A/N: Welcome back to all of you. I'm so glad that so many of you seem to like my story. It's a bit like a third baby to me, and I'm really happy to be able to share it with you.

Thanks to my dear friend and pre-reader Vampgirl79 I got nominated in two categories for the TwiFic Fandom Awards. She nominated me for Favorite Newbie Author and Favorite Fangirl. I'm feeling honored to be mentioned in the same category as writers like planetblue, 2old4fanfic or Redtini. I really love their stories and I can only recommend them warmly to you. Their fics are great. Vampgirl79 herself as well as some of her great stories are nominated in several categories, as well. You should check those out, too. So you see, I'm definitely a fangirl. Here's the link for the vote

twificfandomawards dot blogspot dot de/p/vote dot html

Replace the dot with . and you'll get there. Please, you should all go over there and vote, not for me but for every writer and fic you love. They deserve it.

Before I let you read the chapter and finally learn about Edward's background story, I want to thank my betas shinrai and StoryPainter from PTB. They really polished this chapter.

Now I'll leave you to the story. See you at the end.

******POMH******

Chapter 6 – Revelations

I woke when the sunshine crept into Edward's bedroom, my head resting on his chest, his hand on my back. I was feeling cozy and warm, unwilling to do anything that could disturb this moment of security. His skin was soft and comforting against mine, while the air around us was heavy with a mixture of Edward's scent and the faintly lingering odor of sex.

While I was still reveling in the perfection of this morning, my mind started to ruin everything. A little voice in my head reminded me that, again, I'd let a man be closer than I actually felt comfortable with. This was too close to being in a relationship.

I had made it clear to Edward I wasn't looking for a boyfriend, and he hadn't objected.

I couldn't take the conflicting feelings inside me any longer, so I decided to flee the bed and bring myself to a safer place, away from Edward's warm and wonderful body.

On my way out of the bedroom, I found satin pajamas lying on a chair. I grabbed the top and sneaked out of the room.

After going to the bathroom, I ventured to explore the apartment, wearing nothing but Edward's pajama top. First, I opened the door to the room that was right next to the bedroom. Peeking inside, I saw that it was crammed with unpacked boxes and pieces of furniture wrapped in plastic. In one corner stood a jar containing paint for the walls as well as a paint roller and a few brushes. He didn't seem to be done moving in yet.

I closed the door again, making my way to the living room. It was spacious with pale beige walls, a big, comfortable-looking, off-white sofa, and a glass coffee table. Behind that, there was a metal rack with panes of glass. A big, high-end plasma TV was standing on it.

On the far side of the room, there was a dining table with six chairs in front of a wide window. Left to it was a spacious open kitchen. The furniture was of high quality and modern, but didn't make the room seem cold. The whole place, except for the kitchen and the bathroom, was laid-out with a dark hardwood floor. The frame of the coffee table, the dining table, the shelf unit, that covered one of the walls from floor to ceiling, and the two chests of drawers, that stood against the opposite wall, were all made of dark wood, as well.

The kitchen cupboards had vanilla-colored glossy doors, while the cabinets seemed to be made of the same wood the rest of the furniture was. I opened a few doors before I found a glass and filled it with water from the faucet.

After downing a few mouthfuls, I inspected my surroundings again. Edward had a beautiful home that seemed to perfectly match his personality. It was warm, modern, elegant, but still comfortable. I had always imagined to, one day, live in a house decorated like this.

I strolled back into the living room, stopping in front of the shelf-covered wall. The racks were only partly filled with books and CD's. Against the wall stood several boxes labeled "books" and "music".

Curious as I was about this apartment's inhabitant, I opened one box and took out a few CD's. He had a lot of jazz and indie rock, some contemporary bands and many old ones. And there were some CD's with classical music as well. I took a look at the CD's that were already sitting on the shelves and understood at once that Edward arranged his music alphabetically by performer's names. So I figured I might help him unpack a little.

The third CD I looked at had a small piece of paper under the lid, which read "To Edward – from Tanya". I paused, wondering about the meaning of that message but tried not to think too much into it. After five more, there was another one with a message, "For my Valentine — Love, Tanya". When I found several more messages from this ominous Tanya, I couldn't keep part of my mind from worrying about that connection. Still, I went on unpacking the box I had started with until it was empty.

Then, I took a look at Edward's books. He had a lot of the classics but some modern stuff as well. When I took a wonderful copy of Romeo and Juliet from the rack and opened it, there was an inscription, saying "To my Romeo, from your Juliet. Love, Tanya". It struck me as odd that Edward would have so many items with a certain woman's name on them, but afraid of being perceived as nosy, I decided to just start unpacking another box.

When I was almost done with the third box, I heard footsteps coming from the bedroom and entering the living room. I turned around to see Edward, wearing the pajama bottoms matching my top, his chest bare, his hair more disheveled than usual, a plain white t-shirt in his hands.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said after kissing my lips for a short moment. He looked around then shook his head. "You have to know, that I didn't bring you here to unpack my stuff."

"Believe me, I know exactly what you brought me here for. How could I forget about that?" I said, biting my lip, as I ran my index finger down the middle of his bare chest, stopping at his belly button. Then I turned around to face the chaos. "But this place really looks like you're rather packing to go back to Chicago. So I figured, I might just help you a little. You aren't, are you? Going back, I mean." I tried not to sound too eager, but the thought of Edward leaving Seattle stung.

"No, I'm not. I just don't like moving, so I have been postponing unpacking a lot." He laughed humorlessly before his expression became unreadable when he added, "My family wouldn't let me come back, anyway."

What was that supposed to mean? He had told me he was close to his family. Why would they want him to live as far away as Seattle? Edward didn't seem inclined to say anything more about it, so I decided not to press the subject.

