Disclaimer: Really wished I owned Twilight, but I don't, but I do own a collection of Hard Rock Hurricane glasses, one of which is from Ireland!

I am sooooooooooo sorry it has taken me soooooooooooooooooooooo damn long to post this chapter, RL can be a bitch some times. It must be eating at everyone to find out how she did on her "Date with The Edward Cullen", as Marcus put it… Well look no further, worry no further, and stop pulling your hair out… it's right here!

As always… Lady Tazz and Edwards Chipper… no words could be formed on this lappy to express the gratitude that I have to you two! You amaze me in this fandom and in receiving my story and correcting my story! This is one heck of a trip! Hugs and Kisses to ya both!

I also wanted to thank my handy dandy Webster's New World Thesaurus to allow me to mark, bend and throw across the room.

Also another huge THANK YOU to all my readers and reviewers! Without you guys I am nothing…

So how many times have you watched the Eclipse commentary?

Okay I'll stop rambling now…

The Date

"Are we going out?" Jessica asked as she leaned into the bathroom.

"Maybe," I replied.

"Well, spill the beans. Who, what, and where," she smirked.

"His name is 'None of your busness'," I said as I patted her head. I grabbed my bag and checked my phone. He hadn't called yet to cancel or anything, so that must be a good sign.

"Wait, you're not going to tell me anything?" she asked as she followed me down the stairs.

"Nope," I said.

"Where are you two going?" she asked.

"One Eyed Jack's," I said.

I looked at my phone again.

"Why do you keep looking at your phone?" she asked.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I guess I'm just nervous, that's all."

"I wouldn't be," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

"No, you wouldn't be Jessica," I hollered at her. "You would probably jump his bones the minute you saw him."

"Yep and so would you," she hollered back.

"Funny," I said. "Okay, I'm leaving. Don't wait up."

"He's not picking you up?" she hollered.

"It's not like that Jessica," I said as I slammed the door behind me.

I met him outside of my book store at five o'clock on the dot. His cab pulled up in front and every thing went into slow motion. He pulled his tall, lengthy body from the back seat, his long fingers curling around the door, closing it. He pulled his wallet from the back of his jeans and paid the cab fare. He turned on his heals and walked towards me, slowly and oh so sexy. It should be a crime for him to walk like that. His long, lean legs carrying him towards me. He looked amazing, unkempt mousey hair in a copper toned, his face slightly shaven, jeans, and a t-shirt. Everything about him breathed sex.

"Miss Swan." He ducked his head towards me.

"Please, call me Bella. Edward." I put my hand out, as a show of kindness.

"Bella." He nodded. "Where to?"

"Ummm, it's about four blocks this way," I said pointing behind me.

"Then lead the way," he said, moving to the side, allowing me some distance.

The walk was long and silent. I couldn't shake the nervousness that I was feeling. This was a bad idea. He looked cool and comfortable. I, on the other hand, had to keep wiping my hands repeatedly on my shorts.

As we past a local hang out, some people spilled out, onto the side walk. I went to side step them, when Edward grab my waist, pulling me towards him.

"Oh… my…God," yelled someone in the crowd yelled.

I turned to see who it had come from and I was taken back. It was a group of college ladies, heading out for to the next party, where ever it may be, gawking and whispering to each other, as they eyed Edward up and down. I looked across my shoulder back to him and wondered how immune he was to it. He never stopped walking.

After a few more steps, I left his side and walked on my own. He kept his head down and his hands in his pockets. As people walked by us, a few would stop and whisper. I watched him intently, looking for a response from him and nothing.

"Ummm… you know people are staring at us. I mean you?"

He finally looked up and then back at me. He just shrugged and continued on his way, following me, like a little lost puppy. Eventually we made it the restaurant, unattacked.

"Two for Swan, please," I explained to the hostess. I watched her carefully, gazing at Edward, in a dream like state. I rolled my eyes and let out a loud sigh.

"Oh, I am so sorry," she said, fumbling around with the menus and silverware. "Follow me, please."

She showed us to our table, in a back corner, which was dimly lit and very quiet. Not at all what I wanted or needed.

