Building Castles in the Sand

by Kristylized

What do you get when you mix the pacific ocean, a game of chicken and a meddling family who knows far too much about your sex life? A day in the life of Edward and Bella, of course. Canon compliant post BD fluffshot.

Title: Building Castles in the Sand

Summary: What do you get when you mix the pacific ocean, a game of water chicken and a meddling family who knows far too much about your sex-life? A day in the life of Edward and Bella, of course. Canon compliant smutshot.

Pairings: Canon

Rating: M, for sexin'.

POV: Bella

AN: This oneshot was originally written for a contest, which I found out it actually wasn't applicable for, after I'd finished writing it. I'd intended to push myself to write it as a challenge to discomfort with writing smut. My beta and awesome friend Jana has always pushed me to try, so she deserves a lot of the credit here. Hope it's enjoyable as some pure cotton candy fluff. No angst here.

Please read, enjoy, review, whatever, and let me know what you think. Reactions here would be helpful for my future career in lemon writing, and determine whether I should be having one at all :P

xx

"Nessie! Are you hungry, sweetie?" I called to my three-year-old daughter, as she splashed in the waves of the Pacific Ocean, her skin luminescent in the bright, midday sun. I was thankful I didn't need to worry about slathering her with sunscreen. Her pale skin would burn relentlessly had it not been tougher than nails.

"Mo-ommy! Will you stop trying to feed me all the time? I'm fine." I rolled my eyes at her exasperated tone, and glared at the oversized cooler next to me, full of beach food she had yet to touch. It wasn't my fault she was the only one who would eat anything I prepared anymore. Well, her and Jacob. Living in a house full of vampires was a bummer for someone who enjoyed cooking. "Jacob promised he'd play water chicken with me," she continued, "Aunt Rose and Uncle Emmett are gonna play. Will you and Daddy play, too?"

I leaned back on my beach towel, sliding my sunglasses back into place. "Not right now, sweetie. Maybe later." I was enjoying the heat of the sun on my frozen skin too much to go splashing into the cool ocean water right now.

"Come on, Bells!" Jake pouted from his spot a few yards away, his puppy dog eyes widening pleadingly. "You're disappointing Ness."

I settled my lips into a hard, uncompromising line, a small smirk eventually escaping. "She'll live. Maybe if you stopped catering to her every whim, she would be able to handle a 'no' once in a while…" I wasn't a huge fan of water. I could swim, naturally, as I wasn't sure there was anything vampires couldn't do. I just preferred to stay warm and dry.

"Come on, Mommy!" We both turned to Nessie, who had her little hands resting on her hips, her frilly pink one-piece dripping with salt water. Though she was only three, she easily had the height and weight of an eight or nine-year-old, and the mind of someone older than that. She was still my baby, regardless. I felt suddenly nostalgic that she was growing up so fast. I'd get three more childhood years at most.

"Maybe you can ask Uncle Jasper and Aunt Alice," I suggested, nodding down the beach a ways, where Alice was sunning in a pair of designer shades and a bikini so small I wasn't sure if she was wearing one at first glance.

"Not a chance!" she called back, clearly eavesdropping. She flipped a page in Italian Vogue disinterestedly. "Though… in fourteen minutes Jasper will be an ass and dump me in the water. He's been thinking about it all morning," she explained casually. "Maybe then!"

Jasper looked a little affronted at getting busted for a plan he hadn't even executed, but smiled and shrugged sheepishly.

"Fine," Jake pouted, "Blondie might be crazy, but at least she knows how to have some fun." Rosalie growled warningly at him from her beach chair at the unwanted nickname.

I heard him mutter something about "boring vampires" as he walked towards Renesmee. He shot a smug smirk in my direction as he led her into the surf, as if to say, "look at what you're missing out on."

"That's alright," I said flatly. "I'm good right here. Be careful, though, you better not get my daughter hurt."

Jake rolled his eyes, "She's a half-vampire. What could possibly go wrong? She's never had a scraped a knee in her life. And you know Rosalie will throw the game for Nessie, no matter how hard Emmett tries to win."

