Aaaaargh, my back. I stretched and then shivered from the cold before searching around myself for a blanket. I didn't pay four thousand dollars for a mattress just to wake up feeling like… A small feminine sigh came from somewhere in the room.

My eyes snapped open as the memories of the previous two days came back to me.

I shot to my feet and caught sight of her. She was on the very edge of the bed, the blankets pushed down to just below her waist as she lay on her side. Her hair cascaded like a mahogany waterfall across the white pillowcase behind her. If anything, she looked even more beautiful in her sleep. One of her hands was in a tight fist on her pillow.

Walking from my position, at the end of the bed to the head of it, I lightly brushed my index finger over her knuckles. Her fist loosened.

There was no sense in disturbing her when she looked so peaceful. I grabbed some jeans (Costco jeans) and went into the connecting bathroom to shower. When I came out she was gone.

"Bella?" I called, but there was no answer. As I descended the stairs, the scent of bacon assaulted me before I got anywhere near the kitchen. Pushing open the swinging door, I saw Bella's back was to me as she stood over the stove. Her hair was up in a messy bun, revealing her long elegant neck. The sun caught a few stray loose hairs in its morning light, revealing subtle undertones of red in her locks.

I walked lightly across the tile floor until I was immediately behind her, waiting until the bacon was safely back in the pan before I grabbed her sides. "BOO!" I whispered playfully next to her ear.

Bella shrieked and jumped a full 180 in my arms. Instead of landing further away from me (as I was sure she intended) she fell clumsily into my chest.

"Edward," she screamed, her already big brown eyes widening in surprise. I got momentarily distracted by them before I noticed she too, was distracted. I looked down to her hands that were braced against my chest. Her eyes glazed over as she stared at them… at me.

After pulling on my jeans, I hadn't bothered putting on a shirt because I was still wet. I had thought little of it, but found myself glad for her reaction.

I didn't remove my hands from around her waist and couldn't help the smile that spread across my face before clearing my throat. I smiled wider when I saw the blush that stained her cheeks.

"Oh." She pushed away from me and backed into the counter with a violent thud, "Oof," then she spun around embarrassed and hit her knee off the counters edge. "Ow."

I cringed as the domino effect of her motions ended in her hurting herself. She hopped on one foot to a free stool. "Are you okay?" I asked. She shot me a dirty look as if it was my fault she hurt herself and started rubbing her knee.

"You shouldn't spring yourself on a girl like that," she stated, making a pained face when she rubbed a particularly tender spot.

"I shouldn't spring myself on you like that in general," I smirked, "Or I shouldn't do it half naked?" smiling as her cheeks turned from the fading pink to a lovely shade of red again.

I walked over to the stove to remove the eggs that just finished and stirred the hash browns. Both smelled delectable. As I was plating them, I looked up to meet her doe eyes. "You cook?" I asked, using the same inflection she had the day before when she asked me.

She put one long finger against her lips. "Shhhh," she hushed, accompanied by a wink, "don't tell People."

After breakfast, Bella and I cleaned the dishes. I washed and she dried. Every time our wet hands touched, the chill that settled in them from the water would be banished and replace with a slow burning sensation. Every blush and every giggle that escaped her endeared her even more to me.

I was in trouble. I didn't know how to approach the situation we found ourselves in. ME: completely enamored by her just as I had been when I first laid eyes on her. HER: having a boyfriend (although being a complete prick) that she had somehow fooled herself into believing she loved.

"I'm going to have a shower," she stated as we finished up. "YOU," she jabbed me in the chest with a damp finger. My breathe caught at the brief contact, "get some clothes on."

Just as I was about to retort with some witty and flirty remark, a shrill ring sounded in the house. We looked at one another confused before going in search for the source of the sound. I found it first and called her over. It was a red phone with no buttons; just a flashing light on top.

Bella started laughing as she plopped down on the couch in front of the phone. "What's so funny?" I asked, eyeing the screeching device.

