:Singing: "Vacation, all I ever wanted… vacation, had to get away…" See author's note below.

A special "Hello!" to new reader, annanguyen, who says she doesn't read WiP fics! Thanks for giving THTF a shot!

Chapter 36 – Dinner Plans

Wednesday, December 2, cont.

EPOV

A very light tap on my door roused me from my half-doze. I quickly looked down at Bella, but she was still asleep. Mrs. Cope would only let three people past her to my office right now. One of those people was currently sleeping in my arms, so it was either Emmett or Jasper. The door opening despite the lack of invitation let me know that it was Emmett even before I saw him.

"Edward?" he stage-whispered.

I sighed heavily and began extricating myself from Bella's embrace. Emmett waited patiently now that he saw I was awake. In a moment, Bella was curled up with her head resting on her hand, and I was able to stand up.

I nodded my head at Emmett before jerking it to the side to indicate my dressing room. Emmett followed me silently. As soon as the door was closed behind us, Emmett launched into his inquisition.

"How did this happen?"

"Damned if I know." I sighed. "I do have a theory, though." I explained to Emmett my suspicions about Nomad and its boss, James, while I dug through a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. I slid them on under my robe before taking it off so I could dress.

Emmett let out a low whistle. "Damn. You think he'd chance being sued like that? His contract includes an NDA, right?"

"Of course, but no source was listed in the article. It's quite possible he thinks that we can't find out who the leak was."

"Short-sighted of him."

"Yes."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to make a few phone calls today, and then I'm going to take Bella home with me. My building has better security. If she's not at her apartment, then hopefully the paparazzi won't harass Ms. Weber, either. She is here, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she's at her desk. Um, she asked me to ask you if she could see Bella."

I sighed. "Of course, she's a good friend. Tell her that I'll send her out when she wakes up. She had a hard night and didn't get much sleep."

I could tell that Emmett's dirty mind was having a field day with that little bit of information.

"A tough night, huh? The paper didn't hit the stands until early this morning. Why was she up so late?" His grin was just this side of a leer.

"Rein it in there, brother. She and I had a fight."

"What?" He made a scoffing sound. "I'm starting to think that Rose is right about you. What could you have possibly fought about?"

"Rose is right about me how?"

"Stop avoiding the question. What were you two fighting about?"

"Mom offered Bella a job. It's just a few hours a week, at the Literacy Project, but it's a paid position."

"That's great, isn't it? If she doesn't work for you, then you can date her."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, for one, it's not enough money for her to live on."

Emmett scowled and shook his head. "What's number two?"

"What do you mean?"

"You said, 'For one, it's not enough money…,' so what's number two?"

"Fine, and for two, what makes you think I want to date her? She's around so that I don't have to worry about other women." My words sounded weak even to my own ears. Of course I wanted to date her. I wanted to be with her all the time.

Emmett has a brilliant mind for business and art. I'd not challenge his smarts in either department, but the look he gave me now let me know that he wasn't oblivious to my feelings for Bella, either.

"Edward, I'm not blind, and you certainly can't fool Rose about stuff like this. You have feelings for Bella. Don't fuck this up by pretending that you don't."

I finished buttoning my cuff before turning to face him.

"It's not that simple."

"Bullshit."

I pinched the bridge of my nose as aggravation crept up my neck. I didn't want to have this conversation now.

"Emmett, now's not the time."

"Fine, I'll let you deal with this mess. But let me tell you something, if you keep putting off telling her she'll never believe you when you finally cave. And you will cave. Be honest with her. Rose says she has feelings for you, too."

Despite myself, I perked up when I heard this.

"What makes her think that?"

Emmett rolled his eyes. "Rose isn't blind. You should see the two of you when you're together. It's like she's an extension of you. Or you're an extension of her. If one of you moves, the other does. It's kinda' freaky how in tune you two are."

"Body language? Rose is basing her estimation of Bella's feelings on the fact that we have similar body language?"

"It's more than that."

I sighed, "I love Rose, Emmett, but you need to tell her to butt out." I grimaced as I remembered how she challenged me on Thanksgiving.

"She hasn't butted in."

