Chapter 36 – Baking Fetish
Bella
Edward and I continued to share our early mornings, evenings, and weekends together, but for our nights, we parted ways. It was getting harder and harder to watch him cross back through the closet into his apartment every night, but he was determined to be respectful. As much as I wanted him not to be so compliant at times, I was glad he wanted to wait, too. When we finally did cross that line, I knew I would be glad we had been patient.
I had given Edward full access to the house, so he could use the laundry room and play his piano whenever he liked, which he regularly did for me, as I fell asleep to the soothing strains of his music. He surprised me one Saturday afternoon with the delivery of a beautiful antique wardrobe, into which he moved all his things from the coat closet. He then took down the shelf and hanging bar in there, so he wouldn't have to duck to pass through.
Oliver became a regular fixture in the house, and he and Felicity spent most of their time upstairs curled up together in my bed, that was when they weren't camped out in front of the food bowl. They had become inseparable and wailed and pawed pitifully under the closet door at each other until someone would open it to reunite them. Thus, the door into the kitchen remained pushed open these days, flat against the wall, the door on Edward's side doing the same.
Even though my own life was now mostly carefree, the unfortunate fact was that, with the stress of the holidays, the casualties of that stress required much more of our attention. We had more new cases to manage than usual, and several of those involved children being hospitalized and under Edward's care. Still, we managed to make time for each other. He tried to get home before seven o'clock when possible, and I would have dinner waiting. We both did the cleaning and laundry, and we shopped together for the both of us. He insisted on paying for the groceries, since I did all the cooking. In almost every way, we functioned as a married couple, all but one. I dreamed of Edward regularly, and some mornings, it was hard to look him in the eyes after what I had done with him in my dreams for fear of tackling him on the kitchen table to make my dreams a reality. I often suspected it was the same for him.
Thanksgiving was tomorrow, and I had the day off today and was up and working in the kitchen early this morning. The day before Thanksgiving had always been a busy one in this house ever since I could remember, and this year would be no different. All our friends and family were invited to join us for dinner tomorrow, and there was much to be done. Since the weather was bad where Alice and Rose's families lived, they would be spending Thanksgiving here, not that they minded much, given with whom they would be spending it. Emmett and Jasper offered to go turkey hunting for a bird, but I assured them I would much rather defrost than pluck and gut.
The house was soon filled with the smells of cinnamon, pumpkin, cranberries, and orange, as I baked pies, breads, and cakes. The sun had not even come up yet, and I already had two huge cranberry breads made and was cooling two pies and an orange cake when Edward wandered into the kitchen in his cotton pajama pants, and no shirt. Even though he did this regularly, he still managed to take my breath away every time.
"You're up early," he mumbled, as he poured himself a cup of coffee. "Did you even go to bed last night?"
I quickly snapped myself out of my stupor from ogling his perfect chest. "I did, for a couple of hours, anyway," I yawned.
I turned off the oven and had moved back to my mixing bowl to begin making frosting for the cake when I felt a pair of warm arms slip around my waist and hot breath on the side of my neck. The kitchen was warm, and I had taken my robe off, leaving me in just my nightshirt under my apron. Edward's touch raised goosebumps all over me as usual, and as he turned me around for a kiss, the effect of his touch was obvious. He looked down appreciatively, and then snickering, he pulled me to him.
"Do you think we have some sort of baking fetish?" I asked him, giggling against his chest.
"I don't know. This always seems to happen when I'm around you in the kitchen, doesn't it?" he chuckled. "Maybe it has something to do with the way you look in that apron."
"So, you're telling me you only love me for my cooking, is that it?" I teased, shoving him away playfully and turning back to my mixing bowl. Suddenly, my feet left the floor, and I found myself sitting on the countertop, Edward pressing in between my knees. He took my face into one hand gently, while pulling me into him with the other.
"The key word in that sentence, my dearest one, is 'love.' Not only do I love you for your cooking, but I love you for your warmth, your friendship, your loyalty, your purity, and your beauty, inside and out. But mostly, I just love you. Bella, I'm in love with you."
He had finally said the words I had longed to tell him myself.
"I'm in love with you, too, Edward," was all I said before our lips crashed together. He picked me up from the counter and carried me through the closet and into his bedroom, where he lay down with me, kissing me until we were both breathless.
"You make me see forever, Bella," Edward whispered, cradling my head against his chest.
"Forever sounds good," I smiled, nuzzling further under his chin.
It was only a few minutes until six, not even daylight yet, and I was suddenly very drowsy. Edward held me closer, wrapping his arms snugly around me, and we both drifted off. As sleep claimed me, I could feel Edward sigh contentedly, and I thought, yeah, I could definitely do this forever with this man.
