AN: I'm posting this chap a day early because I'm going to be too busy tomorrow to get it out. Also, I want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful moms out there. I hope you like the "proposal".

Thanks to Nicffwhisperer, Kikki7, SusanQ, Vampshavelaws, Julie, KittyVuitton, Stephanie, Perry, Jaime, Nolebucgrl and Sydney Alice for all of their help pre-reading/betaing and supporting my crazy ass.

The Proposal

My head was spinning.

He wanted me?

I didn't know exactly what he meant by that, but I couldn't deny how my heart raced and my stomach flip-flopped from his words.

Apparently, Alice had been dead-on accurate and I was the ridiculous one.

I tried to remain calm as his eyes lingered on me, but my nerves were on display when I grabbed the wine glass with my shaky hand and drank every drop. I was well on my way to passing the tipsy level.

Edward laughed when I picked up the half-empty bottle of wine and poured myself more.

"Is the thought of me wanting you so awful, Bella?"

I shook my head. "Surreal. Not awful. Unbelieveable. Not awful. Impossible. Not awful."

My rambling was getting out of control.

He narrowed his eyes. "We'll have to work on that," he said softly, before smiling again. "Just answer a couple questions for me, all right?"

I took a deep breath and nodded.

"From what I've gathered so far, you worked your tail off so that you could get out of Forks and live a better life. Am I correct?"

He nailed that one.

"Yes."

"Good. I love determination, tenacity, fighting for what you want. I'm the same way."

Did that mean he was going to fight for me? I swallowed a few times.

"Also, as I understand it, you have no more ties to your hometown. The only person close to you is your best friend, Miss Brandon?"

"Yes."

"And she is also coming to New York for college?"

"Yes."

He leaned toward me again. "Tell me, Bella. Where do you see yourself in five years? What is it you want your future to be?"

The truth was that I didn't know.

I'd had to kill myself to make the grades in high school to be eligible for college and they didn't hold a candle to Alice's 4.0 GPA. I didn't have a niche subject that I felt a consuming desire to follow, like Alice with computer science. I'd always liked reading, so I thought perhaps pursuing a literature degree would suit me. The only thing I knew I absolutely wanted in my future was to belong somewhere, to fit in, but I didn't know if I wanted to tell him that.

"I'm not sure yet."

He nodded as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

Could he hear my thoughts?

"Can I tell you what I thought when I read your scholarship essay?"

I gave him another nervous nod.

"You seemed to be unsure exactly where you wanted to go career-wise, only that you wanted something different. What really struck me though, was that you wanted to belong, to be in the right place, a family."

Had I been that transparent?

When I didn't answer, he continued. "I believe we are more alike than you think."

Hannah picked that moment to return, frowning at my untouched dinner, but not saying anything. After the dishes were cleared, only one plate was presented for dessert. It looked like some type of chocolate cake.

Edward stood and moved his chair beside mine, sitting down close enough that we were touching knees. The butterflies in my stomach appeared again when his foot hooked around mine under the table.

"Try this." He held a fork out with a bite of cake on it, and I closed my eyes and moaned lightly from the flavor.

It was quite delicious.

When I opened my eyes again, Edward's expression made me wonder if he wanted to eat me for dessert.

He was so intense.

After a couple more bites, he finally spoke again.

"You aren't saying much. Are you afraid of me, Bella?" His words were soft, and he slowly leaned in so close I could feel his breath on my face.

"No," I whispered.

Closer, come closer.

Our noses were almost touching, our eyes locked onto each other.

"May I kiss you?"

Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Please kiss me.

My hormones had completely taken over control of my body.

"Okay."

His hands moved up gently, cupping my cheeks, and I closed my eyes when his thumbs brushed along my cheekbones. My heart skipped a beat as his soft lips pressed against mine.

There was no urgency, no insistence. There was only sweetness in his tender kisses.

