Carlisle had left at nightfall.
Bella couldn't wait until he was out of hearing range. She pushed Edward to the couch, making him fall backward and the couch moving a foot behind.
"Love, you have to be careful."
Bella threw her shirt over her head, undoing her short jeans at lighting speed. She straddled his hips, gripping his hair tightly, as she descended for a careless kiss.
Edward divested of his clothes, ripping the panties off Bella's body.
Her head snapped up, as a sudden thought occurred her. If she were human, she'd be tomato red.
"Bella?" Edward asked, distracted, kissing the column of her neck.
"Did you take it out?"
Edward frowned, looking between their bodies.
She laughed nervously. "I mean…my tampon."
Edward stared at him for what seemed like a century, then he threw his head back, laughing carefree.
"Hey!" Bella slapped his shoulder, making him wince. "Sorry."
"Yes, Bella. I did," he answered, between peals of laugher. "I don't know why I thought that once you'd be a vampire, I could hear your thoughts, but I still can't. And the way your mind works still amazes me."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with my mind."
"You're perfect," he declared, sobering up. The emotion in his voice was palpable.
"You are," she retorted, amused. Before he could ruin the moment and say he was far from perfect, Bella gripped his erection, sinking down on him. She threw her head back, bracing on his shoulders, moaning loudly.
She hadn't expected to feel so many things at once. The way he felt buried inside her, the way her inner walls squeezed him, his labored breathing even though he didn't need it, his fingers squeezing her hips.
"Fuck me," she breathed out, remembering a time when such words had him tethering on the edge of self-control. Now there was no need to restrain himself.
Edward growled loudly, the sound vibrating through his chest. She could feel it deep inside her.
Then he stood up, holding her to his body with a hand under her ass. The next second her back collided with the half-wall separating the living area from the kitchen. She could feel the wall cracking under their weight, but all her focus was on her man fucking her like never before. He'd been holding back. A lot.
After a while, Bella slid the leg she had around his neck to push against his chest with her sole. Edward ended up sprawled on the floor near the entrance door. Bella jumped, landing exactly on top of him. Edward grinned, wresting her around, trapping her under his body. He slipped back inside her, and her eyes crossed in pleasure.
He trailed his fingers under her thigh, keeping her leg against his waist, as he moved faster and faster. Bella felt as if she was floating, and maybe she was as the coil in her stomach wound tighter.
She started gasping his name, gripping his shoulder, until Edward stilled his hips. Then he grabbed her hips, pulling her down on his lap. Bella's back arched as a strangled cry escaped her.
Such a feeling wasn't real.
When she stopped seeing stars, she became aware he was still hard.
"You…"
"I love you," he whispered, wrapping her body in his arms. "Even though you nearly took my arm out of the socket."
"What?" Bella pulled away to stare in horror at his right shoulder. The skin was cracked. Shit.
"It heals. Look closely."
She stared, fascinated at the fissured skin mending until his shoulder was covered once again in smooth skin. She couldn't help but feel guilty.
"Please, stop worrying." Edward picked her up, bridal style, carrying her to the bedroom. With a devious glint in her eyes, he stopped in the middle of the room, then threw her toward the bed.
Bella shouted, landing hard on the soft mattress. The next second, the bed collapsed on top of her.
"Shit," Edward cursed loudly, helping her up. "That wasn't supposed to happen."
Bella stood by his side, scowling. "Esme's going to be upset."
"Rosalie and Emmett smashed down several houses when—"
"Excuse me?" Bella stared at him in shock. "When you say smashed down…"
"I mean demolished. You noticed what happened with that wall, right?"
Bella rushed into the kitchen to stare in abject fascination at the big dent her back had created. As she turned to find Edward in the hallway leading to the bedroom, she saw several tiles broken and torn from the floor – where she had thrown Edward earlier.
"Maybe we shouldn't have chosen this house, but it's too late. We're going to repair it as a gift for their anniversary next year."
"Anniversary?" Bella repeated.
"Ninety years of marriage." Edward grinned.
"Whoa!"
"Think that will be us, one day." He came to her side, kissing her mouth.
