Mike, A Gentle He Was Not

"I'd like to call you sometime." Edward stood outside her car waiting to make his good-byes. Bella was surprised he'd walked her out, but it shouldn't have. Edward Volturi was nothing if not a gentleman.

Mike on the other hand . . . well, Bella couldn't remember the last time he'd walked her to her car. When they'd lived apart and she left his place for the night, he'd wave her good bye from the couch, not even glancing her way to make sure the door shut behind her.

Edward, however, opened her car door for her as she approached. He'd stood there for several moments talking in his melodious tone, and when he noticed the chill in the air, he'd taken her cashmere shall out of her hands and draped it around her shoulders.

At any moment, I'm going to wake up, she told herself. Real men didn't behave this way, after all. Only ones in fairy tales.

"I'd love that," Bella answered, only a little delayed.

"Would you prefer at your place of business, or would something more intimate suffice."

God, the sound of his voice . . .

Intimate.

Bella replayed the way he said that word over and over again in her mind.

"Please, call me on my cell. I hardly answer my land line, and my business is mostly filtered through that as well."

"Perfect," Edward smiled, and the sight almost leveled her to the ground. He was breathtakingly beautiful for someone so damn masculine. She almost swooned, and then had an arrant thought that if she did happen to pass out, Edward would most definitely catch her. Maybe playing the damsel in distress wouldn't be half bad with a genuine knight to sweep her off her feet.

"Well, good night." Bella turned to get into her car, but Edward stopped her with a gentle touch to her cheek. She turned toward him, her heart picking up in rhythm at the thought that he might want to kiss her.

He leaned in toward her, his deep eyes fixed on her lips with intensity. She closed her eyes, waiting to feel his mouth on hers. Soft lips caressed the apple of her cheek, and she let out a breath of air.

"Good night, my bella," he whispered against her skin, sending a waft of hot and sweet air across her skin.

Bella drove home in an almost catatonic state. He mesmerized her. He flustered her. He made her feel things she hadn't hoped of feeling.

"Get it together, Swan. He's just a man."

A gorgeous, incredibly sexy man.

Her phone vibrated in her purse and she fished it out, trying to keep her eyes on the road.

Alice.

YES! Keep the advice coming, my hot chickies. Kroseph, check my Italian. It's been a while since my Nona taught me. He he...