The Jaw

Kissing the pretty firecracker was better than coleslaw. Before my last tour overseas, a couple of disastrous one night stands had made me decide that coleslaw was better than sex, so if I followed my own logic, kissing the pretty firecracker was better than sex. Somehow that sounded wrong, especially if it was sex with her. Not that I’d know anything about that, but I could imagine. And I had imagined. A lot. Maybe more than a lot – whatever that was. In fact, I only had to close my eyes to conjure up all kinds of amazing visuals. Okay, that was a lie. I didn’t actually need to close my eyes. I could ju-

“Edward!”

I shook my head to clear it. “Huh?”

Bella was laughing at me, and I couldn’t stop the smile breaking out on my face. She was so goddamn pretty.

“I’ve been calling your name for five minutes. Where did you just go in your head?” she asked, amused.

“Um…nowhere. I was just thinking about this fuckhot vixen who accosted me earlier,” I replied.

“Oh yeah? Do you like to be accosted?” she teased me.

“Oh, I do,” I told her, smirking. “But you see, this particular fuckhot vixen is kind of my boss, so I’m thinking that maybe I should report her or something. I mean, imagine if she did the same thing to James. We could have a serial offender on our hands.”

She snorted. “Very funny. You better watch out or she might fire your ass.”

“Just my ass? I think she might like my ass if she inspected it further.”

“Oh, she does. Trust me,” she assured me with a saucy wink.

“Helloooooo? Are you done with the preliminary baby-making exercises yet?” James called out from the other end of the bar. “I could use some help running this thing. It’s a bar, you know, and it has customers who want drinks. Drinks that we – and by ‘we,’ I don’t mean just me – serve to them. Ring any bells, baby makers?”

“Work. Right. That’s why we’re here,” I said brightly.

“You are unusually chipper,” Bella commented with a snort.

My smile was uncontainable. “I’m happy.”

She bit her lip. “I really, really want to drag you out back again and kiss you until you’ve forgotten your own name.”

“I wouldn’t be complaining.”

“Seriously!” James interrupted. “No one is happier for you than me, but I’m pretty sure I spoke English before when I asked for help. I will tell Papa Swan on you two, and you know what an active imagination I have.”

“Oh, shut your mouth, or I’m gonna fire you myself,” Bella told him. It would have been a lot more convincing if she hadn’t been smiling.

We got back to work, although I was back to being as clumsy as the first night I’d worked there. Between the customers having to repeat their orders three or four times and me zoning out, only to be startled out of my daydreams and dropping whatever I was holding, I was surprised that Bella hadn’t yelled at me yet.

Bella.

Beautiful, feisty Bella, who had flipped my world upside down. Beautiful, distracting Bella, who made me break five glasses and two bottles before the last customer left the bar that night. Beautiful, sexy Bella, whose lips I had a difficult time dragging myself away from after we’d finished work and were upstairs, supposedly saying goodnight.

It had taken exactly one kiss to get addicted, and I wanted to stay lost in my pretty firecracker forever. I had her pinned against her door, and even when I broke away for some much needed air, she seemed to just want more. She kissed my jaw, and I felt like my knees were about to buckle. Damn. Who the hell knew she was that good at finding my weak spots?

I wanted nothing more than to drag her with me inside. I had a set of sheets on my bed that she would look awesome on. However, there was an annoying voice in the back of my head that insisted I slow down. I hated that voice, but I really didn’t want to mess things up almost before they’d begun. As tempting as rushing was, it probably wouldn’t do anyone any favors.

I tangled my fingers in her hair and guided her lips back to mine. Her sounds and willingness to melt into me completely were not helping strengthen my resolve to say goodnight.

“I don’t want to say goodnight,” Bella complained against my lips.

That really didn’t help either.

“I know, me neither,” I replied, thoroughly distracted by her adventurous hands. “We have to, though - right?”

She snorted and pulled back a little to look at me. “Yeah, we probably do. It sucks.”

I looked at her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. “You are so damn pretty,” I told her.

“So, would I sound too much like a girl if I say that you make me feel pretty?” she asked, hiding her face in the crook of my neck. “Wait, don’t answer that. It doesn’t matter how it sounds. It’s true.”

I chuckled and held her closer. Her hair smelled fresh like a spring day. I really didn’t want to let her go, and it took another half hour before we managed to get past our teenage behavior and go our separate ways for the night.

