papillon.
Interesting name for a club.

Alice pulled me aside and handed me a plastic card. It was a driver‟s license, expertly done with
my photo and a birth date that made me twenty two. My name had been changed to Bella Masen.

The document forgery that was necessitated by the Cullen‟s frozen state and eternal life span was
something that I had learned to accept. There was no way for them to integrate themselves into
the human world without it; but using their illegal skills to get into a club still made me a little

uncomfortable.

“An Alice Cullen original?” I asked.

“No,” she chirped. “An Alice Whitlock original.” She held up her own identification for the evening
showing her true married name. I think she enjoyed having the opportunity to use it. “Tonight the
McCartys, Masens, and Whitlocks are having a night on the town. Just three boring married

couples…going to a drag club,” she finished pulling me through the door.

Wait…..did she say drag club?

My eyes were unprepared for what I saw when we walked in. The club was made out of an old
theater. Round tables dotted the floor facing a stage that had been extended with a ramp going out
to the middle of the room, they were filled with a variety couples holding hands and talking

intimately.

A bevy of transgender waitresses wearing sequined butterfly costumes in varying hues mingled
with the clientele, alto and tenor laughter rising above the music that was being pumped through

an expensive sound system.

An elaborately costumed hostess with long false eyelashes and a heavily made up face greeted us.

“Well hello there!” she trilled with a husky falsetto. “I‟m Desiree‟, how may I help you?”

“Hi!” Alice sang back. “We have reservations under Whitlock.”

Desiree‟ took a moment to look down at her sheet and then picked her head up with a large smile.
“Oh of course, you‟re in the Metamorphosis balcony suite. I‟ve assigned my dear friend Delia to
look after you tonight; she‟s an absolute doll, you‟ll just love her.”

She looked around and waved over to a person who I assume must have been Delia. When I saw
her my eyes widened in shock. This was a drag queen? Delia was narrow and tall, her body lithe as
she glided over to us. Her red hair was piled up on top of her head in an arrangement of intricately
styled curls and her face was softer than I would have expected. Twinkling blue eyes made up
expertly with little crystals stuck near the corners made contact with mine for a brief moment as

she took in our group.

“Oh my goodness gracious do I have an attractive bunch tonight!” she squealed happily clapping
her hands together. “Hi! I‟m Delia Kuntz, most people just call me Dee though and I‟m all yours for

the evening. Now who are all you fine people?”

“Well I‟m Alice and this is my husband Jasper; his sister Rose and her husband Emmett; and my
brother Edward and his Bella,” Alice replied, making the introductions as Delia reached out and

shook everyone‟s hand in turn.

“Oh my you‟d think you just came in from a blizzard,” she said after coming into contact with the

Cullens, “we‟ll just have to get you settled and warmed up with some nice drinks. Follow me kids.”

We trailed behind Delia who managed to wiggle her hips as she walked around elegantly in five
inch platform heels. Good grief, was everyone more graceful than me? She led us up a winding
staircase connected to a large box that had a perfect view of the stage.

It was a intimate area, just barely fitting in a coffee table that was edged on three sides by plush
loveseats. Another raised cushy chair was behind it serving as Delia‟s post, where she could be a
part of our group and still see out over the club.

She took drink orders and made recommendations before scurrying off to fill our orders at the bar.

I was a little surprised to say the least. I‟d never anticipated that Edward and his family would take
me someplace like this. The oddest part was that they seemed completely comfortable. Given the
eras they were born into I was curious about their reactions, but I knew it was a question best left

until later.

“Well Edward, I guess you don‟t have to worry about keeping the boys away from Bella tonight,”
Jasper teased with a wink.

“No, Rosalie‟s the one who has to worry this evening,” Edward laughed. “Emmett‟s the hot
commodity, apparently big and burly is quite appealing.”

Emmett‟s who had been watching a rendition of „Lady Marmalade‟ being performed on stage
snapped his head back. “What?” he asked, his eyes wide with shock.

Edward snickered, “You‟ve been thoroughly appreciated this evening, especially by our lovely

server.”

Emmett whipped his head over to Alice who was practically vibrating in her seat. “You knew about

this didn‟t you?”

She burst into giggles burying her face into Jasper‟s chest.

“Aw,” Rosalie cooed. “It‟s only natural, you are adorable you know.” She shot a quick conspiratorial
glance at Alice. “Perhaps I could share tonight,” she finished before hopping off the loveseat and

perching herself on Delia‟s chair.

Before Emmett could object to Rosalie‟s abandonment, Delia was back with a tray of drinks

assisted by an azure butterfly.

“Why sweetie,” she said, looking at Rosalie. “Why aren‟t you sitting next to your gorgeous hunk of

man meat?”

Rosalie looked at her, an serious expression on her beautiful face. “Well my back‟s bothering me
and this chair is so much better than the loveseat; you don‟t mind do you Dee? Besides my

husband is such a chatterbox, it‟ll be nice for him to have someone new to talk to for a while.”

“Oh you don‟t have to ask me twice,” Delia answered before plopping down next to Emmett. “It‟s a

nice change of pace for me on my last night.”

Emmett looked a little uncomfortable as Delia scooted closer to him.

“Your last night?” Rosalie asked.

“Well for awhile princess; I‟m going to be a butterfly soon myself you know. My transformation is in

just a couple of days. It takes time to heal.”

“Huh?” Emmett grunted out, confused.

“My surgery,” Delia clarified, holding her fingers up and making a snipping motion.

Emmett‟s eyes widened in horror, his hands reflexively moving to cover his groin.

“Why?” he choked.

“Oh honey, I wasn‟t meant to be in this body. Now I‟m a girl that believes in a higher power, and I
don‟t get why things happen the way that they do. But from the time I was knee high I knew
something was wrong,” she sighed. “I was meant to be something else all along; the chromosome
that should have been an X was a Y instead. Now I‟m making do the best I can.”

“That sounds painful,” Emmett replied.

“It will be, very. But in the end it‟s worth it. I was born in the wrong body so I‟m going to change

that the only way I can. I‟ve never had any doubts about what I needed and wanted to do.”

Emmett nodded and snuck a quick peek at me.

“That‟s why I get the metamorphosis suite tonight, it‟s Desiree‟s way of giving me a happy little
send off before I get all wrapped up in a gauzy cocoon. A lot of people reserve this place when
they‟re about to go through a big change you know. It‟s symbolic. I‟ve watch one girl after another
come through here to celebrate an impending transformation, of course there are always people
who come in for smaller changes too; jobs, moving, makeovers. I understand you‟re here in honor
of the newlyweds,” she said raising a glass towards Edward and me. “That‟s one of the most
beautiful changes of all, promising to live your life as one whole unit instead of two separate

beings.”

I didn‟t have the heart to tell her we weren‟t married yet, so I went along with the charade

realizing that there was a deeper meaning to tonight.

Timidly, I snuck a peek at Edward only to see him looking at me with an unreadable expression in

his eyes. He gave me a small smile and leaned in to kiss me.

“Ah love!” Delia sang happily. “Perhaps I‟ll find my own Prince Charming someday. I know you‟re

taken,” she said winking at Emmett, “but I don‟t suppose you have a twin brother somewhere?”

Emmett laughed, his features taking on an admiring expression. “Sorry Dee, I‟m one of a kind,” he

answered before putting an arm around her and giving her a light hug.

“Oh well, a girl can dream,” she chuckled. “Ooh! We‟re getting ready for a big number! I don‟t

suppose you‟d be my audience helper and join me on stage?”

“Why the hell not?” Emmett responded, getting up and following Delia down the stairs.

A few minutes later he was lined up on the stage with other men who had been pulled out of the
audience. A bee hived blonde in a sparkly green dress grabbed the microphone and began belting
out „It‟s Raining Men‟ while the other performers sang the background piece and danced around.
Emmett had decided to play along and was dancing with abandon going so far as to pull off his

shirt and swing it over his head to the squeals and cheers of the people in the club.

Jasper was shaking with laughter watching Emmett perform and Edward was gripping the loveseat
so hard in his own mirth I thought it would rip. If human memories faded over time I was going to

follow Rosalie‟s advice and think about tonight as often as possible, I never wanted to let it go.

“I can‟t believe you did that!” I giggled when Emmett returned to the balcony.

“Hey, I‟m comfortable with my manhood what can I say?” he shot back cockily.

After dining on appetizers, and spending more time chatting happily with Dee, Alice pointed out
that the club included a large side area that had been converted into an open bar layout with a

dance floor. Edward being Edward, immediately perked up at the idea. Ugh. Dancing.

