Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Okay, this is just a little teaser to hold you over until I finish writing chapter 9. It's basically chapter 7 from Edwards POV. It is definitely worth reading, but you probably won't gain any new information.

A million thanks to my wonderful beta, Kaiti. You are an inspiration and a wonderful chick!

EPOV

I was totally in shock over what just happened. Could it really be that Alice Brandon was here? Could it be possible that she was friends with the beautiful brunette that I was looking for? This was my in.

I looked over at Jasper, who was just staring out the door that Alice had left.

"Jas! What are you doing? Go after her!"

He looked up at me with a shocked expression. Without a word, he bolted off his stool and ran for the door.

This wasn't totally selfish. I remembered all too clearly what Jasper had been going through two years ago. I wanted to see him happy, and I knew if it were possible, he could be happy with Alice.

Before I could ponder on it further, the gorgeous blond that Emmett had been eyeing walked up to us.

Wait, isn't she friends with the brunette, too? Where is she?

"Hi there," she purred at Emmett. "I seem to have pulled a muscle in my lower calf here while I was dancing. You seemed like the type who knows your way around the gym. I was wondering if you could help me work it out."

With that, she hiked her leg onto the bar, just above Emmett's shoulder. I thought his eyes were going to bulge out of his head. He recovered nicely by running his hand up and down her injured calf.

"You just happen to be in luck. I'm a personal trainer by day, masseuse by night."

He wiggled his eyebrows up and down for effect, and I just had to laugh. The blond looked over at me briefly, and then turned her attentions back on Emmett.

"I'm Rosalie," she said, as she lowered her leg off the bar.

"Rosalie: what a beautiful name. I'm Emmett, and this is my friend, Edward. Pardon me for saying so, but you don't look like a stranger to the gym yourself."

"Well Emmett, I take pride in my beautiful body. It's too bad they don't have a gym on this ship. I love to get all worked up and sweaty."

I turned my head away from the two, afraid I would gag if I had to endure any more innuendos. I briefly heard a somewhat excited Emmett explain that there was a gym on the ship, and how he would love to show her around.

She in turn described, in all too much detail, how she would love for him to look over her squats to make sure she was doing them correctly.

I glanced over when I heard the conversation get quiet, just in time to see Rosalie slap Emmett across the face. She didn't look offended, but rather excited.

He bent towards her and whispered something in her ear. Just as she was about to playfully slap him again, he grabbed her by the wrist and a wicked grin enveloped her face.

God, they're perfect for each other.

I was about to get up and begin my search for the lonely brunette, but a small voice behind me stopped me in my tracks.

"Ahem."

I turned around and there she was; the brunette with the beautiful smile.

"Oh! Bella, there you are!"

Bella. Her name is Bella. Beautiful.

"Yes, here I am. Rosalie, I…"

The blonde cut her off. The brunette beauty appeared to be upset about something. I wanted to comfort her.

"Bella, you just have to meet Emmett! He is a personal trainer, and he informs me that this ship here does in fact have a gym! Isn't that great?"

Introduce me. Introduce me. Remember me? My name is Edward. Say it. Say it!

"That's wonderful, Rosalie. Look…"

Her voice was like music to my ears. Blondie kept cutting her off, and I was starting to get annoyed.

"This here is Edward, right?"

I love this blonde girl.

Finally, Bella turned to look at me. She looked terrified. I tried to smile at her, hoping she would realize I wasn't some serial killer, but she stayed frozen.

I would try speaking first.

"Right; and you must be Bella."

I stuck out my hand, but kept my eyes trained on hers. Still nothing.

Finally, blondie snapped her fingers and Bella jumped, apparently pulled out of her daze.

"Oh! Sorry! Yes, I'm Bella."

Well, at least she was speaking to me. She put her tiny hand in mine and I froze. I couldn't even bring myself to shake it; I just held it there like a lifeline, staring into her beautiful chocolate brown eyes.

Her cheeks flushed red, and before I could get adjusted to the heat that was flowing through my body at the contact of just our hands, she jerked away.

Did I scare her?

