Okay, so I understand some of you are going to ask where I've been. To be honest, I don't really feel like telling you the full story, we'll just leave it as a family event. Anyway, moral of the story is, I didn't feel much like writing for a few weeks, but now I'm back and better than ever... hopefully. As always, please read and review!

Bella was nervous as she arose the next day, putting on her best business attire, and knocking on Edward's door early to wake him up. The contract lawyer that she'd hired to come for the next two days was arriving an hour before the people from Nike, just to have a quick discussion over what Edward was looking for in the agreement in terms of conditions, exposure and of course, financial return.

Of course, Edward showed very little interest in this, and the contract lawyer, a man of about 55 years of age, with no hair to speak of who went by the name of Mason, spent all his time talking to Bella.

When Bella had called the people at Nike, and they'd said they wanted to meet Edward, she'd asked where they should meet. The marketing director, Paul Shagin, had said that they wanted to meet Edward in his home. He'd mentioned the Tiger Woods scandal, and the importance of seeing a potential client within their home environment. So Bella had asked Rosalie whether she'd be amenable to holding a meeting in her home, and while she was reluctant, she eventually agreed.


The party from Nike arrived punctually, and as Bella had suggested, Edward greeted them at the door, and led them through to the main room.

Paul had shaken them both by the hand, and as Bella had requested, Emmett and Rosalie stayed upstairs for the introductions. She didn't want anything getting in the way of business, especially not the fact that Emmett was signed with Reebok.

Paul Shagin complemented Edward on his home, saying it said a lot about him, but Edward, of course, couldn't let the compliment be, and just run with the suggestion.

"Oh no, it's not my house," Edward responded, as Bella struggled to keep her face neutral. Part of the charm of this house was that it wasn't outrageously huge or pretentious, and it suited the image they were trying to project.

"No, this is Rosalie Hale and Emmett Cullen's house," Edward continued, "they are just very generously letting me stay here until my apartment is tenable, and the paperwork is complete,"

"Oh really? That's very generous of them," Paul replied.

"Yes it is, given that they are already putting up Bella here," Edward chuckled, as Bella forced a smile.


Three hours, and lots of contract wrangling later, they'd finally hammered out a deal between Nike's lawyers, and Mason, who'd done a rather good job from Bella's limited experience. Nike wanted Edward to be the face of their new cleat, the Nike Air Zoom Alpha Talon. He would wear it during the season, and they would shoot an advert with him, as well as use him in print ads.

The shooting would take place in four weeks time, so the campaign could be released in time for the new season, and the entire deal would last three years, and be worth $2.5 million over that period.

As they were leaving, Emmett came down, and engaged in friendly banter with about his endorsement deal with Reebok, who joked about how much better his offer could have been. Emmett just laughed, and shook the man's hand, who in turn nodded approvingly and Edward. Bella went from slightly annoyed at Emmett for breaking her request to very happy. She could tell that through Edward's growing friendship with Emmett, it had made a good impression.


Bella spent the rest of the day organising Edward's finances, a task that she took no particular joy in. At UCLA she had done a semester on financial management, but she was out of her depth, so she hired him a financial manager, whose job it was to look after all this fresh income that was coming in.

Whereas before he was simply earning his team salary and nothing more, now there were going to be pay checks arriving from every which way, and Bella wasn't prepared to deal with the subsequent complexities. So as Edward, who out of gratefulness to Rosalie for the loan of her house while confining her to the upstairs, a request that he'd only discovered had been made after the Nike representatives had departed, was cooking them all dinner.

Bella had enquired as to whether Edward had any idea how to cook, and he'd looked wounded.

"In college, there was a girl who was studying at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts at Florida, and she convinced me to come along to the night school with her. She only lasted a month, but I enjoyed the cooking, so I kept going. In a different class, of course," he'd grinned.

Bella had only sighed, and gone back to work.

True to his word, however, Edward had served up a masterpiece. It was a Salmon roulade, baked then served over a potato galette with a tomato-butter sauce, accompanied by asparagus and julienne carrots.

"I would never have guessed you had it in you," Rosalie said, as they devoured the meal.

Edward then followed it up with dessert; Individual Grand Marnier soufflés served with a Latte accompanied by rosemary cashew biscotti.

