Nine

*Edward*

She talked in her sleep. Most of it was incoherent, but there were the few breathy ‘Edward’s that would occasionally escape her mouth that made me want to either hide safely on the other side of the room or wake her up to finish what had sort of been started before we’d fallen asleep.

But the thought of leaving her arms, even if just for a second, was almost painful. Waking her up wouldn’t have been such a horrible idea, aside from the fact that she’d probably fall asleep during it.

She needed to be fully conscious when it finally happened for us.

And she needed to know that no matter how far apart we’d be in a few weeks’ time, nothing was going to change the way I felt about her now.

I smoothed a hand over her hair, leaning even farther into her and pressing my lips against her forehead.

She sighed in her sleep, her arms tightening around me as she tilted her head and buried her nose in my neck.

This perfect, gorgeous, sleeping woman in my arms was mine. She was mine.

My arms tightened around her, the fingers of my left hand trailing up and down her side absently as I kissed her forehead again.

It was like I couldn’t stop touching her. Hell, I didn’t even want to attempt it.

Plus, she was safe here. No one could hurt her; I’d sell my soul if it kept her from having to deal with the kind of pain I’d seen on her face earlier tonight.

Those questions, the doubts she’d voiced about me and about us had nearly torn me in half. And when she’d asked why I wanted to be with her…

I closed my eyes tightly, taking a deep breath as I stilled my fingers against her side.

I’d wanted to ask her something along the lines of “why wouldn’t I be?” but I knew that with Bella, it would only make it worse. Giving her the exact reasons why I wanted her – no, needed her – in my life seemed to work for her. It hadn’t stopped the searing pain that had started to slice me in two, but it had slowed it when I heard her laugh at me.

And it was bothering me that she’d even have those thoughts in her head to begin with. So I only made my own pain worse by asking her why she’d think to ask me that.

Her answer, more than the need to know why, had cut me down to my toes. I never wanted her to be like the girls I’d met out in California. None of them were real, none of them held the kind of warmth Bella brought with her wherever she went, and none of them had ever affected me the way Bella had.

And when she asked me if I was only saying all of it to make her feel better, I wanted to fall to my knees. She’d said that she trusted me and hearing that she thought I was just trying to make her feel better was like someone had started using me as a punching bag.

I would never say something just to make someone else feel better. I would never lie to her just to make her feel better about something. I was better than that and most of the people I spent my time with deserved more than that.

But she said she did trust me and if I wanted her to trust me, I had to trust her, too. So I told her the truth about how every other woman really did stop existing to me because, honestly they had.

Before Bella, a girl like Jessica Stanley probably would’ve been the next girl I’d want on my arm for a limited time. She looked almost exactly like the rest of the women back in California, so she would’ve fit in perfectly if I’d ever felt so inclined to have our relations go beyond upstate New York.

But now, the thought of seeing anyone else the way I see Bella is complete bullshit.

This fragile – and now she was actually moaning into my neck – woman in my arms was the only one I could even picture in my life anymore.

She’d either damaged me or made me completely whole without me noticing it.

Either way, I didn’t give a shit. She hadn’t run when doubts started to plague her mind and when I’d asked, she’d told me. She’d told me what was bothering her and that on its own was a very big indicator that in her own roundabout way, she did trust me.

So even though it had felt at the time like she was giving in to the pressure of dating me, it hadn’t felt that way as the night wore on. She’d snapped out of it once she’d gotten my answers and everything about the rest of the night had been damn near perfect.

She was in my arms, wearing one of my old high school t-shirts that had made it very hard to back away from her when she kept pressing on, and she was getting the sleep I’d wanted her to get.

Throwing my leg over hers, I buried my head in her hair and closed my eyes, breathing her in and slowly drifting into sleep.

~*~

I woke up before her, still tangled in her arms and feeling extremely satisfied about the whole damn thing.

Reaching up, I brushed hair off her forehead and gently placed my lips there before carefully untangling myself and rolling out of bed. I pulled the blankets over her, not without noticing her bare legs and the inch or so of her black panties that my t-shirt revealed from where it had ridden up during the night. I groaned softly and quickly turned away, shaking my head as I ran my hands through my hair and walked across the hall and into the bathroom.

