Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for several reasons.
Chpt 2 You Are Here
BPOV
"Bells." Arthur whines. "You can't polish that presentation anymore than you have already, stop showing the rest of us up and come for a drink, it's Friday night."
"I can't. Edward's expecting me home."
"Surely Mr Domestic Bliss can let you out for one teeny tiny little glass of wine?"
"Will you stop calling him that?" I huff, closing my laptop and shoving it into its case.
"No. You guys are like the poster children for monogamy, its nauseating for those of us with a history of failed relationships. Please?"
"Fine, one glass."
"Good girl, text MDB, I know you want to, and lets be on our way."
...
"Sorry." I apologise as I fling myself into Edward's waiting arms.
"Don't apologise, you can go out for a drink with your colleagues you know."
"I know, but I wanted to come home to you."
"Well you're here now, what do you want to do?"
"I need a shower and some sweatpants." I sigh as he sets me back on my feet. "And then I think I'll need a pizza and some serious couch time."
"Your wish is my command."
...
I suppose it's weird that my boyfriend is about as cuddly as a rock but we've been together for so long now I can't imagine anything different, I feel like I'm nestling into a cloud rather than draped around a cold marble statue of manly perfection and as usual it isn't long before my exhausted mind and body send me drifting off to sleep.
He must get so bored. I mean, I'm slow sometimes even for a human, he could cross a whole County in the time it takes me to cross a mall. And I sleep, every night, for a good eight hours. And sometimes, I nap, like now. He can read a whole book while I watch a half hour show. What does he do while I'm taking my human moments? Shopping lists in his head? Complex mathematical equations? I've tried asking him but in many respects he's just a man and we never really get much past 'just thinking'. Sometimes he's thinking about me. His human life. Whether or not he should work or go back into education. How to keep me safe. But that can't be all he thinks about surely?
Sometimes when we've had an odd conversation I wonder if he's thinking about leaving me for my own good again. He promised me he wouldn't and that if he ever felt that way he'd talk to me immediately, but sometimes I wonder . . . .
And sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn't realised what he was trying to do that day and called him on his lies. I struggle though, my life is Edward, since the day I found out he loved me I haven't been able to see anything else.
And sometimes, just sometimes, I kind of hope, no hope's the wrong word, I kind of imagine that something happens to me and I have to be changed so that I can be like him. And then my imagination gets nervous and changes the subject.
...
"Edward." I gasp as his cool lips close over my nipple, sucking on it gently.
My hands fist in his hair as I writhe beneath him, I love that I can yank on it as hard as I like, it doesn't hurt him and I know he likes it.
"I love you." He murmurs into my skin as he kisses his way down my body. "I love the warm fine silk of your skin, the soft curves of your body, the sound of your heartbeat. I love everything about you. Everything."
I gasp again as he gently urges my legs apart and dips his head between them, those cool lips now gently sucking on something else.
"Oh god, Edward . . . ."
I might still be a virgin but he and I have worked hard together for what we have now . . . .
His long fingers gently hold my hips and I try to be good, I really do, but the feel of his tongue stroking me is so erotic, so electrifying that it's always a struggle.
I cum with a raw scream, my thighs gripping him with all the strength I possess, my hips threatening to break free of his restraining fingers.
He moves back up my now languid body, kissing me as he goes, taking himself in hand and stroking himself oh so gently between my thighs. I know better than to move now but my breathing remains heavy at the sight of my beautiful man stroking himself as he moves back and forth through my sopping wet apex. This is always the most exquisite torture. It makes me ache for so much more but the sight of him as he comes undone is as priceless a gift as the orgasm it often gives me . . . .
"Bella." He groans as his cold seed spurts onto my stomach. "You are my life."
...
We spend the rest of the weekend at the house with the family, even Alice has learnt that sometimes the human needs downtime, not experiences.
...
And on Monday it's back to work. There aren't words to describe how much I'm loving my job. I'm not exactly good at it yet but I want to be, I really want to be, and Greg has been so encouraging. The awesome colleagues don't hurt either, we don't exactly have a lot in common as a group but I think that's part of the fun, they're all nice and the gentle teasing is somehow comforting. Of course I think it helps that we work for a charity rather than a corporation, don't get me wrong, it doesn't mean we aren't taking it seriously, we all care that's why we're here, but we don't have some great profit making ogre breathing down our necks.
...
"You don't mind?"
"Bella, it's your job, of course I don't mind and it's no different to when you visit Renee or Charlie."
"I know but you at least come with me then, even if they don't know it."
Silence.
