AN: Promised a new chapter pretty quickly and here it is. By my outline, only a few more chapters left which is just crazy to me. I never thought it would go this far, and all your support over the last six months has been amazing. I am constantly floored by it. So thank you for all the reviews and the forum comments and suggestions. And yes, PLEASE join us on Twilighted. I have a thread for TDIG in the AH AU forum, and there's lots of fun stuff going on there.

So the beginning of this chapter does bear a resemblance to my short one-shot, Putting Lessons, but originally that whole idea was meant to go in TDIG anyway and I decided to borrow some of it for my DTE contest entry. I think it's fairly different from PL, but keep in mind if you do like this, you'll probably like that story as well, so check it out (and yes, there will be some one-shot prequels and sequels to that, I promise).

So, a lot of you have been wondering what I'll tackle after I finish TDIG. At the end of this chapter, I'm going to post a small little teaser for my next story, and I'll be doing that all the way up to the last chapter. When I say small, I mean small though, and they're a bit ambigious on purpose.

Thanks to my betas, tamelaine & CallistoLexx. Songs are up on my profile.

EmPOV

I was a bad, bad man.

I'd done exactly the thing I'd sworn to myself that I'd never do.

All I'd had to do was keep a promise that I'd never even dream about touching Rosalie ever again. She deserved better than a fuckup like me, but what had I gone and done?

Yep. I'd gone and made my affectionate nickname for myself a self-realizing prophecy. I'd fucked up again, and not just once. Oh no. For three weeks straight I'd fucked up.

And for the life of me, I couldn't even find a morsel of regret inside me. I supposed it was there somewhere, but with Rosalie leaning against the wall, her mini golf putter dangling from her dangerously elegant fingers, all I could feel was this blinding, completely hopeless love.

Yeah, I was a real Debbie Downer. Hopeless indeed 'cause though she seemed to like me well enough now, sooner or later she'd find out the truth about me, and all that hate would come crashing right back. This whole interlude was temporary and it was getting harder and harder to keep reminding myself of that fact.

I knew I was turning into a real girl when I acknowledged how much I dreaded the day she'd say fuck off and how much I knew that day would hurt.

Truth was, I wanted Rose to be mine. Forever. She fit me so perfectly it was like we were made for each other and we'd just spent the last six years existing instead of living.

Each time we were together I couldn't help but feel like it was all fleeting and this time might be the last time. I had to get as much of her now as I could, before it all evaporated.

"Your turn, Em," Rosalie cooed, sauntering over towards me. Rosie was always beautiful, but lately she'd begun to glow with happiness, and she was so unintentionally stunning today in her simple shorts and t-shirt that no man on the entire course could take their eyes off her.

I wanted to rip their eyes from their sockets, but since I knew I was privileged to have what none of them ever could, even if it was fleeting, I simply put my arm around her possessively and glared.

"God, Emmett," Edward complained loudly. "How long are you going to keep us all waiting?"

I rolled my eyes and reluctantly let go of Rose. She smiled and tapped my ass affectionately with her putter. "Do me proud, baby," she breathed seductively in my ear and I almost forgot what we were doing.

Oh yeah. Group bonding activities. Jasper needed to chain Alice to the bed so she couldn't plan any more of these. The aquarium yesterday had been bad enough—not to mention that Bella and Edward had obviously snuck off for some screwing—but this was reaching a new low.

Of course, mini golf did have a few small advantages. I'd watched Rose make two shots leaning over and the vision of her ass had made me hard as a rock.

I casually dropped the ball down, eyed the green grass covered volcano and wondered if I should try to hit it softer, to prevent it from popping back out of the hole.

I tried to tap it in carefully, but as usual, underestimated my own strength and sent it hurtling over the other side.

Rose drawled, "Nice shot," and I felt no compunction in shooting her a glare. The great thing about Rosalie and I was that we almost never took each other seriously. She gave as good as she got, and the look I got back would have fried the ball hair off any normal guy. Grinning hard, I observed that both not being normal and not being afraid of her were two significant advantages I held over any other guy.

I could count on one hand the number of serious conversations we'd had these last three weeks and two of them had been over the advantages of Asian engineering over European. Rose was still miffed she'd lost that argument twice and I'd had to seriously work my ass off in the bedroom to make up for every salient point I'd made.

