A/N: This is my first ever Twilight fic. I wrote in a freak surge of creativity one night. I wrote it for my own pleasure and it was pretty fun! The entire thing is three chapters. I hope you enjoy!

Bella's POV

Restraint

Ch. 1

I had just fallen into a light sleep when Edward climbed in through my bedroom window.

I had tossed and turned for almost two hours earlier in the night. I would close my eyes, but it was like I was forcing them to stay shut. Too many thoughts raced.

The day that had just ended was too intense and thrilling to allow me to fall asleep easily. I kept thinking of Edward in the meadow, how his skin sparkled like a moving stone statue. My mind skipped from image to image… the wildflowers in the meadow, Edward's cool hands on my skin, his sudden reaction to my breathing him in unexpectedly.

Is it possible that this perfect being was able to touch me after revealing his secret? After telling me that his desire to drink my blood was overwhelming every time he was near me? It was hard to believe, but I didn't want him to go away. Not for a second.

It was half past one in the morning when I finally drifted off.

A short while later, I felt a hand on my calf. I was lying on my side and woke up to see Edward perched at the edge of my bed. He was looking down at his own hand that was holding my calf.

I felt my heart beat increase, but I didn't move. I just lied there timidly, my arm underneath my pillow, watching him.

Edward must have heard my heart, too. A crooked smile spread across his lips, but he didn't look up from his hand on my leg. He knew I was awake.

"How did you get in here?" I whispered. I sat up onto my hip. His hand slid down towards my ankle inadvertently as I sat up. He cupped his fingers around my foot. I was suddenly reminded again that Edward Cullen was touching me, even if it was through my quilt.

He was wearing dark jeans and a light blue button-up shirt. His cuffs were unbuttoned, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. I took notice of his smooth, muscled forearms.

My thoughts suddenly went to Charlie, wondering if he heard Edward climb up the side of the house.

Edward looked up at me. "I came in through the window." His crooked smile widened. It was too dim in my room to see what color his eyes were. "Don't worry about Charlie. He's fast asleep. Can't you hear him snoring?" he asked, as if this were an obvious fact.

I couldn't hear Charlie's snores. My door was shut firmly and Charlie's room was down the hallway. I had almost forgotten how hypersensitive Edward's ears were. I was going to have to get used to these special talents of his.

"I don't hear anything," I said, tucking my hair behind my ear.

Edward stopped smiling and seemed to look curiously at my face, studying it. In fact, I could have sworn he was looking at my ear that I just touched.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Just…observing," he said quietly. He stared into my eyes intently and I felt my face blush with embarrassment.

Edward looked back down at his right hand. He moved his palm back up to my calf, caressing it with his thumb. He was looking at his hand as if he didn't quite know what it might do. Like he was testing himself.

"I have to confess something to you," Edward said.

"Oh boy," I chuckled. What else could he have to confess to me? Wasn't the cat out of the bag now? You know, being a vampire and all.

He looked back into my eyes, a mischievous grin on his face. "I've been coming to your room for quite some time now. Always at night. I feel a bit silly about it, but…I couldn't help it. My curiosity about you was almost unbearable."

Wow. He's been watching me sleep? Now I felt a mixture of embarrassment and flattery.

He looked back up at me, his brow furrowed in worry. "Are you upset?"

"No—No, I just…" I smiled and looked down. "I'm going to have to stop wearing holey t-shirts and sweatpants to bed if I know you'll be watching me."

His expression changed to relief. "I like your holey shirts." He smiled and then stood up. He walked to my dresser in the corner of my room, next to the window. He opened the second drawer from the top—my heart skipped a beat, fearing he might open my underwear drawer by accident—and pulled out one of my t-shirts. It was a faded pink shirt that I wore only to bed. It was way too tattered to be shown off in public. Edward held it in his hands, feeling the fabric. Then he raised it slowly to his face, closed his eyes, and drew in a deep breath.

I didn't quite know what to say or feel at this moment. I just stared.

He let out his breath, and it looked like he was smiling. "Your room was very difficult for me to even set foot in when I came up here the first time," he said, placing my shirt back in its drawer, then turning to look at me. "Your scent in here is concentrated. It's on everything, in every crack in the floorboards, on your furniture... I stood in the far corner there" –he pointed to the opposite corner, the furthest spot from my bed—"because I was too afraid to get any nearer. But, every night I came I would force myself to stand closer to you."

"I wonder why I never woke up when you were here," I said, almost to myself. I crossed my legs under the covers.

"Oh, I can be quite silent when I want to be. I made sure I never woke you."

Edward came back over to me and sat at the edge of the bed again.

"How long have you been…visiting me? At night, I mean," I asked hesitantly.

"Oh, for about a month, I suppose. I like watching you sleep. It's sort of fascinating to me."

I didn't know what to say. Again, embarrassment and flattery washed over me, turning my cheeks red.

Edward must have noticed my blush. He raised his fingers and brushed them down across my cheek. I wasn't expecting his sudden move. The electric, cool rush his touch left behind made my heart stutter.

"I love it when your cheeks flush like that," he whispered, the crooked smile returning to his lips.

He brushed my other cheek with his fingers and I felt my breathing stop.

"Breathe, Bella," he said, putting his hand down.

"Sorry. It's just—you have no idea how that feels." I looked down, feeling shy about what I said.

Edward scooted closer to me. He put his finger under my chin, lifting my head up to look at him. He was now only inches away from my face. He was studying my expression—perhaps trying to figure out what I was thinking—and his eyes moved down, looking at my cheeks, my neck, my hair.

"Bella, if we are going to be with each other, there are steps I need to take," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"These feelings I have when I am with you—they are both exhilarating and torturous at the same time. I want to be near you, but I have two different desires that battle within me constantly. I have never felt this way before." He continued staring at my skin as he spoke, examining it.

"Neither have I," I said, looking at his lips as he spoke.

"I have to practice." He looked away, his brow furrowed in what looked to me like contemplation.

"Practice? Practice what?"

"Being near you."

He took one of my hands into his. His skin was so cold, but mine somehow was warming at his touch.

"Like how we are now?" I asked, looking down at my hand in his.

"Yes. But, I need to get used to your scent as well. It's extremely overwhelming when I haven't been around you for a period of time. If I'm away from you for too long—even for a day—it's like that first day in Biology all over again. I can't take the risk of ever hurting you, Bella."

I shivered slightly at the memory of his gruesome expression when he looked at me that day in Biology. "What do you intend to do in order to 'practice' being with me?" I asked.

"Well, among other things, I need to...breathe you. Deeply."

He took my hand and raised it to his face. I cupped his hard jaw with my hand as he closed his eyes and inhaled at my palm. His breath was unbelievably cool as he let his air out onto my wrist. "And I need to not expect what's coming. I have to be able to handle anything. What happened in the meadow today, the way I ran from you—I don't want that to happen again. You caught me off guard."

He looked at me, holding my palm to his face, and then, slowly, let go of it. I suddenly realized that he had given me full control of my own hand, and I let it stay there on his cheek.

Then, he said, "I want you to test me."

A/N: What did you think so far? Do you want to read the next chapter? If I get enough comments/reviews, I will post the next chapter right away. I'd love some constructive criticism! Thanks!