Author Note: Thank you for the great response to this story so far! I think most of you understand that Edward isn't ready to say I love you.
Thanks again to moosals for pre-reading. Stephenie Meyer owns all characters.
Chapter 36 – The Sun Doesn't Shine Forever
Once Leah has dropped off my kitten, I sit and pet her for a few minutes. Sandy totally looks like she's judging me for daring to leave her for a week. "Hey, you're cute and all, but… Edward's a better kisser; his breath doesn't smell like tuna," I tell her, setting her beside me on the couch. "I'll be back later."
Edward opens the front door so quickly after I've knocked that I almost wonder if he was watching for me. He pulls me into the house and his lips are on mine within seconds.
"I've missed you too," I mumble against his lips. It's been a whole 30 minutes or so. "So we're watching a movie, right?" I start cracking up at the disappointed look on his face.
"You," he growls, pulling me into his body. "Let's go upstairs."
"I thought you'd never ask," I smile.
Edward takes my hand and leads me up the stairs. I close his bedroom door behind me, then immediately reach for his shirt.
"You spoiled my fun last night, but not today, Mister," I warn him, pulling it over his head.
"Yes, Ma'am," he grins.
Next, I open his jeans, tugging them down his body. Once he's free of them, I walk him backwards, gently pushing him onto his back on the bed. He grins as he looks up at me, but suddenly I get a stray thought.
"Is-is it OK?" I ask. "I-I mean… the bed," I stutter, worried that he'll feel guilty about having sex with me in the bed he shared with Bree.
I see a look of understanding dawn on his face. "It's not the same mattress," he says quietly. Oh! Duh, of course it's not — Bree was found lying on their bed in a pool of blood.
I start to reach for Edward's boxers, but he shakes his head. "Take your clothes off first," he suggests. Smiling, I do a little strip tease for him as I get naked, even if I do feel a little ridiculous.
Once I'm finished, I remove his boxers, then give his hard cock a few tugs. Bending forward, I give it one long lick from base to tip, then suck the head into my mouth.
"Jesus, Bella," he moans as I continue to work him over. I don't want him to come this way though, so I pull my mouth off with a pop after a couple of minutes, then position myself over the head of his cock.
I slowly slide down onto him, letting myself adjust to his size. He feels even bigger like this. "Please move," he begs.
"I aim to please, Sir," I smile, lifting myself up. I brace my hands on Edward's chest, and he plays with my breasts as I ride him. It's so, so good. As he gets closer, he begins helping me move, lifting me up and slamming me back down.
"Oh fuck," I choke out, my orgasm catching me completely off guard. Edward continues to move me just the way he wants until he groans out his release. I can feel his cock twitching inside me, and it's so fucking hot. I always used condoms with my previous boyfriends, and it's so different being able to feel everything with him.
I collapse forward onto Edward's chest, and he hugs me tightly, kissing wherever he can reach. "Can you stay?" he whispers.
"I kinda promised Sandy I'd come back later," I chuckle.
"I see how I rank," he mumbles sleepily.
In the 10 days or so after we get back from California, Edward and I spend almost all of our free time together. In the early evenings, Edward and Masen are at my house, allowing Masen a chance to play with Sandy. Once he's gone to bed, I go next door for some adult time. I rarely actually spend the night, since I feel guilty leaving Sandy alone so much, especially since she's taken to sleeping on my bed with me. I do have a spare bedroom, so perhaps Masen can sleep there occasionally once he's in a toddler bed.
The only tiny little blip in our happiness is that Edward hasn't yet returned my declaration of love. I'm trying really hard to be patient about that, but there's a part of me that worries he never will.
After working at the bakery on Thursday, I head straight to the diner to meet my friends. We actually missed last week, since Alice had come down with a nasty stomach virus — a hazard of working in a hospital. I figured that rather than sum up our trip twice, Angela and I would wait for Alice to get better before meeting for dinner.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Alice stands up to hug me when I find her in our usual booth.
"Not 100% yet, but I promise I'm no longer contagious," she replies.
"Hi, guys!" Angela calls out as she walks toward us, carrying Chloe.
"Oh, she's awake!" I squeal as Angela takes her seat across from us.
"Yes! Do you guys want to hold her?"
I hurriedly nod as Angela unbuckles the baby. Standing, I lift her out of the carrier. "Hi, sweetheart," I coo, sitting back down with Chloe's head on my shoulder. Big dark eyes stare up at me. "She smells so good!"
