A/N: Getting so darn close! Only one chapter left to go. I just finished it, so my beta is working on it now. My goal is to post it and finish this little story before the end of the year. Thank you to everyone for reading and reviewing! More at the bottom.

Chapter 9 – EPOV

On Sunday, I woke up with Bella half on top of me. Her hair was sort of in my face, and her arms were squeezing me tight; I loved every second of it. I had worn her out yesterday, and I knew it. I couldn't be upset about it, but I was concerned that she would be sore this morning. Not only had I taken her against the wall yesterday, but I'd spent an hour inside her after that. I would have to be careful today until I knew if she was feeling alright.

Bella started to stir slowly, her hand running up my chest softly. It went from my stomach all the way up to my cheek. She turned my head slightly, and I stared into her chocolate eyes. My hand rubbed on her back as we just stared at each other for a moment.

"Good morning, love."

"Morning, Edward," she said, yawning hugely. "So, yesterday was fun." She smirked at me.

"Oh you and Alice had a good time?" I joked, knowing that's not what she was talking about.

"Actually, yes, we did. You know Alice and her nickname thing?" I nodded. "She nicknamed Jake 'the asshole.' She said that was the only name that he was worthy of, or something like that." She laughed and I joined her.

I hugged her tighter and she dropped her head back to my chest. I reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the remote for the curtains. As they began to open, more and more of the amazing view we had was revealed.

"I'm so tired this morning. I just want to stay in bed all day." Bella sat up slightly, leaning against the headboard.

"I can do that. We can stay in bed all day long if you want to, baby." I leaned over and kissed her slightly, rising off the bed. "But I was told that someone always requires coffee in the morning. I'll be right back." She smiled at me as I left the room.

I'd had some forethought yesterday and made the coffee when I was making the lasagna. I set the timer on the coffee maker, and blissfully we had woken up after it was already done. I quickly grabbed her creamer and then filled her cup before creating mine. Then I walked back in the bedroom to find Bella standing, naked, in front of the window. I set the cups down and walked over to her, putting my arms around her.

"God, Bella, you look so beautiful standing in front of this amazing view naked. I could look at you all day." I kissed her neck and shoulder lightly, willing my dick to stop getting hard. Bella leaned back against me and felt how aroused I was.

"This is really it, isn't it?" she said, almost musing out loud.

"What's it, baby?"

"My new life. This is how my new life is going to be."

I tightened my arms around her, not even caring if she could feel me poking her back. "Bella, I want to make every day like this. Every day for the rest of our lives. So, yes, this is how your new life is going to be. That ok with you, baby?"

She shifted in my arms and her wet eyes met mine. "It's more than I ever thought possible for myself. I never, ever, thought I would wake up this happy every day and surrounded by so much beauty." She brought her hand to my face. "You gave me so much more than I ever thought possible."

I leaned into her hand, kissing her palm. "This is what we went through hell to get to, Bella. I want to make you happy for the rest of our lives." I leaned down and kissed her softly. "Are you sore, baby?"

I leaned back and she smiled up at me, a tear escaping her eye. "No. I think I'm getting used to having all this sex."

I smirked at her. "Just one of the many things I want you to get used to." Then I kissed her, pushing her slightly against our window. I glanced out, realizing that if I took her here, our neighbors would get a show. Hell, they already were. I leaned down, scooping her up. She laughed as I carried her back to the bed, depositing her in the middle before crawling up her and settling between her legs. "I think this is my happy place right here. I could happily stay between your legs for the rest of my life."

She smiled back at me, pulling me down so I could kiss her. And I stayed like that for some time, just enjoying the feel of her naked body touching mine, our tongues in battle. Eventually, I slid inside her slowly, relishing the feeling of once again being surrounded by perfection.

We moved together slowly, tasting and enjoying each other. Just like before, though, I couldn't stay going slow for too long. I brought her leg up, just as I had done the first time we'd made love, and I ground into her over and over. Her eyes rolled back as my finger got to her clit, circling it slowly as I continued rocking into her. She screamed as she came and I felt complete, surging into her.

Resting my head on her forehead, I stared into her eyes that had finally opened. "I love you."

Her eyes were a little watery, as she replied, "I love you, too."

