Hey, there. Remember me? Yeah, I know... it's been almost 3 weeks since the last update. Totally unlike me, but when reality keeps shoving shit at you, you can't really help it.

OK, review replies will commence again this chapter, because the James issue is now officially wrapped. Also, there's some smut. Have fun with it :)

As always, thank you everyone for the reviews you take the time out to give, and the continual talk that has people still putting this on their alerts list. I really appreciate all of it more than I can say.

Thanks to Stratan for simply being the man. Yeah, I think that about covers it.

A/N at the bottom.

Chapter 35

Bella

Jane shoved her chair back away from the table and pushed at her hair under the black hood on her head. "I typed out two pages of notes. I'm done."

I laughed dryly. "Like hell you are. Did you even bother citing your sources?"

"What?" She rolled her eyes. "Do I have to?"

I stared at her, trying to decide if she was really that stupid or just didn't care. I was going for the latter; she seemed extremely quick-witted. "Um, yes."

She pushed her laptop my way. "Then you do it."

"I don't fucking think so. I've done enough work for you. You can do this on your own."

She looked like she was going to pout but startled me by letting out a little screech of anger instead. "This is what Mike got me a tutor for. You do it."

"Mike got you a tutor because he wants you to learn the material so that you don't fail your first year of college. You and your brother both get on my nerves—and I wouldn't have agreed to do this if it wasn't for Emmett—so don't push me, Jane. I'm not benefiting from this little arrangement in any way, and I have enough bullshit in my life to worry about without you adding to it. So you can either do it like this, or I walk. I really don't care either way."

She narrowed her eyes at me for a few seconds before finally relenting. "Fine."

God, I wanted to tell her to shove her laptop up her ass and leave her to figure it all out on her own, but I could not force myself to do it.

Damn it.

"Fine."

We sat in stony silence while she started keying in all the information she needed. She went through the stack of books at her side slowly, and to speed up the process, I finally pushed the other three books over toward her so that she wouldn't have to stop and ask for them. It'd be like pulling teeth to get her to finish if she got distracted.

My bracelet dragged noisily over the table, catching her attention immediately. She snatched my hand up and scrutinized it, turning it around to see the clasp.

I nearly gulped.

"Pretty," she said emotionlessly. "Did your fiancé get it for you?"

"Yeah. In Paris." I jerked my hand back. "Finish so we can go, please."

"What's on the clasp?"

"Nothing. That's how it's made."

She tilted her head as she studied me. "Hmm. Where did he get it?"

I put my hand in between my legs under the table to hide the ring from her. "I don't know. I don't pay attention to stuff like that."

"How can you not? He can afford to buy you whatever you want!"

"I'm not with him for the money," I snapped back.

She smirked. "Sure you're not."

"I'm not," I repeated between my teeth.

She rolled her eyes—again—and picked up her vibrating phone. "Whatever. I have to go now. I'll see you next week."

She stood up and grabbed her belongings, not bothering to shut off her laptop before slipping it into her bag, and left me to pick up everything else.

As soon as she was out of sight, I groaned and let my head hit the table with a thud.

"Bad time?" a deep voice asked from beside me.

Not now. Just no. Not now, I pleaded to whoever would listen to me.

"What do you want?" I asked, never moving from my position.

"DNA results came in," James said, crinkling the envelope in his hands so I could hear it.

"Charlie and I both got the same thing sent to us." And now I was itching to race home and open it.

"Probably. But I thought maybe you'd check it out with me?" He sounded so hopeful.

"You know Edward thinks you're doing this to get to me," I stated evenly.

He laughed grimly. "Sure he does. I've done it before."

"Why does that not surprise me?" I sighed.

"Look, I'm not proud of the way I've behaved. I have a lot of… issues with my adoptive family, and to find out that you were potentially related to me after feeling attracted to you and being jealous of Edward for having you, well, I was disgusted with myself." He paused. "I apologized. It's all I can do."

"You can stop following me."