"She really has. She commented on Bella sitting with me on Thanksgiving and called our relationship, 'a little charade'."

Emmett frowned. "But Edward, she's right."

I didn't answer. What could I say? She was probably right. He was right, she was right. Catching Emmett's eye in the mirror while I adjusted my tie, I cleared my throat.

"If that's all, Emmett, I need to start my day. It's late enough and I'm sure Mrs. Cope has plenty for me to deal with."

"Fine, I'll leave. But…"

"No buts, Emmett. You'll have to let me deal with this on my own. Tell Rose that, too."

Emmett sighed, but made his way to the dressing room door.

"Emmett, wait. Did you talk to mom?"

"Yeah."

"And…?" I had assured Bella that my mom would still want her to take the position at the Literacy Project, but it would be nice to have some confirmation. If I was going to pretend I was okay with her working for my mom, I was going to do it right.

Honestly, I had come up with several arguments against Bella taking the job, but then the paper hit the stands and I couldn't bring myself to argue with her, knowing how upset she'd be about being outed.

"And nothing. She likes Bella and is very excited about working with her. The fact that she has 'humble beginnings,' as mom said, works for her, not against her."

"And First?"

"First?" Emmett laughed. "First married his secretary, remember? If anything, knowing that Bella was a cleaning lady counts in her favor more than any pedigreed upbringing."

I sighed in relief. It was good to know we'd only be fighting this war on one front.

"Thanks, Emmett."

"You're welcome." He paused, "And Edward?"

"Yeah?" I replied distractedly.

"Don't fuck this up." With that, Emmett opened the door. I heard my office door open and close gently, and Emmett's deep rumble as he talked with my assistants.

It was time to get to work.

Thursday, December 3

Before leaving for the day I knocked quietly on the door to my guest room. When I didn't get an answer, I eased the door open a crack. When that didn't wake Bella, I stepped into the room and walked over to the bed.

The covers were a mess and her hair was wild. She'd look sexy if it weren't so obvious that she'd had a restless night. My chest felt tight as I looked out the window at the dark city. She didn't deserve this, and I was going to do my damnedest to make it right.

Footsteps echoed though the deserted hall of Nomad Cleaning. James was alone in his office. It was 5 AM and the night crews weren't due back for another two hours.

He listened as the ominous footsteps made their way to his door. The area outside the plate glass window of his office was unlit, but he could see an indistinct figure striding through the darkness

Two sharp raps sounded on his door.

"Who is it?" James asked belligerently while reaching for the baseball bat he kept underneath his desk.

"Edward Cullen. You and I have business to discuss."

Cullen! James thought. Business...ha! Dollar signs flew through James' thoughts as he imagined the hush money he could extort from Cullen to keep his mouth shut about that slut, Bella Swan, now that the cat was out of the bag about her previous employment.

"Come in," James ordered, a superior smirk on his face.

Edward opened the door and took two steps into the well-lit office. He stopped and observed James for a moment. James returned the favor.

Edward was dressed in an obviously expensive black suit and shiny black shoes. A crisp white shirt and grey striped tie completed his outfit. He carried a wool coat over his arm.

"You said we have business?"

"Indeed." Edward pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and lightly dusted the chair in front of James's desk before sitting down in it. "It's come to my attention that you, or one of your colleagues, has been less than discreet while discussing my girlfriend, Isabella Swan, with the papers.

James's brow creased in confusion. Cullen thought that he had gone to the papers with the story? He hadn't, but how could he make this work for him?

James thought fast, but fast thinking wasn't James's forte. "And if I did?"

"Your company signed a nondisclosure agreement with Cullen Enterprises when you were contracted to clean our building. Discussing my personal life with the tabloids falls well within the parameters of that agreement. It wouldn't be hard to trace the details of the article back to your employee, Victoria, who has seen Ms. Swan and myself together in my office on any number of occasions."

James was sweating now. Nondisclosure agreements were de facto in his business. Say what you would about James, but he knew his business.

"Wasn't me. Or Victoria. I can't vouch for all my employees, but Swan, uh, Ms. Swan, was well-liked here. I doubt any of them would want to embarrass her."

