I'm ready to bet it all
unless you don't care at all
but you know I want you

Frontin, Jamie Cullum

I was drenched when I finally returned home. After trolling around the market with Bella for another hour, we decided to head back for the 'secret exchange' as she had taken to calling it. I would play for her, and in return she would reveal something about herself to me.

On the way to the car, I could hear the rain as it pelted the bridge above. I offered to go alone, since it was my idea to park far away enough so that my car remained unscathed, but Bella had told me she didn't mind getting a little wet.

I adjusted myself for the millionth time after that comment.

We took the elevator up and made plans to meet in an hour at my place. I only hoped that it was enough time to get my shit together. When I entered my home, I removed my wet sneakers, leaving them at the entrance, and made my way to the bedroom. I opened my closet, quickly selecting a simple gray t-shirt, pair of jeans, and searched for dry socks. Carrying it all to the bathroom, I began taking off the clothes that were now stuck to me like a second skin.

As I undressed, my thoughts turned back to Bella. I really enjoyed how easily conversation flowed between us. How we already felt comfortable enough to playfully tease one another—touch each other even. Although the time I spent with her was fucking fantastic, I wanted more. I wanted her to tell me about her parents, her favorite color, and any other inconsequential detail she had to offer. I wholly planned on getting all of those answers. Hoping if I knew, I could make sense of the pull I felt toward her.

Dressed in only boxers, my thoughts turned to the physical pull I felt as well. I wanted to know her in the most intimate of ways, and that wasn't simply explained. It wasn't like what I felt when I saw Coffee Shop Girl, whose name I couldn't even remember. When I met her my thoughts were of sex, and only sex. If Emmett hadn't made his interest in her known, I wouldn't have hesitated in getting her into the back room to find the release I hadn't had in months. But now, now that I knew Bella even existed, I only wanted her. I wanted her mind and body, and that fact both excited and scared the shit out of me. I reminded myself constantly to go with the flow…that she was just a girl

The electricity I felt when she gently touched my hand in the car had sent tremors through my whole body. My cock, needing no reminders, sprung to life.

I closed my eyes tightly, feeling the anticipation and need low in my belly. I slid my boxers down, freeing my cock, and kicked them to the side. The cool air of the bathroom surrounded my engorged cock, that was slightly damp from my clothing, and I hissed. An image of Bella smiling shyly popped in my head; and I envisioned her splayed in the center of my bed with that same smile beckoning me forth. I reached down and cupped my balls, gently massaging them as I imagined seeing her naked for the first time. I teased myself, sliding my thumb up and down my shaft.

I could see her clearly now, her brown skin glistening, as her mahogany hair fanned out above her. Her ripe breasts, large enough to fill my hands, were rising and falling with each breath she took. Her caramel colored tits thinned to a milk chocolate, then darkened more at her pert nipples. My eyes followed the curve of her body, landing on her navel. Her skin looked so soft and silky there, and I couldn't wait to caress and nip at it. Her tiny waist gave way to thick hips, thighs, and a firm ass. It was like she was built to handle as much as I could physically give her. My cock twitched eagerly at the notion.

She sat up with her back against the headboard watching me from beneath her lashes. She began massaging the back of her neck, trailing her fingers down to her collarbone, then the center of her heaving chest. I moved closer, fascinated by just watching her, but wanting-no needing-to touch her.

"Not so fast," she warned.

I paused to watch as her lithe finger drew lazy figure eights around her chest before fully grasping her luscious breast. She threw her head back in ecstasy, letting out a soft moan. She manipulated her nipple; twisting, pulling, and pinching her succulent peak until it was fully erect. My bulging cock got impossibly harder seeing her so turned on. It was so fucking erotic knowing that she liked me watching her, showing me how to bring her body pleasure.

I wrapped my hand firmly around my heavy erection and began stroking, biting my lip when I felt my cock thicken in my palm. This wouldn't take long, as I'd been yearning for this release all damn day, but I loosened my grip minutely, hoping I could prolong the experience.

