One Cold Night
by JA Mash
Beta'd by MidNight Cougar... written for Andrea... Happy Birthday babygirl! xo
~o*O*o~
At some point during the party, Edward manages to snag the sweet spot right in front of the fireplace. Jasper and Alice's house is pretty awesome altogether, but the fireplace in the living room is Jasper's pride and joy, smooth grey stonework and a polished wooden mantelpiece. Edward settles himself there, the warmth from the fire already heating his clothes and seeping deep into his skin. He nods and grins at the guests he knows, but a lot of them are from Jasper's office or Alice's firm, and Edward is content to smile politely at them from a distance.
Not long after, Jasper walks by, hands him another beer, and says slyly, "You sit by the fire, you gotta keep it going."
Edward reaches immediately for the poker. "You think that's a hardship?" he retorts, raising an eyebrow.
Jasper grins. "I think you shouldn't wave that thing around, you numbskull. Seriously. Don't break my stuff."
"Yeah, yeah." Edward rolls his eyes.
It's not too bad to hang out at a party with an iron poker in your hand, actually. People tend to drift to him; the fire attracts everyone, especially on a cold night like this. Edward finds he doesn't mind because it allows him the opportunity to avoid most of the awkward small-talk scenarios you find yourself involved in at parties. Plus, he gets to mess around with a fire, and that's never boring.
By the end of the night, Edward is warm to the core. He hasn't had enough beer to feel drunk, but he thinks he's a little high off the heat of the fire.
Emmett was his ride, though, and he seems to have disappeared. "I think he got lucky," Alice tells him when Edward finds her near the bar in the kitchen. "If you can believe it."
Edward's pulling out his phone to call a cab when Jasper says from behind him, "No, wait! Bella's totally going in your direction."
And that is how Edward unwittingly turns around and comes face to face with Isabella Swan. No friendly warning or anything.
He hopes it's the lingering warmth from the fire that makes his face suddenly hot. Staring into the fire all night is definitely the reason he has to blink away sparks from the edges of his vision.
Definitely.
"You know Bella, right?" Jasper asks, smirking a little.
Bella smiles at him, which is only halfway to mind-blowing. Edward tries to reassemble his scattered brain cells.
He noticed her earlier in the evening, of course; she's always hard to miss. Tonight she's wearing a deep blue dress with a low neckline that shows off the swell of her breasts. She's got a dark grey shrug-scarf-thingy over her shoulders that's shot through with silver, and it catches the light whenever she turns.
Edward manages to recover his higher brain functions to nod along, as Jasper tells Bella where Edward lives. Bella shoots him an indecipherable look and then grins, a quicksilver flash of teeth. "Sure. I'm going right by there."
"No, you don't—I can call a cab," Edward says feebly.
"It'll be hell getting one in this weather," Alice points out, very unhelpfully.
"C'mon," Bella adds. "I'm heading out now, so you might as well come along."
She kisses each of their hosts on the cheek and then heads straight for the front door. Alice and Jasper are wearing identical smug grins when Edward looks helplessly at them.
"Thanks for that," he mutters. Alice gives him a little half-wave, and Jasper just leers and shoves him none-too-gently after Bella.
The last few guests are sinking low into the couch cushions or collecting coats and bags by the front door. Edward finds Bella there, halfway in the coat closet, pulling on a pair of jeans.
He blinks at her, and then goes still as he gets a flash of pale thigh when she hikes the dress up to her waist and tugs the jeans over her hips.
She catches his gaze. "You didn't think I was going out in that weather in this thing, did you?" she asks, amused.
"Are you sure you're okay to drive?" he inquires softly.
The look she sends him makes his stomach flip over. "Don't worry," she replies easily. "I'll get you home safe."
They're both quiet as they pull on their winter coats. Edward tugs on his gloves, too, but stuffs his hat back into his coat pocket. It makes him look like an idiot.
He almost regrets that decision the moment he opens the door. The snow is falling heavily, and the front yard looks completely transformed. It's not windy though, and there's no real bite to the air. Someone behind him, nevertheless, lets out a small shriek as the cold wafts into the house. Edward quickly pulls the door closed behind him, and then it's just the two of them standing on the front stoop in the winter wonderland of snow.
