25. I Know
Exhaling a laugh that was half elation, half disbelief, Jasper held Bella's face between his hands. "What are you doing here?" he asked, kissing her before she could reply. "Is this why you suddenly decided I should delay my visit?"
"Yeah. I figured with the good news, you'd want to be here this weekend. Plus, I had to get you back for the Christmas surprise."
"Well, I'm definitely surprised."
"Mission accomplished, then."
"Get in here. Do you want anything? I have actual food in the house this time, if you're hungry."
"Um. How lame would it be if I said I really, really want to go to sleep? I was too excited to nap on any of my flights."
"Not lame at all. C'mon. Let's go upstairs."
Before she could protest, he grabbed her suitcase and carried it for her. When she disappeared into the bathroom, she took much longer than normal to get ready for bed. Jasper began to debate with himself about whether to knock on the door when she finally emerged, wearing not her usual baggy pajamas, but a satiny nightgown that hugged her body. The sort of thing she might wear underneath something else — a lace-trimmed secret.
He couldn't help it; he stared. She didn't meet his eyes as she marched over to what had become her side of his bed and burrowed beneath the sheets.
Her hair fanned over the pillow, doing its best to sneak into his mouth and tickle his nose as he nestled his body against hers — his chest to her back. Gathering her hair in one hand, he arranged it so it flowed in a dark wave toward the headboard. She sighed: a contented, sleepy sort of sound that repeated itself when he trailed kisses along the nape of her neck and slung an arm around her waist.
"I like your new pajamas," he whispered.
"Oh?"
"Mhm. Very much so."
She turned her face into her pillow, as if trying to hide a blush or a smile, and let out a muffled, "Thanks."
"Hey, do you know what we've never done?"
"I can think of lots of things we've never done." Taking his hand in hers, she pressed her mouth to the center of his palm and smiled against his skin.
Laughing, he nudged her leg with his big toe. "Not that. Well, yes, that as well, but I was thinking of something else. We've never gone on a date."
"Pfft, what do you call all of those meals we had together in the hospital?"
"Horrifying, that's what. I'd hardly even categorize them as meals."
"Hmm, good point. Well, what about when you took me to Edinburgh? We went out and did things then."
"Yes, as friends. After New Year's Eve, we stayed in the hotel and made out like a couple of horny teenagers."
"Mm. Good times." Pausing, she traced a spiraling path along his arm. "Jasper? Are you trying to ask me out on a date?"
"Perhaps."
She scooted even closer. "I'd love to."
"Are you staying until Sunday?"
"Monday morning."
"Oh, good. We could go out tomorrow, then? That leaves Sunday to visit Edward, if you want to see him before you go back."
"Okay. Where are we going to go on this date?"
"That is a surprise."
"Is that some sort of code for you don't know yet?"
He chuckled. "Perhaps."
-oOo-
Hand-in-hand with Jasper, Bella crossed the Triana Bridge. He promised her something real — something that wasn't the usual tourist traps. Once they'd passed over the Guadalquivir River, arriving on an almost-island, he pulled her into a bustling market: Mercado de Triana, according to the white and green tiled sign.
Each stall had its name spelled out in tiles. Bella took her time over the words, translating them the way she couldn't decipher the words that streamed from the mouths of the locals. Jasper seemed content to follow her sedate pace as he led her through stalls bursting with fruit and vegetables and fish and legs of ham. The latter were suspended from the ceiling by their hooves. All around her, people shouted to be heard.
A few of them called to Jasper. A man hawking fruit seemed to know him, as did a woman who gutted and filleted fish with almost vampire-fast flashes of her knife. Neither of them called him by his real name. Of Jasper's brief, smiling replies, Bella understood only a few words. The term he used when motioning to her made her grin. Mi novia. My girlfriend.
After picking up supplies for a picnic by the river, they left the covered market and found a little place to order a couple of beers. Bella was only a few sips into her drink when Jasper tilted his head to one side and said, "Do you want kids?"
By some miracle, she managed to swallow her mouthful of beer before she sputtered. Throwing his head back with an Emmett-sized laugh, Jasper patted her shoulder.