After that, we got up and decided to be productive for the day. Bella had joked with me about not being a contributing member of society, and honestly after the last week we'd had, I got it. I wanted her so much all the time that I was going to be her downfall. Needing to blow off some steam and try not to attack her again, I told Bella that I was going to head to the gym for a couple hours. She smiled and kissed me goodbye; no fighting about 'what she would do' or anything, just told me to have fun.

When I got to the gym, I found a few of my buddies there. While I had 'bar' friends, I also had 'gym' friends. I nodded to them, setting my bag down. The gym I went to was fairly small; it was really just an office space in a strip mall. They had bathrooms to change into, with showers, but I hardly ever used them.

I got to work on the leg press machine, hearing someone come up behind me. "Hey, Ed, haven't seen you in a few weeks. You find another gym?"

I glanced up at Riley, the owner of the gym. I shook my head at him. "Nah, I've just been really busy."

Riley sat down and started his own leg press, and we were silent for a bit. He and I had known each other for a few years, since I'd found his gym. But we weren't really friends. I realized some time ago that Kate really had wanted her friends to be our friends, so I just didn't have men that I could talk to outside of my dad or brother.

"Probably won't stay too long," I said, trying to work into a conversation with him.

"Wife keeping you on a leash, man?" Riley laughed. He was a confirmed bachelor, and probably would never be anything other than that.

"Actually, I'm getting a divorce."

Rile laughed harder, his hand coming down on my shoulder. "Good for you, man. No offense, but that wife of yours is a bitch."

Riley only met Kate once, but that was enough. Kate had a distaste for anything that wasn't 'posh' and she felt Riley's gym was ratty – which were her words. She had been quite rude to Riley that one time I brought her, so she never came with me again.

I joined his laughter. "Yeah, honestly, she really is. Got myself someone better, man. I want to get home to her."

"Wait, home to her? You move in with her already? Damn, Ed, haven't I taught you anything about how amazing it is to be single?"

"Riley, I hope you find what I have some day. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me, seriously." I continued for a few minutes longer, before moving over to the weights. Riley spotted me, and we were silent for a while as I continued to work out.

"She pretty, man?"

"Pretty is a rude word for Bella. She is so beautiful it hurts to look at her sometimes."

"Damn. Got it pretty hard, huh?"

I grinned up at him. "She's it. She's the last woman I'll ever love. Hell yeah, I got it bad."

"Well, I guess I'm happy for you. Got rid of the bitch and found yourself Aphrodite all at once. Good for you, Ed."

We continued through the rest of the workout quietly after that. A couple of the guys would ask about the divorce, overhearing what I had been telling Riley, but I kept the details minimal. I wasn't really interested in diving in with people I didn't really know that well.

Sunday really seemed to fly by for me. Bella and I enjoyed some amazing soup for dinner, and I ate about half of the cookies she had made. She was nervous about Monday and going into the office, but I knew she would be fine. She'd worked with so many of the people in the office I was sure that she would fit right in and have no concerns.

I couldn't resist her that night; she had decided to shower before bed, and I had to join her. That ended with me pushing her against the wall and taking her again...and she definitely wasn't complaining. Her nerves were on edge and I just wanted to help. Yeah, that was the only reason I started fucking her against the wall...

I held her close to me that night, trying to comfort her and make her understand she had nothing to worry over. By the next morning, she did seem calmer.

"I promise I won't kiss you again until we are both home," I said, laughing and remembering her comment from the night before. I leaned down and kissed her. She threw her arms around me, laughing and kissing me again, harder.

I stayed behind for a few minutes, hoping that she would get there before I did. I wanted to make sure that I showed up at my normal time and nothing seemed amiss. As I stared around the apartment, I realized that while I loved it, I hated it when Bella wasn't here. She was what made this place feel complete to me. It was going to be a rough day without her.

I made my way to the office slowly; my commute having been cut by 90% by moving so close. I parked in the garage and made my way to my office holding my backpack and my coffee cup. I wanted to seek out Bella so I knew where she was sitting, but I didn't think that was a good idea. Instead, I got to my office and started working.

The volume of emails and voicemails was crazy. Bringing up my group chat in IM, I told my team to give me the day to get caught up, but to let me know if anything critical needed my attention first. One of them replied that it had been a super boring week. I chuckled, shifting back to my email. As I was trying to untangle the web of everything that happened since I'd been in the office, Marcus called me.

