CHAPTER EIGHT

Edward never brought up my crazy sex attempt from Halloween night. The next morning when we both woke up fully; Edward just kissed me on the head before retreating to the shower. Part of me was really proud of him for not just jumping on the bandwagon so to speak but another part, a much a bigger part was disappointed that he didn't allow me to jump on his bandwagon. I wouldn't have been upset with him if we had sex that early morning. How was I to tell him that I was ready to introduce the physical aspect back into our relationship?

It had taken me so long the first time around to get him to agree to progress our sexual deviancy. Now my loins had to settle for opaque images as he washed himself in our shower. In a sad stalkerish way the past couple of days I had started to peep in on him while he was in there. I would pretend to go through my morning routine but my eyes would be focused on his figure as he slowly rubbed the wash cloth up and down his rock hard body.

I had to squeeze my legs together to try to find relief. That's it! I would seduce Edward before nightfall. One way or another I was ending my day with an orgasm. Our meeting with WMG was this morning. I figured if the news was good I could talk Edward into a celebratory bang. If the news was bad; maybe he would agree to pity sex. God this is what my life resorted to; pity sex.

"What's wrong, honey? You seem…flushed." Edward pulled me from my plotting. Now he was standing before me naked with a itty bitty towel wrapped around his waist, droplets of water cascading down his chest.

I shook my head. "I…I…just feel funny."

Edward came over to me and put his hand on my forehead, "Do you feel dizzy, nauseous, sick?"

I shook my head and he pulled me to him and embraced me. "You're kind of worrying me, baby."

How did I tell this man that the only medicine he could provide me came from his lower regions?

"I'll be okay." I answered softly.

"Maybe you're just nervous about this morning's meeting. It will be fine, honey." He guessed.

"Yeah, it must be the meeting." I sadly agreed.

Okay so I had a temporarily lapse. I could only fix this by diving into my work which seemed to be piling up around me. This morning I would find out my fate with WMG and then I had to dive right into the Liberty Project video. I wanted it to be done by Thanksgiving.

No matter what I may have wanted this morning the moment we parked the car and walked up to the WMG building doors, my head was back in the game. As usual we were shown to the swanky conference room and Sam was already inside waiting.

We greeted him and as we were finishing that, the three amigos walked in. We all said our greetings and got straight down to business.

Stefan began with their decision. "We have listened to your multiple albums and we thank you for performing at our Halloween bash on such short notice. WMG would be happy to represent you as an artist. We were impressed with what we heard and have seen. Of course we love the first album and feel that it is quite marketable. I will be honest and say that right now we are split on your second album. It is not due to the content but rather our ability to be able to represent the type of artist you are. You have to understand that this is the reason we are a tad bit wary of accepting your proposal. It is already a gamble to invest in your first album when you have not fully proven your value to the music industry. If we were to invest in both albums and only one did well even with you not taking the standard compensation we would only hope to break a little higher than even."

This was not sounding good. Don't think anything on it, Bella. We can always go to another record company; there are many more options for you. When one door closes another is sure to open.

"However, we are required to take into account that not only were you able to write and perform this music but you have worked with other WMG artists to help further their careers. We see that you are an investment. You are not even under contract with us and already you have helped WMG a great deal. You have proven yourself with the success of your past music video projects and we are aware with your involvement with your upcoming Liberty Project video. Therefore we at WMG would be happy to accept the terms you have requested and hope that this may be the beginning to a long successful road for both of us."

I looked over to Edward and we smiled at one another.

"Thank you gentlemen. I promise to work hard and prove to you that your faith in me is valid. So…where do we begin?" I laughed.

After that it was mostly our lawyer's job to go over the contract and specifics. Of course WMG wanted me to agree to do the standard press events and promotions which was no problem.

So let me just recap for a moment. I had landed the deal. I was a signed artist at WMG. All I could think about was my celebratory bang that Edward had no clue about. This is when I realized something needed to be done. I was a woman who was thinking with her dick…I mean vag. It seemed pretty clear to me that I would not be able to put my focus into anything and be productive until we did the deed.

"I am so proud of you, baby. You not only showed great professionalism but you have by far exceeded everyone's expectations." Edward praised. We had just walked into his office and I ever so slickly shut the door behind us. I stood there with a soft smile on my face.

"What is it?" he asked.

Instead of replying, I turned and walked over to his side small bedroom. Once inside I swiftly shed my clothes and laid myself on the bed in just my black bra and panties. I was sure to wear the sexy set today.

