Hard to believe that we're posting chapter 8 today. This is going fast. There will be 20 chapters in all, with chapter 20 being the epilogue, 13 years into the future in honor of Jessica and Greg who will be celebrating their 13th wedding anniversary the day it posts.

Thanks to the great group of ladies that keep us readable, you all rock our socks!

***EDITED FOR CONTENT AT FFN TO NOT VIOLATE THE TOS, UNEDITED CHAPTER IS POSTED AT TWCS AND FICPAD***

Chapter 8

I whistle as I walk around the library putting the books back on the shelves.

"Edward!" I stop my movement when I hear the viper's voice and turn around to face her.

"What?" I ask harshly.

"I've come to see if you've given any more thought to my offer?"

I roll my eyes at her and turn to walk away, but she grabs my arm pulling me to her.

"You would really enjoy your time with me, and I would make it worth your while. If you turn me down, then you and your family's life will get harder. Mark my words."

"What can you really do to us?" I ask and she smirks at me.

"I can take your family home." She pushes papers into my hand and walks away swinging her hips. My eyes go to the papers and feel myself pale, as I slide down to the floor. Fucking hell, we could lose our home.

The rest of the day goes by and I can't shake my bad mood. I force a smile, though, when I see Bella walking toward my car.

"What happened? Everyone is okay, right?"

I tilt my head at her and she keeps speaking.

"You seem hurt, angry, upset ..."

I chuckle a little about the fact that she picked up on it right away. "I just had a bad day, that's all."

Bella grins and looks at me. "What do you say we have a fun day then? Dad always took me on a fun day, when I had a bad day." Bella bounces a little as she looks at me. "We can even take Carmen out. The weather is nice enough."

I chuckle and nod.

"How about you drop me off and I will get changed, and you can go home and put on your gear, then pick me up?"

I do what she asks and drop her off, before heading home to get changed. When I arrive back at Bella's, she's at the front door talking with my mom.

"Hi, Mom," I say and she turns looking at me happily.

"You take good care of our girl," she says with a wink.

I walk her to her car and open her door for her. "I take it you enjoyed your day?" I ask my mom, seeing she looks happy.

"Oh yes, I loved it; the house is amazing and very clean, but I did give everywhere, barring her room, a good dusting and sweeping."

I nod and kiss her cheek. "I'll see you tonight."

Once the car can no longer be seen, I walk back into the house.

I look Bella up and down, and see she has skinny jeans and a leather jacket on. She looks like a hot biker chick.

"Ready?" I ask.

"Yep," she says closing the front door and locking it. "You know the motorcycle is special to me. It's named after my mother, her birth given first name, Carmen."

"It is?" I ask shocked that she never said this before.

"Yeah, it was my father's way of keeping a piece of her around, she loved riding with him."

We walk to the garage to get Carmen out. I smile at Bella as I stroke the gas tank. "You sure you want to ride with me, on her?"

"Yep," she says with a smile and a nod.

I grin and we walk the bike out of the garage. "Put the alarm on and we are free to go," I remind her.

"I hate this thing," Bella say as she hits the buttons, "the code is twenty-five, sixty-three, eight – fifteen."

I nod at her as I put on my helmet. Once Bella is sitting behind me with her helmet on, I kick start the motorcycle and we speed off. I can hear Bella chuckling as she pulls herself closer to me, making me grin for the first time today.

After riding around for over three hours, we come to a theme park.

"Coming?" I ask holding my hand out for Bella to take. She nods at me, smiling, and we walk in holding hands after I pay the gate admission.

We spend the next few hours going on the different rides. As soon as I found out this was her first time, I made sure we went on all the big ones. By the time we arrive back at Bella's home, it's in the early hours of the morning.

"Do want to stay the night?" Bella asks sounding a little shy. I look at her, and there again on her face is the loneliness I have seen from time to time.

"If you don't mind."

She smiles at me, looking happy, and I chuckle. I decide to stay and text my mom to let her know where I'm at. Bella heats us up the food my mom made and we sit at the table eating.