"Miss? Do you have anything in the front?"

"No, I'm sorry. If you want another area, the wait is about an hour," she said. I frowned, my lips forming a hard line. I looked at Edward and he looked a little embarrass, probably because of me.

"This is fine," I said waving her off. I took my seat and offered the one across from me and waited.

I looked around studying the diners, some in deep conversations others just stuffing their faces. Maybe this area wasn't so bad after all. Then, it started.

"Umm…hi…I was wondering…if…," the girl started, obviously entranced by Edwards very presence. She shoved a napkin and a pen directly into his face, "Could I please have your autograph… please." She said quickly, giggling like a giddy little school girl.

Edward sighed, running his fingers through his hair. He looked at the girl and then back to me.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "Maybe after we finish our meal, please," he said politely to the girl.

She was struck dumbfounded, as well as me. He threw a half smile up to the girl, then watched her walk away. She turned every step or two to look back to our table.

"You know, it was fine…to do whatever."

"Not while we eat," he said sounding a little miffed.

"We're not eating," I motioned to the table.

"We will be," he said opening the menu. "What's good?"

"Everything."

He peaked out from the side and smirked at me. After discussing the menu at great lengths, we ordered our meal of some boiled shrimp and Gumbo with some buttered beans and French bread. The conversation was going nowhere. Neither one of us said a thing, except when spoken to. Three more ladies entertained us with the idea of autographs and pictures, but Edward just waved them off, apologizing the best way he could.

"So you own a book shop?" Edward asked.

Sipping on my water, I nodded.

"How did that come to be?"

"I worked my way up," I said nonchalantly.

"That's quite a feat for a twenty something," he said, chugging on his beer.

I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, I'm a bad actor, with two siblings, two parents and a dog," he said.

"Must be a rough life," I said rolling my eyes.

"Sometimes." He smiled, breaking my heart. "Am I bothering you with all the questions?"

"No…" I trailed off.

"Then what else do you do with your time," he asked. He folded his arms on the table and concentrated on my face.

I waved my hand around, "A little bit of nothing. Owning the shop takes a lot of my time."

"I can imagine. Being your own boss and all. Looks like you have every thing under control. And Marcus, is he your brother?"

"No," I laughed, "why would you say that?"

"You two work so well together. He got you to go on this date with me."

"Like I said, Marcus can be 'theatrical'. We've known each other for years. Friends, good friends, but with out the benefits, if you know what I mean."

He chuckled at my statement, as did I.

"Do you do anything else?"

"Not really. The shop is my life."

"Parents?" Edward asked.

I looked at my water and started to play with the water dripping from the glass. I didn't like to talk about my parents too much. Too much sorrow and guilt there.

"I'm sorry," he said reaching for my elbow. "I don't mean to pry."

"My mother lives in Florida and my dad passed away a couple of years ago. Drug bust gone wrong," I said recoiling from his touch.

"I am so sorry," he said. He looked concerned too, which was surprising to me. "So he was a police officer or in the DEA?"

"Officer, here in New Orleans. When I moved after high school, he took a job here to be closer to me. I think he felt guilty that he hadn't spent a lot of time with me when I was younger. His best friend, Aro, works for the department and got him the job. And the rest…" I stopped.

He looked at me but I turned away, I didn't want Edward to see me crying at the table.

"Will you excuse me please," I said launching my chair back.

He started to stand up but I stopped him. As my hand touched his shoulder, an electric shock ran through my body, straight to my toes. He glanced up at me from his crouched position, yearning in his eyes but a small, sincere smile on his face.

"I am sorry for the inquiry," he said.

"It's okay," I said, sniffling. "I'm just going to freshen up a bit."

He nodded and I walked away.

While in the bathroom, I stared into the mirror hard. My eyes were red and puffy from the few tears that I did shed. My cheeks were flushed from that shock I took and my stomach was growling. I rinsed some more cold water on my face and dried it off. A few girls walked into the bathroom, shouting and giggling. I smiled a little and excused myself from the room. As I walked out, I overheard some of their conversation. I turned, holding the door open a little and listened.