I lay awake a long time with a goofy smile on my face. I still couldn’t believe how the night had turned out. When Bella had showed up at the bar wearing what she had, I had wanted to drag her out back, but having her take the initiative was fucking hot. I hadn’t been in a relationship in a long time, but I was going to do whatever it took not to fuck it up. She was too important.

When I finally started to drift off and could feel myself enter that eerie state where you’re not quite asleep, but also not awake, I was snapped out of it by an insane hammering on my front door.

What the fuck?

The odds were definitely in favor of it being James, who had probably gone even more insane than he was a few hours before. I could have knocked his teeth out, but I really just wanted to sleep. However, it could also have been Bella, and as soon as the option entered my mind, I was already on my way out of bed.

The insistent knocking continued until I opened the door. I was nearly trampled as both Bella and James steamrolled into my apartment. James slammed the door behind him, locked it, and ran over to find a chair to put under the handle. Then he took off into the bedroom.

I was watching, slack-jawed. I didn’t really remember sending out slumber party invites. Especially not to James. No one had said anything yet, and I looked at Bella for an explanation. Her eyes were wide and trained on the door, and she looked really freaked out. Something had made her go from firecracker to frightened woman.

“Bella?”

Her eyes snapped up to meet mine, and a second later, she was in my arms. “There was someone outside the door on the stairs,” she said, burying her face in my chest. “I was getting my laundry when I heard a voice outside the door and saw the door handle getting jiggled. I thought maybe it was James, but then he came out of his apartment instead. I’m afraid it might be…Embry…”

Just the mention of his name made me see red. “Stay here,” I told Bella.

“No! Don’t go out there! He could have brought his stupid friends,” she begged me, fisting her hands in my t-shirt. “Please, Edward? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I won’t get hurt, I promise. I’m just going to check,” I said, kissing the top of her head.

She reluctantly let me go. “Be careful.”

“I will,” I promised. “But lock the door, and if I’m not back in five minutes, call the police.”

“Edward!” she hissed.

“It will be fine, I promise,” I said and closed the door behind me before she could protest any further. She could yell at me all she wanted later, but if the fucktard was outside, I wanted a piece of him. Besides, this was part of Charlie’s argument when he had talked me into accepting the apartment. He’d said that he wanted Bella to be safe. At the time, I hadn’t known about Embry the Craptastic Asshole, but he was clearly who Charlie had had in mind.

The hallway was bathed in light, and James’s door was open. I looked around for some kind of weapon. I didn’t see anything of use to me unless I wanted to attack with potted plants, but I figured my military training would give me an advantage, even if I was in my fucking underwear. Too bad James hadn’t gone through with his Molotov cocktail idea. Instead, he was probably hiding under my bed. Or even worse – in my bed. I shuddered just thinking about him and Bella staying here alone before I’d moved in. He was obviously of no use at all.

When I reached the door, I stopped to listen. I couldn’t hear anything, so I yanked it open. There was no one outside. I was almost disappointed to be cheated out of doing some ass-kicking. I checked the stairs and also went downstairs to see if anyone was lurking around. When I was sure that there wasn’t, I went back up to check the door for any signs of someone trying to break in. There was nothing.

I went back inside and locked the door. I didn’t know if anyone had been outside, but I was going to have to talk to Charlie about installing a second lock or maybe an alarm system. I wanted Bella to feel safe in her own home, and she clearly didn’t now – not even behind a locked door.

I was happy to discover that my door was locked. “Bella, open up. It’s me,” I called out and knocked.

I heard the lock turning, and a moment later, she opened the door. “I was ten seconds away from calling the police. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” I replied, stepping inside. “There was nothing to see outside.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry about freaking out. I just…”

“Hey, don’t apologize,” I told her and drew her into a hug.

“I just get so mad at myself when I let him get to me like this. Hell, I don’t even know if it was him out there, but he still gets to me. Ugh!” She buried her face in my t-shirt and stomped her feet against the floor. My firecracker was back.

“He’s not going to hurt you. I’ll break his fucking neck before he can even touch you,” I promised her.

“My big, bad solider,” she said with a sigh, with her face still pressed against my chest.

I chuckled – at least until she decided to fucking bite my nipple. “Ow! Dammit, woman. What the hell is wrong with you?”

She laughed and looked up at me. “Don’t be such a baby.”

“Speaking of babies…where’s the damn diva? I swear to God, if he’s in my bed, I’m going to throw him out on his ass,” I said.

