A/N: I'm glad that I got such a good response on the CPOV. I was a little nervous about changing it up after what happened in chapter ten, but it was necessary to set up this chapter. You'll see why. Thanks to all the reviewers (99 last time I checked, the most I've ever gotten for a single chapter), and everyone who has favorited/alerted this story. Don't forget to check out the new review incentive at the end of the chapter. Here is:

Twelve. Crazier

After I had secured my cast in a plastic bag (I was quite skilled at this after eighteen years of experience), I got in the shower and let the cold water wash over me and wash away the lust that had controlled me since we had returned from the hospital. After five minutes I was shivering, felt rather like a drowned rat, and could think of nothing but warming up, so I cranked up the hot water and sighed as I felt it wash away the cold.

God I love hot showers. The hotter the better as far as I'm concerned.

Thinking about heat made me think about Edward and the way he touched me, and before I knew it my hands were wandering where they shouldn't. With a curse, I turned the cold water back on and repeated the de-lusting process.

Once the cold had washed away the heat once again, I turned off the shower and climbed out, wrapping a towel around myself. There was no point in trying to shower in hot water again- it would just create a never ending cycle.

I looked around and realized the only clothing I have with me in the bathroom was Edward's shirt. I can still remember the look in his eyes when he saw me in it- they were burning, possessive, and lustful.

I shivered at the memory, and then abruptly pushed it from my mind. I was not going to have another goddamn cold shower! Instead, I concentrated on drying myself off, and then pulled on Edward's shirt. I hoped I could sneak over to my bag and slip on some clean underwear while Edward was still talking to Carlisle.

The whole shower was really badly planned out.

I opened the door, and Edward glanced at me over his shoulder, his burning gaze moving slowly from my legs up until his eyes meet mine. They were forest green again, and I suddenly felt like I needed another cold shower.

He muttered something into the phone, then shut it and began to slowly make his way over to me, reminding me once again of a cougar, all sleekly muscled and ready to pounce.

And I felt like the deer he was preparing to pounce on.

"So… how's Carlisle?" I asked, my voice sounding too high. I grabbed a clean pair of underwear and balled them into my fist behind my back. I tried to plan the best way to get back to the bathroom to put them on even as Edward answered.

"Same old same old. He wanted to see how we were, warn me not to seduce the police chief's daughter," he replied, seeming to casually send a text on his phone though his eyes never left mine. I slowly sidled towards the bathroom as he spoke, but he nimbly moved in front of me, his arms coming up to rest on the wall on either side of my head. My exit was effectively cut off, and Edward was looking at me like the cat who ate the canary… if the cat were horny.

"Well… we shouldn't disobey the good doctor, so," I tried to duck under his arm, but he blocked my attempt and clucked his tongue mockingly at me.

"Now Bella, surely you aren't going to chicken out now? After working so hard to get me riled?"

I gulped at the thought of Edward riled… in bed…

I really needed another cold shower.

"We can't do this right now, Edward," I said at last, deciding to be the voice of reason. Edward buried his head in my neck, kissing and nibbling along it's length, and I felt my knees grow weak at the sensation, but I realized I had to be strong. "We really can't."

Edward stopped kissing me, but kept his face nestled in the crook of my neck.

"I know," he said wistfully. "But it was nice to think we could for a while. You're incredibly tempting."

"We aren't prot- what do you mean you know?" I pulled away from him to look at him incredulously.

"Carlisle pointed it out on the phone," Edward replied. "We have no protection, and while I really like you… being your baby daddy just isn't…"

"A good plan right now?" I suggested, filling in the blank when Edward seemed uncertain how to finish.

"Exactly," Edward agreed. "Although this whole situation is really crap, because I don't think I've ever seen anything quite as hot as you in my shirt…" he trailed off for a moment with a wicked grin, before adding, "without any underwear."

I felt the blush rise into my cheeks, and I buried my face in my hands, then blushed even harder when I realized I still held the underwear, and now Edward could get a good view of them.

"Hmmm…" he plucked them out of my hands, holding them up. They were boycuts and pink and matched one of the bras currently in my bag. Wal-Mart had surprisingly nice lingerie. "These are interesting."

I reached up and snatched them out of his hand, and quickly stepped into them, shimmying them up my legs.

"You're kind of a perv, aren't you?" I asked him, crossing my arms across my chest to give him a critical glare.

"I'm usually not," he replied sheepishly, running a hand through his bronze hair. "It's you in my shirt… it does things to me."

"Oh," I bit my lip and looked down. "Do you want me to take it off?"

I suddenly felt self-conscious. This was Edward. Edward who I'd hardly spoken to up until two days ago, but who seemed to understand me better than all of the people who called themselves my friends. Edward who I'd very nearly had sex with not half an hour ago. My prior experience didn't really help me in this situation, and I didn't know what to do or say.