"I will. I know I'm not supposed to be around you, and I get why. I'm sure I seem like a psycho to you-"

I cut him off with a barking laugh and finally looked up at him. "You're joking, right? You seem like a psycho? Tell me; if you had some random journalist follow you around all the time, saying cryptic things in inappropriate places, wouldn't you be a little freaked out?"

He looked away uncomfortably. I'll take that as a 'yes'. "Can I sit down?"

"Only if you promise to leave me alone after you finally have proof that my father is not your father." My brow furrowed. "If that makes any sense."

He gave me a small smile. "It does. And I promise you won't see me again unless I'm legitimately working. I thought maybe this would take precedence over a restraining order. At least for a few minutes."

I pursed my lips as I thought about it.

He held out his cell phone. "Call the police, if you want."

What I really wanted was to get this over with. I'd given Edward's theory careful consideration and had even decided that if James didn't show up at the clinic to give his sample that I'd agree whole-heartedly with it. But something in me was glad that he seemed genuine enough to take the test when he got back to LA. I'd never been wrong about a person before, and while I knew there was always a first for everything, my instincts were always right. If I wasn't right about James, it meant that I was incredibly gullible and naïve.

And that was something I wouldn't have been able to stand.

I watched him closely as he waited for me to make my decision. He simply… wasn't scary to me. Creepy, yes. But not scary. Not anymore. I couldn't explain what changed, and I wasn't going to try. I was just happy that his anger had finally seemed to fade the day of the Golden Globes. And I realized I got a glimpse inside someone whose childhood was just as unhappy as mine was. I knew that I'd feel the same way if I were him. I'd feel every bit of that built-up resentment that he had toward me if he had the father—the life—that I thought I should have had too.

If only he knew how incredibly fucked-up my life had been. It wasn't the picturesque childhood with Charlie that I knew James had envisioned. I lived here, in LA, with Renée and rarely got to see Charlie. Not because of any custody arrangement disallowing him visits with me or because he didn't want me, but because I was afraid to leave my mother alone for more than a few days at a time.

There was no telling what I'd come home to.

"Open the letter," I finally replied, pushing his phone away.

He let out his breath shakily. "If he's not… If what he says is true… I can't even begin to tell you how fucking sorry I am."

I ran my hands over my face. "James, you can say you're sorry every day until the day you die, but that doesn't mean I'll ever forgive you. You should have been honest with me from the beginning instead of scaring me half to death."

He stared at his hands sadly. "Yeah. I just wanted to be sure first. I thought it would scare you more if I randomly walked over to you and said, 'Hey, I think you're my sister'."

I had to laugh a little with the truth of that statement.

"And I knew I shouldn't have followed you around," he continued. "But I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to know something about you. Edward wouldn't have let you come anywhere near me. It would have been too risky. I might have written a story about your relationship."

"But you knew all along."

"Yeah. I knew that you two weren't as you seemed, and Bella, I wanted that story. It's what made me start looking into you. But after I found out about you being Charlie Swan's daughter, it wasn't important to me anymore. So I kept it to myself."

I cleared my throat and tried to keep my composure. He'd known at the Black and White Ball about my relationship with Edward, but he couldn't have known that I was potentially related to him. The way he looked at me then and the way he looked at me now were two totally different things. He'd hated me because he thought that I was after Edward for the same reason that everyone else did at first—money. Then, in Barney's, he assumed that not only was I a gold-digging whore, but I was blessed with everything he'd been denied. It was no wonder he got so pissed off when I'd called him a perv.

But there was still one thing I was confused about…

"Was it you who gave Tanya those photos?"

He shook his head. "I honestly don't know where she got them."

"Were you there that night? The night Edward stayed at my apartment for the first time?"

"For a couple hours. It was pretty clear he wasn't coming home any time soon, so after a while, I called it a night."

"We, uh, we had a few things to discuss. He was pretty excited about something that night."

"Obviously. He didn't check his surroundings once that night. I think it was the first time I'd seen him lose focus and let us actually see into his real life." He shrugged. "We all screw up at some point."