Since I was the only unenthusiastic one, I did my best to keep my grumbling to myself as I was led

through a little arched hallway.

“Don‟t worry, I won‟t let you fall,” Edward promised.

“Yes, but you can‟t stop me from looking stupid,” I countered.

He shook his head and pulled me over to a dark corner where we could dance alone.

“Better?” he asked.

“I suppose,” I sighed. He chuckled and leaned in to kiss me.

Figuring we were far enough from everyone to talk I thought it would be safe to bring up a topic
that had been running though the back of my mind all night.

“I‟m surprised that everyone was so comfortable coming here. You‟re all from an era where this
type of thing really wasn‟t allowed,” I commented.

Edward pulled back and looked at me. “True. But, time changes things; we gain a better
understanding I think. When I was young people like Desiree‟ and Delia were met with even more
ridicule than they have to face today. As a human I didn‟t understand why someone would choose
to be like that; of course I was living in an age of extreme prejudice where people were judged for

skin color just as easily.”

“But reading minds has a way of making you see the other side of the coin. She is completely
sincere; for her it wasn‟t a choice, it was a reality. She has a very kind and caring mind too. Having
my insight taught me long ago not to form opinions about people based on what‟s on the surface,
it‟s what‟s on the inside that counts. Jasper‟s ability has given him a similar level of understanding,

and Alice has always had an open heart. Rosalie and Emmett have come a long way too.”

“I‟m glad,” I said, pulling closer to him while we danced.

“Good,” he chuckled while gently pressing his lips to my forehead.

“It‟s funny how you can be so modern in some ways and not in others,” I mused.

Edward pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes playfully at me.

“I told you, I‟m working on modernizing,” he reminded me before pulling my hips tightly against
his and grinding his pelvis into mine.

I jumped a little, surprised by the sudden switch in his dancing style. He smirked pulling me in
close before the song switched to something different. I saw Emmett walking away from the DJ

booth towards Rosalie with a wicked grin on his face. Oh lord, what had he requested?

When I looked back at Edward his face was more intense. He reached out and pulled me back to
him placing one of his legs between mine as the lyrics started. My breath hitched as he rolled my
body with his. All night I‟d been keeping my promise to myself not to push things with Edward and

to let him make the first move. It looked like he was about to do just that.

It seems so obvious
There‟s something up with us
I swear I feel it
From across the room.
So can I ask you this?
Not to be forward, miss,
But I think I'd kill myself

If I never knew...

What do I have to do
To get inside of you?
To get inside of you?
Cuz I love the way you move,
When I'm inside of you.

When I'm inside of you...

Oh my god! Never in a million years did I ever think I would dance to such a suggestive song with
Edward. I felt my eyes widen in surprise. He gazed back with a burning resolve as he pushed his
hips even closer to me.

Just ask and I will do
Anything you want me to

There is no limit
To how far I will go..
And I‟m sure I can pretend
To be a gentlemen..
But before I begin,
I just gotta know,
I just gotta know,

I just gotta know...

Edward‟s eyes were hypnotic as he stared unblinking into mine. He removed one of his hands from
my waist briefly to trail it down my cheek, running his fingers along my neck and creating a trail
that wove in between my breasts before setting back in place.

What do I have to do
To get inside of you?
To get inside of you?
Cuz I love the way you move,
When I'm inside of you.

When I'm inside of you...

I wasn‟t sure just what had gotten into Edward. Really, what the hell had Emmett said to him
earlier today? I tried to pull myself away slightly but was stopped when Edward literally grabbed

my butt and pulled me back into him, his knee dangerously close in between my legs.

For now I'll play the game
And I'm waiting for your move
But I've got to say
That I never lose...

Holy crow! Did I just feel his erection grinding against me on the dance floor? In public? I was

absolutely stunned.

What do I have to do
To get inside of you?
To get inside of you?
What do I have to do
To get inside of you?
To get inside of you?
Cuz I love the way you move,
When I‟m inside of you.
When I‟m inside of you...
When I'm inside of you.
You...
You...

When I‟m inside of you...

By the time the song ended I was a quivering, trembling mess. I nearly passed out when Edward

leaned down; his cool breath washing against my neck, sending shivers up my spine and said….

“I want to take you back to the hotel now.”

Chapter 13.

Edward took my hand and led me out of the club, leaving the others, and our rental car, behind.

He hailed a cab and quickly pulled me in the back after giving the driver the name of our hotel.

He was a man on a mission.

In the back seat of the musty vehicle he hugged me close to his body, his lips feverishly exploring
every inch of available skin they could reach. Normally, I would have been putty in his hands by
this point, but I found myself unable to give in to the passion that he was suddenly offering up so

freely, and I kept my hands to myself.

Once we got to the hotel Edward raced to the room where he again took the lead, backing me up

against the door the minute it was closed and pressing himself into me.

His lips crashed down on mine with the most intensity I had ever felt, and the urge to press back,

to kiss him with abandon was overwhelming. But I resisted.

I allowed my lips to move with his, however, a voice in my head continued to echo the words that

he‟d spoken only this morning, ‘It was wrong.‟

It was that echo that kept me in check, and I pulled away slightly to look at him. Edward had been
behaving differently since whatever talk he‟d had with his brothers, and I didn‟t feel like I could

trust that he was acting out of his own desires at this point.

Would I be able to handle it if we pushed another boundary, only to be told it was a mistake in the

morning?

„It was wrong.’

He had apologized, told me he didn‟t mean it. For Pete‟s sake he, in a very shocking move, had
placed my hand on his crotch! But that was part of the problem, Edward didn‟t act like that. It was

like he was trying to be someone else.

Edward‟s eyes registered some confusion, his brows furrowed, and he pulled me back to him
beginning the kiss again. He raised my arms until they were around his neck, and placed my hands
in his hair. I kept them there, but didn‟t twist my fingers into his bronze locks like I normally did,

my ability to respond hindered by more pressing thoughts.

“Bella, what‟s wrong?” he asked breathily, noticing my reluctance.

“I‟m wondering where you are,” I told him.

“I‟m right here,” he said, cupping my chin.

“That isn‟t what I meant.”

He tilted his head, waiting for me to continue.

“You‟re different tonight; you‟re not acting like yourself. You haven‟t been since I got back from the

spa, and I think I need to know what‟s really going on here.”

He closed his eyes and sighed, letting out a big breath.

“Bella, I know I wasn‟t very fair to you this morning. I just want to make it up to you. I want to

make things right.”

“I won‟t lie and say I wasn‟t hurt this morning, you already know that I was. But you were upset
too, things had gone beyond your comfort zone and it bothered you. Your feelings matter too, you
know. You can‟t change who you are to make me happy. That isn‟t fair to either of us in the long

run.”

“I can change how I react to things, especially if my reactions hurt you.”

“How; by being pretending to want something that you don‟t?” I asked.

“I‟m not pretending,” he insisted, running his hands through his hair. Seeing my skeptical look he
continued. “I‟m not, I swear I‟m not. Bella, if anything the only time I pretend is when I push you
away. You have no idea.”

“But you aren‟t comfortable,” I repeated.

“I am,” he stated. “I wasn‟t this morning, but I‟m better now.”

“So, why the sudden change?”

“I went out with Emmett and Jasper today,” he sighed, taking my hand and leading me to the bed.
I sat down across from him, waiting for him to continue. “We took a drive down to San Jose while
you were with Alice and Rosalie. You may not know this, but Emmett loves architecture almost as

much as Esme.”

He paused to see if I was following him. Curious I nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“There is an architectural oddity in San Jose that he wanted to show me; the Winchester Mystery

House. Have you heard of it?”

I shook my head, a little confused and wondering what a house had to do with anything.

“It‟s a giant mansion, but it is like no other place on Earth, it is the result of a mania of sorts. It
was built beginning in 1884 by Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester, the gun
manufacturer. After losing a child and her husband she consulted a psychic who told her that she
was being haunted by the ghosts of shooting victims. The house was built as a result of that
conversation, as a way to appease and confuse the spirits she believed haunted her. It has over
160 rooms and construction continued over a period of 38 years, never ceasing during that entire
time.”

He checked to see if I was still with him. I certainly was trying to be anyway.

“It‟s funny how different a place it is. Throughout the country you hear of the great, turn of the
century mansions that were built; they were both beautiful and luxurious. Frequently, there are
stories attached about the homes being built out of a husband‟s love for his wife. The places that
they constructed stood as both a dwelling for the couple to grow in, and, in a sense, as a

monument to the love that they shared.

The Winchester Mansion is something completely different. It was built out of fear. The house has
doors and staircases that go nowhere, it has rooms that serve no purpose and dead end hallways.

