A/N: Sorry it took so long for an update. I was trying to work on "American Girl" so I could get to the 'reveal' in that story, but I'm still a few chapters away.

Thanks to all my lovely readers for their awesome reviews. Things are going to start getting more personal and more angsty in the near future. This chapter is basically all flirting, so I doubt any of you will complain.

Lovebuggkiss – I laughed pretty hard when you wrote 'edward needs to see bella's not a complete bi-polar harpy, and it's just because of her jackass ex that she's being such a shrew' I think that's a pretty good analysis of how I saw Bella at the beginning of this story

EPOV

"I'm going back to Seattle," I told Bella with a small smile as she glared at me for a moment. I was about to say something further, but Emmett answered the phone before I got a chance.

"How's it going Eddie?" asked Emmett casually. I was already frustrated about our situation and his annoying nickname for me didn't help.

"If I have to ask you not to call me that one more time, I will seriously injure you," I said in anger. "I actually called to talk to you about something serious."

"Are you sleeping with Bella already? You old dog you," laughed Emmett. I could picture him on the other end of the phone, sitting in his office with his feet up on his desk, grinning from ear to ear. This was how he got comfortable when he talked with Alice, so I was certain he was doing the same with me.

"No, I already told you it's not like that. Are you sitting down?" I asked, trying to stress him out more than was probably necessary. He didn't say anything, so I continued talking with Bella watching me supportively from the couch. "I don't want to live in L.A. anymore Emmett." There was silence again. I could hear him breathing on the other end of the phone though, so I took it as a good sign.

"Where do you want to live Edward," he asked tersely.

"I think I want to move back to Seattle. I mean, I know I want to move back to Seattle. I hate L.A. man, and I know you're probably pissed because of the company and everything, but I don't need to be there to run it," I said quickly. I was trying to break the news like someone who was taking off a bandage, as quickly as possible.

"How long have you been thinking about this?"

"For a while actually. I just don't like the city anymore; it holds no appeal to me. I was thinking we should just open a new office in Seattle, and I can work from there," I suggested, hoping that my plans would lessen the blow a bit. I looked over at Bella and she was smiling at me, apparently very pleased at my confession to my brother. "Are you still there?" I asked a few minutes later, when Emmett still hadn't said anything in response to me.

"Yeah, I'm here. A Seattle office would be a good idea, but I was actually going to suggest it to you when we got together at Christmas. I am kind of getting burnt out on L.A. too and was thinking of moving home myself. I miss Mom and Dad, and Alice especially." I threw my head back on the chair in frustration. Why did Emmett want to move, he loved L.A. and this was driving me crazy. He was always saying how great the city was and how perfect we fit into the lifestyle; apparently he was full of shit.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," I yelled out in frustration as I stood from the chair and started to pace around the cabin. Bella was looking concerned, but I held a hand up to her, advising her to give me a moment.

"No dude, I miss home too. I have an idea, why don't we get Robbie to run this office and we move the headquarters to Seattle. He's basically been our number three for the past two years and I doubt he would have a problem with it," suggested Emmett as a smile grew across my face. His idea was brilliant.

"Okay, it's a deal. We don't have to live together in Seattle though do we? I have a feeling I'm gonna like Seattle girls a lot better than the vapid brainless women in L.A., so I want my own place," I said with a smile as Bella headed into the kitchen to get herself a drink of water. Emmett and I agreed to separate apartments and we decided to try to find office space when he was in Seattle for Christmas. When I got off the phone with him, Bella looked at me expectantly.

"So, what's the verdict?"

"It looks like me, Emmett and Cullen Advertising are all moving to Seattle in the near future," I said with a wide grin. "Thanks for the support by the way. All it took was a little push from you and things are finally looking up. I also don't have to buy my parents a Christmas gift since me moving home will probably be enough for them." I laughed easily and fell back into the chair I spent most of the morning sitting in. I glanced at the clock and it was 11:15. "Did you want to tackle some other demons today?"

