A/N:

Like always, there was a mixed reaction; however, more of you sympathized with Bella and didn't fault her for not saying anything back to Edward. Some felt it was too quick for her to sleep with him. Not really—given her history with sex. What can I say? She's kinda easy…lol. Joking aside, it just felt right for her in that moment.

I have to share this review I got because it absolutely made my heart melt. It's from AlicesDances01, and she wrote, "Random fact: my husband actually proposed to me by writing the words 'marry me' on my back, just like Edward did with 'I love you'. :)" That is so sweet! I'm such a girl!

Beta is Lindz26. Shabbyapple pre-read. Thanks to Charmie77 for also taking a look and being completely honest. This chapter was a hair-puller for me, and these girls really helped me feel okay for putting this out there. "Brave" as Charmie said, and I said "brave or just stupid." Haha.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
*HE VIED FOR ME*
-Part One-

I wound up spending an extra night with Edward. Because of that, I had to wake up even earlier than I normally would so I could run home, change, and head to work. So, begrudgingly, I got out of bed, with a lingering glance to Edward's serene, sleeping face. He didn't budge, even though the floor boards were quite rickety.

I made sure to leave him a note before I left, telling him to text me later. If I left it in the kitchen, I was sure he would see it.

The whole drive home dampened my spirits. It had kind of been like I was in a bubble for the last day and a half. I hadn't wanted to leave it so soon, but I had to remember my responsibilities.

Work started out tedious, and I feared the day would drag, until I received a text message from Edward while in my office.

My bed was empty when I woke up. – Edward

I smiled, glad to see he was finally awake.

Sorry. Blame work. – Bella

I will. Lunch? – Edward

Sure, but what about the long drive? – Bella

I waited for a response for quite a while, but there was none. There were a million calls I had to make up for my absence yesterday, so reluctantly, I turned off my phone to conserve battery. If Edward needed to reach me, he knew my work extension.

At around noon, Rose asked if I'd like to go to lunch with her, but I declined and told her Edward had asked. One problem—he hadn't called me, so maybe we weren't going to be able to have lunch together.

I was finishing up a follow-up call, when Jasper came into my office and stood across from my desk.

"Jasper," I greeted, surprised to see him. "I thought you were going for a lunch meeting."

"It was canceled at the last minute. Maybe you'd like to accompany me out to lunch? We can go to our usual."

"Oh," I said with a frown. I was just about to explain that I couldn't, when my work line rang. I answered it quickly. "Isabella Swan."

"Bella, Edward Masen is here to see you," Angela informed. "Can I send him up?"

I was shocked, but no doubt happy. "Okay, yes," I said, trying to contain a smile, and hung up.

"So, shall we get a move on?" Jasper asked. "If we leave now, we can get there just before the work crowd."

I sighed, looking down at my desk. "Yes, that's true, but—"

"You can continue your work when you get back. You need a break, and…" he cleared his throat "…I really need to talk to you."

I raised an eyebrow. "What about?" I questioned suspiciously.

"Well, that's why I want to go out for lunch."

There was a forceful knock, and both of us looked to my office door. Edward was standing in the doorway, with an unreadable expression on his face. He certainly didn't look thrilled. Jasper's head whipped back to mine angrily.

"Call security," Jasper ordered me.

"What? No!" I exclaimed.

"Believe it or not, Jasper. I'm not here to punch you out again," Edward said with a smirk. "I'm taking Bella to lunch."

Jasper's flaming eyes were on me, practically turning me to ash in my seat. "You're going to lunch with him? Are you out of your damn mind?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. "No, I'm not."

"I'll just wait outside the door for you, Bella," Edward said, giving me a meaningful look before disappearing.

"After all he did to you?" Jasper questioned blasphemously. "You're just going back to him?"

I gathered my purse off the ground and stood from my chair. "I'm not just going back to him," I answered defensively. "There are things to work out, obviously, but we're giving it another try."

For a second, his eyes sunk, until they changed back to anger. "What about those girls you said he was with?"

"It was just a misunderstanding."

"Of course he's going to make it seem like that, Bella," he growled in a whisper. "You barely know the guy."

"I know a lot more than you think," I spoke tersely, and walked around the desk. "Jasper, we're at work. I don't want to talk about this."