"Wow," Bella says softly. She turns her face upwards, and Edward watches for a moment as the flakes catch in her long eyelashes and melt on her flushed cheeks. Then she's glancing at him, a grin on her lips, and moving, striking out for her car.
They have to tramp through a small snowdrift to reach it, their feet sinking deep. The bottom of Edward's jeans get soaked through, and he can feel his socks getting wet.
When he slides into the passenger seat, Bella's already got her key in the ignition. The radio comes on, but she clicks it off immediately. They sit for a few minutes, their breath steaming the windows of the car as she lets it warm up.
Tomorrow the roads will be icy, Edward thinks, but they probably won't be too bad tonight. He thinks about offering to drive—it seems like the chivalrous thing to do—but he's already questioned her once, and anyway, Bella looks at him sideways and quirks her eyebrow as if she knows exactly what he's going to say. So, he sits back, peels off his gloves, and doesn't say anything.
Bella puts her foot on the gas and they slowly ease away from the curb and onto the road. The tires crunch in the snow and it sounds loud in Edward's ears, even above the noise of the engine.
There's a quiet stillness to the world in a snowfall. Even though they're driving, moving too fast to fully experience it, Edward can feel all the edges of that strange silence, the way the neighborhood is stilled under a layer of snow, transformed into something unfamiliar, white and beautiful. The landscape they pass through has a dreamy quality to it; outside the car the rest of the world is half-hidden and mysterious behind the curtain of thickly falling snow. Even the corner where Edward usually turns to leave Jasper's neighborhood is barely recognizable under a coating of white. And they're alone together in the warm and comfortable cocoon of Bella's car, and it feels incredibly intimate.
They drive in companionable silence. Bella keeps her gaze forward, concentrating on the road, and Edward takes the opportunity to drink in her profile, the sweep of her hair, the tilt of her nose, the plumpness of her lower lip.
"So, Edward, are you a pyromaniac?" Bella questions. She doesn't take her eyes off the road.
"I—what?" Edward chokes out, startled.
"If you could've spooned that fireplace tonight I think you would've," she comments.
This shakes a grin out of Edward. "Well, the stonework is of especially good craftsmanship," he states.
"And that's what does it for you, huh?"
"That and a good sense of humor," he says. "But sadly, the fireplace couldn't deliver."
"Damn. You would've made such a good couple."
He glances at her again, trying to be subtle but probably failing. He's seen her around for a good while now—she works with Alice, and they have the same circle of friends—and Edward has obviously been unsubtle enough about his crush for even Jasper to notice. So—probably not very subtle at all.
"What?" she asks, without looking at him. The yellow streetlight strikes her face and she looks breathtakingly gorgeous.
He manages to refrain from blurting Nothing, which is his immediate impulse. "Tell me," he says instead, "did you meet any inanimate objects at the party?"
She laughs and it makes Edward's heart speed up hearing it.
"Me and my wineglass got very close," she answers. "But he wasn't ready to commit, so..."
"I hear they're pretty fragile," Edward says, trying to keep a straight face.
She rolls her eyes at him. There's a smile on her lips still, and her fingers are tapping lightly on the steering wheel. She's wearing grey knit gloves and Edward wishes he could pull them off, interlace their fingers, and feel the warmth of her palm against his.
He's starting to feel kind of ridiculous.
He directs her down his street. It looks different, all snow-covered and quiet. The streetlights cast a warm, yellow glow over everything, catching the snowflakes as they flutter softly to the ground.
They pull up in front of his building. Bella doesn't kill the engine, though she does put the parking brake on.
"Thanks again for the ride," Edward says, and it sounds pathetic in his own ears.
"Any time," she replies, and really, that's a better opening than he could have asked for.
"I'd love to take you to dinner," he says. Her mouth opens a little—maybe in surprise—and his stomach abruptly drops. He barges on, "D'you think... I—I mean, could I give you a call sometime?"
There's a pause. Then: "Yes."
She's smiling, finally turning to face him, and he feels his whole body spark with relief. It's as easy as anything to lean towards her and she leans in too, her hand moving to his shoulder as he slides his fingers across her jaw and into the silky strands of her hair. They both hang in the air for a moment, their breath ghosting gently across each other's skin, and when Edward catches sight of the smile curving on her lips, he leans down to press their mouths together.