Just as I stuck the toothbrush in my mouth, I heard the phone downstairs ringing and rolled my eyes. It had barely rung since I’d arrived and so naturally someone would choose to call first thing in the morning while I had a mouth full of toothpaste.

Still brushing my teeth, I walked downstairs and stared at the caller ID, rolling my eyes again as I saw my sister’s cell phone number on the small screen.

Snatching the phone off the base, I pushed the ‘talk’ button and put it up to my ear.

“’Lo?” I mumbled as I walked back up the stairs.

I closed the bedroom door, my eyes lingering over Bella’s still sleeping form as I did so, and walked back into the bathroom.

She needed her sleep more than she needed to hear me on the phone.

“Do you have an extra room?” her calm, bell-like voice sounded through the receiver.

“No.”

She huffed and I sighed, leaning down to spit into the sink before sticking the toothbrush back in my mouth.

“Why?”

“I need to get away.”

“Why?” I asked again, slowly.

“Jasper insists on beating up my models,” she grumbled. “He says they’re coming on to me.”

I snorted, which was not an easy task with a toothbrush in my mouth.

“I need to get away for a few days.”

My brother-in-law would forever think that just because my sister was small and delicate that she couldn’t take care of herself. He knew better, of course, but he’d been raised in Texas and down there, husbands took care of their wives and protected them. He had yet to really grasp onto the fact that Alice was not, by any means, incapable of driving a right hook into someone’s gut when they crossed the careful boundaries she’d set up.

I’d been on the receiving end of that more than enough times to vouch for it. He just refused to see it.

“You’re not coming here,” I clarified, spitting into the sink once more before rinsing off my toothbrush and grabbing one of the paper cups on the counter. “This is my space, Alice.”

I filled the cup with water, throwing my head back and swishing it around in my mouth before spitting it back into the sink.

“Edward,” she whined, her calm demeanor completely gone. “I just need a few days!”

“I don’t have anywhere for you to stay, Alice,” I laughed, standing up straight and throwing the used paper cup in the small trash can beside me.

“You could stay on the couch?” she offered, her voice pleading.

“Uh, actually, no,” I mumbled, casting a glance at the closed bedroom door and smirking to myself. “I can’t.”

“And why not?”

Ah, she was getting annoyed. Good. Maybe she’d hang up on me and leave me alone.

Or she’d call mom. And then mom would call me. And then I’d end up giving in because there isn’t anyone in the world that can say no to Esme Cullen.

“I just can’t, Alice.”

“Who is she?” she demanded.

I’d never know how my sister just knew shit like that. She’d always been that way; immediately picking up on the small, insignificant things and having them pieced together before anyone else could even wrap their minds around any of it.

“Alice,” I sighed heavily.

“Edward, just tell me!”

“You’ll tell everyone else!”

“Not if you don’t want me to.”

I could practically see her batting her eyes and closed mine, running a hand down my face.

“She’s my neighbor,” I finally said softly.

“Bella!” she chirped, immediately chipper once again.

It didn’t usually take much.

I ground my teeth together, cursing my mother up and down at the fact that she and my sister had to be closer to sisters than mother and daughter and told each other everything.

“Yes,” I said through my teeth, leaning forward and gripping the edge of the counter tightly with my free hand. “And I swear to God, if you tell anyone before I do…”

“I won’t! Edward, I promise! I’ve never broken a promise to you.”

She had a point. I’d always been closer to her than Emmett because of that. Emmett had always taken the very first opportunity to embarrass the hell out of me; Alice was always the one that backed me up.

“When did this happen?”

“A few days ago.”

“I thought mom said she was dating someone else?”

“Broke up,” I said quickly, opening my eyes to peer over at the closed bedroom door again.

That was her story to tell if she wanted to; not mine.

“Hm,” Alice mumbled. “Didn’t take the two of you long, did it?”

“Alice,” I groaned, resting my forehead against the mirror and shaking my head. “It’s not like that.”

“So she’s staying overnight with you just because?”

“He took her bed, Alice,” I hissed, narrowing my eyes at my reflection. “When he left her, he took everything including her bed. She was sleeping on an air mattress and she was exhausted. She’s staying with me so that she can get some actual sleep.”

She was quiet and I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Alice didn’t mean any harm; she was looking out for me. It wouldn’t be the first time that a girl had wanted to date me simply because they wanted the exposure more than they wanted me.

