Chapter 10: Hot and Cold Suitcases
Rated M for mature themes and dialogue. Or immature, depending on how you look at it.
No copyright infringement is intended. Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer and Summit. I'm just embarrassing Bella because Edward loves it when she blushes. All music vids belong to their respective owners.
This is music well worth your time, and it's on my playlist at youtubedotcom/jmollytwilight/
'Brighter Than Sunshine', by Aqualung
'Be My Lover', by La Bouche
'Too Much Heaven', by the Bee Gees
'Something In the Way She Moves', by James Taylor
See Bella's negligee on my homepage: http://jmollytwilight(dot)spaces(dot)live(dot)com/
I like to draw. I designed the negligee, since I couldn't find one like my vision. If Bella happens to look like K Stew, don't sue me. More drawings from this series will appear there over time. Please sign the guest book. Nobody's done it yet, and it makes me wonder if anyone actually ever visits, or if perhaps my settings are wrong.
I've been writing this for a week, and it got so long that I had to split it into 2 parts, so watch for the next chapter to post soon after this one does. I'm just checking my sources. I don't want to plagiarize anything. So please don't shoot me.
This chapter is an inside joke for my British sister. You know who you are.
Thanks so much to all those who reviewed and gave me some fun ideas. Yes, I'll use what ever is feasible, and mention you. I have 18 more days of honeymoon to fill, you know. Yeah, I said 18, not 15 like you're expecting. Chew on that.
I never understood before
I never knew what love was for
My heart was broke, my head was sore
What a feeling
Tied up in ancient history
I didn't believe in destiny
I look up you're standing next to me
What a feeling
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
Brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don't care
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine
Suddenly you're mine
And it's brighter than sunshine
I never saw it happening
I'd given up and given in
I just couldn't take the hurt again
What a feeling
I didn't have the strength to fight
Suddenly you seemed so right
Me and you
What a feeling
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
It's brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don't care
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine
Suddenly you're mine
It's brighter than the sun
It's brighter than the sun
It's brighter than the sun, sun, shine.
Love will remain a mystery
But give me your hand and you will see
Your heart is keeping time with me
What a feeling in my soul
Love burns brighter than sunshine
It's brighter than sunshine
Let the rain fall, I don't care
I'm yours and suddenly you're mine
Suddenly you're mine
I got a feeling in my soul ... [repeat chorus to end]
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Bella's pov:
"Mmmm. Five more minutes, Charlie."
Muffled, melodious laughter met this request. Whoops. I didn't bother opening my eyes. A cool kiss brushed my nose, and then my senses were saturated in his glorious scent. Butterfly kisses wandered around my sleepy face.
There were few things better in life than being awoken by Edward Cullen. One notable exception? Being aroused by Edward Cullen. And the gap between the two morning options was definitely something I could jump over. But not right now.
"Edward, why'd you wake me? Let me sleep. Too early," I grumbled incoherently.
"Minx?"
"Mmph?"
"It's past ten. I thought you might like to do something during the daylight hours. See part of the island, for example."
"Mmph. Tired." I pulled the blanket over my head. Edward spooned up behind me, snaking his arm around my chest. He started playing with my boob. Well, that was distracting. I rolled toward him, tucking my head into his neck. Darn it, if it wasn't bright in the room. Light was pouring in from the French door. No going back to sleep now, I lamented.
A glorious scent assailed my nostrils, which quivered eagerly. My stomach snarled.
"See? I knew it was right to wake you. I can't have you wasting away." Edward rolled away, and picked up a tray from the top of the dresser. Annoying, perky vampire.
"Did you make me coffee?" I garbled at him. "You never let me have caffeine. And do I smell bacon?"
"Well, I figured you don't have to keep to a regular schedule here. If you're up late, it hardly matters. And you have received rather more than the usual allotment of sleep, now. And yes, I've made you bacon and bread fried in bacon fat. My mother used to make it." My flammable lover: cooking with grease. He must have an agenda. He presented the tray, and I looked it over.
"Trying to fatten me up, Mr Cullen?" On the tray was a large coffee, cream and sugar cubes, a glass of juice, a third of a pound of crisp bacon and three fried pieces of thick toast. Half a tomato was cut up artistically on the plate.