Edward rolled onto his side to face me, from the beach towel next to mine. His eyes were covered by a pair of wayfarers, which he lifted atop his head to look at me without obstruction.

"You need to learn to live a little, Bella," he teased, "The game is called chicken, after all, and I think you're sending our daughter the wrong message. Cullens don't back down. Jacob's not going to forget this, either, he's thinking very nasty things about you on Nessie's behalf right now."

I smirked at my husband, adjusting the top of my halter tankini. Even as a vampire, I wasn't daring enough to brave a bikini, something for which Edward was inordinately pleased about. The silly, possessive vampire had declared that my body was his alone to be viewed in less than three square feet of material… a declaration made all the more ridiculous by the fact the only people who would ever see me in a bikini, had I chosen to wear one, were his related to him or imprinted on our daughter. We couldn't exactly go traipsing down public beaches, refracting light like precious gemstones.

Alice had insisted that we take a family vacation since she, Edward and I were about to enter our final year at Dartmouth at the end of the summer. Alice was the only one to go to college with us this time around, insisting she had always wanted to get an engineering degree. The rest of the Cullens and Jake had followed us to Hanover as well, involving themselves in various projects and businesses in the city. Alice had declared that after all the studying and hard work it was about time that we had all had some fun.

She'd rented a massive beach house with an even more massive stretch of private beach along the northern California coast. The nearest public beach was miles away and neighbours were non-existent, so there'd be no interruptions. I wasn't worried. We had a mind reader and a psychic on our side. No one would be getting anywhere near our little slice of summer heaven without Alice or Edward knowing it.

"Why should I care what Jacob is or isn't thinking right now? I have much better things to occupy my time." I grinned pointedly down at his toned marble form, clad in only swimming trunks. "Like staring at my husband." Even after three years of marriage, he still got a thrill out of me calling him my husband, so I made sure to do so often.

He beamed at me. "Only if I can stare at my wife." Hearing him call me his wife was just as nice.

"It's a deal," I bargained, stretching out on my towel coyly. His eyes darkened predictably, and my inner seductress whooped gleefully at the success.

"Daddy!"

Edward's head snapped up dutifully at the sound of Renesmee's voice, his eyes focusing on her small form, now perched on Jacob's shoulders. I sighed as he took off his 'sexy husband' hat to replace it with his 'daddy' one. I liked watching him play the doting father, but now was not the time…

"Yes, darling?" His eyes were affectionately locked with our daughter's.

"Please will you make Mommy play?" she pleaded. "It's no fun with only two teams." I rolled my eyes as he passed her pleading expression on to me.

He could never deny her anything, and I had to admit I loved seeing him settle so easily into the role of daddy after our daughter's unusual entrance to the world.

With the combined efforts of Edward, Jacob and Rosalie, Nessie was the most spoiled three-year-old on the planet. Nessie knew how to use each of them to her advantage. She knew there was no way I could deny Edward's dazzling ability. Even as an immortal I wasn't immune to its effects, so she had me in her pocket, too.

"Please, Bella?" He grinned charmingly. "It might be fun…"

I huffed in irritation at my own weakness for his too pretty smile. "Fine. But that's the last time that's working on me for a week!"

He grinned slyly, placing his lips next to my ear, kissing if briefly before whispering, "That's not what Alice's visions say. She has some very interesting thoughts about what is going to happen on this beach over the next few days, my love."

"Da-addy! Did you get Mommy to come, or what?"

"We're coming, sweetheart." He grinned, already moving to tug me up from my dry, comfy towel.

Once he'd pulled me from the safe haven of my towel, he didn't let go of my hand, holding it securely in his as he led the way down the beach, as if I might try to escape. I followed reluctantly.

Renesmee smiled angelically at Edward, kissing his check once we were floating in the water next to her and Jacob. "Thank you, Daddy!" He kissed the top of her head in return.

