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Hello friends, readers and reviewers. Thanks for everything again. Thanks to my beta, she makes everything I write look better and flow together correctly. Makes me happy.

Back to Edward's POV we go.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10

EPOV

My palms are sweaty and my legs feel wobbly. My fingers are in my hair as I pace back and forth in front of the door. I can feel blood as I bite my lip. My chest is hurting from breathing too fast and too hard. I decide to go back into the living room and take a seat before I have a full blown panic attack.

I take out my phone and read the message that's been causing all of this.

We need to talk -B

Receiving that message last night made my heart drop. Agreeing to talk to her, at my place, scared me shitless.

Is this it? Is this really it? Is this Bella realizing that she's too good for me? Is this her understanding that she should just continue her life like she never knew me? Is this her breaking us up so we can forget about these last four months?

God, I hope not.

Not when I made that promise to Alice and Jasper. That promise I plan on keeping.

I invited her over for lunch. Tanya would be gone for the day and night. She's having a girl's day and night with Rosalie in Olympia.

I jump when I hear a car door slam. My hand flies over my chest and I can feel how fast my heart is beating. I need to calm down before I go into cardiac arrest.

I take a few deep breaths and turn around to watch Bella walk up my driveway. She's wearing jeans, a white long sleeve v-neck with a blue scarf wrapped around her neck and brown UGG boots with a brown purse wrapped around her looks just as nervous as I am as she gets closer. I can't take my eyes off of her even when she rings the doorbell. She plays with her necklace with one hand while her arm crosses over her stomach as she waits for me to answer the door.

Finally, I get up from the couch and go open the door.

"Bella," I say with a smile on my face.

Her shoulders relax when she sees my smile. "Edward."

I love the way she says my name. I pull her hand away from her necklace and kiss her palm. Her eyes close as my lips touch her skin. I pull her into me and shut the door.

"I've missed you," I tell her honestly. I just hadn't realized how much until she was in my arms and I was feeling like a missing piece of me was now found.

"I missed you, too." Her voice sounds sad, but when I pull away to look at her there is no sign of sadness on her face. She smiles back at me then kisses my cheek.

"Would you like something to drink?" I offer while we walk to the living room.

"No, I'm fine," she says, completely distracted by the house.

"Okay. I'm going to go get myself something to drink. You can sit on the couch if you want," I tell her before retreating to the kitchen.

I'm not really thirsty, but I needed to get away from her before I start panicking again. My hands are already sweating. I feel like the fourteen year old boy I once was going on his first date.

Her name was Victoria James. She was a year older than me and was friends with Rosalie. She had red hair and blue eyes, something you don't see that much. She was a cheerleader and very well known. I was the lucky one out of my friends because sophomores never say yes to freshmen.

Esme and Carlisle took pictures and I had to change my shirt twice because I was sweating so much. We went to get ice cream. Emmett had to drive us, but I paid with the money I'd gotten from walking dogs and washing cars. She said she had a good time and kissed my cheek.

Truth was, she really didn't have a good time and she didn't like me. The only reason she agreed to go with me was in hopes to get a glimpse of Emmett without his shirt on or something. She lied and told everyone that he kissed her.

Even though no one believed her, I felt like a loser for believing someone like her could like someone like me. I was a small, lanky freshmen. I stopped feeling sorry for myself when I saw her face a week later. Rosalie overheard her talking about her fake encounter with Emmett and beat the truth out of her.

Victoria became known as a liar and the first girl beaten up by Rosalie Hale. She transferred schools when Rosalie came back from suspension. Her mom says Forks High School wasn't good for her, but everyone knows it was because she was too scared to come out of the girls' bathroom.

Once I'm sure I won't pass out the next time Bella touches me, I head back to the living room.

Bella's not sitting down like I expected. Instead, she's standing in front of the bookshelf that has mine and Tanya's family. I lean against the wall and watch as her finger lightly traces the frames. A small smile spreads across her face and she sets it back down only to pick up another one, a small giggle escaping her.