I couldn't pull my eyes away from her. I had to laugh. I'd never seen a woman react to me this way before. It was odd and wonderful at the same time.

She focused her eyes on the floor, apparently embarrassed about something.

I wanted to touch her again. I wanted to see her laugh like she did with her friends earlier.

A familiar song started to play and I was starting to think the DJ had a hard wire to my emotions tonight. "Your Touch" by The Black Keys started to resonate throughout the club. I saw Emmett and Rosalie scurry off to the dance floor together. This was perfect.

"Bella, would you like to dance?" I asked her.

This got her attention, although she still looked embarrassed about something.

"Ummm, I really can't dance that well."

Wow! Her cheeks are on fire! I don't think I have ever seen someone turn so many shades of red. Before I knew what I was doing, I reached my hand out to touch the natural blush on her face, half expecting it to burn me.

She closed her eyes at my touch and bit her lower lip. It was the most adoring thing I had ever seen in my life.

"You are really beautiful when you blush, Bella."

She had to know that every time her cheeks burned, my insides were aflame as well.

"Oh, thanks," she replied sheepishly.

She glanced around, probably looking for her friend. Here I was, a complete stranger, and her friend left her alone with me. Now I was touching her and telling her how beautiful she was. I must be scaring her.

I decided to give her an out if she wanted one. I pointed to the dance floor where Emmett and blondie were.

"She's dancing with Emmett," I provided.

She turned around to watch her friend, and a slight blush crept up her face again. There was something so familiar about her. Every time she blushed, every time she moved, smiled, and even blinked. It was all somehow familiar to me.

She turned back around, and I had to smile at the light flush that was still present on her face. She smiled entrancingly back at me, and I felt like my heart was going to thud out of my chest.

I had to say something, quick. I looked like and idiot just standing here staring at her.

"You know I was watching you before, and your dancing isn't that bad. Maybe I can show you a few things."

It came out a lot more seductive than I had planned, but she literally took my breath away. My shallow breathing was causing my head to spin and my voice to crack.

Wait. What did I just say? Oh God she looks terrified again! I just told her I was watching her! How do I fix this?

I cleared my throat for good measure, trying to take back control of the situation.

"I guess that sounded a little creepy, huh?"

She looked surprised at my assumption. That must be a good sign.

"Huh? Oh! No! I was just wondering… well… why were you watching me?"

I laughed at that.

Isn't it obvious? I wanted to say. God I wanted to kiss her.

I started to explain myself, but Jasper was at my side. This could be bad. I wasn't ready for my time with Bella to end, but I was pretty sure once she saw Jasper, she would lump me into the 'cheater' category.

"Edward, sorry to interrupt. I can't find her anywhere. I'm just gonna go back to the room and call it a night."

I eyed Bella, waiting for the explosion. It didn't come. She looked confused, but I waited for the mud slinging.

"What?" she asked me.

Wait a minute; didn't she know who Jasper was? Did she not realize he was the reason her friend darted out of the bar just moments ago?

Okay, this is good. Maybe she didn't know what happened between Alice and Jasper.

"Ummm, Bella, this is Jasper. Jasper, this is Bella."

Uh oh! There it is; the recognition.

"You're Jasper?!" she yelled.

"Er, yes. Do I know you?" Jasper seemed just as confused as I did.

"No, but you most certainly know my friend Alice!"

Jasper visibly got uncomfortable, and shifted from foot to foot. Then he got desperate. I thought he was going to tear up right in front of me.

"Pleaseyouhavetotellmewheresheis! Please! Ineedtotalktoher! Ihavetoexplain!"

My heart went out to Jasper, but this just seemed to enrage Bella further.

"I don't have to do anything for you creep! Alice is right where she needs to be; far away from you!"

Seeing Bella angry was probably the sexiest thing I had ever witnessed. She was so tiny and so cute, but seeing her take on a complete stranger like this was enthralling.

Blondie caught wind of the argument, and stormed over like a mad hornet. Now, this chick was anything but cute. She was down right evil when she got mad. Something about her eyes told me not to piss her off.

"Is this asshole giving you problems, Bella?"

Jasper looked unsure of how to handle the situation. I was about to step in, but Emmett took over.

