Hey! Surprised to see me again so soon? Yeah, me too. I felt badly about leaving you with SUCH a cliffie last time. So here's your answer!

Oh! And to everyone who's been reviewing: Thank you. I really, really appreciate it.

Quote:

"Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it." - Salvador Dali

Things I Own: iPhone 3G. But I want an iPhone 4. Have you seen those? AHHHH!

Things I Don't: What SM owns. Duh.


Edward looked at me, several emotions dancing across his features, not the least of which was heartbreak. His eyes were practically swimming with emotion, but he continued to lay there, his eyes on mine, deeply breathing, as though he was trying to center himself.

"Bella, love…" Edward started to say, his voice breaking slightly, letting me know just how deeply this affected him.

I didn't want to see Edward hurting like this… I didn't want to see him hurting at all, so to see him hurt so deeply… hurt me. It was weird, that sensation. I've never had someone else's pain affect me so deeply. I've never wanted to do anything that I could to take away their pain. I would sacrifice myself if I knew that Edward would feel better about this… I would do anything… and that scared me, but I knew that it meant I was finally growing up.

I grabbed Edward's arm and turned him on his side so that he was facing me, replacing his arm with a pillow, and moving both his arms around my waist. "I have you right here, Edward. Whatever happened to you… I need you to know that I won't leave you. I need you to talk to me, love. Please."

I kept my voice soft, reaching up to run my fingers softly through his hair. I scratched his head and I could see him relax under my touch. Perfect.

He looked down at me, studying my face for a few seconds before swiftly bringing my mouth to his. He kissed me with so much emotion, so much effort, that I was afraid this conversation was going to turn into another round of sex.

I probably wouldn't have complained, but I knew that we needed to have this conversation. It was going to hurt, but we needed to talk about it. Otherwise… I didn't know what I would do about this thing with Edward…

It hurt me to even think about it, but I knew that I would probably have to end this 'relationship' with him if he wasn't willing to talk about it. It wasn't because I couldn't handle the fact that he was keeping secrets, not because I was pissed off that he wouldn't let me into his life. It was the fact that he was going to hide something that affected him so deeply. I had told him everything… well, except about the tattoo, but he had already asked about that. I promised to have that discussion with him. But it wasn't something that deeply affected me. But I'd told him about Charlie… he knew the pain I'd lived through, and he'd helped me. But I couldn't stick around in a relationship where I was going to be in pain all the time… I couldn't wake up to the sound of Edward's sobs again and again… it would kill me.

"Okay." Edward said, suddenly breaking the kiss, "Sorry, love… I… I needed to do that. I'm afraid that will be the last time you let me touch you." His eyes were truly pained, as though he actually believed it.

"Baby! No, no, no. I would never, ever, do something like that to you. But I need you to talk to me." I said, my heart breaking at his words. I leaned up, placed a single, sure kiss on his lips, before pulling back. I stared into his eyes for a few seconds before smiling a small smile at him.

"You can tell me anything you know." I whispered. He nodded, placing his forehead on mine for a second and taking a deep breath. He pulled away, his eyes sad, but sure. He was going to tell me.

"It's really hard for me to talk about, and I will understand if you don't want to be with me after I tell you. I know you say you'll stay with me, and I want to believe you… but you don't know what I've done." Edward said, his voice was soft and pained, and was ripping me right through to the core.

I knew that telling him otherwise wouldn't have a huge impact on his thinking, so I continued to lay there, my hands running through his hair.

Edward took one last deep breath, before beginning his story. "You may have heard me talk about a girl named Tanya… she's one of my very best friends… despite what I did." He swallowed roughly, tightening his grip on my waist.

"I worked with her husband, John Denali, at my cover job. I'm an emergency room doctor and John worked with me on a lot of my shifts. We became close friends, and I was especially glad to get to know him because I was so close to Tanya. They had twins… seven years ago now, and they loved them to death. George and Emily were perfect. They were quiet, sweet, loving, adorable… everything that Tanya and John were. They were the perfect combination of the two of them, and everyone who met them immediately fell in love with them."

Edward took a deep shaking breath, pulling me closely for just a moment. "One night, both the twins came down with something really bad. No one knew what it was. We tried for hours to figure out what they had; we gave them fluids, tests, medications… just when we thought we had it figured out, something else went wrong. Before we knew what was happening, both twins went into heart failure. We scrambled, tried to resuscitate them… nothing worked…" Edward now had silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

I reached up, wiped his tears, kissing away the ones I'd missed. I knew that this was good for him though, so I didn't try to stop him.

