I don't know how it gets better than this

You take my hand and drag me headfirst

Fearless

~ Taylor Swift, Fearless (Taylor's Version)

BPOV

I stretched out on the impossibly soft sheets, burying my head further into my pillow. The sound of a shower triggered a very familiar memory, which then triggered the same shot of anxiety I had waking up like this the last time.

My eyes snapped open. The room was empty and dark, the curtains closed to block any incoming sunlight. The bathroom door was closed, the shower running behind it. I sat up, remembering doing the exact same thing a year ago as I wondered how I could have been stupid enough to wake up in my only clients' bed.

Instead of berating myself this time, my eyes dropped to my hand and spotted the diamond situated on my ring finger. I never considered myself a big jewelry person, and while I would have married the man with a paper ring on my finger, it was… so pretty. Edward had caught me staring at it at least half a dozen times since he first slid it on my finger, but I couldn't help myself.

His voice took me by surprise, making me jump. "Hey."

Busted. Again.

I looked over and saw him leaning against the doorframe, already dressed for the day. "Hi."

He shot me a crooked smile as he walked over to the night stand on the opposite side of the bed. I watched him, the way his fingers fastened the watch I got him around his wrist and thought about how much I used to hate seeing a wedding band around his finger. Now the thought of one there made me practically giddy.

The moment was ruined when I saw my phone on the table and I realized my alarm hadn't woken me up. I flopped myself across the bed, quite the feat when it was as large as it was, and grabbed my phone to check the time.

I gasped up at Edward. "You turned off my alarm?"

He nodded, unfazed.

"Why?"

"So, you would get more than a couple hours of sleep."

"You didn't seem very concerned about that last night," I mumbled to myself, still half asleep.

"Oh, I wasn't," Edward shrugged, not an ounce of shame in him. I tried to scramble to my feet, but I didn't make it very far before Edward grabbed my arm and pulled me against his chest. "Get back in bed."

I frowned. "We have to be at the studio in half an hour."

"I have to be there. You can get another two hours of sleep before my mother, sister, and Rosalie show up for brunch."

"But, I – "

"I will be on my best behavior, I promise. I'll call you if a single word is changed in a script."

It was a very compelling offer, considering I was still half asleep. My decision was made for me when Edward coaxed me back into bed before I had a chance to argue.

"This isn't very professional," I mumbled, falling back against the pillows and letting Edward pull the comforter over me.

"This is the most professional moment we've ever had in New York."

I snorted. He was probably right.

…Closure…

I finished tying up the end of my braid as I made it to the door. The incessant knocking had only gotten worse in the twenty seconds it took me to get from the bathroom to the entry. Rosalie was standing in the hallway, Lady sitting on the floor beside her.

"Is everything okay?" I asked when nothing was said. The pounding on the door made it seem like there was more a more urgent matter to attend to than brunch.

"You can't leave me behind," she said quickly, walking in and handing Lady off to me.

Pulling Lady in and trying not to get too distracted as she jumped up on me for attention, I turned toward Rosalie. "What?"

She started pacing in front of the small seating area. "You were mine first. Then he just waltzes in and moves you to Brentwood. I know the whole marriage things trumps friendship but sometimes he's just going to have to get in line, okay?"

I frowned, my eyes darting down to Lady who happily sat between Rosalie and I, as if she would clue me in on what was going on. I got nothing from her expect a wagging tale and a sneeze. "What?"

Rosalie let out an exasperated sigh. "You were my best friend first and he can't just steal you away."

I pressed my lips together. For as much as I had needed Rosalie throughout the years, she needed me, too. She was a party girl when I met her. Still could be from time to time. Back then, though, she had a phone full of contacts but very few, if any, real friends. She also had a habit of becoming that cliché beautiful blonde that girls usually hated just because she was unfairly pretty.

Then, she found me in the library and we both filled in a void the other had been missing. We both just… needed someone on our side. It had been nearly five years since we met and we had come to rely on each other for a lot in that time. She knew my darkest secrets and I knew hers. I had been there for her for breakups and hangovers and girl-fights and she had been there for me through affairs and shitty parents and helped me find an outlet for all of my pent-up anger.

Our routine had been drastically changed. I still had a few things at the house but not much. Next weekend most of what I had left there was getting donated or trashed as Edward and I moved into the new house. I would be a good forty-five-minute drive from her after that.