It is an uneasy place, not very functional, and with twists and drop offs that prove hazardous.

Emmett made an interesting analogy; he said that intimacy was like a house. If it is built on love it
can be a warm and inviting thing, a place where a couple can grow together. Conversely, he
pointed out, if intimacy is built on a foundation with fear as a driving factor, it can become an

uneasy maze with hidden pitfalls, a place riddled with anxiety.

Bella, I‟ve let fear take control of our intimacy. I pull you in and I push you away, creating rooms
of doubt where there should be sun filled parlors instead. Yes, we have to be careful because of

what I am, but even the most magnificent palaces are built with caution. Does any of that make
sense?”

“So,” I asked, still a little confused. “Emmett compared our sexual relationship to a house?”

Edward crinkled his nose. “Yeah.”

“And, that changed the way you feel about exploring intimacy with me, a house and Emmett?”

“Among other things.”

“Such as?”

“Well, Jasper made me understand what you were feeling when he came in this morning. Actually,
he pummeled me with it, literally,” he said while cringing. “I should have been more careful with

my words. I never meant to hurt you like that, and make you feel rejected.”

“That wasn‟t all I felt,” I muttered, remembering how Edward‟s words had made me feel used and

dirty as well.

“I know,” he whispered, reaching his hand out to cup my cheek. “I‟m sorry about that too.”

“Was there anything else that I need to know about?” I asked.

“Well, once his point was made, Emmett reverted back to true form. I‟d rather not repeat his other

crass remarks.”

I could only imagine the types of crude comments that would have been tossed in Edward‟s

direction.

“Are you still upset with me?” Edward murmured quietly.

“No, but I‟m pretty tired. I understand what you‟ve told me Edward, and I know coming fresh from
that conversation that you feel like you‟re ready to keep moving forward, but I think it would be
best if you took some time to really think about it. Right now you‟re ready, but once you‟ve
thought about things, and the reasons why you reacted that way in the first place, you might
change your mind again. I think you should be sure before we try anything else.”

“Bella, I am sure of this,” he argued.

“I‟m not. I need to know that you‟ve thought about what direction you want to take for the next

couple of weeks, and I need a little recovery time too,” I said softly.

“I understand, love,” he sighed. “But please, don‟t think that I don‟t want you. I do, very much.”

I nodded and got up to shower and change into my pajamas. For once, I noticed, Alice had been
nice. The pair that was waiting for me had baggier shorts, and a thick cotton t-shirt with a little
extra room. That night Edward held me a little closer than usual, his arms wrapping tighter around

me while I slept against his cold form.

The next morning, I was still pressed against him in the same position I‟d fallen asleep in, his

cheek was resting against the top of my head as he stroked my hair.

“Good morning,” he said, as I felt his face turn and his lips press against the top of my head. “You

were quiet last night.”

“I didn‟t dream much.”

“Nothing at all?” he asked.

“Not that I remember,” I answered, turning to look at him. His eyebrows were furrowed a little.

“What?”

“I‟m spoiled, I like hearing you talk in your sleep.”

“Sorry to deprive you of your eavesdropping opportunity,” I teased.

Edward snorted slightly. “Thank you, by the way,” he told me.

“For what?”

“Giving me time to think,” he said. My stomach tensed a little, wondering if he was going to tell me
that he had decided that our boundaries needed to be reinstated to the point where only chaste

kisses were allowed.

“What did you decide?” I asked, biting my lip nervously.

Edward pulled back and used his thumb to release my lip from my teeth, smiling slightly as he
looked at me. “I still want to move things forward between us, but I want to make sure that we are
being cautious. I can‟t promise that I‟ll be perfect, or that I won‟t have moments where I doubt
myself, but I will try to make sure that I express any concerns I have carefully. I don‟t want you to

think that any reservations I might have are a reflection on my feelings for you.”

“So, where does that put us now?”

“Hmm, right about here I think,” he grinned as he rolled slightly; laying me flat on my back on the
bed while he hovered over me. “This looks like a good spot for us, don‟t you think?” he asked,

flashing me a crooked smile before diving in and kissing me.

“I think I can handle this,” I said, returning his smile after he let me breathe for a moment.

“I‟m glad you agree,” he growled playfully, his eyes boring straight into mine. “I plan on keeping
you like this for awhile.” His lips captured mine again in a blazing kiss that was accompanied by

wandering hands.

I gasped as I felt his fingers outlining my breasts while his mouth traveled over my throat.

“Mmm, I‟m definitely comfortable here,” he murmured, pulling my shirt up and nuzzling against a
nipple with his nose.

He shifted so that he covered me completely, his body pressing into mine as he pulled my leg up
around his waist. I was beyond forming a coherent thought by the time I felt his hips moving ever

so slightly against mine.

“Uh, Bella,” he moaned, “is this….is this….too much?”

Unable to respond in my breathless state, I reached up to grab his face and pull his lips down to
mine. We melded together for the briefest moment before we were interrupted by a knock on the

door.

“Hey! Knock it off in there, we have stuff to do today,” Emmett‟s voiced boomed from the hallway.

Mortified, my face turned bright red as Edward groaned and slid off of me.

“You have the worst timing,” he snarled towards to door which resulted in Emmett chuckling from
the other side. As he got up to answer I thought I heard him mutter, „inconsiderate, vulgar, and

jerk,‟ along with some other comments I couldn‟t quite make out.

“Inconsiderate? Tell me who hasn‟t fed their human fiancée breakfast, and then we‟ll talk about
inconsiderate,” Emmett laughed as he came into the room. “Hey Bella, Edward‟s balls sufficiently
blue yet?” I groaned as I buried my face in a pillow, unwilling to continue looking at the gigantic,

rude vampire.

I heard a loud crack and lifted my head slightly to see Emmett rubbing the back of his head while

Edward glared at him. “I thought you were going to take it easy,” he hissed.

Emmett just smiled. “Don‟t know what you‟re talking about,” he replied.

“Where is everyone else?” I asked, wondering why Emmett of all people would be the one to force

us out of bed.

He chuckled, “Alice wanted to give you a few more minutes so Jasper and Rosalie stayed with her;
I imagine they‟ll be here any minute now.” Emmett was practically rocking back and forth on his

heels, happy to have interrupted us.

“You could have waited with them,” Edward ground out.

“I could have, but I didn‟t,” Emmett replied happily.

Edward huffed out a breath of frustration. “Bella, you may want to get dressed. It looks like we‟re

having breakfast out this morning,” he said apologetically.

I grabbed my clothes and went to the bathroom where I got dressed, brushed my teeth, and
quickly ran a brush through my tangled tresses. When I came back out, the other Cullens had
arrived and Edward was already changed. Alice was giving Emmett a malevolent look as he and
Edward argued in low fast whispers. I barely made out Edward telling Emmett to, „just let it go for

a day,‟ before he walked over and enveloped me in a hug.

“What sounds good for breakfast Bella?” Alice asked.

“Just the standard, I guess,” I didn‟t want to make a fuss over a simple meal. It was going to be
awkward enough with five other people at the table who didn‟t eat. I would have just preferred to
get room service and save the waste. But Alice wasn‟t having that; she looked thoughtful for a

moment before smiling.

“I know just the place down on Haight,” she trilled. How a vampire would know the best place to

eat was beyond me, but if it made her happy I would go along willingly.

We made our way down to the hotel lobby when Edward suddenly stiffened and looked across the
entrance. Curious, I took a peek to see what had gotten his attention. The only person I saw was
my masseur, Aaron, from the previous afternoon. I nudged Edward wondering what was bothering

him, but he had arranged his expression into one of nonchalance.

Alice grabbed my arm and towed me toward the door, her mood going from happy to ecstatic.

“I can‟t wait to see how much everything has changed,” Alice trilled.

“Well as long as we still make it to Alcatraz, Haight is in the opposite direction,” Emmett

complained as he caught up to us.

Alice just rolled her eyes at him and continued on. On the car ride over she talked about the
musicians that lived in the old Victorians during the sixties, how the Cullens had all become curious
about the area and taken a trip down out of boredom and curiosity one summer. She giggled when

she remembered going to the Human Be-In after dusk. According to her, reading minds that were
tripping on LSD almost gave Edward a migraine.

“It was a really good thing for them that we follow a different diet, talk about sitting ducks,” she
said, shaking her head. “I think Edward‟s still scarred from the experience. Although, I have to

admit he looked pretty interesting in bellbottoms.”

Jasper started laughing uncontrollably at the memory. “You forgot about the paisley shirt.”