When his tongue slid along my bottom lip, I opened my mouth without thought. He tilted his head, deepening the kiss.

He tasted like chocolate, wine, spices…secrets and dreams.

One of his hands moved around to support the back of my neck, holding my face to his. My whole body tingled, and I was quite certain I would have agreed to anything he wanted at that moment.

"Mmmm," he hummed, brushing my lips lightly a few more times before his nose skimmed along my jaw. He gave me a small kiss below my ear, and whispered softly. "That was perfect."

I could neither agree nor disagree. The man had put me in some sexual haze, and I couldn't tell up from down. I pulled away from him and sat back in my seat, trying to remember all my questions and the reason I was here in the first place.

When he leaned toward me again, I put my hand on his chest and pushed him away. I needed to clear my head and think.

Think, Bella!

"I apologize," he said, easing back in his own chair and giving me some space. "I didn't mean to come on so strong, so fast. You're just very irresistible." He twirled a tuft of my hair around his fingers.

His words knocked some sense into my head.

Irresistible?

Come on!

Wine?

Candlelight?

I wanted to know what he was playing at. I didn't know this man and within an hour I'm sharing saliva with him?

What was I doing?

I needed to re-direct things...quickly.

"Get serious. I'm not irresistible." I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to figure out what this whole seduction scene was all about. "I've seen your pictures on the internet, a different blonde model on your arm every day. So, it's time to tell me the truth. What is going on here?"

"You shouldn't believe anything you see or read about me on the internet." His intense stare was back, and I looked down at my lap to keep my wits about me. "And I vehemently disagree with your self-assessment."

"Whatever." The wine was making me sassy.

After a few silent moments, he spoke again.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

I knew what he was talking about but didn't want to give away too much. "Feel what?" I glanced back up at him, and he smiled.

"The pull between us. I felt it the first time I heard your voice." The sincerity in his eyes made my stomach flip again. "I haven't been able to think about anything but you for a week now."

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. He brushed his hand through his hair and blew out a gust of air.

"Fuck it."

He was talking to himself again, and I smothered the giggles that wanted to erupt. His eyes blazed in my direction, as if he was determined about something.

"Are you ready to know why you're here?"

"Yes."

He bounced out of his seat and started pacing beside the table. Every so often he would look over at me and run his fingers through his hair again.

It suddenly dawned on me that he was nervous.

Him!

Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected was anxious, and Alec's words flooded my mind.

You hold more power than you think.

I relaxed a little and took another sip of wine as he wore a path on the stone floor.

"Okay, I'll start out with a couple things about me." He stopped in front of me. "The first of which is that almost all my life, I've made decisions based on my gut instincts. As you can see, it's worked out relatively well for me." He waved his arms at our surroundings and threw me a crooked grin.

Mr. Smugs McSmirkenstein had reared his head again.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're a genius the likes of which us mere mortals could never hope to be." My snarkiness and accompanying eye roll were probably just more effects of the wine.

Or maybe just me.

He laughed loudly, and I smiled as some of the tension left his body.

"Now that I know you understand how awesome I am…" He paused and winked at me. "The point of that was to say I'm going with my gut here tonight also. None of this will sound reasonable, logical, or conventional…because it's not.

"The last few years I've become somewhat reflective. I appreciate all the success I've been granted, but I'm not getting any younger. I'm sure with your investigative skills, you are already well aware that I'm thirty-seven, about to be thirty-eight." He cocked his brow and I nodded in confirmation. "Well, I've felt recently that my life is incomplete. What will all this wealth matter in the end if I don't have anyone to share it with, or pass it down to?"

My breath caught at his words, and he glided over to take his seat next to me again.

He took my hand in his, softly stroking my skin as he watched me.

"I have a proposal for you."

I held my breath and waved my hand for him to continue. The anticipation was killing me.

"First, I want you to know that no matter what, if you tell me no, I'll still take care of your tuition and you can forget all about this. Remember that, because I don't want you to think you're being forced into anything. You always have a choice."

