Chapter TwentyEight
"Coming, Emmett!" she called, dashing down the stairs, fixing her last earring in and tousling her hair a little. For the first time in a long time she had consciously sat down and attempted to make herself look good, without feeling that sickening feeling that always came alongside it. She actually smiled at herself in the mirror, for the first time what seemed like years, and followed that by putting on makeup, for once not to mask everything, but to accentuate her beauty.
She stumbled over the bottom two steps, almost losing her balance as she staggered across the hall and opened the door. Emmett was standing there, dressed in a shirt she was sure Alice had picked out, clutching a big bunch of pink roses and smiling.
"Happy Valentines Day, babe." He said, and stepped into the doorway to catch her mouth with his, sending her pulse into ridiculous speeds, forcing a stupid grin onto her face.
"Happy Valentines Day yourself." She murmured as she played with his hair, kissing his cheek bone lightly. "You gonna tell me where we're going or is it some kind of secret?"
He smiled conspiratorially and then shrugged. "Edward recommended a place in Port Angeles; I thought we'd give it a go. And Esme's leant me the Mercedes soft-top, for the occasion."
Rosalie couldn't help grinning. Although her boyfriend didn't share her bizarre passion for cars, he was indulging her. She grinned, and pressed a chaste kiss to his top lip. "Let's go." She grinned.
They drove towards Port Angeles both with stupid smiles on their faces, grinning hopelessly at each other at every opportunity. Rosalie loved the car, and Emmett could tell Rosalie loved the car, and in truth – that was a bit of a turn-on. But he kept those thoughts to himself and when they drew up at the little secluded romantic restaurant in Port Angeles he had leapt out of his seat and round the car in time to hold the door open for her. She smiled demurely at him, taking his hand as he helped her out.
The restaurant was beautiful; they both had to hand it to Edward. It was quiet, and in an old building, the wooden rafters in the ceiling were adorned with Valentine's Day decorations – but the tasteful, not tacky kind, and there were roaring log fires and warm food, and Emmett smiling at her from the other side of their tiny table-for-two in the corner.
"So… a little bird told me that you gave Jasper the talk about Alice the other day."
Emmett rolled his eyes at her. "That is so unromantic, Rose."
She laughed. "Has Jasper given it back to you yet?"
Emmett looked everywhere but at her. "You and I… are special circumstances, Rosalie. And anyway… aren't you older than him?"
"By twenty minutes. Whatever. Anyway, what did Jasper say when you spoke to him?"
Emmett shrugged. "Not much. It was kinda awkward…"
Rosalie laughed lightly, and Emmett's heart warmed a little. He liked nothing better in the whole world than to make her laugh, he had decided, and on the various (once scarce and now more regular) occasions when he did, it sent an emotion through him quite unlike anything else.
Rosalie and Emmett ordered the same, and blushed and laughed when they both blurted it out to the waitress at the same time. He took her hand, running his thumb over her palm gently as they waited for the food to come, talking casually about things, gentle simple topics, school, Alice, Jasper, Edward and Bella, college, the future… and when they tucked into their meal there was a comfortable, warm silence spreading between them, their legs just touching underneath the table, their eyes meeting every few moments and smiles breaking out on their faces.
Whilst she was eating her spaghetti, without noticing, Emmett pulled out his camera and snapped a picture of her, laughing. She pouted at him, raising her eyebrows.
"Wow, I bet that's attractive." She rolled her eyes, and he looked down at it, laughing.
"It is, Rose. You're always beautiful."
She felt the blood rushing to her cheeks, the telltale sign of a blush, but she leant forward on one hand and looked at him, the sarcastic grin on her face making him laugh. "With spaghetti hanging out of my mouth."
"Always." He reinstated, waggling his own eyebrows. "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." And in seconds, his voice had gone from light-hearted and joking to breathless and intense, looking her in the eyes. The blushing had long since fallen by the wayside, and for a fair few moments in the restaurant they were stuck, staring into each other's eyes, each renewing their captivation with the other.
