Of Smoke and Sandalwood
Omg, this is my first Twilight fanfic ever and I am so nervous about posting it. It's just a bit of fluff about Edward and Bella's physical relationship. I actually work in a porn store and know how important it is for people to grow in their sexual relationships and I believe it is perfectly normal for couples to delve into different things. I hope it's not too OOC, because I honestly don't know if this is something that they would end up doing after several years together. I don't even think this one qualifies as a full R-rating, but I think it's just a tad too much for a PG-13.
Disclaimer: I own nothing Twilight related, except for the dreams I have about Edward ::le sigh::
The bar was small and dark. A thick sheen of acrid smoke hung in the air, glinting like fog to her sensitive eyes, and the smell invaded her nostrils, stinging slightly. It made her think of all things cheap and tawdry, and she smiled. It was perfect.
There were very few people and most of them were sitting alone, drinking away divorces or deaths or other complicated things, too drunk to notice her. A couple of others were busy planning their nights with the hookers that hung off their shoulders or sat in their laps. With her hair falling down around her pale face and her simple outfit, it was hard for any of these drunken men to see anything other than a pair of breasts and an ass as she walked past them to get to the bar at the back. The bartender was the only one who spared her a second glance, but a flash of her teeth was all that was needed for his human instincts to keep him a safe distance away.
It really was the ideal place to do this. The atmosphere was perfect and there were very few people to eavesdrop. Bella smiled smugly to herself as she sat on a stool, looking down at herself to make sure her outfit had not gotten dirty, feeling as if the dust that floated through the smoke had sullied her. But no, her jeans were clean. They were tight enough to show off all her curves while not being flashy enough to catch immediate attention, and her blouse was much the same fashion. She reached up to undo the top two buttons of her blouse, making sure that she faced away from any man sober enough to notice the flash of pale skin that now showed through.
The ring was off of her left hand for the first time in years. But while she wanted to play her part fully, she couldn't bring herself to have it away from her completely. The thin gold band sat inconspicuously against her right ring finger, and she felt strangely off balance because of it. She smiled to herself nonetheless. What would Edward think of this small action?
They had not seen each other all day, did not know what the other would be wearing or when the other would show up. Like that mattered. Bella didn't doubt that she would know exactly when he walked through the door, though her back was to it.
But she underestimated him.
Behind her the bar door opened, sending a small chime, like a solitary Christmas bell, echoing through the smoky haze. She didn't even bother turning around, though the man smelled enticing enough. But that was not who she was there for.
If her mind had been on her surroundings, she would have noticed him moving towards the back of the bar, closer to her. As it was, she only noticed him when he pulled back the stool beside her and sat down in it. She paid him no mind.
But the smell of a very expensive cologne tickled her nostrils, and along with it a tantalizing underlying hint of sandalwood. It was a potent combination, and she felt the slight secretion of venom in her mouth. Out of the corner of her eye she looked at the man and almost laughed out loud, ruining their game.
His hair was styled differently tonight. He let the locks fall down into his face instead of keeping them up and away, as usual. It was darker, a more common brown that was so unlike the shiny, soft bronze. His eyes were also changed, a light blue that matched the button down shirt he wore perfectly, the dark black slacks emphasizing the lighter hue and making it seem all the more vibrant against the dim lights of the bar.
Bella suddenly felt embarrassed, as if she had not done enough to pull off their little skit tonight. But really she had been at a loss as to how to change her appearance much. Contacts were doable, based on his eyes before her, but she didn't know how to make any other drastic differences to her appearance now. Makeup would not conceal her pale skin and she had thought that no matter what she wore or how she styled her hair she could not change much about herself. She would have to ask him how he pulled it off later.
Off course, it didn't really matter that she looked exactly the same as she always did. This was her fantasy, after all. So the only one who really needed to change was him. And he had done a very good job.
She recovered from the sight of him and continued to pick through the little bowl of mixed peanuts in front of her, separating them and thinking about what to say to the gorgeous boy beside her. She was nervous, feeling a small, hysterical laugh building up inside of her. She cleared her throat, trying to dispel it.
Then, shyly, and reminding herself that she couldn't blush, she brought her hands to her lap, letting her left hand gently push her napkin over the side of the bar. Hoping her movement was precise, she pretended not to notice the thin white sheet of paper fall lazily through the air to land almost nonexistent on the boy's knee, hanging on more by one corner then anything else. If he had not been as aware of her as she was of him, he would not have noticed it at all.