He sighed, aggravated. "You're right. I'll call you later tonight." Before I could even object, he quickly exited my office, shooting a quick glare off to the side of the door.

I walked out and Edward was immediately by my side. His fingers wove into mine as we trekked across the main office.

"I say we go to my place and throw your cell phone into the lake," he said, and I couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

Once we reached the elevator, I stopped and turned to him. "You're not going to start this up again, right?" I was referring to his irrational jealousy over Jasper that appeared to never have ebbed in the least.

"No," he answered, trying to seem innocent. "Just making a joke."

I quirked an eyebrow, then pressed the elevator button. I squeezed his hand, reminding him that it was his hand I was holding.

X-X-X-X

We lay in my bed, completely bare, winding down after a couple hours of being entangled and sweaty together. It was hard to keep our hands off each other now that we took that step of intimacy in our relationship.

He was currently kissing my fingers one by one as I rested on him like a lazy cat.

"I love these fingers," he whispered, kissing my pinky.

Sometimes he said the sweetest things. "They're just fingers."

He inspected them closely. "They're elegant and long, and they're yours, which makes them all the more better." He kissed my palm and then set my hand down on his chest. "There are also other things I love."

I had an inkling what he was referring to, but I still wasn't ready to address that. But, stupid me, I had to ask. "Like what?"

He tilted my chin up so I was looking directly at him. His eyes were full of such emotion that I almost wanted to turn away bashfully at the intensity. "Your nose," he said softly, and gently dragged his fingertip down the bridge of my nose. "You have a cute little bump at the end."

"No, I don't," I giggled, knowing he was just teasing.

He smiled. "I love your eyes." He leaned into me, pecking the corner of one eye. "Your lips, too." His mouth pressed against mine slowly and deliberately, making my heart flutter. When he pulled back, I barely remembered what it was we'd been talking about.

"You love a lot of things," I said in a single breath.

He nodded. "Yeah, I do."

We stayed quiet for a long moment, just breathing and being in each other's presence. He suddenly moved his upper body out from under me and reached over the bed. When he picked up his boxer briefs from the floor, I frowned.

"Hey, what are you doing?" I asked, moving completely off him to rest against the bed.

He pulled the duvet off and swung his feet to the ground. One by one, he put his legs through his briefs. "I've gotta head out," he said, and stood, bringing up the waistband just above the swell of his ass.

"Nooo," I whined, and reached to him, hooking a finger into the waistband of his briefs to bring him to me. "Why are you leaving?"

He bent over the bed, placing a kiss to my forehead, before throwing on the rest of his clothes. "I have to get up early tomorrow because Emmett's coming over. We're going to install a porch swing on the back porch as well as pick up some lawn chairs I ordered."

I sighed, watching him as he bent down to pick up his discarded, thick socks. "Can't you go later? Why do you have to leave now?"

He sat on the edge of the bed, putting on his socks. "I'd love to leave later, but I don't want to drive in the dark."

I looked out the window at the darkening sky. "By the time you get on the highway, it's going to be dark, so what's the difference going now and going a little later?" I usually wasn't this needy, but I wasn't ready for him to leave just yet. "How about you stay until I fall asleep?"

I may have gotten through to him, because he suddenly sighed and smiled. He lay back down on the bed and molded his front to my back, wrapping his arms around me. "I can do that."

I snuggled back into him, closing my eyes. "Good," I murmured.

Twenty minutes later, I wasn't falling asleep. I kept moving around a lot and trying to get comfortable. Knowing Edward was going to leave was making me restless.

"Go to sleep," he whispered, quietly chuckling.

"I can't. I'm not tired."

"Here," he said, and pushed his fingers in my hair. He began stroking my scalp soothingly. Oh, that felt nice. "Better?"

"Mm-hmm," I hummed noncommittally, feeling at ease in an instant.

Before I knew it, I was falling asleep.

I woke up to the sound of a loud creaking noise. Opening my sleepy eyes, I saw Edward sneakily leaving my room. I yawned, barely awake, and flipped on my side to fall back asleep.

"What the hell are you doing here?" a rich, familiar voice asked, causing me to come back into consciousness.

"Jasper…?" I rasped, and sat up in confusion, bringing the blanket up to cover my bare chest. Was it my imagination that I heard him?

"I should be asking you that," Edward replied, his tone hard.