"How's school going?"

"It's okay, but I'll be glad when I am done with it," she sighs.

I chuckle, giving her a nod, but quickly frown a little as she chuckles, too, humorlessly. "I'm the oldest in my class. My dad didn't know about school, or rather when I should start, so I started a year late. It's a pain in my ass being one of the oldest there. Mike is the same age as me, but he got kept back a year. There are times when I feel years older than him. I think it's because I've had to grow up so fast this past year, even more so after my dad died."

"What made you date him?" This is a question that has confused me from when she first told me about him; he was such a douche.

"I was feeling lonely and unloved. My dad thought I was the nurse's helper. The staff that we had when I grew up was gone. Mike made me feel wanted. The, what I now know to be fake love, seemed to fill the gap in my heart when I was with him, and he was being sweet. I think he may have noticed that and played on it."

"He took advantage of you."

Bella shakes her head at me. "He used whatever means he could to get me in bed. I think that most teen males today are like that."

"Hmm, I still say he took advantage of you and that's not right."

Bella grins at me, shaking her head. "Are you telling me you never played on something to get a girl into bed? You've never told her you loved her or something?"

I look at her in shock, as I think over what she said, and I know with my high school girlfriends, I did pretty lousy stuff. "Maybe back in my high school days, but I didn't use a sick parent to get them into bed. Even when I was horny, I still knew the difference between trying with some charm and pushing someone too far."

"Let's talk about something else," Bella says with a sigh. She raises her brow and grins.

"Like what?" I ask, and smile back at her.

"Don't know; anything – can you just talk?"

"What is it about me speaking?" I push the hair that falls over her eye back behind her ear.

"You have a nice voice, it's very soothing."

I chuckle and shake my head a little. "Now, no one has ever said that to me before. I've been told I have a sexy voice by girls, when I have been talking dirty to them, but never a soothing voice."

"I've never heard you talk dirty, so soothing is what I'll have to stick with."

I chuckle a little more, nodding at her.

"Tell me about what it's like growing up in a big family."

I frown a little; my family isn't that big.

Bella chuckles, and rolls her eyes before looking me in the eye. "It was always just me and Dad in my family. You have a mom, dad, sister and a brother."

I smile and nod. "It was great. We knew growing up that our parents didn't have loads of money, but we weren't poor."

I stop talking and turn in my seat to face Bella. "We only went away for two weeks when we took vacations. We always got what we needed, but special gifts, big ticket things were kept for birthdays and Christmas. However, Alice, Emmett and I were lucky, too. If we had a game or something at school, one, if not both, of our parents were always there.

"They made time for us and made sure that at least four days out the week we sat and had family meals. We always talk about what is happening in our lives; we still do this as much as possible. We've had some fights – more so Emmett and I. He thought I needed to be toughened up, and that it was his job to teach me. But, we've had some good laughs, when we pranked or scared Alice. She's so easily scared and we tend to pick on her just because."

"What about Rose, when did she come into your family?"

"She became my friend at school." I stop and chuckle. "Truthfully, she and I were in the same classes and we did not get along. I said some mean things about her and she got back at me by picking on Alice. I freaked out and verbally laid into her, told her that she was an unlovable psycho."

Bella eyes widen as she looks at me in shock.

"Not the nicest thing to say to someone, but Rose was, and always will be, a tough bird. It took us a few years, but Rose and I became good friends. I see her as part of the family. She's as much my sister as Alice is.

Life has not always been easy and these past months have been some of the hardest, but I know deep down my family will always pull together."

"I wished I had siblings; it sounds like fun."

I move her hair out of her face and smile at her. "I...we can be your family, if you want?"

Bella frowns a little, but then smiles. "You mean, like an adopted little sister?"

I tilt my head, not really wanting to think of her as a sister because of the fact I get hard by just looking at her at times. "I'm sure that is how...yeah, something like that. C'mon, it's time for bed."