“I checked when you were outside, and he’s actually under the bed – not in it,” Bella replied.

“Of course he is. If not under the bed, where else might one find the resident flamboyant bartender?” I asked, rolling my eyes. “How am I supposed to get him out? Alice once brought home a stray kitten that stayed under the couch the whole day.”

“How about we leave him there?” Bella suggested. “I’m sure he’ll have crawled out by tomorrow morning – nothing stands in his way when it comes to his morning coffee – and until then, I’m sure you’ll find that my bed is every bit as comfortable as your own.”

“Subtle way of inviting me into your bed, pretty firecracker,” I commented with a grin.

“I would, you know,” she said seriously. “But right now I’m ready to beg. I really don’t want to be alone tonight.”

“No need for that. I’d camp outside your door if I had to,” I told her, kissing the top of her head. “Let’s get out of here before James invades your bedroom, too.”

“Thank heavens for deadbolts,” she agreed.

I grabbed a pair of pajamas bottoms and a t-shirt before leaving my apartment. One trip out of my door in my underwear a night was enough.

It wasn’t the ideal way of ending up in bed with Bella that night, but that didn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. She appeared from the bathroom in another one of those sinful, little outfits that she had also marched into the diner wearing the morning after I’d told her that I knew Jake. It tested my will power, but in the end, drifting to sleep with the pretty firecracker in my arms after a few kisses was the perfect way to end the day. Even if her bare legs felt heavenly tangled with my own and her ass wiggling against my dick made me want to forget about being a gentleman. Okay, maybe I wasn’t a gentleman. A semi-gentleman?

The only thing better than falling asleep with Bella in my arms was waking up with her the same way the next morning. Sleeping firecracker just might have been my favorite smell ever. Way better than coleslaw. I snorted to myself and buried my face in Bella’s hair. I really needed to stop comparing her to coleslaw. Most things didn’t compare to my favorite food, but nothing compared to Bella. She mumbled something in her sleep and snuggled closer to me. I propped my head up on my hand and watched her sleep while I debated if I should be grateful or not to whoever had been outside the door last night. Sleeping with Bella in my arms had been heaven, but now I wasn’t sure I wanted to go to bed alone in my own bed that night. And I’d been so damn thrilled about that bed.

Bella mumbled something again and started to stir. Before she opened her eyes, she smiled and turned around. Humming into the crook of my neck, she hitched a leg over my hip.

“Can we stay here forever?” she asked and kissed my neck.

“You’d hear no complaints from me,” I replied, sliding my palm up her leg. “Good morning, by the way.”

She giggled. “A very good morning. You give good cuddle, soldier boy. Do they teach you that in basic training?”

I groaned. “You’ve clearly spent too much time with James. Was it really necessary to put such an unpleasant image in my head this early in the morning? I was quite enjoying myself here.”

Her hot breath against my skin when she laughed made me shiver. Apart from the thought of cuddling with my drill sergeant, it was a perfect morning. We cuddled another hour – since I was so good at it and all – but then nature intervened. The bathroom called, stomachs rumbled with a different kind of hunger than the bed could satisfy, and certain parts of my anatomy needed a timeout. Cuddling was officially over.

“I’ll make breakfast,” Bella said. “You can be in charge of making coffee and turning the stereo on so we don’t hear James when he comes knocking. And he will.”

I sighed. “Undoubtedly.”

So breakfast was eaten to the sounds of REM while we pretended not to hear the insistent knocking on the door. Eventually it stopped, and we did the dishes together. It took half an hour because I discovered halfway through that kitchen counters and pretty firecrackers were a great combination. Even if I did end up with dish water in my hair. Small price to pay.

When I finally left Bella’s apartment, I found James having a picnic right outside her door. He looked up at me with narrowed eyes and bit into his bagel.

“Good morning,” I greeted him, inching toward my own front door.

“Finally! I’ve been waiting forever. Ugh, butter butt. I should be so mad at you for leaving me alone with the robbers and thieves and murderers and…and…sucktastic Embry!” he complained and then sighed deeply. “But I can’t. Not when you were making babies.”

I snorted and shook my head.

“I did spend the night in your bed, though,” he continued. “Not quite what I’d expected with you not being there and all, but not completely unpleasant.”

I made a mental note to change my sheets just to be on the safe side. “You know, I checked outside last night, and I didn’t see anything.”

“But someone was there!” he insisted, wide-eyed.

