A/N: Hello again my friends! I was going to wait to post this until Sunday, but my weekend is getting full! Tomorrow is my birthday, so as a celebration of my favorite day of the whole year, I decided to post this year. I hope that you enjoy!

Chapter 7 – EPOV

Bella woke up when the coffee maker turned off – it made a very loud beeping noise when shutting off. I suggested that we take a walk. As we walked, I tried to remember everything that I had read, which meant that I was staying fairly quiet. I decided while we were out that I needed to ask if she wanted to talk to someone, a therapist or something, about all of this. I would raise the question when we got home.

Unfortunately, the question sort of got us started down a dark path – but one that I honestly felt Bella needed. I realized that she had been excusing his behavior the whole time she was with him, and the article I read stated that denial was a heavy part of abuse – on both sides. She needed to say the words to herself, and thankfully once she did, she agreed to see someone.

After we finished eating, we were surprised by my siblings. Fortunately, the night went better than expected. Bella and her amazing personality won Emmett over faster than I thought possible; Alice had already loved her, but when shopping was suggested, she was over the moon excited. We had a wonderful dinner with them, but I was happy to see them go at the end of the night.

I showed them out, and Bella said she was going to take a shower. Emmett stopped me after Alice left.

"Really, she's great, Edward. I do like her a lot."

"But?"

"But you should have done it differently, man. You know that."

"I know. Cheating was never something I thought I would do. I swear, Em."

"I know, little bro. I get it, though. She's beautiful, funny, and honestly? She just fits right in with us. Kate never did, man. Bella's great." He smiled at me.

"Can you forgive me, Em?" I knew how personal he was taking this.

"Nothing to forgive. You're my brother, and I want you happy. Clearly Bella makes you happy, so I'm cool. No worries, bro." Emmett clapped me on the shoulder, walking out the door.

I turned around and started cleaning up when I heard the shower going. I remembered the shower Bella and I had shared at the hotel, and not being able to touch her the way I wanted to because she was so sore.

"Fuck that, she's not sore tonight," I said to myself, practically running to the bathroom. I took off all my clothes in the bedroom, before slipping into the shower, winding my arms around her from behind. God, she was amazingly beautiful and sexy. Just the mere thought of her in the shower had made me hard. "I was cleaning but I realized I was an absolute moron if I didn't get in the shower with you. Cleaning over seeing you wet and naked? Yeah, my priorities weren't in line."

She started laughing, turning in my arms to face me. She wound her hands around my neck and stared into my eyes. "I'm glad you set them straight then."

I laughed, then brought my lips down to meet hers. There was a fire inside me that happened every time my lips touched hers, and I couldn't resist her in any way. I pressed myself up against her harder, pushing her slightly against the wall in the shower. I loved the way she moaned into my mouth, how her hands scraped the back of my neck, and how she felt in my arms. Lifting her up, I shoved her against the shower wall, pushing myself inside her in one stroke as she wound her legs around me.

Fuck; there was nothing that felt as amazing as Bella. Her slippery skin made the sensation of being inside her even better than when we were just in bed. She was so tight around me that I almost came right there, but I held off wanting her to know just how much I loved her. I moved inside her rapidly, unable to move any slower. Again and again, I pushed myself inside her as my lips moved to her neck.

I was getting close, and I knew I wouldn't be able to hold out for too much longer. Suddenly, I remembered what she had said about Jake and how he had never taken her pleasure seriously. I never wanted her to think that way of me, so I released her carefully and dropped to my knees, throwing her leg over my shoulder. She made a surprised noise the second my tongue touched her. I licked and sucked as hard as I could, wanting her to fall apart in my arms. If I was being honest with myself, I wanted her to fall apart every day, all the time.

Watching her come was almost spiritual for me. She ground into me, breathing heavy with her eyes closed. She came in my arms soon after, and I felt her legs give just a little. While she was still coming down, I stood back up and picked her up, sliding back inside her. She moaned in my mouth as I resumed my pace from earlier. But I totally lost it when she licked the side of my ear.

"I love you Edward. Fuck me harder."

Groaning, I picked up the pace only to feel a tightening in my balls indicating that I was just about done. My eyes closed and I came inside her with one of the most powerful orgasms I've ever had in my life.

"You are going to kill me. I'm sure of it." I was still trying to catch my breath. I pulled back to look at her, smirking.

"You started it."

I laughed. "You weren't complaining." I leaned down and kissed her again.

"I'm still not."

As we finished washing ourselves in the rapidly cooling water, I couldn't stop the feeling of rightness that surrounded me. Everything about being with Kate had been wrong. The longer I was with Bella, the more I saw that. Kate had never been right for me, and I had been the fool that stayed with her for too long. We made our way to bed and I just stared at her. Her wet hair was spread out on the pillow as her chocolate eyes met mine.

"I love you so much, Bella." I brought my hand to her face, enjoying her beauty. I had never meant those words more than I did right at this moment.

