A/n: I' am so sorry for not updating this story. I just lost total inspiration for it and just dropped it. but the other day i was rereading it and i have decided to edit it and finish it.

so here it is. the long awaited update! :D

Disclaimer:

All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 13

Bella was wrapped in the lap blanket from the car, her hands hugging her knees, so he could see nothing but her naughtily grinning face, the tips of her white boots and all that glorious hair. He thought of how her hair felt, trickling like liquid silk through his hands. He thought of the milky globes of her breasts the night before, when she'd tossed her shirt over head and driven him almost insane with longing to let go of every shred of reserve and control he'd ever possessed. He'd wanted her to take him inside her, to take him to that place of total abandonment that her every sultry glance had promised since the moment they had met.

Damn you, Bella Swan, he thought, glaring at her as she grinned back at him. Why, with all of the suitable women that there are in the world, did it have to be a footloose temptress like you who would make me want to lose control?

Bella stared back at him, wondering what on earth was going through his mind. His glare was hard and hot, sending conflicting messages of both anger and desire. Her nerves tingled in what might have been warning or anticipation. She lost her grin as she gathered the blanket closer about her, suddenly feeling uncertain and vulnerable. Images of the night before flashed through her mind-of Edward's hands in her hair, his lips on hers, of his body so beautiful and strong beneath her as she sat astride his hips.

He'd wanted her, a lot. Only his much vaunted self-control had kept him from having her. And he could have her any time he wanted, Bella admitted to herself as she watched him watching her. And if he did ever decide to make live with her all the way, then where would she be?

The fantasy Bella might take such intimate activities in stride. but not the real Bella swan. The real Bella swan would be bound to him, and she had a sinking feeling the bonds would be much harder to let go of than dealing with Mike's desertion had been.

A shiver skittered up her spine and Bella drew the blanket even closer about her. Maybe, she thought, she would be grateful that Edward Masen was such a demon for self-control.

At that moment, Edward tore his gaze from hers and began pulling off his boots and shrugging out of the sheep-skin jacket he'd bought during their afternoons shopping spree.

"I take it this conversation is terminated," Bella said. Trying for lightness, though it came out a little strained.

"I'm turning in," Edward said. "Maybe you'll get lucky and I'll actually fall asleep. Then when your message arrives, you won't have to try to keep me from intercepting it."

Bella decided that the wisest course would be to withhold further comment and follow his lead. She took off her boots and jacket and crawled into her sleeping bag. After a few minutes of fitful wriggling, she managed to arrange herself for a minimum of discomfort around the various pebbles and rocks that kept trying to poke her. Far off, she heard a howling sound-a wild dog- or coyote barking at the silver moon. After that, sleep fell upon her like a curtain of night.

In the distance, someone pounded a massive drum. The pounding was intermittent and without any discernible rhythm. In her dreams, Bella beheld a giant Apache warrior looming over the land, resplendent in war paint and feathers, beating a tom-tom with a huge mallet.

Someone shook her and urged, "Bella, come on. Wake up. We have to get out of the open."

Bella grumbled and snuggled farther under the covers, trying again to get comfortable in spite of the rocks in her bed.

"Bella, come on. It 's going to rain."

As if to punctuate those words, the Apache in her dreams hit the tom-tom with all his might.

Bella groaned, rolled to her back and opened on eye. "Whazzat?" She said.

Edward was looking down at her. "Thunder."

Bella sat up. It was still dark. Overhead, the stars were being swallowed up as thunderclouds devoured the sky billowing and rolling they came, with the speed of a rushing train, obscuring the thin slice of moon until it could barely be seen. Straight bolts of lightning cracked out of the sky to the northwest, followed by crashing of thunder that Bella recognized from her dreams. For a moment, as the cobwebs of sleep cleared, Bella just stared up at the sky. Then she threw her arms out, as if she could embrace all of nature's magnificence in her two slender arms.

"Oh, Edward," she cried. "Isn't it spectacular!"

"Hurry up," Edward ordered. He had his rolled sleeping bag under his arm and was headed toward the car. "We've got five minutes tops and then it'll be pouring rain." He tossed the words over his shoulder at her as he rushed to the car.

Bella began pulling on her boots, but apparently she wasn't moving fast enough for Edward. After throwing his sleeping bag in the trunk he charged back to her side.