Oh no.

I wanted to groan in aggravation. Jasper coming here would only fuel Edward's issues with him. Why did he have to come? Hadn't he said earlier he'd call?

"Well, you just wormed your way back into her life, didn't you?" Jasper questioned arrogantly.

I should've thrown some clothes on, gone out there, and told him to leave, as well as told Edward not to fuel an argument, but all I could do was remain in bed, listening.

"I didn't do anything except show her how much she means to me."

"Bull. I don't believe that for a second," Jasper snapped.

"Believe what you want. It's Bella's opinions I care about."

"Says the guy who dumped her because he thought I was going to swoop in and steal her."

"You did try to make a move," Edward seethed.

I buried my face in my hands. This was exactly what I didn't want to have happen. I felt helpless. Both guys meant something to me in different ways. I used to think Jasper was my all, but now he was very much just my friend, and Edward was so much more to me than just a friend. My feelings for him were so strong. Sometimes I thought I might burst from how much I adored him.

"She needed to see that I still love her," Jasper spoke. "You, on the other hand, don't give a damn about her."

"You don't know what the hell I feel." Edward's tone was vicious.

"I didn't come here for an argument. I came here to see her, so where is she?"

"She's asleep in the bedroom. You can see her tomorrow at work, like every normal boss."

"She means more to me than just an employee," Jasper said angrily, but with heartfelt emotion. "Have you met her parents? Do you know everything she likes and dislikes? You've been dating her for barely a couple months. You don't feel the way I feel about her."

"And you dated her cousin after how long of being with Bella?"

I gasped, my fingers digging into the mattress. Something was telling me to let them just duke it out for now, but I wanted so badly to make them stop.

"Obviously, I make mistakes. However, I'm committed to Bella now. I'm positive you know that she'd be better with me. I can give her a good life, which you can't."

"What makes you think I can't give her a good life?"

"I think I know her a little better than you, Edward. And if you really liked her, you'd see that," Jasper said. There were a few moments of silence between them, and I thought maybe they'd left. "Here. This is hers, so give it to her. Tell her I was cleaning off the clutter on my desk and found it."

I heard the front door close a second later and Edward's heavy footsteps grow nearer. Frazzled, I quickly lay back down. My bedroom door pushed open, revealing Edward's tall, black form. It was fairly dark in the room, so I knew he couldn't see that my eyes were wide open, which was a good thing, because my sight was glued to watching him pace by my bed.

On the spur of the moment, I decided to let him know I was conscious.

"Edward?" I croaked, pretending as if I'd just awoken.

His head snapped in my direction, and in a flash, he was sitting on the bed next to me, caressing the side of my head. "Hey," he whispered. "Did you just wake up?"

"Yeah. I thought you were leaving."

He sighed. "I'm about to right now, so go back to sleep." He leaned down and kissed the top of my head before getting off the bed and walking to the door.

He was leaving without talking about what had happened? Was he going to tell me about Jasper at all? When we'd gotten back together, I told him that I needed him to trust me, and if he was hiding things, then clearly, there was no trust between us. This relationship wouldn't last much longer if this was how it was going to be.

Edward was half out of my room, when he suddenly turned back around and walked to the side of my bed again.

"Bella?" he asked quietly. "Have you gone back to sleep?"

"No."

He sat down again. "I need to talk to you before I leave."

"Okay…" I said warily, and sat up, positioning myself so my back was resting against the headboard.

"While you were asleep, Jasper came over."

I wanted to sigh in relief. He was telling me. I'd really thought he wouldn't for a minute, there. "What did he want?" I asked.

"I think he was here to talk to you. I told him you were asleep and that you'd see him tomorrow."

Sort of the truth…I could deal with that. "Oh, okay," I said coolly. "Anything else?"

He cleared his throat. "I…well," he fumbled, and then removed something from his pocket. "He dropped this off for you. I didn't look inside." He placed a small jewelry box on top of the duvet. The same one that Jasper had given me on my birthday. I'd completely forgotten about it.

I smiled at him, and suddenly, I was throwing myself into his lap, wrapping my naked arms and legs around him. He grunted in surprise, but held on tight to me.

"Not that I'm complaining, but what's this for?" he questioned, digging his face into my hair.

"I heard everything you said out there," I spoke softly into his ear.