He picked it up gently between two fingers, as though anything more would shred it to pieces in his hand, and placed it back on the bar, pushing it towards her. She noticed that his fingers were long and elegant and almost as white as the paper. Her mind drifted away suddenly, and she was imagining those same fingers moving across her body, running along her face, the tips pressing succulently against her flesh.
"I believe this belongs to you."
That voice. If she didn't hear it for a thousand years it would still be familiar to her. No amount of gel or cologne could change that. It was like melted caramel dripping down fresh fruit—smooth and rich and oh so good.
She turned to look at him fully and she felt a soft flutter in her chest where her heart should have beat. Behind the blue of his contacts there was a laughter in his eyes that she had not seen in years, since the first few times they had met at Forks High School. And on his lips there was the same smile from all those years ago, the one that she had hated in the beginning because it seemed like he was making fun of her somehow, trying not to burst out laughing at his own private jokes about her.
In her mind she was Bella Swan again, a 17 year old girl who had just come to Forks and was perhaps out alone in town, being a rebellious teenager. It was getting easier and easier to fall into her role.
She smiled at him sweetly. "Thank you." She steeled herself, hoping that she would be able to pull off this little game. "Aren't you a little young to be in here?" she asked. She had leaned towards him just a little bit, though he didn't need her to do that to hear her. But they weren't vampires tonight; they were not even Bella and Edward. They were just two strangers who were each looking for a good time, and she played her role by appearing all too eager for him.
He smiled wider and his eyes grazed her face, and then slowly slid down to her chest. She saw his smile falter the exact way it used to when she had been human and the venom had filled his mouth, the tiny tug of the muscles of his mouth to pool all of the secretion towards his throat. "I would imagine no younger than you are."
She gave a throaty laugh. "Well you just might imagine wrong." She squared her shoulders, still facing him. The movement pushed her chest against the two halves of her shirt and pulled the material farther apart. She saw his eyes linger there longer than was necessary and a delicious shiver ran up her spine.
She tilted her head to one side, the movement slightly exaggerated—she wanted to be sure that a piece of her hair fell into her face. When it did, she let it linger for a minute or two, feeling her long eyelashes get tangled softly in the fine hairs. She knew him well enough to know that he would want to push it out of her face, to touch the silk threads and to see her eyes more easily.
Of course, she was right.
His hand twitched slightly in his lap once, then again a few seconds later. She smiled to herself proudly. If he had been just Edward at the moment, he would have done it already. But he was trying so hard for her. And she wasn't making it easy for him, she knew.
She timed it just right, so that she was sure he was watching her. Just when he had enough of the temptation and was about to lift his hand to her face, she beat him to it. Her ring-less hand reached across her face to gently place the strand of hair out of the way, and she saw his eyes glint in the darkness as he took in her bare fingers.
For a second there was something dark and wild staring back at her from behind his usual friendly and warm eyes, something timeless and seemingly out of her grasp, and she caught her breath. Then, in the next instant, he looked like a cat that caught the proverbial mouse. A smug little smile crawled its way across his lips and he leaned back haughtily in his chair.
"Tell me, what's a good-looking girl like you doing out by herself on a Friday night?" he asked, his voice decidedly nonchalant.
Bella flipped her hair out casually, knowing that her scent would drift towards him and hit his nostrils like a tidal wave. She watched as the muscles in his mouth twitched again. "Actually, I just dumped my boyfriend." She laughed loudly, thoroughly enjoying herself. "Left him sitting at the dinner table at this fancy, high priced restaurant and just walked right out."
He smiled, too, as if picturing the scene happening in his mind. "I bet he deserved it. You're too pretty for him anyways." The crooked smile crept back, tugging up one side of his mouth.
Bella smiled shyly at him, actually flattered. "You don't even know who he is," she said.
Edward shrugged his shoulders and the movement caught on the wide planes of his chest, pulling his shirt taut in just the right places. "He could be Narcissus. You would still be too pretty for him."
She looked away, embarrassed and pretending to hide a blush. "Well, it's not like that matters. Now I'm all alone on a Friday night."
