Author Note: Thanks for embracing this story! Congratulations to Bevey99 and boo1414 for guessing the chapter title from Whitesnake!

Everyone liked Jasper, and hopes that Esme's gratefulness will mean this won't be totally awkward.

Thanks again to moosals and NKubie for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.


Chapter 29: Is This Love

I sit up straighter, looking Edward's mother in the eye. "Yes, Ma'am, we've been seeing each other for a few weeks."

"Despite the fact that he stole from you…"

"Edward can be pretty persistent," I reply with a small smile. "I truly believe he's turned his life around."

"Edward had mentioned that you're older than he is, but I can't help but notice that you're much closer to my age than Edward's."

"Mom!" Edward yells. "Now isn't the time to harass Bella, ok?"

"I wasn't harassing her, dear."

"It's fine, Edward," I assure him, taking his hand in mine. "I'm 39 years old, Mrs. Cullen. I'm not a cougar — I've never dated a younger man before. In fact, I turned Edward down several times before I finally agreed to a date with him."

Edward's mother eyes me carefully; it's a bit surreal to now have my motives questioned. "When you two first met, he must've been only 18 or 19."

"At the time, I assumed he was at least 25," I defend myself. "I was mortified when we ran into each other in Monterey last summer and I found out his real age." God, I still remember my panic when he told me he'd been underage when he worked at New Moon.

"That's enough, Mom," Edward says flatly. "It's no one else's business how and when we met, the first or the second time. It's no one else's business how large the age difference is between us. Isn't Carlisle almost 15 years older than you?" He stands up, pulling me with him. "Thanks for… bailing me out, Carlisle."

"Of course, Edward," he replies.

"I'm sorry for my questions," Esme pleads. "Please, stay for dinner. I'd love the chance to get to know Bella."

"I just want to be alone with her right now," he replies quietly, tugging on my hand.

"It was good to meet you both," I toss over my shoulder as Edward drags me to the front door. Once we're outside, he hugs me tightly, clinging to me. I brush my fingers through his hair, trying to calm him.

"Thank you," he whispers.

"Is your car here?" I ask quietly, not seeing it in the driveway.

He shakes his head. "The police picked me up at home, just before I left for Eclipse last night."

Once I'm settled in the driver's seat of my own car, Edward leans his head back, exhaling heavily. "Mom had no right to talk to you that way," he says quietly.

"It's not like I haven't heard it all before from my friends." I start the car, backing out of the driveway.

"Why does everyone think it's their business if we want to be together?"

"They claim it's out of concern."

"Well, fuck that," he sighs, pulling out his phone. "I need to call work." I can't avoid overhearing as Edward explains to his boss that he had a family emergency, and that he'll be back at Eclipse tomorrow night.

"Can we get something to eat?" he asks as he puts his phone away. "I didn't get lunch at the police station."

"Sure, of course. Did you spend the night in a cell?"

"Yeah," he sighs. "I could really use a nice comfortable bed tonight." He looks over at me with an adorable pout, and I know without him asking that he wants to spend the night with me. And I know I'm going to say yes.

"Anything in particular you want for dinner?" I ask as I exit the freeway near my home.

"Just food," he replies, making me smile. I decide to take Edward to one of my favorite restaurants, at the Newcastle golf club.

"Um, what is this place?" he whispers as we step inside. "I don't think I'm dressed for it."

"You're fine, Edward."

"I really don't feel comfortable here. I mean, it looks expensive."

I turn and look at Edward, frowning. I have no problem with buying his dinner, but I guess I can understand why he doesn't want me to spend a lot of money on him right now.

"How about if we just go to their pub section?" I suggest. "It's more casual, and the menu is smaller and cheaper."

Once we're seated and have placed our orders, Edward looks around the room, playing with the straw in his glass of Coke. "I feel like people are staring at us."

"They're probably in awe of how handsome you are," I scoff.

He gives me a small smile. "Do you think it'll always be like this?"

"Like what?"

"Nosy people wondering why we're together."

"Where is this coming from?" I set down my glass of wine. "It seems like our positions are reversed, and now you're the one who's unsure about us. No one was staring at us Friday night, Edward, and I doubt they are now unless they're jealous of me."

