The Dancer and The Wallflower
Chapter Ten
. . . . .
Bella was shivering inside as they climbed the staircase to his bedroom. Each time he gently squeezed her hand in his, she'd slide a glance at him, but then she'd have to mind her steps, or so she told herself. She wondered if someone had taught him how to use his eyes like that–they were so sensually visceral at times. She loved the way they held onto her, loved how he made her pulse race with just a look.
"I'm going to take care of you," he murmured, bringing her up close and personal to him right there on the steps, just so he could lay a kiss of fire on her lips and taste her tongue. "By the time I'm done with you, you won't feel that soreness anymore." His eyes dropped to her mouth as she took an uneven breath at the way his honeyed tone affected her. She almost felt like she could come apart right now, and they hadn't even made it to the bathroom yet. He was always teasingly seductive, but it was as if he'd upped the stakes by 50 degrees now.
He drew her inside his bedroom and to the bathroom with its elaborate walls of blue and gold tiles, and the huge clawfoot tub big enough for two. Keeping her close to him, he turned the water on, adjusting it for temperature. He only let go of her to unscrew the lid on a pretty little bottle with pink liquid inside.
"I got this for you soon after we met. It's gardenia-scented. It's you," he said and nuzzled her neck, inhaling deeply. She gasped as his tongue flicked at the hollow of her throat, had to hold on to his arms to steady herself as he moaned against her skin.
"Don't stop," she told him when he drew back, and he gave her a gentle lover's smile, the impossibly soft-expression kind that raised goosebumps all along her arms and back. Dear God, she was going to faint.
"We have to save some for later," he teased lightly, then began to slowly move her in a dance that let their bodies brush together and then separate, and then brush together again in a heightened state of awareness. She felt her hair swing lightly behind her, the way her erect nipples pushed at her bra, the dampness in her jeans.
As the water filled the tub and the scents of gardenia and jasmine infused the air, he continued to move them in the little dance. Each time they brushed together, she was ready with her mouth as he moved in for a wet kiss. When he next came against her, he undid one of her sweater's buttons.
"Are you going to teach me how to strip?" she gasp-laughed.
His eyes darkened. "I'm more interested in the end result than the technique," he murmured, then turned her in a slow spin that ended with her back against his hard stomach. Bella arched slightly, knowing he could see the top of her chest, and liking that. Slowly, he brought his hands to her shoulders, massaging them lightly until her head fell back against his chest. Then, he moved down her arms, making sure to get those muscles, too, before cupping her hands in his. Raising them high, he brought them up and around his neck.
"Are you okay to leave them there?" he whispered into her ear, and she shivered lightly and nodded. Anything, anything.
"So beautiful," she heard him say in a broken whisper as he began undoing the rest of her buttons, the movement of his fingers brushing against her breasts and creating another fever-burn along her skin. As the cooler temperature of the air touched her, he caressed her belly, easing the sweater open, and Bella was glad that she'd chosen the pretty blue floral bra with its front clasp. Taking control of her arms again, he brought them back down to her sides, then eased the top off. Before she could react in embarrassment, he spun her again to face him and gave her a wink. Pink faced, she shook her head at him, and her hands in his jerked as she fought the urge to cover herself.
"Don't be shy, beautiful Bella. You have nothing to be shy about at all," he murmured and let his eyes lower, and her chest began to heave lightly. Distracting her, he tucked his fingers into the back of her jeans, pulling her against his chest by cupping her bare bottom. They both made a sound at that, his a hot little groan, hers a cry of surprised pain.
"I'm sore there, too," was her amazed comment.
His lips were moving down the side of her face. "Yes, shivering can cause muscle soreness all over if you're stiff for too long. I'll make it better," he promised, his voice a shudder, and Bella felt a thrill that she could affect him as strongly as he did her.
Sinking to his knees in front of her, he gazed up at her adoringly with a look that almost brought her right down with him. And then, never breaking eye contact, he brought his hands in a slow caress around to the front of her belly, and her fingers curled into the fabric at his shoulders. He undid the button of her pants, moved the zip downward, then cupped her hip bones and began to ease her jeans down. Breath catching and dying and then catching again, she helped him, until they pooled at her ankles. Before she could feel the self-conscious sting that she was nude in front of him except for her bra, he leaned forward and kissed her curls. Bella couldn't help it, she yelped.