“I’m not saying there wasn’t,” I replied. “I’m just saying that there were no signs of anyone trying to break in. Maybe it was a drunk or something.”

“Or asshole Embry,” James said, shuddering. “Is the Indian princess okay?”

“Yeah, she’s fine.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course she is. Stupid me. Who wouldn’t be fine after a night with you? Lucky bitch.”

I cleared my throat. “I’m just going to go inside now. Carry on with your picnic.”

“Wanna join me, shortcake?”

“No thanks. I just had breakfast,” I replied quickly and hurried inside my own apartment.

After locking the door, the first thing I did was change the sheets. Then I showered and dressed before braving another trip outside. Thankfully, James was gone. I went down to the diner where I found Charlie in his office.

“Morning, Charlie. Do you have a minute?” I asked from the doorstep.

He looked up from his papers with a smile. “Sure, son. Have a seat.”

“Thanks,” I said.

I sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. I loved Charlie’s office. It was filled with military memorabilia and pictures of his family, and it was clear that he was surrounding himself with the things that meant the most to him. He also had an entire wall dedicated to pictures of himself and his buddies with various hunting and fishing trophies.

“Um, I wanted to talk to you about installing a second lock or maybe an alarm system upstairs,” I said. “Someone tried to get in last night, and Bella was really freaked out. Well, James, too. He hid under my bed.”

Charlie looked like he wanted to laugh, but his concern for his daughter won out easily. “Is she okay?”

I nodded.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’ll have an additional lock and an alarm system installed. I want my girl safe. But last night…that was me. Bella called me after you guys had closed the bar to tell me about a problem with one of the beer taps. I told her I’d look at it in the morning, but when I couldn’t sleep, I drove in to take a look last night. I saw that the light was still on in her place and went up to say hi, but I’d forgotten the key. I tried the door, but it was locked, so I ended up leaving. Clearly, I wasn’t thinking. I should have knocked, but I figured no one would hear it.”

I bit the inside of my cheek. The whole thing would have been funny if it hadn’t been for how scared Bella had been last night. I couldn’t really blame Charlie, though. Plus, even if Bella had been scared, I kind of hoped that our night and morning together had made up for it. However, I wasn’t going to tell her father that.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure she’ll understand when you tell her,” I said.

He groaned. “Yeah, that’s going to be fun.”

I suppressed a smile, but not well enough as he caught me and demanded that I be his bodyguard when he told her. I snorted, but agreed to go ask Bella to have lunch with us.

“You know, I hate that I scared her last night, but I’m glad she had you,” he told me before I left the office. “I’m glad you two finally opened your eyes and saw what was right in front of you.”

His phone rang, and he answered it with a smile before I could ask how he knew. Maybe Bella had told him, I wondered on my way upstairs. Or maybe he had freakish mindreading powers, which actually wouldn’t surprise me one bit. The guy had a knack for always knowing what to say.

Lunch was pleasant. Sue was generous as always with the coleslaw, and Bella surprised Charlie by not being upset about the night before. The wink she sent me told me why, but Charlie caught it, too, and smiled knowingly.

After leaving Upstairs after lunch, I went grocery shopping before work. I also had time to wash my sheets and watch Bella make cookies. It made a lot of memories resurface about Afghanistan and the cookies Jake had received from her for our squad. I’d have to talk her into making the peanut butter ones again. Chocolate chip were nice, but they weren’t peanut butter.

I hadn’t seen James since the picnic that morning, but I sought him out at the bar when he showed up for work a few hours after me. Bella had talked to him earlier and told him that Charlie had been the one at the door the previous night. According to her, he had only thrown a mild tantrum – whatever that meant for the diva.

I had been wondering what to get Rose and Emmett for their wedding, and I had come up with zero ideas. I needed help, and James seemed like the obvious person to ask since he was crazy about shopping.

“Hey, super shopper,” I called out to him. “Do you have any ideas for what to get Rose and Emmett as a wedding present? They registered for a bunch of stuff, but I kind of wanted to get them something a little more personal than a china set or whatever.”

“I am full of ideas, candy balls,” James replied and leaned against the bar next to me. “In fact, I am made of nothing but ideas. Good ideas, great ideas, naughty ideas, kinky ideas, sexy ideas, fanta-”

“Wedding present ideas?” I interrupted.