"You've been wasting away, Minx. And it won't hurt you to gain a couple of pounds. Your hip bones are jutting out. I'm pleased to see that you look a little healthier than you did when we arrived, though."
"It's the extra sleep, I expect, although I'm still, inexplicably tired. How long have I slept?"
"About 13 hours."
"Thirteen hours?!" I gaped.
"Yes, dearest. You're making up for lost sleep."
"I guess so." I yawned and stretched, displaying my chest to my mate's delighted admiration.
"How do you feel this morning? Have I permanently unhinged you, or can you still walk?"
I snorted. "Yeah, right." I took a quick inventory and did a double-take. "Holy cow! Did Edward Cullen just tease me about being hurt? I think your nap did you good. Sorry Mocha-chino. You win points for outstanding application of the perfect amount of force. I feel a little sore, in a good way. Someday, when I am durable, I will return the favour."
"I'll take that as a promise. And you know I never forget. What hurts?" He eyed me with a glimmer of worry.
"Um, my back is a little sore around my waist, and I'm a little stiff all over. Oh, and my boobs are a little tender."
"They were doing a lot of minxy bouncing. I'm sorry you're sore."
"I'm not."
"I'm not surprised. You have no sense of self-preservation. I'll rub your back when you've eaten."
"Boy, you'd better watch it or I really will want to stay in bed all day. Now, what have you got up those mysterious sleeves of yours? And, by the way, you're over-dressed."
"What! It's a t-shirt and swim trunks," Edward protested, smiling crookedly.
"I thought we'd spend our time on the island naked, Beautiful."
"If I keep ripping my clothes off, I won't have a choice. I hope Gustavo doesn't look at our trash too closely. Oh, well. At least our t-shirt survived. As for being dressed now, I don't care to 'swim with the fishes' au naturel. You go ahead if you don't mind being nibbled on."
"Okay, I'm awake, nearly coherent and intrigued. What's your plan?"
"I packed a picnic, and some beach stuff. I wondered if you'd like to go swimming on the other side of the island. It's warm out today. It's supposed to go up to 78º F and there might be dolphins or porpoises."
"How do you know the forecast?"
"Weather Network."
"Wait. You have cable here?"
"No, satellite."
That raised another question. "How do you get electricity for this place, anyway?"
"Solar, mostly."
"Oh. Well, a day out in the heat will be welcome. But don't animals avoid you?"
"Not intelligent animals. Dolphins, porpoises and whales are all telepathic. Be great if I could speak their language, but all I get from them is impressions. However, they seem to understand that I mean them no harm. They're amongst the few animals on the planet that will let me near them."
"Really? What about sharks, though?"
"Sharks avoid me, at least the small ones do. They don't like dolphins, either. I've never approached a large one. Sharks aren't intelligent. I'd hate to have one take a bite out of me. They'll eat anything. Be awful to have to chase it around to get the piece back."
"You're too valuable for that. Well, Mr Cullen, I would be delighted to meet your friends the delphinidae odontoceti."
"Great. Now eat up, and I'll collect the rest of the things we'll need."
"Okay. Sounds exciting."
"Since when did you know anything about cetaceans?"
"I liked them when I was a kid. Blame 'Free Willy'." I took another careful bite out of the fried bread. It melted in my mouth. Positively sinfully. "And thanks for cooking, it's great."
"My pleasure, Minx."
Edward disappeared into the en suite. A few minutes later, he barked a laugh.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"You really looked in these suitcases?"
"Well, just mine, and not thoroughly. I pulled out the few pieces of actual clothing to hang up, and I took out my toiletries and put them in the cabinet. Almost everything else in that suitcase is hot pink. You know I don't like pink. What was Alice thinking?"
"I don't know, because there's absolutely no way you're going to get me to wear most of the stuff she packed for me."
"Bring out the cases. We'll have a laugh before we go out."
"Okay." Edward bounced into the bathroom and retrieved my suitcase. I moved my empty tray over to make room for it and sat cross-legged. Edward set down my case and opened it, and then he collected my tray and moved it back to the dresser. Finally, he retrieved his own case from the bathroom and took up a spot at the foot of the bed so that the suitcases were between us.