“We had to blend in somewhat,” Edward grumbled. “You‟re one to talk Jasper; do you still have

your Nehru jacket?” Jasper nodded, and grinned at him.

“Aw, Rosalie made me get rid of my tie-dye,” Emmett added glumly.

“It was bright orange!” she argued.

Emmett scoffed. “Sweetie, what you wore in the eighties was worse, neon fishnet tank tops ring a

bell?”

Edward chuckled and turned towards Alice. “I distinctly remember bright pink legwarmers as well.”

“Hey, I had the Pat Benatar look down to perfection!”

I lost it at that point. Horrible images of the Cullens though the ages passed through my mind;
Emmett in MC Hammer pants, Jasper wearing a zippered jacket and white glove, Edward in acid

washed jeans. I nearly fell over I was laughing so hard.

Alice narrowed her eyes at me. “Just you wait Bella, you‟ll have some horrendous fashion moments

yourself,” she said, tapping her forehead knowingly.

Somehow, I managed to eat my breakfast without choking to death while the Cullens continued

their conversation on ghosts of fashion faux pas past.

After taking a tour of the Haight Ashbury district where we saw brightly colored Victorian houses,
psychedelic murals, and a window with a gigantic pair of legs hanging out of it we headed back

across town to the ferry that would take us to Alcatraz.

Jasper excitedly droned on about how it had been a military prison during the Civil Wa, used to
house Confederate sympathizers, and gave us all detailed information on it‟s progression from
military to civilian prison following the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Once we began the tour,
he would quietly add little snippets of information that he felt were erroneously excluded from the

presented materials.

Emmett chortled as he listened to stories of failed escape attempts over the years. “Seriously,
humans are way too easy,” he whispered in my ear. “I‟d be over the wall and across the bay in a

matter of seconds.”

I didn‟t think that the few attempted escapees felt the same about getting past the guards only to

be faced with icy turbulent waters.

After a few hours, and a choppy return ride on the ferry, we made our way back to the hotel. I was
ready to unwind, have a nice dinner, and relax alone with Edward. He‟d spent the return trip joking

around with his brothers while Alice talked my ear off about linens for the reception.

When we entered the lobby Alice giggled a little, and looked at me with her eyebrows raised as she

hummed Tchaikovsky‟s Sleeping Beauty to herself.

I was about to ask her what was going on, but was stopped by a tap on my shoulder. I turned
around to see Aaron, the masseur, grinning back at me, his cerulean blue eyes sparkling.

“Hello Ms. Masen!” he exclaimed happily while running a hand through his floppy black hair.

“Um, hi Aaron, please just call me Bella,” I said uncomfortably.

“Okay Bella,” he replied, giving me a wink. “I noticed you were really tense yesterday, and I don‟t
think I got all of the knots worked out of your back. I was hoping to catch you because I just so

happen to have a slot open tonight if you need another massage,” he finished hopefully.

Was it normal for members of the spa staff to make appointments in the lobby?

Before I could respond I felt Edward‟s arm around my waist pulling me to his side.

“That won‟t be necessary,” he said in a clipped tone. Aaron‟s expression went from hopeful to

mildly frightened as he mumbled an apology and skulked away.

I turned around and saw that Edward‟s eyes were hard and cold, his nostrils flared, and his lips

pinched together in a tight line. He glared at Alice and Rosalie.

“You didn‟t mention that part of the spa trip yesterday,” he spat at them. “Aaron was quite

intrigued when he overheard the two of you discussing Bella‟s trouble with her fiancé.”

Had they really talked about that? I remembered the discussions about bets, pranks, and

something about fall fashions before I dozed off for awhile on the table.

“Sorry Edward,” Alice said as she grimaced.

Rosalie just huffed and rolled her eyes. “We are still allowed to have girl talk you know. If I recall
correctly, you were the reason she was so tense and needed a massage in the first place.”

“Rosalie,” Edward warned. She shot him an imperious look in response.

“Edward, it‟s all over now, let‟s just go back up to the room, please,” I said, tugging on his arm.
The last thing we needed was for an argument between two vampires to break out in the hotel
lobby. He shook his head at Rosalie, but came with me as I waved goodnight to our family.

In our room his mood still hadn‟t improved. He was muttering things under his breath that sounded

a lot like, „unprofessional, letch, and inappropriate.‟

“Why are you so upset about this?” I asked.

Edward turned around and looked at me incredulously. “He had his hands all over your body!”

I blushed at the implication he was making. “That is part of his job,” I replied.

“You were naked, he‟s seen more of you than I have,” Edward growled.

“Alice and Rosalie were in the room with me and I did have a towel on,” I said, trying to reassure

him although my cheeks felt even warmer than before.

“It didn‟t cover much, and believe me he noticed,” Edward countered while pinching the bridge of

his nose.

I pulled the top of my button down shirt together uncomfortably. “He probably has a lot of female

clients, I can‟t believe that I was any different from anyone else he‟s worked on,” I reasoned.

“You moaned at one point,” he said.

“Well, it was very relaxing. But like I said, Alice and Rosalie were with me the entire time. In fact, I

fell asleep at one point. Nothing happened.”

“I know nothing happened, but he was hoping to change that tonight,” he ground out.

I choked slightly at the revelation. “Really?”

Edward nodded.

“I‟m sorry, I-I didn‟t realize,” I stammered. Knowing that Aaron had been thinking of me that way

when he was running his hands over me felt creepy.

“It isn‟t your fault Bella,” Edward said in a rush. “I‟m not upset with you. He was being
unprofessional. You needed to relax and be pampered yesterday. I just wish I could have been the
one to do that for you,” he finished, his eyes warming up to a liquid gold and his expression

softening.

I shrugged. There was not much that could be done about that now, other than avoid Aaron like

the plague until we checked out in the morning. I didn‟t think that would be too difficult.

“Are you tense now?” Edward asked, as he walked over to me and trailed a cool finger down my

arm. I shivered at his touch causing him to frown slightly for just a moment.

“I‟m not too bad,” I replied.

Edward smirked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I think I have an idea,” he whispered in my ear as he
leaned in and kissed the hollow there. “Let‟s try out the Jacuzzi tub. It will keep you warm and I

can make sure all of your tension gets relieved,” he leered suggestively.

“I don‟t know if I have a swimsuit in there,” I said, pointing to my suitcase.

“Why don‟t you wear whatever is in that,” he offered, gesturing to the Agent Provocateur bag from
the other day. I gulped as I thought of what might be in there, I still hadn‟t found the guts to
check. “I‟ll get the water started,” he murmured, placing a kiss on my neck before walking to the

bathroom.

I staggered over to the desk the lingerie bag was sitting on and took a deep breath. Without
looking, I plunged my hand in and grabbed a handful of light beige silk chiffon bordered with black
lace. Considering the things I‟d seen in the store, I suppose a babydoll was mild in comparison. It

still didn‟t make me feel more comfortable putting it on.

I could hear the water filling the tub in the next room, and took a couple more calming breaths

before stripping off my clothes and donning the silky chiffon nightmare.

Walking into the bathroom, I could see Edward hovering over the edge of the tub, stripped down to
a pair of black boxer briefs, his hand gauging the water‟s temperature. I felt my body warming all

over as I took in the sight of his perfectly sculpted back muscles and shoulders.

I didn‟t realize I was holding my breath until I stumbled slightly, a little dizzy from the lack of

oxygen. In an instant Edward was by my side, holding me up.

“Perhaps we should get you into the water?” he suggested. Taking my hand he led me over to the

gigantic tub and helped me in, stepping into the water behind me.

We settled in with my back pressed against his chest, my body between his legs as he reached
over to push the button that turned on the jets. The water roiled around us, causing the bottom of

my babydoll to float on the surface. Edward began rubbing my shoulders, his hands warmed
slightly from the water.

Aaron may have been a professional masseur, but his hands were no comparison to Edward‟s
talented fingers as they worked out knots and soothed the muscles in my shoulders until I felt

limp.

“Lean forward,” he instructed me. I moved my back away from his chest as his hands moved
lower. “It might work better without this,” he suggested as he tugged slightly on one of the black

lace straps.

“Are you sure?” I asked, concerned about exposing that much skin to him again.

“I think I can handle it,” he said huskily.

I lifted the soggy nightie over my head, and let it on the floor by the tub leaning forward even
further for Edward to rub my lower back. The motion pushed my backside against him, and I felt
him stiffen and moan as his hands caressed my naked breasts once before returning to my lower

back.

“Four more weeks,” he groaned. I sighed, wondering if we would last that long.

Chapter 14.

Our long weekend in San Francisco was a tiring one. Although we were supposed to be relaxing, I

was more worn out than ever.