He leaned in slightly, and the smell of sandalwood floated over to her, so unfamiliar that it sent her senses buzzing. "I can take care of that," he whispered. He was now just inches away from her, and his breath brushed against the skin of her neck, giving her goose bumps.
She mentally shook herself, using all the strength she could gather to ignore the feeling that was growing in the pit of her stomach. Of course she could just lean in and close the distance between their lips, but where was the fun in that? Their game had just started and she wanted to see how long she could resist him. So, sadly, she leaned slightly away from him—not enough to make her seem uninterested, but just enough to help her keep her head clear.
She grinned devilishly, trying with all her might to dazzle him the way he stilled dazzled her after all these years. "Are you coming on to me?" she asked innocently, batting her eyes in a way that implied that she really wasn't sure—but biting her bottom lip in a way that said she liked his come-ons.
He laughed deep in his throat and closed the distance between them again. He had to get up out of his chair to do it, and now he towered over her, looking down at her and moving his body lewdly close to hers. "Isn't it obvious?"
As soon as he had moved out of his chair she had held her breath against his sweet new fragrance, knowing that if she breathed him in one more time it would be all over. This really wasn't fair, how he was almost throwing himself at her. How did he expect her to last against this kind of behavior? Of course, she knew that the answer was that he didn't expect her to.
Well, she would just have to show him how much self control she actually had.
"No," she said sweetly, but there was a stubborn edge to her voice that she made sure he noticed. "Try harder." She turned her head slightly so that she could take a breath, but the familiar burning started in her throat anyway, and she knew that she wouldn't last much longer.
She couldn't be sure, but he seemed slightly put off for a second. But before she could be sure, he was back in the game, moving away from her slightly to give her some leeway. "Can I buy you a drink?"
Mentally, she cursed him. His voice had taken on that soft, sensual tone that he used when he wanted something he knew he would get no other way than through sheer persuasion. Like silk on satin, completely smooth with just the right hint of masculinity behind it. If she had been standing her knees would have buckled.
Another deep breath to calm herself, but this one didn't help nearly as much as it hindered, the smell of designer cologne all around her now. It was not something that she recognized on him. He must have bought it specifically for tonight.
"I'm sorry," she said coyly, turning away from him and smiling at her amazing will power. "But I don't take drinks from strangers. You can never be too careful nowadays, you know?"
He stared at her then, all humor gone from his eyes, the smile no longer tugging at his lips. In place of his usual face there was now a serene mask of beauty, and when he spoke his voice took on all its former charm from the days when he tried to persuade little old ladies to change his class schedule. "But if you don't get drunk, how am I supposed to get you to sleep with me?"
Bella lost herself in his eyes, truly a stranger's at the moment, and had to literally pull her mind back into the real world and focus on their game. If she had still been human she knew without a doubt that there would have been no way she could have resisted him in that moment, stranger or not. Her mind struggled to come up with words—not even words that were charming or pithy, just ones that made any kind of sense at all. "I guess you're just going to have to try harder," she breathed, and it felt like she was talking past her heart in her throat.
A little playful frown stole across his face, making his perfect skin bunch up in a knot on his forehead as his eyebrows came together, his lips pulling into a hard line. She had the silly urge to push the knot on his forehead down with her finger, to try to smooth it away. Then she smiled in spite of herself—the thought suddenly flashed across her mind that he had really planned on that line working on her, and now he was truly disappointed, no matter how fake he made his frown seem.
"Don't be discouraged," she said playfully. "It won't be too difficult for you to get what you're wanting." She winked at him, trying to keep the smile from breaking out on her face; she figured it would just make him mad that he was, apparently, having no effect on her.
"Your damn right it won't," he said forcefully, and suddenly he was leaning in to kiss her, and it felt like the world exploded around her. The tiny, dingy bar disappeared and a tingling sensation erupted deep in her belly. A part of her mind yelled, Wait! This isn't fair! But then all thoughts were promptly drowned out as his fingers found their way into her hair and his mouth worked feverishly on hers.
She opened her lips and tilted her head back to taste him better. Her hands found their way to his chest, her nails clawing gently at the fabric of his shirt, her mind well aware that if she wasn't careful enough she would rip the fine threads to pieces.
"Where do you want to go?" he asked, pulling his lips away from hers and moving down her jaw, trailing wet kisses to her neck.
