I UPDATED CHAPTER 12 EARLY - DON'T MISS IT! - THIS IS CHAPTER 13
AUTHORS NOTE: This is my first story. Edward is an actor. Bella lives in Forks, the location of his next movie. Sparks fly easily when they first meet, but will things always stay that easy for them? Absolutely not!
Thanks to all of you that have reviewed or put it in favorites or alerts. You're all awesome.
Rated M: angst, language, LEMONS.
I'm going to go ahead and thank another reader: budtrixjake - She wrote this awesomeness at the beginning of her last review:
First off I just want to tell you you write the best replies to your reviews. It really says a lot and shows how much you care about what people have to say and think of your writing. Two thumbs up to you as an author!
My heart was all aflutter. I really do enjoy every single review I get, whether they're one or two or 500 words. It gives me a chance to interact with you all. Also, the more interactive you are with me, the more clues and/or teasers I give out and the funnier I am. There's no line I haven't crossed! :) A few of you know what I'm talking about. I'm happy I could make you laugh.
Two new songs this chapter! Check them out: http://www[dot]playlist[dot]com/playlist/18746192139
When we left off, Jake had just left Bella's house after barging in and saying he was going to kill Edward.
CHAPTER 13
Not Tonight
Now I understood what Bella meant by cold, torrential downpours. The windshield wipers on my rental were working overtime as they spread the water back and forth rapidly across the glass. What made it worse was that I was driving in the dark down a road I'd never driven on. Each curve seemed to come out of nowhere, so my attention was on the lines which were badly in need of repainting at all times. I hadn't even had a chance to call Bella to tell her I'd landed. My flight was right on time despite the storm, so at least she would know when to expect me.
I only knew one way to her house, and that was through Forks. Once I got into town, I would have to make my way back the direction I'd just come, except on a different road -- a narrower, darker, less-traveled road...without lines.
I'd never noticed how isolated her house was until I was driving to it by myself at this time of night. It was one of those roads that you wondered if you were the only person alive on the planet because you hadn't seen another car in so long. To prove me wrong, I was passed by a little car driving like a bat out of hell going in the opposite direction only a few minutes later.
"Damn," I muttered to myself watching the car in the rearview mirror. "Slow your ass down before you kill yourself." Idiots like that cause accidents.
When I focused back on the road in front of me, I saw the red truck on the side through the wall of rain. My heart started to race as I pulled my car into her driveway. It had been two weeks since we'd seen each other. Two weeks of lonely, agony-filled nights thinking about her in that big house all alone with nightmares waking her in the middle of the night without me there to comfort her.
She tried assuring me that she hadn't been having problems, but I knew. The small things told me that she was being haunted by James in her dreams. Her voice quieted slightly when I asked how she slept every day. She always stuttered while trying to tell me that everything was fine. Her breaths became shorter into the receiver like she was panicking.
Her house appeared in front of me, white and majestic in the dark and rainy night sky. I came to a stop, throwing it into park as fast as I could. This was it. I'm home, baby. Grabbing my small bag out of the passenger seat, I took a step out of the car into the icy rain ready to make a break for the front door to stay as dry as possible. Looking up as I stood, I saw her, though. Soaked and shivering. Barefoot. Quivering legs. Clenched jaw.
"Edward," she said in almost a cry through her gritted teeth.
"Bella?" Something looked terribly wrong. Why was she outside in this weather?
Not giving me a chance to ask, she launched herself off the bottom step and sprinted across the lawn. My legs willed me forward, drawn to her like a magnet. One step. The gravel crunched under my feet. Two steps. My foot padded onto grass. Three steps. My shoe sunk into wet soil. Crash. She threw her body into my awaiting arms, wrapping her legs around my waist, hugging herself to me. The strength of her impact knocked me back a step, making me stagger as I tried to keep us upright.
"Edward," she whispered with tears in her eyes.
"Bella," I whispered back. Our mouths collided, and I was lost in her just as I always had been before. There was no doubt in my mind. She needed me. This woman loved me. My heart soared from being connected to her again, but it ached that she was so overwrought with emotion from my absence.