He pulled back in alarm. "You did?"

"I was afraid you wouldn't tell me about Jasper."

He frowned. "I wasn't…"

I figured he'd hesitated. "So, then, why did you?"

"I just…I don't want to hide things from you, Bella. You said you wanted to be with me, and I believe you."

I brought my lips to his neck and pecked him. "I do, and I'm glad."

"But…" His voice trailed. I didn't like the sound of that. "I don't think I can give you everything you need."

"What?" I asked incredulously.

"I need you to really think about what you want, Bella. If you stay with me, you're not going to have a very extravagant life. You won't have limos, expensive gifts all the time, tickets to Paris. He can give you what I can't."

I shook my head. "For the record, I've never gotten tickets to Paris, and where is this coming from?"

His sullen eyes weren't looking at me, but instead, somewhere behind me. "This is coming from me, wanting to see you happy. And I don't know if what I have will keep you that way."

"Edward," I started, cupping his face in my hands. "What you have means so much more than any expensive gift in the world. Sure, Jasper can buy an overpriced bottle of wine or book a penthouse suite at The Plaza, but those are just material things." I pressed a hand to his chest, spreading my fingers out and feeling the increasing beat pulse against my palm. "This is what I want. Your heart. And you can't put a price on that. Give me that, and I'll always be happy."

His warm lips touched mine reverently, wearing his emotions on his sleeve. He pulled away, after leaving me with one last peck. "There's no question whether you have that," he replied sincerely. "But please, just think about it, okay?"

I glared at him. Had he heard anything I'd just said? "There's nothing to think about."

"Yes, there is. I want you to really be sure. Promise me you'll think about it. Please." He was looking at me so hopefully. I didn't know why this was so important to him, but it was, so I nodded. He looked down at the untouched jewelry box. "So...do you like these earrings?"

I arched a single eyebrow. "You said you didn't see inside the box."

He seemed to register his slip-up. "Oh, yeah," he chuckled, but still, overall, looked downcast. "I may have taken a quick look."

I took the jewelry box and set it out of the way, on my nightstand. "You know, when I first saw them, I barely cared. I mean, he'd shelled out a lot of money for them, so I should've, yet I didn't. But when you gave me your mother's pearl earrings—that meant something."

He grinned, looking down timidly. "What are you doing tomorrow after work?"

"Nothing."

"Come over to my house straight after you finish. I want you to see exactly what you're in for."

"You make that sound like a punishment."

He chuckled and moved me off him, laying me down on the bed. "It isn't—you'll see. Now, go to bed."

I asked him to stay again, and he did, waiting patiently until I fell into a deep sleep.

X-X-X-X

When I arrived at work, everyone was stealing glances at me as I passed through the main office. It was extremely unsettling, and I thought I was perhaps crazy. Most all the women were casting me small smiles that I couldn't comprehend.

I took a sharp turn and went directly into the break room. Angela was there, pouring coffee for herself. I greeted her casually as I took a mug out of the cupboard.

"Hi, Bella," she responded, as if in a daze.

I furrowed my brow and looked at her out of my peripheral as I poured coffee into my mug. "How are you?"

"I'm okay, but you must be really good."

I turned to her, bewildered. She was smiling giddily. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"So, are you two…?" she prompted, looking excited and hopeful.

Was she crazy? "Angela, I don't know what you're talking about."

She frowned. "My Ben never does anything like that for me."

"What?" I asked in confusion. "Is something going on? Everyone's been staring at me for some reason."

Her mouth fell agape. "Have you not seen your office? It's wide open."

Without another word, I walked out of the break room. There were more sly glances as I walked up to my office, which was, in fact, open, with the lights turned on. When my eyes scanned over the expanse of the room, I gasped.

Vases of roses…everywhere. On my desk, on my cabinet, on top of my bookshelf. Most all of them were lavender roses, except for two red roses that were mixed in randomly with the lavender ones.

I was in shock. They were absolutely beautiful, no doubt, but who'd done this?

In the vase with the red roses, I saw a small, white card.

Two red roses for how many years you've brought purpose into my life.

My face grew warm as I brought the card down to my side. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another white card in a bouquet of only lavender roses.

Twenty-six lavender roses for how many years I lived without you.

Wow…

"And one pink rose for the only woman in my heart, now and forever."