As she closed her eyes, her hand went to her taut stomach, the muscles automatically contracting at her touch. Her hands continued on, heading straight toward her velvety entrance. I was impatient at being just a voyeur; I needed to participate, so I dived in tasting her in one languorous lick. Surprised by my sudden movement she let out strangled moan, spurring me on. She began swiveling her hips, and I tightened my grip, stilling her movements so I could gently lap at her clit. Once it was fully swollen, I circled it using my flattened tongue, pressing it up and down. She tasted exquisite, and her heady scent was driving me crazy. I applied more pressure to her pussy, flicking her clit and sucking it into my mouth greedily, rhythmically.

The loose grip I'd had on my cock was quickly replaced by my tight fist. I stroked from base to tip, twisting and letting my thumb rub in the pre-cum that had collected. I voraciously repeated the actions, reaching out to steady myself as my legs weakened.

I could tell she was getting close by her erratic movements, and the way her carefree expression switched to one of deep concentration. I slowed my movements and sucked her clit one last time before stopping completely. She didn't protest when I stopped, making me feel mildly insecure. I assumed she didn't like what I was doing to her, but that thought was silenced as I looked into her dark brown eyes, now only inches away from my own.

"I didn't know if I'd be able to tell you to stop," she panted. "I want you in me when I come."

Needing no further reassurance, I leaned in to kiss her. I was as confident here as I was behind a piano. Biting her bottom lip, I then gently thrust my tongue into her mouth. I set a slow pace, massaging her tongue with mine, sweeping it behind her lower lip, and occasionally reaching for her inner cheek. As the lust between us steadily built to an all-consuming height, I began to breathe through my nose, refusing to pull away from the kiss. I briefly wondered if tasting herself on my lips was a turn off, but didn't have to worry long as she attacked my lips with fervor. The kiss was full of the eagerness and need I felt, yet I pulled away, needing to bury myself deeply within her. I leaned back to situate myself in between her thighs, but she was quicker and flipped over, landing on all fours in front of me.

Fuck, I was so close now. The lazy strokes I'd used had morphed into hard pumps. I turned around to lean back against the sink, and rubbed faster, harder. Holding the base, I worked my way up, squeezing the head at every pass.

I rose up to my knees, admiring her as I stroked my cock. I'd gotten so caught up in my own fondling, and the view of her curvaceous ass, that I momentarily forgot she was straining for release too. I released my cock, and moved closer to her as she backed up to me. The head of my cock pressed into the flesh of her ass cheek and I groaned. And as if she wasn't perfect enough, she lowered her torso, pressing her chest to the bed causing her ass to rise up in offering. I quickly positioned myself at her slippery entrance, coating the head of my cock with her wetness. I grabbed her waist pulling her closer and when I looked down to see my pale cock about to disappear into her caramel heaven...

"Ah fuck," I grunted, pounding my hips into my fist and exploding seconds later. The sheer force of the orgasm gave me an asthma attack. I'd never come that hard or fast, and I was desperately needed to catch my breath.

After cleaning up a bit, or a lot because I'd splattered my bathroom with my climax, I got dressed and sat tinkering at the piano. I hoped the song I'd selected would impress her, as I feared my previous attempts to do so had failed. I was dying to know what her secret was. It didn't matter how insignificant, any tidbit she wanted to share I would leech onto.

I didn't have long to wait before a chime signaled an arrival. The piano bench toppled over as I rushed to get the door. When I'd made it there, I took a breath, and buzzed in my new neighbor.

"Hi," I said greeting her with smile.

"Hi," she replied.

"Hey," I said, getting lost in her eyes.

"Konnichiwa," she said arching an eyebrow at me questioningly. "Are you going to let me in or are we going to exchange greetings all day?"