My hands were roaming over her body, reintroducing themselves to each of her curves and the slope of her back and neck. Her body trembled in my arms. I pulled back and blinked away the rain in an effort to just look at her. I needed to just look at my love and my life. My Bella. She was wearing a short black satin robe. The front of it had been pulled open at the top, exposing the sexiest fucking corset I'd ever seen.
I took one of my hands and ran it from the hollow of her neck down to in between her heaving breasts and down over the black satin that covered her stomach. Her head fell back letting the rain rush down the valley. I took that moment to attach my lips to her skin to taste her once again. She moaned when my tongue swirled out along her goosebumps.
"Please, Edward. Please make love to me," she whimpered. She was absolutely gorgeous when she was just Bella, but seeing her when she was overcome by passion, needing me more than oxygen? It was crippling. I wanted to fall to the ground and bury myself inside of her right there. I wanted to feel her heat in this cold that had surrounded us and was sinking into our skin. I wanted to make her mine without any more delay under these clouds, in this rain and for all of the heavens to see.
But, she deserved more than that. She deserved to be made love to in a warm bed where there were no worries and no interferences.
"For you, anything," I breathed against her skin.
I started stumbling toward the front door to get to her bedroom so that we could finally make love to each other and express how deeply our love ran in our bones. Bella and I had needed this connection for so long and each time we had been denied. Each and every time something had happened. Not tonight.
When I crossed the threshold, she untied the robe and let it fall from her shoulders into a wet pile on the floor. Her tiny hands, hands that sent sparks coursing through my veins to my heart, slid around to my back and started to pull my shirt up.
She was struggling; her hands were shaking. Was it the cold of the rain? Was it her desire? To help her get to what she needed, I propped her back against the nearest wall and pulled the dripping shirt over my head and dropped it to the ground with the same wet splatter sound the robe made.
"I love you," she whispered between kisses on my neck and under my ear.
"I love you, too. I've miss you so much, Bella." She threaded her hands through my hair and brought her lips back to mine passionately. Our tongues danced languidly. Already about to bust through the zipper of my jeans, I thrust up into her core, making her groan and drop her head back to the wall. I stood there mesmerized by her breasts that were dangerously close to falling out of the top of the corset. Each gasp sent them closer to the edge. I had never been so turned on before in my entire life.
Her skin was dotted with droplets of water from the rain, making it shimmer with every flash of lightning. Using my tongue, I lapped at the trails that were streaming down her chest from her hair that hung down heavily around her shoulders. She circled her hips, pushing her heat into my hard cock, making me pause my ministrations to hold myself back from ripping her panties off and plunging into her hard and fast. She circled her hips again unbeknownst to my inner struggles, trying to make friction. My forehead fell to the wall next to her head, my will leaving me rapidly, my mind flooding with images of ravenous fucking against this very wall.
"Baby..." I groaned. "You've got to stop or I'll-."
"Upstairs," she interrupted. With no delay, I pushed off the wall with her tightly wound around my waist and started my way toward the stairs. I would do anything this woman ever asked of me. When my foot made it to the second step, I released the breath I had been holding. That was the first place we had gotten stopped when Marcus pounded on the door that first amazing morning we were together. Not tonight.
On my way up, I ran my hand down her back over the laces of the corset and to her ass while I kissed her with all of the love I had inside of me. The strings that hung loose were sandwiched under my hand, so I wrapped them around my palm and pulled, untying the bow. I tried loosening the laces, but she shook her head.
"No," she breathed. Taking her hands from my body, she started undoing hooks that ran down the front. With each step, she unhooked another. By the time I had made it to her bedroom, she only had one hook left. With one motion of her fingers, the corset fell to the floor, forgotten for the night.
I splayed my fingers across her now bare back. Her skin was ice cold, but my palms could feel her warm blood coursing underneath. Her skin would match her body temperature in no time.
I leaned forward so that her back was on the mattress, and I was holding myself up with my arms so that I did not crush her tiny body. She was still wrapped tightly around my waist unwilling to let go of me. My hands ghosted over her breasts and across her nipples which were hard. I felt her dig the heels of her feet into my ass and try to push my pants down, so I reached down between us and popped the buttons of my jeans to help her.
Her cold feet skimmed along my warm legs as the wet jeans dropped to the floor. I wrapped my arms around her back and lifted so that I could bring her body to the center of the bed, and her head dropped back with a throaty moan when she ground herself into my dick again which was only covered in boxer briefs now.
