I awoke the next morning to the twittering of two brilliantly colored tropical birds that were perched on the railing of the balcony. I moved to stretch, but I found my arms bound by stone. I smiled broadly and pressed my face into his taut chest, coyly darting my tongue out to taste his sweet flesh.
"Good morning, gorgeous," he greeted me with a throaty laugh. His grip around my body loosened and I moved so that I could kiss his mouth.
"Shouldn't that be my line?" I teased, resting my forehead against his.
"No, most definitely not, my lovely Bella. You are truly and utterly the gorgeous one," he pushed my hair back from my face and pulled back so that he could tease the sensitive spot on my neck. It was useless to argue with him, and with the assault he was mounting on my senses with just his tiny kisses, I wasn't about to go trying to form proper sentences.
I felt him stir beneath me, his now rigid member poking into my lower abdomen. I giggled and sat up, feeling brazen.
"My, my Mr. Cullen, and what might we have here?" I teased with a sultry smile. I had no idea where this wantonness was coming from, but there was no way that I wasn't going to take advantage of the situation. I finally got what I had been waiting so long for last night, and now that I had it, I wasn't about to give it up.
"Bella!" He gasped as I wrapped my fingers around him and positioned him at my entrance. I grinned mercilessly as I sank down onto him, hissing quietly at the unexpected soreness that followed.
His hands flew to my hips and by the deep look of concern in his eyes, he was going to try and stop me. I shook my head and bit down on my lip, starting a slow rhythm. His hands remained on my hips, but his eyes wandered about my body, going wide as he noticed my small, pert breasts bouncing as I moved over him. I ran my hands up my tight stomach and slid them over the mounds of my breasts, teasing my nipples between my fingers. I moaned at the contact and upped my pace, my head lolling back in ecstasy.
What the hell am I doing? The back of my mind screamed at me.
I didn't know the answer to that question, and in that moment, I didn't care. I had gotten a glimpse of the most astounding whole-body experience last night and I didn't think I'd ever be able to get enough of it. And from the way that Edward was responding to my body, I could only gather that he felt exactly the same.
His cold palm dislodged itself from my hip and rested it against the top of my mound. I inhaled sharply as I felt his thumb come to rest on my clitoris, his eyes looking up at me expectantly.
"May I?" He choked out, straining to retain some semblance of control.
"I belong to you, Edward. Every last inch of me," I replied, dropping my left breast from my hand and reaching down to meet his where our bodies were joined. I moved his thumb over my bundle of nerves, my hand dropping away almost instantaneously as the sensation washed over me. The rhythm I had so carefully set dissolved into erratic thrusts as he came up to meet me stroke for stroke. I could feel the screams building in the back of my throat and instead of resisting, I released every reservation and let him know just how much he was affecting me.
I rode him in a frenzy, completely unaware of anything except the immense pleasure that engulfed my body.
Suddenly, without any warning, an orgasm hit me at full force, practically knocking the air from my chest. My walls fluttered rhythmically around him and I triggered his release, my name a cry on his lips as he came into me.
I collapsed onto his chest and moments later the incredulity of what I had just done hit me and I broke into a fit of giggles.
"My god, Bella! Where on earth did that come from?" Edward chuckled along with me, my giddy mood drawing him in and painting the most glorious smile across his face.
"I…" giggle "have no…" giggle "idea!" I could feel a hot blush come over my face and I hid myself under his throat, feeling suddenly and unreasonably embarrassed.
"Oh Bella," Edward admonished, stroking my back. He drew a finger under my chin and forced me to look up. My laughing died down and I tried to avert my gaze but he held it. "You should never be ashamed of anything we share. I know I'm most certainly not."
I smiled then, realizing the foolishness of my reaction. This was my husband for god's sake!
"So that was okay with you, then?"
"So much more than okay," Edward agreed, pecking the tip of my nose.
I was surprised by his response, but I didn't let it show on my face. I wanted him to be okay with our intimacy, I wanted him to feel comfortable being with me and I wasn't about to say something to ruin that.
We were contentedly quiet for a long while until my stomach decided to speak up.
"Time to feed the human," I quipped, catching his almost black irises. "And the vampire, I see."
"Hmm," he acknowledged agreeably. "Well, why don't I accompany you down to the kitchen and show you where Esme keeps everything…or rather, where the house staff keeps everything and then I'll head out."