I couldn’t fault Alice for being cautious, either. She didn’t know anything more about Bella than the fact that she was the neighbor that helped me out when I needed it. Alice had every right to question what had happened so quickly and as much as I wanted to I couldn’t blame her for it.

“You love her.”

My hand slipped off the counter and I fell onto my back on the fluffy white bath mats beneath me.

That was not what I had been expecting to hear from her.

“Fuck, Alice,” I moaned, rolling onto my side and pushing myself up to sit on my feet. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“You’ve never defended anyone to me quite like that before,” she said softly, her voice amazed. “You’re in love with her.”

“You’re losing it, Al. It’s a little too soon for that, don’t you think?”

“It doesn’t take long to fall in love with someone if it’s right, Edward.”

“How do you know that it’s right, Alice? There are so many things that…”

“And you can make it work with her because you’re in love with her,” she interrupted simply. “I’m never wrong about these things, Edward, and you know that.”

I shook my head, bracing my hand on the sink and pushing myself into a standing position again.

“I’m an actor, you know. I could be making it sound really good.”

“I’m your sister, dumb shit. I know you better than that.” She sighed heavily and I rubbed my free hand over my face again. “She’s different from the others.”

“Yes,” I said through my teeth.

“And she’s ready to handle everything that’ll be thrown at her when it finally comes out.”

It wasn’t a question.

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

We were both quiet and I stared hard at my reflection.

I couldn’t be in love with her already. It was entirely too soon for emotions like that to be put on display. We’d just barely gotten started… being in love with her was out of the question.

It was crazy for Alice to even put the notion in my head. We were having fun at this point, we were enjoying each other and the limited time we had together; this talk of love my sister was shoving down my throat was completely insane.

“I want to meet her, Edward.”

“I figured as much.”

“Two days,” she insisted. “I’ll only stay for two days and then I’ll be gone, okay? It’ll give Jasper plenty of time to think about things and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“You cannot interrogate her, got it?”

She squealed and I had to hold the phone away from my ear so that I wouldn’t go completely deaf.

“I won’t! I promise, I promise, I promise! Thanks, older brother!”

“You better call me when you get your flight information set up.”

“I’m flying out there tomorrow morning. I’ll be arriving around six and I expect you to be there to pick me up.”

“Of course you do,” I sighed, shaking my head.

Trying to figure out the workings of my sister’s brain would never get me anywhere except frustrated. And believing that she hadn’t had this whole damn thing all planned out long before she’d called me was just wishful thinking.

“I’ll see you tomorrow!”

“Bye, Alice.”

“Bye!” she chirped, slamming the phone down.

I turned the phone off, setting it on the counter next to me and throwing my head back. Reaching up, I tangled my hands in my hair and took a few more deep breaths, hoping that Bella would be willing to meet the ball of energy I called a sister.

“Everything okay?”

The sound that came out of my mouth wasn’t anywhere close to being normal as I jumped around to find Bella standing in the doorway to the bathroom. Her hair was everywhere and her eyes were still half closed as she stared up at me, but she still looked pretty damn perfect to me.

“Did I wake you?”

“I heard a bang,” she mumbled, reaching up to scratch the back of her head and twist her lips to the side. “I think.”

“I fell,” I laughed nervously, letting my arms drop to my sides. “Tripped over the mat.”

She snickered at me, shaking her head as she walked into the bathroom and stood next to me.

“I’m supposed to be the clumsy one, remember?”

“I guess you’re rubbing off on me.”

I flung one of my arms around her shoulders and pulled her against me, smiling stupidly as her arms immediately wrapped around my waist.

“We don’t want that now, do we?” She yawned, leaning forward to rest her cheek on my chest. “Might upset a few people.”

“I don’t care,” I mumbled, pressing my lips against the top of her head. “I’ll take it.”

“How long have you been up?”

“Long enough to have a full conversation with my sister.” I sighed heavily and gently pushed her back. “How do you feel about meeting her?”

I watched as one of her eyes twitched and barely held back my laughter when she merely stared at me.

“Why?” she asked slowly.

“She’s decided that she needs a few days away from her husband and coming here to annoy me would be the perfect opportunity for that, I suppose. Do you want to meet her?”

“Does she know about me?”

I nodded, reaching up with both of my hands to push her messy hair away from her face.

“I told her this morning.”

“What’s she like?”

