I struggled, trying to find exactly the right words to open with.

"Listen to your heart fly," he murmured. "It's fluttering like a hummingbird's wings. Are you all right?"

"I'm great."

"Please go on then," he encouraged.

"Well, I guess, first, I wanted to talk to you about that whole ridiculous marriage condition thing."

"Oh," Alice said. "I think I can see how this is all going to work out."

"How?" Emmett asked.

"I'm not going to say," Alice smiled smugly at him, all the while quoting the entire work of Romeo and Juliet to keep Edward out of her head.

"Argh," Edward said. "Can you at least think of something different? That one's been in my mind enough already."

Alice smiled at him and starting thinking about Wuthering Heights instead, but Edward glared at her worse than ever. Just kidding, she thought before beginning to list all the prime numbers.

"It's only ridiculous to you. What about it?"

"I was wondering . . . is that open to negotiation?"

Edward frowned, serious now. "I've already made the largest concession by far and away - I've agreed to take your life away against my better judgment. And that ought to entitle me to a few compromises on your part."

"Er... but that's not even true," Emmett said. "I mean she's going to change no matter what... so it's not really that much of a difference if you do or not."

"It's a big difference to me," Edward said, his voice grave.

"No." I shook my head, focusing on keeping my face composed. "That part's a done deal. We're not discussing my…renovations right now. I want to hammer out some other details."

He looked at me suspiciously. "Which details do you mean exactly?"

I hesitated. "Let's clarify your prerequisites first."

"You know what I want."

"Matrimony." I made it sound like a dirty word.

"Bella," Edward sighed, shaking his head. It looked like he was trying not to think about what was coming up next.

"Yes." He smiled a wide smile. "To start with."

The shock spoiled my carefully composed expression. "There's more?"

"Well," he said, and his face was calculating. "If you're my wife, then what's mine is yours…like tuition money. So there would be no problem with Dartmouth."

"Ah, good, Eddy…open the floor more... that way..." Emmett started laughing and Edward hissed at him.

"Anything else? While you're already being absurd?"

"I wouldn't mind sometime."

"No. No time. That's a deal breaker right there."

He sighed longingly. "Just a year or two?"

I shook my head, my lips set in a stubborn frown. "Move along to the next one."

"That's it. Unless you'd like to talk cars . . ."

"Yes...please get her another car," Rosalie pleaded.

He grinned widely when I grimaced, then took my hand and began playing with my fingers.

"I didn't realize there was anything else you wanted besides being transformed into a monster yourself.

"Really, Edward, you didn't notice that she wanted you?" Rosalie asked. "I would think that you've had enough people throw themselves at you in the past that you would notice the signs."

"She's not acting like any of those girls," Edward said, making a face at Rosalie's suggestion.

"No, but she has said on multiple occasions that she wants this," Rosalie countered.

I'm extremely curious." His voice was low and soft. The slight edge would have been hard to detect if I hadn't known it so well.

I paused, staring at his hand on mine. I still didn't know how to begin. I felt his eyes watching me and I was afraid to look up. The blood began to burn in my face.

His cool fingers brushed my cheek. "You're blushing?" he asked in surprise. I kept my eyes down. "Please, Bella, the suspense is painful."

I bit my lip.

"Bella." His tone reproached me now, reminded me that it was hard for him when I kept my thoughts to myself.

Emmett laughed hard at that and the other 'younger' Cullens, besides Edward, did the same.

"This must be killing you," Alice chocked out.

"Well, I'm a little worried . . . about after," I admitted, finally looking at him.

I felt his body tense, but his voice was gentle and velvet. "What has you worried?"

"All of you just seem so convinced that the only thing I'm going to be interested in, afterward, is slaughtering everyone in town," I confessed, while he winced at my choice of words. "And I'm afraid I'll be so preoccupied with the mayhem that I won't be me anymore . . . and that I won't . . . I won't want you the same way I do now."

"I wonder if that's true or not," Carlisle mused. He was unusually quiet this chapter, but it seemed that he and Esme had silently decided not to talk as much as possible during this chapter. Things were already hard enough on Edward as it was. However, with something like this, he couldn't stay quiet. "Her case is quite unique..."

"You think she would have an easier time than most newborns?" Jasper asked, smiling. It would definitely help him with his other bet.

"It's hard to say, but I'm interested to see how this plays out," Carlisle smiled.

Edward was now glaring at him like he'd rarely glared at his father before.

"Sorry, Edward, I can't seem to help myself," Carlisle frowned. "I am trying, but it's hard when I know that this will never happen and I still get to see the results..."

Edward's glare relaxed and he sighed, "Sorry."

"Bella, that part doesn't last forever," he assured me.

He was missing the point.

"Edward," I said, nervous, staring at a freckle on my wrist. "There's something that I want to do before I'm not human anymore."

He waited for me to continue. I didn't. My face was all hot.

"Whatever you want," he encouraged, anxious and completely clueless.