"I guess so."

"I never expected Edward to get a PI. Or for him to hire a bodyguard for you."

I was stunned. "Did you think he was just going to let your creepy ass follow me around without trying to find out why? You're lucking that a restraining order, private investigator, and a bodyguard are the only things he did!" I told him vehemently. "He is fiercely protective of me. He could have ruined you. He still has that option."

James nodded. "You two are good together. You can see how much he loves you." He took a deep breath. "Okay, let's just get this over with."

"Let's."

He ripped open the envelope and read the results quickly, tensing up as he processed the results.

"Fuck," he whispered. "Your father was right."

I yanked the page out of his hand and hurried through the results. The markers indicated that I was Charlie Swan's child, but James Eliot was not.

Thank you fucking Jesus.

"Well, maybe you should search for your biological mother. She might know who your real father is," I whispered gently as I handed the paper back to him.

"I can't. She died three years ago."

"Oh," I said in surprise. "I'm sorry."

He shrugged and balled the paper up in his hand.

"Um, I actually have something that I think I should give you," I said awkwardly.

I pulled out the manila envelope that contained all of James' records from my messenger bag. Edward had insisted that I put it in his safe, but I couldn't seem to let it out of my sight and had opted to keep it on me at all times. I guarded it with my life. Now, I was glad I had.

"This is the file Sam made on you. It's got a lot of information about your mom from when she was in high school. Maybe it'll help?" I asked, biting my lip uncertainly.

He took it from me and nodded. "Thanks."

He looked so dejected that I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder. "Want to help me cite all these sources by hand before you go?" I asked in an attempt to lighten things up.

"What?" he asked, giving me a strange look.

"Um, the girl I tutor got a text in the middle of our study session and just left. She threw all her stuff in her bag without bothering to shut down her laptop, so there's no telling if all her citations got saved."

"What an idiot."

"I know."

He reached out and grabbed the books, glancing over at me in confusion. "You sure you want me around?"

I smiled. "Well, I figure I'm not going to see you again unless it's in a professional capacity, so why not? Besides, you owe me."

He shook his head and chuckled. "So I do. Got a pen and a piece of paper?"

"Look around, buddy. You're in the campus library. What do you think?"

We each took a stack of books and started scribbling out notes without a word until I noticed a large figure looming over me. I could feel Emmett's watchful gaze on me, cloaking me with his anger. I tried to push past it, continue jotting down my notes while I ignored him, but it was no use. I couldn't concentrate.

Ah, shit.

I finally just put down my pen and waited for him to lay into me—nonchalantly, of course.

"I fucking leave to get you your stupid mocha and that creeper shows up?" Emmett shouted as I took my coffee from his huge hand, glaring over at James.

My eyes darted around as I struggled to quiet him. "Relax, Em. He's not a big deal," I whispered loudly.

Emmett snarled. "Not a big deal? Are you kidding me with this, Bella?"

James held out the balled up piece of paper. "I just came to see if she wanted to check out the test results with me. She then asked me to stick around."

Emmett snatched the paper out of his hand. "Let me see that."

He frowned as he smoothed the paper out and started to read the results. He blinked a few times and then grinned widely.

"You were right."

"Yeah."

"So, Eliot. Get out of here. You have no excuse to bother her anymore."

"I was just getting ready to go. I'm finished." He stood up and handed me his notes. "See you around, Bella."

God, I hoped not. "See ya."

I waited until James was through the doors and out of sight before chancing a look up at Emmett. "Well, let me hear it."

He plopped down in the chair that James had been sitting in and sloshed his coffee out everywhere. "Shit," he hissed, wiping at his shirt. "I'm glad that fuckstain isn't your brother. That would make me seriously question your sanity, BDB."

I giggled until his worried expression caught my eye.

"Why were you being so nice to him?" he asked seriously. "He doesn't deserve it."