"Nah, I think we've done good for today. I'm going to start writing and you're moving to Seattle. Alice will be ecstatic," said Bella as she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked adorable and part of me thought about moving to the couch and offering her a small kiss to thank her for pushing me to do what I needed to do, but I didn't move.

"I need to head into town to pick up a few things, do you need anything?" I asked anxiously. Bella stayed seated and I started to walk upstairs to get changed out of my comfy clothes and into something a little more presentable.

"Would you be adverse to me decorating a bit? It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas around here, even with the snow on the ground." I looked down at Bella from the middle of the open stairwell and she was looking up at me sweetly. She clearly wanted to do something more festive in the house, and I wasn't completely against it so I nodded my head in agreement.

"No tree though, I don't want to have to take it down in a few days because we have to leave. It will be way too much work. So are you coming with me?" Bella hopped from the couch and bounded up the stairs, passing me in the middle and headed into my old room. "I'll take that as a yes."

There weren't a lot of stores in Jackson Hole, but we luckily found a Target and headed in, where Bella was practically enthused with all the Christmas paraphernalia. "You don't have to stay with me while I shop," she said sweetly as she grabbed a shopping cart and headed towards their holiday decorations.

"I would actually like to join you Bella. I have a slight fear that you might decorate the cabin to look like the North Pole threw up, and I want to avoid that," I said with a laugh as Bella grinned at me and lead the way down the main aisle. We searched through some of their decorations and settled on fake swag of pine that she wanted to put on the mantle. She picked out a few small decorations, including some scented candles. Everything she got was simple and perfect for a cabin the woods. I nodded in agreement with almost everything she showed me, and found myself liking her even more as she expressed interest in certain things like she was a kid again. It was very endearing, although Bella probably didn't even realize she was doing it.

"So, have you finished your Christmas shopping for your family?" I asked as we walked up towards the cashier with our cart full of goodies.

"Yeah, I picked up a few things back in Seattle. We don't go all out with gift giving in my family though. We generally get each other a few small things and that's it. Pretty depressing huh?" she asked as I nodded my head. I was going to get her a Christmas gift, I told myself as grin crossed my face. I didn't know what, but Bella would have one from me. As a thank you for all the advice she had given me regarding my work life. Sure, that was why I wanted to give her a gift.

"It's a little sad. I think my parents only do it because Alice gets so excited about everything. You know how she reacts when she gets a gift; she gets almost as excited when she gets mail." We both laughed happily as I helped Bella put her purchases on the conveyor belt. Before she had a chance to move, I pulled out my credit card and swiped it through the machine. She looked over at me in frustration but I just shrugged my shoulders. "Consider it my gift to you for all your help recently."

"Whatever Edward. I'll pay you back somehow," she said with a frown as she grabbed all of the bags and we headed out of the store, towards my car. I reached over and tried to take two of the bags from Bella, but she pulled her hand away from mine. Apparently she was a little independent firecracker, I thought to myself again. As we drove back to the cabin, I stopped at the bank quickly to pay two bills I realized I had forgotten to pay in my haste to get the hell out of L.A. and then we headed home. I kept glancing at the stores that lined the main street and wondered where I could find something appropriate to buy Bella. It wasn't looking too promising.

BPOV

When we finally got back to the cabin, I immediately started to take the price tags off of everything I bought and tried to decorate the living room to something a little more festive. I lit the candles, which were supposed to smell like pine and placed them around the room far enough apart that they would hopefully make the entire living room smell like a Christmas tree. Edward hung the oversized swag of fake pine from the fireplace almost perfectly and then lit a fire, since it was a wee bit too cold in the room. We hung some small decorations from the fake pine and then put a few more glass balls in a bowl on the coffee table. It wasn't fabulous, but it was certainly a vast improvement.

"Well, it certainly smells better in here," laughed Edward as he walked towards the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer. "Want one?' I nodded easily and we sat down on the living room couch beside each other and took a quick sip of our drinks as we stared at the fireplace. "I think we should do something fun tonight after we finish dinner? You know, to relive the stress from earlier today."

