Author Note: The mature content starts with this chapter. This story is about Edward and his search for passion and a companion. So consider yourself warned just in case any readers tend to be a bit on the proper side. Actually in that case those readers might want to skip the entire story. ;o)

That said, I want to say a huge thank you to rayo1521 and Slinkiee for their reviews. The fact that you are enjoying the story makes me want to write faster. Tell your friends, I love feedback and I welcome constructive criticism.

Disclaimer: I own nothing Twilight - it all belongs to Stephenie Meyer

Chapter 3

Edward's position as the area's only cardiologist was turning out to be quite a bit of fun for him. The humans that he saw on a regular basis were mainly seniors and he really enjoyed interacting with them.

He usually had a pretty good idea of what was going on with a patient's heart since he could discover symptoms they often initially kept from him out of stubbornness simply by reading their minds. He could hear the abnormal rhythm of their cardiac systems so he usually had a pretty good idea of what tests to order for them as well.

Patients who at first were taciturn usually opened up after a one-on-one talk coupled with one of his "dazzling" smiles. He could pretty much get them to agree to anything after that. Most of his female patients fancied themselves in love with him, and the men ended up trusting him more than they did their families.

Edward guessed that it sounded like cheating but it really made treating them so much easier and enjoyable. He was able to catch major issues, avoiding heart attacks and giving them more time with their families. He felt good about being able to make a difference.

He could finally see why Carlisle enjoys working with humans. He felt as though he was doing something positive with his existence and he really needed that sort of validation at this point in his life.

Edward had limited his office hours to three days a week with emergency appointments as needed. This suited the volume of his clientele and to fill his days, he began working with Carlisle at the hospital emergency room. This was not always as enjoyable as his practice. The patients were varied and there were often trauma cases where blood could not be avoided. As the weeks passed, he found himself getting more and more desensitized to the gore they often came in contact with.

He was fortunate to have quite a bit of free time to work on his music but even so, he found himself thinking about what Bella and he had discussed. He did want to find someone to spend time with but the choices were pretty limited in Forks.

There was one human woman that had an interest in him. She was a realtor named Tyra Spencer that was new to the area and would probably not stay around long. She let Edward know she was interested by "accidentally" bumping into him at various locations around town. The bank, the gas station, the local shops.

She went so far as to make an appointment with him telling him that her heart "fluttered" once in a while. Edward could tell from the rhythm of her heart she did not have an issue however he ordered the tests for her as a precaution. While in the examination room, she began to slide her blouse off her shoulder while his back was turned and Edward, reading her mind, chose that moment to quickly open the door and call the nurse in.

His nurse Mary was a wise old soul who saw the woman for what she was as soon as she walked in the office.

"Now, now Miss Spencer, there is no need to take off your blouse. Looks like Dr. Cullen has already ordered some tests for you." She told the flustered young woman as she helped button her blouse.

Edward smiled his goodbye and made a quick exit leaving the red faced woman to his smirking nurse. He could hear her angry thoughts as he walked to his office.

Edward knew without a doubt he did not want to get romantically involved with a human again. He would never be able to change them or as an alternative, watch them grow old and die.

What options did that leave him? He would have to find another vampire that he was attracted to. He thought about the coven in Alaska; Irina and her sisters were beautiful but he only felt sisterly affection for them. The other vampires he had met in his travels evoked no emotion whatsoever.

Edward sighed and turned to the computer to enter the test orders for his most recent patient.

Bella's new baby was another boy that Bella insisted on naming Jacob Jr. She had told Edward that the original plan was to have six children and even though they still had one more to go, just in case the next was a girl, she wanted at least one named after her husband.

If Jacob only knew how lucky he is.

In the first few months Edward was back, Jacob's attitude towards him didn't change much. He never accompanied Bella and the children to the house and he always sent Seth over when there were any messages from the wolf pack.

In the beginning when they would cross paths in town, Jacob's thoughts were full of expletives and obnoxious arrogance. There were times when Edward would have liked to tear his throat out but since Bella and the kids obviously needed him, he decided to ignore Jacob's pathetic attempts at threatening him. Edward went out of his way to avoid the wolf whenever he could.

Jacob never displayed his true feelings in front of Bella or the children. Edward could tell by reading his thoughts that he was afraid that Bella would resent the fact he hated him.

He hates me because he feels I'm still a threat to his relationship with Bella. Idiot.