Edward seemed to be caught in a trance, nosing her curls and kissing there, and Bella was scandalized by embarrassment and at how good it felt. The two feelings warred within her as she pulled at his hair. "Edward, Edward," she gasped.
Slowly, he looked up at her with dark, dazed eyes, then swore too low for her to hear. Behind him, the water continued to fill the tub, and she saw that it was getting dangerously full. "Baby, I'm sorry," he said in a pained way. "Tell me to go slow."
"The tub," she said. "The water."
He jackknifed to his feet in a smooth movement, took a step and yanked the spigot closed. As he bent over to pull the plug to let some of the water drain, she noticed his well-shaped, denim-clad butt, especially since he stayed hunched over the tub. She saw the tension across his back, saw him take more than one deep breath. "Get into the water," he gritted. "Please."
Feeling like a sleepwalker, Bella wandered over to the tub and the pink-colored water with the bubbles. She raised a leg and dipped a toe in; the temperature was perfect, so she sank down inside, bra and all. When she chanced a look at his face, it was to find his eyes closed and his mouth drawn tight.
"Edward, it's all right," she whispered.
He plugged the drain again, then stood and began shedding his clothes, a simple, graceful act without art. At her look of startled and embarrassed fascination, he softly said, "You've seen me without my clothes on before."
Bella coughed. "That was different. I barely peeked and besides, you were performing. And, ahem, you weren't… you weren't…"
"I wasn't aroused, you mean," he said.
"Right," she said and swallowed.
"Why do you keep looking away?" he murmured and moved to the end of the tub so she could see him better.
Burning up, she was burning up. He was killing her.
"Please look at me, Bella," he commanded in a whisper.
It was difficult, yet at the same time it wasn't, for her to look at all of that sexy skin. She allowed herself to follow the clean lines of his shoulders down to his impressive chest and the carved muscles of his stomach. Breathing shallowly, her gaze then dropped to the flat shelf of the lower part of his stomach, and the sharp pelvic muscles that pointed to the erection grazing his stomach, and then ended with the long banded muscles of his thighs. Just the sight of… oh, God, he was incredible. His body was a work of art, beautifully and highly sculpted, and he was also quite impressive down there. Scary-impressive. All of that skin was doing crazy things to her deep inside, making her tremble and ache; she had the worst urge to press against herself down there. As it was, her thighs were already scissoring against each other.
"Sit up, let me slide behind you," he murmured and Bella did as he asked. Then, he climbed in and sank down. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her tightly back against him and then, her naked body was being hugged by naked him, and it was a huge relief. They both sighed. His arms snaked around her chest, his feet came between her calves and spread her apart, and his thighs came to rest on the outside of hers. His open mouth sought hers in a fierce kiss, and then all she heard was his loud breathing, her loud breathing.
"I want you, oh God, how I want you," he whispered against her lips, her cheek. "But you need to tell me to slow down, Bella."
She felt his arousal at her behind, hard as a rod against her lower back, and swallowed with nerves again. "You promised you'd take care of me," she gasped, her voice as unsteady as his. She wasn't sure if she could tell him to slow down, she was feeling uncontrollable herself; because his legs were holding hers apart, he wasn't allowing her to release the pressure, and she couldn't help squirming. Her hands rose from the water with a loud eruption of water and latched onto his forearms, clenching.
"Shhhhh." When he moved an arm away, she held on, her hand on the back of his forearm, moving with him slowly as he began to caress her breast. She gasped and arched as he pinched a nipple, before moving down her chest as his fingers caressed her wet skin, their arms going lower, lower against her belly under the water, and she cried out when the palm of his hand cupped her there firmly. It was embarrassing, but a sweet relief, too, and she raised up, water kicking the sides of the tub, as one of his fingers came to slide against her.
"Oh God, oh God," she heard herself saying as his finger continued to slip just inside her and rub up high, just enough to bring on a sweet, crazy inferno of heat.
