Set Fire to the Rain

******LEMON ALERT******

Under 18 readers, please move along to another story.

As usual, thanks to SM who owns all that is the wonderful Twilight.

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Chapter 3

At home, I was now in no mood to relax thanks to Edward. The jerk had me gotten me wound up so tightly that I felt like if I uncoiled, I would spin out of control forever. I knew caffeine would not help, so I avoided coffee. Maybe a rather large glass of wine would help. I poured myself a glass of white wine which had already been opened and was nice and cold from being in the fridge.

In the quiet of my apartment, I sat and pondered the days' events. I could not even begin to make sense of Edward's behavior, and James thought he had a thing for me. Yeah, like that was how you acted when you cared about someone. Shout and curse in front of all their colleagues, talk down to them. Yeah, that was real caring in my book. Jerk.

The wine certainly did its job because before I even realized it, the bottle was empty and I felt much more relaxed. In fact, I would probably go as far as to say I might have been a bit squiffy. I giggled to myself, knowing that Alice would be rolling her eyes at me right now and calling me a 'lightweight'. She was right, though. I had never been a big drinker when we all used to go out on the town whilst at uni. I was always the designated driver because I couldn't hold my alcohol. On the rare occasions I did drink, I always ended up falling over drunk and then suffered terrible hangovers for days after. It really wasn't worth it, so now I had the occasional glass of wine at home and seeing as I rarely went out anymore, it wasn't an issue.

Pulling myself up off my comfortable sofa, I wobbled towards my bedroom. I was sure that the wine would help me sleep. As a workaholic, I did not usually get to bed until one or two o'clock in the morning, so an early night would do me good. Trying to pull my watch into focus to see the time, which was half nine, the wine would need to be pretty effective if I was going to be able to drift off.

A shower could wait until the morning, it wouldn't kill me. Well, it might if I had been sober, but right now, I didn't really care. I could not even be bothered to put on my nightshirt and fell into bed, naked as the day I was born.

Sleep overtook me in an instant and then I was...

Where was I?

I looked around, recognizing the room. I had been in here so many times over the years. It might have just been my very favorite room in the Cullen mansion, especially when it had a very naked Edward in it. I turned over and watched him sleep. The family had gone for the weekend, a last minute shopping trip to New York. Edward and I had declined to go along, both professing to have other things that we needed to do. Yeah, that would be each other. I had come over with my weekend bag just a few minutes after I saw Carlisle's car leave town.

We had left his bed last night only to get something to eat. I loved sleeping in his arms. Now as he slept, I was able to take in all the details of his glorious face and heart-stopping physique. His skin was smooth and pale, not too pale, though, and now he had a five o'clock shadow. I loved Edward with stubble. God, he was so sexy. It made me wet just looking at him.

His lips were perfect, too; especially for kissing, and boy did he kiss well. I had always felt like our kisses were very intimate. More intimate even than the sex act itself. He was gentle and teasing and kept his tongue for special occasions. There was nothing worse than a guy who shoved his tongue down your throat on the first kiss. I liked that he always surprised me with his kisses. I never knew if I was going to get soft and gentle kisses or hard and passionate ones. His eyes, when open, were dangerous, at least to me. I could quite easily fall flat on my face if he looked at me too intently. I was drawn in and I knew it might sound silly, but I knew that I actually leaned in towards him when he looked at me. Was I pathetic or what?

Where the fuck did I start describing his body. Heart stopping, panty-drenching, god-like Adonis sounded about right; and the sweet thing was he had no idea of his effect on the opposite sex.

He stirred next to me, throwing his strong arm over my bare chest and hooking his leg over mine. His fingers stroked the skin just under my breasts and I moaned.

"You awake, Bella?" he asked already knowing the answer I was sure.

"I am."

He moved over me slowly and trailed gentle kisses along my shoulder and up towards my neck. When he reached my jaw, his hands moved to my breasts and kneaded gently, his thumbs and forefingers rolling my nipples until they were hard buds.

"I love how you respond to my touch, Bella. I can never get enough of you."

My only response was a loud moan and I automatically opened my legs, allowing his leg in between. I craved some friction and he gave me just that by rubbing his thigh over my most sensitive bodily part.