We hadn't seen each other much in the last few weeks… hell, few months. She was in school and working and had Emmett keeping her busy. We had lunches now and then and I visited her on campus a few times, but it wasn't nearly as much time as we used to have.

"I know that makes me sound like a bitch. Because if anyone deserves this perfect little happily ever after its you. But – "

"I've missed you, too," I interrupted, smiling over at her.

I walked over to the couch, Rosalie and Lady in tow. We sat facing each other, legs crossed underneath us.

"We could have a weekly lunch," I offered, trying to think of little things to incorporate into our busy schedules.

"And a monthly shopping trip," Rosalie added. "I've seen your new closet. You've got to fill it up with something."

I rolled my eyes. "That doesn't mean I want to spend a bunch of money on clothes."

"Oh, you're about to have a lot of money to spare. You can't even argue. I know how expensive that perfume you're wearing is."

I let out a sigh. The money talk was coming, and I knew it. Edward never accepted his credit card back after I had stopped buying things for the new house. And while I knew it was only a matter of time before he handed me one with my name on it, I still felt guilty even thinking about using it.

A change of subject was needed, I decided. "There's a room for you at the house. Well, there are like twenty, but there's a guest room that I filled with things for you. Your shampoo, that same candle scent you've been burning in your room for the last three years, things like that. In case you ever want to come over."

It had been a bit of a subconscious decision on my part. As the time went on I tackled the house room by room and when I was choosing things to stock up that bedroom it ended up being full of things Rosalie would want or need.

Finally, a smile tugged at Rosalie's lips. "I really am happy for you. I just miss you, too."

"Well, if the stories I've heard about being someone's Maid of Honor are true, maybe after helping me plan a wedding you won't miss me so much."

"You want me to be your Maid of Honor?"

I rolled my eyes. "Who else would I want?"

Rosalie let out an excited gasp, mischief dancing behind her eyes. "That means I get to plan your bachelorette party and we are so going to a strip club."

I let out a huff. Party girl Rosalie had always thought I should go to a strip club to help with my inexperience. "I'm not going to a strip club."

She waved me off. "We'll iron out the details later."

A much more subdued knock sounded from the door. Alice and Esme were there, a few employees behind them who wheeled in a couple trays of what I assumed was our breakfast.

Esme quickly pulled me aside as our breakfast was set up. She said nothing as she wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. Most of last night, at the impromptu little party that had been waiting for Edward and I in our suite, Esme had been by my side. Something I was getting far too used to. Her presence, every motherly hug or word of affection, or piece of advice she or Carlisle gave me during our regular lunches were as comforting as they were terrifying.

For as much progress as Doctor Stanley had told me I had made, I still had a file as thick as a dictionary in her office. And I really had no idea how the whole parent thing was supposed to work. But, I was starting to like it. Which was somewhat terrifying because the only parental figures I ever knew ended up hating me.

Luckily, I was excellent at repressing things.

Esme said nothing, pulling away and cupping my cheeks for a moment before guiding me back to where Rosalie and Alice waited.

As soon as we all sat down, a stack of magazines plopped down on the table in front of me. I grabbed the first couple, looking at title after title of bridal magazines.

"I was just going to look at them. Then I ended up buying any magazine that could remotely be used to help plan a wedding," Alice admitted, a sheepish look on her face.

Rosalie let out an excited gasp, grabbing for a random magazine a moment before Esme did the same.

I flipped through the first one in my hands, ending up on a quiz that would tell me the ideal destination for my wedding. Never in my life had I envisioned my own wedding. I never dressed up as a bride when I was a kid, or imagined a picture-perfect day. A few daydreams had crossed my mind in the last few months, but nothing concrete. I was suddenly very overwhelmed with the whole thing, and very much relieved that two of, what I assumed were, the biggest decisions were already made.

"We already planned some of it," I admitted softly, frowning my way through an article that would tell me the right combination of flowers for my bouquet. When everyone was quiet for too long, my head popped up to see three sets of shocked and confused eyes on me.

"You already… planned it?" Alice gasped, a quiet horror in her voice.

"Not, you know, the little things. Just, um, when and where."

"I swear to God, if he is taking you to the courthouse on Monday I will kill him myself," Alice threatened, looking surprisingly backed up by Esme.

I kept my mouth shut about Edward's suggestion to do just that.