I quietly walk over to where she is and snake my hands around her waist. I put my chin on her shoulder so I can look at the picture she's holding. She's holding a picture of me and Emmett.

I laugh. "This is from New Years two years ago."

I take the picture of Emmett sprawled across me, drunk. His mouth is open and I'm grimacing because he's slobbering on my jeans. Rosalie and Esme thought it was the funniest thing. I did not.

"Your brother seems like the life of the party," she jokes, taking the frame and setting it back on the shelf.

I stiffen when she picks up a picture of me and Tanya. It was three years ago when I took her to the Christmas party. We decided to match and wear light blue. It was the first night I got a taste of her high maintenance attitude. She wore a tiara.

"Where's the princess?" Bella asks, her hands gripping the frame more firmly. I sigh and take it from her then put it back where she got it from.

I pull her to the couch, explaining Tanya's whereabouts.

"Cool," is all she says, looking at her fingernails.

"So..." I say before it can become an awkward silence.

"So," she mocks me. She fights a smile while continuing to pay attention to her nails.

I roll my eyes, but smile. "How are you?"

Her nose flares as she sighs and holds her hand out in front of her. "Are we really going to go through this? Can't we skip the bullshit? I'm here to talk."

"Okay," I say softly, taking her hand in mine. "Let's talk."

"You told Alice and Jasper that you were going to end things with Tanya." She's looking down at our hands. I wonder if she's feeling what I'm feeling.

I nod. "I did."

Her head snaps up. "Were you being serious?"

It's me who looks away this time. Not because I'm going to tell her I wasn't being serious, just so I can gather my thoughts and make sure I'm sure about this. Once I tell her she's the one I want, there's no going back.

When my thoughts are gathered and I am more than positive I look back at her. Her eyes are sad and she's trying to keep from looking disappointed. She thought by looking away I was saying I wasn't serious and I'm not leaving Tanya.

"What am I doing here? I'm so stupid," she mutters, slipping her hand out of mine and running it through her hair. I try to find the voice to tell her that what she's thinking is wrong.

For the first time I am seeing the real her. Not the snarky, smartass attitude who can be blunt about every situation. She's vulnerable and upset. I'm not used to this and I have no idea what to do or how to react.

I watch her face change as she assumes. I want to know what she's really thinking and what she's feeling. Probably hurt.

Alice is going to kill me.

Bella sighs and reaches for her purse that's sitting at her ankles so she can leave. I grab her arm firmly so she can't move. She jerks, but I don't let go.

"Don't leave," I plead.

She sighs, frustrated. "Look. I came here to talk. Like an adult. We have to be honest and open with each other. No lies, no hesitations. I'm a big girl and you're a big boy. I'm sure we can handle the truth. Right?"

I smirk as I watch the Bella I'm used to come back. I nod in agreement with her. "Right."

"And if I sit down we speak the truth and nothing but the truth?"

I nod and hold up my right hand. "I swear it."

She nods and sits down. "I swear, too."

"And yes," I say, picking up where we left off. "I was being serious."

She fights a smile. "Really?"

I nod. "I don't know when, but I do know I don't plan on marrying her."

"You know I don't expect this, right? I like you... a lot," she breathes. "But I never expected you to leave her so we could be together. I didn't think we'd really be something."

"I didn't expect anything to happen between us. I thought the day I saw you at your work that'd be the first and last time I'd see you. I didn't think I would share a kiss with you or sleep with you. You're out of my league and I'm engaged."

She snorts. "No lying, Edward."

I grab her hand and capture her eyes with mine. "I mean it."

She nods, but I don't want to leave it at that. I want to make sure she knows that I am being sincere when I say I want to be with her. Because I do. There's just a lot in the way we wish isn't.

"I don't want to be just here," I say, taking my hand and cupping her jean covered sex.