"Uh Rosalie, this is a friend of mine. I don't think you under…"

"He is a friend of yours? Maybe you should tell your friend to back off!"

Emmett threw up his hands in surrender. I'd never seen him back down from a woman like that. He must have seen the evil in her eyes like I did.

"Rosalie, I'm fine. I was just telling Jasper here that he has no business with Alice."

From the way Bella enunciated Jaspers name, I could tell she was trying to convey some secret message to blondie. It didn't take long for her to make the connection.

"You!" she yelled, pointing a finger at Jasper. I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of her hatred.

"Bella, where is Alice?"

Even Bella looked a little scared of her.

"She decided to go back to the room for the night. She wanted to be alone for a while, and wouldn't let me follow her."

"Oh great, Bella! We have to go make sure she's okay. Come on!"

Blondie was fuming now, and Bella recoiled a bit at her words. I wanted to put blondie in her place for talking to her like that, but they both turned to leave.

"Wait!" I yelled. I noticed that Jasper and Emmett had voiced their desires as well.

Both girls turned around and waited, but the fire in their eyes gave me haste. Jasper was a bit braver.

"Please, if Alice doesn't want to see me, fine. But let her make that decision. Tell her I will be at the lower deck library at noon. I'll wait there for her. If she doesn't want to talk, I won't ask anything else of her. Just please let her know I want the opportunity to explain."

Bella nodded, but I wasn't sure that she was going to put in a good word for Jasper. I watched him walk away deflated. Maybe if I got Bella alone and tried to explain…

"Bella, can I have a word with you, in private?"

She turned to Rosalie, as if to ask for permission.

What was with the control blondie seemed to have over her?

Rosalie looked annoyed and not willing to budge, unless Bella was coming with her.

"Meet me out front in five minutes?" Bella pleaded with her.

Five minutes. That's all I had left with her.

I better make this good.

I wasn't sure where to start. I was wasting time, but I couldn't make my mouth move.

First things first, we needed somewhere with privacy. Before I could make a suggestion, she spoke up.

"What do you want, Edward?"

That doesn't sound good.

Why is she angry with me? Have I done something to offend her?

I needed to get her somewhere quiet, fast.

"Can we go somewhere that's not quite so noisy?" I motioned to an area of the bar that I had noticed earlier. It was outside, away from prying eyes.

I was afraid that she was going to say no, so I didn't give her a chance to respond. I grabbed her hand and quickly pulled her along with me.

The fire was burning inside of me again at touching her, but she didn't let me enjoy it for long. She immediately dropped her hand when we got outside and crossed her arms in front of her.

She was angry with me. I wasn't sure what I had done, so I didn't know exactly what to say to get her to let her guard down.

"Nice company you keep," she said with venom in her voice.

I didn't like being on the receiving end of her anger, even if I did think it was adorable. I figured I better get on with it, trying to save face for both myself and Jasper.

"Look, there's something you should know about Jasper, but it's really not my place to tell you. He didn't cheat on Alice, really."

She didn't believe me.

"It's complicated," I tried to explain.

This was definitely something that Jasper had to tell Alice himself. She would not appreciate the knowledge if it didn't come straight from him.

"It always is," she snapped back.

This almost sounded personal to her.

Has she been hurt before?

"Listen, he loved Alice and probably still does. He was broken up about it too. But there are things that happened that he never got a chance to tell her. She wouldn't listen to him and…"

Before I could continue she cut me off.

"And why should she have listened? She saw him kissing someone else, after he took away one of the most important things she had to give! Why would she listen to a damn word he had to say? He used her!"

This was definitely personal.

"No!"

This was going all wrong.

"You don't understand. It wasn't like that at all! Bella, please! You have to tell Alice to let him talk to her. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but I promise you that Jasper is a good man."

"Why should I believe you? I barely know you! I just met you!"

She had me there. She had no reason to trust me, but in that moment it was the only thing I ever wanted; her trust.

"If you would give me the chance, I would like for you to get to know me better. I would love the opportunity to get to know you as well."