"No. No courthouse. My guestlist is going to consist of Emmett and Rosalie, so a big church wedding didn't seem to make any sense. And, I really liked the Maldives. When there was no screaming or fighting going on. So, we thought a small ceremony there might be nice."

Esme was the first to lose her wide eyes and smile at me. "The Maldives would be lovely."

"Edward mentioned mid-October. Something about their rainy season."

Alice nodded, seeming all business now. "October of next year is cutting it close, but it's doable."

I pressed my lips together and pushed my scrambled eggs around on my plate. "We were thinking more along the lines of this October."

All of the horrified expressions were back.

"October… this year. As in four months from now?"

"It's more like four and a half."

"Oh, my God, are you pregnant?" Rosalie gasped.

It was my turn to look horrified. "No."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "It's just… fast."

I shrugged. Edward and I had never been good at the timing thing. As overwhelmed as I suddenly was with the planning part of the wedding, I knew the marriage waiting for me at the end of it would be worth it. And I didn't want to wait a year or longer to get there.

"We'll make it work," Esme said with a firm nod. "There are plenty of islands to choose from, and all of the resorts are very accommodating."

When you pay them enough, I finished for her in my own mind. I didn't have time to focus on that, though, because my eyes fell to Alice who looked completely overwhelmed.

"Are you okay?"

Instead of answering, she rummaged through her stack of magazines, tossing the ones themed around dresses at each of us.

"If we're doing this in four months, we're going to have to prioritize. Which means we need to have decided on a dress yesterday."

I flipped open the magazine, my eyes floating over model after model in equally stunning white dresses. As stupid as it was, considering it was basically all I had thought about for the last twelve hours, sitting down with a bridal magazine in my hand made the whole thing very real. And very stressful.

My eyes fell to my ring. My engagement ring. The magazines on the table made everything very complicated, but staring down at the beautiful, sparkly diamond I never knew I needed put things into perspective for me.

There were only a few things I needed out of a wedding. All I really wanted was to wear a pretty white dress and be surrounded by the few people in the world I actually cared about and end the day as Edward's wife. That would be easy enough to accomplish in four months.

…Closure…

I knocked softly on the door, opening it after I heard a soft come in from the other side. Edward was lying on a couch a good six inches too short for his frame. He had one eye popped open to see who had come in.

"You're the one that should have slept in," I sighed. I knew, technically, he couldn't. I still felt bad that I was feeling entirely well rested while he tried to grab five minutes of sleep where he could.

He shrugged, sitting up with a smirk. "Sleep is vastly overrated when the alternative is a night spent buried inside you."

My cheeks burned as I took a few steps toward him. Edward grabbed my hand and with a quick tug had me straddling his lap. I relaxed against him immediately. My morning had been a bit all over the place. I was unbelievably excited. Probably the happiest I had been in my entire life. I was also suddenly worried about planning an entire wedding in a matter of months. My brain also managed to sprinkle in a little in shock that we were engaged in the first place.

It was hard to be stressed when there were warm hands sneaking up the back of my t-shirt, though.

"Not very professional," I mumbled, my fingers digging into the soft hair at the nape of his neck.

Edward leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss to my neck. "Oh, we never had a chance at being professional, baby."

I smiled down at him, pressing my lips to his. My hands fell to his shoulders, down his arms. He was in a simple grey t-shirt which meant I got to feel every inch of muscle underneath my fingers.

Eventually, after our kiss had turned entirely indecent, Edward reached for my hands and gave them both a squeeze. He froze a minute later, pulling away and frowning down at my left hand before turning the glare in my direction.

"Where's your ring?"

I pulled my hand away, tugging the chain out of my t-shirt where I had placed my ring before leaving the suite. I hated putting it on the old chain I found in my cosmetic bag, but wearing it out wasn't an option yet.

"Why aren't you wearing it?"

"Because no one knows we're engaged yet."

Confusion colored his face. "That's what the ring is for."

It was my turn to frown. We sat there, both of us confused about what the other wasn't getting, until realization dawned on Edward's face.

"You have your publicist glasses on," Edward sighed eventually, slowly unhooking the clasp around my neck and dropping my ring in his hand. He grabbed my left hand and carefully slid it back in place.

My frown deepened. "No. I just – there are a few different ways we can…" I pursed my lips together, realizing he was right. It wasn't a conscious decision. I just assumed we would want to keep the engagement a secret or make some kind of plan before anyone outside of family knew.