Edward cocked his head and fixed James with an intense gaze. After a moment, he stood up. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a plain white envelope and dropped it lightly on James's desk.

"What's this?"

Instead of answering, Edward donned his coat.

"I believe you, James," he said, when his coat was on and buttoned. "Do you know why I believe you? You're scared. Had you gone to the papers you would have known I'd come for you. You'd have some feeble scheme in mind to blackmail me or threaten to share even more of Isabella's history. Instead, you're actually afraid of what I might do to you-as you should be."

"In that envelope is a list of office buildings, restaurants, spas and other businesses in the Chicago area that Nomad services. I have considerable influence with their various boards and owners. If you're lying to me…if I am mistaken, all the businesses in that envelope will be canceling their current contracts with Nomad. It's a long list, James. Good day."

With that, Edward turned on his heel and left James's office.

?POV

When I first saw Edward after he broke up with Tanya I was a little surprised to see him with a date. Everyone knew that Edward didn't rebound quickly from his long-term relationships. At first I just thought she was some sort of rebound fuck. I could let him have that.

But, their relationship was going on two months, and I was getting nervous. Instead of focusing on Edward, I focused on the girl. No one knew where she'd come from or who she was. It was annoying to know that some little nobody had turned his head.

It was with great frustration and no small part disgust that I reached out to my ex for help ferreting out this girl's background. That conversation went surprisingly well. Seems he had an ax to grind with Edward and was willing to help me if only to get back at him.

"Well, Kate, I never expected to hear from you again."

"Stick it, Sam and don't call me Kate, you know I hate it."

"Fine, Kathleeeeen," he dragged my name out unpleasantly, "to what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"I need…help. I want to get some background information on someone."

"Who?"

"Isabella Swan." I heard Sam suck in a breath. He obviously knew who I was talking about. Sam and Edward had been frat brothers in undergrad. I didn't think Sam had any particular fondness for him, though.

"That bitch who's dating Cullen?"

"You know her?"

"We've…met. What do you want to know?"

"Anything. Where she came from, where she went to school. Who her parents are…anything."

"What's in it for me?"

"From the tone of your voice, you'd like to screw with her as much as I want to."

"Yeah, well, I need more than that."

"What do you want?"

"You."

I scoffed. "Please, Sam, we've been that route, I won't be with a guy who screws around on me."

"What do you mean, 'be with?' I'm just looking for a little fun. C'mon, Kathleen, no matter what, you have to agree that we were good together."

Bastard.

"Yeah, well, it couldn't have been that good if you felt the need to screw everything in a skirt in your office."

"None of them could hold a candle to you, babe. I just like variety. So what do you say, Doc? I get you what you need, and you give me what I need? Just one night."

"One night?"

"Yeah, you can wear that silver thing you have. I'll do that thing you like with my…"

"Fine. If you get me what I want and it's worth it, I'll agree to one night. But not in that man cave you call home. The Presidential Suite at the Four Seasons."

"You got it. Now tell me what you need…"

Still Thursday…

EPOV

Despite the stress of the day before, Bella looked wonderful when I picked her up at my place for dinner with First and my grandmother. She wore a simple grey sweater dress, that looked so soft I just wanted to touch her.

"You look amazing," I told her. She gave me a sad smile.

"I feel like I'm playing dress up," she confessed.

"What do you mean?"

"You know, pretending to be something I'm not."

It took all my self control not to shake her. She had nothing to be embarrassed about, and this constant disparaging of herself was getting hard to tolerate.

"Look Bella, I know I've said it before, but you aren't hearing me. You have nothing to be concerned about. My parents and grandparents have nothing but praise for you. Did you call my mother today like I suggested?"

"Yes."

"And…?"

"And she didn't mention the article at all."

"That's because it's a nonissue. And, I'm pretty sure I told you that my grandmother was in the steno pool when my grandfather first saw her. That was hardly a glamorous start."

"I know. It's just…what about you? Dating a maid is hardly going to add shine to your reputation."

I was stunned. Was her moping all about her worry about how I would be perceived? Or could she be worried that I wouldn't want her? No, that couldn't be it.

"That's a nonissue as well. Who I date is no one's business."

