A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and/or reviewing. It warms my little heart. Also a huge thanks to my beta, Heather, who makes sure I add commas and gives me wonderful advice.

The next month passed by without much incidence although I never did figure out who had slashed my tire. Jessica left me alone for the most part, and there hadn't been any more drive-by sightings of Tanya.

According to Alice, Tanya had gotten back together with James, who I was pretty sure was the same James Dad had mentioned, but she told me she had a bad feeling about it. When I asked her why, she told me she couldn't explain it, but she felt something bad was going to happen to either me or Edward, and that had left me a bit on edge.

"Just ignore her," Edward told me later that night as we talked. "Alice gets these so called feelings or claims she's psychic, but it usually amounts to nothing. Don't let her get you all worked up."

"I won't. I promise. So, are we on for tomorrow afternoon?" I asked him.

"Of course. I haven't seen you in three days, and I miss you and your beautiful face."

"Oh, so you just want me for my beautiful face?" I teased. "What about my spectacular body? Or my sparkling personality?"

He barked out a laugh. "I love all of you," he said, and my heart about stopped at his words.

We'd only been dating for two months, and that was far too fast to be uttering the L word, right? I was in definite like with Edward, but I wasn't ready to say I loved him.

"So, what are we doing tomorrow?" I asked because Edward had been incredibly hush-hush regarding our plans.

"You'll see," he said secretly, and I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me. "And don't even try to get it out of Alice because she doesn't know either, and you know I didn't say a word to Emmett."

Emmett couldn't keep a secret to save his life, and while Alice was pretty good at keeping them, I knew if I begged and pleaded enough, she'd give in.

"Fine, but can you at least tell me if I need to dress up or keep it casual."

"Definitely casual," he told me, and I tried to figure out what he was planning.

I'd learned over the past month that Edward was quite the romantic. He was always finding new ways to surprise me, and I loved it.

Just last week, he'd sent me a postcard, something that we hadn't done since I'd moved to Forks. It had been incredibly sweet in more ways than one. The postcard had cupcakes on the front, and on the back Edward had written life is short, eat dessert first. A small box with a cupcake had shown up at my doorstep not much later, and I'd practically swooned.

The next afternoon, I changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a dark blue sweater, and boots, and grabbed my coat as Edward pulled into the drive.

Being the gentleman that he was, Edward got out and opened my door, closing it once I was in the car.

"Where are we going?" I asked, and he just laughed and shook his head.

A little over an hour later, we were driving down his driveway, and I looked over at him.

"We've got the place to ourselves for a few hours. Emmett and Alice are out on dates, Dad's working late, and Mom is out with friends," he said.

"Stay here, okay?" he asked once we'd entered the house.

I nodded and watched as he disappeared into the kitchen. A minute or two later, he came back out, took my hands in his, and told me to close my eyes. I did as he asked. and he slowly led me forward.

"Okay. Open your eyes," he whispered in my ear, and I let out a gasp when I did.

He'd brought me into the formal dining room where the table was set with candles, flowers, and two plates with lobster on them.

"Edward! This is amazing!" I said, throwing my arms around him and pressing my lips to his.

He beamed before pulling my chair out for me, and I thanked him as I took a seat.

Our dinner was delicious, and once we were done, Edward led me to the backyard patio where he started a fire in the gorgeous fire pit.

He pulled me down to sit beside him, and I curled into him, resting my head on his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around me.

We didn't feel the need to speak, and I reveled in the quiet that surrounded us. It was so rare for us to have any peace and quiet when we were at his house. Alice and Emmett tended to want to do things with us, which was fine, or his mom and dad would talk to us, so it was nice to just be alone for once.

A cold rush of wind rushed over us, and I shivered as I snuggled up closer to Edward. His grip on my shoulder tightened, and he pressed a warm kiss to the side of my head.

"Want to go in?" he asked, and I shook my head. I wasn't ready to let go of our little bubble.

"Okay. I just don't want you to freeze," he said, and I tilted my head up so he could drop a sweet kiss on my lips.

"I'm pretty sure your kisses will keep me warm," I told him, and he let out a small chuckle.

"Well, I do aim to please," he murmured, bringing his lips back to mine.

Our kiss started off slow and sweet before our passions got the best of us, and our kisses became hot, heavy, and almost frantic.

It was as if I couldn't get enough of him as I held him close, and I was pretty sure he felt the same way. One hand was on my lower back while the other cupped the back of my head, and his kisses had grown almost bruising.

I was loving every minute of it, but I knew we had to stop once I'd found myself straddling his lap as his hands traced up and down my back.

"We need to stop," I murmured against his lips.

"I know," he said, but we didn't. Our lips stayed fused together, and our hips were grinding gently against each other, and I was feeling all kinds of good.

However, the sound of a car pulling up had us parting, and I scrambled off his lap, smoothing my hair back and hoping my face wasn't bright red although I was sure it was.

I watched as Edward discreetly adjusted himself before wrapping his arm back around me and tugging me to him.

"That was a close one," he whispered, and I let out a nervous giggle.

"No kidding. We're so going to get busted one of these days," I told him, and he let out a laugh, nodding his head in agreement.

"Anyone home?" I heard Esme call, and Edward hollered that we were out back.

"How was your date?" she asked us as she took a seat on the bench across from us.

"Wonderful. Edward's a true gentleman," I told her.

"Yes, we did right by him," she said with a wink. "Sadly, we failed with Emmett."