"We're engaged," he said softly, rubbing his thumb over the ring on my finger. "This is as much of an announcement to anyone outside of our family we need."

My teeth dug into my bottom lip. I spent four years in college learning how to twist any life event into a positive for the media, learning how to get a client's name out there in the right circumstances. My brain had, apparently, unconsciously reverted back to that training.

Just walking out of this room with a ring on my finger went against every work-related instinct I had. On a personal level, though, I didn't really care. I didn't want to have to write up a press release or send quotes to the media about our engagement because it wasn't anyone else's business.

"Okay," I murmured.

"You sure?"

I nodded. "I just… accidently put on my publicist glasses, I guess."

"You're pretty cute in glasses, so it's okay."

…Closure…

In the back of my mind, I knew the blaring of my alarm was imminent. I was too well rested for it to be early enough for me to relax back into a peaceful sleep. Instead of accepting my fate, though, I buried myself further into Edward's side and hoped my entire day would somehow get canceled.

Edward proved to be an excellent distraction, his arms wrapping firmly around my waist and tugging me so I rested comfortably on top of him with my head resting on his sternum.

"This is a nice surprise," he murmured, lips brushing against my shoulder as he spoke.

"What is?"

"You, still in bed."

I sighed, pressing my lips to the light scruff on his chin. I sat up, smiling to myself as I felt him hard and ready against my thigh before I settled myself on top of him. There were two layers of clothing between us, but they were thin and did little to hide anything. "I'm procrastinating."

It was easier said than done, letting our engagement just… be. For the rest of our time in New York, I saw every person around me as a leak. It probably wasn't accurate to call them a leak when I was actively giving them the information to go with, but it was a little hard to turn off the publicist side of my brain with a giant story sitting on my left ring finger.

So, after Edward took my publicist glasses off, I did something that I still wasn't sure was a good idea. I stopped being Edward's publicist. Until Monday, today, when real life started up again.

It was equal parts stressful and freeing. Because my job might have been to want to control the situation and story, but it was also my own life and I didn't want to have to make it everyone else's business. I was engaged and happy and didn't really care whether the right outlets were covering the story accurately or not.

Except, now I kind of had to again. Which is where the procrastination came in.

Edward's hands ran up my bare thighs, a sleepy smile covering his face as he looked up at me. "You're not usually a procrastinator."

I shrugged. He was right. I usually preferred ripping the band-aid off as soon as possible as opposed to putting it off for as long as possible, but I wasn't quite ready for our bubble to pop just yet.

"I am when I've got an office full of judgy eyes waiting for me."

It wasn't that I cared all that much that a majority of the office was going to be gossiping about me all day. I had gotten used to it. It was just a little exhausting to deal with at this point.

Edward reached up, brushing a knot of hair behind my ear, looking slightly apprehensive as he spoke. "You don't have to work, you know."

I frowned for a minute before I understood what he was saying. I didn't have to work. Ever.

"Yes, I do."

Edward arched a brow at me.

"If I quit you'd go back to being a ticking PR timebomb and I can't deal with that anxiety," I joked.

He gave me a pity chuckle before he grabbed my left hand, running his thumb over where my ring would be as soon as I got out of the shower. "I'm serious."

I sighed. "I know you are."

As much as I appreciated his desire to take care of me, I also had a deep-rooted need to take care of myself. And, I did like my job. Usually.

"Thank you," I mumbled, pressing a soft kiss to his pout before I got out of bed, grabbing my phone just as my alarm started to buzz.

…Closure…

There was a small group of photographers waiting outside of my office, making me eternally grateful for the private, underground parking garage. I got a friendly smile from our receptionist as I walked off of the elevator, and heard the mumbled gossip start up in my wake as I walked past the interns and junior publicists.

"Congratulations," Tanya said with a smile, holding out a larger than usual iced coffee and a tiny pink box.

"Thank you," I smiled. Tanya was the only person in the office who didn't care how I got my corner office. She never seemed interested in the office hierarchy or gossip, which made me appreciate having her as my assistant all the more.

She opened my office door for me, my hands now full.

"Renata dropped the orchid off just a few minutes ago, she said it was from her and Carmen. All of your messages are on your desk."

"Thanks," I mumbled, dipping my nose into the pristine white orchid as I walked by. I'd need to look up how to keep it from dying within two days.