She started humming, "Duna nuhnana Duna nuhnana Batmaaan," and started laughing again. When I sat down, I gave her a wide birth and watched her quizzically. "BATMAN!!" she yelled again, pointing to the phone. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Never mind…" she grumbled and patted the cushion next to her. Confident her laughing had stopped, I moved to sit closer. My thigh ran perpendicular to hers, so close I could feel her body heat against me. When I leaned forward to grab the phone I discreetly spread my legs a little wider, with the guise of getting more comfortable, to close the short distance between our bodies. Not touching her was becoming more and more difficult and she still had been little more than indifferent toward me. If anything she jumped away from my touch more often than not.

Even still, her thigh felt glorious against mine. It was remarkable how much so little contact affected me. If only I could read minds to know what she was thinking.

I held the receiver to my ear and leaned toward Bella… the same time she leaned towards me. Our heads met in the middle with a loud conk. We both hissed in pain and pulled away rubbing our temples. "Sorry," she apologized, looking away ashamed. "That was entirely my fault. I'm such a--" I put a finger to her lips to stop her from blaming herself.

Leaning forward and minutely lifting off the couch, I placed my lips on her forehead where we collided. When my lips broke contact with her flesh and I sat back down, she looked back at me, eyes soft and thoughtful.

"I don't understand y--" she started.

"Hello? …hello?" a voice wafted out of the ear piece. "HELLLLOOO?"

"Tyler?" Bella asked, her face right next to mine. Our cheeks brushed each other as she spoke. I desperately wish I hadn't foregone shaving this morning, not thinking we would find ourselves in such close proximity.

"Hey, Bella. Can I speak to Edward for just a second?"

"Yea, sure," she said, moving herself out of earshot and away from me. I let out a slow long breathe, I hadn't realized I was holding until I felt her absence.

"Yea," I breathed out, shooting one last look at Bella, who had already busied herself with tapping some kind of song on her knee.

"Hey, Ed Man," Tyler said nervously. I winced at the impromptu nick name. "Firstly, about yesterday--"

I felt the need to interrupt before I was subjected to some sort of unnecessary and embarrassing (on both our parts) apology. "Don't worry about it, lots of men think I'm hot."

Bella snorted, obviously failing miserably at not eavesdropping on our conversation. That didn't come out right, I thought and was about to say so when he started speaking again.

"Secondly," Tyler continued as if I hadn't said anything at all, "How could you not know about the Batman phone?"

The phone call was short and to the point. We assured Tyler we understood his very vague outline. He would be calling us regularly with activities for the day but as they only needed to fill 3 hours television a week and most of it would be everyday interactions anyway, our schedule was pretty lax.

Today was hanging out, 'One-on-One'. We were supposed to tend to the horses, try out the pool, explore the house and play a game. They would tell us what game when the time came.

"Was that phone in here when you came through this morning?" Bella asked leaning back into the armrest and her feet propped up between us on the couch, "because it wasn't there when I went to make breakfast and I didn't hear anybody come in."

"It's kinda creepy…" I said, "knowing people are watching our every move and not knowing when other people are here or not."

She shuttered and made a creeped out noise. "I was doing okay not thinking about it before you said that," she rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

I had always wondered why she had signed up for this show in the first place, all those years ago. She was never one to enjoy the spotlight. "Why are you here?" I asked leaning back on my own armrest, facing her.

"I was kidnapped outside my work by Bob," she laughed, "I didn't exactly have a choice."

"That's not what I meant," I shook my head and my hair fell in my face. I blew it up and out of my eyes with a frustrated huff. "I meant, why did you sign up for the show in the first place?"

She shrugged and stared off into space. "A friend made me. There were over two hundred girls in line to sign up at my university alone. I didn't think I had much to worry about." She smiled and covered her eyes, embarrassed. "I guess I was wrong."