Bella touched his defined abs, sucking on his lower lip. "I'm ready for forever with you."
"Forever." Edward smiled widely, deepening their kiss.
.
.
.
"Focus, Bella!" She startled from staring out the window at Edward who was on the beach with Alice.
Bella met Jasper's butterscotch eyes. "Sorry."
"Please, stop lusting over Edward. I don't know how much more I can take."
She cringed, having momentarily forgotten he could sense her emotions. It wasn't her fault that Edward could still dazzle her even now.
Jasper nodded, linking his hands behind his back. "We were working on walking."
Bella crossed the room, spinning on her heels, beaming.
Jasper closed his eyes, shaking his head. "A tad slower. Even I had difficulty seeing your blurred figure."
Bella scowled. "I just can't!"
"Of course, you can. Your body wants to get to the destination within the fraction of a second, but you won't allow it. Slowly, measured steps, like a toddler learning to walk for the first time."
They had been trying to teach her to move slower for the past few days, but her body wasn't cooperating. They had taken turns walking next to her, holding her hand to pace herself, and when she nearly ripped Alice's arm off, they tried a different tactic.
"Come here." Jasper grabbed her elbow, steering her to the front door, matching her speed. "Stop. Now look at Edward. You have all the time in the world to reach him. Think he's your prey if it helps. I've seen you hunting and you move much slower when you approach an animal."
Bella stared at her feet. She took two steps, already finding herself on the porch. She halted, frowning. She had to focus. She wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the others if she didn't learn such trivial things.
It felt like it was a waste of precious time to move so slowly, when her body yearned to be near Edward.
He stopped talking with Alice, turning to face her. An encouraging smile formed on his lips, as his hands extended forward.
Bella kept the slow, measured steps, until she reached him.
"How did I do?"
Alice stared at her, fighting amusement. "Now, again but a little faster. Snails could have outrun you."
Bella threw her hands in the air. "I give up."
Edward threw Alice a glare. His fingers curled around Bella's. "Walk with me."
Bella matched his pace, keeping her eyes on his bare feet.
"You're trying too hard, love. This has to come naturally." He pulled her into his side, bending to kiss her. "Keep walking. Now, let's talking about something else."
"Uh, there has to be something wrong with me. I mean, look…I can't even—"
"Bella, stop. There's nothing wrong with you. Emmett's first attempt at sitting on a couch was disastrous. He used to throw himself on the piece of furniture as a human. So when he did it as a vampire, he sent the couch sliding back into a wall, breaking the wall as he fell out of the house. We couldn't even be upset after we've repeatedly told him to be careful."
Bella giggled, imagining the whole scene.
"Rose went to peer at him through the hole in the wall, shaking her head. She flicked her hair over her shoulder, before making a dramatic exist saying 'I don't know why I even bothered'."
Bella laughed harder. That sounded like Rosalie.
"And look at you, walking like a normal person," Edward encouraged her.
Bella beamed, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her face into his naked chest. "Thank you."
"Ready for the blood test?"
Bella stiffened. When she first heard Alice's genius idea, she had thought it was a pretty good idea, but as more time passed, Bella wasn't so sure. Alice had brought over several vials of blood in an icebox. They were currently stored in the icebox in the house, but Bella could still smell them.
Only a couple of them contained human blood, others had a different type of animal blood.
"It's not as bad as you can imagine. For you, it might be difficult, for us, it's easy," Edward said gently.
"Fine."
"Get them ready, Alice," he said with a smile.
If Bella couldn't still hear Jasper and Alice chatting from the house, which was pretty far away from where they were, she'd have doubted Alice could hear Edward.
After a dip in the ocean and a passionate round of lovemaking in the deeper water, Edward and Bella returned hand in hand.
Jasper was standing quietly still on the porch, leaning against the banister with a smile on his face.
"You might turn out an alright vampire, after all."
"She's a natural, Jasper. You've seen her hunting." Edward squeezed her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it. "Ready?"
As if reminding her what waited for her inside the house, Bella grimaced as her throat erupted in flames.
The scents were so inviting – one more than the other.
