Chapter 74 Chapter Notes

I had some difficulty posting the last chapter, 73. I had mistakenly turned on tracking in word for part of the doc, and even though I had turned it off, the changes were still visible in the post. So I deleted the chapter, retyped it, but didn't get a notification. A reader told me it was posted, but I apologize for any confusion! TECHNOLOLGY! Sometimes it defeats me!

Oh, my goodness. Finally, it begins. Finally.

***THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS GRAPHIC SEX AND LANGUAGE***

The chapter title belongs to The DiVinyls

Chapter 74 I Touch Myself December 11th

Every other time that Bella has showered, I've kept my head out of her bathroom. I can't hear her thoughts, but I could hear what she was doing in there, and I never felt that it was proper. I mean, I was sitting on the girl's bed, under her covers. That was enough.

Today, I don't keep my mind out. I listen to her ministrations. And I imagine the soap, gliding over her wet body, shampoo massaged into her silky chestnut mane, the razor swiping up a luscious expanse of leg. The swell of her breasts, dripping with foamy suds.

The water shuts off, and I am the towel, rubbing the water from her skin, squeezing the droplets from her hair, drying each little toe.

Cabinet doors are opened and then shut; the tap is turned on and then off; lotions and powders applied and then put away. When the bathroom door opens, I look up to see her standing near the bed, wearing the silky bathrobe that Alice bought for her.

I crook my finger at her. She walks slowly toward me, a look of anticipation shining on her face. I stand and open my arms to her. She sighs and walks into my embrace, pressing her body close to mine.

The heat of her melts into me. She moves suggestively and I kiss her face, her mouth, and down the long expanse of neck. The tie of the robe is loosened by our movements, and as I step back, it falls open and slithers off of Bella's slender shoulders to the floor.

She blinks a few times and swallows, but does nothing to hide herself from me. Warmth radiates off of the body I've sat next to, lain next to, made love to in a thousand different fantasies. And it's pink, head to toe.

I let my eyes roam her rosy flesh. And, oh, my god. She is so lovely. With trembling fingers, she reaches out to unbutton my shirt and there's a moment of hilarity as she just can't get the last button undone. After fiddling around with it for a few seconds, she looks up to me with brows drawn and teeth gritted.

I laugh soundlessly at her expression and it softens. She takes a deep breath and points to the uncooperative button and I smile, flicking it once to loosen it from its snug nest. When my shirt falls open, all levity vanishes. She strokes my bare chest with a blazing finger. Venom floods my mouth and I take a few quick steps back from her, motioning her away.

She retreats back a couple of feet, as I turn to face the open window. When I feel in control, I turn around and she's still there, waiting. Cautiously, as my thirst is not completely under control, I walk all around her, so I can see her entire body. She's slender to the point of thinness, but I'm surprised by the roundness of her breasts, which looked smaller under all the clothes she wears.

In their nakedness, they are the same color as the rest of her pale skin, an alabaster as smooth as the marble of Venus. Long, straight legs rise to an enticing curve of hip. After I've circled twice, I come to stand before her. "You are so beautiful," I murmur, as I stroke her arm with one finger, from her shoulder to her wrist.

Bella stands perfectly still, staring at me. Her lip trembles and she says, "You take your clothes off as well." Without breaking eye contact, I kick off my shoes and unbutton my trousers. In one motion, I pull them down with my boxers, revealing the captain of the ship, bowing to the edict full steam ahead.

Bella's eyes grow wide as she stares at my cock, its length and girth obviously a surprise.

"Oh, dear." Her eyes meet mine, unsure.

"Alice says not to imagine the vagina as a rigid tube. It stretches. Remember, women have babies." I frown and give a little huff of laughter, realizing that I quoted that almost verbatim.

"Rigid tube?" She tries not to giggle.

"Not a rigid tube." I smile at the both of us, virgins. Navigating unknown waters.

I shrug my shoulders and the shirt falls to the floor. I step out of my trousers, and then I'm completely naked, wearing only my socks. And it feels a little surreal, standing before my naked bride, with my cock pointing straight at the ceiling, wearing a pair of Daffy Duck socks.

Bella purses her lips in an effort not to smile, or perhaps, laugh. I hold up a finger and pull the socks off. She approaches me and I motion her back. "Please, Bella." In an attempt to sublimate my thirst, I swallow the venom that is just swimming in my mouth. Like that has ever done any good.

She takes a few more steps back, but I don't know why I thought that would be at all helpful. I could smell her if she were sitting in her Volvo at the stop sign, a block away. "Okay," she says, "but turn around." She makes a twirling motion with her finger.

"Why?" I ask, as I begin to pivot slowly.