"That's because she just had a bath," Angela laughs. "Massive poopsplosion."
We place our orders with our server, and then Alice demands some baby time, so I pass Chloe over to her.
"OK, spill it, Swan," Angela orders. "How did your trip with lover boy go?"
I can't contain my smile.
"That good, huh?" Alice says, waggling her eyebrows.
"The trip was chaotic and stressful and a lot of fun," I begin. "Masen and I had a great time whatever we did. He really liked the shows at Sea World in San Diego. I didn't get to spend as much time with Edward as I would've liked, since he was generally busy with signings all day. There was also a lot of travel involved, with a total of four flights and a handful of one to two-hour drives.
"The only real downside was that Jane from his publishers was our babysitter again. I did kinda flaunt it in her face that Edward and I were together, once he said I could. That was fun," I grin evilly.
"Anyway, sales of his book had kind of stalled out and started to drop, but they're picking back up again, so the trip was worth it from that standpoint. He got some great reviews from a couple of LA book bloggers who came to the signing and bought his book, which is what they were hoping for."
"That's all well and good, but you know that's not what we're asking about," Alice says. "Did you or did you not take your relationship to the next level?"
I can feel my cheeks heat up, and I know it gives me away from their comically wide eyes. "We did," I admit.
"On the trip?" Angela questions.
"Yes… for the last night in San Francisco, Edward got us a suite so that Masen wasn't sleeping a few feet away."
"Nice," Alice smiles. "I like a man who plans ahead."
"We'd taken some steps forward earlier in the week, but it was hard because we had to keep the noise down. I think it was for the best though, to let Edward work his way up to the big event, just to make sure there'd be no guilt."
"And was there?" Angela asks.
"Nope," I smile. "I think he's really and truly ready to move forward. I, um, told him I love him, but I let him know that he didn't have to say it back until he's ready. I'm trying to be patient with him. It's like, I'm this close to having everything a girl could want. Edward really is an incredible man. He's so talented, and I feel like one day he — or rather his pen name — is going to be a household name. Not to mention, he's sexy as hell and definitely knows how to please a woman. I've never had such amazing sex before."
Just as I finish my speech, our waitress brings our plates, and I feel my face heat up again, knowing she must've overheard that last bit.
Alice stands up to pass the now-sleeping baby back to Angela, who gets her settled in her carrier. Angela smooths her daughter's hair, smiling down at her. "It's going to be really tough to leave her and go back to work in four and a half weeks."
"Do you have Chloe's daycare all arranged?" I ask.
"Yeah, we're going to try a nanny. She's the widow of a lawyer from Ben's firm and raised five children of her own. She's got something like a dozen grandchildren, but all except one of her kids moved out of the immediate area. She's only 59 and feels that she'd still like to contribute in some way. I think she's spent most of the past two years since her husband died traveling around to visit her kids and grandkids."
"That's great," Alice smiles. "And with your teacher's schedule, she'll still have all summer off to travel."
"Exactly," Angela nods.
"Oh, speaking of grandchildren," I begin, "Bree's parents are coming to visit tomorrow."
"Oh!" Angela exclaims, eyes wide.
"Do they know about you?" Alice asks.
I shake my head. "Not yet. They're going to find out though."
"How do you think they'll take the news?" she asks.
"I-I'm not sure. Somehow I think they'll be less enthusiastic than Edward's family. After all, it's their daughter he's moving on from."
"But surely they wouldn't begrudge him his happiness!" Angela says. "I mean, he's still a young man; they can't expect him to stay single forever."
"At least I'm prepared for the worst. If they end up being OK with it, then… it'll be a pleasant surprise."
Edward sends me a text on Friday afternoon to let me know that Bree's parents have arrived for their four-day visit. It's such a nice day that they're planning to take Masen to the playground — after stopping by the bakery for ice cream. He's hoping to let them meet me now — and hopefully like me — then tell them later tonight that I'm his new girlfriend.
They're going to be staying in Edward's guest bedroom, which means no late night visits for the next few days. They would've stayed in a hotel, but none of the motels or bed and breakfasts in Forks were up their standards, apparently. There is one 3-star motel on the extreme north end of town, next to the Calawah River, but it's honestly pretty dated.
I hear Edward's voice as one of my coworkers takes their order at the outside window about 10 minutes after the text message. I'm working in the back today, making up the orders. Eric lets me take a 10-minute break, so I also make a dish for myself, bringing everything out to them on one of our trays with special slots for cones.