"Hey, Edward. Welcome back. Listen, I have an account meeting this morning, so I don't have long. But I wanted to remind you about the address forms."

"Oh, right, I remember. I can get those from HR right?" I looked up to see Bella heading into the conference room next to my office. I smiled and waved at her, she smiled back before turning and walking into the room.

"Yeah, or you can just download them, Edward."

"Oh, right. I knew that." I chuckled. "Still on vacation, apparently. Yeah, I'll get them to HR first thing, Marcus."

"Great, thanks. Sue would have kicked my ass if I didn't remind you." Marcus laughed for a moment. "Oh, Ed, do you need the benefit forms, too? You taking her off your insurance?"

"I can't yet. I need to figure out how that's going to work with her attorney and everything. My attorney told me to hold off for now. Technically, I don't have to remove her until the divorce is final anyway."

"Ah, right. Ok. Well, catch up on your mountain of emails, and we can chat when I get to the office later."

"Ok, thanks Marcus."

We hung up and I got up, wandering over to my door. I could see Bella through the window into the conference room. Even from this view – only seeing her back – she was beautiful. I couldn't stand there and stare too long, so I went back to my computer until I heard the door open. I got up quickly, leaning against the door jam. The second I saw Rose I almost choked. I had forgotten to tell Bella and Rose!

"Good morning, ladies. Bella, welcome to Seattle," I said, trying to sound smooth. I was internally freaking out; I couldn't believe how stupid I had been. I'd even reminded myself on Saturday to tell her, but I had forgotten.

"Thanks, Edward. It's nice to see you again." She smiled at me, and my world righted itself again.

Unfortunately, Rose had other ideas. She had reminded me that I was supposed to go to dinner at their house – though, I had told Emmett to let her down easily, apparently, he had just let her think I was coming. I saw Bella's confusion, so I motioned to her that I would tell her later. I hoped she didn't think that I and Rose had anything going.

The day just didn't get any better from there. I had filled out the address change forms and dropped them at HR, but all hell started to break loose in my office. Two of my employees were fighting over something stupid, and demanded that I helped them settle it. It was like being the father of two-year-old's fighting over a toy.

I was able to calm their fight, but then I moved right into the next one. At least Bella had made me lunch that day, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to get away. One problem after another, after another, until Marcus showed up in my office. His mouth was set in a firm line, and I was immediately nervous.

"Oh god, what happened now? I swear, it's been one thing after another today." I laughed, but stopped when I noticed that Marcus hadn't changed his face. "What is it?"

"I need you to come with me please. There is another fire, and I need you to help me with it." Marcus motioned for me to follow him. I knew I was about to miss a meeting, but given the look on his face, I didn't even care.

When we got to the conference room, I saw Sue – our HR Director – sitting waiting for us. I sat down cautiously, wracking my brain for what this could be.

"Hi, Sue. How are you today?" I asked, trying not to gulp loudly.

"I am well, Edward, thank you."

"What's going on here?" I glanced between her and Marcus.

"We are waiting for someone. We'll get started shortly."

What the hell did that mean? Who were we waiting for? I started to go through all of the petty bullshit that my team had told me this morning; did one of them do something bad enough that Marcus had to include HR?

My brain was still flying when I heard the conference room door open. I looked up to see Bella walk in, and my face immediately tensed. Rose was only a few steps behind her, her face passive. Damn. What the hell had happened so fast that they all knew already?

Through the meeting, I kept trying to catch Bella's eyes, but she kept them firmly pointed down, unless speaking to someone directly. She was terrified, I could see it. And I hated myself for what this was causing her. As a manager, I knew better. And dammit, they all knew that! I should have told Marcus, at a very minimum. The entire meeting, I was wracked with guilt. I had just completed the full manager training that had discussed personal relationships in the workplace. I was mentally kicking myself, even after I signed the contract and was allowed to leave.

Marcus and I walked through the halls back to his office. I knew it wasn't over for me, but I also knew that I would accept whatever punishment he doled out. My shoulders slumped the closer we got. Marcus had said that no one was getting fired, so I held on to that. He could demote me; I could lose my manager position and everything I'd worked for. But in the end of all of it, it was completely worth it to have Bella. And I'd do it all over, again and again just to get her.