"No," Edward burst out, startling me out of my inner monologue. "Leave it on… it looks good on you. Much better than it does on me," he placed his hands on my hips, and I felt an electric jolt go through me at the contact. "Are you regretting… you know, what we did earlier?"

I stared up into his green eyes, and realized that he was every bit as nervous as me. I didn't have much experience to help me with this situation, but neither did Edward.

"No. I don't regret it for a second," I replied. "I just…" I bit my lip again, unsure how to continue.

The thing was, I didn't want Edward to think I was a cock tease, but I wasn't entirely sure that I was ready to let him hit a home run. I wanted to know him, to talk to him, and something told me that once we finally went all the way there wouldn't be a lot of talking going on.

"You just what, Bella?" Edward asked me. "You can tell me."

"I don't want you to think I'm a bitch-"

"I could never think that, Bella," Edward pulled me into his arms so he could hug me, and rub soothing circles on my back. I felt my heart melt a little. I don't think I could remember ever really being hugged by somebody, at least not to comfort me.

Charlie wasn't exactly a physical affection type of guy, Renee had always been too scatter-brained to really realize when I was upset and Mike…

Well, Mike always used hugs as an excuse to try and feel me up, so I tried to avoid giving him any.

I let myself go soft in Edward's arms and hug him back, enjoying the feeling. His hands stayed on my back, not trying to cop a feel, and he just offered free comfort.

"Tell me?" he asked me softly.

"I'm not sure if I'm ready," I admitted. "To… you know, go all the way," I pulled back so I could meet his eyes. "I like you Edward, and I would like to try… you know, for a relationship. But I'm just not ready for sex. Not yet."

Edward didn't say anything, and I suddenly felt mortified. What if he didn't really want a relationship? I knew that he had said that he'd had a thing for me for four years, but a "thing" could easily be interpreted as "I want your body" and here I had assumed he wanted something more and-

He was speaking, and I hadn't heard a word he said.

"Uh… what was that again?" I asked weakly.

Edward laughed at me, and bent down to kiss the tip of my nose.

"Silly Bella, your mind was working a mile a minute. I said that I'll take whatever you'll give me," he tilted my chin up so our eyes met. "I'm not saying that I don't hope to ah… go all the way with you, because I do. But I'm not going to force you into something you're not ready for. I don't want to be a quick fling before you go off to University in the fall, Bella. I'd like for us to have something…real. When you're ready, I'll be there to pop your cherry," he grinned when I punched him in the shoulder at those words, "but until then, I can settle for kisses and just being around you… although…" he trailed off, looking uncertain.

"Although what?" I asked, quirking my head.

"I'd like to sleep with you- just sleep. I'd like to hold you," there was a flush rising in his cheeks. "And if anyone from Forks could hear me now they'd think I was becoming a total girl."

My reply was to grab his face in both my hands and plant a kiss on his mouth. I meant for it to be relatively quick, but my (and Edward's) hormones disagreed, and soon I found myself on my back on the bed, the shirt I was wearing pushed up to just under my breasts, and his hands exploring the bare skin of my waist and stomach.

"Stop," I gasped out. "We have to stop Edward."

Edward pulled away as if he had been burned and grinned at me sheepishly.

"Sorry, I don't know what got into me and-"

"It was both of us," I replied, straightening the shirt. I worried my lip, then sighed and spoke. "I'm not ready to have sex, but I think a visit to the pharmacy should be in our future plans," when he looked at me in confusion, I explained. "If something should happen that we lose control and can't resist temptation… well, I want to be prepared. That means protection, so…" I blushed bright red, and when I glanced at Edward from under my lashes I saw that he was also flushed.

"Oh… well, you're right," he cleared his throat. "And with that… I need a shower. A cold shower… a very cold shower…"

I giggled as he jumped up and entered the bathroom. I was glad that I wasn't the only one who was required to seek out cold water in order to control their hormones.

Once he was gone, I looked at myself in the mirror, trying to see what he found so desirable about me in his shirt. It was a simple dark green button down that reached me mid-thigh. Maybe it was the leg it showed? Mike had told me that I had nice legs, but he had been on one of his "get-into-Bella's-pants" campaigns at the time, so I wasn't sure if he had been telling the truth or not.

I frowned, not able to find what Edward saw. I though guys were supposed to like clothing that showed off a girl's figure… the shirt hid what curve's I did have under its bulk.

"What are you doing, Bella?"

I jumped in the air with a surprised squeal, almost falling over. Apparently I had been standing in front of the mirror longer than I realized, because Edward was in the doorway to the bathroom, watching me with a raised brow. He had a towel in one hand and was using it to dry his hair. Besides that, all he wore were a pair of black pyjama pants.