"Good one, Ness!" Jacob high-fived her. "You are the master at parent manipulation!" She giggled. Both Edward and I sighed in resignation. As if that wasn't already obvious. Our three-year-old had us beat and she knew it.

"Okay. Mommy, you gotta ride Daddy." Emmett snorted at our daughter's word choice. She shot him a quizzical look, narrowing her eyes when she saw he wasn't in position. "Uncle Emmett! Aunt Rose has gotta ride you too! See how I'm sitting on Jacob, like this?" This time he couldn't contain his laughter.

"Hear that baby?" He wrapped an arm around Rosalie's waist, his hand mysteriously disappearing under the water to regions unknown. "We've gotta do what our favourite niece says!"

"Shut up, Em."

While Rosalie and Emmett bickered, I crawled up onto Edward's shoulders, circling my legs around him. He grasped my thighs with strong hands, holding me in place.

"Uncle Em! Aunt Rose! Hurry up! Mommy and Daddy are doing it better than you guys."

Emmett looked affronted. "Don't speak about things you don't know, kid! Anything your Mommy and Daddy can do, Rosie and I can do better."

Nessie rolled her big brown eyes. "Whatever. Okay, when I say go…"

I tuned out the rest of my daughter's instructions. I knew the basics of the game. Rules would be pointless anyway. I didn't have to have Alice's psychic visions to know that Jacob and Nessie were going to win. There wasn't a single person involved in the game, with the exception of Emmett, who was willing to fight fair against my daughter. But he knew if Rose wasn't happy, he wouldn't be happy, because certain things he'd deemed necessary to his health would be withdrawn.

Edward was just as competitive as his brother (which was probably related to the fact he was stubborn beyond all belief) and he loved to win (which was also probably related to his stubbornness), but he loved our daughter more than just about anything, a fact which made me love him more.

I knew Edward and I were the weak team in this situation. Jacob and Emmett were both hulking forms. Edward wasn't short or unfit by any means, but there was no way we were talking on either of the Jolly Green Giants.

"GO!"

Instantly we all scrambled as far away from the terrible twosome of Jake and Nessie as possible. Nessie, giggling wildly, immediately began barking orders to Jacob, declaring they were "going to get Aunt Rose first." I sighed in relief that my torture by faux drowning would be delayed.

I was content to watch from afar as Rose and Em were taken down.

I tugged at Edward's hair, knowing he found my relief funny; I could feel his shoulders vibrating under me. I'd be willing to bet the rest of my forever with him that he was smirking. I didn't even need to see his face, I knew he was. "Shut up. You know I don't like water that much. I hate it when I get wet."

Somehow I knew his smirk had grown bigger at my unintentional innuendo. "Seriously, Edward? You're getting to be as bad as Emmett. What happened to the prude I knew in junior year of high school?"

"I'd say you… seduced… him right out of my system… if I were to put it politely," he teased back, lowly. "Besides, my love, you're making dirty remarks and tugging at my hair. You really expect me to think rationally?"

"You still have a mind, don't you?" I teased back.

"So I've been told. Though I think the more time I spend with you and our kid, I'm slowly losing it. That combined with the insanity of my family..."

I stiffened when Nessie glanced our way, causing Edward to chuckle. Again. I tugged at his hair purposefully, eliciting a groan. "Love…" I ignored the throaty noise, despite the tingles it sent shooting through me, straight to my lady parts.

"Edward, can we move a little further away, please? She's eyeing us. I think we're next."

"Of course we're next!" He chuckled. "There's no one else."

"Not helping!"

"Relax, love," he soothed, using his most calming voice, and damn if it didn't work on me every single time. "Look how happy she is," he nodded towards Nessie, who had nearly detangled Rose from Emmett, despite Emmett's valiant attempts to hang onto his wife. She was stubbornly hanging on by a leg, which she'd curled around his torso. Apparently Rose had a competitive streak, too. She wasn't going to go down easy.

"You think maybe if we help Ness, she'll show us some mercy when it comes time to dunk us?" I whispered.

"Couldn't hurt to try," Edward shrugged. A moment later, we were in the fray. I clung to Edward's hair with one hand, tentatively reaching out to shove Rose with the other.