I had to drive this message home. I took a step towards her, and she took a step back. I had to smile at her. She still looked angry, yet I could tell she was getting flustered by my advance.

I didn't want her to be afraid. I tried to be reassuring.

"Bella…" I said, in the most non-menacing voice I could muster.

She had no where to go. She looked hesitant, but she wasn't going to deny me. She knew what I wanted.

I wanted her to feel safe with me, so I placed both hands on her shoulders. If she wanted to push me away, she was in the best position to do so.

Her breath was becoming ragged. Her eyes moved from my chest to my lips. I leaned in closer. I could almost hear her racing heartbeat. Her eyes started to close. She wanted this.

I closed my eyes and closed the remaining centimeters between us, only to be met with the brush of her cheek. I opened my eyes and breathed out a sigh in frustration.

What the hell?

I looked down at her, and she was fidgeting in her purse. I backed away and ran my fingers through my hair. This was something I did when I got frustrated, which was exactly how I was feeling.

She found what she was looking for; her phone.

"Hello? Yes, I'll be right there. Two minutes, Rosalie."

She hung up and looked at me.

So, where were we?

"I'm sorry, Edward. I really have to go. I'll talk to Alice, but I can't promise anything."

No! Not yet!

"Can I see you again?" I asked, probably sounding a little desperate.

She thought about it for a moment, before finally answering.

"Maybe."

Maybe. Okay, better than no. But, I need more.

Okay, I just need to get her inside and persuade her to give me her number. No, I will give her my number. Let her be in control. But what if she doesn't call?

I was running out of time. I grabbed her hand and headed back into the bar. I didn't get far before I noticed the red head coming our way.

Victoria.

I had completely forgotten about her.

"Edward! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"

I wanted to be polite, but I didn't want to let on that anything further was going to happen between us. I gave her a friendly smile, and tried to keep it casual.

"Hello Victoria, nice to see you again."

She finally noticed Bella, and I didn't miss the look of disdain she was giving her. Bella dropped my hand, and I groaned internally.

No! How did this go so badly?

"Maybe not," I heard Bella say from behind me.

She pushed her way forward and through the crowd. I was not going to let the evening end like this.

No way!

"Excuse me, Victoria."

I walked swiftly past her, not giving her the chance to stop me.

I reached into my pocket and found what I was looking for, then scanned the room for Bella.

I found her just as she was about to exit the bar, and I rushed to catch up with her. I knew she wouldn't hear me over the crowd, so I lightly grabbed her arm and twisted her back towards me.

She looked shocked and angry. I had to be quick. She had to know that Victoria was nothing, just someone I met before I knew she even existed.

"Bella, that's not what it looks like."

"You don't have to explain anything to me, Edward."

Of course I didn't. But I wanted to. I needed her to know that I was available to her, if she wanted me.

She tried to turn and leave me, but I wasn't having that. It was now or never, she had to know how I felt. I spun her around again to meet me, and without giving her time to react, pressed my lips to hers.

She tasted like honey and smelled like freesias. Fireworks were going off in my brain and every nerve in my body was tingling. It was the most amazing kiss I had ever had.

I felt her lips turn up into a smile, so I knew my job was done. I reluctantly pulled away from her, and returned her smile.

As the reality of what I had just done sunk in, she started to look angry again. She was just hell bent on making this night a disaster, wasn't she?

She was about to speak, probably to yell at me for kissing her like that, but I gently hushed her mouth with my fingertips.

"I've wanted to do that all night. Please don't ruin it for me."

She tightened her lips and stared up at me. I didn't know what else to say except:

"Good night, Bella."

I took the paper from my pocket with my room number on it and pressed it into her palm. I made sure she had a tight squeeze on it. All this would be for nothing if she lost it in her flustered state.

I had to walk away from her before I picked her up and whisked her away. She looked so beautiful right now, as if this was her first kiss. I turned to leave, and found a little corner in the bar to watch her walk away.

She seemed dazed, and I smiled at myself for that. Rosalie had obviously seen everything. She was hovering over Bella with a stupid grin on her face. Then I saw it. Bella was smiling the biggest, most beautiful smile I had ever seen on a woman before. And it was all because of me.