I'm too excited to stop posting. Continuing reading please. Indulge me, I promise this won't suck.. it just may hurt a bit though.

Disclaimer: These characters belong to Stephanie Meyers.

Chapter 5

Bella Pov

I approach him just as he's taking a seat on a rock, running a towel through his hair.

"Hey, can I bother you for directions?" I ask in a squeaky voice.

"Sure." He replies slightly out of breath as he continues his task. He doesn't even look up. Perfect. I sit next to him on the rock, our bodies touching and I lean close. He doesn't move away.

"My friends and I are looking for somewhere good to eat. Any suggestions?" I ask him biting the corner of my lip nervously, hoping he looks over at me at some point. He doesn't, he continues to rub his hair, face and neck dry.

I roll my eyes having enough of this already, and I go in for the kill. I lean close and kiss the corner of his mouth, just one peck and pull back. He freezes altogether.

That reaction isn't quite as bad as the others, so I move in closer for a more thorough kiss, and his response is immediate. He turns and grabs my face with both hands, the towel all but forgotten in the sand beneath our feet.

His full lips are soft... so soft I could kiss him forever. The tips of our tongues touch igniting a spark within us too great to ignore. That's when the frenzy begins and we all but forget where we are.

He pulls me into his lap, and I straddle him as his hands roam the expanse of my back moving down to the curve of my swimsuit-covered ass.

He squeezes and I moan, shoving my hands into his hair to pull him closer and to give him some indication as to how good he kisses...how good he feels.

His growl is what pulls me back to the present day. I realize that my mission is complete, and I should hop off this stranger, but I don't want to. He makes me feel so good. His kisses chase away the darkness, filling me with the heat of passion and so much more. It's indescribable... it's scary.

I pull away from him, opening my eyes to get a better look. His eyes are slowly blinking open just as there is a tap on my shoulder.

"You don't have to rub it in. We got it." James says from behind me.

The stranger looks up at James and frowns, his eyes then meet mine, and they widen.

"It's you." He says. His words cause a memory from earlier in the day to rush back to me. "The Bennie and the Jets, girl."

"You two know each other?" Victoria asks, moving around James to stand beside us. I hop off the strangers lap and fold my arms across my chest uttering the word, 'no' as he says, 'yes.'

I do remember him, but I don't want to have to redo this challenge with a hundred more people. I'm exhausted.

"I sang to you this morning." He says as he stands and walks toward me.

"This doesn't count Bella," Victoria says, and the guy turns to her, his brows drawn together.

"Bella." He says, turning his attention back to me. He smiles that same smile from this morning and my heart thunders in my chest. "That's your name?"

I nod, and his smile brightens.

"Are you two done having goo-goo eyes for each other? Can Bella get back to her job." Victoria rolls her eyes and stomps away pulling James by the arm. I follow, turning my attention from the handsome stranger.

"Job?" He follows behind us causing Victoria to look back and huff. "Your job is to kiss random boys on the beach?"

"No, this isn't a job. It's a social experiment, and you're messing it up for me." I mumble, shooting him side glances.

He stops walking and reaches for my arm halting my steps. "Can I have your number?"

With obvious displeasure, I back away from his advances out of fear. "I don't do that. Well, I try not to anyway."

He grins and takes out his phone. "Take a chance on me."

"I can't. I gotta go." I wave as I back away, but he reaches for me again.

"Come on, I sang for you. I don't do that for just anyone." His smile widens causing a smile of my own to spread across my face.

Looking away trying to hide the fact that his smile affects me, I reply in a low voice, "I doubt that. Boys with your face do shit like that all the time."

He reaches out and taps my hand with his phone. I look up in time to see him licking his lips. "You're wrong about me."

"It's a possibility, but better safe than sorry, right," I ask with outstretched arms as I take another steady step away from him.

He comes forward matching my step. "You don't seem like the same carefree girl I sang with earlier. She would give me her number."

"Bella!" Victoria calls loudly in a very rude and demanding way. With the roll of my eyes, I turn to face her.

"One second." I turn back to the boy that is quite determined to have my number. "Look, I'll give it to you if you promise to go away."

"Deal." He replies, looking at me expectantly with his phone in his hands.

I riddle off my numbers one by one and watch as he grins from ear to ear in victory. Then all of a sudden his eyebrows rise practically into his hairline and shock registers on his face.

"No fucking way! Princess?" He asks, looking up at me, his mouth open and eyes wide in shock.

"What?"

"Check your phone. This is going to blow your mind."

I do as he says, taking my phone out to look at it. I have a new text message.

The words displayed across my screen from an unsaved number cause my heart to thaw, and I allow myself to take a risk. I allow just a bit of light to creep into my dark soul. See, this boy is full of light. It shines brightly through him and threatens to break down all of my defenses.

Light will overshadow darkness, and I have been conditioned to protect myself from that. However, now that I have basically received a sign from the gods, I know for sure that following the lit path can be an okay thing to do. The light can be just as fun right? Just as freeing?

Truth is...I prayed for light, and I see now that it came in the form of a Prince.

So as I stare down at the text, I know now that vulnerability and discomfort are okay and baring my flaws is acceptable thing to do.

Light floods my insides with just one text.

I told you we would meet again another time. -Unknown