A/N: This note will be short and sweet. Thanks to MaggieMay14 for beta'ing this bitch so quickly, so that I could post before NM. Thanks to Risbee for not letting me fly off the handle when I thought I had lost the file about five minutes ago.
We're winding down, with 2 chapters and an epilogue left to go, so I hope you continue to enjoy.
I don't own Twilight, but I am getting my H1N1 shot a few hours before I see NM. Wish me luck!
BPOV
I rubbed my hand up and down my face, hoping it would drown out the commotion surrounding me, but no luck. Alice was talking away animatedly about color schemes, flower arrangements and I felt an odd sense of déjà vu. Isn't this what we went through when Rosalie announced her engagement?
"Bella, are you even paying attention?" called out Esme as I turned my head around slowly, trying to come to terms with their conversation. "You and Edward finally picked a date, so let's get all of this initial planning out of the way. I was thinking you guys could get married at Sacred Heart, just like Rosalie and Emmett." I released a small groan at the prospect of an already married woman getting married in a church, and even wondered for a moment if it was sacrilegious.
"Edward and I discussed it, and we've opted against the church Esme," I said stoically as she looked at me and raised her eye brows, apparently surprised by my statement. "Since we've decided to get married on our one year anniversary in July, we want to just have a simple wedding."
"Define simple?" asked Alice as her head popped up from the bridal magazine she was sorting through, like she was a prairie dog. The look on her face was just as priceless, because she looked downright disturbed at the prospect of something relaxed, but unfortunately for her, that was exactly what Edward and I had decided upon. It was OUR wedding after all.
"Simple, which for my wedding it means no $4,000 vintage dress, no flowers being flown in from the Netherlands, and no six-tiered cake that none of the guests will want to eat anyways because the icing looks plastic and inedible," I replied as Rosalie looked at me suspiciously. "Yes, I was referring to your cake Rose."
"Why the hell are you having this second ceremony if we have to skip all the good parts?" she asked as I turned my head slightly and took a sip of my water. If I was being honest with myself, I wondered the exact same thing.
"Our family deserves to be able to celebrate the love Edward and I share. Who cares if we do it in the gardens at the Cullen house, or ask for donations to charity instead of gifts, Edward and I just want to announce to the world, not just Las Vegas, that we are husband and wife. You guys can go all out for Alice's wedding next year now that Jasper has finally proposed."
The conversation was quick to change to Alice's wedding next June and how she and Jasper had already reserved the Central Park Boathouse. Of course, I was privy to the fact that she had actually reserved her reception site over a year prior, under the assumption that he would propose eventually. I wouldn't have wanted to be Jasper if he hadn't proposed and the date that she had chosen drew near.
Alice, being the eternal organizer that she was, already had fabric swatches for her bridesmaid dresses, her florist was chosen and the DJ was booked. She was working on selecting a photographer, and was considering one of the guys who I worked with down at the Museum, who was a photographer on the side. Having seen his work before, I knew that if Marco took the photos, she would be more than pleased with the outcome. Plus, when I did go back to work in two months, I wasn't looking forward to listening to him bitch and moan if she didn't pick him.
"Bella, did you choose a florist?" asked Esme casually as I shook my head 'no'. "I know a great guy in Boston, who will do everything for you. Just let me know how many bouquets, centerpieces, pew decorations and more that you will need."
"I need one bouquet."
"That's it?" Rosalie added, sounding incredulous.
"Uh yeah. I only had one the first time around and I only need one now. What is it about small, simple wedding that you girls aren't getting?"
"You're marrying a Cullen. They never do anything small or simple," she emphasized as I rolled my eyes and held my hand up in front of their face, showcasing the two rings on my left hand.
"I'm already married to a Cullen. Our first wedding was as small and as simple as you could get. I think my husband is breaking the mold for all Cullen men of the future," I added with a small laugh as Esme nodded her head and seemed to bend to my will somewhat. I was certain there would be more discussions about making things more elaborate, but I was standing my ground.