"If you really believed that, Edward, we wouldn't be together in the first place. You are concerned about who the public sees you with."

Fuck!

My jaw tensed. I'd never spent this much time with anyone who had such self-esteem issues. I was finding it tiring. In my frustration, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my head.

"Honestly, Bella, do you think I'm the first rich guy to date the help? Please, just let it go. I need to get the wine. Are you ready?"

"Yes." The tone of her voice let me know I'd probably gone overboard, but I didn't know what else to say.

I helped Bella put on her coat and walked her to the foyer before grabbing a bottle of wine from the kitchen and joining her. Our ride to my grandparents' house was quiet. My extended family wasn't on the paparazzi's radar, so there was no one crowding the sidewalk in front of their sprawling suburban ranch.

I took Bella's hand as we approached the door. The silence between us was unnatural, and it was making me uncomfortable. I turned to face Bella to reassure her one more time. Her eyes were a million miles away, and I was worried she'd withdraw completely once we were inside.

"Hey," I said quietly.

She turned towards me in distracted acknowledgement.

"C'mon, smile," I cajoled. She mustered a brief smile before retreating once again.

"Bella, please, don't do this." I'd honestly never worked this hard to make a woman happy in my entire life. Nor had I ever failed this miserably. I was running out of ideas. Stopping, I took a step so that I was right in front of her, forcing her to pay attention to me.

"I don't know what else to say to convince you. My parents like you, my grandparents like you and I…I like you, Bella. I really like you. I don't know…if you didn't work for me, you'd be exactly the kind of girl I'd want to date."

Bella's head rose as I confessed my feelings to her until she was looking me straight in the eye for the first time in two days.

"Really?" Her voice held a healthy note of skepticism.

"Yeah…really. You're fantastic…" My words were cut off as Bella rose on her toes and kissed me. I was holding the wine bottle in one hand, but I quickly wrapped the other one around the back of her neck and held her face to mine.

She intensified the kiss, and I tried to remember exactly what it was I said to her to elicit this reaction. I would have to say it again. Soon.

Unfortunately, reality intruded. We were standing outside my grandparents' house and were soon going to be late for our dinner. Reluctantly, I broke off the kiss. We stood pressed together for a moment longer, our breath fogging up the small space between us.

"We're going to be late…" I said quietly. Bella swallowed hard and nodded. I smoothed down her hair in the back where I'd held her. Offering her my arm, she took one shaky step before moving more confidently to the door.

Friday, December 4

RPOV

Emmett and I had argued on the way home from Edward's house on Thanksgiving. He really gave me a hard time for being a bitch to Edward; however, he agreed with my goals. Bella was perfect for Edward, but Edward didn't see that. Bella didn't either, but that was because of her class prejudice.

I hoped to work on helping Bella take Edward off that pedestal she thought he inhabited. Yeah, yeah, he was a whiz kid prodigy with more talents than I could even list, but I'd known him forever. He'd had pimples and a gawky phase, just like everyone else.

The bell rang, and I ran to get the door.

"Bella!"

"Hi, Rose!"

"I'm so glad you came." Something occurred to me. "Wait, how did you get here?" I glanced up and down the street as if the answer would ride by.

"Um, three buses and a taxi." She shrugged.

"Oh, Bella. I'm sorry; I should have offered to pick you up. Emmett will drive you home tonight."

"That's okay. I wouldn't mind a lift to the bus stop, though."

"Don't be ridiculous. And look at me, talking to you on the porch. Come in! EJ's asleep right now, let's have a cup of coffee. Oh, you don't drink coffee. I have tea, too."

"Sounds good."

Bella and I sat in the kitchen. I put out some cookies and brought her a cup of tea.

"So, how did your week go? Lunch with Esme and dinner with First?''

"Um, visiting with your in-laws went really well. Esme offered me a part-time job at the Literacy Project."

"That's great, Bella! Emmett mentioned it. Are you excited?"

"I am now. Edward wasn't too happy at first, but he's come around."

"Why?"

"Well, I think he saw that it was important to me…"

"No, not why did he come around, why wasn't he too happy?"

"Oh, uh…a combination of things, I guess."

"Like what?"