"My turn!" Alice sang, sashaying up to the green and putting it perfectly into the hole on top of the cone.

"Hole in one!" she yelled, jumping up and down with Bella in celebration.

Jasper, standing next to me, rolled his eyes.

"You've been playing golf with your dad for twenty years, Alice," he called out. "If you were as bad as Emmett is, I'd really think your hole in one was something."

I whacked him upside the head and Alice blew a raspberry and stuck out her tongue at him before trying to turn around and walk away.

Jasper laughed and pulled her back against him. She struggled for half a second, but then contentedly settled back into his embrace.

Bella sighed and tried to tap her ball as carefully as Alice, but like me, she had no luck. As her ball rolled off the top of the cone and down the other side, Edward gave her a reassuring smile and she returned it a bit wistfully.

"Your turn, Rose," she spoke up and I immediately turned my attention to the woman uncoiling herself from the reclined pose against the wall. I knew every other man in the room, with maybe the exception of my brothers, watched her too.

How could they not? I reasoned with myself. Just look at her. The woman you're privileged, at the least for the moment, to call yours.

Rosalie tossed a sheaf of golden blond hair over her shoulder and eyed the volcano like it was a man she wanted to seduce. I couldn't help myself. I grew hard—or rather, harder. Whenever I was around her, it seemed that being turned on was a permanent state.

"You get 'em, baby," I called, and she looked back over her shoulder, blue eyes playful, and she blew me a kiss.

I liked the sex kitten act she put on occasionally, but it certainly wasn't what I liked most about her.

Then I watched her hands slide down the shaft of the putter, and my mind abdicated in favor of my cock and I couldn't think at all.

I didn't care that she was turning on anything with testosterone that was lucky enough to see her little show. All I cared about was that she was doing it, and I knew it was for me and me alone.

"Rose," Alice said good naturedly, "cut the 'Pretty Woman' reenactment and get your butt moving."

She laughed, and bent down a little farther, and I swore I heard a groan from somewhere behind me.

"You can do it later, baby," I said to her, "in the bedroom."

I didn't care how proprietary it sounded. I just wanted everyone else in and on the damn golf course that Rosie was mine and that the only one who could ever release her was Rosalie herself. No other man would or could ever change what we had together, and I wanted to almost dare them to try, if the trying wouldn't totally kill me.

She looked at me again, and her expression had turned from playful to annoyed. Whoops.

"Baby," she enunciated sarcastically, "I might not feel like it later." And with that, she straight up caressed the putter. In front of everyone and God.

I think I felt my jaw drop, and I heard Alice laugh more lewdly than I'd ever heard her before. That probably sent Jasper into the stratosphere, but I couldn't look back to check, because I was still trying to send enough blood molecules to my brain so I wouldn't forget to breathe.

RPOV

I glanced over at Emmett, and felt like singing in triumph. He was floored by my little display with the golf putter and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Okay, maybe I could.

But I'd have to involve him. . .personally . . .in my act.

"Emmett?" I asked as innocently as I could, sliding my tongue over my bottom lip. I was well-versed in pretend seduction, so this was a cakewalk, but Emmett now knew that it had all been an act. Hell, if we weren't already sleeping together, he'd probably think this was all an act too. But for him, and only for him, it was all real.

"Yeah, darlin'?" he charmingly smiled at me and though I could nearly feel the force of his lust from across the course, he remained where he was. Of course, he'd make me ask. That was so Emmett. I sighed.

"Come over here. I want to help you learn to putt better," I informed sweetly, smiling up at him like the big strong man he was. He puffed up, and looked like he would burst with happiness that I'd finally asked him to stand with me.

"You think you can help a strong man like me?" he asked, batting his eyes helplessly.

I had to bite my lip to keep the laugh from exploding. One of the things I loved so much about Emmett was that he cajoled, convinced and, most of the time, utterly forced me out of my personal comfort zone. I'd hated it at first, because I liked to rely on what I knew best and what had always worked on the men I knew. But of course Emmett knew that was all bullshit, and if he hadn't before, he did know, because I could barely keep up the pretense and most of the time I didn't even want to.