"Sorry," I replied bashfully and stepped out of the entry way to allow her in. I hadn't intentionally kept her there; I was just so fucking happy she'd shown up. I led her pass the foyer and she immediately spotted the piano.

"I knew it!" she proclaimed.

I boldly checked her out as she walked toward the piano. She wore a simple black dress that practically covered her entire body; her ankles weren't even visible. But I could still see some of the best parts. The sleeveless dress accentuated her collarbone, breasts, and God she was braless. The fabric fitted her every curve before gradually flowing out at her hips. Her hair was no longer in a straight ponytail but long cascading curls, and I wanted to reach out and touch it to feel the texture. As I was daydreaming, she looked up at me expectantly.

"Are you checking out my ass or my afro? Please tell me it's my ass 'cause I know I look a hot mess right now," she finished, trying to tame her curly locks.

She was crazy; she looked amazing. I didn't respond right away, instead making my way to the piano bench. As I sat down, I was happy my emotions were less erratic now and decided to play with her.

"Your ass," I responded cheekily. "As a matter of fact, I was going to ask you to sit next to me but that would obstruct my view. If you wouldn't mind laying on the piano, I can get started." It took a lot to maintain my serious facade, especially when her doe-like eyes made her look like an actual deer in headlights. Nevertheless, I cleared my throat and nodded toward the top of the piano in mock seriousness.

I could feel my laughter bubbling to the surface, and waited for her to laugh or tell me off. She didn't do either though, and her next move threw me for a loop. I watched as her expression shifted from shock to delight. I swallowed audibly when I felt the entire left side of my body warm to her nearness. I looked over to catch her eye to see what she had planned, but in my position I was eye–to-tit. Try as I might, I was helpless to look away. I couldn't remember a lot of what I'd learned from Daniel Beccles and his lectures on how civilized men should behave. The only detail I could recall was that you shouldn't attack your enemy while they're taking a shit, but that clearly wouldn't help me now.

"A little help up," she demanded mischievously.

Breaking the eye-to-tit contact to look into her soft eyes, I stood up and reached out to pick her up. My hands wrapped around her tiny waist perfectly. Where my pinkies met the small of her back, I could feel the beginning curve of her ass and I shivered. I could sense a sound trying to force its way out of my throat, and I swallowed hard. That purring shit didn't need to become a habit. I tightened my hold on her, surprised at how light she was, and placed her on top of my baby. When I was sure she was safe, I slowly and begrudgingly let her go.

I sat back down, smiling at her as she made herself as comfortable as she could get. After I'd watched her test a few positions, I cursed myself for being overly cocky. Honestly, I had no idea what the hell I was thinking when I suggested she sit up there. I wanted to add each position to my mental catalogue to be fantasized about later, so I did. When she had finally lay on her side and propped herself up on her elbow, I sighed in relief that she hadn't ended up in a compromising pose.

Wait. No. Fuck!

Bella would be the death of me. She hitched her leg up and over, so that her bent knee kissed the top of the piano. Every curve of her body seemed to be emphasized this way, and it gave me a great view of her breasts and ass; she looked so beautiful, so sexy, like an angel or…

"I look like a lounge singer," she laughed pulling me from my thoughts.

I laughed with her as she softly sang the theme from The Love Boat witha faux drunken slur. I liked Bella, there was no doubt in my mind.

Gently, I placed a palm on her knee and told her honestly, "You look beautiful."

She muttered something about looking like a 'Flava of Love reject', which made bile rise in my throat. I'd remembered being sick once and out of my mind with boredom. Somehow my incessant changing of the channels ended with me watching VH1 and a marathon of that show. Funny as it was, I compared it to watching TV through a black light, literally seeing the S.T.D.s running around that mansion. I shivered just thinking about it. Looking at Bella, I was grateful that she looked nothing like those women.