Bella walks me to a spare room handing me some pajama pants and a white t-shirt, both still in unopened packages. I watch her walk the few doors down to her room. Before she walks into her room, she turns back and waves and I close my door.

I'm restless all night; I find it hard to sleep. This house is big, empty and old. There are a lot of noises. Creaks and strange sounds that make you even more aware that you are alone. I now understand why Bella hates it here so much.

I wake after a restless night. After freshening up, I walk out seeing that it's only a little after six in the morning. I decide to just walk around the house to amuse myself. I want Bella to get some much needed sleep. It takes me almost an hour to walk around the five floors. I've only peeked in each of the rooms.

Most of the rooms were bedrooms, with attached baths. I swear, Bella could sleep in a different room every night and still not cover every bedroom in a month. Upstairs, there's a game room, a cinema, a library, two full-sized bathrooms, each with three stalls, and a laundry room on each of the upper floors.

On the main floor, there were even larger versions of each of those rooms. There are also two large offices and one executive office set-up on the main floor. I was shocked to see a full-sized gym, like you'd find in an upscale health club, as well as an Olympic-sized swimming pool. I found two dining rooms: one formal and one semi-formal, along with a formal banquet hall complete with stage and another eight bathrooms.

Then there's the formal living room, and a larger family-style room. The kitchen, I already knew, was enormous. It's no longer any wonder to me why Bella said my home was nice and small. I now understand she meant it as a compliment and not an insult. I'm now sorry that I didn't understand. I was such an ass to her.

"Morning," Bella says and I jump, turning around seeing her standing behind me smiling.

"I was just looking around your home; I hope you don't mind. It's very nice," I say quickly and Bella shakes her head.

"It's nice, but it's too big for just me."

I nod at her and try my best to not frown.

"Come on, I'll make you breakfast and show off what your mom's been teaching me."

I chuckle and nod again, letting her walk in front of me. I sit down and watch. Bella now seems comfortable making her way around her kitchen. It only takes her a short time to whip up some pancakes and warm syrup.

She places my plate down and watches as I take a bite. "Hmm, this is so good. Well done, little chef."

Bella's whole face lights up as I push her plate closer to her and point at it. "Dig in."

I look up a little, seeing that Bella has a huge smile on her face as she does a little victory dance in her seat. I grin and she starts to eat, humming. She's clearly enjoying what she made.

I help wash dishes once we are done with breakfast.

"All right, you, now it's time for some work," I say with a grin after putting the last plate away.

"Oh my God, is there a 'but' to everything in business?" Bella asks in a huff as she pushes the book away two hours later.

I chuckle, pulling it back. "It was not a but, it was a however."

"Same thing ..." she deadpans.

"Is not," I snark back in jest.

Bella narrows her eyes at me. "It is, too."

"Not," I say holding back my chuckle as Bella glares at me. I glare back at her and she kicks my leg with her foot and I catch it and start to tickle it.

"Shit! Stop," she begs.

I shake my head, pulling her by her leg so she's closer to me. I move my hand to her side and start to tickle her there. Soon, we are both on the floor.

"We...were supposed to...to be...working," Bella giggles and gasps out.

"All work and no play make Eddy a bad boy," I say in a high-pitched voice, which makes Bella giggle even harder.

Bella wiggles more and I lean more over her as she tries to tickle me back. I clasp both of her hands in one of mine, placing them above her head as I keep tickling her. I smile down at her and my eyes go to her mouth. I start to wonder what it'll be like to kiss her.

I'm suddenly no longer just thinking of kissing Bella, but actually taking action and actually kissing Bella. My lips are moving over her still ones. As I start to pull back, to tell her I am sorry, hers start to move in sync with my own. I roll on top of her and my hand starts to roam over her body. My lips let hers go as I move to kiss her neck. My hands go under her top and I stroke the soft warm flesh of her abdomen. I stop – kissing her neck as she sits up and I remove her top. My eyes meet hers and I smile as she grins at me, before pulling my head down and her lips attack mine.