"I am sure about you, but…"

"But what?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing," he sighs. "It's just been a really fucking long 24 hours. Maybe we should've just gone to your house and ordered in, so we could eat naked," he winks.

I roll my eyes. "Later," I promise.

Once we've finished our meals, I forego dessert — though I want to marry their salted caramel cheesecake — and ask for the check. Edward still seems a bit off, and I have to admit that the idea of getting naked with him sounds appealing.

I drive us to my place, and we're barely inside the door before Edward throws me over his shoulder, fireman style, then makes a beeline for the stairs. "Wait!" I giggle, slapping his very fine ass as I hang upside down. Undeterred, he continues upstairs, tossing me onto my bed.

"I—" I'm cut off by his lips on mine, his tongue fighting its way between my lips. I throw my arms around him, hugging him to me as I kiss him back.

Suddenly, he's sitting up, working quickly at the button fly on his jeans. I take the opportunity to remove my jacket and the jewelry I wore to work. Before I can get the rest of my clothes off, Edward has the box out of the drawer and is rolling a condom down his erection. He lifts my skirt up to my waist, pulls down my panties, and buries himself inside me, both of us still fully clothed from the waist up.

"Fuck," he groans, slapping his hand on the bed. I tug on his hair until he brings his lips back to mine. It's wild and fast and passionate; I feel like he's trying to fuck me into the mattress. By the time he's grunting with his release, we're both covered in sweat and tangled in our clothes.

Edward collapses on top of me, breathing heavily, and I mindlessly run my fingers through his sweaty hair. Finally he lifts his head, leaning his chin on my chest. "Not done with you yet," he mumbles.


If this is a dream, it feels incredibly real. I'm almost afraid to open my eyes and find out it's just a dream, that Edward is not between my legs.

Finally I do open my eyes, and the top of Edward's chaotic hair between my thighs is the only thing I can see in the moonlight. I let out an involuntary moan and I can almost feel his smile against my skin, knowing that he's succeeded in waking me up.

I have no idea what time it is. Despite our relatively early night, I think it was at least midnight before Edward finally let me go to sleep. He was most definitely not done with me after just one round. He took me up, down, forward and backward, leaving me thoroughly fucked.

I loved every single minute of it.

"Oh…" I mumble when he slides one finger inside me. His tongue never stops lapping at me. Somehow he knows just the right amount of pressure to drive me crazy without sending me over the edge.

"Edward, please," I finally beg. He rewards me by sucking my clit into his mouth, moving his tongue faster and faster until I'm shuddering, trying to hold in my screams.

"Beautiful," he whispers, crawling up my body. He leaves a soft kiss on my lips then pushes his cock inside me, achingly slowly.

God, I will never get used to how amazing he feels inside me. His hands move reverently over my body while he kisses every inch of skin he can reach. He's taking his time… truly making love to me.

I tangle one hand in his hair, using the other to grab his ass, trying to get him to move faster, harder. He won't be swayed though.

Minutes… hours… who knows how long, before Edward groans loudly. "You feel so fucking good. You're gonna make me come."

"Isn't that the idea?" I chuckle, bringing his lips to mine. He speeds up his movements — finally — pushing both of us over the edge.

"I love you," he whispers, so quietly I can hardly hear him.

I'm too stunned to reply. Love? It's too soon, isn't it? Do I love Edward? I think maybe I could one day, but I don't think I'm there yet.

The longer I go without saying anything, the more awkward it gets… for me, anyway. I'm still contemplating what I can say to that declaration when Edward groans, rolling off of me. I turn to face him but his eyes are already closed.

Running my hand through his hair, I kiss the tip of his nose softly then tuck myself under his chin.


A/N: Quite a declaration there from Edward! Poor Bella didn't know what to say, so she settled for saying nothing. It's quite possible her brains were scrambled from too many orgasms.

Esme really wasn't that bad, I don't think. Pretty typical "Mom" questions, even if Edward didn't like it. Bella is kind of resigned to hearing negative comments about their relationship, but he isn't yet used to it.

Next update on Monday. Because I have to. ;) We'll find out how it goes at the courthouse!