Bella awoke in Jasper's warm arms, marveling at how his body temperature had adjusted to hers over the course of the night. Huh. Kind of like how satin sheets always feel cold until you warm them up, she supposed. She got a little vexed thinking about all the times Edward had wrapped her up like a caterpillar in a cocoon. She didn't have long to think about that, though; Jasper's arms squeezed around her and he kissed the top of her hair.

Because it wasn't like he was sleeping.

"Good morning, Sunshine," Jasper whispered in her ear before kissing it. Bella could feel him pressed up against her thigh. Vampires get morning wood too, it seems. Good to know. Jasper appeared all too anxious to put said wood to good use, but that just wasn't happening.

Bella turned her head away from his highly kissable and fast approaching lips. "Mm-mm," she shook her head no. "Toothbrush." Jasper chuckled and released her. "What, no argument? No 'I don't mind'?"

"Bella, who am I to tell you not to go brush your teeth if you want to brush your teeth?" Bella thought on that for a moment. Cool. "Besides, vampires do have increased sense of smell, after all… and taste… so, yeah, brushing might not be a bad idea." Bella's jaw dropped and Jasper burst out laughing so hard he clearly woke up the horses, who were suddenly laughing right along with him. "Kidding, kidding – kinda!" He put his hands in front of his face and laughed even harder when she hit him over the head with the pillow. He was still laughing as she grabbed her toiletries bag and headed for the stream, flipping the horses the bird on her way past.

There was no woodpecker to distract her from the quiet music of the trickling creek this time. It was no wonder people made recordings of just this sort of sound to fall asleep to. She hated disturbing it with the splashing required to wet her toothbrush and wash her face.

When she got back to the campsite she found Jasper feeding the horses, seemingly having a silent conversation with them. He plucked a few stray twigs from Belle's hair, earning him a nuzzle, and gave Traveller a pat on the flanks before turning to her with an absolutely dazzling smile on his face. She waited for him to approach her, but he didn't. He just stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, the same chest that Bella just did not have enough opportunity to explore last night, which was a crying shame.

"Are you gonna kiss me or not?" he asked, and Bella found herself running towards him. He caught her in midair and she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him soundly. "Mmmm… minty fresh," he teased before kissing her again. He sat her down after a few moments, which was probably a good thing or else Bella might have forgotten the 'no sex in front of the freaky smart horses' rule.

"Do you really like the taste of mint, or does it taste just as gross as other human food?"

"It's not as bad as other non-blood flavors. I've been forced to drink tea a couple of times at Samuel's and mint is definitely the easiest to tolerate, probably because I can almost remember the taste of mint juleps from my human days and always found them refreshing. I was just teasing you, though. When we kiss, all I taste is you." Should that statement have made her wet and tingly? Because it did. And Jasper seemed to know it. He kissed her again for emphasis, deep and intoxicating.

"Come on, Sunshine, let's get you something to eat and plan out our day." Bella pulled a protein bar out of her bag and Jasper rekindled the fire so she could make coffee.

"Why do you call me Sunshine?"

"Oh!" Jasper disappeared, reappearing next to Traveller, where he took something from one of the saddlebags. "This is why. It's your book, you left it at… well, I found it…anyway. Here." Jasper outstretched his hand towards Bella, who was stunned to see her poetry book. She knew exactly where she left it, and couldn't help but smile at its return.

"Thank you so much!" Bella clung the book to her chest. "This book was my grandmother's, and I thought it was just one more thing I'd lost that day. But what does this have to do with the 'sunshine' thing?"

" 'Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air.' It's a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote in your book. That's what I did when I came here. That's the philosophy I embraced. I started living in the moment, found the tranquility and the wild air, but it wasn't until you came along that I realized I'd been missing out on the sunshine part."

"I love you," she sighed. There it was again. How did that keep coming out of her mouth unbidden? She was thinking up what was sure to be another witty addendum before she embarrassed herself when he cut off her train of thought.

"I love you too, Bella."

"Wha… what?"

Jasper pulled her into his arms and rubbed the tip of his nose against hers. "I love you too. That's okay, isn't it?" Bella nodded, not quite wrapping her head around this turn of events. Jasper snickered and kissed her lightly. "Can we sit and talk about this for a few?" Another head nod.

"Bella, even when we were in Forks and I was still with Alice, I was attracted to you. I always blew it off, figuring it wasn't really me, it was just Edward's feelings influencing me. Besides, you were a girl then, and you still had some growin' up to do. But now, you're different. You're this amazing, beautiful, sassy, intelligent, crazy woman and I find myself attracted to you all over again. But this time I know it's me, and I know it's real. I'm not foolish. I know in less than a week you are going back to school to finish your degree. Don't worry, there won't be any awkward conversations with me begging you to stay or chasing after you or anything like that. But I've spent too much of my life either living in the past or in Alice's vision of the future. I want to live for now. Right now. And I don't want to waste a single moment of the time we have together, or the time after you leave, thinking I should have told you how I feel."

Wow. Jasper had just singlehandedly shot down her every objection before she'd even had a chance to voice them.

"I am, however, going to be doing some work on the cabin after you leave so that if, when school is done, you want to come back to me, there'll be a bathroom and a kitchen."

"And a bed?" Bella asked hopefully.

Jasper pulled Bella onto his lap so her legs were wrapped around his waist once more. "Definitely a bed."

A/N: I'm glad I'm not the only one who has to lock the pets out of the room when hubby and I have 'alone time'! He swears the cat shoots 'you violated my mommy!' glares at him anytime we don't! LOL