“Pushy, demanding, controlling, upbeat, very hyper,” I listed off her most dominate traits, carefully watching Bella’s face. “Protective.”

I heard her swallow and quickly pulled her back into my arms again, bending down to bury my nose in her shoulder.

“She hates me already, doesn’t she?”

“What? No!”

Quite the opposite actually.

But it wasn’t like I could tell her that Alice was positive that I was already in love with her. If I’d wanted her to run away screaming, though, it might’ve been an option.

“Is she an actress, too?”

“No, she’s a fashion designer. More than half of my wardrobe has been designed by her, actually.”

“Oh, great,” she mumbled.

“Bella,” I laughed nervously, stepping back again to frame her face in my hands and make her look at me. “All you need to do is be yourself. You don’t need to change and you don’t need to pretend to be someone else just for her. She’s really very likeable.”

“Then why does it sound like you’re sending me into the Spanish inquisition?”

“I won’t leave you alone with her,” I compromised, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks. “Not until you want me to.”

“When will she be here?”

“Tomorrow night. You’ll just be getting out of work when I’m picking her up.”

She bit her bit her bottom lip.

“I’ll make us dinner.”

I smiled brightly at her and leaned down to touch my lips to hers.

“You don’t have to.”

“I want to. Neither of you will want to go out to dinner after fighting all that traffic in Albany, I’m sure. Rush hour,” she explained, shrugging her shoulders.

I groaned, shaking my head. I hadn’t thought about that.

“Of course she’d land during rush hour. Why wouldn’t she?” I mumbled.

She laughed and stood on her toes to kiss the bottom of my jaw. And just that little gesture had my knees weakening as my arms dropped lifelessly to my sides.

“Do you mind if I take a shower?” she asked innocently, falling back down to her feet.

“No,” I choked, shaking my head to clear it of the images I thought of at those words. “Do you want breakfast?”

“I can make it when I get out.”

“Don’t trust me in the kitchen anymore, huh?”

She laughed and shrugged. “Well…” she trailed off, looking away from me.

“Dinner was not that bad!” I insisted, grabbing onto her waist.

“No, it wasn’t. It was good,” she agreed, nodding her head as she looked back up at me.

“So what’s the problem with me making breakfast?”

“Do you know how to make more than scrambled eggs?”

I narrowed my eyes at her as she pressed her lips together, holding in what I’m sure was some very amused laughter at my expense.

“I make damn good scrambled eggs,” I grumbled, outright pouting.

“I’m sure you do.” She stretched up on her toes again to nip at my bottom lip. “But I kind of want an omelet.”

My eyes rolled back in my head and I would’ve given her an entire damn country if she merely asked me for it.

“I can… uh… okay,” I mumbled as she placed feather-light kisses on my bottom lip.

“You want one?”

“Uh huh.”

She laughed, kissing me fully before walking out of my arms and out of the bathroom completely.

I started to follow her, my brain complete mush at this point and only stopped in the hallway when she walked out of the bedroom with her duffel bag in hand. I looked at it, my head titled and completely confused before she laughed at me.

“Shower, then food,” she reminded me, placing one hand on my chest as she walked by.

Every inch of me visibly shivered as she gently dragged her fingernails down and across my stomach while she walked away from me. And when she closed the bathroom door behind her, I continued to stand in the hallway between the two rooms, my eyes closed tightly and doing my absolute best not to barge in there after her.

She was way too good at that.

I recovered when I heard the water start and stiffly walked into the bedroom, closing the door behind me and staring down at the very serious problem that had popped up in my pants.

After having a serious talk with that part of my anatomy, I managed to get dressed and walk downstairs, my laptop bag slung over my shoulder.

I hadn’t talked to Jeannie since the grocery shopping attempt and I could only imagine what kind of shit I’d managed to stir up this time.

I’d been sorting through all of the emails I tried to avoid on a daily basis for about fifteen minutes when I heard her on the stairs and looked up. Her hair was still wet, leaving little spots of water on the light blue shirt she was wearing and even though the jeans she had on now were a hell of a lot looser than the ones she’d worn out on Friday, they still had my mouth watering.

My girlfriend was fucking beautiful.

“What?” she asked when she reached the bottom of the stairs and noticed me blatantly gaping at her.

I shook my head and snapped the top of my laptop closed, smiling lazily at her.