I rolled off of him and went to hop out of bed, only to find my entire body screaming in protest.
"I guess we went at it a little harder than I realized," I commented, looking down at the discoloration that spread across my skin.
Edward was at my side instantly, assessing every mark.
"I knew this was a terrible idea," he murmured under his breath, tracing a rather impressive handprint on my hipbone.
"Stop that right now, Edward Cullen!" I scolded. I wasn't going to allow him a single reservation. Especially after he'd reacted so positively just minutes ago. "Edward, I am fine. I bruise like a banana to begin with and you were the picture of control on both occasions. I am not going to let you feel guilty for leaving a few marks on my body. These last 48 hours have been the best ones of my entire life and I don't intend to let it stop there."
"Bella, we practically decimated the furniture, and you are covered in bruises…not just a few marks! I could've done a lot of damage last night," he spoke the last part quietly, as though he was, at the same time, thanking some higher power for that not occurring.
"But you didn't. And you know what, Edward, if ever this gets out of hand and something does happen? You have the power to heal me," I noted, both hands resting on the sides of his face.
"No, Bella, I have the power to kill you…"
"You have the power to make me immortal," I countered.
"Are we really going to have this conversation right now?" He almost begged, looking more and more desperate to change the subject.
"No, not right now," I agreed, though my tone implied that this issue was far from settled. I took a deep breath and ran my palms along the sides of his throat and clasped them together at the nape of his neck. "I want you, Edward. You are my husband and I want to be with you. And now that I've had you, I don't think I can just stop. So you need to push passed your almost tyrannical over protectiveness and accept that this is a part of our marriage. I held up my part of the bargain," I emphasized by showing him the admittedly beautiful diamond on my left ring finger. "I would hope that out of respect for me, you'd hold up yours."
"Bella." He sighed and dropped his lips to my forehead in a lingering kiss. I won the battle for the moment and that was more than enough for me.
We dressed unhurriedly, Edward in dark jeans and a white cuffed oxford and I in an "Alice ensemble" – a billowy white sundress with a fitted halter bodice and a plummeting neckline, no bra required. Edward looked me over appreciatively but said nothing, taking my hand instead and leading me down to the first floor.
He got me acquainted with the entirely over-the-top gourmet kitchen and after a bit of coaxing, left to find himself something more appropriate for his species. I found it entirely ironic that a coven of vampires would have such incredible kitchens considering just how unnecessary they are to them. I understood the need to keep up appearances, and though vampires don't sleep, the beds certainly serve their purpose, but I never quite got the entire "stocked kitchen" thing. It worked out wonderfully for me because there was never the question of what I would eat or how, but unless Alice had been more aware of my arrival than she's let on, it seemed like a silly thing to have.
Ignoring the oddity of it, I set about preparing breakfast, mostly as a distraction until Edward returned. When we were still in Forks and I was still a seemingly normal teenage girl (and not the teenage bride of a centenarian vampire), I would quietly agonize over the few hours a day that I didn't get my Edward time. But there was something different about the feeling that settled in me while I was absently watching pancake batter bubble on a skillet. The feeling I had become so accustom to sat heavy on my chest, as though someone was trying to give me CPR but were stuck on the downbeat. This new feeling was somatic; I ached for him in every crevice of my being. I fidgeted absentmindedly as I flipped the pancakes, their warm scent wafting up to my nostrils causing my stomach to speak up again. I glanced out the panoramic window for probably the tenth time in the last fifteen minutes, wishing that his cool, sweet breath was against my neck and his icy arms were around my waist. I sighed and slid the pancakes on a plate next to the eggs and fruit I'd already put together and sat down at the long granite counter, facing the outside wall.
He'll be back soon, I chastised myself, rolling my eyes at my own foolishness. It's not like you haven't been away from him for far longer. The memories of the six months that he had stayed away crashed into me then like a fist to the gut. As wonderful as Jacob had been through the whole ordeal and as much as I appreciated the friendship I was able to build in Edward's absence, the fact that he had left me outweighed that epically. I took a deep breath to try and quell the ache that had started to build in the bottom of my stomach, but it only served to make it worse. I wanted him, then. I wanted to touch him and to know he was real and mine and that this wasn't some delusional, beautiful nightmare that my mind had conjured up to keep me from plummeting off the deep end. I was rooted to the barstool, my knuckles turning white from pressing into my thighs. I called for him in my head, knowing that it was a futile effort, but I was becoming desperate. I had never experienced a need so deep, so penetrating for anything and it was starting to scare me.