It's a little awkward at first: they're both still wearing their bulky winter jackets, Bella's still buckled into her seatbelt, and Edward's craning his neck at an odd angle. But her lips are soft against his, a little cold, and she tastes like red wine and lipstick. She makes a little breathy noise into his mouth when he grazes her bottom lip with his teeth, and drags her gloved hand across the back of his shoulders to duck under the collar of his jacket and rest heavy and warm at the nape of his neck.
She smiles at him when they draw back, and Edward feels a little light-headed. Fire-warmed and snow-dazzled and kiss-drunk. He grins at her.
"Nowhere with fireplaces though," she tells him. At his uncomprehending look, she adds, "Wherever you take me for dinner. I don't want you getting distracted."
He lets his gaze fall to her full pink lips, and then back up to meet her eyes. "Not possible."
She huffs a little at that, but she's still smiling. She tugs her gloves off with her teeth, and while Edward is suitably distracted by that, pulls his phone out of his pocket and programs her number into it.
When she hands it back, Edward sits there for a moment, grinning dumbly. She kisses him once more on the cheek before he gets out of the car. He waves as she pulls carefully away and drives off into the snow.
When he looks down at his phone that now has Bella's number in it, he realizes there's already a text from Jasper: Just tell me I'm the best friend in the world.
His fingers are getting cold, and he should really get inside and go to bed, but there's something warm filling his chest. So, he takes a moment, standing in the falling snow, to send: The best at being an asshole.
He can't seem to stop smiling though, so a few minutes later, after he gets inside and strips off his wet socks, he sends Jasper another text: But thanks, anyway.
~o*O*o~
When Edward wakes up, Bella's arm is slung across his stomach and one of her legs is wrapped around his. He turns over and props himself up so he's facing her fully, the movement causing Bella to sigh in her sleep and tug him closer. They're naked and warm under the comforter, and Bella's drooling on the pillow and making kitten-soft noises of contentment. Edward thinks it's pretty much the cutest thing he's ever seen.
Bella starts to stir, and Edward leans in and kisses her—just the sweet, chaste press of lips against lips, over and over until she blinks her eyes open and smiles sweetly at Edward. "Hi."
"Hi," Edward whispers back. He's grinning like a fool and doesn't care. "Sleep well?"
"Always sleep better when I'm with you," Bella says, making him grin wider. Bella beams back at him, showing her dimples. Edward can't help but dart out his tongue to lick one, and she wraps a hand around the back of his neck and pulls him in. Edward pushes the comforter off them and kisses Bella long and slow, parting his lips and nipping at the corner of her mouth.
Bella lets him in, always has, ever since the first time they kissed one cold night parked in front of Edward's place. Edward licks his way into Bella's mouth, oblivious to morning breath, and he sucks gently on her tongue, making her gasp and clutch at his muscled back. He runs a hand through Bella's hair, loving the way the soft strands separate and fall through his fingers, then pushes her onto her back and climbs on top of her, sliding into her warmth, so smooth it might have been an accident.
Bella can feel the mattress dip under her spine when she reaches up to bury her hands in Edward's hair. They kiss and kiss until they taste the same and nothing exists outside of their lips and tongues sliding against each other, skin meeting skin wherever they touch. Edward's hands are everywhere, roaming over Bella's chest and down to the curve of her hips and ass. Bella thinks her lips might be going numb, and there's a spit trail between them every time they break for air. It's perfect.
She rocks her hips up into Edward's and is met with smiling eyes and lazy answering downward thrusts. Edward sucks on Bella's bottom lip and lets out a breathy moan, and she just falls into him, pushing up to match his thrusts and eating at his mouth like she's starved for it. She comes first, clenching tightly around him as her orgasm rolls over her in waves. Edward follows right after with a groan of satisfaction.
Edward rolls off her then, stretching out his limbs and pressing his whole body into Bella's side. Bella turns her head and kisses him softly, happy and grateful, then snuggles closer into Edward's arms. They'll get up in a few minutes, take a shower, make coffee, feed the dogs. For now, though, this'll do just fine.
To all of you... I'm happy to be back... I sincerely missed the twi-fandom! Thanks for all your support! And hopefully you'll enjoy everything that's coming from me soon! xo
- Jessica