Her breathing hitches and her eyes close.

"I want to be here, too." I move my hand to cover her chest where her heart is.

I can feel it beating faster than normal. I take this as my chance to lean in and kiss her, so I do. It's quick, but it feels nice. My heart starts to beat just as fast as hers. I've missed that feeling.

Her eyes flutter open slowly. "How do I know you're not just saying this so I'll stay?"

"I'm not one of those high school teenagers that will say anything to get you into bed," I tell her truthfully. "I never have been. That was all Emmett until he met Rose."

"That's not hard to believe," she chuckles. "Let's say you do call off the engagement with Tanya. Do you really think we'd make it?"

I nod. "There's a connection between us I've never felt before. It's strong and intense. Jasper says it's love, but I'm not about to throw that word out at you like I did with Tanya. I wasn't sure what love was back then and I'm still not sure, but I'd be more than willing to find out. With you. Do I think we'd make it? Of course. I don't think we'd go through this much trouble to be together if we weren't destined to last."

I'm surprised at myself. I never thought I would dig these words out of the hole I stuffed them in, hoping I would never have to face these feelings again. Now that they're out, it doesn't feel so bad.

It feels right.

"I'm willing to find out what it is with you, too," she says.

I smile. "Really?"

She nods shyly, biting her bottom lip.

I pull her into me and she laughs. "I hope this does work out, Edward."

"Me, too," I sigh. "Me, too."

We spend the next few hours getting to know each other.

I tell her about being adopted which she had no idea about. Carlisle's new found problem and Esme's.

"I like Esme. She's nice." A sly smile is on her face as she says this. "Though, I'm not too sure she'll like me after she finds out I'm the reason you left your fiance."

"She seemed to like you more than she liked Tanya. It took mom a year before she could stand being around her."

"I wonder why that is," she murmurs, sarcasm in her tone.

I tell her about the famous Rosalie and Emmett story. I only tell her about Tanya and I because she asks. I feel awkward telling her about how me met, our first date and how I asked her to marry me.

She doesn't say anything the entire time I talk, but her face says it all. Her nose flares when she's jealous and her eyes close when I say something she doesn't want to hear. Her lip stays between her bottom teeth the entire time.

She tells me about her father and mother. I watch pain flash across her face when she talks about his addiction and her absence. She tells me she plans to visit her mother and tell her how mad she is about it.

She surprisingly talks about Royce. I feel like she did when I was talking about Tanya. My nose flares when I hear how bad he treated her. My eyes close as I listen to something that pisses me off. By time she's done my fists are balled up and I'm set on finding the mother fucker so I can kill him.

"Hey," she says, noticing how tense I become. She cups my cheek and I calm down a little. "It's okay. It's over now."

I nod.

She moves on to talk about Alice and I am able to understand why Alice reacted the way she did. They're more than best friends. They're each other's lifelines. If they didn't have each other, they'd have no one.

I ask her about her school. She studied English literature, business and took some culinary classes. She wants to go back to school one day so she can become an English teacher. She likes it that much.

"I could barely stay awake during that class," I say truthfully. "I was only good at math and sciences."

"I was good at math, too, but English was so... intriguing."

She goes on and on about why she likes it so much. I let her because I've never seen her so animated about something before. Her face scrunches up, but her eyes are still wide with excitement as she talks about Shakespeare, Emily Bronte and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

"It's getting late," she says when the clock strikes eleven at night. She stands up and stretches her body. I can see part of her stomach when she lifts her arms and yawns. She slings her purse over her should then extends her hand out to me. "Are you going to walk me to the door or what?"

I take her hand and let her help me up. We hold hands as we walk to the door. I steal a few kisses and grab her ass, loving the way she squeals and giggles.

Once we're at the door, I realize how bad I don't want her to leave. I pull her in for another hug, kissing her forehead at the same time. She sighs deeply and holds onto me.

I could get used to this.