"Have a seat, Edward," Marcus said, closing his office door behind me. "I really wish you had told me this. I know we haven't known each other too long, but I wouldn't have spread it around the office or anything." Marcus moved to sit behind his desk, and I sat down opposite him. "What the hell were you thinking?"

I looked him directly in the eye. "I wasn't, if I'm being honest. I fell for her hard; I ended my marriage because I was so in love with her. And so did she. I flew down to California to help her move. Marcus, I've never felt this way about anyone. I ended my marriage, she ended hers, and we couldn't stand the thought of not being together."

Marcus sighed and leaned back in his chair. "And all rational thought goes out the window, Edward? That isn't you – not the person that I sought out and convinced to work for me."

"I know, Marcus." I was frustrated; with myself, with the situation...with the stress that I had caused Bella. "I understand the trust you put in me when you promoted me. I can't apologize enough for not being honest with you. I swear to god that I never meant to hold anything important back. I simply wasn't thinking."

Marcus sighed again and regarded me with a hard look. "I have to file a reprimand, Edward. As a manager, having just recently finished the training program, you should have known better."

I nodded, feeling defeated. "I understand."

Marcus looked at his computer, clicking a few times on his mouse, presumably opening the documentation from HR. "I'm sorry about this, Edward. I really am. You know this means that you won't be able to get promoted next year during our performance review period?"

"Yes, I understand." The training that I had been required to take had discussed this type of situation. Or, at least, something similar. If an employee had a reprimand, they were not eligible for a promotion during that review period. It made sense, logically. If you were reprimanded, why would you get promoted? "I will never do anything like this in the future, Marcus. I hope you believe me. I am grateful for the opportunity that you gave me, and I won't let you down again."

Marcus looked away from his computer and focused his attention back to me. "I know what kind of worker you are, Edward. I'm putting in this document that I believe it was a one-time lapse in judgement on your part. If I thought any different, the conversation we are having would be much different." He leaned forward a little. "Don't keep me out of the loop. Part of my job here is to make sure that you are successful as a manager. If you are unsure, run it by me. Or Sue, for that matter. We will help you, ok?"

"I promise. I swear it honestly never occurred to me."

He nodded at me, turning back to his computer. The rest of the meeting was spent mostly in silence. He finished the write up, printing it and having me sign it. By the time I left his office, I felt even worse – though, honestly grateful that neither of us had lost our jobs.

I spent the rest of the day in my office with the door closed. My team emailed me, and I replied, but I kept my door shut the entire time. I couldn't face anyone right now. The guilt at everything that had happened was starting to press in on me, and I couldn't focus. I stared at the growing number of emails in my inbox, but I didn't open most of them. I simply couldn't face any real work right now, my mind feeling so scattered.

I left the office a little after 5. I assumed Bella had already left, which was probably a good thing. I would have offered to give her a ride home, and I really couldn't do that right now. Marcus came in right around 5, stopping me from leaving, and we chatted for a few minutes about an account. He was turning to leave when I stopped him.

"Marcus, did I cause permanent harm to my job here?" I asked him, almost holding my breath.

He stared at me for a moment. "I have been thinking about this situation, Edward, all afternoon. And while I disagree with what you did, I think I understand why you did it." He sat back down across from me, having already closed my door again. "When I met my wife, I remember thinking...well, not a lot actually. The right woman sort of throws all rational thoughts out of your head. I will never condone you leaving your wife for Bella, but I do understand. If I had been in your situation and met my lovely wife while married to someone else, I would have done the exact same thing.

"What I'm saying is that, no, you have not done permanent harm." He grinned at me. "Just try thinking in the future, will you?"

I grinned back at him. "I can't promise anything with Bella, Marcus. She really does take all of my rational thought. But with work, I promise I won't make any other stupid mistakes like that again."

Marcus laughed, standing up and walking over to the door. "We all make stupid mistakes, Edward. Next time, just tell me when it happens and we'll figure it out together."

"I will, Marcus. Thank you."

He smirked at me. "Have a good night, Edward."

A/N: Well, now we know Edward's side of this whole situation. I will try and get the last chapter posted soon; I promise.

And with that, and MUCH love to my amazing beta zombified419, I'll just wish all of you a wonderful holiday season. More soon!