"Because I want to look at you." She reaches out a hand, as if she wishes she could touch me, then withdraws it. Her mouth is slightly open as she seriously contemplates the sight before her, all due to my status as an Immortal, having nothing to do with the person that I used to be, so many decades ago.

Well, to be honest, not much to do with that person. He did have a big cock. I don't remember much of my human life, but I remember that.

"Alice came to my room on the first day of school to tell me she'd seen the lead-up to sex between us, and gave me tips to keep you safe." Bella's eyes grow wide. "She said we'd need to explore each other separately before we did it together."

Why didn't I just say what Alice said? Are the words 'mutual masturbation' that bad? Bella is mouthing explore each other separately as if trying to figure out what the words mean. Realization dawns, and her body flushes pink. Again.

I take a deep breath of clean air from the window. "Go sit on the bed, Bella." She backs up, not breaking eye contact, and then turns to quickly clear the bed of its pillows. After she throws back the comforter, she gets onto the bed and scoots up, sitting with her back against the headboard with her legs crossed.

"Put the soles of your feet on the bed and bend your knees."

She screws up her face. "Why?"

"Because I want to look at your pussy," I say. Pink blush, again, starting at her forehead and going all the way down. But she does it. "Open them, Bella, so I can see." All levity is forgotten and she spreads her legs. I need more. God, I need more.

"Okay," I say, "lean back and spread your folds. Show it to me."

Bella takes a deep breath, leans back, and with two fingers spreads her labia and shows me her pussy. Holy god. "Find your clit." The fingers spread the folds a little higher up and there it is. My tongue roams restlessly in my mouth, eager to taste Bella, but that will definitely have to wait. Sadly.

"Imagine that I've just kissed you goodnight, after sitting with you in your bed, under your covers. You're alone in the house. Completely alone. Show me what you would do."

Bella's gaze darkens. She stares intently at me, as I switch my gaze from the stunned and determined look on her face to what she's doing between her legs.

One finger spreads her folds and begins to rub, up and back, up and back, over her clit, to her pussy, back and forth. The tip of her finger disappears inside, dragging moisture out, then resumes the rubbing. The other hand toys with a nipple.

"What do you do, after you leave me for the night?" she says with a gasp. "Where do you go?"

"I run to my tree, deep in the forest."

"Then what?"

"I unbutton my jeans and pull them down with my boxers. I lean back, take my cock in hand and pretend that I'm with you, Bella. And that it's your hand, and not mine." I run my hand up and down my length. Bella continues rubbing herself, and her eyes dart from my face to what my hand is doing. I continue to do the same, mesmerized by her ministrations to her clit and the stunned look on her face.

I know she's going to come when her legs splay out straight and she arches her back. She throws her head back and makes a noise in her throat that almost sounds like crying. The room is filled with her perfume, distracting me, but I continue jerking my cock, and in a moment, we're rewarded with an orgasm that makes all others before it pale by comparison.

Bella shakes her head. "Wow," she says seriously.

That is Bella's favorite word. She smiles a little shyly as I clean up with my boxers. I hold out the discarded bathrobe and she slips it on. "Can we count that as our first sexual experience?" she asks.

Is there a diary somewhere that she's writing in? Will I find a notch in the doorframe tomorrow? I grin as I think about what we just did. I jerked off while she watched, and she rubbed herself to orgasm, so I'd say that's a big yes. "Um, yeah," I say with a chuckle. "We'll need to do this until I feel that I'm strong enough to be close to you, but I don't think it will be too long. Can you wait?"

"Of course," she says with a smile.

"Okay. Get dressed. We have an errand."

Bella giggles and throws on some clothes as I fetch my own jeans and a button-up out of the closet. "Where are we going?" she asks in surprise, as I shepherd her outside and unlock her car door. Once she's in, I hop in the driver's seat.

"You'll see." I drive us to the tree lot down the street and park in the first spot. I look over and I'm shocked to see Bella's pallid face, her mouth drawn into a perfect 'O'.

"What's wrong?" Have I upset her? Before I can say another word, she bursts into tears.

I walk around to her side and she stumbles out of the car and into my arms. And sobs like a baby. "Honey, what is it?" I can't imagine why buying a Christmas tree would cause her to break down into tears.

She holds my face in her hands and says, "Thank you. Thank you for buying me a real live Christmas tree. Renee always set up a cheap plastic one and I hated it. This is…" She buries her face in my shirt and cries and cries.

The fellow who owns the lot walks over and says, "Everything okay, buddy?"

When I look into the guy's earnest face, I decide on truth. "Um, my wife hasn't had a real tree in a long time and she's a little overcome."