"Get up."

She did as instructed, jumping on one foot to get the other boot on. With unbelievable speed, he rolled her bag and trotted to the car with it while she struck her arms in the sleeves of her fringed jacket.

"Edward, a little rain isn't going to kill us," she called out good-naturedly, flipping her tangled hair out from under the collar of the jacket tipping her face up to the wild, rolling sky.

At that moment, the sky cracked open and a wall of cold water fell on her face. And kept falling. Bella couldn't believe it it was as if there were firemen up there with a hose trained on her. She was so stunned by the suddenness and force of the deluge that for several seconds she stood and let it soak her to the skin.

Then Edward grabbed her arm. "Come on." he started running for the car and since he had a firm grip on her elbow, she was dragged right along behind him.

When she reach the vehicle, he yanked open the passenger door and shoved her in. Then he ran around and got in on the driver's side

Bella sat in a puddle made by her dripping hair and clothes and stared out the windshield at a wall of water punctuated fitfully by javelins of lightning. Edward started up the engine and turned on the heater.

Then he began taking off his clothes.

He dropped one boot and then the other behind his seat, followed by his tan Levi's and then his plaid skirt. his socks stayed on, apparently because the practical boots he'd bought had kept them dry. Bella gaped at him, amazed partly at his dexterity in getting out of his clothes in the confined space and partly struck once again by the masculine perfection of his body.

"Get those clothes off," he commanded. "You're soaked to the skin." He'd apparently managed to grab a few things from the trunk, because he reached into the back seat and came up with a pair of his new blue jeans and a new shirt. He then slithered into the jeans by sliding around to face her on the seat and shoving one beautifully formed, rock-hard hairy leg and then the other down inside. He shimmied them up over his briefs and buttoned them quickly. Then he stuck his arms in the shirt, not bothering to button it. he laid an arm across the back of the seat and turned to her.

Bella, who had pressed herself against the door to give him room to maneuver, realized she was staring at his broad chest framed by his open shirt-and that the chattering sound she kept hearing was her own teeth knocking together.

"I said, get out of those things." He levered himself up, tossing the order over his shoulder as he reached in the back seat. "I got one of your suitcases from the trunk. I hope there's something warm in here," he said.

Teeth still chattering, Bella cast a glance to the back seat, only to see a froth of lace and satin spilling out of the suitcase in que. He'd chosen the one with her honeymoon lingerie in it.

"What is this?" Edward demanded, disgusted. "A whole suitcase full of underwear?"

"Nightwear," Bella corrected through clenched teeth. She'd discovered that clenching them kept them from knocking together.

"I'll refrain from comment," he said, shaking his head.

"Do that," she shot back. "There should be a T-shirt or two at the bottom."

He dug around and came up with one. "You can use the blanket, too." As he grasped the blanket she'd been wrapped in earlier, she silently applauded his foresight. He'd remembered to throw it in the cab while stowing her sleeping bag in the trunk.

Blanket and T-shirt in hand, Edward slid back over the seat to the front. "You're still dressed," he accused when he was facing her again. "And you're shaking like a leaf. Strip. Now."

Bella began peeling off the ruined jacket and then the soaked white shirt. She was down to her lacy bra on top when Edward said gruffly, "Never mind the bra. There's not enough of it to worry about anyway."

He shoved the T-shirt at her, and she pulled it over her head. "Now, give me your feet," he ordered. "One at a time." Numbly, she did as instructed. He took off the soggy white boots and threw them in the back with his, likewise her thin socks. "Your feet are like ice cubes," he muttered. "But we'll deal with them in a minute. First, the pants."

She wriggled out of them, with much less grace, she thought, than he had. With the wet clothes gone and the heater blasting away, she found that her teeth no longer needed to be locked together to keep them from chattering.

She giggled, softly, as he reached toward her, engulfing her in the big, warm blanket, draping it over her head for a minute and using it as a towel on her hair.

"You find this all hysterically funny, I take it," he grumbled. Scrubbing at her hair with the blanket.

"I was just thinking how much better you are at taking off your clothes in a confined space than I am."

"And that's funny?" His dark brows drew together. they were still wet from the rain, as was his hair. He smelled wonderful, she thought. A cool, wet smell of wood smoke and rain and man.