"That's it, baby, just let go. It's all right, come for me, let it happen," he whispered in a longing way into her ear and keening, she orgasmed suddenly and hard, so hard that she couldn't stop moving.
She'd brought herself to orgasm before, but never this quickly or easily. Bella felt her mouth quiver in emotion and swallowed hard, then turned her head to the side because she needed his kiss. Edward eagerly obliged her, using the arm still around chest and the hand at her sex to pull her up and tighter against him. He kissed her for a long time, slow and then urgent, but eventually she had to turn her head away with a gasp.
He laughed in a shaken way, and she did, too. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that she loved him when he gave her a squeeze down there and she jumped. "Now you can relax," he murmured and both his hands were on her wet, bra-clad breasts, kneading them. "I want to kiss them," he said and unhooked the clasp.
"You can," she gasped back and tried to sit up and turn around, but he wouldn't let her.
"Relax," he crooned and began massaging her torso, softly drawing the stiffness at her sides away, then working his way down to her hips and buttocks, then back up to her arms to repeat the process until she was limp against him.
"My thighs and calves, too," she said helpfully, and his wonderful hands dropped back to her buttocks and palmed them, lifting her slightly from the water.
"You're so small," he almost groaned against her temple. "I just want to put you in my pocket and take you wherever I go."
"Yes," she agreed as his fingers moved to her outer thighs and began working there. "I would love to be with you wherever you go."
He kissed the side of her neck, using his tongue to taste her, then lightly bit her. "You already are," he said huskily and Bella's heart leapt.
It was a while before he worked the stiffness out of her thighs, because apparently that's where she carried most of her frozen stress, before he moved on to her inner thighs. Her temperature, which had never really fallen, rose steadily again as he worked his way teasingly closer and closer to where she still burned and ached.
"I want to try something," he said in a gravel-toned voice, and bringing his hand back to her, pushed the tip of one finger just inside. She began to pant as he circled slowly, bringing the throbbing tingle back, then he went a little bit deeper, and then deeper still. The sweet heat began to build again, this time from deep inside. When he added a second finger, she tensed, but he'd given her such pleasure before that she trusted him and relaxed again. Pretty soon, he began stroking her deep inside. It felt weird at first, but then she began to tense for another reason.
"Edward," she gasped and water spilled as she arched hard under his hands in the tub.
"It's just love," he murmured against the side of her neck, his arm tightening around her. "Me loving you, you loving me. Bella, baby, let yourself feel it."
That was the problem. She was feeling it too much. It was building and building and getting scary, and she couldn't keep still. Actually, she was starting to shake, starting to careen headlong into a feeling unlike anything she'd ever experienced. Distantly she heard herself starting to say oh God and then her stomach clenched and it hit like a sledgehammer dead center, spreading out and out and going on from there, growing in intensity. She was almost sobbing as she returned to her senses, and found that Edward had turned her around to ride it out against his chest and on his thigh.
His breathing was almost as out of control as hers was. "You are the most gorgeous thing I've ever seen," he said, his hands caressing her wet body everywhere–her arms, her breasts, her waist, her buttocks. It was as if he couldn't get enough of her. "So responsive. Fuck," he said succinctly in his sinfully silky voice, and pulled her mouth to his and Bella began to receive the thrust of his tongue. Her pulse pounded as the free-flowing intensity of their passion took over again. Still, her flesh blazed, and she framed his face in her hands, holding him to her the same as he was holding her, both of them a conduit of sensation and emotion. She was rocking against him and he was rocking against her when she noticed that the water was getting cold.
"Cold," she said in between her thundering heartbeats and breaths. "Getting cold."
He wrapped his arms around her and stood in a cascade of water, holding her to him easily. "Wrap your legs around me," he whispered brokenly and she complied. From there, he walked straight to his bed, and they left dripping water everywhere and neither of them cared. As he lay her down on the bed cover and came down on top of her, she saw that his eyes had that look in them again–that sexy, easy sensuality that shredded her insides and made her want to do anything he asked.