That got me to thinking. I wondered if she shared any characteristics with those other black women. She looked fine, more than fine, but was she promiscuous? Did she have a bad attitude? Is that even her real hair? I tried hard not to make any more assumptions, but this was all new to me. Forks had a minority population of less that one percent, not including the neighboring Quileute reservation so I didn't have the advantage of exposure. I wanted to know the answers -but figured no woman- race aside- would take kindly to being asked some things. So I let it go for now.

I didn't speak again. Instead, I let my fingers dance along the keys, effectively silencing her mumbling. Looking down at the keys I smirked, the blacks and whites holding a completely new meaning to me. I played a few variations of scales before letting it morph into a song. Her eyes sparkled in recognition and I patted myself on the back. As I finished the intro to Jamie Cullum's version of Frontin', I sang the chorus.

I hadn't intended to give an impromptu concert but she was just staring at me so intently. And I needed something to take my focus away from her, lest I take her right then. When I'd completed the song, I finally looked up to her.

"That was just perfect," she said praising me.

Not wasting any more time I spoke up, receiving compliments made me feel very uncomfortable. "So, I believe you owe me something, equivalent retaliation?"

"You're so weird sometimes, why don't you just say tit for tat? So you want to know a secret, let me think," she said, tapping her fingers on the piano's slick black top. "I got one, I speak Japanese. There, that's my secret," she deflected.

She seemed shy all of a sudden, and I knew she was stalling. She picked at imaginary lint and twirled a piece of her hair around her finger, looking anywhere and everywhere but at me. I wasn't going to let it slide that easily, I'd revealed more of myself to her than I had done with anyone. Moreover, anything that could make this girl nervous, I wanted to know.

"First of all, I'm not weird; you knew exactly what I meant," I said, daring her to disagree. "Second, bullshit, that's not what you were going to tell me earlier."

I watched as a plethora of emotions passed over her face before she just looked plain embarrassed. I hadn't wanted to make her uncomfortable for fear she'd leave, and for some reason that thought plagued me with feelings of abandonment. I decided to put that information away for later examination, but knew that people didn't really do that shit unless something triggered that exact memory. So I attempted to work through that shit right then. Why didn't I want her to go, when just hours before I didn't think I wanted to be in her proximity at all? Not knowing what to say, I very softly started playing again. As the opening notes of Clair De Lune filled the silence, she spoke.

"I hate that song," she declared.

Okay.

"It reminds me of my mom, always jumping from trend to trend. Before I moved here, she was on a classical music kick, and bought the best of Chopin, Mozart and just-insert any well-known composers name here. She played this one over and over; if she wasn't my mama, I would cut the bitch, seriously," she sighed.

"Anyhow, she dragged me to these different galas and fundraisers with her and Phil, my stepdad, and told me I needed to be more 'cultured'. But the only fucking thing she could recall of classical musical was Debussy," she finished deep in her thoughts.

It wasn't the reaction that I had expected, but I'd take anything I could get. I continued playing, wanting her to give him me more details of everything to do with Bella Swan. "Is there anything of Debussy, you do like? I'm sure I could play it," I questioned.

"There is, but you can't play it," she replied confidently.

"Try me; I'm sure I can at least figure out the melody." I watched as she smirked and turned to sit Indian-style facing me.

"'I want to sing my interior landscape with the simple artlessness of a child. How much has to be explored and discarded before reaching the naked flesh of feeling… Claude Debussy,' she quoted.

Fuck Me.

I was confused before, but things seemed to be clearer in that moment. I wanted Bella. I wanted her so badly that my cock strained against my button-fly jeans painfully. She was made for me; I had no doubt about that, but what that meant exactly… I had no fucking clue.

"His words were so much more powerful than his music to me. Don't get me wrong, his compositions were great, even Clair De Lune, but his theory on music and life is just…wow!

'Before the passing sky, in long hours of contemplation of its magnificent and ever-changing beauty,'" she continued.