"No. But I can't say how I'd act in his place. He said he has issues with his adoptive family and that he was disgusted with himself for thinking that I was hot. I mean, he was convinced that I was his sister. That's got to be a bit of a mindfuck, right?"

He conceded with a nod.

"So I don't know. I just didn't see the point." I could feel my cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"Are you done?" He pointed to the books in front of us.

"Yep. I could shoot you for telling Newton that I was good at this. She is such a pain in my ass…"

He chuckled. "Sorry. Won't happen again."

"It'd better not."

He grabbed the stack of books on the table and rushed them over to the cart sitting in the corner. "By the way, I'm not telling Edward that he was here when I wasn't. He'll kick my ass."

"I'm not keeping it from him. He'll kick my ass," I countered.

He groaned. "Come on. I don't want to get fired."

"You're not getting fired." I shoved him toward the door. "Stop being such a baby."

"Yeah, right."

"You're not! Now take me home. I still have to pack for… I have no fucking clue where."

He threw his arm around me, causing me to stumble over my feet. "Get over it already, would you? The man wants to spoil his wife," he said into my ear.

"But I don't know what to pack."

"It doesn't matter. He already did it for you."

Edward

The sound of the garage door opening stopped my furious pacing in the kitchen. I rushed toward the door and threw it open just as Bella's blue Audi rolled into its designated spot. Without thought about what I was doing, I strode over to the car so that I could feel Bella's warmth against me. It was an overreaction, but I couldn't seem to make myself care. From the moment my mobile had rung, I'd been on edge. I'd practically sprinted down to the mailbox to retrieve today's mail and ripped the envelope holding the test results inside so that I could see what she'd told me for myself: that James was not Bella's brother after all. I was ridiculously happy that she wasn't related to him. But the elation that shot through me wasn't enough to quell my anger with her for inviting him to actually stay with her while she finished up at the library.

She could be so incredibly foolish sometimes.

As soon as she glanced up at me through her window, I had to stifle the urge to chain her to the bed so that I'd never have to worry about her well-being again. A flurry of lascivious thoughts crossed my mind as I imagined her immobile and helpless to my will, writhing in frustration and want as I touched her, and a soft groan fell from my lips.

Get it together, I thought as I raked a hand through my hair.

I knew I was going to have to let some of this anxiety I had about her safety go, but it wouldn't be today. Right now, all I wanted to do was thank my lucky stars that James hadn't tried anything untoward with Bella; that it had been in a public setting, and Emmett was right there with her—guarding her—even if he hadn't been the entire time.

Now that she was here, in arm's reach again, my relief was thick.

Palpable.

As soon as she was standing next to me, I shoved the door closed and slammed her into the car. I wrenched her face to mine and poured all my aggravation and concern into our kiss as I pressed every inch of my body against hers. Her moan was drowned out by the sound of Emmett parking his Jeep directly behind her, but its vibrations reverberated through me; it had me aching to strip her down and pound out the desperation gripping me.

After everything that James had done—after all the times he'd frightened her or stalked her obsessively—she still gave him mercy he didn't deserve. It was unfathomable to me how she could be so paradoxical. She was cynical, bitchy, snarky, and ruthless; insecure, accepting, forgiving, and compassionate.

And every day I loved her more for it.

I tore my mouth away from hers and watched as her chest heaved and she swallowed thickly.

"Well, that was quite a welcome home." She licked her now swollen lips, and I nearly drove my tongue into her mouth again.

"Please. I'm begging you. For my sanity…" I gasped. "Don't make it a point to be nice to that bloke. Not after the way he acted about all of this."

She blinked a few times as her brow knit, genuinely confused by my reaction. "Edward, it was fine. Emmett was there. He didn't mean any harm. I-"

"Isabella," I groaned. Her eyes went wide with the name I so rarely used anymore. "Please."

I stared at her intensely, trying to convey how serious I was, pleading with her silently to agree so I didn't go mad with fear every time she walked out our door.