"Come on, love. Give me a little credit, please?" Edward implored, an indignant edge to his tone. "I won't let you fall." He tightened his grip on my legs pointedly. "You can at least use both hands. Besides, you should know that the hair pulling is driving me insane, and since we can't do anything to rectify a… situation, with an audience present, I'd appreciate it if you would be so kind as to cease and desist. Immediately."

"Again, not helping!" But, I did as he said, using both hands. The extra limb added to the tussle gave us the push we needed to finally detach a screaming and flailing Rosalie from Emmett.

"Thanks Mommy!" Nessie squealed. She'd hardly gotten the words out before she was lunging for me, Jacob egging her on.

"Get them, Ness!"

"Run, Edward! Run! Aren't you supposed to be fast?" I screeched, clutching onto my husband's hair. In retrospect, that might have been a part of the problem. Running with a situation couldn't be fun.

Ss they say, resistance is futile.

Nessie and Jacob, flanked by a now drenched Rosalie and Emmett were hot on our heels. In short order, the four of them had yanked me from Edward's shoulders, sending me gasping and sputtering to the ocean floor like dead weight.

When I popped back above water, Edward reached for me, hugging me consolingly as Nessie and Jacob whooped in victory in the background. Rosalie and Emmett looked smug. Their expressions clearly saying "not so much fun when it's you being double-teamed, is it?"

"See?" Jacob asked gleefully, "Wasn't that fun?"

"If I were the winning team I might think so, too, Jacob. I'd love to see how you'd do without my daughter to protect you?" I growled.

"Lighten up, love," Edward teased. "We're on vacation!" I couldn't help but snicker at the fact that Edward – Edward, of all people – was telling me to lighten up.

"Are you challenging me to a rematch?" Jacob asked loudly, ignoring Edward and standing to his full six feet, five inches. "Because, if you are, you're going down."

"No. No. I'm good. Thanks." I hid behind Edward, clinging to his back for protection just in case Jacob decided a verbal rejection wasn't enough.

Thankfully, Nessie decided she was bored with water chicken, and wanted to build a sandcastle. Jacob, ever her obedient little lab, followed without another word to me, already asking enthusiastic questions about how many turrets she wanted and how high she wanted it to be.

Emmett chuckled, waiting until they'd retreated a considerable distance before declaring, "The two of you are insatiable, you know. You're playing in the ocean with your kid, and you still manage to be a couple of perverts talking about situations and shit. I never would have thought you capable, Eddie. Bella, please tell me your secret. You're a goddess."

Rose elbowed him, sniffing indignantly, clearly not finding the situation humourous. "You're lucky Jacob and Nessie were too busy terrorizing us to pay attention to the two of you. God forbid one of them ducked underwater. You're welcome by the way, I could have let them have you much sooner than I did."

If either Edward or I could have blushed, we'd have looked like a pair of tomatoes.

"JASPER HALE!"

Thank God for small miracles.

Just as Alice had predicted precisely fourteen minutes ago, Jasper had thrown her into the water, deflecting the attention from Edward and I. Her short black hair was plastered to her head, her Chanel sunglasses askew on her head, but for some strange reason, she looked pleased.

"How did I do?" she asked Jasper eagerly.

"Awesome," Jasper nodded enthusiastically. "If I didn't know you knew, I would have definitely thought you were surprised!"

She grinned. "Aw, thanks, baby."

She swam gracefully over to us, executing a perfect backstroke. "Hey guys. How's it hanging?" she asked, a barely concealed smirk on her face.

Emmett burst out laughing. "Good one, Ali."

Alice continued, ignoring Emmett's praise. "Bella, Edward, if you guys need a moment alone, Jasper and I will totally make sure that Jacob and Nessie stay out of your way. There's a nice spot about a mile down the beach to the north." She paused in consideration. "No, wait, Bella will complain it's too rocky. Try south, it's sandier. You'll like the sand."