Edward walked in and looked confused. "Honey…uh…what?"

I reached out for his hand and he slowly walked toward me and took my hand. I pulled him the rest of the way until he sat down beside me. I crawled up on my knees and started to kiss him fiercely. Come on man, he had to have taken the hint by now but I could feel Edward's lips and they seemed awkward and unconvinced.

Okay on to plan b. I started to straddle his lap and rub myself on him.

"Wait, honey. Wait." Edward pulled back.

"What do you mean, wait?" I asked stupefied.

"It's just…I'm having a hard time understanding why you want to do this now."

"I don't know. Is there supposed to be a reason? We are together. We are in love…I think. What more of a reason do you need?"

"Bella, we haven't made love in over a month." He said.

"Well, now I want to make love. Don't you?" I mean come on.

"Not here. Not now." He admitted.

"What's wrong with here? We've had sex here before. Do you want to go back out into your office and take me on the desk again?" I asked puzzled.

"No. I mean…I want to make love to you. God, baby sometimes it's all I can think about but not here. I want it to be special."

"Why does it need to be special? I am no longer a virgin. Hell, I wouldn't care if it was in Winnebago at the back of a McDonald's parking lot. You don't need to wine and dine me; I promise you I am like super easy, I've never been easier in my life." I said desperately.

"Bella, the last couple of weeks have made me reflect back on our relationship together. Now I will admit that there is a time and place for careless sex but it has been so long for us and I want to take my time and really cherish you. I don't want this to be some kind of quickie."

I slid off of his lap and stood up and walked back over to my clothes. Yep, this was going to be exactly like the first time we made love; weeks of begging, followed by drastic measures ending with a small window of opportunity where Edward's defenses were finally torn down.

All over again I felt a tad bit rejected. I know that any girl in my place probably would have cooed at Edward's declaration but I somehow I felt rejected all over again.

Edward came up behind me as I finished sliding my pants back on. He kissed my shoulder. "Baby, please don't be upset with me."

I didn't want to face him at the moment. I was already pathetic enough; I didn't want him to see my watery eyes. "It's fine. I have to get back to work anyway." I replied short.

I pulled back on my shirt and slipped into my shoes.

"Bella." Edward called after me but I was already out the door.

There was no way I was going to work at the production office with my desk right opposite from Edward's office. I grabbed my purse and practically ran to my car. I could work just as well from home. Of course my pitiful tears slid down my face the whole drive home. I wasn't outright bawling, so that had to be an improvement.

Jacob was right in my path when I arrived home.

"So how did it go?" he asked not realizing that I was momentarily upset.

"Great. I'm signed." I replied pushing past him.

"Congratulations." He beamed. "Bells, what's wrong? You don't seem as happy as one would be after being signed by a major record label."

I turned to address him quickly. "I just want to be left alone at moment."

I kept walking toward the patio door. I was planning on setting up shop at the guest house. Ever since I read the Tria Fata book, I realized how much I really liked the guest house. I decided to turn it into my new office. Of course Jacob never took an outright directive and continued to follow me.

"What happened?" he badgered.

"I don't want to talk about it, especially with you. The last thing I need is your sarcasm."

"Bells, that's what we do. You and I are all about the sarcasm." He pestered.

I stopped and flipped back to him, "Please, just let this go."

"Have you been crying?" he looked me over.

I turned back around and walked into the pool house.

"Bells, you can talk to me about anything. I'm your friend, aren't I?" he pushed.

"Look, if you don't quit pestering me, I might have a girl moment and I will be completely not responsible for my actions or words. Please Jacob, just drop it." I snapped.

Jacob stood there staring at me, silent. He never was one to pass up a chance to joke. He walked over to me and like he was fearful that he was about to get electrocuted he pulled me into a hug slowly and uneasily and started to rub my back with his palm.

I stood there for a moment irritated that someone was touching me but then I could no longer hold it in.

"Edward doesn't want to have sex with me." I wailed.

I could feel Jacob pause his below average back rub. "Uh…well….there, there." He replied.

It was almost comical; I could just picture Jacob cringing with the WTF face.

"Well…I am sure that it's not…you. I mean, it's just that Edward would be bat shit crazy to not want to…uh." Jacob was fumbling all over his words.

I finally pulled back from him and dried my tears with my hand. "Thanks. I just need to focus on something else. I'll be fine."