She reached up and put her hand on my jaw, trailing her thumb across my cheek. "Okay. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry."

I simply arched a brow in return. She knew me well enough to know that I worried about her constantly.

She giggled at me. "Yeah. That was a pretty stupid thing to say. So when do we leave?"

"I have everything you'll need in the back of the Range Rover, but you should check around the house to make sure I haven't forgotten anything or to see if there's anything you'd like to take that I didn't know about."

She nodded. "Be easy on Emmett," she whispered. "He thinks you're going to fire him."

"What for?" I demanded in surprise.

"For leaving me alone in the library."

"He got you a mocha and left you on university property. In public. Following my instructions is hardly grounds for getting fired."

She shrugged and stood on her toes to press a quick kiss to my lips. "So make sure he knows that."

I nodded and waited for her the door to close behind her before I glanced over at Emmett. The sheepish way he stared down at his feet as he kicked at the garage floor had a laugh bursting out of me before I could think better of it.

I quickly schooled myself when his head snapped up and saw the shocked expression on his face.

"Sorry. But really, Emmett, you shouldn't be so nervous. You did nothing wrong," I assured him.

"How can you tell me that? You got pissed, man."

"Of course I got upset. I don't like him having such easy access to my wife, regardless of what his motives were. It goes with being an actor, I suppose. I trust hardly anyone."

Emmett nodded. "Well, if it helps, he didn't do anything weird. He just sat there and helped Bella with the notes she was taking and left as soon as I said something."

"Good. He shouldn't come near her again unless we're doing some event he's been hired for. And soon we'll move. We'll no longer be in the… epicenter of the entertainment industry and can hopefully find a bit of a reprieve from all of this." I waved my hand flippantly.

"Did you hate it this much before? The fame, I mean?"

I shook my head. "No. I only started hating it recently when I saw how much it impacted my life and everyone around me. Bella, specifically. She's everything to me now. She deserves everything."

Bella came back out into the garage with her iPad in her hands. "I thought that maybe I'd have time to read or something."

"You might... Or you might not," I replied suggestively with a quirk of my lips.

"And on that note, I'm leaving," Emmett said with a dramatic shudder.

"You shut up," Bella warned. "I have put up with way too many of your nasty sex sessions with Rosie for you to pretend to be disgusted by one comment."

"Have a good weekend," Emmett replied, flashing her a wide, impish grin as he climbed back into his Jeep.

Bella rolled her eyes. "Jesus."

We waited until Emmett was down the driveway before locking up the house. Once everything was secure, we got into the Range Rover and took Samson over to Angela's before heading to the airport. I somehow managed to compose myself as I focused on the road and the few SUV's of paparazzi tailing us, even though traffic was at a near standstill for the majority of the drive and Bella's leg was bouncing anxiously in my peripheral.

"Would you calm down?" I chuckled, placing my hand on her thigh to still her.

"Well, fuck, I don't know where we're going, and I'm pretty sure this traffic made us late," she responded as we neared the hangars.

"We're not late."

She whipped her head in my direction and stared at me, finally crossing her arms over her chest with a playful jibe when I chose not to say anything further.

"Oh, my God!" Bella giggled as we approached the jet I'd chartered for the trip. "Since when did you become a pretentious snob?"

"I'm not a snob," I objected lightly.

"Edward! A private jet? That's pretty damn snobbish."

"I wanted privacy for the entire weekend," I responded with a crooked grin. "I want no fans, no press—nothing but you and me while we're away. This was the easiest way to go about that."

She gazed over at me skeptically and finally nodded. "Okay. Lie to me then. I don't care."

I chuckled and reached to open the trunk of the car. "I'm not lying."

She yanked her bag out of my hand. "Whatever."

"I'm going to carry that," I told her, snatching it back away from her with a smile.

"I'm not helpless."

"No. But I want to. Don't deny me, love." I playfully pouted at her.

She laughed and started walking toward the jet. "You're an idiot," she called over her shoulder.