"I lost them. Both kids, lost them, right on the table. When they performed an autopsy, we discovered that both kids had a small hole in their hearts; a congenital heart defect. We could have caught it had we just done the right tests… but we didn't. And I killed both of Tanya's kids because of it."

Edward was taking silent, gasping breaths, his body going into shock. "Edward, love, come here." I said, my voice quiet, but forceful and loving. I wrapped my arms around his large body, pulling him into me. He buried his face into my hair, the hot tears rolling from his eyes falling on my neck, dampening my skin.

My eyes began to moisten with my own tears, but I knew that I couldn't cry; I needed to be strong for Edward, I needed to be here for him.

His body shook against mine, and I rubbed my hands across his skin, trying with everything I had to soothe him.

I couldn't stand to see him like this… his heart clearly broken with the weight of the things that had happened to him in his past. I wanted to be able to go back in time, and tell him what was going to happen… tell him what was wrong with the kids, so that he could fix them, and he would never have to experience this pain.

But I couldn't. As much as I wished that I could, it would never happen… and I knew that, while the death of a child is exceedingly cruel and difficult to deal with, everything did happen for a reason. I was having a hard time finding a reason, but I'm sure that there had to be a reason.

Though, that was probably just my overly logical brain trying to make sense of something that was impossible to make sense of.

"It's okay, love." I whispered, kissing his hair, running my fingers lightly through his locks. "It's okay; it wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault. This could have happened to anyone."

I felt Edward's breathing slow down, and his body stopped shaking. He leaned back a bit, looking into my eyes before finishing his story. "Tanya said the same thing; she and John told me that I did everything that I could do… that no one had ever caught it in any of the doctors appointments they had been too… how could I have been expected to catch it in such a short time, you know? But that didn't help with the guilt… that doesn't help with the guilt. Neither John nor Tanya holds this against me, and I'm still very close to them. I felt horrible because I pulled away from them a bit after the children died. But, again, I pulled away from everyone."

My heart hurt for him, it really did. I couldn't imagine Edward pulling away from everyone, living life by himself, because he was so upset with something that he thought that he needed to take the blame for.

I was just glad that Tanya and John didn't blame him for what happened; I may have needed to go to England and seriously kick some ass, otherwise. And I would have kicked both their asses. I'm not a trained spy for nothing.

"But eventually, I realized that I was being stupid… and I went to be with John and Tanya. They had lost their kids. Their KIDS, Bella. I can't even imagine the kind of pain that they went through. The first time I went there, I apologized for like ten straight minutes, and started sobbing. It was a mess. All three of us were crying. But eventually, it got easier. The cloud that hung over our heads started to dissipate, and it got to the point where we are able to talk about the children openly."

I smiled, running my hands through his hair encouragingly.

"When I was talking to my dad a couple of days ago, I told him that I was falling for you. He asked me if I had talked to Tanya recently, and I thought he was asking if I had told him about you. Really, he had just found out that she was pregnant. She is getting a second chance to have kids. And I'm so happy for her… but it brought back some bad feelings for me. I'm happy for them, so happy for them, but it threw me for a total loop. I tried to hide it from you during the day, and I think I did a pretty good job…" he smiled lightly at me, and the sight made my heart swell.

"Yeah, I had no idea…" I said, upset that I didn't know that he was struggling with such intense feelings. I knew that there was no use in fretting about the fact that I didn't know that he was upset. He was blatantly hiding it from me. There was no way that I could have done anything.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about this, Bella. But you have to understand that this is so difficult for me to talk about, and I wasn't ready to share it. Especially after I found out that they were going to be having kids again… it just didn't feel right. I wanted to tell you, I did. And I'm glad I talked to you about it. I just needed my time. You aren't cross with me, are you?" he asked, his eyes pleading.

I let my eyes wander his face while I responded, "Absolutely not, Edward. How could I be upset with you? I just need to know that you are okay. That's all I want… your happiness."

"One more thing, Bella." Edward asked, his eyes now once again full of the life that I was so fond of.

"Anything, Edward." I answered, my voice a little too reverent for my liking. "Be my girlfriend?" He asked, sucking his lip into his mouth nervously. "Of course, I'll be your girlfriend, Edward." I said, smiling at him.

He smiled widely at me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me close to him. We laid that way for a bit before we both started to yawn simultaneously into the other's neck. We chuckled slightly, but pulled apart.

I laid on my back, holding my arms out to him, indicating that he should lie like he had that night I had found him in his room. He smiled gratefully at me, rolling into me, burying his face in my neck, and wrapping his arms around me.

It felt so great to feel like he needed me to protect him… to hold him. So I smiled, wrapped my arms around his waist, and whispered, "Goodnight, boyfriend" before I fell into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.