I groan as she moans, pulling me back down on her. Soon, our hips start to move and grind together.

"Baby, we need to slow down," I gasp out, not really wanting to. I know that if I don't stop now, I'll be right here, for the rest of the day and night.

"This is slow," Bella moans, pulling at my hair.

I chuckle a little and pull back. My eyes take in Bella's flushed face and the sparkle in her eyes. I can only grin when I see that I marked her neck. I rub my thumb over the area and lightly kiss her lips.

"Come on, let's get back to work."

Bella frowns and gives me a pouty face.

I bite her pouty lip and look in her eyes. "Tell you what…how about I test you and for every question you get right you get a kiss?"

Bella tilts her head at me and grins. "Make it every question I get right is a minute at the end of the test that we make out for and you've got a deal."

I smirk and nod at her. "I think we should seal this deal with a kiss." I lean in and kiss her lips melting into her right away. I chuckle after five minutes and pull away from her.

"Let's get on with this." I jump up, pulling her to sit up and I hand her back her book, and she sighs, taking it.

"Can I have my top back, too?" Bella asks holding out her hand for it. I shake my head at her as my eyes move up and down her body. "I like you like this," I say with a wiggle of my eyebrows.

"If my top stays off, shouldn't you take yours off, too?"

"If you get ninety percent right, I will. Now get busy on this test, you have an hour."

Bella nods, picking up her books. After about ten minutes, I throw her top at her, not wanting her to get too cold. Besides, she's been leaning forward and it's giving me a great view of her tits in her little bra, and my body is reacting accordingly.

"Put it on, and I'll make us something to drink," I say, walking away as Bella giggles. She knows precisely what it is she's doing to me. The hour goes by rather quickly and I watch her as she works on the thirty question quiz.

It takes her just under an hour to go through the questions. I take the quiz from her and start to mark it. The whole time I can feel Bella's eyes on me, which only makes me want her even more. My body apparently really likes Bella very much.

I smile when Bella gets twenty-eight of the thirty questions correct. I frown as I look up at her.

"Bad?" Bella asks seeing my face, and I let out a sigh, but before I can say anything, Bella is speaking again. "I swear to you, I really tried, I'm such a failure. I'm going to ruin my dad's company. It's the only thing that matters to me now."

Bella drops her eyes from mine, clearly upset with herself. I move quickly to her. "Bella, you did great, little chef, excellent, in fact. You only got two wrong, and in some cases, you over answered the questions. I was just playing with you."

Bella keeps her head down and I push it up and see that she's grinning at me. "Gotcha!"

I frown at her. "That was mean."

"No, you making it seem like I failed after I worked my ass off was 'mean' what I did was payback."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

I grin shaking my head at her. We silently just look at each other, before suddenly attacking each others' lips.

I pick her up, heading upstairs with her. It only takes me seconds to get back to the room I spent the night in. I lay her on the bed, but I pull back to make sure she's okay. I am met with the sexiest look I have ever seen on a woman before.

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I've never been surer about anything," she tells me. The look of hunger in her eyes matches the one in the tone of her voice.

"I don't want you to doubt this, or me," I tell her.

"I can't doubt you, Edward," she replies.

After quite a while of enjoying each other our bodies come down from our high and I'm holding her close beside me. We just lie here staring at each other; no words are needed. The kisses seem to say it all for both of us.

After several hours of just kissing and lying here, we decide to get up. I watch her as she dresses, smiling the whole time. I get up and put my clothes on.

"I'll come see you after school tomorrow," she says softly, and I nod, kissing her again. I hate that I need to go, but she has school tomorrow and I'm due in the library early, too.

"I'll be there at three, like always."

I kiss her one last time, before walking out the bedroom door. I know if I don't leave, or if she walks me to the front door, I will more than likely stay or drag her home with me. I get to my car and look up, seeing Bella watching me from the window. I smile and wave before I get in my car.

A/N: Well now they have taken their relationship to a higher level, what do you suppose this will mean for either of them and their futures?