He nods sagely, as if he sees this reaction all the time. In reality, he thinks we're a couple of lunatics. "Well," he says reluctantly, "come on over and look at these we just got in. Noble fir. Keep their needles for a long time. And boy, do they smell good." I stand with my hands in my pockets while the fellow edges away from us and goes to help another customer.

Bella wanders around the lot and touches every tree, finally deciding on a six-foot beauty. Seeing that we're just odd, the fellow loosens up. He chuckles at Bella's child-like fervor and throws in a stand for free. The guy looks at the little Volvo and says, "You live close by, mister?"

I point in the general direction of the house. "A couple miles." I give the address.

"Hey, Matt," he hollers, "do me a favor. Throw this baby in the back of the truck and drive it over to these folks' house, okay?"

Matt is young, maybe still in his teens. He'd wanted to give his girlfriend a nice gift for Christmas, but hadn't been able to afford what he'd picked out: a pocketbook she'd had her eye on.

Matt follows us home and I give him a Ben Franklin as a tip as I haul the tree out of the bed of his truck. As he drives away, mind aswirl with his luck, he makes plans to purchase said item as soon as he gets off. He'll even have some money left over, and thinks about what it will buy for their Christmas dinner together, if he can hold onto it for that long.

I smile, feeling the Christmas spirit rise up within me, and carry the tree inside while Bella fetches a pan full of water. Minutes later, we stand in our own house, admiring our own tree.

"Where do you want it?" I ask. "I think it would look pretty in front of the bay window." Bella agrees and I carry it to that location. "Oh, and the family has lots of lights. Which kind do you prefer?"

Her eyes glisten with tears again. "Honey, shhh, don't cry." I chuckle as I hold her.

After a minute, she pulls back and dashes the tears away with the back of her hand. "I always wanted some twinkly multi-colored ones." I nod, deciding to go to the house to fetch a set, mentally shaking my head at Bella's treatment at the hands of her mother.

"I bet there are some places on the reservation that are selling hand-made ornaments," she says. "Some of them might still be open." We giggle like little children and run to the Volvo. I drive into La Push, racing the setting sun, and we find one place still open.

The owner greets us warmly. He knows I'm the one that funded his shop. We go wild, finding ornaments that have been carved from driftwood, molded from wire and folded from paper. Bella finds some tree-toppers and asks my opinion. "I like the star," I say, and we add that to the pile on the counter.

We tote our treasures home and Bella drinks hot chocolate while I run to the family's house for a string of lights. On the way back, I stop in at the drugstore and make a beeline for the aisle with the toys. I find what I'm looking for. At the register, I purchase a gift bag and toss the items in. I'm back by the time Bella has gotten all the ornaments unwrapped. "Here." I hand her a bag with a long string of colored lights, ornament hooks, and a Christmas tree skirt.

My heart overflows with love as I watch Bella carefully placing the ornaments on the tree. She gives me the star to place while she plugs it in, and then we're bathed in its twinkly lights. She snaps some pics with her phone while I fetch the Nikon and do the same.

Wordless, I hand her the giftbag. She takes it with a questioning look. "Open it," I say. "But baby, don't cry," I urge.

Bella shivers with excitement as she opens the bag and her mouth falls open when she takes out two coloring books and a big box of Crayola crayons. She doesn't sob, thank god, but tears shine in her eyes. "Now you can color whenever, wherever you want," I say, "and I don't care how much of a mess you make."

She swallows thickly. "Thank you." She thumbs through one of the coloring books, simply called Princesses. In honor of my very own live princess. The other is Teletubbies, whatever they are. We sit together on the rug, bathed in the twinkling lights of the tree.

"Now, in all seriousness," I say, "what do you want for Christmas?"

She looks into my eyes with an expression of tenderness and strokes my lips. "I have the only thing I ever really wanted in my whole life. How about you?"

I feel the same way. I am a cup, overflowing. I am a flower, its face to the sun. I am simply a man in love. In desperate, undying love. "A pair of waterproof boots," I say, and she laughs.

December 12th Monday

It's a new experience, getting ready for school with Bella. Sitting with her while she downs her Cheerios or toasts a Pop Tart. Grabbing up our school stuff together, jumping in a Volvo, taking turns driving ourselves to the campus.

I don't have to be able to read Bella's mind to see that she's distracted in class today. She keeps twirling her wedding band around her finger and staring out into space. Angela congratulates us in the hallway, and gives Bella a hug. Her other 'friends' don't speak, but they have a lot of thoughts about us.

Where did I go? Why did I come back? Is Bella pregnant? Mike Newton thinks that I've been bedding Bella all along, and that I knocked her up right after my return. Asshole.

