This is a shorter chapter, and it was a looong time in the making ya'll. I hope you enjoy.
Our journey went smoothly; Bella seemed to have a lust for traveling that rivaled my own. At every new gate she asked about its destination inquisitively.
"Rio De Janeiro?" she questioned as we stood in line to board the connecting flight out of Houston. "Just another stop along the way," I had devilishly replied. Her anticipation thrilled me.
The flight was long but comfortable, as I had found it all too easy to persuade the bumbling clerk at the check-in desk to upgrade us to first class. She had tripped over her words and giggled stupidly as she searched for two adjacent seats, even apologizing that I had been unable to book them myself.
"That was mean," Bella scolded me as we boarded.
"What?" I asked innocently, tucking our carry-ons into the overhead compartment.
"You did the same thing to that poor girl that you did to that waitress at Belle Italia back when we first met."
I laughed and took my seat next to her. "Dazzled her, you mean?"
"Precisely," she replied, her tone firm as she roughly closed the blind over the window to her right. I detected a hint of jealousy in her words.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me to quell her envy. "I apologize my love…" I breathed into her ear. She seemed to melt against my body, and all was forgiven.
Upon our arrival in Rio, we took a taxi to the marina, where Carlisle's black speed boat waited in a long line of white yachts moored in the night blackened water. I leaped in and dropped our bags on the deck. Bella stood on the dock examining the vessel.
"Isn't this the same boat we took to the island in Alaska? How…?" she asked, bewildered. I laughed. Her surprise at our means still tickled me. I had never known anyone who had been through the change that still seemed so… human. It was endearing.
"Boat Transporters, love," I explained and continued to prepare the boat for departure. She seemed momentarily stunned by the simplicity of my answer. She shrugged and stretched out a long white leg to step into the boat. Its smooth nakedness caused a jolt in my stomach; lust, coupled with what I could only identify as stage fright. I was suddenly over-aware of what was expected for this night on Isle Esme.
We headed due east over the open ocean. The lights of Rio faded into the darkness and disappeared behind us, leaving only the immense dome of stars, speckling the night sky. The bow bounced on the dark waves as we sped and the sea spray showered us in its cool salty crispness.
After sometime, Bella called over the engine, "Are we going much further?" She seemed worried, as though she was calculating our position in her head. She wiped at some sea spray that glistened on her face and chest, and I watched her fingers intently as they moved across her skin. More stage fright.
"About another half hour," I reassured her, judging the distance by the position of constellations that hung low in the heavens.
I maneuvered the boat along the dock once we reached the island, and cut the engine, ensconcing us completely in profound silence. There was nothing but the waves, slapping lightly against the boat, and the clacking of palm fronds in the breeze. The air was warm, moist, and fragrant—like the steam left behind after a hot shower. I turned back for Bella after I set our bags down, and she extended her hand to me.
No, that would never do.
Instead of taking her hand, I pulled her swiftly up into my arms and over my shoulder. I heard her laugh delightedly behind my head.
"Aren't you supposed to wait for the threshold?" she chuckled as I walked with her over my shoulder across the sandy beach towards the waiting house, dragging our bags behind me.
"I'm nothing if not thorough," I told her, grinning. After crossing the powder-fine sand that shone pale in the moon light and stepping across the creaking boards of the wooden front porch, I conveyed her over the threshold of the unlocked doors and into the darkened house. I set down our baggage and adjusted her in my arms.
I carried her through the house, both of us very quiet, flipping on lights as I went. The house was quite large for a tiny island, and familiar due to Esme's pale-on-pale color scheme; it felt like home. Despite these creature comforts, if I had a physical heart, it would have been beating out of my chest.
I stopped and turned on the last light.
The room was big and white, and the far wall was mostly glass—standard Esme Cullen décor. Outside, the moon's glow was bright on the white sand and just a few yards away from the house glistening waves lapped the shore. A huge white bed was placed in the center of the room, hung with billowy clouds of mosquito netting.
I set Bella down on her feet onto the smooth hardwood floor. She kicked off her heels meandered through the room, touching and examining every detail. I wondered if her sudden great attention to detail was spurned from a sense of anxiety that matched mine. This was after all, our wedding night; and we both were, after all, inexperienced in the ways of the marriage bed. Surely, she felt some of the same trepidation I did.
I was grateful that we no longer would have to worry about causing her bodily injury on this night; though her change should have never happened in the manner that came to pass, Bella's human fragility would have posed a considerable problem. I didn't think for a second that she would allow this evening to pass without us making love, even if she had still been human.
