I do not own any of these characters. They all belong to Stephanie Meyer. As does Isle Esme.
A/N: I chose to use Isle Esme because it was such a beautiful part of the book, I couldn't bear changing that.
"Bella, love," the beautiful voice flowed so perfectly with my dreams I hadn't quite realized it was real until I felt Edwards cold hand stroking my hair. "Wake up, love, we've just landed."
This was the third time the plane had landed, but this was the first time Edward had intentionally woken me up. The first two times, he'd carried me from one terminal to the other without waking me. I'd woken for a few moments on my own, but I fell right to sleep again in the comfort of Edward's tight arms. I figured that since this time he'd actually woken me up, we must be done flying. "Mmm.." I mumbled, as I started to wake up, "Landed where?" I hadn't been conscious enough at the first stops to ask where we were, but I knew the flights were decent lengths so we had to be pretty far from Forks.
"We're currently in Rio de Janerio." I knew from the way he'd said currently, that this wasn't where we were staying. "We're done flying, though. Next we're getting on a boat, then we'll be there." Edward guided me to a seat near the main entrance of the airport, then left me to find our luggage. A few moments later - far faster than any normal person could have found them - he returned with all the bags we'd brought. We headed outside, in to the bright hot sun, and dove quickly in to a waiting car. Edward was in the car fast enough that no one had time to see him in the sunlight, and the car was moving. "The car's taking us to the dock so we can get on our boat." He had his arm linked with mine and was holding my hand.
"Edward, where are we going?" I was beginning to get overly curious, especially since I was the only one who didn't know. I hated being the last to know.
"Love, it's a surprise, but I promise you, it's worth the wait." He was smiling, but he saw that my brown eyes were still filled with frustration. "If you really want, I'll tell you the exact latitude and longitude of the location, but I will not tell you the name. I will, however, tell you that it's nowhere you've ever heard of before." He leaned over and kissed my forehead, just as the car pulled to a stop. Edward and I boarded a small boat, and my heart had finally started to race. I hated that Edward could hear that, and I wished at that moment I could know if he was nervous at all. I guess I knew he must have been, considering what we were planning to do when we got to.. wherever we were going.
This was the first time in the trip that I found myself thinking it'd be okay for time to slow down a little, and it was all a blur. It felt like it was only seconds from the time we were in the boat to the moment he was carrying me in his arms up a path. A path that seemingly led to nothing. All I could see from the path was part of a stone wall and a huge wooden door, which Edward opened and walked us through. He gave me a moment to gaze around the extravagant foyer before leaning down to my cheek and pressing a small kiss, then whispering, "How's this for a threshold, love?"
"Perfect," was the only word I could force out of myself. I was too captivated by everything. After a few moments, we were moving away from the foyer, down the hall and through the very last door. He set our bags right inside the door, then set me on the bed before sitting down next to me.
"Welcome to Isle Esme, Bella. It was a gift from Carlisle to Esme, and now it's a wedding present to us to use for our honeymoon, for as long as that may be." He trailed off at the end of his sentence in what seemed like he was hopeful, and possibly even embarrassed. "What do you think?"
"It's amazing, Edward. I love it here. And I love you." I turned my attention fully toward my husband and, if that was even possible, my heart started pounding harder than it had been before.
Without a word, he was off the bed and I was in his arms, only for a second. He left a kiss my forehead, then lied me on the bed. I was a second from protesting, but then he lied on his side, facing me and wrapped an arm around my waist. "I love you too. More than I could ever process in to words" He moved, very carefully so that he was nearly on top of me, and kissed me without hesitation. The kiss was full of passion, and after a few moments, his lips parted and his cold tongue slid in to my mouth and rubbed against mine. I wrapped on arm around his waist, resting my hand against the small of his back, and the other hand touched his face, then rested at the base of his neck to intertwine my fingers in his hair.
He broke away from the kiss for only a moment, to whisper to me while gazing in to my eyes, "I promised we'd try. That's all I can promise." His voice was serious, but he was filled with confidence. He was trying very hard to make sure I didn't notice he was nervous.