"On three, pull out the weirdest thing you can find," he ordered, grinning.
"One, two, three!" I counted down gleefully, and we rooted through the cases.
Edward laughed. "There's no way I'm wearing this, Minx. You couldn't pay me in kisses to wear it."
He held the object over the lid of the suitcase, and I shrieked with laughter and grabbed it. It was a grey thong designed to look like an elephant's head. "Oh, come on, Mocha-chino. Model it for me!" I stuck a finger through the hole where the trunk was meant to be, and waggled it.
Edward snatched back the costume. "No way, lady. I'm not giving Alice a mental picture of that."
"All the tags are still on this stuff. Does she think she'll be able to return it?"
"She'd know better than that. What else have we got? Your turn."
"You won't mind if I don't wear anything pink, do you?" I tossed the Barbie-pink garments aside onto the pillows.
"I prefer you naked, most of the time," he said, shyly. Now why was he suddenly shy? "Show me your worst piece, Bella."
I held up a red number with peek-a-boo holes cut all through it. "That's bad," he grimaced. We tossed the horrible lingerie on the pillows and dug in again.
"Oh, no!" Edward exclaimed. "This is worse than the last one." He held up a thong designed to look like a monkey with a banana sticking out of its mouth.
"Definitely not sexy, Mr Cullen," I chortled with an eye roll.
"You next," Edward waited expectantly. I pulled out a black leather bra with zippers on the nipples, and bottoms that were attached with huge silver chains. "Definitely not, sweetie." I tossed it onto the growing pile of discards.
Edward riffled through his case. He pulled out a snake-headed, snake-skinned number with a long, pink, forked satin tongue. "What was she thinking?" he asked quizzically.
"Must be a prank," I shrugged. I pushed my garments around and came up with a purple lace pair of boy shorts with a fake lace penis. I snorted. It joined the pile.
"This is relatively tame," Edward claimed, holding up an H-string designed to look like a tuxedo bib.
"That's not so bad," I agreed. "But this is." I held up a pair of underpants with a big pair of red, rubber lips, pursed in an 'o' with a hole in the middle.
"Merciful heavens!" Edward gasped, and fell off the bed.
We were starting to get giddy.
"I can't believe we brought these through Customs. It's a wonder they let us in the country," my Victorian giggled.
"I bet they've seen everything there is to see, Beautiful." I rolled my eyes. "Here's another winner," I claimed, displaying a bra designed to look like a pair of pineapples.
"The Hawaiian symbol of welcome. What a waste of fabric. Somebody spent time making this stuff. Can you imagine explaining that to people? 'Oh, I work in a factory and we make gag underwear for insane Americans'." Edward snorted and rolled his eyes incredulously. He held up half a coconut shell on a string. He looked at me, agog. "Not."
Eventually, we got down to more decent, attractive garments. Edward had several nice thongs and sleep shorts and bathing suits. I had several bikinis, some silk shorty pyjamas, various blue garments in satin and soft lace, a white chemise, and assorted bras and panties. But there was something else in the suitcase. Something that was unlike everything else.
It nestled in a black velour drawstring bag. It was obviously expensive. It slid through my fingers sensually. Stretch velvet with transparent black panels, the chemise mimicked a corset. The short skirt had an edging of very fine velvet ribbon, and was otherwise see-through. A matching, black velvet thong and set of elbow-length gloves slid out of the skirt. It was beautiful. And unusual. And Alice had nothing to do with it.
"You bought me this," I stated, feeling a lump form in my throat.
My Victorian looked at me from under his lashes. "Yes. Yes, I did. How did you know?"
"I know your taste. And this is exquisite. Thank you, Edward. It's the most minxy thing I've ever seen."
"You like it? Really?"
"Yes, love. I think it's beautiful." On the spur of the moment, I leaped up to go and put it on, but found my wrist trapped in Edward's gentle hand.
"Sweetheart, will you indulge me today?"
"Of course." I waited to hear what he would ask me. It was so rare for him to ask me for anything, that I was quite pleased.
"It's hot and sunny, and I need out of the house. I'm accustomed to running around a lot, and I'm antsy. If you put that on right now, you won't be seeing daylight for at least 18 hours. So please, can we go play with the animals for a bit? I promise to ravish you later."