"I want you to stay with me," I say quickly.

She pulls away from me. "Seriously?"

I nod, biting my lip. I don't take rejection well and I can't imagine how it would feel if she said no.

"I would love to, but one thing." I watch as her cheeks turn pink and she goes to hide in my shoulder. I put my finger under her chin before she has the chance and kiss her lips.

"What is it?"

"I feel silly for asking." She looks away from me and shakes her head. Her vulnerable side is showing again.

I pull her chin softly so she can't look away again. "We have to be honest with each other, remember? No lies. No hesitations." I repeat her words.

She glares jokingly and relaxes a little. "I don't want to sleep in yours and Tanya's bed."

I mentally slap myself for not thinking about how uncomfortable Bella would be in the same room that Tanya and I have slept and had sex in.

She groans and moves from under me. She puts her hands on her pink cheeks and shakes her head. "I'm so silly."

"Yes you are," I chuckle, pulling her back to me. "Especially if you think I don't have your best interest in mind. We have a guest bedroom. We can sleep there. That okay?"

She nods.

"Good. Would you like something to eat?"

She shakes her head and yawns.

I smile. "Are you tired?"

She nods, giggling.

I take her hand and kiss her palm. "Let's go get you a change of clothes then."

The idea of Bella in my clothes is mouth watering. I'm almost too eager to get her upstairs.

"The guest room is down there if you want to go. I'm just going to change my clothes. I'll grab you sweats and a t-shirt. That okay?" I ask when we get upstairs.

"Just a t-shirt, please," she says, looking past me and into my room. Her eyes snap to mine when I don't move or anything. I'm still caught on her only wanting a t-shirt. She shrugs. "I don't like pants."

I give her a smug look and walk towards her. "I don't like them on you."

She pushes my chest away with a grin. "I'll be in the guest room."

I watch as she walks down the hallway then turns into the room. I all but run to my drawers getting out a shirt for her and some sweats and t-shirt for me. I also get a condom or two... you know just in case.

I rush into the bathroom to brush my teeth, wash my face and run my fingers through my hair a couple of times. I almost trip as I change into my sweats and try to answer my phone at the same time.

"Hello?" I answer after finally pulling them all the way up.

"Baby!" Tanya squeals. "Oh I've missed you so much!"

"I've missed you, too," I lie. The only reason I've thought about her is because Bella asked me about her.

"I can't wait to come home. I have good news for you!"

"I can't wait to hear it." I try to sound interested, but I'm not. "I'm going to bed honey, have fun tomorrow. Can't wait to see you."

"Okay. Kisses. I love you."

"You, too." I say quickly then hang up.

I grab Bella a towel, wash cloth and an unopened tooth brush just in case she wants to take a shower or anything before we go to bed.

I can see Bella's shadow in the doorway as I walk down the hallway. She's standing in the middle of the room, taking in her surroundings. I clear my throat before stepping all the way in. She jumps and I smile apologetically.

"These are for you. I didn't know if you wanted a shower or not. The bathroom is over there." I reach out to give her the t-shirt, towel, wash cloth, and toothbrush.

She smiles and takes them. "Thank you. I'll be just a second."

"Take your time. We have all night." I wink and she leans up to kiss my lips.

I watch as she walks into the bathroom then shuts the door softly behind her. I hear her lock the door then turn the shower on.

I take this time to freak out. I bite my lip, my nails and run my fingers through my hair fifty times before thinking jumping jacks, push ups and running may calm my nerves. It does nothing but make me sweat and realize I'm out of shape.

I hadn't heard the shower turn off and my stomach drops when I hear the door click. I'm still going crazy on the inside, but I'm doing my best to keep a poker face.

That is until she steps out of the bathroom...

Sorry to leave it there, lol

An all Bella and Edward chapter... minus the Tanya call... what do you think the news is?

Let me know what you think & I'll send you a teaser for the next chapter

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