"Fuck, baby, you're so wet," I gasped, feeling her seep through both her panties and my underwear. Laying her down softly on the mattress again, I sat back on my heels and curled my fingers around the top of the thin black satin and pulled them down slowly, feeling her smooth legs all the way to the bottom of her feet. I released another breath, knowing we'd crossed another hurdle, getting further than when Emmett had decided to interrupt us. Not tonight.
I lifted her left leg and placed a kiss on her ankle. Then, I moved forward placing more soft kisses on her calf and the inside of her knee. When I made it to her thigh, I circled my tongue on her skin making her lift her hips in anticipation. As I got closer to her apex, I used my hands to spread her wider.
Running my flattened tongue along her wetness, she bucked her hips making me groan. God, I had missed this. I had damn near skipped the entire premiere just so that I could stay in that shower all evening long making love to her. Her whimpers and breathy moans while I went down on her that afternoon about sent me over the edge, and I had wanted to do this again for her since then. She deserved to feel loved and worshiped because I knew she had never felt that way, and it was only proven to me when she tried to reciprocate.
While circling my tongue around her clit, I inserted one finger and then another so that I could prepare her for what was coming. She had not had sex in at least six months, and I knew that she would be tight. I pumped them in and out of her slowly before inserting a third finger, stretching her as my tongue still slid around her bundle of nerves. As I worked unhurriedly, her breaths started getting shorter and her body started shaking.
I looked up at her face through my eyelashes and saw that her eyes were clenched. Her fingers, that had been wrapped in the sheet at her side moved then, finding their way into my hair. "Mmmmmmm," I hummed. The vibration from my mouth must have sent her body into overdrive because she arched her back and her muscles started tightening around my fingers as they moved in an out of her.
"I can feel you," I whispered. "You're so close, baby." I swept my tongue against her harder, and with one more curl of my fingers, she paused all grinding and screamed while tugging on my hair.
"Edward," she gasped. "Please, baby, I need you inside of me." She was trembling with need, shivering from the waves of pleasure. I pulled myself up and circled her hardened nipple with my tongue as I used my hands to pull my underwear down my legs and off of my feet. When I was completely naked, I hovered over her.
"Do we need protection?" I asked, knowing that I had a condom in my jeans ready for tonight.
"I'm on the pill," she replied. "And, I'm clean."
"Me, too, love. Are you ready?" I asked breathlessly, knowing that there was nothing holding us back any more. I watched as a tear escaped from her eye and trailed to her wet hair which was fanned across the covers. With a nod from her, I positioned myself at her entrance. Dropping my body down, I hooked my arms under her shoulders so I could wipe the tears off of her face.
While holding her face in my hands, I couldn't help but be blown away with the woman that was in my arms again. The feminine sweep of her jawline. Her soft lips, the top one slightly bigger than the bottom. The graceful arch of her long eyelashes that highlighted her warm, coffee-colored eyes. But, it was the thing behind those eyes that knocked my breath away. Her soul. Her loving, passionate, beautiful soul.
"You are so beautiful," I whispered. "You have no idea how beautiful you are, inside and out."
Lowering my lips to hers, I kissed her mouth deeply while I pushed into her, taking my time to feel her and let her feel me. She gasped and clutched onto my shoulders when I was all the way in.
"Are you okay?" I asked, pausing all movement because I knew that she would need a moment to acclimate to my size.
"Yes," she whimpered. "Keep going." I pulled out and pushed back into her a few times until she was starting to breathe heavily from pleasure not pain.
"I love you, my Bella," I whispered in her ear as I thrust into her, running my hands down her sides to her thigh. I wrapped my fingers behind her knee and lifted it so that it was hitched around my hip, just like when we were dancing at the club.
"I love you, too," she panted between breaths. She lifted her other leg and wrapped it around my waist, hooking her feet together behind me, letting me get deeper. "Oh, God," she moaned as her eyes rolled back into her head. Her back arched as I pulled myself up from her body and thrust into her harder. "Don't stop. Please don't stop," she begged.
"I can't," I gasped, mesmerized by her heaving chest that she was holding with her hands. She was meeting me thrust for thrust now, swiveling her hips in a way that was making me harder than I have ever been. With each penetration, I felt the ache for her leaving my body. I was back. We were together again, connected in a way we had never experienced with each other. And, with each penetration, I felt my orgasm building, overwhelming my senses.