I let out a strangled sob as the almost painful arousal mounted. All I could think about was the feeling of him around me and inside of me and taking me over and over. It felt like everything was on fire and he would be the only way to cool me down.
Just when I thought that I was going to lose it entirely, Edward came bursting into the kitchen, looking as frantic and ravenous as I felt. He obviously hadn't finished feeding; his eyes were lighter but had not returned to the liquid gold I loved so much. His features were strained and I could see every muscle flexing in his body, making me want him all the more. From 20 feet away I could see his erection straining against the fabric of his pants, threatening to rip them in half. My breathing quickened and suddenly he was in front of me, lifting me off of the stool and settling my body on the countertop.
"Bella," he growled, lacing his fingers in my hair and securing my body against him.
If humans could be said to attack vampires, then that's what I did. I crushed myself against him, ripping at the top of his waistband while thrusting my tongue into his mouth. I didn't care at that moment if he broke every bone in my body; I needed him inside of me at any cost.
Edward's hand joined mine and he tore the jeans from his body with one fluid motion. I hadn't noticed his lack of boxers when we were dressing that morning, but I was very glad for it then. He ran his hands up the sides of my thighs, pushing the skirt of my sundress out of the way as he went. Reaching my white lace panties, he shredded them with one flick of his wrist and pressed himself against my heat.
"Edward, fuck me!" I demanded against his lips. Had either of us been any more lucid, we would've been utterly shocked that those words came out of my mouth, but we were too far gone to care.
He readily complied and entered me with one hard thrust. I screamed out in sheer pleasure, my arms entwined around his shoulders as he pounded into me. Even in this frantic state, I knew that he was holding back tremendously to keep from killing me, but I wasn't sure how much resolve either of us had left.
The cumulative soreness from the last twenty four hours was evident as he crashed into my body and I felt tears stinging the corners of my eyes. I bit them back and let the pleasure take over the pain each movement taking me further from the discomfort as the passion rose throughout every inch of me.
"Oh god! Fuck me! Fuck me, Edward, Fuck me!" I cried, clawing at his stony skin. I felt as though I was going to be torn in half from the intensity of it, but I couldn't care less. I bit at him, anywhere I could find an exposed piece of flesh, I laid my lips down and sucked, out of my mind with pleasure.
"Fuck, Bella!" He moaned in my ear, his breath coming out in jagged, grunting pants. I had never heard anything so primal, so intrinsic before in my life and it took my desire to an entirely different level.
"Edward…Edward! Edward, please, I need to come…let me come! Oh god, just let me come," I begged unabashedly, tears falling freely from the overwhelming assault on my senses.
His hips quickened once more and I could vaguely feel the granite island shaking underneath me. "Then come for me, princess," he whispered so hotly that his mere words sent me spiraling into the most intense, consuming orgasm yet. I screamed unintelligible strings of words, with his name and "love" and "god" all in there somewhere as I came violently around him, my walls shuttering with release.
He followed me a few thrust later, carnally crying out my name before his lips fused with mine in a searing kiss.
It took a full five minutes for either of us to stop moving completely and our orgasms to die down, but when they did I felt an exhaustion so overwhelming that it took every last bit of power that I had to remain awake.
Seeing me in such a prone state, Edward immediately slipped from inside me and gathered me up in his arms. I tucked my head into the crook of his neck and closed my eyes, about to drift off as I felt something soft beneath me. But within a second of being put down, I could feel the absence of his cold, hard body and I forced myself to open my eyes and find him.
The look of horror on his face was evident, even in my hazy state. I knew that he was disgusted with himself for allowing things to get so out of control, but there was something else there too; I was just too disjointed to even think about asking him what was wrong. But I did know that there was no way I could let him distance himself from me, so I reached out for him, knowing that he wouldn't be able to leave me alone.
He sighed audibly and took my hand, kissing my palm before slipping into bed behind me, spooning against my back. Before he was even settled in, I let my eyes slip shut and sleep came almost instantly.