We continued to talk about Alice's wedding, and I was relieved that the pressure off of me for a little while. The waiter at the small Italian restaurant we were eating lunch at came to our table a moment later, and I had him refresh my drink. We had all finished eating and Esme was contemplating ordering some gelato when my cell phone buzzed in my purse with a text message from Edward.
I seriously think H might roll over today –E
He's three months old and almost completely immobile –B
Maybe he'll talk then. I'm expecting something epic from our son –E
If he talks, I hope he says 'you're nuts Daddy' -B
I let out a small laugh and then shoved my phone back into my purse as Esme looked at me curiously. "Is everything all right at home?" The girls and I had met at the restaurant and after our wedding planning lunch, we were supposed to head back to the house to see Edward and Hayden.
"Yeah everything is just fine. I think Edward is a little anxious for Hayden to do something other than suck on his hands and go poop," I said as I let out a giggle and they all looked at me like I was on fire or something. "You'll have your days before you know it," I said fiercely as I pointed towards Rosalie and then Alice with my eyes narrowed.
"Not anytime soon," snickered Rosalie knowingly. "Ever since we babysat for you, Emmett hasn't even mentioned once having a kid. So thank you for that."
"You're welcome," I said sarcastically as the waiter came with my drink and Esme decided against the gelato and requested the bill. When it came a few moments later, all of our hands flew out to pay for it, but as per usual, Esme was the first to whip out her black American Express card and the rest of us just gave up, not even bothering to fight about it. Had it been just Alice, Rosalie and I, we would have played rock, paper scissors until the death over that bill. We were quick to leave the restaurant, and all of us piled into the Volvo and headed back to the house. When we walked in front the door, Edward was holding Hayden in his arms trying to calm him, but he seemed inconsolable.
"What happened? Did you tell him you weren't really his daddy?" asked Rosalie as I walked towards Edward and Hayden, taking the baby from his arms, as I heard him let out a huge sigh of relief. Hayden began rooting around my chest, so I took him into the living room and got comfortable in one of the recliners, tossing a receiving blanket over myself to show a little decorum before my son went to town on me. The moment my shirt was undone, he was desperate to latch on and I stroked his fine hair gently as the girls came in a moment later, followed by Edward who was clutching a beer.
"Little early don't you think?" I asked with a quirked eye brow as Edward sunk down on the couch beside his mother, who looked at him disapprovingly.
"It's five o'clock somewhere right?" he joked as I rolled my eyes. "Anyways, Hayden here was a handful the moment he woke up from his power nap. I swear he hates my guts when he wakes up. He's always the crankiest then."
"He cries for me too when he wakes up hon," I said soothingly as Alice and Rosalie began flipping through Modern Bride again, trying to discuss bridesmaid gowns for Alice's wedding. While Hayden worked on his lunch, Edward sat there and listened as his mother tried to convince him to get married in a church. Of course Edward just scoffed at the suggestion.
"What did Bella tell you she wanted?" he asked Esme as she bent her head slightly, as though she was a child about to be chastised for stealing cookies.
"The garden in the backyard at the Boston house," said Esme quietly as I watched Edward wink at me before he nodded his head at his mother.
"We don't ask that much of you do we? We have yet to beg you to babysit, we've never borrowed copious amounts of money from you and if we're being brutally honest, hell we rarely call each other unless you are coming to town or vice versa," said Edward, his serious voice coming out as his mother looked at him in surprise. I still thought she viewed Edward as the dipshit spoiled brat kid that left for Europe when he was eighteen, but he was far from that now. Sure, we may be young, but we were far from spoiled or impulsive these days. "If Bella wants to get married in your garden in Boston, then that is what we are going to do. Fuck, if Bella wants geisha's riding elephants around the property, I'll get them for her."
"Thanks baby, but please don't put any ideas into her head," I said honestly as Alice looked up from her book.