"I love you, too, Edward."

Even though we had just made love, I wanted her again. But as I watched her eyes slowly slide shut, I realized that I couldn't keep her up any longer. Today had been an emotional day for her, and she really needed rest. Instead, I wound my arms around her, pulling her close, and slipped into sleep as well.

The next day, I woke before she did. Wanting to do the kind of surprise she said was ok, I went out into the kitchen and got the coffee going. I should have really done this last night, but the pull of Bella in a shower was too great. I straightened up a little in the kitchen, and when she hadn't appeared, I went back into the bedroom. She was lying on her back, one arm thrown over the pillow, the other at her side. As always when I stared, I became hard.

I slid my boxers and t-shirt off and kissed her leg softly. My hands traveled around her legs just marveling at how soft and strong they were. Sliding up her body, I kissed all the way up her leg as my hand settled on her breast, kneading it slightly. Just as her nipple started to pebble, I reached the center of her legs. While I kept one hand on her breast, the other came up to open her up. My tongue swiped all the way up, tasting and teasing her. I did this over and over just wanting the taste of Bella on my tongue.

"Oh, god, Edward..." she moaned, arching into me. I looked up and her eyes were on mine, and she was smiling at me.

I attacked her then, driving my tongue into her harder. I angled my fingers, putting two of them inside her as my tongue found her clit. I flattened it, licking her over and over while my fingers continued to move inside her. I was rewarded with the most amazing moans coming out of her mouth. When she started to clench around my fingers, I sucked her clit into my mouth and she came immediately.

Once she had stopped thrashing, I crawled up her, lying down on her side. I kissed her slowly. "Your coffee is ready, love. Do you want to come out to the kitchen? Or I can bring it to you here?"

She smirked at me, rolling on her side slightly, her hand falling down and starting to rub my impossibly hard cock. I grabbed her hand and moved it away, kissing her softly.

"What about you, Edward? Don't you want me to help you out, too?"

I kissed her again. "It's not always about me, love. I wanted to do something for you. Come on, we have a day filled with shopping ahead of us. Let's have our coffee and get going."

She followed me out into the kitchen, still looking sort of shocked, and I got her coffee ready, making sure to put enough creamer in. We sat down at the breakfast bar to drink the coffee; she stared at me for a few minutes before finally speaking.

"I don't understand. Isn't that painful?"

"It's already going down, Bella. I'm fine."

"Don't you want me to help you, though?"

I shifted in my seat, bringing my hand up to her cheek. "I always want you. Every second of every damn day I want you. But I want you to know something else that is so much more important."

She bit her lip, almost as if she was nervous about what I was going to say. "What's that?"

"That you mean more to me than sex. Your pleasure is mine, meaning that whenever I make you come, I feel complete. I don't need my own orgasm to feel good when I'm with you."

I leaned over and kissed her, and she kissed me back for a moment, but pulled back staring at me. "I don't want you to do something that is uncomfortable for you, as a result of what I told you about Jake. I love having sex with you, Edward. I don't want you to purposefully ignore yourself for me."

"That's just it, though, Bella. I want you to know that you are important to me. More important than anyone else is in my life. I never, ever, want you to feel like anything less than the best thing in my life." I kissed her again, winding my arms around her and pulling her close. "I love you with everything that I have, and I want you to know that – to feel that – every single day."

She sniffed, and I leaned back, watching tears fall down her cheeks. I wiped them away as she laughed a little. "You already make me feel that way, Edward. You have never made me feel the way he did."

"Good. And I want you to think that for the rest of our lives." I kissed her again and again. The feel of her lips on mine made me impossibly hard again. She brought her hand down to me again, and this time I didn't pull her away. My impulse control was totally gone with this woman, so I couldn't even make it to the bedroom. I pulled her off the chair and laid her down on the hardwood floor.

Lying on top of her, I continued kissing her as I pulled off my boxers that she was wearing. She reached down and pulled mine down, kicking them off with her feet. I continued to kiss her as I pushed into her softly, slowly, simply enjoying the feel of her. She moaned into my mouth, and I slanted my face, deepening the kiss and slightly increasing my speed. But not too fast; I wanted to enjoy her.

"I love you so much. So much that you consume me, Bella. I want to be with you forever," I whispered into her mouth as I continued to push into her slowly.

"Edward," she moaned, gripping my shoulders tightly, digging her fingernails into my skin. "Please..."

"Please what, love? I'll give you anything." I pushed my tongue into her mouth again, sliding in and out slowly.

"Harder, Edward, please. I need you harder."

As if I could deny her anything. I finally picked up the pace, slamming into her harder and harder until I felt her start to clench around me. And for the second time today, I watched as I made her totally come apart in my arms. But I wasn't nearly done with her yet. I kept moving, pushing myself to go even faster, ignoring the ache in my knees. Her head rolled back as her chest arched into me, and I latched on to her neck, kissing and sucking down to her shoulders. As I bit down on her shoulder, she came again, harder this time, screaming out as she had many times before.