I spun around at the voice, seeing Jasper directly behind me with a single pink rose in his hand. "Jasper," I gasped. Oh my God. These were from him. I felt an onslaught of nervousness. Why was he doing this?

"Good morning, Bella," he greeted with a charming grin. "You look as beautiful as ever." He handed me the pink rose. "This is for you."

"Thank you," I uttered quietly, unable to properly find my voice.

His blue eyes were piercing into me. "Well, have a good day," he said, and simply walked out of my office.

After a long—very long—moment, I shook my head from my daze and finally was able to find some sense. I quickly followed after him. He was in his office, just about to sit at his desk.

"Jasper," I spoke with conviction, garnering his attention. "You shouldn't have done that."

He shrugged with a smile. "It wasn't any trouble at all. You deserve them."

I quirked a scrutinizing eyebrow. "You know exactly what I mean," I snapped, knowing he was just diverting from why I was suddenly so frustrated. "Remember, we talked about this. All we can ever be is just friends."

"Yes," he said, distracted as he searched through papers on his desk. "And this was nothing more than me expressing my friendly affections towards you." He flashed me a quick grin before busying himself again.

Oh, he was infuriating! I didn't know what to think. On one hand, I loved that he was so thoughtful like this, but I needed him to also remember his place in my life. He'd made it very clear to Edward that he wasn't backing down from being with me again, and that left me in a very difficult predicament. If this continued, I would need to make some drastic changes—ones that I'd rather not have to do, if I could avoid it.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Jasper, just…please, don't try to—"

"Bella," he interrupted firmly. "What was your first reaction when you saw the roses? Be honest."

I sighed heavily. "That they were beautiful."

"Exactly. So, that's all that matters to me—that it made you happy for the moment."

"Yes, but—"

"Did you receive your birthday gift last night?" he asked, interrupting me once again.

I placed my hands on my hips. "Yes, I did. But I don't think I'll be keeping it."

He furrowed his brow. "It's just a gift. In fact, you deserve a lot more than just earrings." He gave me a meaningful look. Wait…was he implying what I thought he was? "Those are the earrings you wanted from that Cartier catalogue," he continued. "I phoned a few places and found that this small boutique in New York had them. They didn't deliver, so I took a flight out there and arrived back home just in time for your birthday."

"You…remember that?" I was a bit speechless, not to mention surprised—one, that he remembered, and two, that he'd traveled that far to get them.

He stood and walked around the desk to me. His eyes were soft, gazing reverently at me. "Bella, I remember everything about you…like how you separate all your food from each other so that it doesn't touch. Or how you straighten things when you're anxious." He placed his hands on my arms, very lightly. "How your eyes turn amber when the sun hits them directly…"

My face warmed, causing me to look down. I didn't know what to say to that. Thankfully, a throat cleared behind us. We both looked to the doorway, seeing Rose standing there with a white binder in her arms. She was staring at me like a scolding mother would.

"Ah, Rose," Jasper acknowledged, his voice sounding distant. "Yes…well, I suppose you're here for that conference call. Come inside."

"I was going to," she replied, and entered, her eyes never leaving mine.

Jasper went back to his desk, Rose in tow, so I took the opportunity to slip out. As soon as I was in my office, I locked the door and tried to find my way to my desk through all the roses. I couldn't have been more eager for the day to end.

X-X-X-X

"Are you ready?" Edward asked with a smirk.

I was looking through my purse for a hair tie, because he'd said I'd need my hair out of my face. When I found one and tied my hair up, I finally regarded him. "I hope so," I said warily.

He hadn't told me what he had in mind for us today, so I was on my guard. However, I was sure that whatever it was, it was making him happy, so it couldn't be bad.

I followed him out of his house and to the shed. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, allowing me to go in first.

I remembered being in here when Rose appraised his collection last year. It was dark, with just the light from the window shining through. He turned on the light, showing how extremely empty it was, save for some paint buckets and various sized brushes. The entire floor was covered in several white linen sheets.

"So, what are we doing?" I questioned.

"Now that my father's antiques are gone, I have nothing to do with this room, so I thought I'd let my mom get use out of it when she comes over."

I smiled, looking around. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, she likes to read, so I'm going to build a bookshelf, and she can come in here to have privacy. She also likes to make things, so I want to put in a desk and tons of supplies in here for her to work with."

