"His hand reached out, turned up, waiting for me.

He was asking for permission.

He was looking for something from me to say it was okay.

I placed my hand in his and smiled.

Returning the gesture, the corners of his lips pursed up into his heart warming smile. He tugged my arm forward pulling me close to his body. His head dipped down, his lips hovering at my temple.

“Let me show you exactly how you should be loved, Bella.”"

“Why are we doing this again?” Emmett whined for the fifth time in the last two hours.

“Because we were invited, and I want to go out and have fun for once. We are twenty-seven years old, not forty, lighten up.”

“Exactly Bells, we are twenty-seven. Why are we going to a masked Halloween party being held by twenty-two year olds?”

I huffed as I poked my head around the bathroom door to see Em sitting on the edge of the bed pouting. He had the dress pants of his costume on, but his shirt was hanging open and the jacket and tie were still hanging in the garment bag on the back of the door.

“What would you rather do? Sit on the couch and watch boring horror movies all night?”

“I am just tired Bella. I have been busting my ass to try to get this campaign done and I just want to relax. I really don’t want to stay out all night drinking.”

I threw my hands up in the air in frustration and growled under my breath.

This is exactly what I told Alice when she insisted we come.

Were those gifts he had sent me nothing more than that?

Were they not the thoughtful and sincere reminders of our past, our history like I thought they were?

Had he actually stopped chasing me, even after he promised he wouldn’t?

Was I that out of time?