I fell on top of her body and wrapped my arms around her while I moved in and out with what was becoming jerky, erratic motion. "Come with me, Bella," I groaned, dipping my head to her chest and taking her nipple in my mouth. In desperate need, she grabbed my ass and dug her fingers in pulling me against her harder. "Ungh," I grunted, not feeling the pain, only the intense sting of desire.
I could feel her walls tightening around me, waiting for their release. Switching my position, I plunged into her harder and deeper than ever, and she came, clenching around me, screaming my name and arching her back away from the bed. The sight of her mouth during her orgasm and the noises escaping her lips sent me over the edge. With one more thrust, I came inside her, chanting her name over and over again. My body, still reeling from the pleasure, continued to move in small increments until we both no longer felt the waves rolling through us.
Shaking and exhausted, I dropped my sweaty forehead against hers and kissed her with all of the strength that I had left. Being careful to not pull out of her, I rolled us so that she was now laying on my chest but still straddling me. I couldn't bear pulling out. We were one this way. Her head rested on my shoulder, and I turned mine so that our lips and noses were touching.
"I love you," she whispered against my mouth. "I love you so much, Edward. Thank you for coming back to me."
"I love you, Bella. More than you can imagine. I haven't stopped thinking about you since you left to catch your flight at the airport. That was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do...leave you hurting like that." She kissed me while a small tear fell from her eye. After laying there for probably close to an hour just being together and talking, I sat up with her in my lap and stood so that I could pull the covers down. Crawling back in, she nestled into my chest and we fell asleep almost instantly.
When I awoke the next morning, we were in the same position we were when we fell asleep. Her curled into my side, head resting on my chest, hand lightly laying on my stomach...me on my back, one arm curled around her, the other hand resting on top of hers on my stomach, head dipped to rest against the top of her head...four legs tangled into one knot. Unwilling to wake her but needing some clothes from my luggage in the car, I carefully removed myself from our intimate, comfortable union. I almost decided to stay when I heard her whimper and clutch onto the pillow that my head was previously on, but I ran the backs of my fingers along her cheekbone and kissed the top of her head before grabbing a blanket from the chair in the corner to wrap around my waist.
Making my way downstairs to the front door, I noticed that there was a dent in the drywall. Opening the door, I pulled it back and saw that it was the exact spot that the knob would hit. I didn't recall seeing that when I was here before. I shrugged my shoulders and decided to run to a hardware store sometime this week and get a drywall patch. Maybe she'd accidentally threw the door open and didn't know how to fix it. Glancing down to see if I should buy a baseboard door bumper, I saw one broken laying on the floor. I bent over and picked it up rolling it in my fingers noticing that it was a spring bumper that had snapped in two.
After setting it on the table in the foyer, I walked gingerly through her muddy yard and over the rocks in her driveway.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch," I complained with each step over the sharp gray rocks. Walking around to the trunk, I was stopped when my eyes saw a black heel on the ground. I bent down on my hands and knees immediately ignoring the pain to look under my car afraid of what I might find. Under one of the tires was the other shoe, the heel part the only thing sticking out. It came out easily when I yanked on it.
Not wanting to wake her, I just placed the luggage on the floor in the foyer when I got back inside and took out the clothes I would need for the day. After changing right there, I walked toward the kitchen to see if she had any orange juice. I saw something laying on the floor in front of me before I even got up to it. It was a magazine. Rounding the corner and bending over to pick it up, I saw which magazine it was and the shattered frame on the floor at the exact same moment. My eyes widened. The hole in the wall, the shoes, the magazine, the frame. These were not accidents. Jesus Christ, something happened here last night.
"Edward?" I heard Bella say behind me in the tiniest voice I had ever heard come from her.
I slowly turned holding the magazine in my hands, and her stance told me everything I needed to know to confirm my suspicions. Her eyes were focused on the magazine in my hand, tears springing up in them. Her hands were shaking crossed in front of her, and her shoulders were slumped. I threw the magazine down as I ran the few feet to her.
"Bella, what happened? Tell me. Tell me right now." She clenched her eyes together, pushing out the tears and shook her head from side to side.
