 his teeth. 

I leaned into him, ducking my head under his arm and cuddling into his side. It probably felt 
similar to snuggling with Michelangelo'sDavid, except that this perfect marble creature 
wrapped his arms around me to pull me closer. 

It seemed like a good place to start. 

"Can we discuss something? I'd appreciate it if you couldbegin by being open-minded." 

He hesitated for a moment. "I'll give it my best effort," he agreed, cautious now. 

"I'm not breaking any rules here," I promised. "This is strictly about you and me." I cleared 
my throat. "So . . . I was impressed by how well we were able to compromise the other night. 
I was thinking I would like to apply the same principle to a different situation." I wondered 
why I was being so formal. Must be the nerves. 

"What would you like to negotiate?" he asked, a smile in his voice. 

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." 

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

"I was wondering . . . isthat 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." 

"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. 

"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." 

"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 . . ." 

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. 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. 

"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 seemso 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 beme anymore . . . and that I 
won't . . . I won'twant you the same way I do now." 

"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. 

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

"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. 

"You," I mumbled almost incoherently. 

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

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 onmy 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." 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." 

"So you can ask for any stupid, ridiculous thingyou want - like gettingmarried - butI'm not 
allowed to evendiscuss what I -" 

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. 

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. 

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. 

"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." 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." 

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

"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." 

I shook my head against his chest, grimacing. "You're just trying to distract me. Let's get 
back to the subject." 

He sighed. 

"Tell me if I have anything wrong." I tried to sound detached. "Your demands are marriage" - 
I couldn't say the word without making a face - "paying my tuition, more time, and you 
wouldn't mind if my vehicle went a little faster." I raised my eyebrows. "Did I get everything? 
That's a hefty list." 

"Only the first is a demand." He seemed to be having a hard time keeping a straight face. 
"The others are merely requests." 

"And my lone, solitary little demand is -" 

"Demand?" he interrupted, suddenly serious again. 

"Yes, demand." 

His eyes narrowed. 

"Getting married is a stretch for me. I'm not giving in unless I get something in return." 

He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "No," he murmured silkily. "It's not possible now. 
Later, when you're less breakable. Be patient, Bella." 

I tried to keep my voice firm and reasonable. "But that's the problem. It won't be thesame 

 

when I'm less breakable. I won't be the same! I don't knowwho I'll be then." 

"You'll still be Bella," he promised. 

I frowned. "If I'm so far gone that I'd want to kill Charlie - that I'd drink Jacob's blood or 
Angela's if I got the chance - how can that be true?" 

"It will pass. And I doubt you'll want to drink the dog's blood." He pretended to shudder at 
the thought. "Even as a newborn, you'll have better taste than that." 

I ignored his attempt to sidetrack me. "But tha