"What's wrong with a theme wedding?" she questioned as I let out a large laugh and Hayden unlatched himself and began to root around again. I repositioned him to my other breast and once he was settled and happily feeding again, I looked at Alice with a huge grin.
"I had a frickin Vegas wedding the first time around, so don't even consider a theme wedding for us. This wedding will be simple. There will be flowers, a slab cake and my dad is going to walk me down the aisle. Then my husband and I are going to dance and head to a hotel room for the night, where we will do things to each other that are considered illegal in several states and small countries." I looked up from my rant and saw Esme, Rosalie and Alice all glaring at me, their mouths hung open in shock. Even Edward was a bit surprised, but his mouth formed into a small smirk before he winked at me knowingly.
"That's my wife Bella and since she had our son three months ago, she seems to have lost all of her internal filter," laughed Edward as I realized what I had just said and felt mortified. Why the fuck did I have to have word vomit in front of my mother in law.
"Okay, that was fucking epic Bella. Who is babysitting Hayden that night by the way?" asked Rosalie as she shook her head in the negative, hoping that I wasn't going to say her.
"My parents have offered to take Hayden for us. Then a few days after the wedding, Edward and I are going to take Hayden to London for a few days, just the three of us. A mini-honeymoon I suppose," I explained to them as all three of them looked at me, the relief clear on their faces. "Don't worry ladies, I would have rather boarded Hayden at a kennel then leave him with any of you gals."
"You are kidding right?" asked Esme as she looked at me with disappointment in her eyes.
"Of course I'm kidding. I'm sure your housekeeper would do an excellent job of looking after Hayden," I laughed as Edward joined in and Esme continued to glare at us. Hayden was the one to break the tension in the room as he burped all on his own and then began to fidget as I adjusted myself and patted his back, burping him again.
When I was done, Esme was quick to throw out her hands, desperate to hold her grandson and I quickly passed him off to her before excusing myself and heading upstairs to get changed into something more comfortable. As I strolled out of the closet, with my yoga pants on and clutching Edward's favorite Boston Red Sox shirt in my hand, I was surprised to see him standing there.
"I need us time tonight," he said slyly as he came up behind me and held onto my hips, rolling his groin against my ass. "Do you think that's a possibility?"
"Everything is a possibility Edward," I said with a small grin. "Even your mother one day babysitting Hayden is a possibility."
EPOV
I couldn't wait for my sister, sister in law and my mother to leave. As much as I loved them, all I wanted was some time alone with my wife. Ever since Bella and I had reintroduced sex back into our lives, it was a weekly event, but I couldn't help it if I wanted more. It was almost like we had a schedule and we did it like clockwork on Saturday nights after Hayden went to bed. I missed being able to have my way with her whenever I wanted.
After we put Hayden into his crib, and made sure he was sound asleep, I wrapped my fingers around Bella's wrist and basically pulled her towards our bedroom, not wanting her to get away from me. I turned on the baby monitor on the dresser and then closed the door firmly as I watched her walk across the room. She was about to turn on the bedside lamp when the room went completely dark.
"What the hell happened?" Bella said anxiously as I turned away from her and looked out the window.
"The whole street is out," I said as the words brought back memories of our time in Copenhagen.
I looked outside and a bright flash of lightning lit up the room. Unfortunately, without the lightning, the room was pitch black. "Stay here and I'll go see if Henrik has some candles." I said as I hopped effortlessly from the bed and took my time walking to the door, making sure I didn't trip on anything. When I returned to the room, I had an arsenal of supplies from the guy who owned the hostel.
"Welcome Back," she said eagerly, as I squinted through the darkness to see her, with no luck.
"Henrik says this happens all the time and we shouldn't expect the power to be back on until the morning," I said as I laid everything onto the coffee table and immediately lit the largest candle and brought it over to where Bella was. As I got closer, she became awash in the light from the candle and looked so fucking hot. "This would be romantic, if it didn't suck."