"Who can resist you? You're so adorable when you beg."
"Wonderful! Get dressed." Edward bounced up again, kissed me quickly and headed for the kitchen with my tray.
"Hey, you promised me a rub-down."
He looked back over his shoulder. "Hey, you promised me you'd get out of bed. In the interest of promoting that event, I suggest I bring the oil and apply it at our destination."
"It's a promise?"
"Of course. I don't make idle promises, Bella. Now how 'bout choosing one of Alice's barely-there bathing suits and finding your cover-up? I've got our sunglasses already."
"Okay, Mocha-chino. I'm coming. But in the interest of self-preservation, I suggest you coat me in sunscreen now. Otherwise, you will have a lobster for a bride tonight, and I'll be telling you not to touch me for days."
"We can't have that. You get the sunscreen and I'll be back in a second."
Before going to get the sunscreen, I decided a quick tidy was in order. If we put all the good lingerie in one suitcase, I reasoned, all the tacky items could be stored in the other one. I pulled Edward's suitcase over and did a double-take. There were three more velvet bags in it.
Edward came back in, and stopped short. "Sorry, I guess I wasn't meant to find these," I said, gesturing to them. I noticed he was blushing.
"Uh, that's okay. Actually, they're the same as the other one. I got extras on the chance that you'd like it. In case, you know, I damaged one."
"I'm glad. I love your gift. I was just thinking we could amalgamate everything we might use into one suitcase, and store the gag gifts in the other one. What will we do with them, anyway?"
"I suggest we pull a prank of our own and leave them in Esme's closet."
"Awesome. Let's."
Edward grabbed the velvet bags out of his suitcase, then did a double take. He groped at the bags, placed two in my suitcase, and retained one. "There's something in this," he said in confusion, squeezing the bag.
"What?" I asked warily.
Edward undid the drawstrings and peeked into the bag. He shut it again, gawping at me. Then, the open-mouthed look morphed into a silly grin, and a growing belly laugh changed him into the laughing bear Em was so fond of teasing.
"What is it?" I asked, half-amused, half-bewildered. I approached him and waited for him to show me. Instead, he backed up and moved the bag out of my reach.
"Come on, give," I demanded, pulling at his arm. Edward was in a paroxysm of laughter. His eyes danced.
"Oh, no. Mine."
"You rascal. Show me what you've got in that bag. What did Alice do?"
"Alice is a naughty little pixie. And you're going to kill her," he cackled.
A horrible suspicion was born in my gut. "She didn't!" I said, aghast.
"She sent a little friend of yours along on the trip, the brat. An intimate friend," Edward snorted.
I grabbed the bag and yanked it, howling, "Gimme!" I ended up holding an empty bag. The beautiful lingerie fluttered to the floor. Edward, however, retained his prize. I don't think I ever boiled more red in my life. Not even when I came out of the shower to find 12 friends and family in my hotel room. Not even when my mother and the Cullens and Denalis walked in on me and Edward in bed. Certainly not when Seth did the same thing. I wasn't even this embarrassed when Charlie caught me and Edward half-naked in my bedroom.
Edward held his prize over his head, crowing "If you want your friend back, you're going to have to add me to the festivities. This is one ménage à trois I wouldn't miss for anything."
"Unhand Fake Edward, and nobody gets hurt!" I demanded, jumping for it. Hopeless, of course. There was no way I was going to get it back without my husband's cooperation, and he was looking like a kid on Christmas morning. A kid who'd gotten everything he ever wanted.
"I don't think so, Minx," he chuckled, dancing out of reach.
"That's my Gräfenberg Spot Stimulator you're holding hostage, Edward. You should never, ever come between a girl and her vibrator."
"But it's such a minxy place to be, Bella," he taunted.
"Edward! Give it back."
"It's not an it. It's a him. You're going to hurt his little feelings, Minx. And he's always so good to you, isn't he?" Edward twisted the base of Fake Edward, turning him on. Fake Edward hummed seductively and my kegel muscles automatically clenched. Real Edward joined in with the humming. He smirked irresistably, and stroked Fake Edward against his cheek.
"Edward!!!" Bella Cullen: all red, all the time. Might as well tattoo that on my forehead.