"Make things?" I asked curiously. "Like what?"

He shrugged. "I don't know…things. She's pretty crafty. "

"Ah," I said, understanding. "She's like a Martha Stewart."

He chuckled. "Yeah." He walked over to the buckets on the ground. "Anyway, I was going to spend this evening painting the walls. I thought you could help me. Is that okay?"

I nodded and joined him, staring down at the various colored paints. "What color?"

"Uh," he said, looking hesitant, and then pointed to a bucket.

I scoffed. "Dark green?"

He brought a hand to the back of his neck. "This is why I need you."

"Yeah, you do," I laughed. The colors he had were masculine, save for the white and pale yellow. "How about we first paint everything yellow and then use the white to decorate."

He agreed on that and said he needed to go into the house briefly to get something. When he left, all I could think about was what he'd told me last night. He wanted me to think on our relationship, to see if it was best for me. Given that there were some wounds and trust issues left over from our recent separation, I had to admit that I was taking his request seriously.

Today was supposed to show me what I was supposedly in for. But I didn't think he quite understood how much painting a room for his mother appealed to me. Maybe to another woman it would seem like hard, unnecessary labor, but in my opinion, it was such a sweet gesture.

A few minutes later, he came back inside, holding a giant, white, folded up fabric. He had a sheepish grin on his face as he held it out to me.

I took it hesitantly, giving him a confused expression. "What's this?" I asked, unfolding it and revealing a…Oh God.

"It's a paint suit," he said. "I thought you might not want to ruin your clothes."

I looked down at myself. I was wearing my work attire—a gray pencil skirt and a thin burgundy sweater. I definitely didn't want to get paint on me.

"Take your clothes off," he demanded.

I lifted my head, seeing his smirk. "You set me up," I accused jokingly.

He chuckled. "It's definitely a bonus to see you strip for me."

I rolled my eyes and threw the paint suit at him, which he caught easily. After taking off my sweater and skirt, I was left in just my matching royal blue bra and panties set. Even without looking at him, I knew his eyes were nowhere near my face.

I straightened the back of my underwear to sit perfectly over my ass and then finally looked up at him. His lips were slightly parted, his eyes mirroring his, no doubt, x-rated thoughts. I was so close to taking advantage of the moment, but I couldn't let him be distracted from doing something for his mother. So, begrudgingly, I held out my hand.

"Wanna stop staring at me and give me the suit?" I asked, my tone playful.

He cleared his throat, coming out of his stupor, but not removing his eyes from my breasts. "Yeah," he said, and outstretched the suit to me.

I took it from him and proceeded to put it on. It was humongous. I was practically drowning in it. As I finished zipping it up, I looked at Edward, who was clearly suppressing a laugh.

"This is huge," I whined, fiddling with the sleeves of the suit. I jiggled my arms in the air, showing how much room there was.

He snorted loudly, causing me to glower at him. He stepped right up to me, wrapping his arms around my back. "You've never looked sexier."

I giggled. "You're such a liar."

"I'm serious," he dead-panned. "I can think of some good role-playing scenarios we can use with this."

I pushed against his chest, shaking my head in amusement. "Let's get to work."

We spent the next two hours painting the walls yellow with long paint rollers. We hadn't exactly been productive most of the time. He kept goofing off, trying to roll yellow paint onto my suit every chance he got. Three times he tried, and each time, he got me. As a result, my suit had random, thick lines of yellow on it. I tried getting him back, but he was quick at dodging out of the way.

Just as the sun began to set, we finished painting the walls. I dipped a small paintbrush in a bucket of white, but immediately paused and pulled the brush out, deciding to change course.

"Maybe instead of the brush, we can sponge white onto the walls," I suggested, analyzing our work.

He took the paintbrush from me. "I'll have to go out and get sponges another day. The walls need a second coat, anyway, which Emmett and I can handle later."

"Emmett's coming over again?"

"Yeah, we still need to finish setting up the porch swing," he answered.

I was still staring at the walls intently, when Edward suddenly brushed cold, white paint onto the end of my nose. The back of my hand flew up to my face, trying to rub it off as I scowled at him. "Edward!" I scolded.

His smile was that of a mischievous ten year old boy. "You've got a little paint on your nose," he said innocently.

