A/N: Hello and I hope everyone is well. I'm at the tail end of my two week absence on vacation and out of the country. I'm posting this from the airport since I'm playing catch up, (sorry, I still didn't get to respond to reviewers but I love and appreciate you and will try to catch you on the next one) and I thank you all for your patience and hope this chapter makes ya happy!

Bella

Edward paced as he scanned the page, stopping every now and again to mark the sheet he was working on. He'd done a fair amount of scribbling already, and Bella wondered if this was a good idea. Edward wasn't an editor by profession; he was a doctor. What in the heck was he doing to that page? She'd asked him to check for typical grammar issues, typos, punctuation but hadn't tasked him with anything further.

"Edward?"

When he looked up, his eyes met hers in a way that still lit her up from the inside out. "Yes?"

"Everything okay?"

"Yes."

"Well…" Bella trailed off. "Do you mind if I take a look?" She'd only gotten through 5 paragraphs. She wondered if giving him the red pen had been a good idea. Not to mention that his presence there in the small room with her was distracting enough — the broad shoulders, the unruly hair, the playful way he would wink at her. How did she expect to focus?

"If you wish. But, I think I've got this." He held tight to his half of the manuscript.

"Uh…" She didn't know how to broach this subject. She scratched behind her ear with the pen.

"I'll prove it to you," he said, looking back down at the page. He cleared his throat. "Take this sentence: Kat held up her hand—insert comma—" he pointed with his pen, "holding it dangerously close to the inky hairs of his chest…I crossed out 'dangerously' because what's so dangerous about that? It's not like his chest is a weapon." He continued, "She waited to see— I crossed out the words 'to see' and used the mark to replace 'for him to' —there's already three he's in the sentence and the next few sentences begin with 'she.'…" Edward continued, "If he would make the next move, if he could sense the red-hot —omit hyphen—heat there sizzling between them. She didn't want to admit it—semicolon, not comma— this man was so hot. I wrote ww next to the word 'hot' because, come on. And this is just cursory editing; I haven't touched on the dialogue tags, the overusage of certain words, or the passive voice."

Bella's brows shot up. "How do you know so much about editing?"

"I've done a fair amount of writing. I wrote my college thesis…and am looking to publish some articles."

This piqued her interest, and now Bella realized she had underestimated his knowledge. "What was your thesis on?"

"Sex and the brain."

Her face and neck flushed. "You don't say." She held out her hand. "Can I see the manuscript, please?"

As she suspected, red marks dotted the sheet before her —publishing marks, lines across words, and even little word suggestions filled in. Was there anything he couldn't do?

"Very impressive," she said. The content, though, had not gotten any racier, and she wondered—no hoped—he didn't make it to the part where the main characters started undressing each other.

"Lots of adverbs as well," he said, pointing. "But, I'm not done."

She handed it back to him. "Thank you."

He nodded. "You're very welcome."

Edward looked at her for a moment. "What?" Bella asked.

"No, it's just that…is this your preferred reading?"

"What? No. No." She preferred the classics, but this job paid the bills.

"I see." His gaze drifted to the page she was working on, but she tucked it against her chest, not having made as much progress.

"What?"

"Do you need some help with yours?"

The page she'd been working on had all the issues he mentioned and the first sex scene in the book. "No. It's just a little hard to get through."

Edward plopped down beside her on the bed. Could she get through this with him seated beside her? His eyes were already on the page, and his body was so close that it had gotten harder to concentrate with the hints of citrus, pepper, and earth clouding her air space. Edward's presence was a constant reminder of the buzzing current that existed between them.

"Is this okay?" he asked.

More than okay. But she couldn't say the words, instead giving him a single nod. Her impulse was to hide the manuscript behind her back. "Maybe not this page," she said.

He pressed it down to her lap and read aloud, "It was his fault. If Colin hadn't knocked her over, then she wouldn't have fallen and dropped the bag of groceries, then they wouldn't be here right now in her apartment in the kitchen, and his eyes wouldn't be on hers right now, searching, longing for the gaze she didn't want to admit even to herself she'd been counting on…." He stopped. "That's a mouthful. Okay. "

Bella crossed out the extra words, and then Edward continued to read, faster than she could edit. "The plane of Colin's muscles felt hard beneath her palm, and she felt the hot tingle in her loins at the contact. Yeah, passive voice, and she used the word 'felt' twice in that sentence," he dictated and then moved on. He stopped and cleared his throat as his gaze traveled down the page.

"What?" She looked up at him, and Edward was so close that the hairs stood on Bella's neck.

"No, it's just this part… that right here, she's wearing her shirt, right? But in this next paragraph, his fingers are already flicking her nipples. Is she still wearing the shirt or did his hands just magically appear there?"

Her cheeks flushed, and Bella tried to focus on what he was saying. Words popped out from the page, seemed to jump out at her, like desire, and member, and petting, and heat.

Bella shut her eyes, not knowing how she could continue this, already squirming in response.

"See? And this is the other thing," he said, pointing down toward the last paragraph. He had gotten to that part…."When I was browsing the earlier pages to get a sense of the story, Colin and Kate already had sex about half a dozen times in the space of five hours. That's not physiologically realistic, for a man or a woman. Women get sore, for one thing. And for a man…"

"I get it, Edward." She hoped that her cheeks weren't still blazing.

"Don't you think it's a little irresponsible to portray sex in this way? Seems like you're setting up some false expectations."

This was a typical response from a man, and a relief to focus on the unsexy part of her job. "It's what sells. This is what women want to read. Besides, I just edit and make suggestions. I'm not the publisher."