Ah. I haven't asked him to come with me, in fact I think I've just told him I don't want him to, haven't I?
Yes, judging by the look on his face, I have.
"Edward . . . ."
"Bella. You're not a child. I love you and I'll worry about you, but I understand if you want to do this on your own."
Do I? Why the hell would I want to do that?
"Could you, come?"
"If that's what you want."
"I do."
"Alright then, hop in the shower and I'll sort things out."
"Thank you. I don't deserve you."
"Love, you deserve better than me, always."
...
"Bella." Greg sighs as I buckle myself into the seat next to him at the third attempt. "You're going to help me make a pitch, not throw yourself into a volcano."
"I know, sorry, I just don't want to screw up."
"You can't screw up. You can get corporate sponsorship or not get it."
"What if we don't get it because of me?"
"Bella, even your worst klutziness can be endearing, perhaps you should explore using it to your advantage?"
"Are you supposed to be teaching me things like that?"
"I'm old and I have four daughters, all older than you, if I expected perfection from them I'd be a basket case by now. The best I hoped for them would be that they'd learn and grow. I hope only the same for you."
"But if I get it wrong people will starve."
"People are starving all the time, it's not all on you, you need to remember that or this job will eat you alive. But if it's any consolation the eldest Daughter is a heart surgeon, her screw ups are very immediate, and very personal."
...
We polish up our pitch once we're settled in the hotel and then I drag myself off to bed, where I get to sink into Edward's cool embrace and re-hash my worries about the morning. Despite my fears, and tipping a glass of water down my front, it goes off without a hitch and Greg secures a pledge of half a million dollars over two years and we flew back to Boston in the highest of spirits.
...
"To Bellski!" Arthur roars, raising his glass in a drunken toast. "Deal closer extraordinaire!"
"Bellski!" They all yell, even Edward and Alice, as we down our shots.
...
"So drunk." I groan as Edward carries me back to the Volvo.
"We know." Alice laughs.
"Should have stopped me."
"You're a grown woman, you'll learn."
"Going to be sick . . . ."
"Don't worry Edward." Alice consoles as I carry out my promise. "I put spare pants in the car for you."
"I love you . . . . so sorry about your pants . . . . they were very nice, like your shoes too, like you . . . ."
"Oh Bella." Alice sighs. "I would so love to have been able to get drunk, at least once."
"Could have been a lush, Alshish."
"True, it doesn't count if I can't remember though does it?"
"S'not all it's cracked up to be . . . . ugh . . . . again Edward . . . . sorry . . . ."
...
I open one eye cautiously and then the other.
Yep, bright sunlight, pounding headache, dry mouth that tastes vaguely of vomit.
The door opens slowly and Edward appears grinning from ear to ear and refracting the light like a disco ball.
"Ouch." I complain, pulling the covers over my head.
"Sorry." He chuckles, stretching out on the bed next to me. "Couldn't resist it."
"Put a shirt on."
"Already done."
Cautiously I peek out again, now only his face is sparkling and that's far more manageable.
"I'm so sorry." I murmur, snuggling into him. "I shouldn't drink, I already know this and it isn't fair to expect you to look after me when I do."
"Looking after you is what I do." He assures me, holding me tight. "And it's not like you make a habit of it."
"But I never have to do anything like this for you." I object.
"You would." He says simply. "If you needed to, that's all I need to know."
I would he's right, but still . . . .
...
"So how's it going?" Charlie asks.
"It's going great Dad, really, I love it."
"Any boys I need to come and scare?"
"No Dad, boy free zone."
"Any girlfriends?"
"Dad!"
"A father has to wonder." He continues with no finesse whatsoever. "You went off to college with that 'pretty' Edwin boy and nothing since. I want to know if I shouldn't be expecting grandchildren."
Beside me Edward stifles his snort of amusement in his sleeve, as a mind reader he's perfectly well aware that Charlie always secretly wanted to shoot him.
"Dad, I'm not into girls, I like boys, I just haven't found one I've clicked with yet, do you want all the gory details of how I've been looking?"
"No!" Dad barks.
Score Bella for the win.
"I didn't think so, how's Sue?"
"She's okay, Leah's still giving her trouble and Seth's got his girlfriend of three months pregnant."
"Wow."
"Not quite what Sue said."
"I can imagine. I won't ask if that's how you want grandkids."
"I wouldn't." Dad huffs. "I'm still a dead shot with a handgun."
"I gotta go Dad but I'll see you next week, right?"
"I'll pick you up from PA in the cruiser, I know how much you love that . . . ."
"Yeah, thanks Dad."
"Happy to help Bells, always happy to help."