"I want you, Edward. Please, I need to feel you inside me." I had no shame around him, asking him boldly to make love to me.

He moved off me a little and pulled a small foil packet from his bedside drawer. I watched in awe as he slipped it on over his impressive length. I actually licked my lips at the sight of him in anticipation of what was to come. I knew at least for this weekend, he was mine.

His fingers opened me up, but he did not need to bother with foreplay for me; I was already dripping wet. God, even when he just walked into a room nowadays, I was ready for sex with him. A low moan from him told me he knew I was feeling as excited as he was.

Slipping over me and positioning himself at my entrance, I place my arms around his shoulders and pulled him in close. As he slid home, I arched my back to meet his gentle thrust. We both moaned loudly. He felt so good. He kissed me then and like always, fireworks went off in my head. His lips explored mine, gently nipping and biting. When his tongue licked my bottom lip, I about came undone. His tongue joined mine in a dance as erotic as our love making. Soon, his slow and gentle movements were not enough for either of us. I needed more of him. I need him deep and harder. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist, encouraging him to change his position, giving him even deeper access and god, it felt so good, so deep. His thrusting was now faster and I met his every one.

Our bodies came together over and over, slick with perspiration. I could feel the coil tightening in the pit of my stomach as my orgasm approached. I wished I dared to tell him how I really felt. Right at this moment, I wanted to tell the whole world that I loved him, but I couldn't. We did not have that sort of relationship. We were purely friends with benefits, nothing more, at least from Edward's point of view.

"I'm close, Bella, so close. Come with me, baby," he whispered into my ear, urging me on.

His words were all I needed to send me into oblivion. Stars shot across my whole universe as I let the impact of my orgasm take over me. He joined me and together we rode out our release.

I woke with a jolt at the intensity of what I was feeling. Shit, I had been dreaming about us again, that wonderful weekend back in Forks, the weekend we never really left the bed. It was probably the turning point in our time together because at the end of it, there was no doubt that I was head over heels in love with Edward Cullen and I knew all I was to him was a convenient fuck and his sister's best friend.

Exhausted from my unconscious activities, I drifted off again, but this time there would be no dreams, at least none that I could remember.

A loud beeping that just would not stop brought me around. With one eye open, I looked at the clock. It was 6:15 a.m. How did that happen? I would have sworn I had only just gotten into bed. My head was thick and I felt fuzzy from the effects of the wine. I groaned when I recalled once again the memories of the very hot Edward dream. It might have been a dream, but it was also a very well-preserved memory and one that I tended to bring out unconsciously when I was the most stressed or feeling down. I liked to think of it, or at least I did, as a little light relief. After yesterday, now I was not so sure.

Standing under the hot powerful shower jets, I let the water ease my tension. I washed and conditioned my hair with my usual strawberry and freesia-scented shampoo. Edward had once told me the scent drove him wild with desire. I had not changed it in over twelve years because I knew he liked it. Don't get me wrong; I did, too. It was sort of my signature scent, but a girl did usually change these things as she got older. Not me, not now, not ever. Well, as long as they still made it, I would still buy it.

I dressed today more formally. I could not be seen today of all days as being weak or too delicate. I decided to go for a power suit. Alice had picked it out last year for me and I was reluctant to wear it because of the message I felt it sent. It was beautifully made and gave me the air of a dynamic business woman, but it also made me look hard and cold and that was not really me. Today, I needed that look if I was going to be able to convince the powers that be that I was the reporter they needed to send on this assignment.

When I walked into the office, I felt like all eyes were on me. I was going to kill Edward Cullen for doing this to me. He knew I hated to be the center of attention, he knew I just wanted to be recognized for doing a good job. Hushed voices whispered as I walked by and some of the girls looked at me like I was going to meet my maker. I was surprised that James' office door was wide open, but I could see as I walked past that he was not inside.

When I opened my own office door, I knew what the looks were all about. Sat in my chair behind my desk was Edward. He was leafing through some papers and looked up as I walked in.

"Ah, Bella, come in and shut the door. We need to talk."

Cliffy...sorry, no I'm not really.

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