Part Fifteen

I sit on the couch next to Edward, reading a new teen romance book while Edward is engrossed in a television show. He is staunchly ignoring my inner monologue, something he has become quite good at lately.

Edward has convinced Aro to subscribe to video-streaming services under the ruse of modernization – "Imagine the possibilities!" – and now he sits, attention rapt, studying the humans on the screen of a new television with excellent pixel density. I have to say that the television is certainly an improvement over the cabled monstrosity that sat here before, but the series Edward now has access to has left me skeptical.

"Are you really watching a show about…cake?" I ask, leaning over to get a better view. "You do know that we don't eat human food, right?"

He barely spares me a glance, watching some sort of horribly translucent human contraption jiggle a top a pile of far too colorful sugar.

"It's frosting, Alec," Edward comments with an outward focus that is uniquely vampire as he continues to stare at the screen.

"The jiggly stuff?" I ask, eyeing it distastefully.

"That's Jello. Well, they call it gelatin, but it's Jello."

I frown. "Jello." The word is foreign, the substance provokes a creeping sense of disgust that is surprisingly strong. "And they eat that?"

Edward huffs, pausing the show. "It's mostly decorative. Now shush, they're going to announce whose won Star Baker."

I don't see the point of elaborately decorated foods and Edward must deign it unworthy of explanation, because he returns to the humans and their strange foods and leaves me to my confused musing.

However, by the time Jane has come to collect me for a report to Aro, I'm glued next to Edward, unable to tear my eyes from the screen and the beautifully soothing colors.

"I'm glad to see Aro's investment is being put to good use," she drawls sarcastically as she leans against the doorframe.

"The humans are entertaining," I defend, pointing to a particularly detailed tower of what the judges called choux pastry. "Do you see how they stack these? It is shaped like a little nun."

She raises an eyebrow. "They're not very good at it."

I stand, placing a kiss to Edward's hair, and leave him to watch alone.

Jane teases me relentlessly on the way to the throne room. "Are you so bored that you must watch humans make their disgusting substance?"

"It is actually kind entertaining," I inform her stiffly, but I knock her shoulder with mine jovially.

"If you say so," she says incredulously.

Jane always takes very little joy in the current human world; she reads Aristotle, Shakespeare, Plato. Occasionally, she indulges in the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald and, more recently, Natalia Ginzburg. But anything from the living, or their electrical inventions? Never.

Humanity was a character flaw in Jane's eyes, everything associated with them subject to derision; death was a vast improvement in her opinion, hence the abstinence from the modern, human comforts.

Jane sidetracks my thoughts. "I would think you two would have other things to do, anyway," she says.

"Like what?"

She smirks devilishly. "Well, now that you're no longer pretending you don't have feelings for your precious little newborn, I figured you wouldn't be able to keep your hands off each other."

I make a show of acted insulted. "Our relationship is cerebral and far above mere earthly pleasures."

"Yeah," she drawls, poking my shoulder. "That's why the whole castle can hear you at night."

"That was just Dimitri," I snap. "One vampire is a far cry from –"

"Yeah, yeah," Jane interrupts, pushing me in front of her into a narrow staircase.

"Rude," I toss over my shoulder, taking the steps quickly. We empty out onto a landing near the visitor's entrance. The human receptionist that Aro replaced the last one with is chatting with Felix, who leans casually on her desk.

Jane casts him a reproachful look. "Don't play with your food, Felix," she whispers as we pass, too low for the human speaking animatedly to hear. He winks back at Jane, grinning rakishly.

"Aro's not going to be happy if he has to replace another one," I warn, plucking at his shirt sleeve. "The locals will start noticing if they go misisng, too."

Felix gives a strange little bow to the receptionist and strolls after us with an unabashed air. "It's not my fault that your newborn bit the last one," he says. "Why should that stop me from having a little fun?"

~o~

When I return to my room, Edward has run through his show and moved on to fashioning paper into little shapes. Or, at least trying to do so, since he still hasn't learned how to reliably fold paper without destroying it.

"How was your meeting?" he says absentmindedly as he tries to delicately position little wings.

I sigh and fall onto the couch, throwing my legs up and crossing them at the ankles. "Oh, dreadfully dull and uninformative. The kind of thing that the humans say should have been an email."

"If only the vampires knew what an email was." Edward cocks his head, shredding the little paper bird as he does so. "Shoot."

"You'll get the hang of it," I reassure him as he examines the crumpled paper in his palm with some dejection.

He deposits it in the waste basket and comes to join me on the couch. I can't help the twitch of my lips as he is forced to lift my legs from his cushion, enjoying how his fingers lightly stroke my ankle when he carefully lowers them into his lap. Edward makes quick work of my dress shoes, dropping them to the floor.

I moan when he returns his fingers and kneads the balls of my feet. "Have I told you lately that I love you?"

Edward's answering chuckle sends a pleasurable shiver through me. "I thought vampires' feet couldn't get sore."

I sink back into the couch, closing my eyes. "Well, no, but you do have magical fingers."

His hand creeps up my calf, then to the back of my knee. "I can think of other uses for them."

I inhale sharply, my eyes flying open. His burgundy eyes smolder with desire and his mouth is quirked into a wicked grin.

I'm in his lap in an instant, my hands in his silky bronze hair. "Tell me more," I whisper against his jaw.

His hands run up my back and pull me closer to him. My knees rest on either side of his hips, a spark of excitement curling in my stomach. Edward's lips are soft and I shiver when his fingers slip under my dress shirt.

His stubble tickles my chin as he speaks, his breath cool and sweet on my lips. "You are so tense," he says, rubbing circles into my lower back. "Why don't I help you relax?"