"Well, what do you have in mind Mr. Cullen?" I asked with a laugh.

"I don't know. I don't think we have many board games here, so that's out. We have a deck of cards somewhere, but I have a feeling you cheat at solitaire, so that's out too." Edward took another gulp of his drink and laughed again at his comments.

"Hey, I resemble that remark," I said with a chuckle as he looked at me and smiled a bit differently. It was a smile that I had seen previously. It was almost a flirting smile, but I knew he wouldn't be flirting with me. Would he? "We're not in a hurry. We can think of something and then decide after dinner."

I finished my beer and then excused myself to head up to my room where I quickly opened up my laptop. As Microsoft Word slowly started, I stared at the screen with a blank expression on my face. I wanted to be a writer, but I had nothing to write about. Back in writing classes, they always told us to write from the heart or write what we know, but all I knew these days was heartache, and that wasn't the topic I wanted to tackle, so I turned off Word and logged onto the net using my wireless card I had gotten from work. Before I realized it, I had Googled Edward Cullen and was reading various articles about him in newspapers from L.A. and a few advertising magazines. It was actually very fascinating since I hadn't realized that the guy in the kitchen currently making us fajitas for dinner was so accomplished. He had won several awards and was one of L.A.'s young entrepreneurs of the year in 2008.

I shut off the computer and laid down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Everything today had felt so casual and easy with Edward and I couldn't explain why. We got along so well, it was a surprise to me that we hadn't gotten along since the beginning. I finally gave up trying to decipher my relationship with Edward and headed downstairs, where I found him finishing up dinner. He instructed me to sit at the dining room table and he served me, like a proper gentleman. I laughed at the formality of fajitas, but he just smiled his adorable sexy smile that he had shown me on the couch. That was definitely flirting.

"I have an idea about what we can do tonight, although it is rather junior high," I said with a laugh as I took a bite of dinner and moaned appreciatively.

"What's that?" he inquired curiously as he took a sip of his beer.

"I think we should play 'Would you rather?'" Edward looked at me in confusion, clearly having never played the game, so I put my fork down and began to explain it to him. "It's easy. We ask stupid questions like 'Would you rather eat a snail or a cockroach?' and the other person has to answer. We can even turn it into a drinking game if you are interested. If you refuse to answer, you have to take a drink."

"Sounds simple enough. Should we start now or after dinner?" he asked curiously.

"How about after I do to the dishes? We can get comfortable in the living room and ask each other the stupidest questions possible. So you have about twenty minutes to think about them," I said as I took a big bite of my fajita and smiled at myself for having such a good idea.

"Is there some topics that are taboo?" asked Edward with a raised eye brow.

"Define taboo?" I asked nervously as I practically bored a hole in his head with my stares.

"Can we ask anything sexual?"

"Sure, why not. It'll certainly make the game more interesting, don't you think?" I said as I started to melt again from the smile he was giving me. This was going to be a long tortuous night if he kept smiling at me like he wanted to peel my clothes off. As soon as dinner was done, I sauntered into the kitchen and did all the dishes from dinner and earlier today. I started the dishwasher as Edward began looking through the cabinets for something. "What are you searching for?"

"I'm looking for shot glasses. If we're gonna turn this into a drinking game, I'd rather we drank my bottle of Jameson's instead of beer. I know my parents had a few… oh here they are," he called out happily after he pulled two little glasses from the cupboard. I picked them up and began to laugh heartily because one said 'I'm also available in sober' and the other said 'I'm so happy I could shit rainbows'. I called dibs on the rainbow one and quickly went upstairs to get changed into something more comfortable, in case the night lasted too long and I got way too drunk. I came back downstairs in a pair of tight yoga pants and a tank top. Edward was adding another log to the fire and then he headed upstairs to get changed himself.

