"Then take me."
He let out a noise that might have been close to a growl, before his sinful mouth attached the junction of her neck. The hands that were once limp at her sides, burst into action and intertwined in his thick hair. And Bella reveled in the moan that reverberated from him, as he swept even more of his glorious tongue along her skin.
"More," Was all she said, and Edward quickly obliged when his mouth finally found hers.
Edward was nothing but gentle fire as he parted Bella's lips, eager to taste her. His grip on her hips tightened in tandem with the fingers in her hair; pulling her closer as his tongue only continued to tangle with hers. Bella gasped as she grew drunk on the taste of him, the kiss only growing deeper as he stroked her tongue with fervor. Suddenly throwing herself into action, Bella pulled his bottom lip between her teeth a she intertwined her legs in his; pleased to feel a sizable bulge pressing against her hip.
"Evil thing," He mumbled, retracting his mouth only to gently nip her jaw. And she only burned hotter with each new touch; as a hand retreated from her hair to brazenly drag down her throat. His eyes seemed to devour every inch of her before rasping, "You're gorgeous,"
His fingers trailed lower and lower to trace the line of her bathing suit. If Bella's nipples weren't already peaked against the cold, they were left aching from the brief touch. "But if you want me to stop—"
"No, I want this." Their gazes locked, and Bella suddenly saw her lust mirrored in green eyes, "I want you." She watched something inside Edward snap, as he caught her lips in searing kiss, promising the all sorts of pleasures to come.
He parted her skimpy bikini top easily, while his palm came up to cup the newly revealed flesh. And Bella couldn't help but throw her head back; her chest arching as her silent plea for more. Edward groaned at the unsaid request, his calloused hand coming to tease the other peak.
"Just tell me what you want," His voice choked with the amount self-restraint it took to ask it, "Tell me you won't regret this in the morning, and I'll do anything you want."
The pure surrender in the words rendered her into unintelligible mush. It was then that she she truly realized the man that laid next to her.
Edward was willing to give her anything she asked with one word; and she knew he wouldn't just be giving her his body, but something much more. Even if that meant she couldn't do the same.
"I—" Her answer turned into a moan as a broad hand swept along her bare stomach in a possessive move, as his control hindered on the fingers played with band of her skimpy bottoms.
And damn her, she couldn't help but arch even as he paused, hooded eyes raising to meet hers, "What do you want, Bella?"
She opened her mouth to answer, but a loud rap on their tent made them both jolt upright.
"Are you two okay in there?" Alice voiced from outside.
Edward's body somehow got more rigid as Bella pulled the closest blanket up to her neck. There was a beat of silence as he ran a rough hand down his face before answering, "We're fine. What are you doing up, Alice?"
Bella was doing her best to ease her thundering heart in case it decided to leave her chest completely, all while fixing to adjusted her top in case Alice decided to barge in even further. Edward's eyes followed the movement of Bella's flustered fingers before it snapped back to his sister's figure in aggravation.
"We heard some banging and then a big crash, and we thought you two were getting mauled by a bear! It took me a good minute to decide if I should try and save you or not." Alice exclaimed.
Edward let out a sigh, "Well, we're fine. You can leave now."
"Not so fast, I've yet to hear Bella's voice." Edward just shook his head as Alice prodded, "Bella? Are you alive in there?"
"Yes, I'm alive." Bella answered while giving Edward a wary look. He did not return it.
"If you're alive, then what was all that noise?" Alice pushed even further.
Edward looked as if he was about to kill his sister, so it was Bella that answered, "We were just racing each other from the beach when things got a little out of hand, no big deal. Sorry to wake you."
"How out of hand are we talking here?" Someone interjected.
"Emmett?" Edward groaned, "Did we honestly wake up the whole camp?"
"Yeah, bro, you kind of did." It was Jasper's voice who called back.
"Well as we said, we're both okay, so can everyone go back to bed please?" Edward practically barked.
"Geesh man, what's wrong with you. No need to get grumpy. Its not like we interrupted anything important."
There was a silence that ate at Bella before she heard Emmett finally clarify, "We didn't interrupt something, didn't we?"
Both Edward and Bella's stunned silence was answer enough.
"Holy shit!" Emmett bellowed. "Holy shit, we did!"
"We're leaving now." Rosalie finally interceded, followed by a great bit of shuffling and zipper closing, and then suddenly, silence.