I walked over the table and started to pull out of my bag all the paperwork I had been working on for the video. "Jacob, would you mind going and getting my laptop?"

"Sure. No prob." Jacob took off probably relieved that he didn't have to face the sex talk.

I went around and pulled up all the shades. Now I would have a perfect view of the outside backyard. Edward had said that he wanted people to come out in January and start on turning the backyard into an oasis that I wanted.

Jacob arrived a little later with my laptop and snacks in tow. I had my phone all charged up. I needed to contact a casting agent and set up a time when I could go through and test girls out for the lead. The boys decided that they wanted a girl…like Jacqueline Wayne. Well Kyle wanted a girl like Jacqueline Wayne so I guess it was easy enough for me to tell the casting agency what I was looking for.

Next I wanted to complete my treatment. I had started on it last week but I needed to finish and then create a shot list. I had to make a few calls to start building a crew and even though I told Jacob I needed peace and quiet meaning I wanted him to leave; he sat there on the couch reading through a script.

Jacob's phone eventually rang and he excused himself to take the call outside. After that I didn't see him for the rest of the afternoon. By four o'clock I felt pretty good about the position I was in and I believed that I could actually get this video filmed by Thanksgiving.

A knock on the door broke me out of my shot list. I looked up to see Edward standing by the screen door to the house. I sighed and looked back down at my work. Edward walked in and pulled out a chair at the table and took a seat near me.

"Bella, would you just talk to me?" Edward asked softly.

I put my pen down and looked up to him. "What would you like to talk about?"

"I know you're upset with me. Please understand that it's not because I don't want to, I just want it to be special."

"Fine." I picked up my pen and started to write again.

Edward sighed. "I was thinking I could take you out for dinner."

"You don't need to, Edward. It's fine. I was in the moment and now I'm over it."

"Would you allow me the honor of taking you to dinner? I want to celebrate with you."

I exhaled, "Fine. When do you want to leave?"

"How about right now?" he said.

I stopped what I was writing and looked up to him, "Right now?" I questioned. He nodded.

"Well, I'll go get dressed." I said standing slowly.

"It won't be necessary. Just come with me." He put out his hand and with utter confusion I picked up my phone and placed my hand in his. Edward turned to start walking. I grabbed my purse on the way. It was like four pm; kind of early for dinner.

Edward didn't stop until we reached the car. He opened my door and I got in.

"So where are we going?" I asked completely curious.

"It's a surprise." Was all he would say.

"O-kay." I responded slowly.

He was driving and the whole time it was killing me to find out. It seemed weird that he wouldn't want me to dress up a little.

"Uh…Edward. Where are we going?" I asked again only this time when I asked we were driving right for the Burbank airport.

"It's a surprise."

UGH!

He finally pulled up to the plane and the pilot was already there to greet us. Edward went to the trunk and pulled out a suitcase.

"Wait a minute, Edward." I looked down at his medium-sized suitcase. "I can't just take off. I have a lot of responsibilities to think about right now. I have a video to prepare for and I should be here for the album's final preparations. And I think that…" Edward cut me off by pulling me into a deep kiss.

"Just get on the damn plane." He said huskily.

I pulled back to look at him. What just happened?

"Go!" He dominantly shooed me toward the plane.

I turned to walk toward the plane steps still a tad bit puzzled by his attitude.

"Keep walking." Edward taunted from behind me.

I took a seat on the plane and tried to crane my ears to catch wind of what Edward and the pilot were talking about. Edward looked back to me and smiled. I narrowed my eyes in response. He walked over to me. "Why the scowl?"

"You won't tell me where we are going." I stated.

"Don't you want to be surprised?" he asked.

"No. I want to know. I hate surprises." I answered.

"Baby, you're just going to have to get used to it." He took his seat beside me and buckled up.

"Just tell me this. Will I be hungry when we arrive or famished?"

"What was the last meal you ate?" He asked.

"Breakfast. The oatmeal and banana from this morning." Edward gave me a look. Ever since I ended up in the hospital for malnourishment he had been irritated when he learned I didn't eat a full days meals.

"What? I had some snacks with Jacob earlier." I reasoned.

"Bella, we talked about this." Edward got up from his seat and went over to the refrigerator and took out some cheese and crackers.

"You'll be famished." He stated handing me the food.