"Rose, I really don't want to discuss it. It's over now, and he apologized."

I gave her a hard look but she wasn't budging. Good for her. I guess she was building up the confidence she needed to go toe-to-toe with Edward. That made me happy.

"Well, I'm happy for you. Esme talks about you all the time. You can do no wrong in her eyes."

Bella blushed and sighed. "I hope I don't let her down. I really don't have any PR experience."

"I'm sure you'll be fine, otherwise Esme wouldn't have hired you. She has a great people sense."

EJ started crying, and I jumped up automatically before remembering that stuff like this was exactly why Bella was here.

"C'mon, let's go get the little monster." Bella laughed.

Two hours later, the three of us were firmly ensconced on the sectional in the living room looking at photo albums. Bella held EJ on her lap, bouncing him lightly while he attempted to devour his fingers. My campaign to change Bella's notion of Edward started innocently enough-a new mom showing off pictures of her baby, but it didn't take long for me to drag out the older family albums, from when Emmett and I had been dating. I was sure to point out every unflattering picture of Edward we owned, and we owned a lot of them.

"I forgot how skinny his legs were back then! Look at those knobby knees!"

Bella smiled tolerantly but turned most of her attention to the baby.

"And those glasses. Did you know Edward wears contacts? Emmett always says he ruined his eyes reading under a blanket with a flashlight when he was younger…"

"Rosie! I'm home!" Emmett yelled from the foyer.

"We're in here!" I called. EJ gurgled. He loved his daddy.

"Hey, Beautiful, Bella, monster baby." Emmett kissed each of us on the top of the head, including Bella, before sweeping EJ off Bella's lap and high over his head. EJ squealed with delight.

"What's happening, little man?" Emmett asked, striding off to the kitchen to peek in the oven. I couldn't help but smile at his retreating form.

"He's so exuberant."

"Yes," I agreed. Emmett's zest for everything was one of the things I found most attractive about him.

"Rose!" Emmett called from the kitchen, "I think this funny looking chicken is done."

I rolled my eyes. "It's a duck, and it's not done."

"It's all brown."

I sighed. "Bella, would you excuse me before my husband serves us raw duck and we all end up with salmonella?"

"Sure."

I watched Bella through the kitchen pass through, while Emmett took EJ upstairs to change his diaper. She was slowly paging through the last album; one I knew had no pictures of EJ in it. Every now and then she'd pause, and I wondered what she was seeing that had captured her interest.

"Bella, bring the album in here and finish looking through it. Dinner's almost done."

Bella was in the kitchen a moment later, but empty-handed.

"What can I do to help?"

"Would you pinch the ends off these green beans?"

"Sure."

"So, what were you looking at in there?"

"I was admiring the bathing suit you had on in…Maui, was it?"

"Maui, yeah, that was the first trip Emmett and I went on together. Jasper and Edward were there."

"Mmm…"

I thought hard about the pictures in the album, but it had been a long time since I browsed back that far, and I didn't remember what else the pictures showed. Soon, however, thoughts about the album were gone from my head. We settled down to eat our duck. Bella watched while I spoon fed EJ some really diluted baby cereal and even tried it herself a few times. She expressed amazement at how dirty a baby could get while eating while Emmett just laughed.

After dinner we sat around finishing the bottle of wine and talking. Bella held EJ again. She was a natural, and EJ seemed to like her a lot. Bella talked about meeting the school counselor next week. She didn't seem too excited about returning to her education, but was adamant about not being stuck without an employable skill ever again. I could respect that, though the prospect of spending 25 years doing something you weren't passionate about was disturbing.

Emmett took EJ to go watch football, something that made Bella laugh, while Emmett explained that it was never too early to create a fan. I brought out some more cookies and sat down to address the white elephant in the room.

"So, Bella, how did Edward react when he saw the paper this week?"

"Surprisingly, well, really. I went to pieces, of course, but he just held me and told me that it didn't matter. He said his family loved me and that my previous job would have no bearing on that."

"Huh." I was surprised. Edward's reaction was really very mature. "Does he know who spilled the beans?"

"He thinks it was my old employer. Nomad lost the bid for cleaning services next year." She shrugged.