It was the screaming that caused me to finish finally. There were no words, just heavy breathing and moans as I shoved into her one final time, exploding within her. I rested my body on hers, desperate to not lose the connection I had with her. Soon, though, I needed to move. I didn't want her to continue to be uncomfortable on the floor.

Standing up slowly, I reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling her up with me. She smirked at me. "Was that so hard?"

I pulled her against me, smirking back at her. "You tell me, love. Was that hard enough for you?"

She threw her head back, laughing, bringing her arms around me. "It was hard, Edward. Very hard. And I loved it." She brought her hand up to my face. "I love you."

Leaning slightly, I kissed her hand. "I love you, too. So much."

After that we got dressed and decided to grab breakfast out. We had furniture shopping to do, and didn't want to waste more time at home. Not that being with Bella would ever feel like wasting time, but I knew that she wanted to get out and back before it got too late.

Normally I hated shopping, which is why I let Alice do it for me. But with Bella it was really fun. We agreed on furniture faster than I ever had with Kate, and I found that we didn't need that much time after all. After breakfast, we went to the furniture store and within 30 minutes we had picked out everything we needed. I paid, with her glaring at me, and arranged for our table and chairs, couch and a pullout couch for the guest bedroom to be delivered the next week.

We made our way back home, making love again after lunch. I was in heaven living with her, and I really felt like it couldn't get any damn better.

My attorney texted me on Thursday to tell me that they still hadn't found Kate to serve her the papers. When I told Bella, she just shrugged. Kate couldn't hide forever, and there wasn't much to worry about. I had started the process and it would happen eventually. She just kissed me and told me not to worry, that she would be served soon enough.

Jake still hadn't responded to her paperwork, and I knew that she was worried about what would happen when he did. Cheating was never a good thing, especially when you were getting a divorce. Jake could contest everything she requested in the divorce and make life very hard for both of us. Hell, Kate could as well. I just held her that night knowing that no matter what they did it wouldn't break us up. We were solid in our love, and however hard the divorces were it would be worth it in the long run.

By Friday morning, though, I got nervous when my Mom called. I knew she wanted to meet Bella, she hadn't exactly made that a secret. But I didn't want to push Bella too much. She had already met my siblings, so really it was just about meeting my parents.

"How is Dad about this, Mom? Is he going to be nice to her?"

"Edward, your father would never be mean to anyone. You know that as well as I do. He's worried, dear, and I'm sure you understand why."

I sighed, shuffling the phone slightly. I had taken the call in our bedroom while Bella was reading in front of the fireplace. "Let me ask her, ok? I don't want to push her into meeting you guys if she isn't ready."

Bella was amazingly calm about it, agreeing to visit them. I knew she was worried, so I made sure to reassure her all day long. I told her I loved her, I kissed her, I held her...I did everything I could to make sure she knew it didn't matter to me at all what they thought of her. I loved her so much that they were bound to see that anyway, so I really wasn't worried. Well, except for Dad's reaction. I knew how upset he had been about the cheating.

My fears were confounded when we finally got there. Dad's expression worried me the second that he walked into the sitting room. And sure enough, he started in on her the second he could. My Bella was amazing, though. She took everything he threw at her in stride, explaining patiently and calmly what happened and why we together now.

While we were eating, I kept focusing on what Dad had said about waiting to move in together until after we were both free. The thought of not living with her actually scared me; I couldn't live in a place where she wasn't, I didn't want her to move out ever. I couldn't even think about being separated from her in any way. There was nothing that could keep me from her.

When we were on our way, Mom hugged me. "She's lovely, Edward. I can see why you love her so much."

"She loves me, too, Mom. Just trust that we are really happy."

"I know, dear. I can see it. And I am so happy for you both."

When I hugged Dad, he didn't say anything at first. "Please, Dad. Try to accept her. She's not going anywhere. I plan to spend the rest of my life with her."

He sighed, leaning back slightly. "You said that about Kate, too. I just want you to be careful."

"I will, but Dad...I never felt this way for Kate. Please, just trust me. You'll see."

We left after that, and I was relieved. I loved my parents, but most of the night had been really uncomfortable for both Bella and I. I glanced at her as I was driving home, and she had a weird look on her face. She was planning something, and when I called her out, she just laughed. I knew she worried over my father's reaction, but I also knew that he would come around eventually.

As I held her that night, I looked at her in a new light. She had been gracious with my family, trying very hard to make them all like her. She was even spending the whole next day with my sister. I knew I loved her, but at that moment it completely consumed me.

A/N: So, what did you guys think? Some places I really wanted Edward's thoughts, while others were sort of obvious how it would play out. I tried to pick some to focus on and some to skim over. I hope that you are enjoying it!

Just a reminder, my vamp fic is starting to wind down. Please check out Twist of Fate – 22 chapters in already. How time flies!

Thanks again to my beautiful beta, zombified419 for everything. Just freaking everything!