Fifty - Six.

My entire world stopped. He was in love with me? I could hardly breathe, much less respond to his statement. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him, hard. I pushed him backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed and we tumbled down onto it. I straddled him and hovered over his bare chest. My hair fell like a curtain around my face. My hands roamed up his stomach, over his chest and onto his shoulders. He was perfect. "Edward . . ." I whispered, as I closed my eyes and tried to savor the moment.

I felt the pad of his thumb brushing away a tear from my cheek. I leaned down and kissed him again and again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"For what, Bella?"

"For not being able to just say that I only want you and that I can't just give in to this pull you have on me. I want to, so badly. I do, only want you, I just don't know how to get from point A to point B. I'm scared."

His hands found their way under my shirt and they made their way up and up until the shirt was being pulled over my head. I was bare before him, and cold. I laid down against his chest and kissed him as his warm hands ran up and down my bare back. "I know you're scared," he started. "There are definitely things we would have to work out and discuss, but their just details. Details that we have the next few months to work out."

I nodded my understanding.

"Honestly, Bella. Please, if I could promise you that you'd be taken care of, that I'd never abandon you, could you consider it? A life with me?"

"How can you be so sure, Edward? What if you change your mind about me? It's only been a couple months and we're on a cruise ship in the middle of the gulf. These are all perfect conditions. We've never lived a normal day together. I've never met your family. I've never met your friends. I've never been to your home. There's so much we don't even know about each other."

His arms tightened around me. "We'll learn. There's nothing about you I wouldn't love. I'm up for the challenge if you are."

I smiled against his chest. He was making it all too easy. Before, I'd never considered it. I thought for sure it would never work out, there is too much distance and too many unknowns between us, and most importantly, I was entirely unsure of how I would handle being back in the real world. He had never met the side of me that was lost and in a dark place far more than was usual. "Can we talk about it more tomorrow? When we're not mostly naked? And really talk about it. I have a lot of concerns."

Edward's grin was electric and contagious. "Of course."

Author's Note: I'll go ahead and give you another one tonight since this one was short. Thank you for the reviews. 3 Also, if you leave a review with questions - don't leave it as a guest so I can respond to them. ;)

Twitter: AllOrNothingKR