"The test is to distinguish the blood you are forbidden to taste."
Bella nodded to Jasper, rushing inside the house.
"It was good as long as it lasted," he muttered.
"Oh, slower," she mumbled to herself. But the scents…
Alice was standing by the kitchen island, five shot glasses in front of her.
Edward and Jasper joined her. Bella noticed how Edward stiffened. His eyes closed and his nostrils flared.
"You didn't!" He opened his eyes to fully glare at Alice. "How?"
Alice smiled mysteriously.
"Fuck, Alice." Edward gulped thickly. "I thought it was over."
"What the hell did you do, Alice?" Bella snapped, going to Edward's side. "What's wrong?"
"Tell her what you did."
"I'll allow her to have a sniff, then I might tell her." Alice grinned, cheekily.
Still glaring at his sister, Edward led Bella to the shot glasses with a hand on the small of her back.
Now that she knew what to look for, Bella became aware that Edward had stopped breathing. He was usually much stronger around blood. Unless it was hers, but she was no longer human.
As soon as the thought formed in her mind, she ran over the past few minutes, then she closed her eyes, allowing the scents in front of her to invade her senses. She knew how her blood used to smell, having taken a whiff of it on the bedsheets.
Venom pooled in her mouth at the alluring scents.
She could distinguish them, which was fascinating. There was deer. She had one just the previous night. Another glass contained some large feline blood which smelled close to what the jaguar had smelled like. Then she focused on the most potent scent – it was in the glass to the right.
As she reached for it, she noticed her hand shaking.
Jasper was by her shoulder, hovering. Edward hissed at him to stay back.
Bella picked up the glass, bringing it closer to her nose, as if she needed that to smell it better. She could recognize it from a million – sweet, floral, and so mouthwatering. Edward was right to be upset with Alice. Bella didn't even want to know how in the world Alice had gotten her hands on her blood.
Alice jumped back, staring in horror at Bella. Edward grabbed Bella by the shoulders, keeping her to his chest.
"You'll regret it, love."
Bella hadn't realized she was coiled up, ready to spring over the counter and pummel her fist through Alice's head. Bella squirmed, trying to escape.
Jasper grabbed her arm, keeping her still. His calming vibes did little to how mad she was.
"How could you do this to Edward?" Bella yelled.
Alice's wide eyes moved from her to somewhere to Bella's left where Edward's head was, then a tentative smile spread on her lips.
Jasper dropped his hand. "I can't believe it."
"What?" Bella spat, turning her head to him.
"You. Your strength. You shouldn't be able to hold a conversation, let alone channel your focus on something else when you have human blood under your nose."
"Especially one that smells so good," Edward whispered in her ear, not loosening his grip.
"I'm okay," Bella mumbled.
"Promise not to decapitate Alice?"
"No."
Alice laughed, a tinkling sound in the tension-filled room.
"Get rid of these. All of them." Bella pointed to the counter, slamming the glass in her hand on top of it.
The effect wasn't what she expected. The glass shattered, the blood inside spilling all over the white marble.
She swallowed the venom filling her mouth. She had no idea how she ripped away from Edward's embrace, but she stopped running when she came upon a small waterfall deep into the forest. She fell to her knees, staring at her bloody right hand.
She brought it closer to her nose. Her tongue licked her lips. It wouldn't do any harm. It had been her own blood – the source wasn't there anymore.
But your mind will want more once you taste it. Even a drop. Human blood is addicting. Jasper's words from his training rang loudly in her head.
Growling at herself for even entertaining the thought of tasting human blood, Bella jumped into the waterfall. She watched the blood leaving her skin. She stood under the waterfall for what felt like an eternity.
When she got control over her body, she picked her way back toward the house.
Halfway there. Edward jumped out of a tree above, scaring her, which showed how deep in thought she had been.
"You scared the daylight out of me, Bella. Don't ever do that again!"
"What did I do?"
"You were gone for two days! Alice said you needed time."
"Two days?" Bella gasped. "But… I just… Wow. Really?"
"My silly Bella." Edward kissed her forehead.
Bella is strong, but she's still a newborn.