I shrugged it off and followed her, greeting the pilot and the flight attendant as we ascended the last few stairs and walked inside. Bella took a turn to the right and stopped abruptly, causing me to nearly crash into her.

"Well, this is plushy. There's a couch. And a table and chairs." She paused to look back at me. "How far are we going?"

"Not far. Our flight time is just over two hours. I merely wanted to be sure that you're comfortable."

Bella rushed around the cabin, examining everything excitedly, and then flopped down on the couch.

She beamed up at me. "Oh, yeah. I'll be comfortable all right. Come be comfortable with me?"

I smiled back. "Let me just put our bags in the closet."

I lay in the hammock just off the beach and opened my eyes as I felt Bella breeze by me. I kept my eyes trained on her body, watching the strings of her black, barely-there bikini sway and skim over her back as she maneuvered her way through the sand and to the turquoise water. She looked incredibly gorgeous standing there half-naked with her hair piled up on top of her head and her skin glistening with sweat from being outside in the sun all afternoon. So beautiful, in fact, that I felt the physical affect she had on me immediately and had to readjust myself in my spot in the shade before she took note and used it to her advantage.

Although, honestly, I wasn't sure why I'd felt the need to hide it. Like Bella taking advantage of me could ever be a bad thing.

So far, our trip here to Cabo San Lucas had been fantastic. We spent the afternoon enjoying the sun and spent both evenings in bed together, shutting off our mobiles and computers and simply taking the time to be with one another. It was nice to simply be here with her; to watch her face as she slept in my arms and listen to her talk to me about the most inconsequential things.

I fervently hoped that she would continue to be so blithe when we returned to LA. This was likely to be our last time truly alone together—without reality and responsibility constantly interfering—before I left to promote Rogue. I needed to be sure that she'd be all right without me; otherwise, I wouldn't be able to tear myself away from her.

It would be difficult enough for me as it was.

Bella stood at the shoreline, wiggling her toes, as she debated stepping into the water. It was quite warm here—a balmy eighty degrees—but regardless, it was still February. The water temperature was chilly, at best.

Unfortunately for Bella, a large wave crested and crashed into her, splashing cool water all over her legs. She danced back and shrieked, shivering once as she turned to face me.

"Holy fuck, that's cold!"

I laughed. "It's winter, love. What do you expect?"

She shrugged and walked back up to me. "I don't know. Everything here is perfect. Maybe the water should be, too."

I reached out and took her hand with mine, bringing it to my mouth so that I could nibble on her fingers. "I'm glad you're enjoying it."

"What's not to enjoy? We have this huge, private villa sitting on a private beach with a pool and a hot tub…" She looked around. "A hammock, a gym, and even a little tiki hut built over the grill by the pool. I think you outdid yourself, baby."

"I know it's quite large-"

"And expensive," she added.

I rolled my eyes. She still had no concept of how much money I actually had. "All right, and expensive, but I wanted to make sure we wouldn't be interrupted. This is the most secluded property in the vicinity. You could prance around naked and no one would ever know. In fact, you should do that now," I said wickedly.

She snorted a laugh. "Someone's horny."

"How in God's name do you expect me not to feel anything when you've been walking around all day in," I gestured wildly to her bikini, "this?"

Her eyes flashed as she smiled down at me. "You like it, huh?"

"I'd like it better off," I admitted.

"So take it off," she challenged.

I snaked my arm around her waist and pulled her down on me, thankful that I weighed so much more than she did so that the hammock didn't spill us out onto the ground beneath us. I slowly worked my hands up from her hips to the tie at the back of her neck and tugged on the string, eyeing her chest and waiting for the moment that her top fell away so that I could see her fully. I pulled in a sharp breath and smiled as soon as she was exposed to me, bringing my hands back around her body so that I could cup her breasts.

She lowered her body to mine and moaned as my fingers brushed over her nipples. As soon as she was within reach, I dragged my mouth over her shoulder and down to where my hands were still toying with her. Her natural taste was tinged with salt from the air, and her skin was pink and warmed from the sun. She rolled her hips on top of me, causing me to moan as she grazed her body over mine.