“Nothing.”

She shook her head and smirked at me, walking over to me and setting the phone on the table. Huh. I hadn’t even noticed that she had it in her hand, much less been able to remember that I’d left it in the bathroom in the first place.

I quickly grabbed her waist and pulled her into my lap, laughing when she shrieked and grabbed tightly on to my upper arms.

“You have to warn me when you’re going to do that,” she breathed.

“More fun this way.”

I pressed my lips to hers, tasting the mint of her toothpaste as she quickly responded, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck and pressing her chest against mine.

“Did you sleep okay?” I whispered in between kisses.

“Mhmm,” she hummed, sucking on my bottom lip and flicking her tongue across it. “I slept really well, actually.”

“You talk, you know.”

I almost had my tongue against hers when she abruptly pulled back. My eyes flew open to see that her face was bright red and I smirked, twisting my hands together behind her back.

“What did I say?” she squeaked, biting her bottom lip.

“It wasn’t so much what you said,” I started, tilting my head to the side and smirking, “as to what you moaned.”

“No!” she whined, leaning forward and burying her face in my chest. “I’m so sorry. I thought that maybe I’d grown out of that. I mean… no one’s mentioned it in a while and I…”

I laughed, leaning down to kiss her ear and grinning like an ass when I smelled my shampoo in her hair.

“Who said that I was complaining?”

“It’s embarrassing!” she squeaked again, seeming to curl up into a small ball on my lap. “Did it keep you awake? Did I say anything else? Oh, God.”

“Bella,” I laughed, untangling my hands to rub them over her back. “It’s not that big of a deal. It actually made me feel pretty damn good about myself.”

“Like you need a bigger ego,” she mumbled, tipping forward slightly to rest her forehead on my shoulder. “It wasn’t anything too horrible then?”

I continued to grin at the wall behind her. I still loved that she managed to put me in my place. I loved that nothing major had changed just because we’d started dating.

“Just my name,” I said simply, smiling softly as I watched my hands rub circles on her back. “And I do not have that big of an ego.”

“Mhmm,” she mumbled, sighing heavily before sitting back again. “Aside from that, did you sleep okay?”

I caught her lips in between mine again. “Better than okay.”

She hummed against my lips before pulling away and moving her arms from my neck to place her hands on my chest.

“Come on.” I reluctantly let her up, following her as she hooked one of her hands around mine and pulled me into the kitchen. “I’ll teach you how to make an omelet.”

~*~

We’d spent all day in the house watching really bad daytime television or, in my case, doing everything I could not to lunge across the couch and fuse my mouth to hers for the better part of however many hours might’ve been left of the day.

I’d only let her leave my sight once. She’d needed to get a few more things to wear if she was going to be spending every night with me and I couldn’t really argue with that. She had to work the next day and if my sister had taught me anything, it was that a woman never wore the same outfit two days in a row.

Or something to that affect.

The phone never rang again and there hadn’t been any important emails that demanded my attention. She’d insisted on cooking every meal we needed to eat and after I’d poured half of the omelet mix down the front of me – twice - she’d banned me from the kitchen entirely.

She’d told me that I had the potential to be a chef’s worst nightmare and when I’d almost dropped the meatloaf when I’d been allowed to remove it from the oven because she had both of her hands tied up in some kind of sauce, I’d been forced to agree with her

I had been allowed to set and clear the table, though. But that was it; I was not allowed to help her prepare and I was most definitely not allowed anywhere near the stove.

So while she was in the kitchen, I stood just outside the doorway, watching as she moved fluidly and comfortably around my kitchen. Almost like she’d always been there and knew exactly where everything was.

I couldn’t say that I was opposed to the image, either. Seeing her in the kitchen, blissfully content as she mixed and minced and baked anything and everything I never would’ve thought of before only confirmed that I couldn’t live without her.

Hell, at this point, I refused to live without her. I didn’t know someone like her could actually exist. I didn’t know someone like her could actually exist for someone like me.

And as I sat in the airport the next morning, the cowboy hat and bandana firmly in place on my head as I stared unseeing at the gate my younger sister would be popping out of at any minute, I could not control the smile on my face.

It had been there permanently for a few days now, actually. Ever since Bella and I had started dating, to be perfectly honest, and I never really wanted it to go away.