"You," Emmett declared between mouthfuls, "are the designated cook from now on. I will do all your cleaning and washing, as long as you will agree to provide the meals. Also, you are welcome to stay until next year, and longer if possible. Definitely longer," he added, after another bite.

"I warn you, I'm not putting in this much effort every evening," Edward said, chuckling, as Emmett decimated his meal in record time, "if you're going to take about thirty seconds to get through it,"

"Are you suggesting I should take longer over it? I don't think I've got the self restraint," Emmett replied, finishing off his desert as others moved on to their second bites.


Sports Illustrated called in the evening and Edward had disappeared into his room for half an hour to answer copious numbers of questions. Bella had enquired how it had gone afterwards, keen for information about the first interview he'd taken with her as his agent, but he simply nodded in typical Edward fashion, and told her that it was 'good'.

When pushed, he said they'd asked him about how his experience in Seattle was, and what he was hoping to achieve in NY, but he wouldn't divulge any more than that.

Edward spent the following day at number 114, 5th Avenue; the New York headquarters of the Giorgio Armani Corporation. The contract negotiations were quick, as the offer was generous enough for the contract lawyer and their new financial manger to suggest signing the draft that had been prepared.

The rest of the day was spent in the studio, with Edward having a practice shoot with in-house photographers and acting out some silent scenes. Bella sat behind the camera and watched as the makeup people went to work on an uncomfortable looking Edward.

He was forced into getting a fake tan, which he was none too pleased about to begin with, and then they began arranging his facial makeup, which involved three people working simultaneously on him. Fortunately, the director of photography immediately vetoed and alterations to his hair, citing that it was something that set Edward apart, along with his eyes.


When announced they were going to wax him, Edward almost screamed.

"Not a fucking hope in hell!" he shouted at the director, who looked affronted as he came to see what the uproar was about.

"Well, take your shirt off," he suggested, "and I'll see if we can manage without."

Edward removed his shirt uncomfortably, but due to a lack of any body hair was pronounced to be an acceptable specimen, much to his unbridled relief.

Unfortunately, the photos and the commercial would be in black and white, but Bella looked at some of the practice photos, and his eyes still appeared to possess the same intensity as they did in colour.

After nearly five hours of photography, Edward was finally released, but not after being given an address outside of Manhattan where the commercial and the photo shoot would take place.

When he arrived home, he cooked a quick meal for everyone, ate it, and then excused himself. He was as tired as he'd been after any session he'd had in the gym, and he was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


Edward was swimming gracefully from one end of the pool to another. His pants and his shirt lay by the edge of the pool, and he dived under elegantly, swimming down to just brush himself along the tiles on the bottom.

Overhead, there were muffled noises, but Edward stayed under, only returning to the surface when his air had finally run out. He broke the surface, shaking his head as water pellets flew from the strands of hair.

He ran his hand to his left shoulder, before he heard a cough behind him. His face remained neutral as he turned in the water, to face the source of the noise. He gave an unapologetic smile, and made his way up the underwater steps towards the figure who was beckoning him with a finger.


Three hours earlier

Bella had arrived half an hour after Edward at the commercial shoot to find the entire place in uproar. She walked through the house, which was the location that the director of photography had chosen, and out into the backyard where all the action was taking place.

Removing her sunglasses, she glanced around, and finally spotted Edward, who was sitting in a fold out chair, wearing a robe and sunglasses himself on the uncharacteristically warm February day, listening to music through headphones.

Bella went and tapped him on the shoulder, and he removed the sunglasses.

"What is going on?" she asked, as the bustle continued around them. "I leave you half an hour to yourself to go and help Rosalie and Emmett move some things, and you manage to make your photo shoot a disaster," she added with a smile.

"My opposing lead, some model..." Edward began, before trailing off. His eyes opened wide, and he jumped up, grabbing Bella by the arm. "Do you have Rosalie's phone number handy? Good, because I think I just might have an idea,"

"Mr. Torino," Edward called to the director, who was busily shouting at some lackeys. "Mr. Torino!"

"Eduardo, is not good time now, I cannot find replacement for model who disappears. Ack, these models, Andate tutti a 'fanculo!"

"You've lost a model?" Bella asked incredulously.

"We've lost the model. She was supposed to play the other lead, and no one is available at this short notice, that they can get a hold of. Mr. Torino here is scheduled to fly out day after tomorrow to shoot something else, and we can't find anyone."