My bratty husband walked up and put his hand on my cheek, eyeing me cheekily. "Hush, dearest. You can keep your little second-string mate. I wouldn't hurt him. I'm not jealous in the least. He's one kind of competition that doesn't scare me."
"Give him back," I snarled dangerously and jumped helplessly for my toy.
"You're adorable when you're mad at me," Edward flirted, holding Fake Edward over his head.
"I'm serious, Edward. You're ticking me off. Hand over Fake Edward and nobody gets tickled."
"Only if I get to watch. Or preferably, assist," Edward snickered evilly, waggling his brows. He ran Fake Edward along my chest, leaving a tickle-y, warm trail.
"I can't do that!" I wailed, throwing my hands in the air. "It would be so embarrassing."
"That's not what you said yesterday morning," Edward stated matter-of-fact-ly. He had me there.
"Well, I was only trying to get you to blush yesterday morning," I bellowed, hands on my hips.
"Well, maybe this will teach you not to make promises you don't intend to keep. I intend to hold you to it."
I huffed angrily, and counted to ten. Then, I tried a strategy that normally got me my way. "Edward? Please give Fake Edward back."
He snickered again, leaning down to plant distracting kisses on my furious face. "Not a chance. Not until you accede to my demands. Until you comply, I am kidnapping your little friend, who is, incidentally, woefully hung compared to me. He is, however, a very pretty blue, and sparkles most attractively. Smells like you, too," he added.
Aggravating, sexy, vampire-man.
"You can't kidnap him," I snapped. "He'll be frightened. You need to let me put him in his nice, safe drawer."
"I need to let you put him in his nice, warm pussy," Edward insisted silkily.
Hot tears welled up in my eyes. Edward sobered up a bit, taking my face in his hands and kissing them away. "Dearest love, I'm sorry, but I'm not sorry. I can't help it if I'm a depraved, fantasy-obsessed, 104 year old, can I? Please, love. Don't be angry with me because the idea of watching you use that is turning me into a bowl of liquified jelly. Please, Minxy? Please, please, please don't be cross."
"Okay, seriously? What will it take to make you pretend this never happened?" I demanded hotly.
Edward bit his lips, eyes dancing. He wasn't taking me nearly seriously enough. I was so mad that even the dazzle wasn't working. "Spoilsport! Uh, okay, Minx. Here's the deal. I will hide Fake Edward somewhere inside the house. You will have one half hour to find him. Make all the mess you want while you search. I'll tidy up later. If you find him, Fake Edward can spend the rest of the trip in your suitcase. Should you not find him, I get to have my wicked way with both of you."
"No cheating?" I asked narrowly, feeling my traitorous female parts protest at the thought of two Edwards at one time.
"No cheating. Give me five minutes to hide him, and then I'll go sit in the sun-room and wait for you."
"Deal."
Edward was gone in a flash. I waited, foot tapping. Moments later, my rotten, drooling spouse called me. "Okay, Bella, you can look." I stomped out to the sun-room with crossed arms, glaring about me.
Edward was sitting in one of the Poäng chairs with his feet up, reading 'Don Quixote' (or pretending to read it). He peeked up at me from under those long, dark eyelashes, biting his lips to keep from laughing.
"Now!" I announced to the air, "If I were a kinky, horny, insensitive vampire, where would I hide my wife's consolation prize?"
My mate snorted and buried his nose in his book. Now that was an idea. That would be just like him. I marched over to Mr Butter Doesn't Melt in His Mouth, and frowned down at him. He looked up questioningly.
"Will you kindly get up on those elegant feet, Mr Cullen, so I may check under your ass?"
"Certainly," he smirked. Setting down the book, he stood up and gave me room. I bent over the chair and he took the opportunity to cop a feel. I yelped and frowned at him.
"Later. If you're lucky and I'm not holding a grudge over this kidnapping," I growled.
"Grudges aren't nice, minxy Bella," he crooned.
"Neither is stealing my fake boyfriend," I told him, looking under all the cushions. No joy. Now where? Well, on the man himself, where else?
"Spread 'em, cheater."
Edward stood spread-eagled while I patted him down. He giggled a bit when I passed his ticklish spots. "Cold, Minx. Totally cold," he grinned.