I pulled open the crackers and started to spread some cheese. "Will it be past say Gracie's bedtime when we arrive or more past my bedtime?"

Edward smirked at my question. "Past Gracie's bedtime but not past your bedtime. I'm going by local time."

"Gracie's bedtime on the weekend or during school?"

"School." He answered.

So sometime after eight pm but before eleven which was when I usually go to sleep.

"Can I see what you packed?"

"No."

I pouted.

"Is…it…"

"Enough with the questions, Bella. The only other hint you may get is when we are flying overhead." Edward interrupted me.

"Well fine. But you're going to have to entertain me for the next…umpteen hours."

"Why don't we just talk." He suggested.

"Talk? Why would we want to do that?" I was joking but the look on Edward's face said he wasn't laughing. "Fine. Edward, what would you like to discuss." I asked super sweetly.

"Well, I was thinking the other day that maybe we should set time to really talk about what we are feeling. We've been back for almost three weeks and I feel the difference in our relationship. Good difference but I still feel like I may not know what you are really thinking or feeling. That was made obvious to me earlier today."

"What do you want me to say? I was horny earlier and I thought you'd be happy to start back up with our physical lifestyle, apparently I was wrong."

"Of course I want to have a…physical time with you but you were genuinely upset with me for not just banging you on that cheap bed. I wanted our first time back with each other to be nice and romantic and then you got upset with that. So it makes me think that there is something else happening in that mind of yours and I want to talk about that."

"The night of Halloween I was disappointed that you just didn't do it then. I mean I was kind of proud of you as well but I wouldn't have been upset if you would have just taken me that night. Am I supposed to come right out and say, Edward I want to have sex with you? Was that what you were waiting for? Edward, my god we're practically married; I wouldn't have thought you were taking advantage of me."

"We're not practically married. We're not even engaged." He stated.

"Well whose fault is that? I gave you the chance back at the Parcae. For me to trust you again all I needed to know was that you would choose me over Tria Fata. That I meant more to you then abiding by some laws placed down hundreds of years ago."

"Bella, I fucked up. I hate myself for what I did to you. I think about it every damn day and I hate myself. I…"Edward stopped himself. He was trying to control his emotions but I could see it, swimming around there in his eyes.

"Guilt's a bitch, isn't it?" I sighed.

"Edward, I know how upset you are with yourself. What happened was…unfortunate but you have grown from that experience. I know you have. And so have I. It was something that had to happen because I think you and I are stronger for it. I love you. I will always love you. I want to marry you and I want you to prove to me every single day that I made the right choice in saying yes to your proposal and I myself want to prove that I was good enough to be chosen by you."

"Bella, you have always been better than me." Edward put up the arm rest and leaned in closer to me.

"Can we just lay down in the back?" I asked.

He nodded and we both undid our seatbelts. We talked a little more once we were laying down on the bed but eventually I fell asleep. My tummy rumbling awoke me and Edward kissed my head before relaying to me that we would be landing in a half hour and should probably return to our seats. I got up and went to the bathroom first.

"Edward, please tell me that you are not going to be taking me any place fancy. I hardly look decent enough." I called out.

"Bella, if you are that self-conscious then I will pull out something for you to wear but it will just be you and me eating. No one you need to impress but me and you have already done that."

It will only be us eating? What time was it? Where was he ultimately taking me? Due to my nap I had no idea what time it was. This ladies and gentlemen is why we can't rely on phones to be our watches. I had to turn off my phone so I had no way of knowing just how long we were in the air for.

I came out of the bathroom and sat down back into my seat. "What time is it?" I asked nonchalantly.

Edward looked over to me and smiled.

"Really, you're not even going to tell me the time?"

"Why don't you look out the window, baby." He replied instead.

I looked out and huffed. "Edward, I can't see a thing. It's dark." I complained.

"What about those lights over there." Edward pointed.

"So you pretty much took me to the middle of nowhere but in the distance there is some form of civilization. The moon isn't even up to full brightness."

"Well, we will get closer and closer and then maybe you can make something out." He sat back in his chair with a proud little smile gracing his lips.

"You're having way too much fun with this, Mr. Cullen." I sat back in my chair and crossed my arms refusing to look out the window anymore.

The plane started it's decent and eventually we came down with a smooth landing. Our plane taxied for a little while and I started to rub my stomach. Finally they opened the door. Down the stairs a car was already waiting and along with who I presumed was the driver, standing beside him was a young girl dressed auspiciously. She was dressed in the traditional Hawaiian garb. I paused for a moment making Edward bump into me.

