Author's note: Thanks again for reading! Hang with me; we'll get these two to a healthier understanding eventually.
As for what happens in this chapter... Well, vampire sex is really fast. I know this from personal experience. That's all I want to say about that. Um...yeah.
When I approached the Volvo ahead of my two passengers, I was surprised to find Bella in the front seat. Jake and Nessie slid into the back.
"Oh, Bella," I greeted pleasantly, slipping behind the wheel. "I thought you had things to do at the cottage."
Jacob laughed. "Right, like pout because Edward's such a meanie. We heard you fighting him upstairs." He caught my eye in the rearview mirror. "That was brilliant, man. Why didn't one of us think of that before?" He was recalling several past incidents, which presented appropriate opportunities.
"Shut up, Jake," Bella said. Then she turned to me. "I need your help with the one thing, you know, so I thought I might as well come along for the drive."
Jake waggled his eyebrows suggestively at me. It used to be that a passing thought like that would have caught Jake up in a spiral of explicit visions. That was before Nessie. He just didn't think like that anymore. I wondered how long it would be before he reverted back, and it would be my daughter he was fantasizing about.
Bella tried to change the subject. "Jacob, make sure you help Charlie feed Renesmee. You know what she likes."
"Yeah, I can't wait to tell Charlie that you got spanked," he mused instead of replying to Bella's request.
"Uh, Jake," I shook my head. "Charlie might not approve of my…method."
"Or he might be impressed," Jake argued.
"You wouldn't like it so much if it had been Ness," I told him.
"Oh, it would be fine. I could use some prior warning if that happens, though."
"Nessie," I instructed, "let's keep what happened this afternoon private, all right? We wouldn't want to upset Grandpa."
"Sure, sure," Nessie chirped. We all grinned at her adoption of Jake's special phrase.
We walked the kids up to the house, where an enthusiastic Charlie held open the door. "There's my girl," he crooned and opened his arms. He was much better at being affectionate with Nessie than he was with his own daughter. "Ready to spend some time with your old Grandpa Charlie? It's baseball season, Ness, and I bought you a Mariners cap."
"Dad, that's unnecessary," Bella accused.
He shrugged. "Just because you didn't take to it, Bells… I can still hold out hope for her."
"Renesmee likes baseball," I assured him. "Be good, Ness."
"Am I allowed to spank her if she's not?" Charlie asked with a grin.
"What?" Bella gulped.
"He's teasing," I told her, so Charlie couldn't hear. "Yes, in fact, she requires it," I replied in a human frequency. "At least once before bedtime and again first thing in the morning."
Nessie giggled and ran inside, bronze curls bouncing and Jake on her heels.
I smirked at Bella. "So much for farewells."
"She'll be great. You two…have a good night," Charlie told us, trying not to think about what that would entail. If he only knew…
"Why didn't you stay at our house?" I questioned Bella during the return walk to the car. It was dark by then and lightly raining. "I had taken it for granted that you would have wanted to avoid Jake after the afternoon performance."
"I didn't want you to change your mind while I wasn't with you."
I held the car door open for her. "I haven't made up my mind yet," I pointed out. She huffed and slid into the seat, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's a lot to talk about. I don't know exactly what you want." And I wasn't quite sure how to give her what she wanted and remain a gentleman.
"You are sucking the fun out of this," she accused.
"Humans who experiment with this sort of thing usually draw up a contract. Don't you think we ought to at least talk this through?"
"You can't really hurt me anymore."
"Yes, I can. Trust me."
"But that's okay. I want it to hurt. Like you said, I like you old-fashioned."
"Well, I won't be cruel," I snapped. I was afraid for a moment that I had hurt her feelings, but after a twenty-six-second silence, she continued.
"Edward? What would happen if I started causing trouble, and you didn't handle it?"
I cringed. "The family would interfere."
"And that would mean…what?"
"Probably that Carlisle would…discipline you." I turned to look at her; she had stopped breathing. I supposed she had interpreted how he would punish when I alluded to it earlier.
"Even though you changed me?" Her brows were knit together. "Edward, you are my creator," she whispered.
The statement took my breath away, too. I was her creator, although I hadn't thought of it that way before. Bella was my reason for living. From the day she became my would-be murder victim, that little brown-eyed girl had become my ruler. She created for me a life worth living. Still, just as Carlisle was my creator, I was hers. I was completely responsible for her. For her needs, her care… her new fetish.
"I would never let it happen. And Jasper still keeps a close watch on you. But to answer your question… He wouldn't appreciate having to do it," I explained, "but if I didn't restrain you or give you consequences when you messed up, Carlisle would take over. I suppose he would try to reason with you, but if that didn't work, he would make certain you didn't sit comfortably for a long while. Hard to imagine, but believe me. My father can give one hell of a thrashing."
"Good to know," she said finally with a satisfied smile, as though I just finished describing a dream come true. Was she planning to make that a possibility?
"You don't want that," I warned.
"Well, if you won't give me what I do want…"
I growled loudly. It was rude, but I couldn't stand it.
Before I knew what was happening, I heard an aggravated sigh and a splash when water temporarily obscured my vision. One second I was watching the road, the next I was shaking water from my hair. Bella had soaked my face and head with the contents of Jake's forgotten sports bottle.
I braked suddenly, skidding and sliding off the highway and onto a conveniently found fire road until the car was concealed by the fringe cover of trees. The phone in my pocket was vibrating. Alice. Well, I didn't need a psychic to tell me what was going to happen next. I took it out and tossed it on the dash.