I woke up to soft kisses trailing their way across my neck. I smiled, arching my neck into Edward's mouth, and I felt him chuckle against my skin. "Bella…" he whispered, his hot breath teasing my skin, making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

"Open your eyes, love." Edward said, the smile heavy in his voice. I shook my head, and Edward laughed out loud. "I'll tell you what is in the bag from the toy store." He said, smiling.

This, of course, was something of interest to me… not that Edward kissing me wasn't. I just really wanted to know what was in that damn bag.

I opened one eye and peeked at him. "What's in the bag?" I asked, my voice still scratchy from sleep. Edward laughed, reached down and pulled me up into a sitting position. I grumbled at him, but he just ignored me.

Edward took our blankets and pillows, moved them to the floor in front of us, and pulled out seats most of the way up. I continued to grumble, but he just laughed, kissed my cheek, and ignored me some more.

He picked me up and placed me in the window seat, leaning my back against the wall and pulling my legs into his lap, like we had been sitting when we had first gotten on the plane. He reached over and moved the curtain over a bit, so that we could see out into the aisle. I didn't really want to see other people. I really just wanted to pretend that it was just Edward and I on our own plane… next time, we were travelling in Alice's plane. Screw the CIA.

"Has Mike been by with dinner, yet?" I asked, my stomach growling a little. "Nope, he should be by soon. Why don't you go wash up? I've already been…" he said. "You left without waking me?" I said, feigning anger. "I'm sorry, love, I…" I laughed, and kissed him swiftly before popping up out of my seat, "Don't worry, I'm not cross. I'm just messing with you."

Edward grabbed my sides, tickling me slightly, and I wiggled out of his grasp and into the aisle, walking over to the bathroom.

After going to the bathroom and washing up, I walked back to our seats, and sat down next to Edward who was holding two plates, and had a bag tucked into his side.

"Your food, love." Edward said, kissing my cheek as he handed me the plate before pulling my legs onto his lap again. I chuckled, but began eating.

We talked and ate, laughing and joking with each other and though I hadn't forced Edward to lie out his painful past for me in the middle of a freaking airplane.

We finished our food and Mike came by to pick up our plates, letting us know that food wouldn't be served again, as we were landing at six, and that if we were going to want snacks, we should let him know now so he could "steal us some."

Edward shot him a murderous look, but I just laughed and told him that we would really appreciate it, and Mike scampered off.

"God," Edward muttered, "could he have been any more indecent?" I looked at him and began laughing. "What are you talking about?" I asked, smiling at him. Edward looked at me. "Are you serious? He is totally trying to get into your pants. I won't have that." I started laughing and I reached over, taking Edward's hands in mine.

"Don't be crazy." I said, smiling at him, "I'm with you. You're mine. I'm yours." I said, my eyes burning into his. "Damn right." Edward said, his voice rough, and he took my face between his hands and kissed me.

Blood rushed to my head, and I couldn't think. I could barely breath. All I could do was think about Edward, kiss Edward, feel Edward, want Edward… Edward, Edward, Edward. It was so easy to get carried away with him when I was centered on him like this. I wasn't complaining, but still.

He ran his tongue along my lip, asking for entrance. As if he needed to ask, anymore.

I opened my mouth, allowing him to explore my mouth, his hot tongue tracing patterns on mine. I rolled my tongue over his, moving into his mouth, taking the opportunity to explore him for a bit.

It was then that I heard someone (I assumed to be Mike) clearing his throat. I took my tongue out of Edward's mouth, blushing bright scarlet, and pulled away from him slowly. Edward looked pleased with himself, and Mike just looked uncomfortable.

"Sorry, Mike. We got a little… carried away. But thank you for getting us food. I really, really appreciate it." I batted my eyelashes at him, hoping that it would make him feel a little better for walking in on our tongue fest.

I was going to kill Edward.

Mike left, shutting the curtain behind him, and Edward started giggling quietly. I shot him a disapproving look, and slapped his chest. "You knew he was coming, didn't you?" I asked, looking at him. "Well… yeah." Edward said, "But I needed him to see that you are mine. I don't need him getting any ideas." He was getting defensive now.

"Look, caveman. I told you that I was yours. I meant it. Now, while I enjoyed kissing you, I don't need you to shove your tongue down my throat every time a guy looks at me. I. Am. Yours. Now, stop with the crazy display of testosterone, and tell me what's in that damn bag!" I said, smiling at him.

Edward grinned, placed a kiss on my lips, before grabbing the bag from his side. "I am yours too, love. You know that?" I nodded my head at him, before holding my hand out for the bag. Edward passed it over to me, and I opened it quickly, as though I were a small child on Christmas morning.