"Sometimes I can't believe them," Edward huffed.
But Bella ignored the fact that they had been interrupted, but instead, "What did we almost just do?" Bella looked to Edward, but he just shrugged.
"Nothing, just forget it ever happened." He sunk lower into bed, before turning his back to her.
"You honestly want me to forget that we were just about to have sex in a tent? Because I can't do that." She stared at him while she waited for him to answer
"What do you want me to say, Bella?"
"I want you to tell me that was something more than releasing a weekend worth of sexual tension."
"How about you start by admitting that to yourself, rather than ask a question you already know the answer to."
Bella scowled at the back of his head. "I think we both know that nothing changed when I left."
"Oh trust me, everything changed." He scoffed before standing abruptly. "I think its best if I sleep outside."
"Don't be like that." She snapped, and finally tired eyes met hers. "We need to talk about what just happened."
"Okay then, shoot." He stood there waiting as Bella's mouth went dry.
"Do you know, every relationship after I left had failed because part of me still cared for you? So there, I finally admitted it. Is that what you wanted?"
Edward's gaze that was once full of so much emotion suddenly went still.
And when I saw you in that bar after so long…" She bit her lip, "I never expected to see you again. For so long I had imagined what I could say, but when the real thing happened, I panicked because really, what could I say to ever apologize for what I did?"
His nostrils flared, but she continued, "I'm resided with the fact that we're no longer good for each other, and I keep telling myself we should move on, that it isn't healthy to still want someone you fell in love with in high school; but I still want you Edward. And I always will."
She watched his breathing ease, but his gaze still remained adverted from hers.
"So when you pull away from me like that, I have no other reason than to think you secretly despise me, and you're torturing me for what I did. But I don't push it because a retched part of me would take your hatred over you having no feelings for me at all."
Edward released a sigh, "I couldn't never hate you, Bella."
It was her turn to remain speechless.
He nodded his head to the bed, "Come on, sit down." Bella worked on gathering her emotions, since this had been the second time that night she had poured herself out for him, taking the risk of rejection, or worse, his indifference.
He paused before swallowing, and she held her breath as he murmured, "I don't hate you, Bella, I hate myself for how much I want you."
His shoulders eased with relief as he looked to his clasped hands, "Do you know I forgave you the instant you left?" His eyes met hers, but she was struck mute; frozen as she worked to absorb every word.
"I knew why you did it, why you had to do it; and I eventually convinced myself that I had moved on." He huffed out what might have been a scoff before continuing, "But the moment I saw you in that bar as a grown woman, I suddenly had the answer to a question I had been asking for nearly ten years."
There was a roaring in Bella's ears as she watched him intake a shuddering breath,
"It was then I realized how utterly taken I was. Even though I had worked so hard to hollow out every part of myself that you had ever touched, even until there was nothing left; within that shell of a man you once knew, I was completely yours." His voice was nothing more than a whisper across the empty darkness between them. "And so I told myself if all you wanted from me was friendship, or even mindless flirting, I would have given it to you whole-heartedly. Even if it meant you would return nothing."
Bella's eyes widened; her face turning red with the amount of heat that flooded her body from his confession. "And what if I wanted more?"
His head snapped to hers, his eyes promising the totality of his words, "Then I would give it to you."
Bella shuddered out a breath as a tear escaped her eyes. She quickly wiped it away, "Are you sure? I mean, even now, after everything?"
He shrugged as a simple smile spreading across his lips, "Why not? We've waited long enough, don't you think?"
Bella was suddenly laughing, well, laughing and crying as Edward watched her throw her head back before flopping down on the mattress with a plop, "We have to get through this wedding first."
Edward joined her in bed, sighing as he crossed his arms behind his head, but his thigh still brushed hers. "You'd be surprised, I don't think it's going to be as bad as you believe."
Bella let out a snort, "You forget that I'm going to have to finally confront my mother." She rolled over so she was facing him, gentle eyes appraising her, "After ten years of almost nothing. At least with Jasper and I, there were calls and contact. This won't be pretty."
Where Bella's father was uplifting and caring, her mother was judgmental and manipulative.
"Won't she just be happy to see you?" Edward murmured as a finger began to idly stroke her arm, "How bad could it be?"
Bella met his gaze, "Bad."