I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing at least I wouldn't have to worry about school. Yet, it made me even more curious about what he was going to ask me.

"Tell me, Edward. I'm losing my mind here."

He chuckled nervously, our hands locked together on his bouncing knee.

"I want a family. I want children." He squeezed my hand. "And I want you to help me with that."

What?

I mean...WHAT?

My eyes widened and I gulped as I comprehended what he meant.

He wanted me to give him a child. Multiple childs…er, children.

He hurried along as I squirmed in my seat.

"I know this sounds crazy. Believe me, I want to kick my own ass as I hear the words coming out of my mouth. But I also know it's right." He paused and took a breath. I didn't move a muscle; I was likely in shock. "I will make this worth your while. We can negotiate the terms, of course, but I would give you everything you could ever want.

"As a starting point, if you agreed, I would give you two million free and clear."

He was completely serious.

I kept swallowing and trying to moisten my bone-dry mouth.

"Then, each year you stayed with me you would receive another million. For each child we had together, another two million would go to you. You could use this money however you wanted, just as long as it didn't endanger you, our marriage, or our kids.

"And that money would only be extra. I would still lavish you daily with anything your heart desired, or anything I thought you needed or wanted."

He had kept talking, but my mind was still stuck on the M word.

"M…m…marriage?" I squeaked.

He nodded. "Yes, of course. I want a legal partnership with you. I would want our kids to have both a mother and father. Think of it like pre-arranged marriages, which have happened since the beginning of time, often with the bride and groom never having met before the big day."

I sat there in stunned silence, and he gave me a few minutes to process.

I shook my head. "It doesn't make any sense to me. Why me? There are a million women out there that would marry you in a heartbeat."

"Let's just say that I've been burned in the past. It's hard for me to trust people, and I often shut myself off."

Sadness washed over his face, and his age showed a little. He didn't expound on his past, and I didn't push for details. But I did wonder what could have happened to him.

"Why do you think you can trust me?"

He gave me a small smile. "That's a good question. I suppose I feel more comfortable going into this by having some control over the situation. I've been looking for the right woman, and nobody bowled me over like you did from the first moment." He lifted my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles. "I want you, Bella. I like that you have no other ties, no other complications. I like that you are young, beautiful, determined, and…feisty." He winked again. "I want you to be mine, to be completely devoted and invested in me, in our family."

My mind whirled from the information he'd laid on me. It was so bizarre. I felt like I was hovering above, watching someone else sitting here with this beautiful, but obviously lonely man.

One side of my brain was yelling obscenities at me for considering it. What would that make me? Prostitute didn't really fit because he wanted marriage. Slave? Not really, since I would be going into it voluntarily.

This side kept screaming something must be wrong with him. Why was he that desperate to ask some nobody girl he didn't know to be his?

This side told me to take my tuition money and run far, far away.

Then the other side of my brain was ready to sign on the dotted line. He was offering everything I could dream of and more. I would be wanted. I would have a place to call my own, a family. I would get the life I'd only ever imagined.

This side told me to grab hold and never let go. He was gorgeous, successful, wonderful, and he chose me over anybody else. He wanted me! Maybe he even needed me. Something I'd never felt before.

This side demanded I not be a fool by throwing away the opportunity of a lifetime.

I met his eyes again, his expression hopeful but cautious. My fingers itched from the desire to smooth away the little worry lines around his eyes.

It was that moment I knew what I was going to choose.

What is Bella going to do? What would you do?

Next chapter will be posted on Wed or Thurs. Also, let me know if there are any specific outtakes you want to see!

A couple more recs from what I'm reading now:

Blind Spot by FictionFreak95: If you haven't read any FF95 stories, you are missing out!

Watching Her by Les16: Soccerward and his Drummerella

Theories of Bellativity by kikki7: A hot doctorward and chocolate? Perfection