Inside, was the most thoughtful present I think I've ever received. There was probably about twenty MadLibs books, all of different titles. I felt my eyes moisten with tears as I flipped through the books, smiling all the while. I looked over to Edward who was looking at me with a worried expression.

I leapt across the seat to wrap my arms around him, burying my face into his neck, letting a few tears seep from my eyes onto his skin. "Thank you, so much." I said, smiling against him, breathing in his scent. I pulled away, and looked at him; Edward ran his thumbs along my cheeks, wiping away my tears. "You like them, then?" He asked, smiling weakly at me.

"Of course I do." I said, smiling at him. I plucked one out of the bag, placing the others under my seat. "Let's play!" I said. Edward laughed, and nodded his head, "Can I hold you while we play?" he asked, smiling shyly at me. I smiled, and nodded, getting up so he could move to my seat, and sitting down between his legs, laying back into his chest. Edward wrapped his arms around my waist and I opened up the MadLibs to the first page.

"Okay, noun…"

Edward and I played an entire book of MadLibs, laughing like children in our seats as the overhead lights went out around us. Edward and I were the only ones awake on the plane, and we were having a time of it.

We sat together for hours, talking, laughing, telling each other stories, playing MadLibs… doing anything we could to entertain ourselves until our plane landed at six the next morning. Well, six in the morning Baltimore time, five in the evening Bangkok time.

When the plane landed, Edward and I gathered our things, trudging out of the plane, walking towards the gate. I had been to Thailand a few times before, so I wasn't overwhelmed by the amount of people that were everywhere. People were running in every direction, speaking in a multitude of languages, making my head swell with it's attempts to follow everyone's conversations at once.

Edward stood closely to my side, his hand wrapped around my waist protectively, as we walked out of the gate. I looked around, scanning the area, when I saw someone standing off to the side with a sign that had 'Bella and Edward' written on it.

I nudged Edward to get his attention, and walked over towards the sign, pulling away from Edward and breaking into a run when I realized whom it was. "Jaidee!"

"Bella!" Jaidee answered, wrapping her arms around me when I finally reached her. "How are you?" she asked, her Thai accent still as thick as I remembered. "I'm fantastic, how are you? How's Hainad?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows at her. Jaidee laughed, slapping my arm lightly, before linking our arms together. "Hainad is well. We are getting married in two months." She said, smiling at me. "You're invited, if you would like to attend, of course."

Edward reached us then, looking very confused. I laughed, realizing that I had forgotten to tell him what the deal was before I took off running in the middle of the airport. Oops.

"Edward, this is Jaidee. I met her on one of my trips to Thailand in the past, she's a client. She's going to be helping us out here, I'm assuming that's why you're here, Jaidee?" Jaidee smiled and nodded, "Alice called me." She said, laughing. She turned her attention to Edward. "Hello, Edward. Nice to meet you." She smiled, reaching her hand out to shake his. "Hello, Jaidee. Pleasure is all mine."

"I need to go get changed, Jaidee, as does Edward, so we'll meet you right back here?" I asked, gesturing down to my attire. She smiled and nodded, taking a seat outside our gate and taking our her phone, probably to tell Hainad that she was okay.

I found the nearest set of bathrooms, gave Edward his shorts, before kissing his cheek and walking into the women's bathroom to pull my sarong back on. After getting dressed, and straightening my hair, I swept on some gold eye shadow and mascara, and walked out back into the airport. Edward was leaning against the wall, looking like the sexy man he was. I let my eyes trail up and down his body for a second before he noticed me.

He pushed off the wall, and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me, and kissing my lips. I let him kiss me for a few seconds, before I laughed, and pulled away, taking his hand and walking us back over to where Jaidee was sitting.

"Alright, girl, let's go!" I said, smiling at her. Jaidee hopped up, laced her arm through mine, "You look amazing!" She said, gesturing at my outfit. I smiled, and thanked her, before she continued, "Do you know where you're staying?" she asked.

"Yes," I said, as we walked through the doors, out of the main gate area of the airport, "we're in the Millennium Hilton." I said, blushing. I knew what she was going to say.

"Bella!" Jaidee said, slapping my arm and laughing. Edward was chuckling right along with her. "What is it with you?" she asked. "I like the hotel… that's it." I said, laughing at her. "Besides, the company is paying. Who cares where I'm staying?" I said, laughing. "Oh." Jaidee said, "Well, that changes things. But will you come over to my house tonight? Hainad and I want to cook you two dinner. I told him your were coming and he is so excited to see you again." I smiled, "Of course! Edward and I need to go to the hotel and put everything away, and I should shower… but then we'll be over. Do you two still live in the same place?" Jaidee nodded, before saying, "Alright, well I should get going. I have to go tell Hainad you'll be over. We're so excited that you're back." I smiled, and wrapped my arms around her, kissing both her cheeks. "I'll see you there in about… two hours?"