"Relax," he said. "I'm not trying to imply that I want to take you home and impregnate you right this second. I'm just making small talk. Innocent question, I promise. No hidden agenda."
"Um." She took another sip to give herself time to gather her thoughts. "I don't... I don't really know. I've never pictured myself as a mom. I mean, I like kids. One of my least favorite things about living in the UK is that I can only watch my goddaughter grow up through photographs and Skype. But having a baby of my own? I don't know. I still have a long way to go with my career before I'm ready to begin thinking about whether I want that." Running a finger through the condensation on her bottle, she shrugged. "What about you? Do you want them?"
"I don't know, either. For a long time, it wasn't something that was an option for me, so I didn't think about it. No point, right? Now that I can... well, I still haven't thought about it all that much." Leaning closer, as if sharing an intimate secret, he added, "Children intimidate me a little."
She hid her smile behind her drink. "Good thing Maria's enemies didn't know that. They would've come after you with toddlers."
"I didn't mean I run away from them. They seem so delicate — especially babies. If I picked one up, I'd worry that I would hurt it."
"You'll get used to it once Rosalie and Emmett have their baby. I used to have the same fear before I held Sarah a few times. You do have to be careful, but they're more resilient than they look."
He shuddered. "I certainly hope so."
Under the table, one of his hands brushed over her calf, his fingers sliding up until his thumb stroked the back of her knee. Bella was glad she'd borrowed a dress from Esme for her date. It was even worth Rosalie's comment of, "She's trying to say she doesn't want it back after Jasper rips it off of you," when Esme insisted Bella keep the dress.
"You used to inspire a similar fear in me," he said.
Her voice lowered to match his whisper. "I did?"
"Of course. You were the first human I touched without intending to feed. The first time, I thought I would bruise you, at the very least."
Rifling through her memory, Bella struggled to recall any instance of Jasper the vampire coming close enough to touch her. In the airport in Phoenix? Had he put his hand on the small of her back? Before that?
It was all so fuzzy. A different Bella — a different life.
"You were very gentle," she said.
"That's good to know. I'm sure I would've grown more confident with time. If I hadn't changed into this, I wouldn't have had a choice." Propping the elbow of his free arm on the table, he swept a thumb across her lower lip. "Kissing you would've been a challenge."
"I can imagine. Things definitely would've been a lot more complicated. It's going to be hard enough to introduce you to Charlie without raising his suspicions." Pressing her lips together, she rolled her eyes. "I mean, if you want to meet him."
He smiled. "Asking me to meet the parents on the first date? You move fast, don't you?"
"Oh, shut up."
Laughing, he caught her hand before it could swat his chest. "Of course I want to meet Charlie. Have you told him about me, then?"
"Mm. I called him during my layover in Frankfurt."
"And?"
"Um. Well. It went better than expected, actually. No shouting, though he kept calling you 'Cullen.'" She shrugged. "I think Jake and his big mouth may've tipped him off — or maybe Jessica. Either way, Charlie didn't have the full story."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. He didn't realize you and I went to school together — had no idea who your family was until I told him. I think the fact that I first met you in real life helped to soften him to the whole Cullen thing."
"Wait, what? Met me in real life? How did he think we met?"
"It's sort of closer to the truth, actually, if you think about it." She laughed. "He thought we met online."
-oOo-
Back at Jasper's house, Bella perched on one of the stools at the new center island in the kitchen, spinning in lazy circles. If not for the ache in her feet, she could've carried on exploring the city well into the night.
"I had fun today," she said, pausing during one revolution to smile at him. "Thanks."
"Me too."
Standing between her legs, he set her cup of coffee on the island. She ignored it in favor of touching her lips to his, as if making up for the time they'd lost while in different countries. Against her will, her mind went to work calculating the width of the gulf between his past and hers. Even after accounting for his eight year dry spell and the time between leaving Maria and finding Alice, Bella estimated he had 136 years of sexual experience.
Goddamn. He'd probably done things she'd never even heard of.