While she had her eyes covered I took the opportunity to look her up and down. She had grown into her body since… I started with her feet which were closest to me; observing cute little toes on her dainty foot. Her calves had grown to be shapely and well toned; milky in color, like the rest of her skin. I barely restrained myself from reaching out and running my hand along her ankle and up the smooth muscle of her leg.

Her knees had a few scars, raised white marks from hitting the ground as many times as she probably had. They were beautiful. I wanted to run my fingers over each imperfection that was perfectly Bella.

Bella's thighs, oh her thighs, had became curvier over the years to hold her more womanly figure.

"Edward?" she asked, snapping me from my daze. She brought her knees to her chest and covered them with her hands shyly. "What were you looking at?" She fingered her scars self consciously.

"You," I replied, not ashamed in the least.

"Well, don't take this the wrong way," she said and looked away, "but don't."

Ouch. It felt like she hit me in the gut. I stood up and walked around the couch to put something between us.

"I have a boyfriend that I made a promise to and you are trying to--"

"I'm not trying to do anything," I yelled, all of a sudden angry. "And you don't owe that asshole from the airport anything."

"You don't know anything about him!!" She yelled right back at me. "Or me, for that matter." If only she knew…

"I know he doesn't deserve you."

She crossed her arms in front of her and looked down. "I'm no prize, Edward." I felt the urge to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her. If there hadn't been a couch between us, I might have.

I watched as Bella put her lip between her teeth. She looked back at me, tears brimming in her eyes. How I wished I knew what she was thinking…

"I don't want to fight with you…" she whispered. I didn't say anything for a long moment. All I could do was watch as she abused that bottom lip of hers.

"Then don't," was my only reply.

Bella sighed and turned to sit on the couch properly, her back turned on me. "So today we get to know each other… so we can be friends. What day is it again?"

"Thursday," I offered, doing the mental calculation in my head. We were taken on Tuesday Tomorrow was—

"And Friday's are 'Date Night*s'," she started going over our weekly schedule that Tyler had just shared with us. She paused a moment in thought and I watched her shoulders rise and fall in a half hearted shrug, from behind. "On Sundays and Wednesdays we do challenges. Sunday nights have a different 'prize' each one. A phone call or a privilege the other person won't get."

"Yep," I confirmed, watching the back of her head. I wondered if she was still upset and her bravado was just an act.

She looked over her shoulder at me with a smile. Maybe she wasn't as upset as I thought. "That's hardly incentive for us to like each other much."

"I guess we'll be like every other television couple then. We'll have a love-hate relationship. It'll be great…" Bella shook her head at me and turned back around to face the fire place. Seeing as she wasn't scowling anymore, I decided it was safe to join her on the couch again.

"On Wednesdays the winner of the challenges gets to pick the next date and I'm Your*s will make whatever it is happen."

"That's the gist." I have to win next Wednesday. "You should put on some jeans so we can head out to the stables."

She kept her face carefully stoic but I noticed her skin pale.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"No," she said curtly, her expression frozen in place. "Nothing at all."

I felt her body shaking ever so slightly. "Are you sure?" I asked again. She shook her head roughly from side to side before standing up and walking away quickly. Her posture was rigid and her movements forced. I stood up with her and followed. "Okay, really," I put a hand on her shoulder and she stopped. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you but you have to promise not to laugh," she said, holding an accusing finger in front of my face. I nodded my agreement. Hesitantly she opened her mouth but no sound came out. She closed it again and averted her gaze. "I'm…I-I'm scared of horses."

"You're scared of horses?" I repeated with disbelief.

Bella threw her arm over her head and her faced flushed several different colors. "YES!!" she scream and it echoed off the walls of the large foyer. "I'm scared of horses and it was the fear I listed on that stupid questionnaire they made me take when I signed up for this stupid show. This is somebody's sick idea of a joke, isn't it? Somebody wants me to get trampled by a horse and die in the middle of Montana… on film no less!!"