"Are you ready to feel me inside you, Bella?" he asked, his voice thick with passion at her temple. She nodded, and his hands shakily smoothed away the damp hair across her face. He blew softly against her hairline as he began to enter her, and it stung as her slippery flesh resisted him. His hands were gentle, continuous strokes against the side of her face and forehead as his hips moved slowly, slowly against hers. When he was all the way inside her, he stopped.
"Oh, Bella," he breathed. "Oh, baby, you feel so good… so good."
She saw his eyes focus on her in a dazed way, as if the sound of his voice had woken him. He smiled at her softly with his mouth and his eyes, and her body shuddered in response. Headily, she eased herself deeper around him and felt him shudder in return.
"Oh," he breathed with a ragged shiver.
"Yes," she murmured. "You can move."
And he moved slowly, gently, his eyes caught on hers until he could no longer be gentle or keep them open, and then she was the one bringing him softly back to her.
. . .
They woke up in a square of autumn sunlight, their limbs still entwined as if they'd fallen asleep in the middle of playing. Edward was combing his fingers through her hair, dragging the tips of his fingers along her skin, which pebbled under his touch.
"You said you loved me," he said, gentle as a kiss, perhaps guessing how that would scare her. And it did; her heart started slamming inside of her chest. When had she said she'd loved him? "Of course, that was during the throes of passion, so I don't know if you really meant it or not." His thumb started stroking the side of her cheek. "Did you mean it, Bella? Do you love me?"
She tried to read the emotion in his eyes, to read his face, but all she saw was a gentle, pained curiosity. What did it mean? Was that expression a good thing or a bad thing? Feeling both vulnerable and brave, she decided with a sigh that she may as well confess now that she'd unintentionally let the cat out of the bag. "Yes," she whispered and cupped the side of his face, watching him close his eyes in that same pained way. "I love you."
"You love me?" he asked again, giving her the sinful lover's look, yet it was colored with a sense of doubt, and her heart turned over in her chest. He was so very, very loveable, didn't he know that?
"How could I not, Edward? You're as beautiful on the inside as you are on the outside." She paused, and then said drolly with a wide smile: "You have an owl for a pet."
He gave her his gorgeous wide smile, and she saw tears well in his eyes. Seeing them, she began to tear up herself. "What's wrong?" she whispered.
"Don't you know that I love you, too?" he asked husily. "Can't you feel it? See it? God, Bella, I think I fell in love with you that day in the grocery store." He bent his head to kiss along her jaw. "It was the way you glared at me for wanting to kiss you. The way you put me in my place. And then, it was the way you kissed me–as if it was your first time. I had dreams about that kiss."
"You did? You do?" she squeaked, then cleared her throat. "You love me, too?"
"I do," he said and bent again to press a quick kiss to her lips. "It happened almost instantly, which is as idiotic as it is rare, but I love you, Isabella Marie Swan."
He backed away to meet her surprised gaze with his own, and she saw that he looked peaceful, at ease, more content than she'd ever seen him. Until this moment when she was faced with the contrast, she hadn't fully realized how unsure of himself and uncomfortable he'd been. Well, he'd given her unintentional little clues along the way, she realized. Or maybe they were deliberate? Tiny moments of sadness, or a look on his face, or something he'd said. The first time she remembered was when he'd been waiting for her outside her apartment, and how surprised he'd been that she'd remembered his name. As if she could have forgotten.
"And you love me," he repeated. "Say it again?"
"Edward Anthony Masen Cullen, I love you from head to toe," she told him, and he stared at her with a kind of fascination still, as if he just couldn't believe it. "I'm not sure when it happened for me, but I figured it out during the week we were apart when I realized I love you more than I hate what you do."
And there went his tranquility and fascination; his eyes closed as if in pain, his face tightening, and he sighed heavily. "Yes, and then there's that." He fell back into the habit of trying to distract her when his fingers threaded through her hair and began massaging her there, then he bent to her chest and kissed along her collarbone. Bella shivered in response, but tried to keep her wits this time.
"Why didn't you want to tell me you were going to Los Angeles?" she gasped. In all her imaginings of them having this conversation, it was never while she was naked underneath him, but opportunities seemed to present themselves at odd times.
He paused at her question, then his tongue swirled around her nipple and she gasped. "Edward!" she cried shakily. "Stop trying to distract me and answer the question."