I huffed and grabbed the paintbrush from him. In a flash, I stroked white down his cheek with a triumphant smirk. "You've got some on your face."

He was stock-still with a flat expression. "I let you do that, you know," he said, and snatched the brush out of my hand. He tossed it to the ground and grabbed my hips, yanking me into his hard body, practically knocking the wind out of me. His hands went around to my ass, groping with abandon. I gasped in surprise, holding onto his shirt with a vice-like grip. He bent his head down and dug his face into the side of my neck while simultaneously walking me back into the wall.

"The paint is wet!" I said in alarm, just as my back collided.

He responded with a loud, throaty, animalistic grunt, pushing his groin into me. He was clearly enjoying himself.

I laughed at this perverted side to him. "If I have paint on my ass, it's your fault."

His teeth scraped against my neck. "Go ahead and punish me. It'll be worth it." He hitched my leg around his hip and ground into me.

I closed my eyes and sighed, my body tingling in pleasure. "Can we go inside?" I practically begged. I wanted him on his bed, on the floor, anywhere but in here where the paint fumes were making my head dizzy.

"Later," he breathed, just below my ear. "Emmett's coming over."

I gyrated into his notable erection, eliciting a hitch in breath from him. "Screw Emmett," I spoke.

He chuckled and pulled back to look down at me. "I don't think he'd like that very much."

I rolled my eyes and was about to tell him just to take me here if he wanted, when the sound of tires crunching over gravel thwarted my attempts.

"That'll be him," he remarked, and gave me a quick, unsatisfying peck on the lips.

That didn't work well for me at all, so I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slammed his mouth to mine. My tongue was in his mouth instantly. He gave in and groaned as our tongues twisted and twined, hands searching everywhere, lower halves desperately seeking friction.

I wasn't sure how much time passed, when there was a not so subtle throat clearing near the door, causing us to freeze. Flustered, we both pulled away from each other. Emmett was standing there with a cocky smirk, his arm slung around the shoulder of an equally cocky Rose.

"I would ask what you're doing," Emmett started, "but the giant ass print on the wall speaks for itself."

I whipped around to see that there was a defined butt mark on the wall—actually, it was more of a butt smudge. Edward was getting a kick out of it, cracking up. I hit him square in the chest.

"What?" he asked between chuckles. "My mom's gonna love it."

I huffed and walked over to Rose. "What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"I decided, instead of spending my Wednesday night watching the History Channel, I'd spend it watching these two fail at putting up a porch swing," she answered.

"Hey," Emmett snapped in faux offense. "You just wait. It's going to be the porch swing to top all porch swings."

After changing back into my clothes, Rose and I went out the back to watch the men put up the swing. It was surprising how they managed to do it with just one dim light, considering it was well into nighttime.

Watching Edward work with his hands was really quite arousing. I think it was the fact that he knew what he was doing, not even needing to look at any sort of instructions. He would tell Emmett what to do, and Emmett would follow his lead. It made me want to watch him put something together all the time. I wished I had been dating him when he was first building the gazebo. I might not have been able to keep my hands to myself.

When they were done, Rose and I were assigned to test out the large swinging seat. Thankfully, we didn't break the thing. Proud of themselves, Emmett and Edward went back to the shed to finish painting, while Rose stayed on the swing with me.

Even in the darkness, the moon hiding behind black clouds, I could make out the slight sway of the lake. The gentle breeze swung us back and forth without much effort on our part.

"You do realize you've had a non-stop smile plastered on your face this entire time, right?" Rose remarked.

Normally, I would've tried not to smile after that out of embarrassment, but I didn't much care. "Smiling is good," I replied simply.

"You have fun with him."

"I do have fun with Edward," I agreed.

"I find it interesting that I didn't even mention his name, yet you knew I was talking about him."

I rolled my eyes. "We're at his house, Rose. Who else would you be talking about?"

"We could be in the Sahara Desert right now, and you'd still know who I was talking about."

I didn't reply, choosing to go back to watching the darkened scenery. I mean, what did it matter if I automatically knew who she was talking about? Maybe I was just so in tune with her that I could instantly predict who she was referencing.

"So, he's really trying, huh?" she asked.

"Who, Edward?"

She chuckled, shaking her head. "No, Jasper."