"You know it," I quipped back, and his smile was so bright, I wanted to sink into him and his dimples and never let go.

"Are we going to play anytime soon?" Jasper's annoyed voice broke into our little bubble.

"We've having a lesson," Emmett said good-naturedly, and Jasper groaned.

"That could go on for awhile," Edward added, "Emmett's pretty dense."

"Watch and learn," I announced, before my little game could disintegrate into the boys trying to one-up each other with lame insults. The rest of the group moved on, Bella shaking her head and laughing at the two of us. I supposed we were lucky that there was nobody behind us to see the show we were about to put on.

Emmett situated himself behind me, and his big hands closed over mine.

"First rule," I told him breathlessly, "is you've got to have the proper form."

"And what's that, Rosie?" Emmett asked, shifting just a hint closer, until there was nothing between us.

I cleared my throat and told myself that my knees were weak because of how turned on he was, not because of the evident tenderness in his voice.

"Slight bend in the waist and don't forge to stick your butt out," I told him cheekily, wiggling mine against him. I heard Emmett mumble a curse, and I couldn't help but smile in response.

"And what next?" he asked.

"You've got to grip the putter," I told him, glancing back and sending the sultriest glance in my arsenal his direction. Then I demonstrated, sliding my hands up and down the stick.

"You've got a real good technique," Emmett whispered in my ear. "Why don't we go back to the house and you can show me some more? Maybe have a practice session or two?"

The idea had its merits, I admitted, but really, we'd been humping like animals for three weeks, and though I was hardly tired of him, it was nice to be out and doing something else. This whole trip to the beach had really added a whole different dimension to our relationship and I felt like I was scrambling to catch up.

"I don't know," I said, turning to face him. Every time I saw him close up, it all came crashing back that we were finally together, here in this moment, and I couldn't deny that more than once I'd teared up. So many years wasted, so many tears cried, and all over what? Clearly he'd been longing for me the whole time, too.

He looked vaguely surprised and I tried not to look offended. "We just started playing. You want to bail and just go have sex?" I asked probably a lot louder than was wise. My voice was one of those that carried fairly easily, and a family a good three holes away glared at me. Whoops.

"No, no, no," Emmett backpedaled fast. "I like doing things with you besides just sex." The last word was nearly a hiss, and the vehemence at which he denied my allegation filled my heart with so much happiness I thought I might burst.

I'd thought it before, probably a million times, but now I knew it. He was in love with me. He'd do anything I wanted, just because I wanted to. And though it would take pliers and some good Chinese torture to make me admit it, I felt exactly the same way about him.

"Let's play the rest of the holes," I suggested, snaking a hand around his back and pinching his fine, fine ass.

I did this often, when he least expected it, because hearing this big handsome hunk yelp like a little girl was infinitely amusing.

"Shall we?" I asked pointedly, already beginning to walk away towards the next hole. "Maybe we can even catch up with them."

I didn't get out of his reach quite soon enough because he circled his fingers around my wrist, and pulled me back towards him.

"That was mean," Emmett told me, but he was definitely more amused than angry. "You teasing me like that and then leaving without even a kiss."

"Oh you're going to get a kiss. Just later."

"On the beach? With the fireworks?" He looked so eager that I didn't have the heart to tell him no. Or tell him that there was no way in hell I'd ever be able to last that long without kissing him.

"Come on," I tugged on his arm. "We need to find the others and finish our game. I was ahead and I want to know if I win."

"Oh you definitely win," Emmett told me, wrapping an arm around my waist and dropping a single kiss on the top of my head.

We finished the game, and like Emmett predicted, I definitely did win the mini golf game, though Edward did make a rather valiant stand toward the end.

As we emerged back onto the boardwalk, the sun was just about to set. I announced that I wanted a frozen lemonade for winning, and right as Emmett was about to reply, I heard his name. From a woman in the crowd.

My gaze narrowed.

He'd turned toward her, away from me, and I had to crane my neck around his oversized body so I could see who it was.

I gave a quick sigh of relief. She was middle-aged, still pretty, but definitely old for Emmett, even if he liked cougars—which of course, he didn't.

I was about to turn away, glad it was nothing, maybe only one of his mom's friends, when I heard what she was telling Emmett.