"Edward, I'm so in love with you. All I want is to know you'll try. If you can't do it, we'll wait until after I'm like you." My heart was crashing against my chest, but I kept my voice steady. If Edward thought I was too nervous I knew he'd try to back out of it, for my sake. Before I could give him a chance to answer, I pulled his face closer to mine and crashed our lips together again. Without hesitation, his tongue made it's way back on top of mine like it had been before. Edward's hand was at my side, gripping my hip. After a moment he'd begun to feel adventurous and slid his hand under the fabric of my shirt and rested it on my bare stomach. My breath hitched slightly at the feeling of his cold skin against mine, but instead of breaking the heat I was feeling, it only made my passion stronger. Edward broke away from the kiss to move to kissing my neck; something he rarely did because being that close to my pulsing blood made him nervous. My breathing got faster and my fist balled up with his shirt in my hand.
He took his hand away from my stomach, to the outside of my shirt again and used it to begin unbuttoning the buttons of my blouse. He pressed one more kiss against my collarbone then looked up at me, his golden eyes gazing in to mine, "Are you sure you're ready for this?" Although breathing was completely unnecessary for him, his voice sounded breathless. I was afraid that if I spoke it would come out shaky and unsure, so I simply nodded, careful not to break our gaze. He gave me one quick but passionate kiss on the lips before unbuttoning the last of the buttons and pushing it away from my chest. I maneuvered in such a way that i slid my arms out of the shirt and he discarded it over the edge of the bed.
He took a minute to look at me, with less clothing now than he'd ever witnessed, before kissing me against my chest where my heart was crashing. Without pausing, his lips moved farther down the center of my body stopping at the edge of my bra. In this moment I was thankful that my bra clasped in the front. I didn't want this moment to get distracted by having to fight with it. His hand slid up my side, and cupped my breast in his hand. In response to the cold of his hand and the passion I was feeling, my nipple hardened under his fingers and I let out a soft moan under my breath. In nearly the same moment, his lips crushed against mine again moving faster, and with more urgency than before. His hand was pressing against my breast rubbing up and down slightly. I didn't want to, but the pleasure of the moment cried out of my throat and my nails dug in to his back. In a split second, before I had time to breathe, Edward flew across the room against the wall. He was silent and his face was full of grief; if he wasn't incapable, I was sure he'd have been crying.
"Edward?" My voice was scared, and cracked with his name as I slowly sat up to face him better. "Edward, what happened? Are you okay?"
"Bella... I.." There weren't many times I'd ever seen him lost for words, but this was surely one of them. "Of course I'm fine. I just.. we.. can't do this. Not until you're changed. I'm sorry Bella." He was pressed against the wall like a statue. I was trying so hard not to cry, I knew it would only make him feel worse at this point.
"Edward, please.. Just tell me what I did wrong.. please.." My voice was faltering, it was so easy to tell I was choking back tears. I wanted so badly to be back in his arms.
"Bella, you did nothing wrong. You have to know that. You were.. Perfect." He took in a deep breath, obviously trying to find the words to explain and keep me from crying. "Bella, it's too hard. I can't have you be that vulnerable around me. I'm so sorry. I wish I was stronger."
"You are strong! I know you can do this. Edward please.. Please just sit with me. I promise I won't push it, I just need you to hold me so I know you're okay." I was pushing myself against the bed so I didn't fly across the room and wrap my arms around him. He didn't say anything in response, but he slowly walked back across the room toward the bed. He reached over and grabbed my shirt from the floor and handed it to me. I obeyed his silent request and put the shirt back on and buttoned all the buttons. He finally sat back on the bed next to me and took my hand. I started to say something, but he just leaned over and - very carefully, and too gently for my taste - kissed me, only for a second.
"I'm sorry. I hope you can understand. Now please, get some sleep, and I'll wake you with an amazing breakfast." I was tired from the day, and everything that had just commenced so I lied against the pillow but I didn't release my grasp against his hand. "Bella, I have to go hunt. I promise I'll be back before you wake up." I wasn't happy to spend our first night as a married couple separate, but I gave him one more kiss before releasing his hand. "I love you, Bella Cullen. I'll be back soon." He threw a blanket over me and was out the door before I had a chance to respond.
I'm not done trying, Edward Cullen, Was the last thought I had before I fell asleep.
Sorry for the cliffhanger, but there will be more soon!! Please review!! And stay tuned for more! Side note, I do not have a beta so I apologize for any errors but I did proofread many times. If you find any, let me know and I'll be glad to fix them.
xoxo liz