"You're going to regret saying that," Emmett laughed.

"Do you promise?" I muttered, knowing my attempt to trap him with his words was not going to work, but unable to resist.

"Too bad," Emmett said, snapping his finger in disappointment.

"Yes," he said. I looked up to see that his eyes were earnest and confused. "Tell me what you want, and you can have it."

I couldn't believe how awkward and idiotic I felt. I was too innocent - which was, of course, central to the discussion. I didn't have the faintest idea how to be seductive. I would just have to settle for flushed and self-conscious.

Emmett was chuckling and Edward's face was looking more flushed than normal.

"You," I mumbled almost incoherently.

"I'm yours." He smiled, still oblivious, trying to hold my gaze as I looked away again.

"I can't believe how dense you are," Alice said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, and I always thought you were smart," Emmett chuckled.

I took a deep breath and shifted forward so that I was kneeling on the bed. Then I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

He kissed me back, bewildered but willing. His lips were gentle against mine, and I could tell his mind was elsewhere - trying to figure out what was on my mind. I decided he needed a hint.

My hands were slightly shaky as I unlocked my arms from around his neck. My fingers slid down his neck to the collar of his shirt. The trembling didn't help as I tried to hurry to undo the buttons before he stopped me.

His lips froze, and I could almost hear the click in his head as he put together my words and my actions.

He pushed me away at once, his face heavily disapproving.

"Be reasonable, Bella."

"You promised - whatever I wanted," I reminded him without hope.

"We're not having this discussion."

"Yup, that seems to be the right reaction," Emmett laughed.

He glared at me while he refastened the two buttons I'd managed to open.

My teeth clamped together.

"I say we are," I growled. I moved my hands to my blouse and yanked open the top button.

He grabbed my wrists and pinned them to my sides.

"I say we're not," he said flatly.

We glowered at each other.

"You wanted to know," I pointed out.

"I thought it would be something faintly realistic."

"But it's Bella, Eddy," Emmett said. "She always comes up with things you think are ridiculous."

"He has a point on that one," Jasper laughed.

"So you can ask for any stupid, ridiculous thing you want - like getting married – but I'm not allowed to even discuss what I -"

"Getting marred isn't ridiculous," Edward grumbled and Esme looked like she wanted to say the same thing, but again, it was obvious the 'adult' Cullens were trying to say as quiet as possible.

While I was ranting, he pulled my hands together to restrain them in just one of his, and put his other hand over my mouth.

"No." His face was hard.

I took a deep breath to steady myself. And, as the anger began to fade, I felt something else.

It took me a minute to recognize why I was staring down again, the blush returning - why my stomach felt uneasy, why there was too much moisture in my eyes, why I suddenly wanted to run from the room.

"Edward! You hurt her feelings," Alice chastised and Esme had the same disapproving look on her face.

"She's being ridiculous..." Edward said. "I can't... what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, not that," Rosalie said. "She put herself on the line there and you just rejected her like that... it must be awful."

Rejection washed through me, instinctive and strong.

I knew it was irrational. He'd been very clear on other occasions that my safety was the only factor. Yet I'd never made myself quite so vulnerable before. I scowled at the golden comforter that matched his eyes and tried to banish the reflex reaction that told me I was unwanted and unwantable.

"That's not what I meant," Edward said miserably as the three women in the room glared at him.

Edward sighed. The hand over my mouth moved under my chin, and he pulled my face up until I had to look at him.

"What now?"

"Nothing," I mumbled.

He scrutinized my face for long moment while I tried unsuccessfully to twist away from his gaze. His brow furrowed, and his expression became horrified.

"Did I hurt your feelings?" he asked, shocked.

"No," I lied.

So quickly that I wasn't even sure how it happened, I was in his arms, my face cradled between his shoulder and his hand, while his thumb stroked reassuringly against my cheek.

"Well, at least you're more observant than some people," Rosalie said.

"I never had that problem," Alice smirked. Her man was too observant sometimes.

"You know why I have to say no," he murmured. "You know that I want you, too."

"Do you?" I whispered, my voice full of doubt.

"Of course I do, you silly, beautiful, oversensitive girl."

"Er... maybe I spoke too soon," Rosalie said, glaring at Edward again.

He laughed once, and then his voice was bleak. "Doesn't everyone? I feel like there's a line behind me, jockeying for position, waiting for me to make a big enough mistake…You're too desirable for your own good."

Edward was looking really angry and annoyed at that.

"Too bad you can't do anything," Emmett laughed. "You just have to deal with their thoughts."

"Who's being silly now?" I doubted if awkward, self-conscious, and inept added up to desirable in anyone's book.

"She doesn't see herself at all," Edward shook his head.

"Do I have to send a petition around to get you to believe? Shall I tell you whose names would be on the top of the list? You know a few of them, but some might surprise you."

"Great," Edward said, very annoyed. So there were more than just the people they knew about who liked her.