"But you thought of Rosalie," Bella said, understanding.

"Well, you thought of Rosalie, I just connected the dots," Edward added, as Alberto Torino looked inquisitive.

"Who is this Rosalie?" he asked

"She's a friend of Bella's. A model, a tall, blonde model, like the one who didn't show up. And she's down to earth and would love, I'm sure to come and play that part," Edward explained.

"Show me photograph," he said, grabbing the two of them by the arm, and leading them to a laptop.


An hour later, Rosalie arrived looking flustered and excited, two states that Bella had never seen her friend in before.

"Oh I look a mess; I haven't had my hair done or anything. It's going to be a disaster," she wailed.

Bella attempted to calm her down, but got a lecture about how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and she had no time to prepare. She read directions and instructions while she was made up, and was given verbal instructions by the director and cameramen.

Finally she was ready, and they could commence filming.


Bella sat behind in a chair that had been specially allocated to her, and watched the action unfold.

The premise was that Edward began as a gardener, clipping hedges like the rest of the company he was with, around the edge of the pool. Naturally, he removed his sweaty shirt to reveal his body about ten seconds in. After twenty seconds of this rather stimulating image, Edward looked at the pool. Five seconds later, he was down to his Giorgio Armani boxer-briefs, and had waded into the pool while his co-workers shot him furtive looks as they continued their jobs.

Edward swam for a while, before diving underwater. In the meantime, the sound of the houses' owner arriving home in her car could be heard. The gardeners shout warnings to Edward, but he cannot hear them underwater.

He surfaces, only to hear the sound of a deliberate cough behind him, as all the gardeners sleek away quickly in the background. Edward turns around to see Rosalie, dressed to the nines in an exceptionally short, black dress that hugged absolutely everything, blonde hair cascading down her shoulders, with black, six-inch stiletto heels and large, mirrored sunglasses. She beckons him with a solitary finger.

Edward emerges from the pool, up the underwater steps. As he does so, Rosalie lowers her sunglasses, watching as his body reveals itself, along with the Giorgio Armani boxer-briefs. He stops in front of her, not breaking her gaze.

Slowly and deliberately, she puts her arm around him, and draws him in, as water droplets cascade over them both. She leans into his lips, until they are only half an inch apart...

"Cut! Amazing, is so good. We now, I am thinking, have what we need. This will make for good commercial. I made it, of course it will!" Alberto Torino shouted, as Rosalie released Edward and Bella let out the breath she'd been unconsciously holding for the entire time Rosalie had been touching Edward.

He'd never looked so good. He still had the fake tan on, which she thought was a bit much, but apparently it showed better on film and in photographs, and it made his eyes stand out even more. This was also coupled with the fact that he was wet, and had no shirt on. All in all, it was having a devastating effect on the entire female crew, and several of the males as well.


"So... what did you think?" Edward asked, as they sat in the back of taxi, as it started the long journey home.

Bella shifted uncomfortably. "It was good," she replied

"Good?" he repeated slowly, "that sounds like you want to say something else but are too polite to; I'm not going to cry Bella, you can tell me the truth,"

"It really was good, I'm not trying to dodge the question," she said, still not meeting his eye.

"Then why are you lying? Because you're the worst liar in the world. You're blushing, for one," Edward said, leaning forward to examine her face with a grin.

"I'm not lying! It was good!" she said, "if you really want to hear it, that was absolutely amazing, alright? Every single woman there was just about ready to jump in your professionally fitted briefs there and then. You better hope Emmett doesn't see this, because it looked like Rosalie was nearly one of those females too,"

Rosalie had left an hour after they'd finished shooting everything that required her. Edward had stuck around to film some more of the underwater shots, and some more of him gardening. She'd offered Bella a lift home, and then raised an eyebrow at her when she'd said she'd stay.

"You aren't fooling anyone," Rosalie had said with an amused smile at her friend.

There was a pause in the taxi, and then Edward smiled once more.

"Did you say every female?" he enquired.

"Oh shut up," answered Bella, staring out the window.


Haha consider that an apology for being away for so long. I hope you enjoyed reading that somewhere near as much as I enjoyed writing it. Anyway, if you did/didn't/are completely ambivalent, let me know in the medium of review! It's much more enjoyable than interpretive dance, and easier too.