"Baby, something happened. I know it did. There's a hole in your wall. Your shoes were in the driveway. There's a magazine of us and a shattered frame on the floor. Who came here?"
"Jake," she croaked. "He came by last night right before you got here."
"What did he do to you?! Did he hurt you? Please, Bella, don't tell me he touched you...or...or..." My mind was racing at all of the puke-inducing possibilities. Scanning her face, it was clear of bruises, but the long robe she wore covered the rest of her skin.
"No, he didn't hurt me," she sniffled. "You can trust that I would have called the police if he had."
"Please tell me what happened, then," I begged, pulling her toward the sofa. When we sat down, she pulled her legs up and folded herself into my side.
"He put it all together, Edward. He did follow me when I was on the beach." A red haze covered my eyes when she said that. I knew I should have trusted my instincts on him. "He heard me say that I loved you. He heard your name. Then, he must have stopped by the store and saw my sign saying I would be gone, and when your dad showed up at the hospital and said that his son loved me in front of everyone, he put it together. Your name, your dad's last name. The magazine just confirmed it for him."
"Is that everything that happened?" I asked, running my hand up and down her back.
"No. He told me that I was embarrassing him."
"He what?" I asked incredulously. "How the hell could this be embarrassing for him after the shit he did to you?"
"That's what I said," she snorted, wiping a tear from her face. "I told him to get out after that...but...he wasn't finished."
I didn't like the way she said that. Sitting forward, I turned her so that she was facing me. I needed to see her face to make sure she was telling me everything. "What did he do?"
"He," she hiccuped. "He said that he was going to kill you." A sob ripped through her chest then. She flung herself forward and wrapped her arms around my neck while I tried to calm her. "It scared me so much. I wanted to hurt him, Edward. Kill him instead. I picked up my shoes and started throwing them at him. I didn't know what to do."
"Bella," I whispered. "Honey? He's not going to hurt me. Is that what you're worried about?" I felt her nod. "He can't hurt me, and he can't hurt you. I won't allow it."
"He's huuuuuge," she groaned. I laughed, pulling her tighter.
"That he may be, but I can handle my own. I'm fast. I've never lost a fight because of it. Plus, I've got something to fight for...something he doesn't have." She pulled back and sat on her heels to look at me questioningly. I reached my hands out, and cupped her face, wiping her tears away with my thumbs. "You, Bella. I've got you to fight for."
Her eyes teared up again before she leaned in and kissed me. "I love you, Edward."
"I love you, too. I'm sorry I wasn't here in time last night. You shouldn't have had to go through that. But, please don't keep things like that from me. Despite what could have changed last night, I need to know these things."
Feeling infinitely better that she was okay and he had not laid a hand on her, we collapsed together on the couch and laid there until I heard my alarm going off on my phone. Sighing, I sat up on the couch with her. I had to meet Emmett at the hotel in an hour for the first day of prep. "What time are you going in to work?" I asked, kissing the tip of her nose.
"I open at 10:00," she said.
"Would you want to drive into town with me? I have to meet Emmett at 9:00."
She smiled for the first time this morning. "Of course."
I helped her stand and led her upstairs to the bathroom where we took a quick joint shower. Being with her in the shower again and not having enough time to do anything was beyond difficult. After the upsetting morning we'd both had, I wanted nothing more than to make love to her again. Instead, I showered her in kisses and featherlight touches while I soaped her hair and body. She needed to relax.
When we were dressed and ready for the day, we went into the garage to take her car into town. Taking the keys from her hand as she headed for the driver's side, she huffed.
"This is my car, Edward." Her eyes narrowed at me making me smirk.
"Too bad, Swan. I rarely get to drive, so don't deny me. Plus, I liked how smooth it was when I drove it last. I'm thinking about getting one for myself." She rolled her eyes and reluctantly got in the passenger seat.
"Wouldn't that be perfect," she snorted. "His and hers Volvos with matching vanity license plates to boot. Then all we would need would be our kid's soccer team to cart around."
"That would be perfect," I said. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw her blushing. She wanted it all, too. There was no hiding it.
"So, do you want to come up to the room where we're meeting before you head off to work?" I asked as I pulled onto the main road out of her driveway while grabbing her hand to rest on the center console.
