"Are you sure this is okay?" I ask.

It's midnight, and we're down on the beach after Edward finished closing up the bar. He's spreading out an old sheet on the sand that feels cool and soft and just a bit wet under my toes.

"Look around, Bella. No one's here." He reaches out and pulls me against him before we both tumble down onto the sheet. His hands reach for my ass as his leg slides between both of mine. I can't help but press myself against him just a little. "Besides. What do you think is going to happen here tonight? I'm just on the beach with my girlfriend enjoying the scenery."

I tense at his words. I don't mean to; I just can't help it.

"What?" he asks. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I lie. "It's just…I'm not…" I can't even say the word.

His long sigh says more than anything his words ever could, but that doesn't stop him. "You're not what? My girlfriend? I hate to break it to you, but I've been inside you every night for five days now. I know the way your pussy feels around my cock. I know that even though you said you'd never done it, and that you weren't sure you would like it, you fucking loved the way it felt when my finger pressed just inside your ass while I licked your clit. And I loved it, too. I don't know what that means where you come from, but here, it means you are, in fact, my girlfriend."

He kisses me before I can respond, and it's hard to realize that this is what he always does when I say or do something that isn't what he wants. But the kiss – it's so fucking perfect. The way he bites my lower lip while he breathes my name into my mouth makes me want to forget everything but the way he tastes and feels. The way his hand slides under my dress, his fingers stopping just short of where I want to feel them…

And as much as I don't want to, I say, "I'm not, though, Edward."

He pushes up on his elbow and stares down at me. Even though it's completely dark out here except for the moonlight and the lights shining down from the hotel, his eyes read exactly what I didn't want.

Hurt.

"Is it the word that scares you?" he asks.

"I'm not scared."

"You are," he says. "Either it's the word that scares you or your feelings. And either way, I think you need to think about why you're scared."

"I told you, I'm not scared. I'm just…I'm realistic. I know what this is. I'm only here for a week, and in just a couple of days, I'll be gone. I'm not your girlfriend. I can't be."

He rolls away from me before sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest. He sits there for a long time, just looking out over the ocean and not saying anything. Everything inside me aches to reach for him. To go back to a few moments before when he was laughing and kissing me and saying sweet things. Even if those sweet things only make everything harder.

"Why are you so closed off?" he finally asks. He doesn't look at me, and maybe that's okay. "Why can't you just let yourself be happy for just one fucking minute?"

"I have been happy this week," I tell him truthfully. In all honestly, I can't remember ever being this happy. At least not since –

"Yeah, maybe," he says, pulling me from my thought. "But not really. Not enough to ever really let go and let me see you for who really are. But you know what? Even though you're good at hiding things, even though you're fucking amazing at keeping everything you don't want to share inside, I still see you, Bella. I see you in those moments when you think I'm not looking. I see that you're holding something inside that you just can't let go of. And I don't know what you're keeping to yourself, I only know that it's there. It doesn't matter how patient I am, I can't be patient forever. Like you said, you'll be gone in just a couple days. And I'll just be the guy you fucked on vacation."

His words are like a slap, and they sting and hurt even more than if he'd physically struck me. I reach out and grab his arm, and for the first time in minutes, he actually looks at me. "You're not just some guy I fucked, okay? And no matter what you think, when I leave, I'll remember you and this week forever."

He grabs me suddenly, his hands cupping my face before he kisses me hard. This kiss isn't like all the others. This kiss is intense and bubbling over with emotions so passionate and forceful it almost tastes bitter like salt water. I reach for him, too. I push my hands in his hair and I don't just let him kiss me – I kiss him back just as hard. I kiss him until my head spins and the world stops and the only thing in the universe is just the two of us on this sheet.

And then he stops.

"This – what we have – what's happening between us," he says, not letting go of me, "this is real! This is fucking amazing and real. This doesn't happen to people every day, Bella. And I don't want to wake up in three days or a week or a fucking month and realize that you were just some blip on the surface of my life. Don't you get it? I don't want you to be just a memory."

His heart is pounding. I can almost hear it; I can feel it in his pulse under my hands. I can't think about his words because they're too good and too perfect and altogether too much for me to handle.

"You don't understand," I whisper. "I can't be any more than that."

The hurt in his eyes is something I never want to see again. And at the same time, it's something I know I'll never forget.

"Fuck you, Bella," he spits. He drops his hands and pulls away from me. I want to reach out and hold on to him and keep him here with me forever…but I can't. "Enjoy the rest of your vacation."

He just walks away, leaving me here alone.

Just like everyone else.

I don't even watch him leave.

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See you soon!

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