This quote I knew. I knew it as well as I'd known my own soul. "I am seized by an incomparable emotion," I said, cutting her off to finish the quote as the last note of the composition I was playing softly reverberated throughout my place.

I didn't know how I came to be standing in front of her with my hands resting on her knees. I was on fucking auto-pilot and my body craved less space between us. Trying to explain the pull I felt rationally left me with no answers because I was never a social butterfly and had nothing to compare my feelings to. But science I knew.

I recalled Quantum Theory and the study of ferromagnetism—how a permanent magnet in the presence of a magnetic field remains magnetized after that field is long removed. Bella was that magnet for me. I'd been drawn to women before, but my disappointment kept me from making any real connections. Yet, everything I felt with and for Bella was different, it was so much better. In the recesses of my mind, I knew that she would change me, and now that I'd been in her presence, I would inevitably and irrevocably feel that magnetic pull to her and her alone.

My hands moved on their own accord to encase her face, and I heard her sigh in contentment. I needed to know if she was feeling any of what I'd been through in the past few hours. I didn't want to be alone in this.

"Tell me your secret, Bella" I urged, liking the way my heart sped by just saying the simple syllables of her name. I could see her resolve slowly crumble as she tilted her chin to look me straight in the eye.

"When I said I knew it, that you played the piano, I really did know already. I was here when it was delivered, helping Esme get things together for your arrival," she revealed.

She quickly ducked her head and I withdrew my hands. I shoved them in my pockets and halfheartedly tried to hide my smile. Why didn't she mention it earlier? Good. I wasn't the only one that felt like I was in some alternative universe where the smell of someone was enough to turn your world upside down.

"I just wanted to… I didn't know how long we would be together today, and I wanted…" she trailed off.

I wasn't sure what she planned to say, but the fact that the mystification I felt was shared would suffice. "You just wanted to assault me in my car, I fucking knew it," I joked as she lightly smacked my arm in feigned anger.

"No, you twat. I just wanted to spend more time with you. Get to know you," she said genuinely.

"We've hardly done that. Come on, let's get you off my baby so we can sit and talk," I suggested.

I walked over to the piano's side as Bella scooted to the edge. Once I had a firm grip on her, I put her down, and deliberated on where to take her for this conversation. What I had not intended on was for my hands to fuse her hips, making it impossible for me to release her. I stood there, still as a statue with a litany of curses running through my head for putting us in another awkward situation.

God, I just really wanted to kiss her, if for nothing more than to calm the monster within who wanted her turned and bowed over my piano. Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, as I was learning that Bella Swan was anything but conventional, she stepped closer. Closing my eyes, I allowed my remaining senses to be blissfully assaulted. I pressed my nose against her brow, smelling the citrus on her breath, and then ran the tip of it lightly down to her cheek, feeling the delicate skin there. I wondered if her lips were equally as soft. Her breathing accelerated, and then she seized my shirt, pulling me closer.

My decision was made.

Despite the many reasons I shouldn't kiss her—mainly because things were happening too fast—I wanted her, and if her pressing into me wasn't a sign she wanted me too, I didn't know what was.

I trailed my fingers up her arms until I reached her face, memorizing every miniscule detail before tilting her chin upward. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly puckered in preparation. My determination to feel and taste her succulent lips against my own grew, and in just a few more inches I would be in heaven. Moving closer, I obliterated the last bit of space.

In chorus, a screeching alarm went off, and the doorbell chimed, letting me know someone was at the front door. My eyes popped open, landing on Bella who looked less like a willing participant and more like a lamb before slaughter. I watched as she shook her head, stepping around me to grab her cell phone and silencing the annoying alarm. I walked back to the foyer pissed off, and opened the door to be greeted by a smiling face.

Trying to hide my annoyance wasn't working, but I still worked to appear indifferent. I couldn't see Bella, but felt her presence as she approached me from behind. I watched as the smile left my company's face, and the situation I hoped to never encounter was staring me right in the eye.

"What the fuck is this?"

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