"Plenty of sunlight, and water it about once a week."

I smiled over at her. "Sunlight. Water once a week. Got it."

Tanya went back to her desk and I was left alone with a pile of messages. Most I had already taken care of, but the one that got my attention the most was a meeting that was scheduled with the marketing department of the US branch of Aston Martin. It was something I had been working on for months since Edward made a joke about it, and once I realized the company was actually interested, I kept the ball rolling.

The Cullen's were a staple in Hollywood and across the country. It was a name most people recognized either for Esme's acting, Carlisle's directing, Alice's company, or Edward's show. It was a high-end name all around, which worked out well because as soon as I started looking into the company any potential spokesperson had to bring in high end clients considering their cars were really fucking expensive.

I had been talking to their team for weeks, and it was finally paying off. They wouldn't ask for a meeting if a deal wasn't as good as done. Edward wasn't going to be a stickler on whatever they were paying him, which would be one of the only reason for a deal to fall through at this point.

Just as I was about to pick up my phone to call Edward, Tanya knocked on my door.

"Sorry to bother you. This just got dropped off for you," she smiled politely, dropping a box on my desk before quietly leaving.

I frowned, standing up to open the box only to see it filled with more wedding dress magazines than I knew what to do with. There was a note from Alice on top.

Take the week to look through these and decide what you like. I have three designers on hold for next week, depending on the direction you want to go with your dress. Let me know if you need more!

I wasn't quite sure how there could possibly be more magazines, but I very much appreciated all of the effort Alice was going through to help me. It might seem pushy to some people, but I had no idea how to plan a wedding, so I was going to take every minute of help her or Rosalie or Esme were willing to give.

I ignored the wandering eyes into my office and gave myself a couple minutes to flip through one of the magazines before getting back to work. It was time to do the one thing I had been simultaneously itching to do and dreading. I opened a search engine and typed in Edward's name.

Edward Cullen Engaged to Mid-Life Crisis?

Check Out the $750,000 Dollar Ring Edward Cullen Proposed With

Edward Cullen Expecting Baby Number Three?

From Record Breaking SNL Finale to Surprise Engagement: Edward Cullen's Week in NYC

I scrolled through page after page, knowing most of what was speculated was wrong and hoping all of the estimates on the price of the diamond on my finger were hundreds of thousands of dollars off.

A knock at my door broke me out of my gossip rag induced haze. Renata and Alistair of all people walked in.

"Do you have a minute?"

I nodded. Quickly closing the dozen tabs I had open. "Sure."

They both sat across from me, and I couldn't help but stare at Alistair with a frown. I had gone out to drinks with everyone once. It went fine, Alistair and Eric were nice enough. But then word got out about my three-million-dollar office and we all reverted back to awkwardly ignoring each other most of the time.

"Alistair is going to take over as your publicist," Renata said bluntly.

It took me a minute to comprehend what she was saying. I shook my head, opening my mouth to respond, but Renata didn't let me get a word out.

"You need someone who can devote more time to you than I can." Again, I opened my mouth to argue and again, I didn't get the chance. "You're going to be a Cullen. You need a full-time publicist."

My mouth snapped shut. It was basically all I had thought about for days, being a Cullen. But, when Renata said it like that, it sent a shot of anxiety down my stomach that told me she was right.

"Alistair doesn't have to, I can – "

"I offered," Alistair interrupted, his voice softer than I had ever heard it.

"Why?" I blurted out without thinking.

A small smile tugged at his lips. "I've been doing this a long time. Mostly because it's what my father told me to do. I never had that much passion for it, mostly did everything by the book. Then, you come in a do absolutely nothing by the book."

I pressed my lips together, not sure exactly where he was going with this.

"Your way is much more exciting. I had your assistant forward me your plans for Graves, just so I could study them. It was impressive as hell. You made me like the job a little more, so I offered to help."

"Oh," was all I could offer. Not doing things by the book had never been my plan. I spent four years with my nose buried in books so I could follow them. Real life was much messier than books made it out to be, though.

"If you want my help, that is."

It had never crossed my mind before. That I would need someone other than Renata as my own publicist at some point. As much as I disliked the idea, I knew if Renata was suggesting it than it was probably necessary.

"Okay," I answered quietly. "Thank you."

"I'll leave you to it, then," Renata said with a small smile before leaving my office.