They were interrupted by a waiter bringing them dessert menus, and both of them let out audible sighs.
Spell broken, for now.
He linked his arm through hers as they walked to the car, Rosalie feeling a little light headed from the wine and Emmett feeling a little light headed from all her laughing and her proximity to him. He opened the door, helped her in, closed it behind her and then got into the driver's seat to find her staring at him with a bizarre expression on her face.
"What?"
"Nothing." She shook her head, looking out of the window. "Thank you for tonight, Emmett, it's been lovely."
He grinned. "Glad you had fun." He whispered, and leant in to kiss her.
He never had any inappropriate intentions, he would swear on – God – his mother's life. Rosalie, however, seemed to have other ideas. As his lips made contact with hers, intending a light, loving, quick kiss, she immediately pulled him closer, tugging on the top of his shirt until he was leaning halfway across the car, with her sandwiched in between the window and his hard, muscled body. Only when she'd forced them both into that position did she wrap her arms around his neck, all the while deepening the kiss, her tongue warring against his, hands sliding up into his hair. He braced himself against the window with both hands, thinking if this was where she wanted to lead, then so be it…
Think rationally, Emmett, you don't want to see her get hurt.
It wasn't easy to think rationally when the one girl you loved had her tongue down your throat and you could feel every inch of her body pressed against yours, Emmett thought, but he pulled away gently, ever the gentleman.
"Rose…" he murmured, as she tugged at his bottom lip with her teeth.
"Emmett…" she mocked him, giggling as he nuzzled into her neck, but seemed to check himself right away and pull back.
"We… I shouldn't…"
She kissed him hard, he could almost hear the blood pumping in his ears and every inch of him seemed to tingle with desire and anticipation.
"I'm just having fun, Emmett. I'm not gonna break, y'know."
He knew it was the wine talking, and he knew she still could break at any moment, but right now her eyes were darkening and pleading with him at the same time, and she was so close he could feel her breath on his face, and her hands were sliding down out of his hair and running over the lean, sculpted planes of his chest, through the suddenly thin, irrelevant material of his shirt, and she was leaning in…
His lips caught hers again, this time in a dance far fierier. He managed to find an angle where he didn't have to brace the pair of them against the skeleton of the car, and finally threaded his huge hands into her beautiful, sweet smelling, amazing hair…
She was breathless, head spinning, as he kissed over her jawline and began a descending trail down her neck, kissing her gently, every touch of his mouth sending shivers down her spine. She thought of a time when even kissing him had been scary and found herself smiling as she yanked his head back up again, to meet his mouth, to feel his tongue running across her teeth, to lose herself in him…
"I love you." He whispered in her ear, and punctuated that announcement with a kiss. Then he moved his mouth quickly back to hers again, as if reassuring her she didn't have to respond to that sentence until she was ready. And, she was beginning to think, she would ready sooner than they both thought.
A good fifteen minutes passed, and she had her hands under his cotton shirt, tracing the muscles of his stomach and chest, and he had found the spot on her neck that he could kiss and make her elicit small moans, which made his heart thunder in his chest. Slowly, breathlessly, he pulled back, kissing her on the forehead lightly and smoothing her tousled hair down.
"I should take you home." He murmured, wishing that wasn't the right thing to do, but it was. She gave him small, grateful smile, and held his hand as he drove them both back to Forks.
Just before he was about to turn off to drop her home, she stopped him.
"Can I stay at yours?" she asked, eyes bright and hopeful, and with that look, he didn't have the heart to say no.
She ended up sleeping in his bed, wearing one of his old T-shirts, her head resting on his chest, sleeping soundly.
A/N: Hope you liked the Valentine's Day chapter!!!!! I'm well proud of myself, hardly any angst escaped at all, and I think I succeeded at fluff ;)
Let me know what you think, and review!!!!! (come on, you at least owe we that, after TWO updates in ONE DAY!!!)
Off to watch The Italian Job now :) [I love Mark Wahlberg soso much :D]
xx