"Tanya's heartbroken, Emmett, and you know I don't have to tell you that. I will tell her you said hello, though."

Tanya? Who the hell was this Tanya girl? You'd better believe Emmett would be telling me about her approximately ten seconds after this interfering mother was gone.

Finally, she left, and I pounced. "Emmett," I inquired sweetly, "who was that?"

"Tanya's mother," he told me like I should know who he was talking about, and a bad feeling seeded in the bottom of my stomach.

I crossed my arms over my chest and barely refrained from glaring at him. "And who's Tanya?"

His eyes grew wide as if he realized what had just happened, and he'd just been autopilot, thinking of something else. Screwing me, probably. All while talking to dear, sweet Tanya's mother.

"Nobody," he mumbled, and quickly changed the subject to my frozen lemonade and the fireworks and barbeque upcoming tonight. I inwardly resolved to get to the bottom of this Tanya person as quickly as possible.

And I mean, who even was named Tanya? That was just an ugly ass, ho-bag name.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if she was just some ugly ass, ho-bag ex-girlfriend.

At least, I hoped that was what she'd been.

Later that night, we were on the beach, Emmett's arms wrapped around me to ward off the wind from the ocean, about to watch the fireworks, and I decided to try again—catch him off his guard.

"So who was Tanya?" I asked as casually as I could, but I still felt him tense up behind me. Crap.

"Tanya," he responded guardedly, and it was definitely a statement, not a question.

"Yes."

"She's a girl I knew once." Emmett's voice was terribly final and I wanted to kick the sand in frustration.

I glanced around for some feminine support, but both Alice and Bella were with their respective Cullens, lounging around the fire, looking tired and full from the barbeque we'd cooked just an hour ago.

I wasn't going to get any help, so I'd just forge on alone.

"A girl you knew how?" I turned to look at him, and I swore I saw him grimace which was just bad news all around. There was definitely a story here that he wasn't telling me.

Emmett sighed. "Just a girl. Just leave it alone, Rosalie."

The panic at the bottom of my stomach was beginning to grow and the seed that had been planted earlier was sprouting.

"No," I told him stubbornly. "There's something you're not telling me."

Unfortunately, right as we were about to get to the meat of the conversation, the fireworks started exploding above us. I relaxed into Emmett's arms again, and I felt his tense muscles begin to loosen.

"This is nice," I said in a small voice, wondering what exactly we were supposed to do. Had that been a fight? Maybe it could have been, if I'd gotten warmed up, but there was no way I was going to fight through our 4th of July fireworks on the beach.

Secretly, I was a closet romantic, and with the waves crashing onto the sand, and the stars, and the fire crackling in front of us, the situation was about as good as it got, so I snuggled into Emmett and tried to forget about girls named Tanya.

I couldn't believe how long they lasted, and forty-five minutes later, even with Emmett holding me, I was shivering. We quickly cleaned up, and headed back to the house.

I yawned the whole way, almost compulsively, and Emmett smirked. "You really tired?"

"Yeah," I admitted, smiling at the expression on his face. He knew exactly why I was so tired. It had been a long month since I'd gotten a full night's sleep. Not that I was complaining exactly, but I was definitely tired.

Everyone else must have been tired too, because instead of chatting or watching TV, they all headed to their rooms and so did Emmett and I.

Crawling into bed next to Emmett felt good every single time—each time better than the last. I wondered if I'd ever get used to seeing his face smiling up at me every morning.

Nope. Probably not.

It hit me then, as I watched him strip his shirt over those incredible pecs and abs, that I'd decided to trust him. Both trust and forgive him, actually. What use was it to hold onto something silly that had happened almost seven years ago when we were here together, now? Clearly he regretted his actions, and I highly doubted he'd have energy for any other woman this time around or even that he'd have the inclination.

Emmett slid into bed next to me, and I immediately snuggled up next to him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"You still cold?" he asked conscientiously, rubbing my arms to warm them up.

I shook my head. "No. I'm better." I felt his hands still on my arms and I waited for him to make the first sexual move, like either he or I had for the last month's worth of nights. But he didn't, and I didn't either.

His eyes bored into mine, and though my insides were trembling with nerves, I knew I had to break this moment and ask.