"So," Alistair started. "Any requests?"

I shrugged. "I'd mostly just like to be called a homewrecking whore less."

He snorted. I'd had very limited interactions with the man, but he always seemed like a bit of a grumpy old man. Which was stupid, because I was pretty sure he was only in his early forties. Today, he seemed younger and more carefree than I had ever seen him. "I'll see what I can do."

…Closure…

"What's that?" Edward asked, wiping his hands on a dish towel and leaning over the counter.

"It's my homework."

"Homework?" He walked around the island and attempted to reach for a magazine before I smacked his hand away. Wide forest eyes looked at me as if I had touched him with anything more than a tap. "Ow."

I rolled my eyes. "I know we've never done anything the traditional way, but you can't help me pick out a wedding dress."

A soft, sincere smile covered his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but Lucy walked in before he could get it out.

"What's all of this?"

"Wedding dress magazines."

"Ooh!" she squealed, grabbing the first one from the box and sitting down beside me. "When are you going shopping?"

I bit the inside of my cheek. Now seemed as good a time as ever. "Sometime next week, according to Alice."

"Can I come?" she asked quickly, looking up at me with a bright smile that I couldn't help but return with my own.

"Sure." My teeth dug further into my cheek. "I, um, I know Edward already asked Masen to be his best man," I started awkwardly. "And he's having Carlisle be a groomsman, too. Which means I need one more person on my side, besides Rosalie. So, I was wondering if you might want to be a bridesmaid?"

As soon as the question was out of my mouth, my nervous energy doubled. "I get it, if you don't want to. It's a weird situation. And you hated me not that long ago. And I don't want you to feel like you have to. But, I – "

"I'd love to!" Lucy interrupted, putting me out of my misery with a quick hug. "I can go through some of these if you want? And earmark the good ones?"

"That'd be amazing," I breathed out. I pushed the box toward her, smiling as she grabbed a few off of the top. It had to have at least a hundred magazines in it, so I'd take all the help she was offering. She also looked adorably excited to look through them.

I sighed, relieved that she said yes. There had been a god handful of conversations about the wedding over the weekend, one being Edward asking Masen and Carlisle to stand with him. I knew that meant I needed one other person besides Rosalie with me, and I wanted it to be Lucy.

We might have had a rocky start, but she was now one of the few people in the world I genuinely cared about. I'd had a nagging voice in the back of my head, though. Telling me she would say no, that she still secretly hated me. Evidently, it was wrong.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when a quick, intense kiss landed on my lips. My eyes fluttered open after Edward pulled away, his forehead resting against mine.

"Thank you."

My head cocked to the side, still fuzzy from the kiss.

"Thank you for caring about them," he told me quietly, his voice tight. "I never even had to ask you to try and accept them. Even after the way they both reacted to us, you never held a grudge. Thank you."

I shrugged, burying my head against his chest and ignoring the sudden tightness in my own. "I love them, too."

I had ever verbalized how much I cared for Masen and Lucy. It wasn't an easy thing for me to do, and Edward knew it. Which was probably why his arms tightened around my waist and he didn't let me go until the kitchen started to smell burnt.

As Edward went back to fixing dinner I searched for a more lighthearted topic.

"Oh!" I gasped, realizing I never called him earlier. "We have a meeting with a few people from Aston Martin's marketing department next week."

It was Edward's turn to cock his head to the side. "What?"

I frowned. "You said you were open to a sponsorship and that you wanted it to be with fancy cars."

Edward nodded, eyes wide and on me. "As a joke."

I sighed. "So, you don't want to do the sponsorship?"

He shook his head. "I'll do the sponsorship. I just – I didn't think you'd actually get Aston Martin."

I shrugged. "It's not a done deal yet, but it's close. They needed a better reach in the US, and you've got a nightly talk show. It was an easy sell."

Edward looked at me with an odd smile and a shake of his head.

"What?"

"Nothing," he shrugged. "I just – if I hadn't already asked you to marry me, I'd be doing it right now."

I smiled, my eyes falling down to the diamond on my finger. He had made a joke about marrying me immediately if I got him a deal with the car company. The only reason I worked so hard to get the Aston Martin deal was because I knew it was a big step for him to do any kind of sponsorship. I thought doing one for a brand he actually enjoyed would make things easier. It had nothing to do with his joke about marrying me if I got him a deal with them. That was just a bonus I no longer needed.

