CHAPTER 6

~ BELLA POV ~

Ugh…the sun shone very brightly through the delicate curtains hanging in the window in the den. I opened my eyes and immediately regretted it…oooh…my head hurt. Last night started to come back to me. I turned over quickly. Edward! He wasn't there. Renee had already gotten up and I was alone. No sign he had been there. I felt my pj top and all the buttons were done up. Wow Bella that was quite a dream! I rolled on to my back and ran a hand through my hair…that smell….I could smell him on me. He had been here.

I took a deep breath and got up to get ready. When I opened the bathroom door the divine smell of bacon and eggs hit me and my stomach grumbled. I was hungry but I think that odd feeling in my stomach was also an attack of nerves. All the parents, Rosalie, Alice and Edward were already at the table. Aunt Carmen had outdone herself preparing an amazing breakfast spread; she obviously enjoyed this sort of thing because the dining table was huge. Edward was flipping through the newspaper, head bobbing to the beat of whatever he was listening to on his iPod. He saw me first.

"Morning, Bella." He winked.

"Umm. Morning." My eyes darted to the others to see if they noticed his cheeky wink. They seemed oblivious, lost in the food they were consuming. "How come you guys didn't wake me up?"

"We thought you could use the sleep, honey. I'm assuming you were out late." Renee said.

"Emmett's still comatose." Alice chimed in.

"Oh. Was that the rumbling noise I could hear upstairs?" Everyone laughed.

I sat down at the table in the empty chair across from Edward and started putting some food on my plate. I was hungry but I wasn't sure the butterflies in my stomach would allow me to eat very much. As I was about to put the first piece of bacon in my mouth Edward slid his ankle along the length of my calf. I nearly dropped my food on the floor. He seemed engrossed in the article he was reading but I saw him barely look up at me through his eyelashes and that wicked crooked smile of his made an appearance. Those green eyes were going to be the death of me.

Over the next half an hour the table started to clear as people finished up and went about other things. And then there were two.

"Hey Alice was telling me about your new phone. Can I see it?"

"Sure. Just give me a second." I got up from the table and put my plate in the kitchen. I was a little confused. He wanted to see my phone but he didn't ask for my number or how I was feeling. Don't read anything into it Bella. Don't make more of last night than what it was. It was obviously nothing. I went to the den and took out my phone. Maybe that nerdy teenager wasn't too far from the man and he still had a technology fetish.

I handed him the phone. He played with it a little, punched in a few things then handed it back. "Hmm very nice." I looked at him puzzled. That was weird.

"About last night…." He started to say as Emmett chose that moment to enter the room.

"Yo! 'Sup guys?" He took a seat at the table, piling an insane amount of food on his plate and effectively ending any chance for Edward and I to have a conversation about 'last night'.

"Come on, Bella. We need to hit the road and these guys have a flight to catch." Renee called out to me. Okay, so the conversation about last night was now a moot point.

We all said our goodbyes with lots of hugs, kisses, tears and promises to stay in touch. I gave Edward an awkward one armed hug and kissed him on the cheek as I had done to Emmett. It wouldn't have been seen as anything suspicious. His smell was making my head fuzzy. It was sweet and musky and oh…. Stop Bella. That was goodbye….time to resume our regularly scheduled programming.

We'd been driving for about a half an hour in total silence. "You're quiet" Renee said. "Is everything okay?" I hadn't even realized until that moment that I hadn't even turned on the radio which was very strange for me.

"Yah. Yah-uuuup. Everything is fine." I tapped my fingers randomly on the steering wheel.

"Are you upset with me? You know, about Edward?" She seemed genuinely worried.

"Oh. No. No. No. Totally no." Still drumming randomly on the wheel.

"It's just. He's a Cullen and you know they have been so close to us. Like family, you know and I just can't imagine the fallout and choosing sides if things didn't go well." She barely took a breath and plowed on. "And well Edward has a bit of a reputation and I just don't think that things would work. I mean after all look at the age difference, he's so much older than you are." She was rambling and trying to justify herself.

"Mom! Really it's fine. I'm just a bit tired from last night, that's all." Last night. My head wasn't here. It was back there…in Edward's arms, feeling Edward's hands, tasting Edward's mouth, breathing in that divine smell. Let it go Bella.

Charlie was home when I got in. Damn, I had wanted a little 'me' time alone. My body was out of control thinking about Edward. I dropped my bag and purse down at the door.

"Hey Dad! How was the fishing trip?"

"Ah Bella you should have seen it." Here we go. You would think he caught a whale the way he went on. I sat across from him at the table as he recounted every detail of his trip. Felix had forgiven me and came to sit in my lap. I stroked his fur as I listened to Charlie drone and went to my happy place. Bzzz Bzzzzz I jumped Bzzz Bzzzzz. I had forgotten I left my cell on vibrate. I assumed it was Alice checking to see if I got in ok.

BBMessage from ECullen:: Hey. I can still smell ur hair. Missing u. ::

My hand flew to my mouth as my breath hitched. That's what he had done with my phone; he connected us through the messenger contacts.

BBMessage from Bella:: Hey urself. Thanx 4 last night. ::

BBMessage from ECullen:: Absolutely MY pleasure. I didn't want 2 leave u hanging. ::

BBMessage from Bella:: If memory serves me correctly it was u that was left hanging. ::

BBMessage from ECullen:: LOL hmm yes that's true. No worries I HANDled it myself ::

BBMessage from Bella:: That's sad. Wish I could have HANDled it 4 u ::

BBMessage from ECullen:: I have 2 run. They're calling r flight. Not sure I'll b able 2 BBM u from the ship. Stay safe. We will talk soon. xoxo ::

BBMessage from Bella:: Have fun. Safe travels. Bye. xoxo ::

"Good news?" Charlie asked.

"Pardon?"

"Well you're grinning like you won the lotto, so I assumed…" his sentence trailed off.

"Oh it's just Alice being silly." I replied. "I'm kinda tired I'm gonna head up to my room and lie down for a bit."