“Those, too. And I know the perfect thing you could get our clumsy beauty and her hunky piece of man meat,” he said, nodding enthusiastically. “Sex toys.”

I sighed. I should have known. “Sex toys?”

“Yup. Every married couple should spice up their sex life. Now, I’m thinking handcuffs, a whip, dildos – there’s no such things as too many dildos even if Rose has a whole drawer full already – and as a special treat for Em-”

“Thank you!” I interrupted again. “I think that’s enough. I really don’t want to think about their sex life, and there’s no way in hell I am giving them sex toys for their wedding.”

“You’re such a prude,” James complained. “I’m sure they’d like it better than if you gave them a stupid blender.”

“And you’re a freak. You don’t give someone sex toys as a wedding present,” I said.

“Ooo-kay. I see that I have an order to cancel for my favorite baby makers’ wedding,” he said with a pout.

I groaned. He was hopeless – completely and utterly hopeless. I didn’t even know why I continued to try.

Just then, Rose and Emmett came into the bar, and I told James to can it with the wedding present talk. The last thing I needed was for him to tell them that I was getting them dildos or whatever he could come up with. I said hello to them, but Charlie was the one who took their drink order. While getting Renee her third gin and tonic within the hour, I overheard Rose asking if she could borrow Bella for an hour for some very important wedding business.

Charlie said yes, and the girls disappeared upstairs while James and I pouted. James because he had wanted an invite to the very important business thing, too, and me because I wished I’d thought of asking to borrow Bella for an hour first. An hour with the pretty firecracker…the list of possibilities seemed endless.

It was a slow night, but Renee provided entertainment by serenading Charlie with a couple of Elvis songs that she had mixed together in her drunken state. He only got her to stop by promising to sit down and have a drink with her. As far as I could hear, he spent the whole five minutes praising Sue, and then he sprinted out back. It made Renee’s night, though, and James encouraged her by launching into a discussion with her about wedding dresses.

Since I had nothing better to do, I wandered over to Emmett, who sat at the end of the bar with his head in his hands. He kept muttering under his breath, and I cleared my throat to alert him that I was there.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He grunted before slowly raising his head and looking at me. His eyes were wild, and he shook his head. “I can’t do this. I have no fucking clue how to be a husband. Rosie will be expecting me to be a good husband – the good husband she deserves – and I just have no idea what to do. What does a husband do exactly?”

I suppressed my laughter. Emmett didn’t look like he needed to be laughed at right now. “Well, I don’t actually have any experience being a husband, but I imagine that Rose accepted your proposal for a reason – she must be pretty satisfied with how you’ve been doing as a boyfriend and a fiancé. I say you just keep that up.”

He seemed to consider it, but it apparently wasn’t the reassuring answer he had been looking for. “Charlie!” he called out loudly.

Charlie stuck his head out and looked around. When he saw that Renee was occupied at the other end of the bar with James, he shuffled down to us.

“Do you mind keeping it down, Emmett? I already escaped Renee once tonight – I don’t need her to catch me again,” he said, trying to hide behind me.

“Sorry, man. I need your advice, though,” Emmett replied. “In just a few days, I’ll be a married man, and I haven’t the slightest clue about how to be a husband. Sue seems like a happy woman, so you’ve obviously got it down. Help a guy out here.”

“Do you love her?” Charlie asked.

“Of course I love her!” Emmett replied, slightly offended.

Charlie chuckled. “Do you plan on making her happy?”

“I wouldn’t marry her if I didn’t!” Emmett replied, sourly.

Charlie gave a satisfied nod. “Then you’re good to go. Now excuse me, I have stuff to do out back. Far away from the crazy woman.”

He went back to his hiding hole, and Emmett looked at me incredulously. “Seriously? That’s all he has to offer after being married practically forever?”

I laughed. “I thought he nailed it pretty well.”

“Well, what the hell do you know? You’re neither married or about to get married,” Emmett grumbled.

That, of course, made me think about marriage. Being married. Being a husband. Having a wife. Weddings. Bella being Mrs. Cullen. I sighed and stopped myself before my mind could take the thought further. I was entering dangerous territory, having those kind of thoughts about someone who I didn’t even know how to label. Not just because we hadn’t talked about it, but also because she couldn’t just be one thing. She was…everything.

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying?” Emmett interrupted my thoughts. “Seriously, dude. I’m having a mental breakdown here, and I can’t even get a damn beer.”

“Sorry, man,” I apologized, not missing the amused look he sent me. “A pint of Guinness coming right up.”