Edward leaned over the counter, a sudden seriousness hardening his features. "Do I get a car?"

I snorted. The cares were ridiculously expensive, but he could afford quite a few of them on his own if he really wanted. "The terms are still up in the air, but I'm sure you get an excellent deal on one, at the very least."

A slow smile spread across his face.

"You'll probably want to gift it to your wonderful publicist that has worked non-stop to get you the deal," I joked, grabbing his glass of wine from across the island and taking a small sip.

I should have known better than to joke about it.

"You want a sports car?" he gasped, unadulterated joy covering his face.

"No," I gasped quickly. "No. That was a joke."

"You can have the car Although, I have always pictured you as more of a Lamborghini kind of girl."

My brows shot up, head cocked to the side. I had no idea what I could have ever done to make him think I was a Lamborghini kid of girl. "I give off a Lamborghini vibe?"

Edward shrugged. "No. It's mostly because I once had a dream where – "

He cut himself off when Lucy and Masen rounded the corner.

The conversation over dinner was mostly centered around the move. Moving with Edward was a completely different experience from when I moved into the dorms by myself or when Rosalie and I moved in together. About ninety percent of all of our stuff was already at the new house. We had all gradually moved things in as we had time, and come Saturday we'd be all moved in.

"Don't forget about the neighborhood bar-b-que on Sunday," Edward told the twins as Lucy started wondering how soon her and her friends could plan a pool day.

It piqued my interest enough for my fork full of chicken to get stuck in the air. "The what?"

"I ran into Heidi and Felix a few weeks ago when I was at the house. They said they already invited you."

"Yeah, and I made a wonderful noncommittal excuse."

Edward's brows raised, a hint of humor gleaming in his eyes. "You don't want to go?"

"You want to go?"

He shrugged. "It'll be good to get to know everyone in the neighborhood. Heidi and Felix seemed nice enough." Edward cocked his head to the side at my involuntary snarl at their names.

"They asked me if my parents were home when I met them in the driveway."

Edward pressed his lips together and Masen did a valiant job at trying to cover up his laugh with a cough.

"In their defense, I do have friends who look older than you," Lucy sighed, a playful smile tugging at her lips.

The tension was broken for everyone. There was a frustrating knot in the bottom of my stomach for the rest of dinner, though. One that stayed as I took my time scrubbing the dishes in the sink for a distraction until a pair of warm arms wrapped around my waist from behind.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Edward whispered into my ear.

I sighed, finally putting the pan I had washed three times on the counter. "I'm just not good at the whole socializing thing."

"You say that a lot, but I've never seen you have a problem with it."

I rolled my eyes. "That's because half of the time we've been together we were locked in your bedroom alone."

He opened his mouth to argue, but realized I was right and closed it.

"I just," I started, frowning down at the sink. "Don't really know how to talk to people if it isn't about work. Then I start thinking about it too much. Then I haven't said anything in three minutes and it's awkward and uncomfortable."

Edward's hands tightened on my hips, turning me around until we were face to face. Or face to chest considering I had ditched my heels when I walked in. "What if I promise to fill any awkward or uncomfortable silences?"

I sighed, chewing on my bottom lip. I was supposed to do things like that. Get myself out of the little bubble I had sequestered myself in for so long. As much as I wanted to get better at the whole socializing thing, it was still a little terrifying.

"What about a deal?"

My brows raised, eyes up on his. "A deal?"

Edward hummed, leaning down to press a kiss to my neck as his hands squeezed my hips. "For every hour that we're at the bar-b-que, I'll pay you back with a mind-blowing orgasm when we get back home."

My forehead fell against his chest. "You don't have to barter sexual favors."

"I am more than happy to barter sexual favors with you."

I wrapped my arms around him, breathing in the lingering scent of his cologne and working on matching my breaths to his. I wasn't sure how he always knew how to make me feel better, or how to make things that terrified me not seem so scary. He had a way of making everything so simple, or making a silly joke to dissipate any lingering tension.

"I'll go."

"For the orgasms?"

I let out a chuckle against his chest, sighing as I felt a soft kiss on the top of my head.

A/N: …I know. I'm so sorry about the wait. Life got messy and sometimes it's hard to get in the right mindset to write in the middle of the mess. I do hope you enjoyed the update, though. I promise I'll get the next one up as soon as I can. Thanks for sticking with me, guys!