The sweet summer air sifted through the grass, blowing a breeze across Bella's sun warmed limbs. Edward's icy chest pressed beneath her cheek, a stark contrast that sent shivers radiating across her chest until they dissolved in the warm stream of her blood. She shut her eyes, threading her fingers lazily through the dirt in the earth below them.

Edward was still, a marble statue in their secret meadow. His only concession to life was the breeze that just barely ruffled his hair, and the flush of color on his kiss-bruised lips. She lay directly on top of him, stretched out across his lean body like a child cuddling her favorite blanket.

"Yes, Bella?" the marble beneath her rumbled. A blush spread across her cheeks. Her fingers had trailed, completely of their own accord, from the earth to underneath his shirt. She was tracing the cold stone of his stomach, marring the pale, sparkling skin with smudges of dirt. Leaning up a little and sliding off him, she pushed his shirt up a little farther up his chest. He laid still, giving her a curious look, but allowing her fancy.

His chest was smooth, completely unblemished by scar or freckles, and her eyes trailed across the wide expanse of his shoulders, down to his flat stomach and the thin line of hair that disappeared down his shorts. Reddening a little, she pulled her gaze up to the smear of dirt her fingers had brushed against his side.

"Bella?" Edward tried to sit up, but when Bella pushed back on his shoulder, he obligingly fell back on the sweet summer grass.

Brushing her fingers in the dirt, Bella deliberately cupped his chin, leaving a streak of dirt across the beautiful, strong lines of his jaw.

Rubbing one hand back in the dirt, Bella leaned down, slowly, to allow him to adjust to the sudden nearness of her scent. Her nose just barely nuzzled his cheek as she lightly left a kiss at the corner of his mouth. A second later she pressed a kiss to his jaw, and his breath, for he still hadn't broken the habit of actually inhaling and exhaling, caught in his throat. Her hand had pressed firmly onto his stomach during her ministrations, and as she trailed a serious of open mouthed kissed along his jawline and up to his ear, her fingers mimicked the path across his chest.

Unable to remain passive a moment longer, Edward cupped the back of her head, cradling her body with his other hand, and pulling her more fully atop of him. The movement slid Bella's hand across his chest, descending down until her fingers brushed the thin line of hair at his shorts.

Edward rolled them gently, trapping Bella beneath him and keeping his weight balanced over her on his feet and one hand. His free hand threaded up through her hair, releasing the silky strands and then smoothing across her cheek, pushing the rest of her hair behind her ear in gentle caress.

Bella let out a soft sigh as he pulled away, just enough to catch her gaze. Her hands had slid up the back of his shirt, rubbing the muscle there, until he captured her lips again. At the sudden move, her fingers scratched a path along his shoulder blade, and she felt him loosen his muscle so she didn't injure herself on his unyielding skin.

Edward had his feet outside of hers, his toes digging into the grass to keep himself hoisted above Bella, and effectively trapping her beneath solid, male vampire.

Both their feet were bare, and Bella wrapped one leg around his, soothing his cold with her heat. She paused, wondering if he would halt their caresses, but instead he let out something resembling a groan.

Did she do that to him?

Her toes slid along his calf, as if she couldn't bear to be parted with him. Edward dropped his rigid stance as she caught his lower lip in a kiss, bending a knee between her legs and balancing his weight on his elbow and leg.

After a few more tortuous moments, Edward let out another long groan that nearly ended in a growl as he tenderly pulled his mouth from hers and flipped over to flop heavily across the grass.

He reached out blindly, his fingers fumbling in the grass until he found her hand. He latched on tight, winding their fingers and pressing their palms together.

Pulling her hand toward him, Edward pressed his cool lips gently along the inside of her wrist, and sighed.

"Thank you, Bella." He let an eye drift shut, enjoying the rare moments in the sun and with Bella.

She was silent for a moment before giggling, a quiet, earnest laugh that warmed his still heart. He lazily opened one eye, raising an eyebrow and hiding a smile at her infectious grin.

Without waiting for him to ask, Bella pushed up his shirt again, and he looked down.

Dirt smudged the smooth expanse, up his sides, along his stomach, and one, perfect hand print across his pectoral. Bella giggled again, and he looked further down, noticing the dirt that trailed across his calf.

"It's on your face, too," Bella said, a little impishly.

Still a little confused as to her point, but willing to give her a smile anyway, just for lighting the dark spaces in his heart, Edward raised his eyebrow further.

"You're always so put together, so beautiful," she said, propping her head up with an elbow as she lay on her side, facing him. "I wanted to see what you would look like a little ruffled up." She gazed at him for a long while, studying his body.

"But you still look gorgeous," she said, just a little petulantly.

"Would you like me to go roll in that mud pile over there?" Edward asked, his voice completely serious. Bella checked his golden eyes, and saw the spark of laughter there. "Perhaps if you cannot see my skin for the mud you might reconsider your opinion?"

Smiling at his deadpan expression, Bella shook her head. "You'd probably still be beautiful. Edward, it's hard to keep up with you."

Now completely serious, Edward brought his hand to caress her cheek. "You are perfect, my Bella. Whether you are lying here, relaxing in the grass, or stuck in a downpour with the rain streaming down your face, whether you're in you pajamas before bed, or made up and ready to go out, you are beautiful, and vibrant, and alive," he said earnestly, his ocher eyes never flickering from hers. "You are perfect, and by some stretch of imagination, by some folly, you have decided to accept me as a companion. I could not wish for more, my love."

Horrified to find her vision blurring from a thin layer of tears, Bella blinked and gave him a tremulous smile. "Y-you sure know how to sweet talk a girl, Edward."

"It's only the truth, Bella," he said solemnly. Her continued trailing his fingers down across her cheek, down her neck and to the open scoop neck of her gauzy top.

When his mouth quirked up at the side, Bella furrowed her brow in confusion.

Then she saw the layer of dirt his fingers had left, and she let out a squeal of protest.

"Edward!"

He laughed, and she rammed her shoulder into his stomach, ending up on top of him, once more.

"That is not funny."

"Yes, love."

This was my first attempt at writing Twilight. I haven't read much in the Twilight fan fiction section, often reading Bones or Lois and Clark instead, so forgive me if there are a million Edward-and-Bella-in-the-sun stories. I'd appreciate hearing what you think... I wrote this for a friend of mine as a present, without planning to post it, but I finally decided to. Thanks for reading. :)

Laura