"Oh, no no no. I don't want to intrude," she said shaking her head.
I laughed. "You won't be intruding. Honestly. This is very informal. It'll probably be a simple meet and greet while you're there anyways. You can say hi to Emmett. You haven't seen him since your birthday, right? You can give him your congrats."
"Speaking of not seeing someone," she said, still not giving me an answer to my question. "Where's Marcus?"
That made me grumble. "He's still on the payroll, as much as it bothers me. I gave him another week off."
"Oh," she said. "I'm sorry that I've caused problems between you two. I honestly don't know what I did-"
"Stop right there," I interrupted. Of course she would start to blame herself. She did the same thing with Jake. "You did nothing wrong. Marcus is...well...I don't know what his problem is, but I can assure you that whatever it is has nothing to do with you ultimately. I'm trying to figure it out. That's one of the reasons why I haven't fired him, yet. I'm an inquisitive person, and it will bother me for a very long time if I get no answers."
"So, he's coming in this weekend?"
"Yeah, I'm flying him out Saturday." I had to take a breath to calm myself as the questions starting boiling up. "This is what I don't get. I've been nothing but nice to the man for the entire time he's worked for me. I pay him very well. I always put him in first class whether I'm on the same flight or not and I give him generous amounts of time off with pay. He's always been grateful until now."
"Hey," she said, squeezing my hand. "Don't get too worked up over this. There's always a solution. Okay?"
"I know," I replied, winding my fingers with hers and pulling them up to my lips. I missed her hands and the way they felt in mine. To feel her close to me again was like coming home. Before I knew it, I was turning into the parking lot of the hotel not even bothering to ask if she wanted to come up with me. She was doing it no matter how much she objected.
Getting out of the SUV, I ran around to the other side and helped her out.
"I guess you made my mind up for me," she laughed. When we got up to the top floor suite that we had scheduled for the meeting, I only had to knock once on the door. Emmett opened it wide, smiled a big toothy grin and then swept Bella up in a huge hug.
"Hi, Emmett!" she giggled as she squirmed in his arms. The sound of her laughter was calming. Her carefree outlook helped bring me out of my brooding. When he put her down, I reached my hand out to shake his, only for him to pick me up the same way. Once. Again. I heard someone else laugh from inside the room.
"Emmett, put him down!" the gorgeous blonde play-scolded.
Standing up from the couch and walking over to me, I took her hand and kissed it.
"It's good to see you again...sister-in-law," I smirked.
She smiled and then turned to Bella and gave her a hug before they walked off chatting.
"So, did you find out anything?" I whispered to Emmett, closing the distance between us so that Bella couldn't hear our conversation.
"It's not him," he answered, glancing over his shoulder to see Bella and Rosalie talking animatedly by the window. "Some dark-headed kid. Rose and I stationed her car in the parking lot yesterday morning and waited. The little shit hid in a patch of trees. When I got out to confront him, he bolted."
Once I'd finally heard from Emmett after he called to tell me that he'd gotten married, I'd asked if he would do some surveillance outside her bookstore. The photos of her in the magazines were unsettling to say the least. Whoever this photographer was, they weren't making themselves known. I'd been worried it was James from the moment she said that she hadn't seen anybody taking photos of her. My suspicions changed yesterday, though, when I arrived at the airport to find James a member of the paparazzi that hovered around me while I made my way to my terminal.
"I figured not," I said quietly. "He was at the airport yesterday. Didn't think he'd go to Forks and then fly back to harass me."
"Did he say something to you?" he asked concernedly; his eyebrows knitting together and his stance becoming rigid.
"Of course," I huffed. We walked over to the table where I grabbed a bottle of water. "Fucker started asking about Tanya again. I wish he'd move on. I get it. It's not like I don't feel like a complete ass for what I did."
"Do you think he'll come here?" he asked, taking his own bottle of water and taking a large gulp.
There was no doubt in my mind. He had to have information on Bella considering it was in magazines now. And, everyone that knew anything about me knew that I was starting filming here soon. It was the perfect situation for him. I simply nodded.
"I've got another problem," I told him. He rolled his eyes.
"Only you," he grumbled.
"Seems like Bella has a jealous ex that's out for blood."
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Let's just say that he came to Bella's house last night before I got there and threatened to kill me. She was really shaken up."
