A/N - I am SO sorry for the delay! This is the first time I've had internet access all weekend - I hope this chapter is worth the wait!

Chapter Nine

Secret: I don't like the process of dating. I'd much prefer to be home on a Friday (or Wednesday) night. However, there are a few exceptions.

I realized why he'd picked Wednesday when I picked up my flight schedule at the beginning of the week. Dinner-time on Wednesday would find us in South America. It was a good thing that being a native to Arizona, I had a fondness for Hispanic food.

Because Edward hadn't elaborated on just what we'd be doing come Wednesday, Alice had me prepared. In my locker, I had found three separate sets of clothing, because Edward had explained, if it was okay with me, we would leave right from work.

I had a party dress, a swimsuit, and a set of hiking clothes. Alice's imagination was way overactive.

However, she was nearer the mark than I was. When I went to my locker on Wednesday, I was forced to settle on the dress, because it would just not be classy to wear jean shorts and a t-shirt to a fancy restaurant, if that was where we were going. Edward was being awfully secretive about the whole affair, so I just threw my other clothes in my duffel bag for good measure.

I sighed as I pinned a chiffon flower clip into my hair. Of course it matched my dress; they were both the same deep blue. In Alice's world, everything came with matching accessories.

I worried that I would be over dressed. At least Alice had restrained herself, somewhat. It wasn't a terribly impractical dress, knee-length and frilly with spaghetti straps.

With one last glance in the bathroom mirror, I decided that I looked okay, but it still didn't help my nerves. It wasn't often that I flew international, and I was unfamiliar with the layout of this airport, so I was glad to find him waiting for me just outside the locker room.

"You look beautiful," he said sincerely as I came tripping out, my bag strap somehow getting caught in the door hinge.

He effortlessly released it and ignored my lack of grace, offering me his arm and leading me back onto the tarmac.

"I thought we were going to dinner," I questioned.

"We are," he smiled. "I'm taking you back to my place."

He helped me up the steps of a private jet, and though the last thing I wanted was to fly some more, I couldn't help but reflect upon entry that if Heaven looked like an airplane interior, then I was getting a preview.

It wasn't as ostentatious as most luxury planes – instead, it had an understated elegance with red wood paneling and buttery taupe Italian leather couches. Classical music played softly in the background.

"Is this yours?" I gasped.

"My uncle's," he shrugged. "He lent it to me for the evening. We'll be going to Isle Esme, a gift of his to my aunt." Edward smiled again. "My uncle and I usually like to take the speed boat, but Esme gets seasick, so Carlisle always keeps a plane on hand."

Smooth Operator.

He soooo thought he was getting some! A private jet? To a private island? On a first date?

Maybe Alice's cinematic world view wasn't as skewed as I thought.

"You think you're getting some," I accused jokingly.

"Clearly," he smirked, but he kept his tone light enough to let me know that he was joking, too. "I mean," he ran his hand over one of the sofas in a manner that would have made Vanna White weep. "These are real Italian leather." He wiggled his eyebrows devilishly, making me laugh, and Viv horny.

"True," I conceded, staying playful. "But…a Wednesday dinner date? That's a bit unorthodox, don't you think?"

"Well, if you want to wait until a more conventional time like Friday or Saturday, I'd be happy to hang out here for the rest of the week," he said pleasantly.

I stuck my tongue out at him and climbed into the cockpit.

"Let's see you work your magic."

He quirked an eyebrow, probably wondering whether I had intended innuendo in my command. I had.

"You have no idea how good this feels," I groaned, as we lifted into the air. "I can't remember the last time I flew and didn't have to drag that stupid drink cart around with me."

"I bet," he said. "You are an excellent beverage assistant. Though, I think I prefer when you do the safety demonstration. It's pretty cute when you put on the oxygen mask."

I hit him on the arm. "Keep your eyes on the sky," I said, but I couldn't keep from smiling with him as we began our descent toward the little island in the sun.

"Welcome to my humble abode," he announced smugly as we landed on a miniature airstrip. There was no sign of an airport, so I assumed that this was a private island. Just a hangar the size of a house for the jet, that's all.

Having grown up on the salaries of a kindergarten teacher and the police chief of a tiny town, I was slightly nonplussed. I mean, I knew he came from money, but seeing it in person was a wholly different experience. When he hung out with the crew, he felt like one of us. Now he felt like one of us with a seven or eight figure price tag.

"Wait…this is yours?" was my intelligent way of expressing how overwhelmed I was.

"Yeah, well, it was my aunt's – Carlisle gave it to her as an anniversary present, but he got her a bigger one for their last anniversary and they didn't need two, so I bought this one from them." Edward smiled slightly. "As creepy as it is to own an island named after your aunt, I couldn't imagine changing it to anything but Isle Esme."

"I don't think it's creepy," I murmured, not thinking about the name at all. "It's pretty." I was still astonished that all this belonged to him; not his family, but to one man in his twenties. At least I felt a little better that he had purchased it himself, which showed that he had good character…but yet, this raised more questions, like where that money had come from.

"Yeah, the name can be quite a chick magnet sometimes," Edward joked, watching the sky rather than my face, as I'd instructed.

My brow puckered. "How so?"

"Oh, you know," he said, very non-chalant "Sometimes, when they ask about it, I tell them about my ex-fiancée named Esme, with whom I was very much in love, but died tragically of tuberculosis when we were on a mission trip here to help impoverished children, two months before the wedding. It works even better than the "backpacking across Europe" story."

"You do not," I gasped, slapping his arm.

"Hey, flying here!" he groused, swerving the wheel a little for effect.

"I don't think taxiing into the hangar counts as 'flying,'" I retorted. "And anyway, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't know that Esme is your aunt."

"Shoot," he said, looking glum, but his eyes were dancing. "So basically, everyone is just dating me for my fame and fortune?"

"Pretty much," I assured him with a smile.

He smiled back, but his eyes turned a shade more serious then. "Is that why you are dating me?"

I held his gaze for a moment, before rolling my eyes. "Obviously."

"I knew it!" he laughed. "A gold digger from the start."

"Born and raised," I played along.

We grinned at each other, but got quiet as he helped me out of the plane. It seemed kind of a waste to me to have all that nice furnishing at our disposal and not even use it, but…maybe later. Someone did have to fly the plane after all.

As I managed the last step without performing a face-plant, largely in part to Edward's guiding hand, I stared around me in wonder. The island was beautiful.

"Do you like it?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"It's completely stunning," I whispered back. I was completely absorbed in watching a flock of macaws take flight when Edward appeared at my shoulder, standing behind me as he handed me a startlingly crimson bloom.

"You know," he whispered in my ear. "This place has always been my oasis. Actually, the only person I've ever brought here is you."

I blushed and smiled at him, turning my neck to kiss him, but I couldn't help but to wonder why that made me feel more uncomfortable than flattered.