At the area's midsummer fire festival Jacob was actually outwardly cordial while they all enjoyed the evening's fire works and each other's company. He seemed to forget Edward was there, concentrating on Bella. His thoughts were quite explicit, which was usual when he was with her. As much as Edward tried, he could not escape the graphic pictures his thoughts were churning out. Bella's face lit with ecstasy while Jacob pleasured her. Her soft round body arching as Jacob rode her. Bella pleasuring Jacob, her mouth loving him thoroughly.

Edward shook his head and quickly moved far away from them in order to help block the images that made him more aware of the growing ache inside him.

After that weekend, Edward noticed whenever he ran into Jacob, his thoughts, although not overly friendly, were not hostile. Something had changed but he couldn't quite figure out what it was.

Edward asked Bella about it on one of her visits to the house with the kids.

"Jacob was thinking I had no idea about his jealousy of you. I've known about it for a long time but I couldn't figure out what to do. I talked with Rosalie and she gave me some really great suggestions."

Her cheeks blushed a becoming pink as she explained in a rated G way how she handled the task of proving to Jacob that she no longer felt 'that way' about Edward.

Edward then realized what Jacob's thoughts at the festival were all about.

Lucky Jacob.

Edward was happy for Bella, but again felt the now very familiar surge of emptiness from within. He thought maybe he needed to go away for a while and just get away from all that was familiar. Even as the thought occurred to him, he knew he couldn't leave his family again.

Summer turned into Fall and Edward avoided the Fall festival since it was likely Jacob would be there with his family. He wasn't about to be assaulted with lustful images involving Bella again.

The inevitable cold rain signaled that Winter was upon them and Edward acutely felt the change in the air. Actually it was more of an intuition of something about to happen, an impression of excitement tinged with uncertainty. He couldn't explain it.

He asked Alice if she had any visions lately and she hummed loudly to herself, blocking him out of her mind and shook her head, quickly zipping out the door and into her car. Edward watched her drive away and shook his head. Alice was always a bit strange.

Carlisle received a phone call late on a Friday night from a vampire who wanted to discuss moving to the area. It was well known in the vampire world that the Cullens had claimed the area as their own so permission from the coven was needed for any vampire to settle there. Since the Quileute wolf pack also needed to give their consent, Carlisle asked the wolf pack leader to allow the vampire to come into the area for a meeting. He had let them know that this vampire had the same feeding habits as the Cullen clan did so was not a threat to the community.

"We'll be the judge of whether he is a threat or not." Jacob growled when Sam told him of the request.

"Have the area surrounded just in case."

Jacob had taken his rightful place as Wolf Alpha of the Quileute wolf pack. Sam had stepped down without a challenge however continued to lend his maturity and wisdom to his leader as second in command. Both would be attending the meeting that was set for the very next day.

Edward was determined to not to do anything that could possibly destroy the shaky peace between Jacob and himself. For Bella's sake, he thought perhaps he should skip the meeting and then the family could fill him in later on what had transpired. He asked Carlisle for advice.

"Jasper will be in the room, controlling the emotional temperature Edward. I don't want you to feel as though you cannot be comfortable in your own home. All should be fine but if Jacob does say anything to you, either out loud or silently, please ignore him."

"Maybe I can let you all conduct the meeting and join you once it's over; when the wolves leave. I don't want to take any chances that Jacob may decide to go off on me. It's happened in the past and Jacob is still insecure."

"That's fine son, if you feel that you would be more comfortable. The meeting will not last long and after Jacob and Sam leave, we can all visit with our guest."

Edward had remodeled his room to include a desk and more book shelves. He often used this area to review patient cases. While the meeting was taking place, he went over patient files. He was completely engrossed in one of his favorite patient's test results when he heard Alice's voice in his head.

Edward, come on down here.

After giving me the silent treatment for 2 weeks, now she talks to me.

With a sigh, he closed the file on his desk and headed downstairs.

Edward scented that Jacob and Sam were still in the house. Why would Alice call him? She knew he wanted to wait until they had left before joining the family.

Edward stood at the top of the stairs to wait for them to leave. He then saw the visiting vampire and froze. It was a female. She was the most exquisite woman, vampire or human, he had ever set eyes on. She was very small in stature, just a bit taller than Alice. Her pale skin set off the array of shiny black tresses that seem to float around her lovely face as she said her goodbyes to Jacob and Sam in the foyer. It wasn't her looks that had him transfixed though. There was an ambience surrounding her, something so powerful that his stomach clinched to bear the brunt of it.