"Sounds good," Jaidee said. "Edward," she said, leaning over to hug him and kiss both his cheeks, "I hope you'll join us. Good luck with this one; she's a pistol." Edward laughed, "That she is." He said, laughing as he looked over to me, kissing the top of my head.

Jaidee went off to wherever she parked her car, going home to let Hainad know that we were going to be coming over for dinner. Edward and I walked out into the pick up area, and saw a limo driver with our names on a card. "Alice must have called them…" I said, smiling, and pulling Edward into the limo. We tossed our bags into the car, plopping down in the seats, as I leaned forward to confirm our destination with the driver.

"Tell me about Jaidee." Edward said, pulling my legs into his lap and running his hands over my calves. I checked to make sure that the partition was up before I started speaking.

"I came to Thailand a few years back to establish some international agents in the area. After going to a few government sponsored parties, I met Jaidee; she works for the Thai government. I don't know how I managed to get her to agree to work with the CIA, but she is. She sends us Intel on what's going on inside the government every few months or so. She's really good at what she does." I said, smiling at him. "As we worked together over here in Thailand, we got to know each other, and we became good friends. I also managed to recruit her now fiancée, Hainad. He works for a weapons company here in Thailand. He helps us monitor any purchases by rogue groups and any international purchases. It's really, really helpful. We've managed to do a lot of things with the information that he's given us."

"Anyway," I said, reaching over to run my fingers through his hair, "on my third trip to Thailand, I was visiting with Jaidee, when I mentioned that she should meet my friend Hainad. We all went to dinner in downtown Bangkok, and they immediately hit it off. That was… about a year ago. So, needless to say, I take full responsibility for their marriage."

Edward smiled, "Of course you do." He said, laughing at me. "So, why did Jaidee freak out when you told her where we were staying?"

Oh, he had no idea…

"Well… Millennium Hilton is a little… extreme. And I always get the Royal Suite. It's a tad… extravagant." Edward just rolled his eyes at me. "Somehow," he said, grinning at me, "I'm not surprised." I slapped his arm, and laughed, leaning my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes until we got to the hotel.

When we arrived, Edward took my overnight bag, allowing me to carry my messenger bag and clutch. We walked in, checked in to our room, and got into the elevator.

When we got to our room, I turned around, stopping Edward from going in. "This is just a warning… the room is going to be huge. I don't know how comfortable you are with that…" Edward just chuckled. "Babe. I've been staying at your house. Calm yourself." He reached around me, used his key to unlock the door, and pushed it open, holding it open so I could walk in ahead of him.

I smiled, and walked in ahead of him, walking through the main room into the bedroom, and placing my bag down on the bed. Edward walked in a moment later, placing our duffle bags down on the bed. "Holy hell, Bella." He said. I laughed loudly.

"I told you."

We unpacked our bags quietly, occasionally speaking to tease each other. I pulled out another sarong, a change of underwear, and tossing my gold shoes by the ensemble, planning to wear them.

I looked over and saw Edward staring at me, so I decided to screw with him a little. Sighing, I walked into the closet to make sure the hamper that's usually there was still there; when I noticed that it was, I smiled, and walked back into the bedroom.

Stripping out of my clothes, all of my clothes, I walked into the closet and put them into the hamper, reminding myself to call house keeping tomorrow and set up clothes washing with them.

I walked back to the bed, still stark naked, and looked up at Edward. He was absolutely transfixed. I chuckled to myself as I dug around in my bag, locating my cosmetics bag and shampoo bag, and walked into the bathroom. I could hear Edward rummaging around in his bag quickly, slamming things around, and I knew that he was contemplating coming in here.

I tossed my cosmetics bag on the counter, and took my soap out of my shampoo bag, placing them on a shelf inside the shower, before starting the water to heat it up.

What would I do if Edward came bursting through that door?

I knew that the relationship between Edward and I was one that balanced on the tip of a knife. We both lived very dangerous lives, and despite what I felt for him, I had to accept the real possibility that I would have to sacrifice him for my job.

Maybe I shouldn't already be thinking this way, but in my line of work, this is just something that you have to accept. And I didn't want to hurt Edward… I really didn't. I could love him, I really could. And this… thing between us? Well, hell. It could be something great.