There was the physical exhaustion of being dragged by my over enthusiastic family members to
every tourist destination imaginable, Emmett at one point had even tried to convince me to go
rollerblading down Lombard Street. An idea Edward and Alice both squashed before he could really

get into it.

Then, there was the emotional exhaustion from the rollercoaster ride that was trying to build a
physical relationship with Edward. Honestly, I wondered for a minute if I shouldn‟t just call the

whole thing off when he came home from his hunt later.

Edward said he was ready to move forward, but I had heard that from him before. I was debating

the idea with myself, as I poured over incoming RSVPs, when I felt Alice grab my arm.

“Bella, don‟t,” she said.

I raised my eyebrow at her.

“Don‟t stop moving forward with Edward,” she clarified. “Yes he panics, a lot, but you two need to

keep working on things together.”

“Alice, I just don‟t know. We‟ve gotten carried away a couple of times already. For Pete‟s sake you
had to stop us a couple of weeks ago at the lake, and Edward gets upset anytime we cross another

line,” I explained.

“Yes he does, and I‟m sorry you have to deal with that, but don‟t you realize you‟re working on

more than physical intimacy?”

“Yes, I seem to be working on how to cope with rejection. It‟s great,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh stop it Bella, really!” Alice huffed. “How many times do you need Edward to say that he wants

you before you actually believe it?”

“I don‟t know Alice. I just can‟t help but feel unwanted when he pulls away. I always feel like I‟m
not enough for him, like I‟m not beautiful enough or strong enough; and I feel guilty that he has to

work so hard to be with me.”

“You‟re stronger than you give yourself credit for Bella,” she told me, marking another name down

on the list.

“Sure, sure. I guess I should go challenge Emmett to an arm wrestling contest right now,” I

laughed.

Alice let out a short breath. “There is more than one kind of strength out there, and you know it,”
she chided me. “It took a lot of strength to stop Edward in the hotel room after the dance club.
Don‟t tell me that you didn‟t want to let him have his way with you, because your future kept

sliding between a PG and triple X rating for a few minutes there,” she chided.

“Alice! Please tell me you didn‟t see….” I started, my face burning bright red. I knew that she had

visions of us like that before, but I never liked being reminded of it.

“Um Bella, we‟ve had this discussion, remember?” she said, wrinkling up her nose. I buried my face
in my hands, wishing more than anything that my future sister‟s „talent‟ wasn‟t so all
encompassing. “Now, as I was saying, you resisted and you asked him to really think about what

he wants, that took some strength on your part.”

I rolled my eyes. “Alice, it wasn‟t strength it was fear of rejection.”

“Whatever it was Bella, it gave the two of you a chance to talk about things, and that‟s the other
type of intimacy I was referring to,” she stated, giving me a look that said I was not allowed to
argue on this point; so I nodded.

“It isn‟t easy being married,” she continued. “It‟s hard work to be perfectly honest. I love Jasper
more than anything, and because of our abilities it‟s rather hard to keep secrets from each other.
While Edward knows everyone else‟s thoughts instantly, he isn‟t used to having to share his own.
You, being the only one that can keep him out, have the liberty of keeping your thoughts to

yourself. So, communication is something that you two are going to have to work on.”

I sighed, understanding what she was getting at. I edited my thoughts and Edward tended to hide
things from me. Although we spent hours wrapped in conversation, there were still some rather

important areas of communication that needed to be improved.

“I know Alice,” I said, resigned.

“Good,” she nodded, “now let‟s see who else has sent in a reply shall we?”

So far, our list included: Ben and Angela, Mike, Jessica, Seth, Sue Clearwater, and a few of

Charlie‟s friends.

“Alice, don‟t you already know who is coming?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes at me.

“You‟re getting the full experience,” she chuffed, picking up another envelope. “It looks like our

Denali family will be attending, except for Irina.”

“Oh?” I questioned, my stomach clenching a little.

“Of course,” Alice shrugged, “they wouldn‟t miss Edward‟s wedding.”

She took a closer look at me, trying to figure something out, but then her eyebrows shot up.

“Bella, you don‟t have to worry about her,” she reassured me, patting my arm gently.

“Did you see me asking?” I wondered, trying to guess how Alice knew I was worried about Tanya‟s

presence at the wedding.

“I didn‟t have to,” she clarified. “The minute I mentioned the Delani clan you completely tensed up
and your heart started pounding. I can only assume that you had that reaction because of Tanya‟s
past, um, flirtatious attempts with Edward. But honestly, I really don‟t get why it would phase you.

Tanya?” she laughed.

“You honestly can‟t imagine how I would maybe feel a little nervous being faced with a woman who

is most likely unbearably beautiful and strong, as well as interested in my fiancé?”

Alice laughed even louder now.

“Look Bella, Tanya is very pretty and she‟s actually incredibly nice. But Edward? With all of his turn
of the century morals with a girl like her? Really?” she giggled.

“What do you mean Alice?” I couldn‟t understand how the thought of Edward being with someone

who was most likely just as beautiful and graceful as himself would be cause for a giggle fit.

“Edward didn‟t tell you?” she asked, her eyes surprised and a grin plastered to her face.

“Only that she‟s blonde and he wasn‟t interested. He never said anything else about it.”

“Now Bella, you have to understand in spite of what I‟m about to tell you that Tanya is a wonderful
person, and we all like her very much, but she and her sisters…..well, they pretty much caused the
Succubus legends that you may have heard about.”

“What?” I gasped.

“Oh, I‟m pretty sure you know what I‟m talking about. They‟ve had a millennia of experiencing
male companionship of the warm blooded variety. That was actually the cause for their change of
diet. They didn‟t want to drain their lovers. Now seriously, can you imagine Edward, with all of his
Victorian morals and possessiveness, really coping well with that history? He doesn‟t have the

temperament for it.”

I was stunned. The Denali sisters had taken human lovers? Repeatedly?

My mind flashed back to all of the times Edward had tried to dissuade me from pursing physical
intimacy in our relationship. All of his excuses about bone crushing strength, bloodlust and control

made it seem like no vampire was capable of being intimate with a human.

Now, I was hearing that their „cousins‟ had managed it repeatedly over the course of hundreds of

years.

With Edward‟s abilities, and the Cullens close relationship to the family in the North, there was no
way that he didn‟t know about their apparently successful seductions. He knew that it had been

done, and that it was possible.

He had lied to me.

My expression must have tipped Alice off to the fact that there was something very wrong right
now.

“Bella, I know it‟s a little shocking, but you have to remember that they are good people. Not every
era took the same view on sexuality that we do today or even that we did a hundred years ago.
Plus, they‟ve been alone for so very long, we can‟t judge them for wanting some companionship

through the years.”

“I‟m not judging them Alice. I‟m a little surprised, that‟s all,” I answered, my mind still swimming

with the new information.

“Well, you‟d find out sooner or later anyway. They‟ll be your extended family too,” she shrugged.

I nodded and opened another envelope.

Why would Edward tell me that it was next to impossible? He always said that my safety was the
reason he pulled away. I know that he was also concerned about adhering to the social conventions
he was raised with, but this just didn‟t make any sense to me.

I could understand that he wanted to wait until after we were married to make love, but originally
he wanted to wait even longer than that even though he knew it was possible. Why?

Caught up in my own thoughts for the next few minutes, I failed to notice how quiet Alice had

become. I peeked over at her and saw that she was very still, her eyes glazed over.

“Alice?” I asked, wondering what she was seeing.

There was no response.

“Ahem, Alice,” I said a little louder.

She stayed in her stony forward seeing state.

“Alice!” I yelled, grabbing her arm.

She shook her head slightly, coming out of her trance and picked up another envelope as if nothing

had happened.

“So, is there an imminent disaster on the way?” I asked, trying to keep my tone light.

“Nope, nothing too big to worry about,” she replied lightly.

“But there is something?” I persisted.

“Bella,” she sighed, “sometimes it‟s best to just let things happen.”

I could tell by her expression that she wasn‟t going to give me any more information and it would

be pointless to try to argue with her.

After finishing up the list, we went to the kitchen where Esme had been trying out recipes for
dishes she wanted to serve the human guests at the wedding. I tried curried chicken, stuffed

mushroom caps, artichoke dips and other assorted dishes until I was completely stuffed.

“Well, what do you think Bella?” Esme asked me hopefully.

“It‟s all really good, I think Alice may have to take my dress out,” I replied, holding my overfull

stomach.

“Nonsense,” she beamed happily. “You‟re going to be just perfect. Isn‟t she Alice?”