"All right," I snarled, "Isabella Swan. You want a spanking? You just earned your second of the day." I opened my car door then turned back to her. "And it will not be erotic!"
I got out, slammed the door, and then sped around the hood to fetch my wife from the other side. She looked frightened—or perhaps excited—but she didn't fight me. I had grasped her upper arm in one hand; with the other I threw open the back door, getting in and dragging Bella with me.
I immediately pushed her down over my lap. Her upper body was hanging off the seat, her arms clutching my left thigh and calf. For crying out loud, she didn't even know how to position herself for a spanking!
Why couldn't my wife have grown up with two normal parents who set boundaries for her and punishments when she tested those boundaries? Isn't that why a father must punish—so that his daughter's husband wouldn't have to? This was all Charlie's fault for neglecting to take care of Bella's disobedience when she was his responsibility.
Speaking of fathers, I needed to channel mine. Carlisle never lost his temper, and he never punished angry. I remembered the few times he'd had to take Esme to his study for correction. She was my "sister" in those early days, but she was always his mate. I never minded hearing Emmett or Rosalie get it, but I couldn't stand it when he punished Esme. And having heard Carlisle's thoughts during those dreadful sessions, I knew he had it far worse than I, who only had to listen to it. His heart had been breaking with anguish.
I was not sad or regretful, though. I was angry.
Perhaps I should leave this to Carlisle. Wouldn't that be more responsible?
No, no. That was childish and cowardly. Here's my misbehaving wife, Dad. I can't control her. Will you please blister her backside for me? Bella was mine, and I would attend to her. It would be my obligation to show her how terrible a spanking could be. Surely that would cure this unhealthy obsession.
I clutched her shoulders and pulled up so her head and chest would lie on the bench beside my leg. Recalling this afternoon's inopportune visit from my alternate personality, I silently informed my inner vampire that he would not be allowed to help during this punishment.
"Give me your hands," I ordered. Slowly, she released my leg and offered a hand. I took it and gently moved the arm over her head, to rest on the seat. Then she surrendered the other, which I set the same way. This bit of training calmed me. Judging by Bella's nervous energy—evidenced by her ragged breathing and slight squirming—it had served only to heighten her anxiety…or was it anticipation? I didn't know which.
My right hand dealt the first delicious smack. The sound of it, the sight of her shapely bottom, the weight of her on my thighs…it was arousing. Trying to keep my focus off my pants and onto the back of hers, I threw down more stinging smacks. Bella was mewing and clawing at the upholstery. The toes of her boots beat in perfect double-time on the car door.
The more I spanked, the more sensual gratification I craved. I needed to see her flesh, to feel its cool curves as my palm capably warmed it. Oh, but wouldn't that make this a sexual experience? I argued with myself. No, a proper spanking ought to be delivered on a bare bottom. And that's what I was determined to carry out: a proper spanking.
I stopped beating to tug down her tight jeans. She wasn't wearing panties I discovered delightedly.
"Naughty girl," I tutted.
"Nooo," Bella moaned deep in her throat as I revealed her lovely backside and thighs, smooth and ivory and even luminous in this cloudy evening. I lengthened the pause to slide my hand gently over the velvety slopes, which elicited a lusty whimper from my lap's occupant. I reminisced about my day spent bolting over the snowy hills in the Oregon wilderness; its natural beauty didn't hold a candle to a naked woman…this half-naked woman in particular. She was more lovely than a Botticelli painting.
Despite my best intentions to maintain a disciplinary spanking, the event had transcended mere pain and punishment. The car stayed parked, while Bella and I drove to a new level of sexual intensity. In an attempt to relieve the escalating desire, she was writhing on my lap, which was stirring me up. Stopping again, I dragged my hand through my hair, which was still wet, pulled up the hem of her shirt, and unfastened her bra. Undone by the sight of Bella's narrow waist, I trailed a hand around to her front and caressed her breast.
I spanked for a while more and then sent my hand down between her legs to feel inside my mate. I told myself I was checking to be satisfied I was doing my job—and not turning her on. Of course, if I really thought penetrating and fondling would cool her down, I was a top-grade fool. I could tell myself I was a frightening brute and that this slapping performance would show her who's boss, but the truth was becoming quite evident, this punishment was nothing if not foreplay.
My fingers explored the delicate sheath inside of Bella. I let slip a mild oath when I found it enhanced by a glassy liquid silk.I wanted in. I wanted to immerse myself in that soft, slippery inner world.
But I needed to finish the damn paddling first. I pulled my hand out and administered a dozen more sharp smacks. That was all the retribution I could summon. I skimmed my nose along the crease between her buttock and leg then followed with my tongue. I followed suit on the opposite side.
Suddenly I lifted her up and freed myself from my trouser fly. Then I set her back on my lap, seated this time, and fitted together. She squealed when her spanked bottom made contact with my body. I wrapped one arm up under her shirt and found a breast again. The other arm curved down around her hips. My fingers, still wet from the plunge, pushed and played between her thighs.
Suddenly Bella's head was thrown back, and her long hair brushed my face, which was pressed between her shoulder blades. Then the muscles clenched around me, and I felt her feet come up on her toes. I held Bella tight while she shuddered and screamed, her silky core throbbing and gripping my erection. My head felt like it was filled with champagne bubbles, fizzing and taking over my senses.
When she was safely landed, I grasped her waist and lifted her up and down on my lap three times, taking pleasure when she yelped from the forceful contact. With the third thrust, my hips came up off the seat—my head finally finding clarity at this elevation—and I was done. The climax, however, left me soaring until I wasn't sure I would ever come down from that height.