Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter! Hope you like it! And a side note: Just because I don't have time to respond to every review, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate them all! Each and every review that I get brightens my day a little bit more! (I know that's sort of mushy… but after you read this chapter, you'll see why I'm in such a mushy mood!)

Disclaimer: This all belongs to the lovely Stephenie! Thanks for letting me borrow your characters!

Chapter Thirty-six

BPOV

I was kissing every part of him that my body could reach, clutching him tightly, and trying to fuse myself into him. He seemed more than a little amused, and a bit dazed. I didn't care! I sensed that he was getting embarrassed from standing outside of my apartment and getting kisses. I wouldn't have been embarrassed, I wasn't, but I took him inside anyway.

I grabbed his hand and showed him around. I made him take off his shoes, I rarely ever had guests, and making people take off their shoes was a privilege that I rarely got to indulge in! Then we got to my living room. I was embarrassed then. I had totally forgotten that my school things were scattered all over the place! I quickly dropped his hand and ran to clean up quickly. I stacked the papers into random piles; I would organize them later, but was more careful with the books. Soon mostly everything was in its proper place underneath the table.

Then I showed him the kitchen, it was thin but clean like a kitchen should be. Everything in that room was in its proper place. Everything was scrubbed clean, and the cabinets were sparkling.

He seemed to find my spotless kitchen amusing, so I took him to my bathroom. We only spent a few seconds in there. It seemed a bit weird to give someone a long tour of the bathroom. After that, we went to the guest bedroom. Its theme was brown. The bedroom furniture set was mahogany wood, and it included a bed, dresser and desk. The walls were painted a light brown, and the quilt on the bed was actually a dark woodsy brown. The curtains hanging on the single window were made out of the same fabric that was the comforter on the bed. It matched well.

"I hope you don't mind brown," I said to Edward, "because you'll be sleeping in here! But if you don't want that, I mean, I could paint that I guess."

"No, I love brown." He said softly.

"Good!" I reached behind him and tugged as his sleeves. "Here," I said, "You can put your sweatshirt in the closet to dry if you want to!"

He did just that. My stomach turned with excitement, he really was going to come and live with me!

Then I dragged him to my bedroom. It was all green; I hoped that he didn't notice. It was insane how much green was in my room. The same furniture that was in the guest room was in my room, but there was also a matching bookshelf next to my desk. On the bottom shelf of the aforementioned piece of furniture was my high school yearbook, unopened since people has signed it four years ago. Also was a camera and a photo album of my four years without Edward in New York, it was sparse. My two copies of the Jane Austen collected works were on the bottom shelf and the teddy bear that I had taken from Charlie's house with my old car keys. My mother's framed picture and my matriculation certificate were framed above my desk. But the thing that bothered me was the small blue crushed velvet box, sitting dusty and unused next to my Jane Austen books. I suddenly remembered what it used to hold. My bracelet.

I shrugged off the upset; nothing could ruin the happiness of today. But Edward noticed. He always knew me better than I knew myself. Even after all this time, he still could have described me perfectly. He could have held my soul in his hand and not know me any better than he already did. "What?" he said, "There's nothing wrong with your room. I love it. The green is lovely, I think."

"Thank you."

"But that's not your problem is it?"

"No, but I'm fine. Here, come with me to the kitchen, I'll find you something to drink."

"Alright, thank you. But would you tell me what's bothering you?"

"Oh, it's no big deal." I left the room ahead of him, already moving toward the kitchen. I missed the weight of my bracelet. It was the only thing that had held me down all four years. Without it, who knows where I would have floated away to? I latched my right hand around my left, cupping my wrist where the bracelet had been. I formed a manacle, holding me to this Earth, holding me to Edward.

I heard his footsteps stop and turn away back toward the bedroom. I turned to see where he was headed, it was to the guest bedroom, I mean, his bedroom. I followed him, "What's up?" I asked.

He didn't answer, but went into his closet for his damp sweatshirt and pulled something out of the pocket. It was small and it glinted in the light.

He handed it to me, and I examined it closer. It was the bracelet! How had he found it? I had left it on the side of the highway near Dartmouth. How had he even known that I didn't have it, or was missing it? I wasn't able to think coherent thoughts let alone speak. I said, "You…I…this, how?" and a few other things that nobody, not even I, could understand.

He cocked his head to one side; he already had a huge smile on his face. "I saw you take it off, and then I followed you home."

Of course he knew what I was going to ask, the little devil. I started to kiss him again, stronger, more forceful this time than even the last.

The bracelet lay forgotten on the floor, where I had dropped it to grab him. I pushed him into his bed by accident. But that made Edward sit in a nice comfortable position for me to climb into his lap. So I did. When I had kissed him last, he hadn't responded, I think he was in shock. But this time he kissed me back. It was like a fire had been lit inside of me. I knew well how to kiss someone. I knew how to please a man without ever taking my clothing off, I knew how to take a beating without opening my mouth, and I knew how to pretend that everything was alright when really I was broken inside. But I didn't know how to react when I was in love.

I didn't understand why my stomach suddenly felt like it was doing back flips and rising at the same time. I didn't understand how I could feel so needy. But I did. I needed so many things at that first moment, I was so vulnerable. But soon my strong mind recovered and I prioritized. The first thing that I needed, the most important thing to me was this: Edward. I needed to feel him, to touch him, to have his skin on my skin, his arms around me, his body on mine.

I took my lips off of his and he leaned forward to capture them again. I let him have another fiery kiss before I reached for his dress shirt. His fancy blue button-down was in my way. Soon it was gone from his body, cast on the floor: a companion to the bracelet. But, of course, that didn't help my need for skin-to-skin contact, so soon my shirt joined his.

And that's when the fear set in.

I pulled away. I was sitting, straddling a half-naked Edward while wearing jeans and a bra only. I blushed at first, realizing what havoc I had wreaked in my frenzy to fuse myself with Edward. Edward's eyes were sad. "Bella, are you afraid?" he asked me. I whimpered and tried to climb off of his lap. "No, Bella, don't!"

I tried harder, afraid. But I looked up into his eyes, not believing that he would even try to hurt me, and I saw what I needed to see. His eyes were not angry or upset or even lustful, they were sad and maybe a bit determined. I stop trying to get off of him; his arms were like a cage of steel around me in any case. "I'm sorry, did I scare you?" he said.

"Yes, but I'm alright now." I said.

He nodded. "I want to show you something Bella. But I need you not to be afraid. This will probably be new to you…I want to show you…is that alright?"

I bit my lip, what was he talking about? But I agreed to whatever he was planning.

"Lie back." He said.

"Can I get my shirt?"

"If you really want it, but I'll just take it off again."

My forehead creased together, what? I thought he was crazy. Why would he want my shirt off? And then it clicked.

"Edward," I said, "this isn't new to me in the slightest. You of all people should know that."

"Just go with the flow Bella. This is new to you and to me. The goal here is to make you happy. Not for you to make someone else happy."

"What?"

But he didn't answer my vague query. Instead he reached round me, and pulled my gently so that I was lying on his new bed. "What are you –" I started to ask, but he silenced me with a kiss. Um, alright, I thought. If this was what he was getting at, I was alright with a few extra kisses.

About an hour later I opened my eyes to find Edward staring at me in awe. "You are perfect." He said, amazed.

"Me? No, you!" I laughed, "That was…indescribable!"

He bit his lip; his eyes were smiling, "Good."

I exhaled, "Wow."

"I know."