I got into the shower, allowing the heat of the water to relax my muscles, and slow my racing thoughts. But it only served to help make the thinking easier, as I find the shower to do.

I knew that I only had two real options as far as Edward was concerned. I could play it safe, and call the whole thing off, forcing us to go back to pretending to be friends. Or, I could jump in. As scary as jumping into a relationship with him is… it felt like it was the only thing that would feel right.

And that's when I figured it all out.

As much as I could try to stay away from Edward, it would never work. There was something about him, there was something about us, that kept me coming back for more… would always keep me coming back for me.

The CIA be damned, if Edward Cullen and I were meant to be together… I was going full force; I was going to dive into the water without so much as even a glance behind my back. I was ready for this.

Just then, the shower door opened, and a very naked Edward clutching small bottles of soap to his chest, came barreling into me. "Edward!" I shrieked, laughing as I watched him throw his bottles of soap onto the shelf with mine.

"You thought it was funny getting completely naked in front of me?" he asked, grabbing my wrists and pushing me up against the wall. I didn't say anything, just took in this moment.

He was making my domination dreams come true.

"Answer me, Isabella." He said, pressing his lower body into mine, his erection stabbing into my stomach.

I felt my knees go weak at the sound of his gravelly voice growling my name, and I almost slipped down the shower wall. Thank goodness he was holding my hands above my head. "I'm sorry, Sir." I answered, my voice quiet, a whisper against the sound of the shower.

Edward growled and ground his erection against me, my words seeming to have quite the effect on him. "Don't tease me like that again, Isabella." He said, bringing his mouth down to my neck, biting my sensitive skin.

"Who said I was teasing, Sir?" I said, my body burning for his touch. "Well in that case, Isabella," he said, pulling away from me, "I'd say you better prove yourself."

This wasn't a time for kissing, for taking my time showing him just how great I thought we could be. This was time for raw, rough, unbridled fucking.

Let the games begin.

I sunk down to my knees in front of him, using the slickness of the water to help guide my hand up and down his shaft a few times. I looked up at him, and his eyes were trained on my actions. He must have felt me watching him because he looked up, his eyes catching mine; I winked at him, maintaining eye contact, as I slowly took him into my mouth.

I could tell that Edward wanted to close his eyes, as he let out a guttural moan that shook the walls around us. But his eyes stayed locked on mine as I began moving my mouth up and down his length, using my hand to apply pressure to the area that I couldn't reach.

He was really well endowed.

Not that I was complaining.

Maintaining eye contact made going down on Edward a million times hotter than I thought it could ever be. The way that his eyes burned into mine as I carefully traced my tongue around his dick almost set me ablaze.

I tightened my lips around him, bringing my mouth off of him with a pop, looking up at him.

Edward seemed to have had enough.

He plucked me up off of the ground, pulling my up and slamming me up against the wall of the shower. "Is this what you wanted, Isabella?" he growled, biting my shoulder roughly. I moaned loudly, but managed to reply, "Yes. Please, fuck me."

Edward growled again, "Wrap your legs around me, Isabella."

I quickly complied, and Edward immediately slammed himself into me. We moaned simultaneously, overcome with the sensation of being together like this.

Edward slammed in and out of me, making sure to hit as far within me as possible. I'm not usually a fan of rough sex, but I think it was different because I actually trusted Edward.

I trusted him not to hurt me. And I craved him.

I bit down on Edward's shoulder, desperately trying to tell him to go faster. At the feel of my teeth on his shoulder, Edward moaned into the skin of my neck, and began slamming himself inside me at a speed that I had never seen.

It should have been painful, but instead it was driving me to the brink of sexual insanity.

I could feel the coil in my stomach start to tighten, and because I knew Edward was close, I took one arm that was wrapped around his neck and brought it between us, rolling my clit between my fingertips. My moans increased in volume and frequency, until I felt myself explode. Edward climaxed at the same time I had, and we rode our orgasms out together.

How he orgasmed without dropping me, I'll never know.

When we finally came down, Edward's shaking arms slowly lowered me to the ground, before he wrapped them around me, pulling me in a close hug. I smiled into his skin; who knew that an intimate hug was the perfect finisher to rough sex? I certainly didn't.

Edward's large hands came up to grasp my face, bringing my mouth to his. He gently kissed my lips, kissing me like he had all the time in the world, like this was all he wanted to do. His tongue moved languidly with mine, his kisses soft and gentle, reminding me that there was an emotional connection behind our physical fire.

He gently broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to mine with a smile. "Let's shower. We have somewhere to be." I chuckled, but agreed.

After quickly washing each other under the warm spray, occasionally taking a minute or two to kiss under the water, we stepped out of the shower, each walking back to the room to get dressed.