"Did you see who was sitting in the corner?" One of the girls squealed.

"I know!" Another one cooed. "He is drop dead gorgeous in person!"

"But I don't recognize the girl he is with." Another said while reapplying her lip gloss.

The girls giggled and fussed with their hair. I took note of each one of them. Two of them were model gorgeous, with long, bleach blonde hair, cascading off their shoulders. The other one was a black hair beauty, her hair cut short to her ears, and tall. She could have squashed me with her foot alone. Why wasn't Edward with one of them?

I shook the thought from my head and strolled back to the table. As I rounded the corner, I watched from a distance the attack happening at our table. There was a dozen girls swarming Edward and he looked extremely uncomfortable. As I stood there, the three girls from the bathroom ran into me and walked out onto the floor. It took them all of one second to realize that Edward was alone and they headed straight to the table.

I watched as the leggy black haired beauty put on her charm, leaning ever so close to him, cocking her head to the side. If she bent over anymore, the group of college guys sitting across from us could get a look at her ass and then some.

I laughed a little and decided that I should go and save him, I guess. I gathered my strength and headed back to our table. I walked to the left of the mob and weaved in and out of the girls to get to my chair. After pulling my chair out, I sat and then leaned against the table.

"Help me." He mouthed.

Help him? He looked like he was doing fine with all the attention. Why help? I was having fun watching all these girls drool, ache and whine at him. Why help?

His eyes grew wide when I didn't say or do anything.

"Please help," he mouthed again. "Please."

I giggled and then looked around. Black Beauty was getting something out of her little hand bag, a black book perhaps? No doubt about to give Edward her name, address, phone number and bra size.

He looked at me one more time, sweat starting to form on his forehead and he ran his hand through his hair. I leaned over towards him, hearing a gasp, as I took his face into my hands, leaning my head slightly and kissed him. No open mouth or anything; just a simple, little, lithe kiss. The crowd grew quite and still. I peaked under my lids at Black Beauty. She looked really disappointed, like I had stolen the rug or man from under her feet.

"Thank you," he whispered into my ear. He pulled my chin and kissed me back, to my surprise.

"Excuse me ladies, is there a problem here?" a deep husky voice called out.

Every one of them shook their heads and bolted, except for Black Beauty. With shrewd eyes, she pegged me, looked at Edward and then walked away with an evil grin appearing on her face.

"I am very sorry for the interruption of your dinner, Mr. …," he began.

"Cullen, Edward. It's okay. I'm sort of used to it I guess," Edward said shaking the man's hand.

"Lopez, I am the manager tonight and wanted to personally apologize," he said, bowing his head in my direction. "I shall keep an eye out for you. If you would like, you can use the back entrance when you leave."

Edward looked at me and I cringed. Really, a back, secret entrance? This just wasn't happening to me.

"That shouldn't be necessary, Lopez, but thank you for your concern," he said offering his hand again.

"Anything, sir," Lopez said. He nodded to me again and then walked off to the hostess. I saw them both turn in our direction and then back to talking again. No doubt he was giving her explicit instructions.

"Does that happen often?" I asked. I sat back down into my chair and looked around. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Well, except for this date.

"A lot, actually." He grinned.

As our waiter brought out the food, he dug in as I began playing with my gumbo.

"I make you nervous," he stated bluntly, placing his beer down. "I can tell."

"How?" I asked.

"You haven't touched your food and you keep looking around for something or someone," he said. "Perhaps someone to rescue you?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Yes."

"Well, then I apologize. And you don't make me nervous."

"I don't believe you," Edward said smirking. "Do you not like your soup? I do believe you recommended it."

"It's not soup, it's gumbo. And I do like it, I just can eat right now," I said, looking around again.

"Because I make you nervous." He reminded me.

"It's just that I am not used to all this attention," I said putting my spoon down.