Bella reached out from the cocoon of the blanket. "Your eyebrows are crooked." With her fingers, very lightly, she smoothed them into even wings.

He caught his breath, and she let her hand stroke down over the chiseled planes of his face and neck to the crisp mat of damp hair on his chest. His skin was so warm and resilient beneath the corkscrews of hair, just as she remembered from the night before.

"You're still a little wet here." She let her fingers curl in the whorls of hair. Her voice had that purr in it. She didn't really know how the purr had gotten there, because she wasn't doing it on purpose.

Edward caught her hand. He held it motionless between them and his expression was very still. very controlled. Then he released her and slowly backed to his side of the car.

Bella realized at the same time as he did that neither of them was breathing. To the droning of the rain on the car was added the sound of a mutual indrawn breath.

"Give me your foot," he said.

"Edward, I..." she heard herself say. and then she couldn't go on. There were so many ways to go on. Edward, I want. Edward, I'm not who you think I am. Edward, the real me is frightened. Edward, would you. Edward, could you still want me if you knew...

He interrupted the words she didn't have the courage to utter. "Let me rub your feet. You have to get warm, Bella," he said with calm logic. "We can't leave here until dawn. Even though the rain will probably stop soon, those dirt roads we have to drive on are going to be a disaster. In daylight, I'll at least be able to see what's coming. And I can't leave the engine on all night. We'll run out of gas."

Hesitantly, she slid around in the seat and lifted her bare feet, swinging them into his lap. His hard thighs beneath the blue jeans were warm as toast.

"You're warm." She said simply, with no coquetry at all.

A smile, all the more welcome to her because she knew it came from unbidden curled his mouth. "How do you do it?" He mused. He began stroking her feet with his big hands, bringing the blood and the heat back into them.

"Do what?" She asked thinking about how lovely it felt as he rubbed her arch and messaged each of her toes, and about how there was a tightness to it. Last night, she'd messaged him. Tonight it was his turn to do the work.

"Sometimes, it's as if you're someone else altogether," he explained.

Bella swallowed, and almost pulled her foot away. But he held on and continued with that delicious rubbing. "Someone else?" She dared to ask.

"Yes, someone kind of shy. Someone utterly unsure of herself as a woman."

Bella stared at him. Inside her, a war raged.

Tell him now, one part of her mind commanded.

It'll be over if you do, another voice inside her head shot back.

His hand felt so wonderful, caressing her foot. The time they'd had together had been so short. And parts of it had been utterly magical. Only a few more days, a time apart. To be the woman she could never be in real life. But the price was continued deception; if she told the truth, most likely the next few days would be ended before they even began.

Bella quickly shifted her gaze out the window. "Look. You were right. The rain is stopping."

He kneaded the ball of her foot, and she knew he was staring at her quizzically. She said nothing, but kept her gaze out the window. She could feel his shrug through the hands that caressed her foot as he decided not to pursue the mystery of her sheer self. She tried to to disguise her sigh of relief.

Outside, as quickly as it had come, the storm left them. The rolling clouds rolled on toward Albuquerque, and the sliver of moon shone its bright sideways grin once again.

"Better?" Edward asked as he left off stroking her foot.

Bella sat up again while Edward button his shirt. "Much." She wrapped the blanket down around her bare feet. "What now?"

"Adjust your seat back all the way, and then I'll turn off the engine. You can try to sleep until dawn."

Bella pushed the little button and the seat slid to a nearly prone position. She settled herself in, and was aware that Edward, next to her, did the same.

For the time she lay there, looking through the beads of water on the windshield at the stars and the humpbacked shadows of the mountains that surrounded them.

"Bella?" Edward's voice in the silence startled her.

"What?"

"What about your message?"

She rolled her head to look at him, and saw in the darkness the gleam of of his eyes and the upward curve of his mouth.

She grinned back at him. "It's not morning yet."

He grunted. "Shall I tell you what I think?"

"Why not?"

"I think this whole trip out here was designed to throw me off the scent."

"You do?"

"I think you'll be making a simple phone call when we get to Albuquerque tomorrow and that's where you'll find out where to go next."

Bella turned her head and stared out the windshield again saying nothing.

Edward assumed her silence meant that he'd guessed right. "Bella, I want you to tell me something," he said after a moment.