"We'll see about that." I grabbed the elasticized band of his shorts and snapped it. Then, I put my hand down the front. Nope. Nothing made of hard silicone in there. Just the usual hard vampire.
"Ooh. I like this game," he smirked. "Gonna check the back door, too?"
"You wouldn't dare!" I gasped, leaping around back of him. I hauled down his shorts and examined his ass. Nope, he hadn't. I had almost believed him. I had, after all, corrupted my Victorian in other ways. I smacked his backside loudly as he cackled with glee.
"Twenty minutes, love."
I shoved Edward away from me. He wisely agreed that sitting in the chair was the way to go.
For the next 15 minutes, I ransacked the house while Edward snickered evilly. I checked every cupboard, the blue room's closet, bed and drawer units, the washer and dryer, the fridge, the tank of the toilet, the coffee and sugar and tea canisters, the medicine cabinet and the bookshelves and video shelves. I threw back the covers on the Blue Room bed, and shook every pillow slip. Where else could Fake Edward be?
Surely not. Surely he hadn't popped him in Esme's closet on his way out the bedroom door. I barrelled across the house. Edward sat up a bit when I ran in the White Bedroom. Oh boy! I had to be hot.
I threw open Esme's closet door and had a good look around. I riffled through everything, without success. Mr Smug stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the jamb. "Well, you're a little warmer," he drawled.
"Hmmph!" I responded. I ran into the en suite, threw open the shower door, and quickly upended towels and robes and my toiletry bag. Nope, not in there.
"Time's up, Minx!" Edward whooped, " I win."
"Five more minutes," I pleaded.
"Nope. A deal's a deal," he crowed.
"Fine! Where is he?"
My mate eyed me, evaluating my mood.
"Come on, Edward. You won. Now show me where you put him." I demanded.
Edward walked slowly, back into the room, and checked over his shoulder to make sure I was looking. He stared at me as he threw open my suitcase.
"Aw! No way!" I lamented helplessly.
Edward opened up the drawstring bag, tipping Fake Edward out into his hand.
"You brat. You have got to be kidding!" I howled.
My mate leaned down, brushing the hair off my forehead, and pressed his lips to mine. "I never josh about things that are important." Oh, those eyes. Those big, black eyes. Me-ow. They stared into my soul seductively. My abdomen throbbed. It was on his side.
"You are a sneaky cheat, Mr Cullen."
"Hey, have you noticed I don't seem to be able to dazzle you today?"
"Probably because I'm cross, Edward."
"Seriously. I've been doing my level best to dazzle you, and you're still coherent. I must be losing my touch."
"Kinda levels the playing field, doesn't it? I must be adjusting to your abilities. You might have to stop relying on vampire tricks to get your way."
"Don't be cross, minxy Bella. Hey, I did something outside my comfort zone for you. I talked dirty to a lady. This is the same thing. Make me happy, love. Let me bring Fake Edward on the picnic with us? He'll have a good time," Edward wheedled. He was irresistibly charming, even if the dazzle wasn't working.
I pouted, considering. "Well, okay. But only if you don't make fun of me."
"Not making fun of you. Oh, no, no, no." My mate laced his fingers through my hair and kissed me soundly. His tongue seduced me insistently. I closed my eyes and kissed him back, melting into whipped cream, chocolate-coffee heaven. I wrapped my leg around his and the lines between us blurred. Stupid, gloriously sexy vampire. It was impossible to stay mad at him.
The heat flared between us. It wasn't the only thing between us, though. Fake Edward and Real Edward were both poking me for attention. I reached between myself and my mate, and palmed circles on Real Edward's slippery head. My husband groaned and kissed me ardently. The kiss stretched out for an unusually long time.
Finally, Edward pulled back and sucked in an unsteady breath. He examined me closely, sniffing. "I just don't understand it," he mused. "Usually, you'd be passing out by now, and your heart would be stuttering. Yet you're fine."
"Yeah. It's a totally great kiss, trust me, you haven't lost your touch. But I'm not struggling to stay conscious."
"I've wished for this, so many times, to keep you safe. But I don't know. A small part of me wants to be able to dazzle you. To make your heart falter with a kiss. In a weird way, I sort of miss it."