"He thinks?" I repeated. "It's not like Edward to let something like this go. Did he follow up?"

"Honestly, we haven't talked about it much."

"I guess it's not something you'd talk about in front of First and Elizabeth."

"Definitely not, though they both assured me that the news had no bearing on their opinion of me. Elizabeth shared some of her stories of being a young secretary, how scared she was of all the male executives. First told me how he knew Elizabeth was the one the first time he saw her. That led him to ask Edward about the first time he saw me, which led to a very fast change in the topic of conversation." Bella giggled.

"Why? I'd like to know about the first time you met Edward."

Bella blushed so hard I could swear I felt heat coming off her. "Bella, what could be so bad about the first time you met Edward? It's not like you were naked or something."

She buried her face in her hands.

"No! You were naked? How? Why?"

"Rooosssee…" she moaned, not lifting her face from her hands. I tried to pull her hands away from her face, but she fought with me.

"You have to tell me, Bella. Please! I've got a baby who doesn't sleep all the way through the night yet. It's good for me to know that someone somewhere is seeing someone naked."

Bella groaned, but I detected a hint of resignation in her tone.

"Wait!" I said. "I need another glass of wine for this. You?"

"Yes, please," she mumbled through her hands.

Once we were all set I sat down next to her and leaned forward. She still hadn't raised her head.

"Okay, Bella, spill!"

Bella took her hands away from her face long enough to grab the wineglass I had set in front of her and drain it in four quick swallows.

"You know I worked for the company that cleaned the Cullen building. One night I was given lead over the team and told to clean Edward's office. It wasn't my usual assignment. The shift leader wasn't there, and I was the next senior employee. When I got to Edward's bathroom, I took one look at the shower…have you seen it?"

I shook my head. I'd been in Edward's office a few times, but never used the bathroom.

"It's pretty spectacular. Well, the shower in my old apartment sucked, to say the least. It had been months since I had taken a warm, satisfying shower. I needed to clean the stall anyway and I reasoned that the easiest way to clean it…"

"Was while taking a shower. I do that, too." Comprehension dawned. "Oh. OH!"

"Yeah, I was just about to rinse my hair when Edward walked into the bathroom. He didn't know I was in there because I took the cart into the bathroom with me. It was like one o'clock in the morning. I had no reason to think I'd get caught. No one else had the key to make the elevator go to his office. And who the hell shows up at work at one AM?"

"Edward."

"Yeah, Edward."

"So what happened?"

"He said something and got my attention. When I looked at him he wasn't looking at me, but he obviously saw me. He says he didn't see anything, but I find that hard to believe. Oh, and I screamed."

I couldn't help it. I laughed. Loudly. Bella groaned and thunked her head down on my kitchen table. "I'm sorry, Bella," I said, "but that's so funny!"

The harder I tried to stop laughing the harder it was to stop. Then, Bella let out a snicker.

"You're right," she said, "it is funny."

The two of us sat at the table laughing. Finally, Emmett came in.

"What's so funny?" he asked. That sent us both into more gales of laughter. Emmett rolled his eyes and went back to the living room.

"Does Emmett know?" I asked.

"I don't know," she confessed. "You can't tell him. Please, Rose, please. Don't tell him."

"Your secret's safe with me."

The rest of the night went pretty quickly. Bella helped me put EJ to bed and then I told Emmett he should take her home.

"Really, guys, the bus stop is fine."

"Don't be silly," Emmett said, "besides, I'd like to see your new place."

"Oh, I'm not staying there this week. I'm staying with Edward."

"Still?"

"Yeah, just to give Angela a break. The paparazzi were hanging out at our place and bothering her. Since I'm not there, they've stopped hanging out. I'll go back next week. They can't bother me at Edward's place, since he parks inside the building."

"Okay, well, it's getting pretty late, and Edward would not like it if I put you on a bus at this hour. Besides, Edward's got a doorman, so I won't have to take you all the way up. Let's go."

Bella finally agreed. We hugged each other goodbye.

"This was fun," I told her. "We need to do it again."

"I'd like that, Rose."

"Great. Well, I'm sure I'll see you over the holidays."

"Okay, bye!"

"Bye."