"I was…" I trailed off, blushing both from embarrassment at being caught checking myself out, and because, once again, Edward's abs were looking very lickable.

"You were," Edward motioned for me to continue, but I pursed my lips together and shook my head. "Oh, c'mon Bella. Don't leave me hanging."

"I was trying to figure out why you liked me in your shirt so much," I replied, very quickly. It said much about Edward's ability to understand me that he seemed to catch it all.

"You wouldn't understand it, Isabella," Edward came up to me, and turned me around so that I was looking into the mirror again. He wrapped his arms around my waist and laid his chin on my shoulder so we could both survey our reflections in the mirror. "It's a guy thing. Seeing you in that shirt… well it sends me back to the days of the caveman. It's… when you're wearing something of mine, something that smells like me, it feels like I've… left my mark on you," his face turned red as he said this last bit.

I met his eyes in the mirror and watched him thoughtfully. It seemed that Edward had a possessive side.

"I kind of like it," I admitted. "This possessive side of you. It makes me feel… wanted."

"You'll always be wanted," Edward pressed a kiss into my neck. "You're too beautiful to not be desired."

I chose not to comment on that, instead turning around so I could take his hand in mine.

"Let's go to bed Edward."

That was the first night I fell asleep in Edward Cullen's arms. It was the best sleep I'd ever had.

-*-

I woke up the next morning to the sun shining in my face and Edward bursting loudly through the door of our motel room.

"We have to get up and get going," he threw a pair of pants and a shirt at me before stuffing my dirty laundry into another bag along with his own. When I didn't move, he sighed. "Hurry Bella. We really have to get going. Charlie's here."

That got me moving.

"What!?" I shrieked, jumping up and pulling the jeans on and stripping off the shirt I had been sleeping in to finish getting dressed. When I looked at Edward again, he frozen and gaping at me. "Move it, Edward. It's not like you haven't already seen them. And I don't know about you, but I really don't want to have to deal with my gun owning father the night after we made it to third base. Do you?"

That got Edward into motion as he finished packing up our sparse belongings.

"How do you know Charlie's here anyway?" I asked pulling on my converse and leather jacket.

"I saw him when I was… uh…" he held up a paper bag he was about to shove into his pack. It had a pharmacy label on it.

"Oh," I flushed. "Well… we can talk about that once we're out of town. I can't believe Charlie came after us. Couldn't Carlisle have given you some warning? I mean, it's Forks. It's not like he wouldn't have known that Charlie was coming after us," Edward had a guilty, sheepish look on his face. "And you knew. Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought we'd have more time. Carlisle said Charlie told him to get us home, or else he'd come after us. I guess he was serious."

"I could've told you he was serious," Bella huffed. "There's no time for me to rail at you right now, so I'll wait until we're safe. Shit, this is bad. He's so going to drag us back and-"

"Bella, he can't make you do anything you don't want to," Edward framed my face in his hands and kissed me softly on the mouth. "You're eighteen. Besides, he won't find us. I have a plan."

"Uh… the last time you had a plan, you had to spend six thousand dollars to bail relative strangers out of jail. It makes me nervous when you say you have a plan."

"Bella," Edward rolled his eyes. "Please, have a little faith," he held up one of our tourist brochures. "What kind of trouble can we get into at Mount Rushmore?"

"Mount Rushmore?" I snatched the brochure from his hand, grabbed my pack, and motioned for him to lead the way out of the room. "Isn't that a little out of our way?"

"Exactly," Edward grabbed the pack from me. I rolled my eyes, but let him take it. "No one will expect us to take such a round about way. Besides, what's a cross-country trip without a visit to Mount Rushmore?"

"Can we go down this giant slide?" I pointed at one of the attractions in the brochure.

"Darling," Edward moved both packs to one arm and slung the free one around my shoulders. "We can do whatever you want."

"Well then… take me for a ride, Edward."

I laughed at the choking sound he made at my words, and skipped to the elevator. I had never realized how much fun flirting could be. I giggled at the look on Edward's face as he stepped on the elevator with me. It promised retribution, and I was sure that whatever he came up with, I'd enjoy.

My amusement held up until I had taken exactly three steps off of the elevator.

"ISABELLA MARIE SWAN!!"

That's when Charlie spotted us.

A/N2: Yes, I am leaving it there. Reviews get me to update quicker. They also let you read about Edward's visit to the pharmacy. Musical inspiration for this chapter is "Crazier" by Taylor Swift, mostly because this is the chapter where Bella really starts to fall for our boy Edward. To those who want the extra but don't have a fanfiction account, or can't receive PMs, please leave you e-mail in the myemail whatever (dot) com format or else FF will delete it.

Later!