We leave Bella's place a bit before midnight. We end up getting Phil to drop us back to mine, because I've had a few too many and he adheres to some sort of paleo-vegan-intermittent-fasting diet that doesn't include the consumption of alcohol.

'Have fun, kids,' he says as we tumble out of his Lexus. 'See you two in the morning.'

'What's happening in the morning?' I ask Bella as his tail lights disappear around the corner. I'm pretty tipsy but I'm definitely not drunk enough to have made plans with someone and forgotten them already.

She frowns and takes out her phone. She checks her calendar and shakes her head. 'I don't know. Either I forgot to write it down, or he's doing something with Mum and Dad and is just assuming we'll be there.' She shrugs. 'Guess we'll find out in the morning.'

A gust of wind pushes past us, grabbing the ends of Bella's hair and tossing them towards the night sky.

'Southerly's here,' Bella says. She gathers her hair and ties it into one of her wobbly buns. 'Finally.'

We head inside, opening up all the windows to let the cool change in. My bedroom is stuffy as fuck, so I switch on the rattly old window A/C unit and close the door.

'Probably need to give it twenty to cool down,' I tell Bella. She pouts, and now that she's drawn my attention to her lips, I really want to kiss her. So I do, twisting my fingers into her hair and making a mess of her bun. She doesn't seem to care. Her tongue slides against mine and I groan into her mouth and press her back against my closed door.

I kiss my way down her throat and her head lolls back against the door with a soft thump.

'Is anyone else home?' she asks.

'Uh…' I've already forgotten what she asked, distracted by her collarbones. I kiss my way across them, then tug her shirt lower so I can kiss her sternum.

'Edward,' she says. She squirms but I've got her pretty well pinned against the door. I slip my knee between her legs and my hands around her waist. I squeeze her sides gently, feeling her stomach muscles flex, before I slide my hands up to cup her tits. Bella arches her back and makes a little whimpering noise. I deliberately avoid her nipples as I knead her breasts and push them together because I know it will drive her crazy.

'Wait,' she says. She shoves her hands into my hair and tugs until I pull my lips away from her skin. 'Is Al home?'

I close my eyes because looking at her when she's flushed and pouty-lipped and messy-haired, all I can think about is how much I want to fuck her. Is anyone home?

'Rosalie moved most of her stuff in this morning,' I say. 'But she was going to sleep at a friend's tonight. Al is… I don't remember what he was doing.'

'We should probably take this inside your room,' Bella says. 'I really don't want him to catch us fucking against your bedroom door.'

'It's too hot still,' I say. But I let go of her tits and open the door because we're about to get even sweatier anyway. As soon as Bella steps inside, she pulls her shirt off. She drops it on the floor and heads straight for the en-suite.

I pull my shirt off with a sigh, assuming she's going to want to shower. It's not a bad idea, I probably smell pretty ripe.

But when I enter the bathroom, I find Bella perched on the counter in her undies. She smiles at me and parts her knees. I step between them, my grin wide. God, I love her.

'I was right,' I say. I hook my fingers under her knees and slide her to the edge of the counter.

'About what?' But she smirks, because she knows.

Bella wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me hard. I lose myself in the feel of her lips and tongue for a few minutes, but then I remember why I wanted her in this position in the first place. I pull back and wrap my hands around her thighs, my fingertips press into soft skin and hard muscle. I look over her shoulder at her reflection: the wisps of damp hair stuck to her neck, the multiple tan lines that crisscross her back and shoulders, the triangle of red lace that covers next to nothing of her arse, her tanned and toned thighs.

I grind my erection against her and she lets out this breathy little laugh. 'Oh, God. You're so fucking hard.'

'Fuck,' I mutter. 'I love you.'

'Love you, too,' she says. Her head falls back as I keep pushing my hips into hers.

'Watch, Bel,' I tell her. I pull her undies to the side and slip my fingers between her legs.

Bella looks down, lips parted, as she watches what I'm doing to her. She lets out this gorgeous moan that tells me I'm definitely doing something right and then she starts up with the yes, Edward, more, Edward, harder, Edward, which is basically my favourite thing in the whole damn universe. If anyone is home, then they'll know exactly what we're up to but I can't bring myself to give a shit. Sweat beads across her chest and her thighs start to shake. I use the hand not between her legs to pinch her nipple and her mouth drops open and her eyes squeeze closed and just like I knew she would, she comes, hard.

I undo the button of my shorts and yank them and my boxers down, not bothering to kick them all the way off. When Bella regains some motor function, I tug her undies aside again and tell her to hold onto them. It would be easy enough to take them all the way off, but there's something erotic about her keeping them on.

Somehow I have the presence of mind to ask her if she wants me to go grab a condom, but she shakes her head and says, 'We're good.'

I thrust inside her and let out a guttural groan because it feels so fucking good. I grab her arse cheeks and start to pound into her. We're both covered in sweat and I'm just drunk enough that my filter has fucked right off. I tell her over and over how good it feels, how sexy she is, how much I love being inside her, while she lets out these high-pitched whimpers and keens and tells me how good I feel moving inside her, how much she loves it when I fuck her like this.

Sweat rolls down my spine, drips down my face as I keep thrusting into her. My knees are aching, my hip flexors cramping, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to hold on long enough for Bella to come again. I'd usually put my mouth on her tits to help her along, but I can't reach, can't let go of her legs because I've pulled her forward to the point I'm supporting much of her weight.

But Bella knows what she needs, and when I start babbling about being close, about it being too good, she wraps her legs around my waist, lets go of her underwear, and grabs hold of her breasts. My mouth falls open as she pinches and twists her nipples. She's slack-jawed and silent as she comes. Her eyelids flutter and when this satiated little smile curls her lips, I stop trying to hold back. My release is so intense, it's almost painful.