I sighed when she left. She really was perfect for Edward. Actually, she was too good for him, but he could be trained.

BPOV

Edward was on his phone when I got upstairs.

"Bella?" he called from the kitchen. There was a note of anxiety in his voice.

"Hey, Edward." He came skidding into the foyer still dressed for work, though his tie wasn't on and the top few buttons of his shirt were undone. I looked at the clock. It was almost ten.

"Late night at the office?" I asked. He just stared at me, his Blackberry still at his ear. I could hear someone saying his name over and over.

He startled suddenly. "Sorry!" he said into the phone, "never mind, she's here. 'Kay, I'll tell her. Goodnight."

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Alice. She wants you to call her tomorrow."

"Kinda late to be talking to Alice, isn't it?"

"Bella, where have you been?"

"I went to a friend's house for dinner. Remember? I told you I wouldn't be cooking tonight, and that you should pick something up."

"I thought you meant for us. I thought you meant I should grab take out for us. You never said you weren't coming home tonight."

"I didn't? I'm sorry I scared you."

"Bella, you don't know how worried I was. Those photographers can be persistent. A hundred different scenarios ran though my head, none of them ending well. You read all the time about celebrities being chased out into traffic or getting run over by those nuts. You can't do that to me."

"I said I was sorry."

Edward pinched his nose. "Who were you with?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your friend, who is he?"

My eyebrow rose as if of its own volition. "He?"

"He, she, whatever."

"I had dinner at Rose and Emmett's place."

"You had dinner with my brother and his wife? Without me? Why?"

"Because I was invited."

Edward shook his head.

"What? You don't think that Rose might want to spend time with me?"

"No, I'm sure she does, I just don't know why."

"Excuse me?"

"That didn't come out right."

"Really? What exactly did you mean when you said you don't know why your sister-in-law might want to spend time with me?"

"I just meant that I wonder what she's hoping to accomplish by hanging out with you."

I just stared at him. I swear I had no idea how his mind worked. First, he didn't want me to spend time with his mother, and now he thinks that Rose has to have an ulterior motive for spending time with me.

"Bella? Ugh! That didn't come out right either."

"Is it so incomprehensible to you that maybe Rose just enjoys my company? I'm a nice person. People like me."

"I know they do, Bella. It's just…you'd have to know Rose to know what I mean."

"How am I supposed to get to know Rose if you don't want me to spend time with her."

"I never said I didn't want you to spend time with her. Bella, I'm sorry. This conversation is not going at all how I planned. I was just worried when you weren't here."

"You could have called me."

"I tried! Your phone must be turned off."

I quickly dug through my bag and pulled out my phone. I pressed the button to turn it on, but it shut right down again.

"It's dead."

"See, when you charge it you'll see the missed calls. I'm sorry, Bella. I don't want to fight with you. Come inside, have a drink with me. Please. I haven't eaten yet, because I was trying to track you down. Have you eaten? Are you hungry?"

"I ate," I told him, slightly mollified by his pathetic apology.

"Will you have a drink while I eat?"

"Okay."

"Okay." He spread his arms wide, offering me a hug. I stepped into his embrace and let him squeeze me, hard-I think my back cracked-before letting him lead me into the kitchen.

Think he groveled enough? Seems Rose was right, even Edward Cullen can be trained. ;)

Hello Friends! Hope you enjoyed this update. It was fun to write Edward doing what Edward does best—kicking corporate ass! Even if his kick was misguided this time. Summer is upon us and the hubs and I are taking the rugrats on vacation. This may or may not affect the posting schedule for THTF. It *shouldn't* but I feel it is better to warn you than to assume I'll still have plenty of time to get you a quality chapter on my next scheduled posting date, 7/25.

It's actually a working vacation for me. ;) We'll be in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm hoping the period atmosphere will lend verisimilitude to my writing of the story, The Bargain. If you're not reading this bit of summer fluff, I hope you'll give it a try. What's better than a haughty Bella being pursued by a man who is in bondage to her father? (Not that kind of bondage, silly!) There will be pirates!

Please check out my blog http:/ironictwistisntitironic(dot)blogspot(dot)com for pictures and teasers!