"Emmett," I said quietly, tracing patterns on his arm. "Would you please tell me who Tanya was?"

He let out a frustrated groan, and I wanted to kick myself for ruining our quiet, sweet moment, but every time he refused to tell me, the panic set in a little harder. Like I expected, he didn't answer, only closed his eyes and pretend to ignore me.

"Emmet, please," I begged, hating myself for doing it, but afraid that if I didn't find out the truth about Tanya, my newfound trust in him would just wither and die.

His eyes didn't open, and my stomach quivered with fear.

Finally, he answered. "I wish you would just drop it, Rosie. She's meaningless, I promise. I haven't seen her in months and I never intend to see her again."

I was definitely glad to hear it, but I wanted to hear more. Like what she had meant to him. If she had been important.

I hated the thought that maybe this Tanya had meant something close to what I'd meant to him. I wanted to be the only girl he'd ever loved. The one he pined for over the last seven years.

If it wasn't so important, I would have just let it go, but I couldn't.

So I asked again.

"Please," I whispered. "Please tell me. Trust me."

The request contorted the muscles in his face, and I knew that maybe a little part of him hated me now for not just letting it go.

He opened his eyes. "Rosalie. I promise you, it's meaningless. I just . . .I can't."

I wanted to cry. This was something big. Something maybe bigger than me.

Emmett must have sensed me pulling away before I did, and he caught me and held me close, looking intensely into my eyes. "I need you to promise you'll believe me."

"What?" I asked in confusion. "Believe what?"

"What I'm going to tell you."

I shook my head at him. "You know I'd believe whatever you say."

"No matter what," he insisted. "You have to swear to me that no matter what happens, you'll always know this is true."

"What is true?" I asked in mock exasperation. "Just tell me."

His head tipped forward, his forehead touching mine, almost in benediction.

"Rosalie," he murmured, "you mean everything to me. Promise me that you'll always know I love you."

I'd been so sure that I'd get an admission about Tanya that Emmett's real confession blew me away. It was the last thing I'd been expecting, and the best thing he could have said—aside from the truth about Tanya, of course.

"Oh, Emmett." My hand grazed his cheek and I cradled him against me. Words transcended the moment. All that I could feel was him and me, and how much I loved this man.

"I love you, too. I always have."

And I fell asleep in his arms, just like that, with no sex and no games. And almost complete honesty between us.

The next morning, we were all up early, packing to leave.

Finally, the house was clean and all the bags were packed in the car. Edward had lost some sort of bet with Emmett over the weekend, probably something to do with that mini golf game or how many hot dogs they'd managed to scarf down at the beach barbeque, and we were driving his Volvo back, and he and Bella had to ride with Alice and Jasper.

I climbed in the passenger seat, and watched from under my sunglasses as Edward walked over to Emmett's window and they consulted about something regarding routes and gas stops and all the stuff I wasn't interested in.

But there was something I was interested in that I knew Edward would know, and if I asked him in front of Emmett, I would hardly be going behind anyone's back.

"Edward?" I asked sweetly, "I was wondering if you could answer a quick question for me."

Emmett was so busy gloating that he was getting to drive the Volvo that he barely registered my question—or rather, he registered it way, way too late.

"Of course," Edward replied, smiling back at me, having no idea how much trouble I was about to get him in.

"Who's Tanya?"

Emmett's head snapped up and he met Edward's eyes. "Don't tell her," he ordered in a low, desperate voice. "God, I swear. Just don't. Please."

I'd never heard Emmett beg before, and in my stomach, the tendrils of fear began to grow again.

"Edward," I demanded, "tell me. Who was she?"

He looked at me helplessly. Emmett's head fell back against the seat, and I distinctly heard him mutter, "Fuck."

"You sure you want to know?" he asked, and I nodded. I had to know. There was no way around it.

"She was Emmett's wife."

Yes, I know, I am really really terrible. That was an awful cliffhanger.

On to my next story's teaser. First of all, I want y'all to keep in mind that this is going to be completely different from TDIG. I'm definitely ready for a change.

"Everyone thought that Bella and Edward had the greatest love story. They were wrong."

Ideas? Thouhts? Suppositions? Theories? Let me hear them!