"Oh," I sighed with a frown. "Uh…yeah, he is."

"I saw you earlier, you know."

I furrowed my brow, turning my head to her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, with the roses and the way you were looking at him," she said, causing me to bite the inside of my cheek. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," I responded honestly. I wasn't aware I'd been that transparent. "The roses were sweet. I used to love when he did things like that. And his words with them…"

"Do you still like him?" she inquired bluntly.

"I'll always like him, Rose. Am I still in love with him? No. Do I care for him? Yes."

"Okay, here's a better question. Do you still want to date him?" she questioned.

I blew out a long, slow breath, contemplating my answer. "Edward told me I should think about what I want."

"You certainly know how to dodge a question," Rose said with a chuckle, "but he's right. You should. Why does it sound like you're in two minds?"

Was I in two minds? I hadn't thought I was, but I didn't know now. I was sure that Edward was who I wanted, but sometimes, with Jasper, it was just really familiar and easy. I knew more or less what to expect from him, considering the amount of time we'd been together. There still were a lot of question marks surrounding me and Edward.

"I'm not sure," I stated. "I mean, Edward and I have only been back together for a couple days, and part of me still feels insecure that he might get up and walk away again. And then there's Jasper, who I was with for a long time, but he was able to drop me so easily, not to mention he dated my cousin. Could I really just go back to him after all that? Then again, he was there for me the entire time Edward wasn't around…" I was confusing myself just thinking about it.

"That sounds messy," Rose commented.

"Yeah," I breathed, exasperated. "And today, Jasper basically implied he'd like to marry me."

"He did?" She sounded shocked. I was, too, to be honest.

"He said that I deserved a lot more than just the earrings he bought me."

"Wow," Rose said.

"Last year, that was all I wanted him to say. I wanted a commitment and to know we were going somewhere, and now, when I'm with someone else, he says that to me. What am I supposed to say after something like that?"

"Have you and Edward talked about the future?"

"He told me he wanted marriage," I said, a warm feeling coming over me. I really liked how assertive Edward was. It was something I admired greatly about him. If only I could be like that. "But that was before he broke up with me."

"Hmm," Rose hummed. "So, because your relationship with Edward is so new and has been unstable so far, you're unsure how long it could last. With Jasper, you would essentially be picking up where you left off."

"No…well…I don't know," I said, and suddenly scowled. "This is Edward's fault, you know. He told me to think about it and now I am."

Emmett and Edward's loud laughs suddenly echoed out into the night from the shed. Rose and I turned our heads toward the sounds with small smiles. I liked that they were having fun

"Tell me," she said, pulling my attention back to her. "When you're with Edward, do you think about Jasper?"

I pouted my lips, trying to recall specific times with Edward where I had. "Rarely, I think."

"And when you're with Jasper, do you think about Edward?"

I blinked several times, surprised at my own answer. "Yeah, all the time."

"If you want me to be honest, tonight is one of the few instances I've seen you so carefree. In your entire relationship with Jasper, you were never this free-spirited. Edward has his faults, but he's good for you."

I nodded. I knew he was. That was beyond the point, though.

"Just keep thinking about it, Bella," she encouraged. "You'll figure it out."

"I hope so," I whispered. It wasn't fair to either of them that I was being indecisive. The time would have to come soon where I would have to make a clear, concise choice. I just hoped it was the right one.

A/N:

Is it better to take the safe route and spare the potential heartbreak or is it better to take that risk and live with no regrets? The answer may seem easy, but realistically, it's not.

Because this is one of two parts, the second part will be up on Saturday. Yes, I'm gonna spoil you guys again. We're coming to the end of this story. Only three chapters left.

For those that review, I'm offering a teaser for an EPOV Ch.7 outtake I wrote.

The second poll is up on my profile. Vote for your top 3 from chapters 11-20 you'd like to see as an EPOV outtake. The winner will get written by me and I'll post it after this story wraps up.

Twitter: xrxdanixrx

Rec:

Strange Brew by Magnolia822

For those reading quite a bit of angst lately, this is a nice reprieve. It's not fluff, but it's a good build up with an original premise. Edward runs a brewery and hires Bella, who doesn't know much of the subject. There's an obvious age difference and Edward is coming out of a nasty divorce. I enjoyed it, so hopefully you will, too.