She turned to him again. "Edward, I can't-"

He lifted a hand. "Let me finish." It was his turn to glance away. "Look, I've thought about what you said tonight. And maybe you're right. Maybe there is something missing in my life. And maybe it wouldn't hurt me to follow someone else's lead for a few days."

Bella sat very still, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing.

"There are just three points that would have to be clarified," he went on, turning back to face her at last.

"Yes?" The single word that she tried to make sound neutral came out thick with suppressed hope and excitement. Five more days, she was thinking, of Edward and me and a whole big country to explore!

"One," he said grimly. "I have to know." He pinned her with a look, his eyes boring through her, seeking the unvarnished truth. "Is there anything illegal about his group you and my mother are involved in? Any nefarious activities whatsoever-from tax evasion to fraud to drug running. Whatever, I want the truth, Bella and if you lie, I may not know what you're holding back, but I'll be able to sense you're not being honest."

For once she was able to look him in the eye and not worry if he'd guess all that she wasn't telling. "Nothing, Edward. Nothing illegal at all. I swear to you."

He sighed, and she realized it was a sigh of relief. "I can see you really believe that. So whatever negative activities are going on, you, at least, aren't involved in them purposely."

Bella made a concerted effort to quell her exasperation. "Edward, I don't believe it, I know it."

He waved his hand at her. "All right. We've been going in circles for two days now, so let's put it to rest for a while. We won't talk about it again until this vacation, as you insist on calling it, has come to an end. Agreed?"

"Absolutely." In her mind's eye she was picturing the magical week stretching ahead of them.

"Point number two," he said.

Bella sat up a little straighter in the laid-back seat. "I'm listening."

"We'll be traveling companions," he explained. "You'll tell me where we're going and I'll get us there without argument. I'll even do my best to be cheerful about it-"

"Wonderful," she couldn't help interjecting.

"But," he said

"I'm listening."

"Point number three is that we won't be lovers."

Bella felt her face redden at the directness of his demand. She was glad that the darkness hid her reaction from his sight. "You mean I have to stop trying to seduce you, is that right?"

"There are too many things you're keeping secret from me, Bella. I could never feel right about myself if I made love with a woman I didn't even know. And it wouldn't be fair to you, either, I hope you can understand that."

"Well." Bella cleared her throat. a part of her was grateful, because she knew that physical intimacy between them would be terribly dangerous for her. The naughty Bella, however, was already wondering just how long he could hold his resolve in the face of sharing every moment with her for the next several days. "Yes, all right," she said at last. "I do understand."

"Bluntly," he reiterated, "I mean no sex."

"No sex. I heard you," she said levelly. "But I want you well rested if you're going to be doing the driving."

"Don't worry, I'll be fine."

"Fine isn't good enough. You have to sleep."

"What are you getting at?" He eyed her warily.

"Turn on the engine and lever these seats out of the way." She tossed back the blanket and bounced over the headrest to the back seat. then she began tossing all the soggy clothing to the front.

"Bella asked you-"

She hoisted her suitcase of lingerie into her own empty seat. "Put the seats up," she ordered.

"And get back here."

"He turned around and was glaring at her warningly. "Bella, we just agreed-"

"Oh, stop it. I'm not going to entice you, for heaven's sake. I'm going to make sure you get enough sleep."

"How?"

"We'll sleep together."

"What kind of solution is that?" He looked at her as if she'd finally gone over the edge.

Disgusted, she planted her hands on her hips and she sat scrunched between the two laid-back seats. "Edward, you fell asleep with me last night. I'm betting you can do it again tonight. I think you like sleeping with me."

He shook his head, his eyes accusing.

"Oh, Edward. Why can't you stop thinking everything that isn't logical is immediate cause for suspicion? So you like sleeping with me next to you, so what? Don't analyze it. Just be grateful that for tonight at least you can get some rest."

He tipped his head and she knew she was swaying him

"Put up the seats, Edward. And get back here with me."

He did as instructed, not saying another word.

Fifteen minutes later, as she lay against chest listening to the steady beating of his heart and the gentle rhythm of his breathing, she found herself unable to quit thinking of the promise she'd made that they wouldn't be lovers during the days to come.

After all, it's for the best, the real Bella reassured herself

But the naughty Bella wasn't nearly so resigned.

You'll be mine within twenty-four hours, the wayward temptress promised silently, laying her hand possessively over his heart.

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