Pulling her attention back to me, I began, "I was wondering… if…" I spoke slowly. I took a deep breath, and my voice was more at ease when I spoke again. "Maybe you'd like to take a midnight swim with me? The water will be very warm. This is the kind of beach you approve of."
She seemed pensive. "That… sounds nice." Her voice broke as she spoke. She was nervous too. My protective instincts seemed to kick in. This will never do. Swallowing my boyish nerves, I decided to be the confidence we both needed.
I grabbed her hand, and led her through the French door that opened right onto the beach sand. Along the way, I shrugged out of my shirt and cast it behind me in the sand. Bella followed suit, and I courteously averted my eyes. For now.
The water was warm as a bath as our feet stepped into the lapping waves, and the fine powder sand felt silken between my toes. I led her deeper into the water, until it lapped around our waists, and paused to look at the full moon, even whiter still than the sand.
"Beautiful," she said, looking up at the moon, too.
"It's all right," I answered, unimpressed. I turned slowly to face her; little waves rolled away from my movement and broke against her skin. I twisted my hand up so that I could twine our fingers beneath the surface of the water. "But I wouldn't use the word beautiful," I continued. "Not with you standing here in comparison."
She half-smiled, then raised her free hand and placed it over my heart. White on white; we matched now. I shuddered the tiniest bit at her touch. Her breath came a little ragged now, and she stilled seemed a bit tense. I had to erase that. An idea came to me.
Crouched lower into the water until only my head was exposed, and pulled her down with me. "I know a spot. Let me take you there." Still holding her hand, I plunged under the water.
She followed fluidly, and moved through the dark water with me. We swam faster than any Olympic swimmer could ever dream, and cut through the water like silent knives, leaving no trace of a wake behind. Iveered to circle the island, enjoying the speed of our movement through the inky sea. We could see the shadow of ocean life, fully aware of the predators in their midst, scatter away from us as we cut through the warm blackness. We surfaced at the mouth of a small freshwater stream where it ended its journey to the ocean. A thick fog formed on the water's surface where the cold, ground-fed spring met the warm sea. I led Bella through the water up between its banks.
#NowPlaying: Wicked Game as performed by Corey Taylor
We came to a lagoon, the black water choppy from a hundred-foot-high water fall that careened from the cliff face, feeding the spring and forming a natural swimming pool. It was loud here, the sounds of the forest life echoing in the jungle around us, mingling with the crash of the falls. Nearly black as pitch it was in the little cove, but not to our eyes; we saw every detail of every leaf and branch of the nighttime rainforest around us, and heard the scurry of the little animals at home in the trees. Even for we, mythical creatures though we were, this place was magic.
I felt Bella's hand leave mine as she moved to swim around the cove. She was absolutely striking as the rays of moonlight that filtered through the forest canopy played across her bone-white face and sodden, ebony hair. She backstroked through the water, gazing upwards at the patches of stars that shone through the breaks in the branches, her breasts bared to the warm air, and sparkling with droplets. I no longer felt the need to courteously look away; I don't think I could have if I had tried. I drank in the erotic beauty of my new wife's body as she swam, languid and wickedly seductive; a Siren in the water, she was drawing me to her like a sailor to the stones. I pushed off of the rocky bottom, and propelled myself to her side as she floated.
"Edward, it is so beautiful here," she breathed, her eyes full of wonder, seemingly oblivious to the spell she cast upon me. I felt my stage fright diminishing by the second. Yes, this enchantment she put me under was more powerful than the fright; it just didn't exist anymore.
"The cold water doesn't bother you?" I asked, remembering her hatred of the cold. Her "phantom pain," as I referred to it.
She turned her head and looked into my eyes. "No, Edward," she seemed to hold back a small laugh, as if there was some joke I wasn't getting. "The cold isn't bothering me."
She moved to an upright position in the water, and I relished the feeling as she wrapped her naked legs around my waist under the water, and placed her arms around my neck. How could a granite goddess be so impossibly soft? Her chest pressed against mine, and my breath quickened, though the stage fright was still long gone; my longing for her outweighed all else.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer to me, our bodies meeting in an embrace that did not cease until the afternoon sun of the next day.
And in those hours, we were not only vampires; our unchecked emotion was spiritual. We didn't worry for anything, and we were simply what we were, no more no less...
Two beings so intensely in love that the island, and all of the world, and all of its life should have singed under its heat.