"Let's go upstairs," he said, moving his fingers up and down her thighs with light, tickling strokes. Bella didn't trust her voice; she nodded.
They stumbled up to the second floor, taking steps in between kisses. Once they passed through the door of his bedroom, Bella's hand flirted with the collar of his shirt, her thumb slipping beneath the rumpled fabric. She focused on unfastening one button at a time, placing her mouth over each new patch of skin revealed by her flagging courage.
He bit his lower lip as she reached the last button and kissed the trail of hair beneath his navel. His muscles twitched under her touch, his breath coming in shallow gasps. When she straightened up into a standing position to push the shirt off of his shoulders, he gave her a tender smile. His hands shook on their path to the hem of her dress. Without hesitation, she helped him tug the dress over her head. Her nerves didn't evaporate, but they quieted into an occasional flutter.
Her history was no more a secret than his. He wouldn't expect a sex goddess. With him, she was wanted and safe and known.
"I love you," she said. It didn't feel like a confession. She wasn't baring anything but skin.
"I know." A grin spread across his face — bright and contagious. "I love you, too."
"I know."
As the rest of their clothes joined the pile on the floor, they laughed together: her at the way he declared it impossible for a man to remove his socks in a way that was at all sexy, him at the way his button fly refused to cooperate with her. When not a stitch of fabric remained between them, he ran his hands over her waist, walking her backward and kissing the hollow beneath her jaw.
"I've never done this as a human."
The quiet statement came paired with an expression of intense concentration, as though her body was an equation to be solved.
"I'll be gentle," she said with a teasing giggle that sharpened into a gasp when he dragged his teeth over her neck.
Drawing back, he smirked. "I hope not."
Any response she could have formulated was preempted by the backs of her legs hitting the edge of the bed. She let herself fall onto the mattress, yanking him along with her. Clasping both of her wrists in one hand, he pinned her arms above her head. His lips wandered over her neck, her chest, her arms. When he reached the silvery, curved impression of James's teeth, he bit down softly, as if trying to erase the mark without breaking her skin.
"Yours," she said.
Smiling, he soothed the scar with a kiss. In the soft light that spilled in from the hallway, she couldn't make out any of his scars. One after the other, she scraped her teeth over the only two she knew by heart: Maria's first on his neck, Peter's retaliation on his collarbone.
Fingers searching, lips teasing, he set about learning her body. Anticipation and need coiled low in her abdomen, pulsing in time with the heavy thud of her heart. For several minutes she held the word, "Please," poised on her tongue, but he fulfilled the request before she could voice it.
With a shuddering gasp, she clung to his back. His eyes slammed shut. Steadying her own breath, Bella dusted kisses along his neck and rubbed her thumb over the furrow between his eyebrows.
Eight years.
"It's okay," she whispered.
He shook his head. "Better than okay. So much better."
"Not what I — oh."
Each of his movements sparked a familiar, aching build within her. Coherence became a distant memory. All she could see — all she could feel — was Jasper. She couldn't say with any degree of accuracy which of them murmured a plea for the other not to stop — not to ever stop. When he slipped a hand between them, the tension shattered and dissolved. Arching off of the bed, she cried out. Complete.
One corner of his lips tugged up into a relieved half-smile just an instant before he released a moan that sounded close to the growl of Jasper the vampire. Collapsing against her, he peppered kisses over her face and chest before rolling to the side.
Sleepiness crept over her, as warm and soft as the blanket Jasper draped across their bodies. With a happy sigh, she rested her head on his chest.
"Bella?" he said, startling her out of a light doze.
"Mm?"
His hand drifted from her shoulder to her hip and back again, ghosting over her bare skin. "I like these pajamas even better than the other ones."
A/N: Apparently, someone nominated A Forest Fire for Best Bella/Jasper in the Non-Canon Awards. Thank you, whoever you are! :)
You know, I keep thinking that I should have the characters acknowledge the current situation in Spain, but I've decided not to. This story is, after all, set 2 years from now, and I'm no Alice. No idea what will be going on then.
We're winding down, by the way. Only a few more chapters left.