I cracked up at that because she was so right. Poor Emmett tried to be gentlemanly, but he almost always messed it up. He tended to speak without thinking, but it didn't seem to matter to Rose. She loved him the way he was.

We hung out with Esme, and eventually, the rest of the Cullens showed up, and we all sat around the fire, talking. Before long, I was yawning, and since tomorrow was a school day, I told Edward I needed to get home.

I waved goodbye to all of them before walking out to Edward's Volvo, and we began the hour drive back to Forks.

"Thank you for a wonderful date," I told him, placing a gentle kiss on his lips once he'd parked his car in my driveway.

"Of course, sweet girl."

He walked me up to the door where he gave me a kiss goodnight, and I went inside and found Dad passed out on the couch with some sports show on the TV.

I woke Dad up, told him I was home, and made my way up to my room where I quickly fell asleep.

"Hey, sugar," a voice said from behind me as I was shopping for groceries the following week.

I turned around and saw a greasy looking guy with a blond ponytail, leering at me, and I turned back around and did my best to ignore him.

"Well now, that's not nice," he said, and I let out a bothersome sigh.

"Hi," I responded. "Am I allowed to go back to my shopping now?"

I knew I was being rude, but I honestly didn't care. The guy creeped me out and had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

Snatching a bag of chips off the shelf and tossing it into my cart, I hurried down the aisle and moved on to the next.

However, every time I turned around, he was there, staring at me, and I was really beginning to become paranoid.

Pretending to check my phone, I snapped a picture of the guy and then texted my dad. I told him that the guy was following me around the grocery store, and I was bit freaked out.

Almost immediately, my phone rang, and I fumbled to answer it.

"His name is James Victoria," Dad said and I vaguely remembered Dad mentioning that the guy was bad news.

"Is he dangerous?" I asked.

"He's mainly done time for petty crimes, but that doesn't mean that he's not a menace. If you really start to feel threatened, I can come get you or send a deputy out there."

"No, I think I'll be fine. I still have that pepper spray you gave me, so if messes with me, I can always mace him."

"Just be safe. I mean it, Bells. If he tries to follow you home, you come straight to the station, okay?"

"Okay," I told him before hanging up.

I finished my shopping, not really paying much attention to what I was grabbing because I was too busy keeping an out for James.

As soon as I had what I needed, I made my way to the checkout and then rushed out to the parking lot. With one hand steering my cart, I dug the pepper spray out of my purse and gripped it tightly in my other hand.

I looked around the parking lot and didn't see James, but I did spot a familiar looking red car near a lamppost, and Tanya was behind the wheel.

I shoved my groceries into the back of the jeep and put the cart away, and as I climbed behind the wheel, I saw James get into the car with Tanya.

I pulled out my phone and took a picture of it to show my dad because I suddenly found it very suspicious that Tanya would show up in Forks with James who had approached me in the grocery store. Something was definitely up, and I didn't think I sounded paranoid at all.

Is Tanya still with that James guy? I texted Edward as soon as I was home.

No idea. Why?

I explained to him that a guy named James Victoria had approached me and then climbed into Tanya's car at the IGA.

I don't like this, he texted back, and I completely agreed with him.

When Dad got home later that night, I showed him the pictures even though I knew he couldn't legally do anything about it at this point in time, but I wanted to keep him informed nonetheless. It wasn't like Tanya and James were doing anything illegal, but it was suspicious given everything else.

Dad told me to keep an eye out and to document every time I saw them as a precaution. I told him I would, and I hated that I'd somehow managed to bring so much drama into our lives.

"It's not your fault, kiddo. You know that, I know that, and Edward knows that. The poor kid just had the misfortune of being born good looking. It's a burden that some of us men just have to bear," he told me with a grin, and I burst out laughing. Sometimes, my dad was so weird.

The next day as I drove to school, I passed a dark pickup that was traveling slowly but didn't think anything of it until I spotted it parked outside the school on my lunch break.

"What's wrong?" Angela asked.

"I'm not sure," I told her. "There's a truck parked in the lot that I've never seen before, and I passed it this morning on the way to school. It's probably nothing."

"Well, we'll keep an eye on it," she said, and Ben and Eric nodded their heads in agreement.

"Thanks, guys."

I kept an eye out for the dark truck on my way home, and even though I didn't see it again, I still mentioned it to Dad later that night.

"Did you get a license plate number?" he asked, and I shook my head.

"No. I didn't even think about that because I wasn't too concerned about it at first until I saw it sitting in the lot at school."

"If you see it again, get a plate number, and I'll run it," he promised, and I nodded.

I really hoped that it was just a coincidence and that I'd never see the truck again, but I had a feeling that was unlikely.

Thankfully, by the end of the week, I hadn't seen the truck again nor had I seen Tanya and her red car. I was really hoping things would go back to normal.

However, on Friday evening, Edward called me to tell me that Tanya had stopped by his house after school and had wanted to talk. He'd shut the door in her face after she refused to listen to him when he'd told her to leave.

"Bet she was pissed about that," I said, and he let out a bitter laugh.

"You could say that. She keyed my car," he said, and my mouth dropped open.

"Are you freaking kidding me? What a bitch! Are you going to press charges? I'm sure you could get her for destruction of personal property."

"Dad called the police after she left, and a cop came out to look at the car. He was going to talk to her, so we'll see what happens."

I couldn't believe that she would be so stupid as to key his car, and I hoped she got some sort of punishment for her actions.

a/n: Yes, the drama continues. I can't help it. I love the drama. As always, let me know what you thought.