While he was gone, I tried to think of interesting questions to ask him. I walked over to the stereo and plugged in Edward's iPod. I searched through his playlists until I found something that was somewhat interesting and turned it on. 'Closer' from the Kings of Leon started immediately and I smiled to myself.

"Good Choice, yet again," he called down from the top of the stairs as he wandered down looking like a god. He had on a pair of shorts and a tight black t-shirt. For some reason I just wanted to wrap my body around his and never let go.

"Thanks. It's easy to make good selections when it's your music," I said with a grin as I sat on the floor, waiting for him to join me. I had set everything up so that the liquor was on the coffee table, but Edward and I were sitting on the floor in front of the fire. I needed to stay as warm as I could to justify the tank top. I was subconsciously trying to show off my assets, but I didn't need to catch another cold in an effort to draw Edward's eyes to my breasts. Edward grabbed two beers from the fridge and sat down on the floor across from me and poured two shots on the table. "What's with the beer?"

"You never know Bella; we might get thirsty while waiting for the other person to answer the questions. Do you want to go first?" I nodded my head and tried to think of one of the questions I had formulated in my mind earlier.

"Would you rather sleep on a bed of nails every night for a year or be forced to have 'Barbie Girl' playing in your head for the rest of your life?" I stared at Edward as he opened his mouth and immediately responded.

"Definitely the bed of nails. I hate that Aqua song. Alice used to play it constantly when we were growing up." A smile grew across Edward's face and he laughed from his memory of Alice.

"She still plays it," I replied ruefully. "And it still sucks." We laughed easily together before Edward took a moment to ask me a question.

"Would you rather have a severe case of tourettes or uncontrollable orgasms?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"Uncontrollable orgasms. My ex could barely give me one, so I'll take them all the time to make up for his lack of abilities," I said with a laugh as I shuddered when I thought about sex with Jacob.

"I'm sorry," he said with a look of sadness on his face.

"Oh calm down, it's just an orgasm. I'm sure I will one day find the guy that knows what the hell he's doing," I replied happily as I thought of my next question. "Would you prefer to have sex with someone but not be able to kiss them or to kiss someone but not be able to have sex with them?"

"Hmmm… that's a tough one. I'm going to pick the kissing one because kissing can be a lot more sensual than sex, if done properly. Plus, I could always take matters into my own hands for release if need be." I laughed at his comment, but then my mind wandered to a vision of him stroking his cock and I suddenly felt it get very warm in the room.

"Would you rather have a one night stand with someone you considered your soul mate or do anything for fear of ruining the relationship?"

"One night stand. If he's truly my soul mate, it would definitely turn into more." Edward agreed with my response and then I had to ask a question.

"Would you rather be blindfolded and lose all vision or be the one doing the blindfolding?"

"Are we speaking sexually Bella?" he asked confidently as I blushed and simply nodded my head. "I'd rather do the blindfolding. I find it much more of a turn on to give rather than receive." Damn it, he was getting me excited. How dare he, then again, he had no idea I had sexual thoughts about him, so I tried to ignore the all too familiar feeling stirring within me and grabbed a shot, taking it all in one gulp.

The game continued on slowly for the next few hours and as the questions tended to get more sexual in nature, I was taking the shots quicker. Edward didn't seem to mind and at one point started to drink along with me when I asked if he would rather be in a threesome with two girls or one of each. He said two girls and quickly took a drink, with no explanation. When he asked me the exact same question, I took two shots before deciding to answer.

"I would say neither, since I am a serious relationship kind of girl usually, but with the right partners, I would definitely do it either way." Edward dropped his jaw open in surprise and grabbed the shot I was about to take from my hand and took it down smoothly. "Edward, would you rather have sex in public where no one could see or have sex in public with the high chance of getting caught?"

"Definitely with the chance of getting caught. It's more exhilarating that way," he said confidently as he took a small sip from his beer. He was silent for a moment before he poured himself another shot of Jameson's', effectively draining the bottle. He took it greedily and then practically stared me down. "Bella, would you rather have sex with your ex Jacob or me?"