While we stand in the lunch line, Bella gives me a sly look and tries to pinch my bottom. My flesh doesn't give, but it surprises me, and I yelp. It startles the boy in front of us and Bella laughs out loud. The students standing near us in the queue look at us as if we're mad, and I point to Bella. She's giggly all the way to the food counter and several people around her think she's lost her mind due to the stress of my departure and my sudden, unexplained return.

After school, she bounces up and down in her seat the entire drive home. I know what she's going to do the minute the door is unlocked, and I'm not surprised when she throws down her bag, shucks off her raincoat and runs up the stairs, shedding clothes all the way. I follow quickly and peek at her from the edge of the doorway.

She pulls back the covers and kneels at the foot of the bed, waiting for me. My thirst seems to be more under control today, although every breath adds to the scorching, hollow feeling that only one thing truly relieves. I put it out of my mind and instead think about what's ahead.

"Can we touch each other yet?" Her expression is pleading.

"I don't think so." I pause, because I need to tell her the truth. "If I'm honest, Bella, I need a few more days to acclimate. I was waiting for Alice to wake up, but since nobody knows when that might be, I guess we'll just wing it." My voice doesn't sound very reassuring.

"Alice? You were going to ask Alice?"

"I thought it would be safer to get her vision of the future, rather than just plow ahead when I might hurt you. And you know that Alice can see anything she looks for. When we first started going out, she looked for me every day."

"So…" Bella licks her lips and thinks about it for a moment, finally saying, "Every time you kissed me, or went off in the woods by yourself to…" she gestures to my crotch, "Alice saw that? Everything?"

"If she was looking, yeah. She can look forward and tell me the outcome."

Bella's tongue roams in her cheek. "You know what I mean. But since she's asleep or whatever it is, I don't have her reassurance that I will…behave myself."

Bella wilts like a punctured balloon. She falls over on the bed and curls up. "Wait, I'm not finished," I say as I stand by her. She won't look at me. "C'mon." I pull her gently and she sits, naked as the day she was born, inches from me. And my thirst is the last thing I think about.

The room is completely silent as she gets up on her knees, and I'm paralyzed as her trembling fingers unbutton my shirt. Her skin blazes against my chest when she presses her naked body to mine. "Edward, I want you to touch me," she murmurs, as we share wholly unsuitable and dangerous kisses. Her fingers twine up in my hair and I can feel her hard nipples, radiating their own fire.

Jesus Christ. "Ah, Bella," I moan, as her hands reach under my shirt to stroke my back, then skim under the waistband of my jeans. Abruptly I step back, pointing to the headboard. "Let's just do what we did yesterday, okay? Just give me a couple of days to get used to this before we go further."

She smiles and crawls back, bends her knees and watches with eager eyes as I unbutton my jeans and lower them and my boxers. I wonder what I look like to her, standing a few feet from the foot of the bed, shirt hanging open with my pants around my ankles. With my hard cock in my hand.

I feel that electricity riot around my body and briefly wonder if my hair is standing on end. Even more on end that it normally does, anyway. I'm a little surprised at how comfortable Bella is with everything that we're doing. Aside from that first time I'd seen her naked, which was only yesterday, she seems at ease with whatever we do in the bedroom. Just relieved, maybe, that we're finally doing something.

As am I.

"You want to see it again?" she asks with a smile.

"If by 'it' you mean your pussy, yeah," I say seriously. "I'll never get tired of looking at it." And the very idea that she would suggest it tells me that she's okay with the request. Like she wasn't doing it just for me, but enjoyed it as well.

She repeats the actions of yesterday, spreading her labia, then rubbing with that lucky finger until she comes. After supper, she drags me upstairs and we do it again.

After her shower, she comes into the bedroom naked, combing out her hair. I'm lying on the bed reading a book. Without a word, she goes to the little settee under the window, leans over it and spreads her legs. Two fingers part her folds again, giving me an unprecedented view.

Oh, my good god, Bella! My cock has developed a mind of its own, and it's saying in the most persuasive voice ever, You idiot! She wants you to fuck her! Go for it!

I find the will to resist, but I don't know from where. After a moment, Bella stands up and turns around to find me wide-eyed and staring. She playfully waves a hand before my face and I blink. "You said you wanted to see it," she says as she sashays back to the bed.

And we do it again.

"So, you don't need any…down time, between…?" She gestures to my cock, absolutely crowing with joy at the sexual release it has experienced today.

"I guess not," I say, as I look on my member with surprise and admiration. "I've never done that three times in one day. Not ever."

Bella and I are finally together, married, and approaching sexual union. Every day with her feels like a present bestowed upon me by the Universe, a gift that I absolutely do not deserve. We're in our own house, and at night we lounge by the little fire, admiring our own Christmas tree.

Can this life get any more perfect?"

And in a lapse, I don't spit three times. I just hope for the best. After all, what could go wrong now?