I smiled curtly at him. We sat in silence, while I watch him eat. I played with the chicken in the bowl, pushing it around aimlessly. The waiter came and went, refilling Edward's glass but never mine. Once our bowls were cleared, the waiter asked if dessert was in order. Edward tilted his head towards me. I smiled up to the waiter and shook my head. He left the bill and went about his way. I stared at the little black book, wondering how to go about this.

"I'll get that," we both said at the same time, each trying to pull the book towards ourselves. His fingers touched mine and I froze.

"I'm sorry," I said sliding my hands out from under the book and his.

His smile was so generous. "Let me get that."

I nodded my head in agreement. He paid the bill with cash and removed himself from the chair. He walked around slowly to my chair as I was pushing it back, he stopped and offered me his hand. I took it, it was the least I could do. We walked out of the restaurant and into a muggy evening.

We walked a couple of blocks, in silence. I don't know why I was so quiet. I guess he did make me nervous.

"So is there anything you would like to do?" I asked.

He just shrugged his shoulders.

"Hmmm," I laughed.

"What?"

"Well, if you don't tell me where…" I was suddenly unable to speak.

He pulled me into his arms so fast I had no time to think. His lips met mine so softly and firm, I melted, literally. I could feel his hold gathering strength, as he wrapped his arms around my waist, bringing me closer to him. I slowly moved my arms up past his shoulders, to the middle of his chest. I could feel his heart through his thin white shirt, racing, pounding. I could feel his hands, sprayed across my back. He parted my lips with his, slowly sneaking his tongue into my mouth.

As I tasted the beer on his lips and my body exploded in heat, our lips merged as one. It was amazing kissing him. Something I've only dreamed about since I first met him in the shop only a few days ago.

"I'm sorry," I said, leaving his lips and bringing my head down to his chest. I kept my eyes to the ground as I tried to breathe slowly.

"No, it's okay. That was really stupid of me."

I let out a little laugh, "It's totally understandable. You're use to getting what you want."

"What?"

I pushed off of him and walked over to the nearest light pole, leaning up against it, for support. My legs were still a little weak from his tryst.

"You know what I mean," I said, my mood changing.

"Actually, I don't." He looked confused.

I looked off to the side, trying to compose my thoughts. Looking straight at him wasn't helping because believe me, I wanted to kiss him back and perhaps more.

"Bella, what is it?" he asked softly, a purr added to his voice. He took a step towards me but I held my hand up towards him and he backed down.

"There's a bar up the street. Would you like to go there for a little while? No strings attached." I motioned, hoping he would take me up on the offer, as we really wouldn't be able to continue this conversation.

"Sure, if that's what you would like to do," he said.

"Ummm… sure," I said as I started to walk. He quickly caught up to my swift pace and grabbed my hand. His hand was rugged but firm. But I stopped to look down and then back to him.

"Is this alright?" he asked, running his hand through his hair with his other hand.

I let go and turned to face him, "Why are you doing this?"

"It's proper to escort a lady." He shrugged, pulling both hands in his pockets.

"In the eighteenth century perhaps," I reminded him.

"Bella, why are you so nervous," he asked me again.

"You really don't get it, do you?"

"No, I really don't. It's like you're talking in some kind of code or something."

"I mean, back there at the restaurant, Black Beauty," I let drop the nickname for her. "She wanted you…why me?"

I don't know why I said it, it just came out. I just called him a playboy, in so many words and me a groupie or something. I felt awful and really stupid.

"I…" I couldn't continue, no comprehensible word could come to mind to take back what I just insinuated.

"Maybe I should take you back home," he said, grimly.

"That may be best before someone says something more harsh then I just did." I managed.

We started to walk back towards the restaurant, in silence again.

Way to go Bella. I thought to myself, kicking my own ass repeatedly. You have the most perfect guy in front of you and you blow it.

"I can call you a cab if you like," I said as we stopped in front of the doors.

"This may be blunt," he started, "But even though you just handed my heart on a sliver platter, I would still like to see you home. If that's okay?"

Say yes! The voice repeated over and over again.

"Umm…" I hesitated briefly, if only trying to summon the courage to listen to the voice. "Ok, yes. It's just about four blocks from here, if you don't mind walking."

"Not at all. Especially with you."