His head raised and he subjected her to a close perusal, his compelling eyes clouded, shuttered. "Because I didn't want to upset you. I knew before I left that I wasn't going to accept a job in Los Angeles, but my feelings for you scared me. So I went to prove a point to myself." He sat up, exhaling raggedly and straddled one of her thighs. Bella was surprised to see that he was erect again. It was impossible to ignore. Fully clothed, he was a distraction; nude, he was like a falling anvil.
"How I feel about you makes me want to put you above everything else, but I have obligations. And then there was a small chance that maybe I might have taken the job. The money I could make there is almost triple what I make now," he told her and ran a hand slowly up her thigh. She inhaled shakily and squirmed, feeling the heat rise again. She tried again to ignore his beautiful, well-muscled thighs and the prize in the middle, which was right in her line of sight.
"Then if you have these obligations, why didn't you take the job?"
He began caressing both her inner thighs, his thumbs coming closer and closer to the netherland. "Because you're here. Because it felt wrong."
But not wrong enough to quit. "But you won't put me above your obligations, no matter how much you might want to," she whispered.
"Bella, I can't afford to pay for this place without that job. I've tried. It's just a means to an end. I've told you I won't kiss them anymore."
She was struck silent for long, long moments while she tried to accept what he was saying. He was looking at her so entreatingly that he almost had her yielding, admitting defeat. "I won't be your ball and chain, Edward," she told him softly. "I can't be that. I thought I could ignore what you did when we weren't together, I thought I could laugh it off, but it turns out that I can't. I'm too insecure. I'll drive you insane."
His face was one of agony, but she had to press on because she had one more thing to say to him. "How would you feel if the shoe was on the other foot? What if I stripped?"
Oh, he didn't like that. His hands tightened around her thighs, his thumbs brushing her sex, and his eyes darkened and his nostrils flared. Then, he released his breath slowly and seemed to come to his senses. "I see what you're saying. I wouldn't like it, and I'd do everything in my power to get you out of that situation."
"So why can't we do the same?" she whispered.
After a moment of deliberation, he bent to kiss her softly, lingeringly. As he sat back, she thought he looked kind of relieved and grateful. Grateful and yet, still preoccupied by her body. Either he was trying to distract her again, or he was starved for her. Probably both. Darn it, if only he wasn't so hard to resist.
"I'm not opposed to trying," he said as he began stroking her there. "I don't want you to hurt over this, Bella. I won't lose you now that I have you."
She could tell he was sincere by the earnest expression on his face, and she prayed that that meant he'd try to find a legitimate job. Any other job, really. For a crazy couple of seconds, she thought about the two of them moving in together and pooling their money, but that was insane. Insane and way too early. She knew that this was something he had to make up his mind about on his own. Obviously, they were both out of their minds crazy for each other.
He covered her body with his and began peppering her face with little kisses that began playfully, but then turned urgent and wild. "I've never needed anyone or anything this much. Promise me you won't disappear," he breathed, caught up in whatever was playing in his thoughts, barely giving her a chance to answer. His intensity sent a frisson of warmth through her. Whatever else he feared, it was evident that he loved her, and that gave her hope.
"I promise," she panted.
"Are you too sore? Can you take me again?"
She was sore, but she was also more than ready for him again. She'd barely spread her legs for him when he entered her again with a long, drawn out groan. She cried out, a combination of pain and desire, as he began thrusting inside.
"We probably shouldn't have serious talks while naked," he said to her apologetically and cupped her cheek. "I can't concentrate on anything but your beautiful skin." Then, he backed off and closed her knees together before straddling her while continuing to thrust, and now she was moaning. The position held him so, so tight inside. He began thrusting against her shallowly, deliberately hitting that spot that had caused her to come apart before.
"Did you know your clitoris is about four inches long?" he breathed. "That means it'll be almost impossible for me not to bring you to orgasm."
She moaned in response, and he swept a thumb across her lower lip, tugging it away from her teeth. "It's happening again," she gasped, her fingers tightening spasmodically around his forearms.