"Are you hungry? I'll make you breakfast," he offered. Apparently, his mood was back to normal.

My stomach growled before I could answer.

"Okay. What do you like? I suggest eggs and bacon?" He smiled his beautiful lopsided smile, while his green eyes sparkled at me.

"That would be perfect. Can I do anything to help?"

"No. Just keep me company, and I'll be fine," he said, as he headed toward the kitchen, pulling his t-t-shirt over his head.

There was a kitchen island, separating the kitchen from the living/dining room with a breakfast bar attached to it. I sat down on one of the bar stools and realized, for the first time, that I wasn't wearing any underwear. I tried to ignore that fact as I watched Edward whirling around the kitchen cooking breakfast. He appeared to be quite a skilled cook. I always found that sexy in a man.

Ten minutes later, breakfast was ready, and after placing a plate with deliciously smelling eggs and bacon in front of me, he sat down beside me.

"Hmm, this is great. Where did you learn to cook like this?" I asked him very unladylike with my mouth full of food.

"My mother thinks men should know their way around the kitchen as well as women should, so she started to teach me when I was five."

I tried to imagine a mini version of Edward, helping his mom preparing dinner and had to smile at the picture. We chewed in comfortable silence, until we both had cleared our plates.

"So, did you find anything interesting between my CD's or books? Anything embarrassing?" he asked as he rinsed the plates in the sink before putting them in the dishwasher.

When he turned around to face me again, I decided I couldn't ignore what I had found in his stuff.

"Edward, uhm, there's something I need to know. Who's Tanya? Don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous or anything — " Of course I was, but I didn't want him to be aware of it. " — but I don't want to be the other woman. That's something I just don't do."

I wasn't looking at him while I asked the question I didn't want to ask. When there was no answer, I looked up, searching his face, and what I saw made me feel like I had kicked him in the gut. His lips were pressed together in an angry line while his eyes were squeezed shut in what seemed to be pain. Quickly, I walked a few steps forward but halted before I reached him, unsure of what to do.

"Edward, I'm sorry, I didn't want to — "

"It's okay," he cut me off. "I think you have a right to know. You're not the other woman. I don't cheat." He led me to the couch and motioned for me to sit down as he took a seat beside me.

"Tanya was my girlfriend. We'd been together for five years before I found her in our apartment in our bed with a friend of mine on top of her, right after I had picked out her engagement ring." He took a few breaths before he continued. "I wanted to marry her, while she had nothing better to do than fuck my friend. After we broke up, I found out that it had not been the first time, neither had it been the first guy. All that time, she'd been fucking around behind my back and I was too stupid to notice."

I wanted to say something, to tell him how sorry I was, when his intense gaze kept me from opening my mouth.

"I was in a really bad place after the break-up. I threw her out, right after she got dressed, and never saw her again. But I was hurting badly. I tried to numb the pain and embarrassment by drinking and partying a lot and sleeping around with lots of random women whose names I didn't even know, most of the time. Never the same woman twice; never did we exchange anything personal. My family was very worried about me and my lifestyle. So, when the job offer from Seattle came, they convinced me that it would be best if I left Chicago and started over somewhere else, some place that doesn't hold painful memories, where I might be able to move on and give up my unhealthy behavior. And that's how I ended up here."

After a moment of silence, I laid my hand on his. "I'm really sorry. It's hard to discover that someone is a completely different person than you thought. And that after five years." I paused for a second, letting what I'd just said sink in. "Wow, five years. That's a very long time."

"Is it? How long was your longest relationship?" he asked, honestly interested.

"Uhm," I cleared my throat. I didn't like to speak about my track record. "Six months." I was kind of embarrassed.

"Six months? Are all guys in Seattle idiots?" His eyes were wide with astonishment.

"Most of them are, but it's me. I'm not good with relationships. I'm not good with commitment. That's why I don't do it anymore." I hoped that he was getting the hint. "But I don't like to talk about it."

"Well, another time then." He sounded confident that I would eventually tell him about my history. "So, how do you like my place?" he asked, obviously changing the subject.

"It's really beautiful. I like the color scheme and the furniture. I love the kitchen. But what about the other room? It doesn't even seem to be painted, yet."

"It isn't. I didn't get to that yet. It's going to be an office/guest room. There's a lot to do before it can serve as that, I know. But I'm not good with paint, and I definitely need help with that."

"Painting is not that hard. I painted my whole apartment myself." I was aware that my words were kind of an invitation to ask for my help. But somehow my mind seemed to be on autopilot right then, trying to find a way to prolong the time I had with him.

"You did? You wouldn't happen to be free today? All the necessary equipment is already here." His eyes were bright with anticipation.

"Well, since I'm not going to get home unless you drive me, and you don't seem inclined to do so, I'm stuck here. I may as well paint your guest room to pay for the fare home. It's just that I think I would present an interesting sight painting a room wearing leather skirt and heels." I smiled at him suggestively.

"It would be a very sexy sight, and I most certainly wouldn't mind. Or you could keep wearing my pajama top. It looks great on you. But I would be willing to give you one of my old shirts, some sweatpants and socks and we're good to go." With these words he pulled me after him to his bedroom, laughing complacently.

********POMH********

A/N: So, how did you like Edward's story? Did you suspect it? Tanya's a bitch. She really did a number on him. And what about next week? There's going to be some painting and a little bit of bonding.

… "I guess you discovered one of my darkest secrets. I'm afraid I'll have to kill you to keep you from telling on me." A playful glare accompanied his mock threat. …

There will be more of this last week. Until then, you know how much I love reviews. Bye