I leaned back in the uncomfortable blue chair in the waiting area, kicked my legs out and closed my eyes as I yawned. There were only a few other people roaming around this gate so the fear of exposure was pretty much nonexistent.

The alarm clock had us both up at six this morning, scaring the shit out of me and almost causing me to fall face first out of the bed entirely.

I’d let myself get too comfortable without hearing the damn screeching noise that was the bane of my existence on any regular day and hearing it for the first time in almost a week harshly brought me back to reality.

In fact, a list of all the things I’d already done before leaving California had flashed in front of my closed eyes before I had the common sense to actually open them.

After I’d recovered from that, I’d had to spend at least another fifteen minutes telling Bella that I really didn’t mind having her stay with me before she gave up and crawled out of bed to make her way across the hallway.

Watching her walk out of the bedroom in just my old rumpled t-shirt had been the only jolt I needed to get my legs moving. I’d ambled my way down the stairs, scratching at my chest as I flicked the lights on in the kitchen and began to make her some coffee.

I’d stared resentfully at the stove the whole time, too. She’d made me promise not to touch it until she got out of work tonight, limiting my food choices to the microwavable shit I had in my freezer.

That greasy, frozen, unhealthy crap would’ve been good before I realized that having Bella cook my meals every night was so much better.

She’d ruined me in that respect. I’d never be able to look at Pizza Rolls with the same amount of desire as I had before.

No, instead I eyed the beautiful brunette that I’d been holding captive in my house that way.

Not that I was complaining… because I most definitely wasn’t.

When she’d finally walked down the stairs, twisting her hair into a bun of some sort on the back of her head and a shy smile on her face as she walked towards me, I held out a to-go mug of coffee, kissed her goodbye and told her not to worry about my sister.

Which really only made her eyes widen before she mumbled something about chicken fajitas, made my mouth water in an entirely different manner than she had yesterday and dashed out of the house before I even had a chance to say anything more.

Since when did the word sister seem to instill the same fear as the word parents did? Alice would be easy and Esme had been gunning for this relationship between us before I even realized that I wanted it. The only hurdles she had left to jump over were Emmett – who could really care less about who I’d decided to date anymore – and my father, Carlisle.

Neither of which were all that threatening once they opened their mouths.

I jumped when I felt my chair being kicked and looked up to find Alice, her hands on her tiny hips and her bright blue eyes narrowed in my direction. Her black hair, as usual, was sticking straight out at odd angles and amazingly, her entire outfit was wrinkle free.

Only my little sister could walk off of a six hour flight looking as though she’d be ready for a runway.

“What the hell is on your head?” she demanded.

I grinned brightly at her, stood up, gathered her in my arms and lifted her off of her feet to hug her tightly.

“Hey, baby sis!”

“You know I hate it when you call me that,” she mumbled.

She sighed and relaxed against me, wrapping her tiny arms around my neck.

“Well, that’s what you are.” I set her back down on her feet, still grinning at her. “How much shit did you bring?”

“All of it is necessary, you lovesick moron.”

“And it starts,” I sighed, draping an arm around her shoulders and leading her toward the escalators. “I’m not…”

“Don’t you dare say it.” She pointed one manicured fingernail at me, pursing her lips up at me. “I’m right, you’re wrong; deal with it.”

“Don’t you think you should meet her before you make assumptions?”

“Not worried about it.” She grinned up at me, quickly wrapping both of her arms around my waist as we stepped onto the escalator. “Your face when I saw you said it all.”

I groaned and half heartedly hugged her back, dragging her towards baggage claim once we reached the bottom of the escalator.

“Does Jasper know where you are?”

“Yeah.” She waved me off, staring hard at the carousel in search of those bright pink Louis Vuitton suitcases she adored as we reached it. “I told him this morning.”

I groaned, shaking my head. Whenever she left things like telling her husband that she was flying halfway across the country to the last minute, it never really went over well. It never failed to end up in Jasper flying out to wherever it was that Alice had disappeared to with a pathetic apology on his lips and a bouquet of calla lilies in his hands.

“Don’t tell me that he’s coming out here too.”

“No.” Then she dived in between the people standing in front of us to attack her bags, smiling angelically and apologizing when they grumbled at her. “He says hello.”

She handed me the two huge suitcases before prancing off in front of me, looking around the airport as if she’d never seen one before in her life.