Alice smiled widely and nodded.

I hardly felt perfect. That was a given anytime I was around my new family. But, feeling bloated
from too much food, and insecure about the out-of town relatives, made me feel even less

appealing than normal.

I tried to shake it off, but Esme caught on to me before I was able to make the feeling go away.

“Bella, you look troubled,” she said reaching over the counter and holding one of my hands in her

cool stony one.

“It‟s nothing, really Esme.” I squeezed her had, trying to convey that I was okay.

“You know you can talk to me dear,” she continued, her other hand reaching over so that she was
now holding both my hands in hers. Her head was bent and her eyes, brimming with kindness,
searched mine.

“I‟m just a little nervous. I know it isn‟t normal for someone like Edward to be interested in
someone like me, I know he loves me, but, I just don‟t get it sometimes. Not when I know he has

other options available to him.”

She looked over at Alice quizzically and got a subtle nod in reply.

“You got Tanya‟s RSVP today didn‟t you?” she asked, pursing her lips a little.

“Yes,” I sighed, embarrassed that I was bothered by it.

“Sweetheart, Edward loves you. I‟m sure you know we all care for Tanya very much but she and
Edward would never have worked out, even if he had ever returned her interest. Besides, I can‟t
begin to imagine what you mean by someone like you. You are exactly what Edward needs, you‟re

his other half.”

“I‟m human,” I stated.

Esme laughed. “Oh Bella, in case you haven‟t noticed in this family there is a tendency towards

that. Did you forget that Carlisle found me, and Rosalie found Emmett, while we were still human?”

“I haven‟t forgotten, but it was a slightly different situation. You were both dying. They didn‟t know
you long before you were changed into an immortal. I imagine that falling in love didn‟t happen

until after that.”

Esme shook her head, her caramel waves bouncing around her face.

“Do you believe in fate Bella? The first time Carlisle met me was not when I was dying down in the
morgue. I was sixteen and I had a broken bone that needed setting, he was my doctor then. I was
never able to forget him, and eventually I settled for a man my family wanted me to marry, even
though my thoughts never strayed far from Dr. Cullen. I don‟t know too many of his patients who
have experienced that, but I found out that he never forgot me either. He said he felt drawn to me,

but I was too young, and he didn‟t want to condemn me when I could have a full human life.

Well, you know how well that turned out. We see humans die all the time, but Carlisle was drawn
to me and Rosalie was drawn to Emmett. They were meant to save us, to be with us. Just the way

that Edward is drawn to you and meant to be with you.”

I walked around the counter and hugged Esme, grateful for her support, but still a little uncertain.

Even though I was human Edward was drawn to me, I accepted that. But being drawn to me, and
wanting to be with me were two different things, and I wasn‟t so sure about the latter after

knowing that being intimate with me was a possibility he knew about but tried to avoid.

I was still thinking about it later that night when I was back at my house making dinner for Charlie.

“Bells?” he asked, looking up from the paper. “You look like there‟s something on your mind.”

Oh boy. Charlie was being observant? What was I going to tell him?

Yeah dad. Edward’s a vampire and I want him to make love to me after we’re married, but he said
he didn’t want to because he’s afraid that he’ll kill me during sex. I just found out that his vampire

cousins have managed it plenty of times so….

Obviously that was out of the question.

“I‟m just tired, all the wedding stuff. Alice kept me pretty busy during our little spa getaway too,
you know how she loves to shop,” I tried to say casually.

“Oh. You‟re sure that‟s it?” Charlie asked skeptically.

“I just…need to talk to Edward about a couple of things, and I‟m not sure if I can,” I muttered,

hoping he would drop it.

“If it‟s important then you should say something Bella. Are you having second thoughts about

getting married?”

“No—no that‟s not it. It‟s just some of the plans that we‟ve made. I‟m just not sure about a couple

of things,” I responded hastily while trying to be evasive.

Charlie shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No.”

“Well, just whatever it is, talk to him Bells. That was one of the things that killed my marriage to
your mother. We never talked about the things that were bothering us until it was too late,” he

said stiffly before picking the newspaper back up.

“I will,” I replied, turning my attention back to my own dinner.

Edward came back late that night, climbing in my window just as I was about to give up and go to

sleep.

“How was your day with Alice?” he asked as he kicked off his shoes and climbed into bed with me.

“It was fine. Esme made some wonderful food, it‟s too bad you weren‟t there to try it out,” I

teased.

Edward narrowed his eyes at me. “Indeed.”

“It looks like we‟ll have more of an audience than we thought too, judging from the replies so far.”

“If the onlookers bother you, we can always sneak off to Vegas,” he laughed, leaning in to quickly
kiss me, and then running his nose along my neck.

I pulled back and bit my lip. How was I going to ask him about this?

I couldn‟t ask him about someone else‟s sex life, but I couldn‟t ignore the fact that he knew
vampires and humans had been together that way. I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as I

tried to figure out the words.

“Did something happen today?” Edward questioned, stroking my reddened cheek.

“Well, your Denali relatives are coming to the wedding,” I said, stating the obvious. I‟m sure

Edward already knew they were planning on attending.

“Are you still worried about Tanya?”

“No, well…not really, I guess. I just, um, learned something about her today,” I stumbled

awkwardly.

Edward tensed, and I could see him swallow hard.

“What did you hear?” he asked seriously.

“I know that they‟ve had relationships with human men Edward,” I said, looking down at the
comforter.

“They haven‟t fallen in love, but they have chosen to find companionship, I understand if it makes
you feel uncomfortable,” he started.

“It isn‟t any of my business what they do Edward,” I interrupted. “I‟m not going to foist my ideals
on them. I can‟t imagine what it would be like to live without love for that long.”

“But something is bothering you,” he said, grabbing my hand.

“Well, you knew,” I mumbled, working up my courage. I lifted my eyes to his and strengthened my
resolve. “You knew that it was possible for a vampire to have a physical relationship with a human

and yet you tried to convince me that we couldn‟t be together. What am I supposed to think?”

Edward rubbed his free hand roughly over his forehead and clenched his teeth.

“It isn‟t that easy, Bella,” he said stiffly.

“From what I hear apparently it is. Is it that I‟m not enough for you now?”

Edward huffed out a breath, and shook his head, frustrated.

“Silly girl,” he murmured, pulling me close to him and placing a kiss atop my head. “You are more
than enough, stop thinking that. There is more to the story than you‟ve been told and it isn‟t

pretty.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, pulling away and looking at his concerned face.

“It starts out as a horror story love, are you sure you want to hear this?”

“Yes.”

“Our friends to the North didn‟t start out as vegetarians. They lived in a time when human life
didn‟t hold a lot of value to other humans, so it should be no surprise that as vampires they felt no

concern over taking lives to sustain their own.

They also had lovers before being changed and continued to crave companionship afterwards. As
I‟ve explained, those desires and needs don‟t go away. So initially, they combined the two.

After a time, they started to feel guilty about draining their lovers and gradually they learned the
control that they needed to keep them alive. I don‟t think that I need to tell you many men died in

the process.”

“I-I didn‟t know,” I said, feeling queasy.

“Now that you do I hope you can understand my concern,” he replied, brushing my hair away from
my face.

“A little, but there is a big difference. They were used to killing those men, so they had to change
their habits. You‟ve already mastered your control in that way. Plus, they didn‟t love those men.
Without that attachment it would be different. Heck, from what I understand they don‟t love them

now, but they still manage to have….um….relationships with them.”

“After hearing that you still want to try with me?” Edward asked, his eyebrows raised.

“Edward, I know you aren‟t trying to seduce me so you can turn me into dinner,” I said watching
him roll his eyes. “You‟ve already tasted my blood and you were able to stop. In fact, due to my
clumsiness you‟ve had more exposure to my blood than you probably care to remember and yet

here I sit.”

“And the fact that I could accidently crush you?” he snapped testily.

“You never have, even when you were in very intense situations where your attention was
distracted. You could have crushed my arm when you were sucking out James venom in the ballet
studio, but you were gentle. Then there was the time you pulled me out of the way when Victoria
caught up to us on the mountain. You ripped the tent to shreds, but you kept me unharmed when
you moved me. What about the times we‟ve gotten closer lately? You haven‟t harmed me, I don‟t

think you could, “ I argued.

He tilted his head to the side thoughtfully and looked at me.

“I hadn‟t thought about it like that,” he admitted. “You may have a point, but we still have to be

careful.”

“I know,” I sighed, lying back on the bed.

“You look positively worn out love, try to get some sleep,” Edward said before tucking the blankets

around me and pulling me against his chest. “We can talk about this more later.”