I dropped my hands to her hips and pushed her further down on me as I took her mouth with mine. She gasped once and then kissed me back aggressively, silently letting me know just how much she wanted me.

Our hands roamed each other's bodies as we lost ourselves in the demand we had to come together. I took her face in my hands and pushed her back just enough so that I could see her flushed face.

"Edward, take me inside," she breathed.

"No. I want to fuck you out here," I responded.

"But-"

"For once, we're completely alone. I want to take advantage of that in every way possible."

I trailed my fingers over the slick fabric in between her legs while I waited for her answer. She nodded, and I pushed her bottoms aside and plunged my fingers inside her as she fumbled with my swim trunks. She jerked them down only as far as necessary and hastily pushed my fingers away so that she could sink down on me.

"Oh, fuck," she cried out, rocking against me; her fingers latched onto the net beside my head. "We're going to fall."

"We're not going to fall," I grunted against the urge to come already. "I promise."

I kept my hands on her arse, squeezing the flesh underneath her bottoms as I kept her motions steady. Pieces of her hair fell out of her bun and swung over my face, and her sighs and moans of pleasure directed my movements, gradually speeding up the closer she was to climax.

I could feel her body tighten itself around me, and I thrust up into her as much as possible so that she'd come when I did—which was at any given second. I stared up at her face, watching her take her lip between her teeth and waiting for that tell-tale line to form between her brows so that I could finally let myself go.

"God, you're beautiful," I rasped as her face began to contort.

And that was all she needed. She buried her face in my neck and screamed out as she came with me. The woman could make me see stars sometimes, now being one of those times.

As soon as I could think properly again, I tightened my arms around her and held her against me as we both settled down together.

"We need to get you inside," I murmured, placing a kiss on her temple. "You're burnt."

"I am?" She sat up and poked at her chest, shrugging when she had sufficient proof of her sunburn. "Oh, well. It's too bad I don't tan, though."

"It most certainly is not," I objected. "Your skin was one of the first things that drew me to you."

She blinked and grinned down at me. "Really?"

"Really."

We eventually made ourselves move and went inside to shower and start dinner. I wouldn't let Bella help me, using Valentine's Day as my excuse to do something for her. I ogled her as she walked around the villa practically naked while she waited for the aloe I'd applied to her back and shoulders to dry, and I had to keep forcing myself back to the task at hand so that I didn't char the steaks.

We ate under the gazebo and watched the sun set over the ocean. I laughed at the annoyed look on her face when I started stacking up the dirty dishes so that I could wash them.

"Don't start. I'm spoiling you tonight."

"Edward," she protested.

I kissed her to shut her up and ran my index finger over the necklace I'd given her, happy that I had just one more night with her like this before we went back home.

"Happy Valentine's Day, baby."

She sighed, smartly choosing not to battle with me tonight. "Happy Valentine's Day."

I picked up the dishes and started toward the house, stopping when I heard her call out my name.

"You can bet that when we get back home, this kind of shit won't fly. I like helping you. It's just another way that I can spend time with you."

I chuckled and shook my head, realizing that she was right. "All right. I'll keep that in mind."

"Thank you."

I pressed my lips together and walked away before I could say anything further. There was no need for her to thank me; I clearly would do whatever she asked of me.

But there was no need to announce it to the world. After all, I needed to keep some dignity.

Short and sweet: This fic was originally outlined to be only 35 chapters long... which, obviously, we've already reached that point, and I'm still not done. At most, I think this fic will be 45 chapters long. Which means you all have a max of 10 chapters left before I finally call it quits and write an epilogue. And if you read the FGB outtake(s), you know that I've not even started diving into the main event. That'll happen VERY soon.

Don't forget to look me up on Twitter (at JennyB0719 - I am a pervy geek so I apologize in advance) or comment in the Twi'd thread. Links to everything can be found on my profile.