I may as well tape a sign to her forehead that screamed tourist in neon lights.

“You never told me why you’re wearing that thing,” she picked up our conversation as I huffed my way behind her, dragging the overstuffed bags behind me.

“I have no desire to cause another commotion. Once this trip was enough.”

“Ah, yes, the supermarket thing. I read about that.” She waved me off again. “Where’d you get it from?”

As much as I tried to control the smile that immediately lit up my face when her I thought about her, it didn’t work and Alice noticed.

She clapped her hands gleefully, skipping ahead yet again and racing towards the doors.

She was like a toddler. I have absolutely no idea how my parents had enough energy for her after they had me and Emmett. I have absolutely no idea how Jasper had enough energy to deal with her on a daily basis.

Sighing and grunting as I shifted the handles of the suitcases in my hands, I followed after her, glaring at her as I met up with her.

“You couldn’t have just gotten a cab?” I grumbled as we walked across the walkway when the guard standing in the middle told us to.

“And miss out on spending an entire ride back with you? I think not. We have so much to talk about.”

I groaned, walking ahead of her and in the direction that I’d parked the Volvo.

Of course we did.

“And you had to land during rush hour, didn’t you?”

“It was the easiest flight for me.”

I looked back at her to see her rolling her eyes at me. As long as it was easy for her, the rest of the world would just have to adjust. Being the youngest and only girl in the family, my parents had let her get away with murder. Anything that she did wrong, I usually got blamed for it.

I’d called her princess until I moved out of the house. Still did when she really started pissing me off. She absolutely hated it.

“Are we going to stop and get something to eat?”

She bounced up next to me, tapping her nails against each other as she grinned up at me.

“Bella’s making dinner for us tonight.”

Again, that stupid grin at the mere mention or thought of her was slapped across my face and Alice laughed loudly, hooking one of her arms through mine.

“Great! I can really get to know her!”

“You said no interrogations, Alice!”

“Why would I interrogate my future sister-in-law?” she asked, looking up at me and pursing her lips in annoyance. “I just want to get to know her.”

“Alice,” I ground out through my teeth, staring straight ahead as the Volvo came into view. “You’re pushing things.”

“I’m not pushing anything that isn’t already in motion,” she reasoned, spotting the Volvo she somehow knew belonged to me and dancing ahead of me to stand by the trunk.

“I’m not even thinking about… you’re putting thoughts in my head!” I accused as I joined her, dropping her suitcases to fish my keys out of my pocket. “We just started dating. Give it some damn time.”

“Why should I wait when I know what the outcome will be? You’re the one dragging your feet.”

“We haven’t even talked about what we’re going to do when I leave yet, so will you please,” I started, unlocking the trunk and stuffing my keys back in my pocket, “give it some time.”

“You haven’t talked about it?”

“We both know it’s coming.” I hefted one suitcase into the trunk, groaning under the weight. “But we’re just enjoying what we have right now, okay?”

“You can’t push reality under the rug, Edward.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the side of the car, looking at me disapprovingly.

“That’s what I do when I come here! That’s why I come here!” I looked over at her, grinding my teeth together. “But Bella is too important for me to lose her so I’m going to do my damn best to make sure that something works out.”

I threw the second suitcase into the trunk and slammed the lid down, leaning heavily against the back of the car and breathing heavily.

Why she thought she needed a month’s worth of clothing and accessories for a two day trip was beyond me.

I watched the sides of her mouth quirk into a smile as her arms fell to her sides again.

“You’re in love with her,” she said simply, dancing to the passenger side door and yanking on the handle. “Stop fighting it, Edward. It won’t do either of you any good.”

She pulled on the handle again, furrowing her eyebrows at it before pointedly staring at my pocket.

Rolling my eyes, I dug my keys back out and hit the right button before walking over to the driver’s side and climbing in.

“Princess,” I grumbled as I pulled the seatbelt across my lap.

She reached over and slapped my chest with the back of her left hand, her entirely too large wedding ring catching me in the right spot and making me sputter for air.

“I hate it when you call me that.”

“No shit,” I choked, coughing and catching my breath as I stuck the keys in the ignition.

She smiled, satisfied with herself as she wiggled around in her seat and immediately reached for the radio dial to change the station I’d been listening to.

Two days. Just two damn days.