Edward's mouth trails down my neck, planting slow, wet kisses. When he reaches my collar, he undoes the buttons there with painful slowness, before pulling me against him, his hands flush against my back. His tongue traces the line of my collarbone and he murmurs against my skin, "Would you like that?"

"Oh god," I gasp, coherent thought leaving me entirely. I move against him, breathing heavily as he kisses up my jaw.

He grips my hips tightly, his own chest rising and falling in quick bursts. "Would you like me to touch you?"

"Yes," I manage, bringing his face back up to mine in a searing kiss. I bite his lower lip, feeling a twinge of pleasure at his hiss, and use the opportunity to invade his mouth with my tongue. He responds eagerly, his mouth moving with my sensuously.

Edward hitches my knees around him and stands in a quick movement. As he walks us across the room, I hold onto him, kissing his face, nibbling the spot on his neck that drives him crazy. We practically fall into the bed, his erection pressing deliciously against mine.

I moan into his neck when he unzips my slacks and palms me roughly.

"Is this what you want?" His stare is intense, and I can't think straight when he looks at me like that. "Do you want me to touch you like this? You want me to stroke your cock?"

I arch into his hand, tearing at his shirt. "You know I do," I pant, my lips on his angular jaw, running down his chest.

"I want to hear you say it," Edward says, his voice deep and thick with need. "Tell me."

The words fall from my lips with ease. "I want you to stroke my cock, Edward," I breathe against his skin, wrapping my legs around his waist and biting his nipple. My hands rove his back, up into his bronze hair as he touches me. "I want you to suck it – I want to see your pretty face as I fuck your mouth."

Edward's hands are frenzied as he undresses me, sliding down the bed and licking my length, his red lips framing my cock as it slips into his hot mouth. I prop myself up on an elbow, watching him greedily lick and suck, my hand fisted in his hair, guiding him. He is still in his low slung jeans, which sinfully cling to his legs. I want nothing more than to rip those ridiculous pants off and gaze upon him.

No sooner than I have the thought, he obliges me, pulling back just long enough to slip the offending fabric off, and then I see him, naked and wanting for just a moment before he descends upon me once again.

Seeing him like this, fucking him like this, drives me wild. His fingers dig into my thighs, forcing my legs apart, and he slips a finger inside me. It sends a wave of pleasure through me and I tighten my grip on his hair as he takes me deep into his mouth.

I am squirming beneath him, gasping and falling back onto the bed as I come into his mouth.

Edward hovers over me, looking immensely pleased with himself. "I told you my fingers had other uses."

"Oh, I believed you," I say, pulling him to me. I can taste myself on his tongue. "But I always appreciate a demonstration."

I roll us on the bed, straddling his legs and pushing a knee between his. As I take him into my mouth, I revel in the idea that his moans, his gasps, are because of me. I cup his balls, a thrill of delight coursing through me as he bucks into my mouth.

The disappointed sound he makes as I pull back causes me to chuckle. "So impatient," I sigh against his hip, sinking lower on the bed and pulling his legs up over my shoulders. I stroke him with my hand as my mouth dips lower and his hands find my hair, tugging sharply.

I press the flat of my tongue against his entrance, then probe experimentally. He must like it, because my name tumbles from his lips in a cascade like music. His nails scrap my scalp as I redouble my efforts, and it isn't much longer until he is coming in spurts on my hand, holding back a groan of pleasure.

I crawl over him, using his discarded shirt to clean up the evidence of his release. Edward sighs blissfully. "Holy fuck, Alec," he groans throatily, his eyes closed. The sound of my name makes my stomach flip and I press my hips into him, enjoying his undignified squeak as he feels my renewed arousal.

I kiss him again, long and slow this time, rolling my hips into his. He is hard again in a matter of minutes, leaning his head up to kiss my neck. His teeth graze my skin lightly, making me jump.

I capture his mouth with mine again. "I want to try something," I whisper against his lips. I push him back onto the bed, trailing kisses along his neck.

"What-what do you wanna try?" he moans as I palm him, wrapping my fingers around him.

I settle my body between his legs, pulling them up around my waist as I lean forward to thrust against him. I catch his blood red eyes, analyzing his reaction. "I want to fuck you, Edward."

Something about my words has him panting immediately, pulling me down against him in a rough kiss. "I'd like that," he tells me between kisses, voiced pitched low. His hands cradle my face as he rubs against me. "I want to feel you inside me. I want to feel you come."

I use my fingers to stretch him like his has done for me before, watching as his back arches every time I graze his prostate. My excitement builds in me until I can't take seeing him writhe beneath my touch any longer and he's begging me to enter him, please, please.

As I push into him, careful to be gentle, he tenses up, gripping my biceps and exhaling. I wait, watching him as he closes his eyes, and hold myself still as he adjusts. Once he relaxes again, I lean into him a little more, groaning at the feel of him around me. I move slowly at first, hesitantly, his thighs at my waist, his heels digging into my back. Soon, I'm thrusting into him with abandon, his name falling from my lips like a prayer because he feels so good around me, warm and slick and just, perfectly right. Edward pushes back against me, moving with me in a way that leaves me breathless with need.

I come before he does, shuddering, but begin to pump his throbbing length with my hand. He follows soon after with an incoherent stream of jumbled sounds that stokes my ego, his body taut and his back arching off the bed.

I did this to him, is all I can think as he falls back, a crooked grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. I made him feel this way.

We kiss languidly for a time, relishing in each other's touch. I whisper along his skin, feeling his every shiver, and give voice to all of my thoughts about him. I know how important it is to him to hear me say what I feel aloud, how much he likes to hear the sound of my voice as I tell him how much I love him, how I want him.

Being with him is as easy as breathing. My body sings with delight every time he leans into my touch and with each sigh of my name.

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