I put my hand on his rough cheek. He'd gone without shaving again. I ran my nails over the stubble and he turned his face into my palm, and kissed it. "It's okay, love," I comforted him. "It's a big change for both of us. But I am glad I can spend a lot longer kissing you. I'm sure it's just a consequence of the nap and the lovemaking. I feel fine. Great, actually."
"I just wish I had some concrete information to go on. I don't like making guesses about your health."
"I'm fine, sweetheart. I promise to tell you if I feel at all ... strange." Losing me would destroy him.
"You promise? No minimizing anything. Understood?"
"I promise."
"Okay. Get changed. You'd best have a human moment, too. We're hiking through jungle."
I stopped in the doorway to the washroom, gaping. "Hiking?! Through jungle?!"
"Fine. I'm hiking, you're hitching a ride. Put your hair up, please. I don't want it to snag on anything. Now let's go. It's not far by my standards, but daylight's burning."
I detoured to the suitcase, and snagged the red thong bikini that Rose picked out for me in Niagara. I got my cover-up out of the closet, too. "Oh! Sunscreen first, Edward." I ran in the bathroom and grabbed some, and pushed it at my mate. I stripped off the t-shirt and presented myself for lathering.
"Sha-zaam, honey. I love my job." Edward squirted sunscreen into his hands and rubbed them together. Like that was going to help. Sure enough, I squealed when he touched my back. It was so chilly it made me shudder. "Sorry, Bella."
"It's okay Mocha-chino. I'll warm up when we get outside." Edward continued his downward progress. He covered every inch of me, up and down, front and back, ending with my chest. He palmed my breasts, spending a lot more time on them than was needful. But I wasn't about to complain. "Mmm. Feels good. You're taking the ache out." The glands were achy, I admitted. Throbbing. Maybe I should wear a bra the next time I asked him to use 20 percent.
"I'll rub them all day, if you wish," he murmured.
"Thought you wanted to exchange pleasantries with sea creatures," I teased.
"I'd settle for exchanging bodily fluids with a dangerous creature," he invited.
"Quash that. We're going on a picnic. You can exchange fluids with me there."
"Only if we arrive before dark. Move it!" Edward smacked my butt as I retreated to the bathroom, making me squeak. He chuckled, and took Fake Edward and a bottle of lube out of the room. I went to the bathroom, completed some morning ablutions, dressed, and brushed the snarls out of my hair.
Edward tapped on the door and came in. He took my heavy hair in his hands, divided it in the middle and quickly constructed two French braids. I regarded him with astonishment. "How did you-"
"I've watched Alice and Rose mess around with each others' hair for years, but don't tell them I can do this, or they'll try to recruit me for Spa Days. It's not that different from constructing a fishing net, really."
"And why ever would you need to know how to make a fishing net?" I demanded.
"Just interested," he shrugged. "I lived on the docks briefly during my rebellious period. Police pay attention to loiterers. They don't notice fisherman repairing nets."
"Hmm. Can you knit?"
"Yes. An old salty named Jem taught me."
I had a vision of Edward, knitting with old bearded men beside the sea, smelling of salt and fish. Wearing a grey, cable-knit sweater and a cloth cap. Dreamy. "So not everything from that time was bad."
"Most of it was very, very bad, Bella. I had a couple of friends, that's all. Decent, hard-working men. Unlike me."
I ignored the self-flagellation. "How did you explain your burgundy eyes?"
"Told them I was partially blind. Wasn't easy to pull that off, let me tell you. But it allowed me to have companions of sorts. Daytime companion of fishermen, night time hunter of men."
Edward marched me outside. He picked up the black tote, and placed my Ray Bans on my nose. He put his own on, tipped them down to eye me cheekily, and pushed them back up. "Up you go, sunshine," he encouraged. I climbed onto his back, feeling tacky with sunscreen, and held on tight while Edward bent to pick up a cooler bag.
"Bella?"
"Yes, horndawg?"
"Thanks for indulging my wishes."
"You know you're irresistible, with or without dazzle."
"Because we love each other, Minx. Ready?"
"Yep. Go horsie!"
So what do you think E and B will do at the beach? Bet I'll surprise you. Review.