As I drifted to sleep I could feel Edward burying his face in my hair to inhale my scent as one of his
hands snuck under the covers and gently rubbed my stomach. I barely heard him whispering to

himself that he wished he was human before my dreams overtook me.

Chapter 15.

I woke to slow, soft, cold caresses across the skin of my belly. Edward‟s nose was buried in the
crook of my neck, one hand playing with a lock of my hair as the other continued its gentle

movements on the bare skin exposed by the way my shirt had ridden up during the night.

I reached my arms up above my head to stretch and work the kinks out of my spine, the motion
causing Edward to reposition himself slightly. He moved his head down and nuzzled around my

belly button, planting kisses above the waistband of my shorts.

I paused in mid-stretch. Edward had never kissed me there before.

A low sound reverberated from the back of his throat and he pulled himself up my body, wedging

one of his knees between my thighs.

“Good morning, love,” he whispered as he worked his way up my neck with gentle kisses.

“Hi,” I mumbled, placing a hand over my mouth in sudden awareness of my morning breath.

Edward chuckled and gently moved my hand away, replacing it with his lips. His kiss started out

gentle and light, but quickly progressed as it built in urgency.

He shifted his weight until he hovered fully above me, his hips pressing into mine. One of his hands
was holding my face against his and the other began running down my leg, making a steady and

firm path up and down my thigh.

My fingers twisted in his hair as I tried to pull his face closer to mine. Parting my lips, I gently

allowed the tip of my tongue to flick against his mouth.

He groaned and moved, kissing his way across my cheek to the hollow below my ear.

“Bella, teeth,” he reminded me, as his tongue came out and gently licked my earlobe.

I nodded to let him know I understood and he moved his head back, crashing his lips into mine
once again. I broke away for a moment to take a ragged breath, causing Edward to trail kisses
under my chin. Instinctively I leaned my head back to give him better access, earning a rumbling

pleased growl in response.

“Edward,” I whimpered, my overheated body pressing into his cool granite form.

“Yes,” he hissed, pushing back against me.

“Oh, Edward,” I groaned.

“Bella?” I heard Charlie call from outside the door. Oh crap!

Edward flew off me and disappeared in an instant as my bedroom door opened and Charlie came

in.

I quickly rearranged myself, hoping that my father would write off my disheveled appearance as
nothing more than bed head. I stretched and yawned, doing my best to look like I had just woken

up.

“I thought I heard something. Everything alright?” he asked, looking around the room.

“Umhmm,” I mumbled while pretending to wipe the sleep away from my eyes. “I was just having a

weird dream. I must have been talking.”

Charlie looked skeptically at me and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Well, I‟m going into the station soon. You‟re sure everything‟s okay?” he persisted.

“Of course, Dad,” I answered, faking another yawn.

Charlie narrowed his eyes a little and nodded. “I‟ll be back around five o‟clock tonight. Do you have

any plans or will you be here?”

“I have some things to do today with Alice, but I should be back in time for dinner.”

Charlie smiled at the mention of Alice‟s name. “Say „hi‟ for me. Will she be coming back with you

for dinner later?”

“I don‟t know, I can ask her.”

Charlie grinned at the thought and was cheerful for the next half hour as we sat in the kitchen
together eating breakfast. After nearly getting caught this morning I felt the need to make
something a little more substantial for my father, cooking up bacon and eggs. He left not long after

he finished, grabbing his gun belt and whistling to himself as he headed out the door.

A few minutes after Charlie left Edward showed up in the kitchen from wherever he‟d been hiding

while I finished scrubbing up the dishes.

Mildly irritated I splashed some water at him which he artfully dodged.

“So much for the amazing hearing and mind reading abilities this morning, huh?”

He looked a little sheepish. “I was a little distracted,” he said, kissing the back of my neck.

“Just a little?” I asked.

“More like a lot,” he smiled against my skin. Edward wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled

my back against his chest.

I couldn‟t help the giggle that escaped as he playfully growled into my neck. Edward continued
placing little butterfly kisses there, burying his nose in my hair. One of his hands found the hem of
my shirt and snuck under the edge, his cold fingers tracing circles into the skin while I tried to

focus on finishing up the breakfast dishes.

“Speaking of distracting,” I joked, referring to his affectionate attentions. I could feel his lips turn

up into a smile on my neck.

“I can‟t help myself; you‟re too tempting with your hands otherwise occupied.”

I finished my task, draining the water from the sink and drying my hands while Edward unfairly

continued to tease me with small touches and caresses.

“I‟m not ‘otherwise occupied’ anymore,” I told him as I turned around and stood on my tiptoes to

bring my lips to his.

“No, you‟re not,” he said, returning my kiss. He started gently, his lips whispering over my own. I
heard him groan in the back of his throat right before he increased the pressure of his mouth on

mine and gripped my hips as he lifted me up to sit on the kitchen counter.

Stepping in between my legs, he ran one of his hands back under the hem of my shirt, so his
palms and fingers could run freely over the skin on my back. The other hand he twisted in my hair,

locking my face to his as his kiss turned almost frantic.

I could barely breathe when he broke away and continued his attentions to my ear and neck,
allowing me to inhale air in short gasps. Edward was panting and groaning, his control slipping,

when his phone started chirping from the back pocket of his jeans.

He snarled, and broke away pulling his phone out and flipping it open.

“Alice,” he said curtly, his tone annoyed. “No, of course not……Well they aren‟t always
right……Yes…..I haven‟t forgotten……We‟ll leave in just a moment….No that isn‟t necessary, we‟ll be

right there….”

“Is everything alright?” I asked after he hung up the phone.

“Of course, Alice just wanted to make sure I was still planning on bringing you over to the house
this morning for movie day,” he muttered while frowning. Collecting himself, he lifted his head back
up with a forced smile on his face. “At the very least we should head back so I can change into a

fresh pair of clothes.”

When we got to the Cullens there was a heavy argument raging in the living room between Jasper
and Rosalie. While Rosalie was well known for her short temper, I was a bit surprised to see Jasper

involved. He was always so quiet and reserved.

“Rosalie, it was an accident! I apologized and I will help fix it,” Jasper said, his attempt to mollify

the angered blonde hampered by the irritation that laced his voice.

“Accident? Jasper I don‟t even let Edward under the hood of my BMW! You had no business
touching the engine! I taught you a couple of things so you could work on your Ducati, not so you

could break my car!”

“I was trying to be helpful and show my appreciation. I promise, I will repair the engine,” he

continued.

“You aren‟t going anywhere near my engine,” she hissed.

Jasper looked slightly affronted. “It wouldn‟t have been a problem if you hadn‟t attacked me while I
was tightening that lug nut.” Despite his frustration, I could tell Jasper was sending waves of calm
around the room in an attempt to settle Rosalie. It was intense enough that I slumped against

Edward‟s chest, close to passing out.

“You shouldn‟t have been anywhere near my lug nuts in the first place. No one touches anything

under that car‟s hood except for me!”

“I know Rosalie, I just thought—”

“It doesn‟t matter,” she huffed. “You still have to watch the movies I‟ve picked out.”

“But,” he started. However, Jasper quickly quieted as Rosalie gave him a chilling look. I briefly
wondered how bad it would be if he wasn‟t sending out calming emotions to her. I hoped that I

would never be stuck in a room with Rosalie if she ever really got going.

I tried to keep up, but I was so sleepy at that point that I conked out.

When I woke up awhile later I was snuggled against Edward on the couch. Everyone was wearing

quiet, tense faces. Jasper just looked morose and Rosalie appeared mildly triumphant.

“You‟re punishing more than just Jasper with this you know,” Edward said to her.

“Just shut up and watch the next movie!” Rosalie exclaimed.

I stretched and rubbed one of my hands against the sore spot in my back. Edward quickly took
over for me, kneading my back gently and working out the knot near the base of my spine.

“What did I miss?” I asked him.

“Well, it was Rosalie‟s turn to pick out movies so she‟s decided to make us watch the most
depressing as well as annoying films in the library. You just missed Beaches, but I‟m afraid she‟s
about to put in Love Story.”

“I haven‟t seen that one.”

“I‟m very sorry, but I‟m afraid you‟ll be subjected to it now.”

“If they‟re so bad then why do you even have them?” I asked.

Edward opened his mouth only to be shushed by Rosalie as she hit play.

I attempted to watch the movie, but one thing sure was true. It was definitely annoying. The
romantic leads were self-absorbed and arrogant. Rich Oliver and working-class Jenny were quite
the pair. At least I had to appreciate the fact that they stuck together and got married despite the

opposition from Oliver‟s snobby father.