Bella starts giggling as I pull away from her. She hops off the counter and heads for the shower. I catch her around the waist before she can reach the taps.

'What's so funny?' I ask. I kiss her neck and she leans into me.

'Nothing,' she says. 'Well, no. I was just thinking about how much I understated your, ah, talents earlier this afternoon.'

I roll my eyes, but really, I'm chuffed. How could I not be?

But it does remind me… I kiss Bella's neck again, hoping I'm not going to sour the mood by bringing this up.

'Bel?'

'Mmm?'

'Speaking of this arvo… Did you, um, did you not tell Jess what happened with Jasper?'

Bella sighs and twists around to face me. 'Can we talk about this in there?' She points at the shower. 'I feel kinda grotty.'

I nod and reach past her to turn the shower on. Once the water is lukewarm, I step in, tugging Bella in after me. She doesn't speak immediately but I don't push, giving her time to gather her thoughts. Instead, I nudge her under the water and grab the bottle of shampoo she keeps here.

It's not until I'm combing conditioner through her hair with my fingers that she speaks up.

'Jess knew that Jasper and I had sort of had a thing, and after that night, I told her I was done with him. I didn't give her specifics, just that he'd pushed too hard and hadn't respected my boundaries.' She turns to face me and circles her finger in the air. I do what she wants and turn around. She starts working shampoo into my hair, her strong fingers massaging my scalp. 'I don't remember how much I told you at the time, but I had it out with him a few days later. He was full of excuses and he tried to turn it all around onto me. He wanted me to feel really bad about it. Told me you were kicking him out because of what happened and how unfair that was when it was just a misunderstanding because he was wasted.'

Bella tells me to close my eyes and guides me back under the shower. She rinses the shampoo out, then picks up the bottle of conditioner.

'I flipped out on him. Told him that if he can't respect what someone says or read their signals when he's drunk, then he shouldn't drink at all. I told him that I didn't want to have anything to do with him, especially not physically.' She sighs and rinses her hands under the shower. I turn to face her and she gives me a small smile. 'Jess messaged me a few days ago to tell me he'd asked her to go to a party with him. She didn't want to say yes until she'd checked how I felt about it. And I guess… I hoped he'd grown up a bit. I wanted to believe he'd learned from the past and would be good to her. Because everyone's capable of change, you know?'

I rest my hands on her waist. 'I get it,' I say. And I do. Bella's such a positive person, of course she believes the best of people. She's not naïve about it, either. She's hopeful. But it takes some people (like Jasper) longer to realise they need to pull their heads out of their arses.

I shut off the shower and pass Bella a towel. She wraps it under her armpits and heads back into the bedroom. The little window unit is working valiantly, and the room has cooled significantly.

Bella sits down on the edge of the bed and pats the doona. I rub my towel over my hair before I wrap it around my waist and sit down.

'I guess he's not there yet,' she says. 'I don't know if he invited Jess to try to make me jealous, or just because he couldn't handle showing up alone or what. But he's an absolute idiot if he thought he could drive a wedge between us over something that happened years before we even met.'

'He is an idiot.' Motherfucker had a shot with Bella and he blew it, not even realising just how amazing she is. Definitely an idiot.

Bella's eyes narrow. 'Oh,' she says. 'I just realised. It wasn't really about that girl, was it? It was about oral sex. Because you're supposed to be famous for getting it and I don't give it. And that's like, the worst thing ever for a dude, right?'

I groan softly. 'You know I don't…' I shake my head and try again. 'What we do'—I squeeze her hand gently—'is perfect. The way we connect is beyond anything I could've ever imagined and it's incredible. You're incredible.'

I cup her face and rest my forehead against hers, wishing I could communicate telepathically. But I can't, so I have to try to find the right words. 'Bella, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. I never have. Most of the time, I'm just wondering how the hell I got lucky enough to have met this girl who is so strong and brave and gorgeous and adventurous and caring. And who likes me as much as I like her.'

Bella kisses my cheek. 'I love you.'

I swallow down the lump that unexpectedly forms in my throat. 'You are seriously the most extraordinary person I've ever met.'

'You're gonna make me cry,' Bella says quietly. 'Stop it.'

'For real, though,' I tell her. 'I love you more than I really know how to say.'

Bella rests her head on my shoulder. 'Same,' she says. 'Sometimes it scares the shit out of me, how quickly this happened.'

Not caring that we're both still soaking wet, I pull her to lie down on the bed with me. She rolls over and folds her hands on my chest, then rests her chin on her hands. She sighs.

'Most of the time I'm just really bloody glad Jasper dragged me along to that party.'

'Same. I'm glad I got antsy and decided to leave early.' I stroke her hair off her face. 'I was leaving because I was getting bored and I managed to run straight into the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me.'

Maybe it's crazy, how fast and hard we've fallen. Maybe it's unwise that I'm already thinking about asking Bella if she'll move in with me because I want her face to be the first thing I see every morning and her voice to be the first one I hear. Maybe it's absurd that I'm already pretty sure I want to marry her one day.

I'm not naïve about it. I know that staying in love with someone is a whole lot harder than falling for them. I'm not perfect and neither is Bella, so we're inevitably going to piss each other off and hurt each other's feelings. We're both capable of being selfish and stubborn and we both have a tendency to react emotionally when we're overtired. We'll get our wires crossed and miscommunicate and we'll have to learn how to work through things when we're feeling defensive and wronged.

But we'll take those hurdles as they come. We'll learn. We'll screw up and we'll try again. And again.

So, yeah, I know that loving Bella won't always be so easy. But I'm willing to bet a whole fucking lot that it will be worth it.

Epilogue(s) to come. Thanks for reading, friends.