If it were possible to explode from sheer mortification, I would have been a goner. I knew Alice had visions that she couldn't help, and I knew there was no such thing as a secret in the Cullen household, yet I continued, stupidly, to be surprised by how much everyone seemed to know about my sex-life.

The other four snickered as Edward and I stood clinging to one another, struck stupid.

"Dude, I'd trust Alice on this one. Sex on the beach is never a bad thing. Go get some!"

"Well, Emmett, when you put it like that…" Edward drawled sarcastically, snapped out of his daze by his ogre of a brother. I wasn't so lucky, I was still frozen like ice in twenty below weather.

"Guys, I'm just giving you some options, here." Alice explained calmly while floating on her back, as if we were merely discussing the weather. "It's going to happen no matter what, so you might as well embrace it. Look, if you need to pretend to go take a swim and 'hang out,'" she air-quoted, "that's totally cool."

"Gee, thanks for your permission," Edward said acerbically. "Erase the 'pretend,' and change the 'hang out' to 'avoid you' and I think we're in business. Come on Bella, let's get out of here before my invasive, meddling family decides further advice is in order."

Edward grabbed my hand, holding it tightly, his strong grip an indicator that he was embarrassed by the open-panel discussion of our sex-life. I felt slightly better that I wasn't alone in my mortification.

"Have fun!" Emmett boomed as Edward dragged me away. The comment was immediately followed by his boisterous laughter. If I'd turned to look I'm sure I would have seen three other smirky vampires.

Well, at least Carlisle and Esme hadn't gotten involved, and the others hadn't alerted Nessie or Jacob as to what was going on. The two of them were still playing on the beach, toy shovels in hand, blissfully ignorant. I had to laugh at the image of six foot five Jacob puttering about with a tiny plastic trowel that barely fit in his large hands for the sake of my daughter's happiness. The things we do for those we love.

Edward's grip tightened marginally, as he dragged me out of sight and hearing range of his family. We were already a few miles down the coast line, and it was blissfully empty of other beachgoers, as I knew it would be. Edward wouldn't lead me into trouble.

We walked along, hand in hand, our feet splashing in the crashing waves. I couldn't help but notice we were heading to the south. Feeling slightly wicked, I turned to my husband innocently. "So south, hmm?" I purred, "Decide to take Alice's advice, did you?"

Edward looked slightly pained. "Bella? You know I would never do anything to embarrass you. I just wanted to get us aw–"

"Well," I huffed teasingly, "that sucks. If we're going to get persecuted for the crime, we might as well actually commit it, right?"

Edward's eyes widened comically. "Bella? Are you actually saying–? Here? Now?" He was actually stuttering. I'd rarely heard him so much as stumble over a word. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Emmett didn't put you up to this did he?"

I narrowed my eyes back at him. "How did you know?" I wondered sarcastically, "Of course Emmett put me up to it; there's no other reason I'd want to have sex on the beach with my extremely gorgeous and sexy husband."

A tentative smile spread across his face. "You think I'm sexy?" After nearly five years together in a loving and committed relationship filled with nightly intimacy, he still had insecurity issues. Only my vampire.

I pretended to appraise his sculpted marble form, though there was really no need to pretend. Ogling my husband came quite easily to me. "Hmm. Yes. Do you really need to ask? It's not like I haven't said it before."

He shrugged sheepishly, wrapping his arms around my waist loosely, pulling our bodies close together. "I still don't believe it sometimes. You're so beautiful." He stroked my cheek, his soft skin sending tingles straight to my center. "Since I changed you I've been waiting for the moment you realize how beautiful you truly are, and recognize I'm no longer worth your time."

"Not going to happen," I asserted, "You're my mate. Vampires mate for life."

"Logically I know that," he grinned, "Mentally, my brain can't wrap around the fact that you're mine forever. I don't want it to, truth be told. I want to cherish you always, never take you for granted."

I laughed out loud. "If you cherish me any more, I think you might be in danger of smothering me, you silly man. I love the way you love me, and I'd love it if you'd love me right now, my love."