We got dressed together; Edward in khaki's and a dark blue button up, sliding his feet into leather flip-flops. I had him help tie my dark blue sarong, not missing the fact that we were once again matching, and slid on my sandals before walking back into the bathroom to apply my makeup.

Once I fluffed out my curls, applied mascara and some lip gloss, I decided that I looked decent.

I walked back out into the bedroom, grabbed my clutch, shoving a few devices in just in case, and the room key, before walking into the living room to join Edward… who was engrossed in a Thai soap opera.

I let him watch for a few more minutes as I dug around in my purse, placing a camera just over the door into our hotel room, over the door into our bedroom, and a few audio bugs around the main room. That way, if someone who should not have been there ever infiltrated our room, we would know.

"Edward, love." I said, laughing at him. He snapped out of whatever trance he was in, hopping to his feet and grabbing my hand. "I rented a car through the hotel, and I have a device scanner with me. All we need to do is scan it before we drive it. Every. Single. Time." I said, looking at him. "I don't need you blowing up or accidentally giving away international secrets." I chuckled, and he squeezed my waist, opening the door, and allowing me to walk out in front of him.

We got down to the lobby, and I handed the concierge my card, telling him that I was waiting to pick up my rental car. He smiled, and nodded at me, telling me that it was already waiting outside for us. We walked out the door, and my eyes feel upon the most gorgeous Lamborghini I had ever seen.

Edward seemed stunned. "Muceiélago LP 670-4 SV." He said, his voice s mesmerized monotone. It made me giggle.

"Yep, now get in." Edward still looked like he was going to have a heart attack.

He climbed in, buckled his belt, and made sure that mine was buckled before he began speaking. "We're in Thailand, for god sakes. What do you need this car for?"

I turned on the device scanner, holding it low in my lap, letting it scan the entire car for a few moments. Thankfully, it came up clean.

I just laughed, "We are supposed to be high society weapons buyers. What do you think we would be driving?" Edward laughed, and we continued our usual banter as we drove to Jaidee's.

We arrived at Jaidee and Hainad's house, parking the car to the side so that it couldn't be seen from the street. Jaidee and Hainad were very excited to see me, wrapping me in hugs and placing kisses on my cheeks. They were just as friendly with Edward, which I think surprised him.

I left Edward in the living room with Hainad, and followed Jaidee into the sitting area, chatting with her about her relationship with Hainad.

"He is so sweet about everything; he is so excited to get married. Please tell us that you will come out for the wedding?" She asked, a charming smile on her face.

"Absolutely, Jaidee! How could I deny you? After all, I set you up." She laughed, but couldn't help but acknowledge that it was true. "Make sure you bring Edward. I love him, as does Hainad. He's just trying to make sure that he has the proper intentions in regards to your honor." I laughed out loud, taking a minute to take in the home that I missed so much.

It was larger than most homes in Thailand are, but small when you considered it against my home in Baltimore. But it was perfect and homey; the only place that I could ever see Jaidee and Hainad living. The walls were decorated with works of art that had been passed down through each of their families, little Buddha statues sitting around randomly throughout the house.

The entire house smelled of curry, seafood, and rice, and my stomach grumbled loudly and appreciatively. I laughed, "I'm sorry, Jaidee. You know that my stomach has a mind of it's own where your cooking is involved." She just laughed, "Don't worry, Bella. Dinner is ready. Why don't you and Edward go sit down? Hainad and I will bring in the food." I nodded, and walked into the living room to go fetch Edward, who was talking to Hainad about football.

"What do you have against Truro City?" Edward was asking, laughing out loud, "I'm from Truro!" Hainad laughed, "I know someone from Tiverton." He answered, laughing as Edward's face turned red. "Screw the Yellows," Edward said, laughing, "Truro is where it's at."

"Alright, boys." I said, laughing at them, "Dinner. Hainad, Jaidee wants help. Edward, we're supposed to go sit. Jaidee's orders." I shrugged.

Edward walked ahead of me, into the dining room, while I hung back to talk to Hainad.

"Thank you for talking to him; I'm happy that you felt the need to make sure he was good for me." I said, leaning over to kiss Hainad on the cheek and give him a hug. "No problems, Bella." He answered, smiling at me. "You're like my little sister. I'm going to protect you as much as I can."

I smiled. I loved knowing that I was able to find people like this out in the world. People that cared for me no matter what I did for a living. People that wanted to protect me just because they cared about me.

"Well, what's the verdict?" I asked as we walked towards the dining room.

"I like him a lot, he'll be good for you. And he's already in love with you. But I'll still break both his knees if he hurts you."