"You brought me to Hawaii?" I asked softly.

"They say it's one of the most romantic places in the world." He replied smoothly.

I smiled up at him. "You are just…too much sometimes." I continued on down the steps and the girl stepped forward and placed a lei around my neck. Well at least I got laid.

Once Edward and I were in the car I pulled him in for a deep kiss. I couldn't believe that I was in Hawaii.

"Happy?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Ecstatic." I replied. "Do you think we could pick up drive thru? I'm famished."

"We are almost to our destination and I promise dinner will be ready."

I sat back in my seat and intertwined my fingers with his. My stomach started growling and Edward gave me a disapproving look. I had a feeling when we got back to California, he might be a pain about my eating habits for a while. Finally we arrived at our destination. I got out of the car which was parked near a hotel but on the on our side of the street there was a boat dock. Edward took my hand and walked me down to a yacht already set up as promised with dinner waiting.

We climbed aboard and our driver handed Edward the suitcase before departing. There was a man to greet us who I assumed would be serving the dinner. We both took our seats on deck at a small two person table. Little fairy lights surrounded the deck.

"Oh wow, Edward this is so beautiful. It reminds me of our first date."

"What felt like the first day of my life." Edward commented.

The waiter placed two salads down in front of us and embarrassingly enough I tore into it. It was a good thing we weren't at some fancy restaurant or I might be an unsettling dinner companion. Edward just laughed to himself. The wine was poured and all I could think about was the main course. Finally it was placed next; a pineapple encrusted chicken and lobster.

"I didn't know what you would like. So I asked for them to make an array of food. There are also shrimp skewers and filet's if you prefer." Edward informed.

"I know this may make me sound completely undesirable but I'm so hungry, I'll probably eat it all." I admitted.

Edward laughed and we continued our dinner. I never made it to the shrimp skewers or the filet. I was so full that I felt a food coma coming on any moment. I sat there staring down at my plate, trying to will myself to eat one final bite.

"Are you going to finish it?" Edward taunted.

"Give me a moment." I groaned.

"Bella, you're done." He gestured for the gentlemen to come over and take our dishes away. "Come on."

He rose up out of his chair and extended a hand to me. We went and walked toward the front of the ship. Everything was so peaceful as we gazed out on the flawless water.

"Bella, I know that you have had your heart on making love. I could feel the attempts made recently and part of me of course was waiting until you felt comfortable to be able to explore that aspect of relationship again but another part of me didn't want to make love to you until we were engaged again. It is not my intention to withhold sex until you agree to marry me..."

"Edward, I already told you that I would marry you." I interrupted.

"I know but I needed this time to really come to terms with what I did to you and assure myself that it would never happen again. Part of me has been scared about the loss in control I experienced that day. I…what if I lost control again. I feel like there is this monster inside me and at any moment he could take over. I don't want put you in danger of that."

I took his face in my hand, "Edward, I know you won't ever lose control again. I have faith in you. If I didn't I wouldn't have told you that I would accept the ring back."

"I want to make love to you. I want make love to my fiancé and I want to make love to my wife. I made a promise to always love you and protect you when I first proposed to you. I broke that promise because I couldn't protect you from me. I have no right to ask you this because I have proven that promises I have made I was unable to keep. There will never be a day when I don't think you are the most beautiful person in the world. There will never be a time when I don't love you unconditionally. You are my mate, my heart and my soul. I will strive every single day to be a man who will cherish you and love you the way you deserve."

Edward dropped to one knee, "Please Bella, I ask for the honor of walking side by side with you for all of eternity."

The video he made. All of our guests many of whom I loved surrounded us the first time. But this moment was never more perfect. Just the two of us.

"Yes. I would be honored." Edward slipped the ring back onto my finger where it has remained in its rightful place ever since.

AN: I hate to say this but I have been pretty horrible about keeping up with writing so unless I have a stellar inspiration week I think I might have to lower postings to twice a week. I have been under a lot of stress lately and since this story is the biggest writing endeavor I have ever done I want to make sure it's done well. I have been rereading Part One and even though I cant help but catch a lot of grammar mistakes I feel like my writing has been forced lately. I already know where this story is going but I want to make sure i arrive at the destination in strong fashion. Thank you all for reading and reviewing it especially makes me happy when I see new readers adding on and reviewing.