"He didn't hurt her, did he?" he asked. I was happy that his main concern was Bella. I should be the last person he should be worried about in this situation.
Just as I opened my mouth to answer him, Bella and Rosalie turned to walk toward us. I shook my head 'no' at Emmett, and he nodded back in understanding.
"Hey," Bella said looking at me, taking Rosalie's hand. "After much bribing, this woman here agreed to let us throw her and Emmett a reception at the house."
Emmett and I laughed. "What did you bribe her with?" I asked.
"Lingerie and champagne. Works every time." She had a huge grin on her face. "So, when do you boys have off? We can't very well go planning something without knowing the production schedule."
Emmett walked over to a large table and pulled out some paperwork. Walking back over he and I went over the calendar and told them we'd be available in three weeks.
"Perfect!" Bella exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "That gives Alice, Angela and I enough time make invitations, plan and create." She tapped her finger on her chin. As she was thinking, obviously making a list of things that she needed to do in her head, someone knocked on the door. Emmett turned around and opened it. After taking another sip of my water, I handed the bottle to Bella to see if she wanted some. She took it with a small smile and placed it to her lips.
"Hi, Edward," I heard a woman behind me say in my ear. Her hand on my upper arm was foreign and not at all desirable. And, to be completely honest, that was a new development. If a woman touched me like that before, I'd have fucked her in the bathroom before the end of the day. Luckily, this woman was married, and I was happily blissful with Bella.
Turning my head, I smiled at the statuesque fiery redhead that stood behind me. "Victoria." She reached around and gave me a friendly hug. We'd met several times back in LA for auditions and meetings. There was a nice chemistry between us, but it all ended when the cameras stopped rolling. Holding my hand out, I took Bella's and pulled her over.
"Bella, this is Victoria Embry. Victoria, this is my Bella." The women extended hands and shook very lightly.
"You're gorgeous," Victoria said, smiling at the beautiful woman at my side.
Bella sputtered. "I should be saying that to you. But, thank you." She looked incredibly taken aback.
After another fifteen minutes of talking, Bella had to leave. I gave her the keys to her car because I wouldn't be needing it for the rest of the day. Emmett agreed to give me a ride to her house later that night when we were finished.
As she turned to walk out in the hallway, I followed. Hugging her goodbye, I said, "It's not James, baby."
She stiffened in my arms. "Taking photos of me?" she asked.
I nodded. "It's not him." She breathed a sigh of relief, and I felt myself relax as well.
With a kiss goodbye, Bella left at the same time Rosalie did, and we set to work.
At seven in the evening, I closed my copy of the script and stretched back in my chair. Since our ladies had left to go to work we'd been reading lines and rehearsing in between costume fittings. Being cooped up in this hotel room with more than a dozen people had made me claustrophobic.
"Let's get out of here," Emmett said, making a notation on his storyboards. "We're done for today."
After thanking Emmett for the ride, I got out of his car and walked up to the front door. Turning the knob, I opened the door quietly. Immediately the delicious scents of tomatoes, basil and cheese assaulted my nose and the soothing sound of Miles Davis delighted my ears. I took my shoes off in the foyer and padded quietly across the floor toward the kitchen.
There she was, my beautiful Bella, bent over at the waist with her head practically in the damn oven, ass displayed in front of me swaying to "Blue in Green." I leaned against the wall as I watched her and the sensual way her body moved. Her feet were clad in heels that made her smooth, shapely legs go on for miles. When she stood, the red wrap dress she wore accentuated her curves in all of the right places...her hips, her waist, her breasts. Not that there was a bad place on her.
She took a step to the left, the hem of the dress skimming the area just above her knees the way I wanted my fingers to, where she poured herself a glass of wine. Tipping her head back slightly to take a sip of the red liquid, her sexy tousled hair fell from her shoulders down her back bouncing to the music before coming to a rest. Her neck...oh, her neck...was begging me to kiss it.
Stepping away from the wall, I walked into the kitchen and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her against my chest while my other hand moved her hair over to one shoulder. She jumped a tiny bit when I surprised her but calmed instantly to my touch.
"I love you," I whispered while I brushed my lips along the column of her neck as I swayed with her. "You are the most gorgeous woman I have ever seen. I missed you today." I bathed in the scent of her hair, her skin, her perfume. Her.