"My car," was all she was able to get out in a voice she didn't really recognize, and he grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. She fumbled with the keys until finally, laughing at her, he took them from her hand and unlocked the door himself. He slid in behind the steering wheel and pushed the seat back all the way, then reclined it slightly. He looked up at her expectantly from inside the car, his legs apart and his eyes dark with desire.
Butterflies actually beat against her stomach, something that she had not felt since before she became a vampire. They had never done it like this before, in a car, in a parking lot, feet away from a sidewalk. Edward was always more conventional, preferring to keep things in the bedroom. And certainly never out in public.
But his hand gripped hers firmly, reassuringly, and he pulled her gently into the car, settling her on top of him, straddling his legs. The car door closed with a soft thunk, and it was as if that small sound closed out the whole world. All she saw was his lovely face, his dark hair falling across eyes that had become golden brown again with the disintegration of his contact lenses. She was so close to him that she could pick up his scent underneath the cologne and sandalwood, musky and very familiar. His hands came up to caress her body and she bent her head to kiss him, pushing herself against him in the most indecent way. Their breathing turned ragged as they began to claw at each other's clothes, moving awkwardly in the small seat to get pieces of fabric out of the way.
What could have lasted all night barely made it into the double-digit minutes. All of the teasing and the games, the new smells and the atmosphere were like a heady wine, bringing out every touch and every kiss, making it feel more real and tangible than anything she had felt in years and breaking down her inhibitions until they lay crumbled at her feet. The glass windows around her sent a tremor through her body, adding to the feeling of forbidden pleasure that sent her mind reeling. Beneath her, Edward was frenzied in much the same way she was. Her nails dug into his chest, trying to find something to hold on to so that she didn't float away on the cloud of bliss that she was rising on, and she was sure that if he were capable of bleeding he would be doing it now.
Roughly, through the harsh breaths and clenched teeth, she heard him say her name, and his voice was no longer familiar but deep and animalistic, the vibration of the sound beating against her mouth and strumming her soul.
That was all she needed to completely lose herself in the moment.
"How did you cover up your smell?" she asked him lazily. Light spilt in through the windshield from a lamp post directly above the car, tinting his skin a pale orange color. They both lay in the driver's seat, Edward having fully reclined it so they could spread their legs out more easily. He had his arms wrapped around her, holding her to his chest, and she was laying more on top of him than beside him, the seat not wide enough for that. Their legs were entwined and tangled together beneath the steering wheel. It was not the most comfortable position by far, but they didn't mind as it gave them an excuse to be so close.
Edward chuckled, the sound reaching Bella's ear through his chest, making the vibration deep and distorted. "That was actually a lot of work," he told her, running his long fingers through her soft hair. "It's scented oils, and I rubbed them all over my skin this morning and then again this afternoon to make sure that it covered my scent up. It won't last very long, but it works better than regular cologne."
She played with one of the buttons on his shirt. "And the hair?"
"Its regular dye, but its temporary," he assured her.
She snuggled deeper into him, trying to burrow past the oils to his smell underneath, now that the game was over. "So what did you think?" she asked, shy again. She couldn't believe that they had actually pulled the thing off without bursting out in laughter or breaking character. It had been her idea, but she hadn't really thought it would work quite so well.
His arms tightened around her and his voice took on a slightly dreamy quality that made her smile. "It was amazing. We should have done this years ago."
They had talked about doing it of course, but had never really made plans to actually go through with it until a few weeks ago. Like most couples there was embarrassment and propriety to get over, the latter mostly on Edward's part. But with more time together than most couples would have, Bella thought it would be a good idea if they started playing with some options in the bedroom department. She had worded her request very carefully, knowing that if she asked Edward to play along with her fantasy, to give it a try for her, he would not refuse. As always he was all too eager to make her happy. He gave and gave and gave. He was a giver—that was what made him Edward. But Bella was going to make sure that he learnt how to take as well.
She reached her mouth up, kissing him slowly on his neck, her full lips pressing gently into his cool skin. "Next time," she murmured into his throat, and she felt his breath catch. "It's your turn."
Okay, so that is my first ever Twilight fanfic! I hope you liked it. I'm thinking of doing this in a vignette-type series, playing out some of their fantasies and stuff. I kind of have an idea for Edward's fantasy, but I'm a little stumped on parts of it. I don't want it to be too OOC. If you guys have any suggestions I will gladly consider them!