When I had gotten Emmett his beer, Charlie came back out. I hadn’t even noticed that Renee had left, but apparently he had. He took over trying to calm Emmett down, and he did a much better job than me.

Between serving a few customers and being annoyed that the hour Rose had needed to borrow Bella had turned into three, my thoughts drifted back to the marriage thing that my brain had immediately connected to Bella. I hadn’t given marriage much thought over the years, mainly because there hadn’t been any serious candidates for the wife role, but now it sounded like something I actually wanted at some point – with Bella.

I snorted at myself. Perhaps I should take her on a date before worrying about marriage – that was apparently how most people did it. But what the hell did people do for dates in Forks? And when was I supposed to take her out when we worked most nights? Was there a manual or a handbook for this stuff? I supposed I could wait for when we both had a night off and then take her out for dinner and a movie. It just sounded too cliché and boring. There weren’t many options in Forks, and I didn’t know the surrounding area well enough to know what it had to offer.

I was switching out a keg when inspiration hit me. Instead of doing what everyone and their goddamn uncle did, I was going to plan a more personal date. Instead of waiting for a night off, I would make her lunch. The upside to that was that I might be able to dazzle her with my cooking skills, and it would be in my apartment where it would be impossible for the damn diva to stalk us, unlike in a restaurant where I wouldn’t put it past him to crash our date.

Instead of Hollywood’s latest million dollar piece of crap, I could show her some videos I had of Jake. Although…was that appropriate date stuff? I frowned. It probably wasn’t. And I didn’t want to make her sad. I had found them the other day in a duffel bag I hadn’t bothered to unpack when I moved in because it was mostly pictures and stuff from years ago – including stuff that had to do with my family. And now I really wanted to share the videos of Jake with her, but wasn’t sure how it would make her react. Ugh. Why was planning a simple date this frustrating?

***

A few days later, I had solved one of my problems. I still had no clear idea of what to do for a date that wasn’t so filled with clichés that it made me want to vomit, but I had gotten a wedding present for Rose and Emmett. It was a good thing, too, considering the wedding was in a few hours.

I hadn’t known them very long, but they had come to mean a lot to me, so I wanted something special for them. It had taken several hours on my rarely used laptop, but I’d ended up pretty satisfied with the long weekend in Vancouver I had booked for them. It was a million times better than a blender or sex toys, and it was more personal than what they had registered for. China sets and crystal glasses were nice, but making memories was more important than material possessions in my opinion.

I’d told Bella what I’d gotten them, and she had asked if it wasn’t a bit over the top. I didn’t think so, though. True love was worth celebrating and going all out for. When I told her that, she’d blushed. I’d wanted to tell her that I already included her in that statement, but I was afraid it was too soon. I couldn’t fuck this up. She was too important.

I went with Sue to the wedding. Bella was the maid of honor and Charlie was the best man, no doubt standing in for Jake. Sue told me that she’d stocked up on tissues because weddings always made her bawl like a baby, and she’d been looking forward to seeing Jake standing up for Emmett.

“Another reason to stock up on tissues,” she said shakily as we were shown to our seats, still trying to smile.

I returned the smile the best I could. There were so many things that Jake would miss out on – so many times where he’d be missed more than usual. Even though we’d be celebrating love and happiness that day, the hole that Jake had left behind would be clearly visible. Emmett wouldn’t have his best man, Sue wouldn’t get to see her boy all dressed up, and everyone would miss out on what could potentially have been the funniest best man speech ever. Jake had loved being in the spotlight, and every opportunity to crack a joke had been eagerly grabbed by him.

I sighed as we sat down. I tried to focus on how happy Jake would have been to see some of his best friends get married. Looking around, I saw some familiar faces from the bar. Forks really was a small town. Emmett was standing next to Charlie, looking slightly green. It made me want to laugh because I had no idea what the hell he was so nervous about. It wasn’t like Rose would leave him up there or say no. She might trip down the aisle, but that wouldn’t keep her from saying yes.

I was deep in thought until the music suddenly changed. My eyes widened and my jaw practically hit the floor when I got the first glimpse of Bella. She floated down the aisle in a strapless, deep red dress that hit right beneath her knees. I had overheard her talk to Rose and James about fall colors, but they clearly had it all wrong. With her creamy white skim and the red fabric, Bella was all strawberries with cream. And fuck me. I was ready to eat.