The elderly couple sitting at the picnic bench with Edward are impeccably dressed — not in suits or anything like that, but they look like they're going to church. The redheaded woman, who has obviously dyed her hair given that she's in her mid-60s, is draped in fine jewelry.
"Here you are," I smile. "Hmm… I think I know who the kiddie size strawberry ice cream is for." I set the cup down in front of Masen, along with a tiny spoon.
"Ben!" he greets me with a wide smile.
"Are you ever going to learn to say Bella, buddy?" Edward smiles. "I got the brownie sundae this time. Vickie got the cone."
Smiling, I hand the mint-chip cone to the woman, setting the other cup in front of the man, then take a seat next to Masen, lifting my own small sundae from the tray.
"Bella, these are Bree's parents, James and Victoria Tanner."
"It's nice to meet you," I smile politely.
"James and Vickie, this is Bella Swan. Bella lives next door, and she's been a great friend to me ever since I moved in — introducing me to people and helping with Masen whenever I've needed it."
"Oh, that's nice," the woman smiles.
Bree's father looks me up and down — I'm still wearing my apron — and I can tell that I don't quite measure up in his eyes. "Is this your only job?" he asks.
"No, Sir," I reply. "I'm a first grade teacher, but I've worked here during the summers since I was a teenager." He nods his head, and I feel like I may have gained a slight bit of respect.
Edward asks them about their trip as we eat our ice cream, doing his best to act casual around me and not let on that I had his cock in my mouth last night.
Masen finishes his small ice cream quickly, though as usual, half of it has ended up on his face. He's seated between Edward and me, so I reach for a napkin to clean him up, and he climbs onto my lap.
"Ma?" he says, staring up at me, and I hold my breath.
"What did he say?" Bree's mother asks in shock.
Edward sighs. "Bella has come along on my two book signing tours to help out with Masen, so they've spent quite a bit of time together. He occasionally calls her 'Ma,' though we've explained to him repeatedly that she isn't his mother."
"Exactly how much time have you all spent together?" Mr. Tanner asks, eyes narrowed.
"I—" Edward starts, before he closes his mouth, glancing over at me. I can read in his look that he wants to confess. They're so close to noticing something's amiss that it would almost be lying to not just tell them now.
"James, Vickie," he begins quietly. "Bella is my girlfriend."
Bree's mother nearly drops her cone. "Girlfriend?" she shrieks. "Why, Bree's body is barely cold in the ground!" And my heart sinks. This is exactly what Edward doesn't need.
"How long has this been going on?" Mr. Tanner asks.
"We've been dating since June," Edward answers, taking my hand and squeezing it. "Our feelings grew out of our friendship. It certainly wasn't something that I planned. I'm sorry — I was planning to tell you later tonight."
"It's so soon though," Bree's mother protests.
"It's been over a year," Edward corrects her. "Believe me, I struggled for a while to reconcile the feelings I was developing for Bella with my love for Bree. She was everything to me, but she's gone. I'm 29 years old; you can't expect me to be alone for the rest of my life."
I cheer internally at the way Edward is sticking up for himself. He clearly doesn't need me to do it.
"And most importantly, Masen adores Bella," Edward stresses. "I could never be with someone who didn't love my son as much as I do."
"That little boy does need a mother," Mrs. Tanner says, wiping at her eye.
"He does," Edward agrees softly, "and he's chosen Bella. So have I, for many different reasons. She's an amazing person. I couldn't ask for her to be more patient with me, or more understanding. She's never once shown herself to be jealous of the life Bree and I had. Bree will always be an important part of my life, but she's my past and Bella is my future. Please try to respect that."
Edward's sweet words bring tears to my eyes. No, it's not the L-word, but it's nearly as good. He smiles at me, leaning over for a brief kiss.
"I, um, probably need to get back to work."
"Oh, right," Edward smiles, taking Masen from my lap. "I'll see you tomorrow?" I'm working until closing tonight, but tomorrow I'll be off early enough to go to dinner with all of them… as long as the Tanners are OK with it.
I nod, standing up. "Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Tanner. Bye, Masen!" I kiss the top of his head before walking away.
A/N: So things were going along very smoothly after the trip both personally and professionally — until Bree's parents arrived in town! They were initially skeptical of him dating again, but Edward defended himself pretty well. Oh Masen, what a time to call her 'Ma'!
Next update on Monday.