I felt her body relax and lean into mine while we moved to Miles. "What are you cooking?" I asked.
She sighed and turned her head so that her forehead was resting on my neck. "Lasagna."
I chuckled lightly at how relaxed she seemed. "How much wine have you had?"
"Just two glasses. Haven't eaten since noon, though."
"Is it almost ready?" She needed to get some food in her. It had been almost eight hours since she'd eaten.
"It's done. I was just waiting on you to come home." Home. How could it feel like home in just the short amount of time we'd been together? But damn, if I didn't catch myself calling it that in my head a couple hundred times. Bella was the answer. She felt like home.
After a kiss on her temple, I reached around and grabbed the oven mitts. She opened the oven for me and I pulled out the bubbly lasagna and placed it on the trivet.
"Jesus, that looks delicious," I groaned as I dipped my head and smelled the steaming layers of noodles, tomato sauce, meat and cheese. "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Yes," she giggled. "A couple of times."
She pulled down some plates and scooped a large square for me onto one plate and a smaller square for her. I took them in my hands while she grabbed two individual bowls of salad out of the refrigerator. Walking into the dining room, I saw that she'd set an intimate candlelit table for two already with a chilled bottles of wine and champagne.
"I feel a little under dressed," I said as I poured us each a glass of the merlot. I was still only wearing my jeans and a button-up shirt.
"No, please don't feel that way," she said. "You worked hard all day. I want you to feel comfortable."
When we were finished, she got up and took our plates into the kitchen, returning with a single plate in her hand topped with a large wedge of cheesecake drizzled with strawberry and raspberry sauce and garnished with white chocolate shavings.
The music was still filtering into the room from the kitchen speakers. "It Never Entered My Mind" was playing now, my favorite. I stood as she placed the dessert plate on the table in front of me with two forks.
Without so much as a word, I took her hand in mine and pulled her waist to my body. I stepped to the left and then to the right and then turned fluidly. Bella followed my lead without hesitation.
"We've never danced to a slow song," I whispered to her as I ran my nose along her jawline as I continued to turn slowly. Our dancing previously was always vertical fucking. Grinding against the other for mutual release of something that was pent up inside of us, whether orgasm or lust. It was great, and I hoped to do it again, but this was making love on the dance floor. It was something I'd never experienced before. And this, this sensual motion from side to side not front to back, was sexier than any other dance I'd shared with someone, namely Bella.
"I love you, Edward," she breathed while her hand tightened on my back.
The way the candlelight flickered across her skin made it difficult for me to breathe. She was so insanely gorgeous. I marveled at the way her small body fit perfectly against mine like a puzzle piece. Every one of her curves fit into one of my dips. I lowered my head and kissed her shoulder.
"I love you, too, my beautiful Bella." Pulling back, I saw that her eyes were watery.
"You're really here. You're really back," she whispered, shaking her head in awe. "I'm not dreaming."
Letting go of her hand that I held out to the side, I ran my fingers through her hair so that I could cradle the back of her head while we still swayed. "Not dreaming, baby. I'm here...with you...and we're dancing."
My hand that was on her back trailed to the front where it untied the knot that held the dress closed. The loose fabric ends of the belt dropped as the dress spiraled open. I resisted the urge to groan at the sight before me. Under the gorgeous red dress was red lingerie made of lace. She closed her eyes as my fingers grazed her soft skin at the shoulders, pushing the dress off of them and down to the floor. I leaned to the right and blew out the four candles in the candelabra before I reached for her hand to lead her to the clear end of the table. Picking her up, I sat her on the smooth surface while she started unbuttoning my shirt slowly.
Neither of us cared about the leftover lasagna sitting out on the kitchen counter anymore. The untouched cheesecake was long forgotten at the other end. And, the unopened bottle of champagne would be staying in the metal bucket. There were no objections from either of us. We made love to each other passionately on the dining room table, the first place I saw my future lay itself out for me; a future that I wanted and needed for so long and a future that I would now do absolutely anything to keep.
AUTHORS END NOTE:
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Reason #1: They finally made love. It's about damn time. Reason #2: A happy ending to a chapter. It's been so long! :) So, what did you think? Leave me a review!
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