They had some pretty weird ideas about relationships though; at one point they actually said that
being in love meant never having to say you‟re sorry. Edward and Emmett both snorted loudly at

that point earning a glare from Rosalie.

Emmett started to mumble an apology to his wife, but Jasper stopped him.

“No, no Emmett. You love her so it‟s okay. You don‟t have to apologize,” he said. Rosalie looked

like she was going to throw the remote at his head.

As the movie continued I found myself feeling even more irritated. Jenny was diagnosed with

cancer, but instead of telling her, the doctor encouraged her husband to lie. Uh huh.

At the end Jenny was lying in a hospital bed dying, telling the love of her life that he shouldn‟t

blame himself for not being able to save her.

At that point I‟m sure I should have been crying, but instead I had a rather inappropriate response.
I giggled. I clamped my hand over my mouth trying to stop it to no avail. The harder I tried to stop

laughing the worse it got.

I buried my head; sure that Rosalie was probably really mad at me by that point and worried what
Edward would think about my outburst. Even as concerning as that was I still couldn‟t quit. My
sides started hurting from the constant exertion. I looked up, intending to apologize only to see

that I wasn‟t alone in my reaction.

Edward, Emmett and Alice were fighting a case of the giggles too. Rosalie seemed to be the only
one who wasn‟t smiling. She was back to glaring at Jasper, who wore an expression of supreme

smugness on his face.

“That isn‟t a funny scene,” she snarled.

“You‟re right it isn‟t,” he replied happily. Suddenly another wave of giggles overcame me and as
hard as I tried to avoid it, I was laughing harder than before. I felt Edward‟s chest shaking with

poorly suppressed mirth behind my back as well.

“Jasper, knock it off,” Rosalie snapped.

“Okay,” he said. “Movie time is over anyway.” Rosalie‟s eyes narrowed. “I‟d apologize, but you
know that I love you like a sister and I guess that means I never have to say sorry,” he smirked,

gesturing to where the credits were rolling across the plasma screen TV.

Rosalie stormed off towards the garage muttering something about his motorcycle which caused

Jasper to go tearing out of the room after her. Alice just shook her head.

“This is going to take awhile,” she said.

Edward laughed behind me and then buried his nose into the back of my neck inhaling deeply.

“Good grief man, give her some room. I swear,” Emmett joked. Edward growled lightly in return

and went back to placing small kisses where his nose had been just a moment before.

“You‟ve never had it this bad the other times, maybe you should talk to Carlisle. You‟re practically

humping her leg,” Emmett added, the side of his mouth screwed up into a mischievous smirk.

Edward lifted his head and gave Emmett a dirty look.

“Bella, perhaps you should come upstairs with me and take a look at some of the dresses I was
considering wearing to the wedding. I‟d love to have your opinion,” Alice suggested, obviously

trying to distract me from whatever was going on.

“Yes please, I think Fertile Myrtle could use a break,” Emmett laughed.

“What?” I asked, spinning around to look at Emmett. Edward has shaking his head at him as a

warning.

“Well it looks like you‟re having a bigger effect on Edward here than usual. Normally he can handle
your pheromones when you‟re ovulating but right now it looks like he‟s about to run off into the

woods with you to mate.”

My jaw dropped open and I felt my face burn a whole new shade of red.

“Bella, blushing only makes it worse you know. It isn‟t exactly the same as a chimpanzee‟s butt

when they‟re fertile, however—“

Edward lunged across the room at his brother while I just stood there… stupidly. Emmett was

laughing as Edward tackled him to the ground.

Before they could really get going Carlisle, alerted by the ruckus, came downstairs to break things

up.

“Emmett, that‟s enough,” he scolded. “Bella, I think you are owed an apology for the rude

behavior,” he continued, patting me on shoulder gently. “Don‟t you agree Emmett?”

“Sorry Bella,” Emmett mumbled.

Carlisle gave him a frustrated look. Although I appreciated the concern, the continued attention
was more than just a little embarrassing.

“Edward I think perhaps we should discuss some things in my office. Would you please come with
me for a moment? It will give Alice a chance to show Bella those lovely dresses I heard her

mention.”

Edward nodded and came over to place a quick kiss on top of my head.

“I‟m very sorry about Emmett, love. Are you alright?”

“I suppose,” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“Come on Bella,” Alice insisted, tugging my arm gently. “I want to show you the final contenders.”

“I‟ll be up as soon as possible,” Edward told me as I went upstairs with Alice.

Once we were in her room Alice pulled out a folder with pictures of different dresses in them. There
was a light blue one-strapped satin dress with a bow, a pale pink a-line dress, a simple red cap-

sleeved number and a silver long sheath that looked like it hung like cascading water on the model.

“Don‟t you already know which one you‟re wearing?” I asked as she discussed the different merits

of each option.

“Yes, but it never hurts to look anyway,” she responded.

“I like them all,” I told her. “Pick whichever one makes you happy.”

“Thanks,” she chirped giving me a quick hug. “So, how are you holding up?”

“Okay, I guess.”

“Things do seem to be going well,” she offered with a small grin.

“By the way, do I need to be concerned about the whole „pheromone‟ thing that Emmett brought
up?” I questioned nervously. I really didn‟t want to discuss ovulating, hormones or pheromones.
With the infertility inherit with vampirism it shouldn‟t matter, but Edward had been rather amorous

the last twenty-four hours.

Alice pursed her lips, trying to hide her amusement.

“I know that was probably pretty awful downstairs, but I think it‟s best if you have that discussion

with Edward. I don‟t want to overstep my involvement.”

Was she kidding me?

“Right, because arranging for hotel stays and provocative sleepwear isn‟t involved at all,” I chided,

rolling my eyes.

“That‟s different. I‟m simply setting a stage and leaving the rest to you.”

„Sure, sure.”

“Oh! Speaking of which, I have plans for this weekend already set up!” she said.

“Another trip so soon?” I asked.

“It‟s just down to Oregon. Charlie is going to wind up taking his deputy‟s place at a training session

in Seattle so I thought we could do something you would like for a change.”

“You know that means no shopping,” I teased.

“Sadly, yes,” she pouted. “It involves you and Shakespeare, and maybe even a little trip to the

ocean.”

“Really?” I gasped excitedly.

“Mmhmm,” she hummed. “Oh, and Carlisle and Esme are going to be able to make it too so it will
be the whole family. It‟s really our last chance to go anywhere before the wedding so it‟s a great

opportunity for a family trip. Plus Carlisle wants to be there just in case…”

“Just in case of what?” I asked.

“Ah…”

Alice grinned at me, cut off from what she was going to say by a knock at the door.

“Come in Edward,” she trilled.

He walked into the room looking mildly embarrassed, his eyebrows furrowed.

“Bella, I think we should talk,” he said uncomfortably. Alice smiled at him in encouragement and
practically kicked me out the door with Edward. We made our way upstairs to his room and sat on

the large bed facing each other, our legs crossed.

“So,” I started, unsure of where to begin.

“I should have controlled myself better, I owe you an apology,” Edward quickly cut in.

“I don‟t require one, but an explanation might be nice.”

He sighed, and ran a hand nervously through his tousled bronze hair.

“Well, since we‟ve been getting closer, physically, it seems certain more human instincts have

continued to gain strength within me.”

“And?”

“Well, although your lovely scent has always captivated me, your current pheromone levels have
increased the human, although in my case completely useless, drive to procreate. While my more
amorous emotions have always increased in intensity in response to your, er, hormones, the fact

that we‟ve been more intimate lately has driven it even further.”

I chewed my bottom lip, trying to absorb what he was telling me.

“Carlisle wanted to talk to me because he wanted to make sure I was in control of myself,” he
admitted shamefully. “He was also curious about my more instinctually based reaction as our

relationship is unprecedented.”

“So, you‟re saying that right now, you feel like—”

“Yes,” Edward interrupted me, staring at the floor.

“And, are you okay?” I asked.

“I can control myself,” he said, letting out a deep breath. “Are you alright? I know this must be
rather uncomfortable for you to hear.”

“I‟ll manage,” I muttered.

Edward grabbed my hand in his and started rubbing circles across my skin.

“Is this okay?” he asked. He pointed his chin towards where our hands were combined but I knew
that his question was a little deeper than that. He undoubtedly wanted to know if I was frightened

or repulsed by the admission of his physiological response to my fertility. Even more than that, he
wanted another reassurance that I was really comfortable with the idea of giving that up for him,

for us.

“Very,” I said, feeling the tension start to drain out of me in response to his touch. We gradually

began drifting closer to each other until our lips met in a sweet, gentle kiss.