"How does this suck?" she asked curiously as I placed the candle on the bedside table next to her. "I actually have an idea to keep us occupied."
"Oh really?" I said with a grin, my interest suddenly piqued. "Does it involve me getting to have sex with you?"
"No," she said with a heavy laugh. "Do you still want to play?" There was no hesitation on my part and I was on the bed beside her within seconds. "Okay, so I know it's already dark, but I want you to close your eyes. We have one minute to do something to the other person and then we switch. No matter what that person is doing, you cannot stop them or help them in any way. Shut your eyes and I'll show you."
I excitedly closed my eyes and as I felt Bella crawl behind me and softly massage my shoulders, reliving some of my obvious tension. Once she had finished, Bella went back to her seat and I opened my eyes, a smile wide on my face.
"My turn," I said as I watched Bella tentatively close her eyes, not quite sure what I had planned to do to her, but then again, that was the point of the game. She tightened her eyes so they were securely closed and her breathing hitched as she felt me grab her left hand and start running my fingers gracefully along her palm and then I began stroking her fingers.
"Time's up," she said sweetly as I watched her pull her hand away from mine reluctantly and open her eyes. I closed mine immediately, eagerly awaiting her next move. It took a moment, but before I knew it, Bella's soft lips were pressing against mine, moving ever so slowly and I began to smile just as she pulled away. Damn time limit.
As Bella closed her eyes this time, I adjusted my body, bringing me closer to her. She shuddered as she felt my warm breath on her neck and suddenly I was sucking her neck, very hard, into my mouth biting her every so often in a desperate need to mark her.
"Now everyone knows your mine," I said with a small laugh. "If it's not dark enough tomorrow I might need to work on it a bit more."
"You're an idiot," said Bella with an obvious groan. "I'm yours, for at least six and a half more weeks. No matter how many guys approach me, I'm yours. Okay, so stop being so jealous. Do I need to start singing some Jason Mraz so you'll get the hint? I'm yours Edward."
"It's hard not to Bella. You're gorgeous, and if I wasn't with you, I'd be acting and thinking the same way all the other guys are. I promise to try and tone it down though, okay?" I asked genuinely, not wanting her to hear the tension in my voice. The last thing I wanted to deal with was my jealous streak, but I couldn't help it where she was concerned.
"Alright then. It's my turn now, so close your eyes again." I did as she told me, my hands fidgeted nervously as I waited for her to do something… anything. She leaned down and began nibbling on my ear, causing me to moan in pleasure. Fuck, she was good.
"Mmm that was nice," I said as I began to contemplate my next move. Bella was getting bolder, so it was obvious I should too. Bella closed her eyes in anticipation and I moved my behind her neck and pulled her towards me. I kissed her, but it wasn't as chaste as the kiss we shared earlier. I forced her mouth open with my tongue and when her tongue reached out for me, I started sucking on it forcefully. I found myself almost unable to stay within the one minute time constraints and really wished I didn't have to, until Bella pulled away.
"Hello?" called Bella as I turned from the window, my head still swimming with thoughts of us in Europe. "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's just a power outage. I'm sure there is a good reason for it, but I'm going to go get some candles just to be safe," I said as I began to walk out of the room and down the hallway. I cracked the door open to Hayden's room a little bit so that we could hear him without the monitor and then grabbed some candles from the linen closet.
When I walked back into the room, Bella was sitting cross legged in the middle of the bed waiting for me. "You know this totally reminds me of Copenhagen. Did you get those candles from Henrik?" I started laughing, as I lit the first candle and brought it over to the nightstand. Each thing I was doing reminded me more and more of Europe.
"Are we going to play your one minute game?" I asked as I turned back to the dresser and lit another candle. When I came back towards the bed, resting the second candle on my side of the bed, I looked over at Bella and was shocked to see her pulling her shirt off and throwing it towards the closet.