He vaguely heard Jacob and Sam's thoughts and saw that they were also enamored by this gorgeous creature.

The door closed behind the two shape shifters and the lovely vampire turned to look up at Edward. Her smile hit him like a boulder to his middle. His jaw dropped and suddenly Alice was beside him closing his mouth with one finger.

"Edward, come meet Kadence."

He floated down the stairs towards her; he couldn't even feel his feet touching the steps.

"Kadence, this is my brother, Edward. Edward, this is Kadence; Kady for short."

I knew you would like her. Alice was smirking. She bounced away leaving them alone.

Edward recovered somewhat and stuck his hand out towards the lovely creature standing in front of him with her own mouth slightly ajar.

Edward was sure he was shaking from head to toe.

"It's good to meet you Kadence." He couldn't think of anything else to say.

Edward gave her a shaky, but dazzling smile, hoping to regain some of his composure. He saw that her mouth was open as well and as she took his hand in a firm grip, her eyes never left his.

"Uh, it's nice to meet you too Edward. Where have you been? You weren't at the meeting."

Her voice was so sweet, so musical to his ears. Her scent was alluring; he had a sudden urge to take her in his arms. It was torture just to stand there and pretend he didn't want to touch her again. What the hell was going on?

"I had some work to do and one of the shape shifters and I aren't the best of friends." He tried not to let the intense emotion he was feeling show in his voice.

Kadence and Edward continued to stare into each other's eyes for a moment longer, neither of them saying a word and it dawned on Edward that he could try and read her mind to see what she was all about. He reached out gently to touch her thoughts and was suddenly shoved out. He blinked a few times at the savageness of the mental force.

"Was that YOU?" She looked angry with her hands on her hips.

Okay, she was beautiful AND she had gifts.

"I'm so sorry, it's become such a habit, and I didn't realize you could shield your thoughts." Edward tried to explain.

"I don't normally have to but I guess I will now. You need to know that it's rude to go into someone's mind without their permission." Kadence said as she frowned at him.

Without another word she turned away and went into the library where everyone had now assembled.

Edward followed slowly, feeling like a whipped puppy.

How could this vampire have this effect on me? What is going on?

His stomach was churning. He had never felt this way before, never had these types of thoughts before. He wanted to grab her, run up to his room, throw her on the bed and make love to her. No, not make love. He wanted to fuck her. Just fuck her hard, no romantic crap. Just raw sex.

What in the hell is wrong with me?

A graphic scene of what her naked body would look and feel like as he drove into her quickly ran through his mind. He felt himself harden which was something he hadn't felt in years. He took a few moments to get himself under control before entering the room.

Edward thought about the vampire's reaction to his trying to read her mind. He hated that he made her angry and felt an unreasonable need to make it right with her. He entered the library and stood behind a chair forcing his eyes to stay away from her.

Jasper gave him a quizzical look as he stood there.

You alright Edward?

Edward gave him a quick nod. Jasper's eyes went back and forth from Edward to Kadence, feeling their intense emotions. Realizing what was going on, he smirked and focused on Carlisle.

Edward could barely contain himself as Carlisle ran over the events of the meeting. Kadence could stay in the area. The shape shifters were convinced that since her feeding habits were identical to the Cullens; she posed no threat to the area population. The references she had provided to Carlisle were impeccable. She was well known amongst the vampire community and was a trusted ally to many covens. She planned on buying a property not far from Forks further up in the mountains where she would set up a studio.

It didn't surprise Edward to hear she was an artist; it fit. He learned as Carlisle talked that she had sold several pieces both in the USA and in Europe and now had a nice reputation and some requests. She needed a quiet, anonymous place in which to continue her work.

Kadence talked about her plans for future paintings and Edward heard her promise to paint Rosalie and Emmett's portrait.

This was agonizing. He had to get her alone to talk to her so he could understand why he felt this connection with her. He thought maybe they had met before and what he was feeling was a déjà vu type of reaction. He needed to understand what he was feeling; it was driving him beyond insane.

Finally, Kadence stood up and excused herself. She said she needed to go over to the property she was about to buy to take some measurements.

Edward was desperately trying to figure out a way to convince her to let him go with her when he heard her say, "Edward, why don't you come with me and I can show you the house I'm buying"

"Sure."

Edward barely kept his composure. He just wanted to get her alone. The thought of what might happen after that thrilled him.

Jasper was smirking as he passed him.

Have fun! Edward heard Alice in his mind giggling.

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