"I see." His eyes returned to the page. "Do you…connect…with what you're reading?"

"Connect? I can…if it's written well. Sometimes, you can't help feeling what they're feeling if it's described in the right way. That's what the reader is looking for."

"I see."

Their eyes met just then, and she felt the blush crawl across her skin. "Is it hot in here?"

"A bit."

An idea hit her then, and she set down the manuscript. This was usually the type of challenge that men backed away from. "Okay…tell you what: let's pretend you're the editor, and you tell me what would sound better and more realistic."

"Well, less is more, definitely."

"You're going to have to be more specific." Much more specific.

He smiled. "Okay. Alright, first thing's first, the first time they have sex, they're not just going to rip each other's clothes off."

"Oh no?"

"No. Because she wants a man who will respect her, who will worship her, who will take his time with her."

Intrigued, she tapped the end of the pen to her lip. Did such a man exist? "Okay, but set the scene for me, if you would."

"Alright." His gaze wandered upward in thought and then back down to Bella's eyes. "May I use you as a visual?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Sure."

"Okay, now let's get back to the scene where they're in the kitchen, and he's picked up the food that spilled out, some ears of corn, some strawberries…And then she placed her hand on his chest…like so." He took Bella's hand and set it on his heart. Then, he began, and as he spoke the words, Edward's gaze stayed on hers. "The thrumming of his heartbeat matched her own. His eyes wandered to the liquid brown depths of her eyes, seeking that electric current until the heat from his gaze left her knees wobbly and off balance. He placed his hand over hers, and a pulsing force sounded in her ears as his fingers slid down the smoothness of her knuckles, causing a rush of goosebumps down her arms. His gaze shifted down to meet the softness of her lips, and she saw the question as he leaned in closer…"

Bella felt she might melt into a pool of goo with her hand on his chest, as he continued to demonstrate the actions, his fingers sliding with such gentle pressure along her skin, then wandering to her jawline. She couldn't look away from him if she tried. Their lips were no more than an inch apart. But he made no move as he continued.

"She closed the distance with her lips, melting in the essence of him as their tongues found their playground, the way he claimed her with his mouth, his hands gripping tight to her shoulders."

Bella's lips were slightly parted, and she waited to see if the motion of Edward's hands would follow. Stop overthinking, her inner Emmett warned. Just tell Edward what you want. "I'm not feeling it," she challenged. "Show, Edward. Don't tell."

Their lips met in that moment, and Edward's hand cupped her cheek so softly, his thumb tracing the skin, while the other arm encircled her waist and clung to the fabric at her back. This was what she remembered from that night, and to Bella's delight, it was even sexier.

He pressed her against him, drawing his fingers into her hair. Her own hands looped around his neck, and she dug her palms into his back, tugging him closer as waves of sensation kindled and smoldered with every touch.

Edward pulled away, meeting her forehead with his own. He took her hands, and she knotted her fingers into his. "Well, what do you think?" he asked, breathless.

She leaned in for another kiss, and this time, they met each other with more urgency as the desire mounted in places she hadn't expected so quickly. "You're hired."

Edward cuddled Bella closer to him in the bed, and though it was an act of God not to attack this man, she held tight to her control. He'd already insisted he wouldn't take advantage of her, and she saw he meant it. Edward was overly cautious when it came to her leg. And while she wouldn't have minded having her way with him, she preferred it to be a mutual thing. He'd mentioned wanting to take his time, making sure it was right; it made her want him more, but still, she smiled to herself. Bella had Edward all to herself, and no cameras, producers, or ex-wives could do a damn thing about it.

Light streamed in through the window, and her eyes opened, meeting his gaze. A smile curved his lips, and he traced the fullness with his finger. Hours of kissing had left them swollen, and now that they'd reestablished their connection, she reveled in it.

"Good morning," he said.

She covered her mouth with the sheet. "I'll be right back. Gonna gargle first."

"You don't have to."

"I really do."

Thankfully, the shyness that existed between them was gone as she took a capful of green liquid and swished it around her mouth. He met her at the bathroom sink, gestured to the mouthwash, and she handed him the cap.

She brushed her teeth as he stood gargling. "Oh my god. I still have to get through the rest of that manuscript before noon."

His eyes darted to the clock, and it was just past 8. "We've got time. I'll help you."

Bella wound her arms around his back, happy to be free to do that. "I was counting on that." She took him by the hand and led him toward her bedroom. With Edward at her side, it was difficult to ignore the spark he ignited with his touch. "But first, I want you to finish telling me that scenario."

"Oh, no…it's more of a slow burn. You're going to have to wait until you get to the end."

She pursed her lips. "That's no fun."

His fingers trickled down her hairline to her temple, and, as always, delightful tingles followed his touch. "That's where you're wrong."

Playing it safe. Okay. He was an honorable man, and she respected him. "All right. But this isn't over." Bella led him towards the kitchen and grabbed the coffee pot.

"Okay," she said. "But when my work is done, I want you to show me how that story ends."

He kissed her again, and the carafe nearly fell from her grasp as his hands joined around her waist. She already knew. Alice had predicted correctly. Bella would finally have her happy ending.

A/N: Ahem…yes, this story is still T-rated and will remain so.:) I'm hoping you enjoyed this, and there is still more story to come, so please stay with me and check back. Maybe someday the alerts will work again. Until then, I'm anticipating update(s) next week, pending how much I can get edited and my beta's schedule. So many thanks to her as well! Looking forward to hearing from you and will reply back. Thanks for reading!