"Yes," he drew out the word, his eyes sleepy with passion and adoration. It was so easy for her to see now that he loved her. "I can feel it. Come for me, baby."
"Ahhhh, Edward!" It was like a train coming, that feeling, building slowly, slowly, and he deliberately chased it for her, then it crashed through her body in a powerful wave, and she screamed and bucked against him again and again, her body shuddering. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
"You can't keep distracting me this way," she panted after they were both satiated and breathing heavily.
Edward's eyes were giving her his sensually visceral look. "Is that a challenge?" he asked with a wink.
"And you can't keep looking at me that way."
"What way is that?" he drawled against the underside of her breast, giving her exactly that look.
"Like you're going to have me for lunch."
Her breath caught as he came impossibly close and whispered against her lips, "Oh, I plan on having you for breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Bella suspected he was still trying to sidetrack her concerns, though, and felt a thrill of fear; clearly, he didn't think it was going to be easy to find a solution to his dancing. So while it was wonderfully safe, fun and warm in here with him, outside, the real world waited.
. . .
They spent the next five nights together and called them dates, and tentatively agreed to meet on Saturday mornings. On Friday as Edward walked into The Cougar Club, memories of Bella and the past week played in his mind like snapshots: kissing her poor scarred brow under the skeletal branches of an oak tree; Bella running through the fading opulence of the upstairs hallway trailing Buzzy Bee, a child's toy pull toy, for Chaucer; the way she'd drawn him back from a daydream by trailing her fingers across his stomach, and lower. He'd always been highly sexual, but his little shy girl was right there with him, and they couldn't seem to get enough of each other.
He'd been applying to job sites like Monster, Indeed and Glassdoor, but nothing promising in the area had turned up yet. He wasn't one for if only, but damn if he didn't find himself wishing that the state would just accept the estate as a–.
"Hey, bud."
The voice shocked him out of his thoughts because it wasn't Emmet's, it was Tanya's, and it was said in an unusually deadened tone. She was walking down the hallway from the opposite direction he was. Was she upset?
"So I heard your jaunt to L.A. was a bust. Aro said you aren't cut out for this kind of work after all."
"Not his kind of work," Edward admitted.
"I wasn't surprised, not really," she said as they drew near each other. Although he was loath to notice her clothing, it was always eye-catching. Tonight's outfit was a leather-trimmed black catsuit with pink glitter high heels. She had her hair pulled into a high ponytail that swished back and forth as she walked, and her eyes were cooler than he'd ever seen. "After all, you've been saying no all along. What did he think would happen?"
Edward remained silent in agreement.
"But then I talked to Emmet." Her arms folded and her head tilted. "Seems as if you've got yourself a girlfriend."
He was going to have a serious talk with Emmet. This was twice now that he'd thrown a wrench through glass, and enough was enough. "That's not against any rule," he said.
"No, it's not," she smiled derogatorily. "Not as long as you continue doing your job. That includes sharing your kisses, Edward." And then she leaned towards him confidingly. "Don't think I didn't notice that you skipped that during your routines last week. Aro said you didn't even offer up one single kiss, that you lost hundreds of dollars because you didn't. Just think of how much money that would be in the long run, especially for a club that prides itself on offering the complete package."
And she made a tsk, tsk sound as if he was a naughty little boy.
But he wasn't. He was a furious, goddamn grown man. "I'll do my routine my way, Tanya. As long as everyone is happy, what does it matter?"
She shrugged lightly. "It matters to me. The Cougar Club is known for its sexy, friendly dancers. So go and be friendly, or find another job."
Later that night after his second show, Edward discovered that the sea of faces with eager mouths that weren't Bella's had begun to strip some unarmored part of his soul; it was why he'd begun drinking before his shows. Now, sick with guilt and disgust, he vomited into the toilet violently. His body had never handled liquor well, but what he really couldn't stomach was the fact that he had betrayed her trust tonight.
He was finding out the hard way that what he felt for Bella didn't numb or sever while he performed.
A/N:
I didn't show them discussing the use of a condom or pills or being safe, but you can assume that they had this conversation and took the needed precautions.
Hope it didn't disappoint. Let me know your thoughts, good or bad.