He grinned. "That's a lot of love. Anything the lady wants she shall have. Though you do know that Emmett will never let us live this down."

I shrugged noncommittally. "Since when do we let Emmett dictate our sex-life to us? Besides, I don't think he has any room to talk after we caught him and Rosalie in that tree last year. It was in a park for crying out loud. In the middle of the day."

He kissed my neck gently, lowering me down, so we were lying in the soft, wet sand, waves lapping at our feet. "Less talking?"

"Mmph, hmm," I hummed, as his lips pressed against mine. Four years of doing this and I never acclimated to their softness. Just the feel of them had my lady parts clenching tightly, begging for friction.

"Edward," I gasped, digging my nails into his back once his lips moved to my neck, their overwhelming softness torturing the skin there, instead.

I dragged them down his sparkling form slowly, knowing he liked the feeling of my nails on his back. It was funny that all those years ago, he'd called himself a masochistic lion. There seemed to be some truth to that statement, when it came to his preferences in bed. He loved nails and teeth and having his hair pulled.

He still treated me like I was a delicate lamb. I couldn't say it bothered me. The feeling of his long, pianist's fingers on my body, in any place or context, sent me reeling with pleasure. I couldn't imagine lovemaking being anymore overwhelmingly pleasurable than it already was with him.

At the moment those beautiful fingers were trailing across my stomach and the inch of skin showing between the top and bottom pieces of my swimsuit. He fluttered them teasingly under the hem of my navy halter top. The stretchy material gave way easily, his hand slipping under it to caress the skin around my bellybutton. I couldn't help but bend my head to watch his hand crawl further up my top, creeping towards my chest. His hand skirted playfully into the valley between my breasts, before quickly retreating.

"Edward, please," I begged, my voice unintentionally sharp with desire. He knew what a tease he was being. He reveled in it.

"Yes, love?" Evil, evil man.

"You know what I want," I growled, my voice throaty, choked with bliss.

"I do?" He asked, his eyes wide and innocent and beautifully golden. I melted a little inside. Those eyes were mine. He was mine.

"Yes."

"Oh," he pretended to realize what I was talking about, "you want me to remove your top?"

I didn't have to answer. He knew that was exactly what I wanted. The scrap of material was little more than a bother to me now.

He took his slow, sweet time ripping it from my body. It landed in a pile of scrapped blue fabric, bobbing uselessly in the water. My bottoms soon met a similar fate.

I hummed as he curled his body protectively above mine, as if to shade my nakedness from some non-existent onlookers.

He licked trails of fire along my rip cage, his tongue pausing to lap gently at the taut skin of my breasts. I threaded my fingers through his hair, tugging as he stopped to suck gently. After a few minutes of torture, I tugged his hair, guiding him to the other side of my chest, where he lavished a similar treatment. I moaned wantonly, as my skin pebbled tightly, almost to the point of aching. The line between pain and pleasure became distant.

Allowing him one final lick, I dragged his lips up to mine, tasting the faint salty flavor of my skin on his tongue. I knew left to his own devices, he would spend hours heaping pleasure onto my chest, though there was rarely ever any need. I was built ready for Edward and I wasn't in the mood for one of his nights of extensive foreplay. I wanted more southern areas to get the treatment they deserved, hell, had rightfully earned after all the torture he was inflicting.

I ground myself against him through his suit, reminding him what I wanted, sighing contentedly. There was nothing like the feeling of being naked with my husband, his perfect body pressed against mine.

Doing this in public, in the sun only added to the excitement. It had been a while since we'd had sex outside. In Hanover, there was no place that was really appropriate to get naked outside, and we didn't like leaving Renesmee to take overnight trips very often, even when Jacob or Edward's siblings assured us she would be in good hands.

The last time we'd done this had been when I'd begged him to take me in our meadow, on a visit to Forks to see Billy and Charlie. That memory sat proudly in as one of my top five favourite moments between us, ever. There was something about making love to a vampire in the sun. Not just any vampire, but Edward.