I laughed the rest of the way into the dining room.

"What's so funny?" Edward asked from his spot on the ground. I walked over and sat down next to him, "Just something Hainad said." Edward nodded, "I like him." "Good." I answered, leaning my head on his shoulder, and kissing his cheek. "So, you ready for some traditional Thai dining?" Edward nodded rubbing his stomach and smiling at me.

We had an amazing dinner of Som Tum, a spicy papaya salad with peanuts, shrimp, tomatoes, and crab, Tom Yum Goong, a hot and sour soup with shrimp and mushrooms, and mango and sticky rice for dessert.

"Jaidee, Hainad." Edward said, leaning back and rubbing his stomach. "That was amazing." Jaidee laughed, "Thank you, Edward. I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Are you kidding, Jaidee?" I said, laughing. "How couldn't we have enjoyed it? It was delicious as always."

She smiled, and got up to begin collecting the dishes. I hopped up and helped her, the two of us shooing the men back into the front living room. We picked up the dishes, placing them next to the sink so that we could begin washing them. "So, would you be entirely against talking about business with me tonight, Jaidee?" I asked, nervous. She smiled at me as she began handing me dishes to dry. "Oh, of course not. We can always talk about business. You have a business packet, correct?"

I smiled. Jaidee always called my "device scanner" a business packet. It was our favorite code word… mostly because you could use it for anything. "Yes," I said, smiling, "I came entirely prepared." She chuckled, and we continued to wash the dishes.

"So, how long have you and Edward been together?" she asked, looking at me from the corner of her eye. I laughed, "I knew this was coming." She just smiled, but didn't change the subject.

"We met on work, a couple of days ago. Well, I actually saw him in Barneys before I knew that he was going to be a business partner. Because he's international, and my boss hadn't introduced us yet, I had no idea. But we met at this work party for New Year's Eve and we just… hit it off. We tried to be friends, but it didn't really work out."

Jaidee laughed, "I knew you had just gotten some when you came in the door!" "Jaidee!" I said, slapping her arm with a laugh, "how could you possibly have known?"

"Well, for one," she began, "You looked the most relaxed I'd ever seen you. And you didn't look like you were going to jump Edward the second you were left alone like you did when you got off the plane."

"But we had sex on the…" I cut myself off but it was too late. "I KNEW IT!" Jaidee exclaimed, laughing hysterically. I hit her with my damp drying cloth. "Oh, because you and Hainad haven't gone gallivanting around having sex all over this house?" I asked, cocking a knowing eyebrow at her. "We weren't talking about me." She answered, laughing at me.

Soon, we were both dissolved in giggles, trying to hold ourselves up against the side of the counter and keep our hands from splashing in the soapy water. The men must have heard us in the front room, but they didn't dare come and see what had made us laugh this way.

They knew that it probably wouldn't have been safe for them to do so.

We finished the dishes, still laughing a little about the things we had said, reverting back to our friendship almost immediately. That was the thing that I really loved about my friendship with Jaidee. No matter how much time we spent apart, we always dropped right back to where we were when we were back together. It was like nothing could keep us apart.

And that was how I felt about Edward too… only it was on a whole other level that I wasn't even sure existed. I knew that if we were separated from each other for any sort of time, we could fall back into our old routine, as long as we left on good circumstances. But… I didn't want to leave him. I didn't want to leave Jaidee either, because she was one of my best friends, but I knew that I needed to, and I was able to. If I had to leave Edward… I didn't know what it would feel like. If I would be able to make it.

I was attached to him in the best and worst sense of the word. I didn't want to think of myself in terms of anyone else, but I couldn't help thinking of myself in terms of Edward. We were something greater than our individual selves. When we were together, nothing else mattered, nothing else was important. It was the fact that we were able to interact with the world outside us that made our relationship even more amazing to me.

Jaidee and I finished up, putting the dishes away, before walking into the living room to retrieve our men, and walk down into their basement conference room.

We walked into the living room, and into one of the most hilarious things I had seen in a while. Hainad had both his feet over his head, and Edward was trying with all his might to emulate him. "I'm telling you," Hainad was saying, "this makes things really interesting in bed!"

Jaidee and I looked at each other before bursting out laughing. The two men looked over at us, promptly dropping their legs and hopping up, running over to their respective girls. Edward placed a kiss on my mouth, before leaning back and smiling at me. "Boys will be boys?" he offered, and I just dissolved into laughter again.

"Let's head downstairs. We need to talk business." Jaidee said, flipping the light off in kitchen before walking us downstairs.


Review Question: What do you think about Jaidee?

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