"I was hoping you could last much longer than a minute Edward," she said seductively as I quirked my eye brow and almost lunged at her as I crawled on the bed, pushing her down against the mattress as I moved to hover my body over hers.
"I think you know damned well Mrs. Cullen that I can last longer than a minute," I said with a small growl as I grabbed the waistband of her pants and tugged them down quickly, taking her panties with them as I tossed them down beside the bed and repositioned myself between her legs. I moved my hand slowly up the inside of her thigh; desperately wanting to savor the moment since I had no idea when the hell we would get this chance again.
"Edward," she breathed slowly as my lips found purchase against her neck and I began sucking furiously, very much like the first time I gave her a hickey almost five years prior. My hands worked their way down her almost completely naked body; the only thing between us was her bra which I knew she was self conscious about removing, so I didn't pressure her. I listened to her soft moans, letting them spur me on as I sat back onto my knees and yanked my shirt off over my head.
"Did you need something love?" I asked in reply as Bella began nodding her head slowly.
"Just you," she said as her hands worked their way up my sides to my shoulder where she rubbed my tattoo slowly and I leaned forward again, my lips pressing themselves against her collarbone as I kissed her reverently. Some days, as I watched her with Hayden, I still couldn't believe she was mine. All mine.
We moved slowly and silently in perfect rhythm, my hands skimming over her body as I memorized each line and curve of her. When I spread her legs open and began lapping eagerly at her wetness, her moans and cries made my cock harder than ever before, spurring me on. I plunged two fingers inside of her wet folds and watched in awe as her back arched off of the bed and she cried out in pleasure.
"Jesus Fuck, Edward," she cursed out as I began sucking at her clit, my fingers pushing in and out of her, curling inside of her as I willed her to come for me. God, how I wanted to watch her as she came unraveled around my hand. She bit down on her lip and twisted her body slightly as she called out my name, over and over again. I couldn't help but smile as though she was saying the sweetest words I had ever heard.
When I kneeled back to look at her, Bella was quick to sit up and grab my face in her hands, kissing me passionately as she tasted herself on my lips and in my mouth. Our tongues melded together as I pressed my weight against her, moving her till her back was against the bed again. I felt Bella's hands on the waistband of my pants, fumbling desperately as she tried to pull them from me. I helped her tug them down, my underwear going with the pants, as Bella then finished removing them by sliding her feet along my legs, pushing them away from me.
"I need you Edward," Bella said breathily as I nodded my head and repositioned myself between her legs. I was about to thrust my straining cock inside of her warmth when she moved from beneath me and pushed me down onto the bed, letting me roll onto my pack. "I want to ride you."
"Oh fuck," I growled out as Bella's hand wrapped around my length and she began stroking me before she began to climb onto my lap, placing her heat directly above me. I grabbed her hips tightly in my hands and pushed her down onto me, groaning in pleasure as I felt her wrapped around me again. It felt like it had been forever since the last time I had felt her like this.
After a few minutes, Bella grasped the headboard in her hands as she bent her chest over me, groaning and yelling as I continued to thrust into her at a decent pace, my release imminent as I took one hand and grasped her ass tightly, most likely leaving marks from my fingers in the light of day. "So much better than Denmark, Edward," Bella cried out as her back arched and she came undone around my cock.
I thrust inside of her three more times before finding my own release and wrapping my arms around Bella, pulling her down against my chest as I kissed her passionately. "I am the luckiest fucker alive," I said genuinely as Bella smiled sweetly at me and nuzzled her head into my neck.
As if on cue, Hayden started wailing from his bedroom and I was quick to get up and search around in the candlelight to pull on a pair of clean boxers from my dresser, as I watched Bella lay down on the bed, catching her breathe. I was about to step out of the room when I grabbed the door frame and turned back around to face my gorgeous wife. "Don't move, baby. I'm not done with you tonight."