I had always known that Edward was inordinately beautiful; it was a basic fact of life. Seeing him in the sun only added to the thrill of watching him. I really loved the way his skin absolutely glowed, throwing light prettily. Each and every time I saw him in sunlight I had to resist the urge to submit him for consideration as the eighth world wonder. The urge was even greater when he was naked. It was only possessiveness of what was mineand mine alone that stopped me. I supposed some of Edward's territorial tendencies had rubbed off on me. Maybe it was just a vampire thing.

I stroked his back gently, immediately countering the act of tender affection by sharply biting on the juncture between his neck and ear. He groaned loudly in response, quickly moving to shed his swim trunks, without any prodding on my part. I immediately sought to aid him, snatching the flimsy material from his body before he could kick them down his legs.

I felt no guilt seeing them floating in a sad state next to my two piece.

I sighed audibly as he lowered himself to me, so we were once again pressed tightly together, him cradled between my legs. I shifted against him so I could feel his erection pressing firmly against my thigh. The thought of what he could and would do with it sent a jolt of electricity flying through me, my body spasming like I'd actually been shocked. The movement ground me against Edward. He let loose a carnal growl in response.

He left a series of wet kisses along my shoulder, trailing to my ear. "Mmm, Bella. You feel so good pressed against me like this. I need to take you now."

Was he really expecting a complaint from me? Doubtful. "Please." There was no hiding the begging tone behind the word.

The moment he slipped into me, angels sung and pleasure rocketed through me. The gritty, grainy texture of the sand on my back was forgotten, and perhaps even aided in the pleasure of it.

Feeling bold, and wanting to test a sudden theory, I grabbed a handful of sand, smearing it over Edward's chest, making sure to catch his nipples with the gritty substance. He groaned loudly, his chest arcing towards me as the rock granules scraped against his sensitive stone skin.

"Holy fuck, Bella," he groaned, faltering in the smooth rhythm he'd set. I raised an eyebrow. Had Edward just swore? "Do it again." Of course I wanted to make him swear again. So I did. He responded with another groan.

A thrill of power shot through me. I really liked this surge of dominance thing. I flipped us over, so I was straddling him, my hands pressed against his chest for stability.

Edward glanced up at me, surprised at the sudden reversal. He tried to prop himself up on his elbows, but I pushed him back down, shaking my head at him teasingly. My hands on his torso ground the remnants of sand against him, causing him to groan. He stared up at me through a lusty haze, sending more tingles shooting through me.

Edward looked like he was about to say something but I started to move, and whatever words he had found were lost again, as he slumped back and allowed me to lead, my hips swiveling above his.

He reached for me numbly, stroking whatever skin he could reach. Within minutes we were both on the pinnacle of release, frantically thrusting up and down as we scrambled to push the other over the edge before we found our own. Seconds later, we were both freefalling, Edward clutching me tightly to his chest as we rode out the last metaphorical waves, literal waves brushing against our toes.

Edward rolled us onto our sides so that we were facing one another, his eyes wide and happy. "That was the best thing ever, Bella. We're doing that again, soon."

I grinned back. "Did you expect complaints?'

"No, but I thought it might be polite to let you know, so you aren't surprised when I start taking off your clothes off next time we're on a beach."

"Tomorrow?" I asked optimistically.

"Later tonight?" he rebutted, just as hopefully.

"Deal." I grinned. "But maybe we should head back for now… before Emmett and Alice get too smug. Or Jake and Nessie wonder where we are. We can always sneak away again."

Edward's returning smile was brilliant, and accompanied by an eager nod. "I love sand."

I nodded absently in agreement, searching for our abandoned clothes in the water.

A horrific realization settled upon me as I scooped up the fabric.

"Edward?" I asked, panic lacing my voice.

"Yeah?" He returned, dreamily.

I held up the tattered remains of cloth that had once passed as swimsuits. "What the hell happened to our clothes? How the hell are we going to get back, now?"

The look of pure terror on his face was priceless. Or it would have been, if I weren't internally panicking.

"Oh fuck."

Fin.