She was scared of horses. Not just scared. I could see it behind her eyes. She was fucking terrified. I didn't know how to handle the sheer terror emanating from her. I didn't know how to make her not scared, as I desperately wanted to.

"It's okay," I soothed and she looked at me like I was crazy. "Horses are gentle, they won't hurt you on purpose and--"

"But they can hurt me by accident?!" she screeched. I could see that I wasn't helping much.

"I won't let them hurt you by accident either," I assured as I put a comforting hand on both her shoulders.

Bella shook her head and looked to the floor, fearful tears in her eyes. "That's reassuring… Accidents by definition are unintentional and hard to be prevented. Impossible when I'm involved in the equation." I rubbed one thumb under her tearing eye and a dot of moisture covered the end of it. I resisted the urge to lick it off.

"What did you put?" she breathed in an attempt to distract herself. I asked her what she meant.

"What did you put as your fear?"

I hadn't even thought about that. Was my fear going to come back and bite me in the ass, too? "You don't think…" she looked up into my eyes with an evil glint as sweat broke out on my brow just thinking about it. She nodded with a smirk.

"So, what is Edward Cullen afraid of?" she whispered, an excited color returning to her face at the thought of my discomfort.

Two can play at that game, I thought to myself and laughed internally. "About those horses…" I started. The color drained once again from her face. I smiled triumphantly before starting up the stairs without her. "That's what I thought."

It was nice taking care of something besides than myself for a change. Between the horses which were both beautiful and extremely tame and Bella who didn't have the first clue about how to take care of them I was blissfully occupied.

I realized I hadn't thought about work since I laid eyes on Bella that first night in the lounge… and it was nice. I hadn't thought about a single acquisition or a single missed meeting or what effect my 3 month absence would have on the company. In addition I hadn't had one of my many head aches the day usually had to offer.

Was it just getting away or was it who I was getting away with? Hmm…

Thankfully the stall had already been mucked. Even I had my limits and dealing with the beast's excrement my very first day in the house would not have been my idea of fun. I showed Bella where the food and water went and took the first horse out of its stall. Bella shrunk back toward the door.

I sighed and patted the mare's neck, "Don't worry, Nadine," I addressed the horse, "Bella doesn't bite."

"That's not funny!" Bella stomped her foot as her face grew red with frustration. I walked to her side and guided her toward the horse. All the while she pulled away from my grasp while her feet drug through the dirt and straw. She muttered quiet curses under her breath each step I forced her to take closer.

"Nadine, Bella. Bella, Nadine," I gestured between the two. The horse blinked.

Bella shied her whole body into mine and I tensed as her nose brushed my chest. I couldn't control the instinct to encompass her entirely with the arm that wasn't soothing the horse. I ran my hand down Bella's shoulder and along her arm that was held defensively in front of her, between her body and the horse. My fingers threaded with hers and a sharp gasp escaped her lips. I assumed it was a fearful gasp and squeezed her fingers gently. Slowly lifting our entwined fingers to the horse's neck, I ran them together over Nadine's course yet soft hair.

Bella's stiff posture relaxed infinitesimally. "See," I said moving her hand down along the smooth contour of the shoulder, lifting our hands and repeating the action, "She's not so bad." She craned her neck to look me in the eyes, the corners of her mouth hinting at a smile. I stilled our hands together and let her feel the horse's slow, steady breaths. Something akin to wonder reflected back to me in her chocolate brown orbs.

"Not so bad at all," she smile tentatively and returned her attention back to the horse. "I could get used to--" the horse let out a content appreciative snort from the attention and Bella shrieked, escaping my embrace to the other side of the barn.

"Bella, she just--" I started only to be interrupted.

"I'll just stay over here." She said with finality. I could see there would be no changing her mind.

"Okay," I conceded, "but tomorrow you're helping."

She nodded, a short jerky movement that held very little conviction. "T-Tomorrow," she agreed.

Why am I so nervous? My palms were sweating and my knee was bouncing up and down as I sat on the bed waiting for Bella. Oh, right. You're nervous because you know exactly what Bella is doing on the other side of that door.

I thought back to our Costco trip and our "task" in the clothing department. Steve had leaned in to Bella (maybe a little too close) and handed her a heavy white envelope. She had opened it and thanked him with a smile… which immediately faded as she read its contents.

"What?" I had asked. "What's wrong?" I took the envelope from her hands and read the contents myself. "Oh."

Steve smirked at Joey knowingly.

Pick out swimming apparel for your love interest.

Both cameramen pointed in the direction of two racks, obviously with a few added pieces from Costco usual selection, for us to choose from. "How bad can it be?" I shrugged.

Bad, I thought, after taking a look at the women's selection. I had never before picked out a woman's bathing suit and just thinking about Bella in some of the options was stressful enough. There would be no way I could survive an afternoon, let alone a few months with her wearing any of the barely there suits I had to choose from.

I looked up to see Bella holding up a Speedo and she caught me watching her before looking away with a blush. Thankfully I was sitting on the bed waiting for her in tasteful white board shorts with black and silver diamonds down one leg. They may have hung a little low on my hips but at least I got off better than Bella had.

She cleared her throat in the bathroom doorway. I looked up slowly from my lap to the beautiful girl in front of me. It was the most conservative suit the had; one piece of fabric that was cut like a hater bikini on top with the whole back and most of her stomach exposed except for a scant piece of fabric connecting the top and bottoms. The suit was black with red and silver accents, all three colors contrasted so well with her skin that I found myself mesmerized by the line of her waist and the flare of her hip.

"Thank you," she said as she wrapped a towel around her waist.

I shook my head to clear it of the mental image that was burned there. "Huh?"

"Thank you for picking out this suit," she brushed her hair behind both of her ears nervously and shifted her weight from foot to foot beside the bed. "I saw some of the 'suits' they had there and this is…it's… just, thanks."

"Your welcome," I smiled, "It looks amazing on you." I stood up and turned around for her. "I like your handy work too."

When I turned back around she was looking at the shorts, at least I thought it was the shorts before she mumbled, "I'm pretty sure it's all you." I chuckled and her eyes shot up to meet mine. One of her hands flew up to her mouth and her eyes widened with horror.

"I can't believe I said that," she said through her fingers.

"It's alright," I laughed.

"But I shouldn't ha--"

"How about that swimming?" I said before she could berate herself further.

"I'm so s--" Before an apology could escape her lips I took a step towards her and threw her over my shoulder. She shrieked at the unexpected maneuver and started to squirm and laugh in her predicament. "E-ED-DWARD!" she laughed, her voice shaking with each step I took toward the stairs. "Put—me-- dow-own."

She squirmed so much the towel slipped past her waist and it did not go unnoticed by me as her bared sides brushed against my neck. With each laugh I felt her muscles contract against my cheeks and it felt good.

Knowing I could make her laugh and touch her, knowing she would pretend to be mad after I let her down, knowing I would hold no reservations before doing it again.

I had 3 months to make the girl of my dreams mine… I just didn't know how I was going to go about doing it.

Stopping by the edge of the pool she stopped moving so I could put her down. "Edward?" she said breathless as the wheels in my head were turning.

"Edward?!" she said again with more panic. "Don't even think about it."

I was thinking about it.

"Edward," she scolded. "Don't--"

Her protests were futile as I already had. She clung to my body tighter before we hit the water. I would remember the moments that she clung to me with a smile… the whole time she yelled at me for it afterward.

I'm sorry. I took a little impromptu break from writing and I totally missed it… and you guys. This wasn't the best chapter ever but I thought Bella and Edward had to build a little more rapport before we can get to the good stuff.

MBM next!! (Soon, I promise) REVIEW! It'll put me back in the mood to write again.

~Tish