*EPOV*

As a human, I'd always been more of a cat person. They just always seemed more intelligent to me than dogs. You could kick a dog in the nose and he'd still love you at the end of the day.

Conversely, a cat's trust needed to be earned. I could respect that. (Regretfully, the only times I ever got to scratch a cat between the ears anymore was when I was sucking the life out of a mountain lion.)

Bella was more like a cat. Jacob Black was most definitely a dog.

"What does he want?" Bella asked anxiously.

"I'm certain he'll tell you himself," I said through clenched teeth as I opened the door.

If Bella were human, I would have been the first out the door, keeping my body safely between hers and the mutt's. But Bella wasn't fragile anymore, and any desire to put myself between the two of them wouldn't have been solely for her safety.

"Ladies first," I reluctantly muttered.

Standing bare-chested under a steady drizzle, the mutt wore his standard-issue cut-off shorts and a leather cord wrapped twice around his calf. His hair was shaggy and unkempt like he hadn't bothered to do a thing with it since he'd crudely cut it himself before our wedding six months prior.

The cool night air made the mouthbreather's hot breath appear as misty clouds of water vapor in front of his face, illuminated by the dim yellow glow of the streetlamp overhead.

I just need to see her once. Then I'll hate her. And hating her has to be less painful than missing her.

I groaned inwardly. How many times did this pup need to get kicked in the nose before he'd go away?

Then his steady stream of thoughts went completely silent.

I looked at Bella who was looking back at me.

And I'm quite certain that you don't need to hear whatever he's thinking that's putting that scowl on your face.

"Bella..." I said warily, acutely uncomfortable with not being able to hear someone who was little more to me than an enemy.

He can't hurt me anymore. The look on her face dared me to argue the point.

Well, he could try, but his fury pelt would end up as a decorative throw rug on our bedroom floor. One that I'd delight in stepping on every morning after spending every night making passionate love to the woman he tried to steal away from me.

The victorious feeling of his coarse fur between my toes would almost justify the rug's stench.

"Uh, hey Jake. What's up?" Bella asked as she closed the distance between her and her friend who was leaning against a lamp post across the street from her house. She kept a safe distance of about ten feet between them.

"I heard you were in town. I wanted to see you…"

Bella's eyebrows raised in surprise, not entirely buying it.

"God, this is so hard," Jacob moaned, anxiously knotting his fingers together.

"Spit it out, Jake…" Bella urged impatiently, tapping the toe of her boot against the asphalt.

"I just thought…hoped that if I saw you as one of them," he spat the word through his teeth and jerked his chin in my direction, "that I wouldn't care about you anymore. But I guess it's not as easy as flipping a switch, is it? I wish it were." His voice was heavy with regret.

Bella's face flashed through several different emotions before she landed on annoyed.

"I don't know what to tell you, Jake. You used to call yourself my best friend, but it seems to me that you never cared at all about my happiness. You only ever cared about your own.

"And you came out here tonight to tell me that you wished you didn't care about me anymore? Why? Because I'm one of them now? Or because I belong with him and not you?"

Jacob winced, clearly not expecting that reaction.

To be honest, neither did I. Jacob was always so good at manipulating Bella by making her feel guilty for her choices. And now that he didn't seem to wield that power over her anymore, he floundered in front of her, stuttering and stammering. I stood off to the side quietly in awe of her.

"Bella, how can you say that?" Jacob protested, his face twisted with insult. "After everything we've been through..."

"Well, let's see. The first time you kissed me was without my consent. The second time it was because you threatened to kill yourself in battle if I didn't.

"…You got me grounded so that I wouldn't be able to spend time with Edward. And then you put your hands on me at my own wedding reception. Did I leave anything out?" Bella snorted incredulously. "And you call Edward controlling?"

And for the first time since I'd had the misfortune of making Jacob Black's acquaintance, I actually felt sorry for him.

Because if Bella had ever eviscerated me like that, dismissed me with the cock of her perfectly arched brow, especially in plain view of my rival... I'd be high-tailing it back to Volterra that very night.

I briefly wondered if there was a similar shapeshifter authority that would put the boy out of his misery in his time of need. I didn't think he'd appreciate my volunteering.

Charlie chose that moment to slip outside the front door where he'd been eavesdropping and sidle up next to me.

"Did she just say that Jake put his hands on her at your wedding?" Charlie growled.

"Yes, she did just say that," I growled just as icily at the memory of the manhandling, or rather mutthandling of my beautiful bride. He'd been a stain on our perfect day, and I'd bitterly regretted inviting him ever since.

"Edward, I can admit when I'm wrong. I've gotten pretty good at it bein' a newly married man and all," he chuckled.

"I can relate," I nodded in commiseration without taking my eyes off of my Bella.

"But I was wrong about him. And I didn't want to say this around Sue," Charlie added in a hushed voice. "But a son-in-law that turns into a giant furry dog isn't much of an improvement."

I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter. Then Charlie started laughing too. Best of all, there was no way Jacob hadn't heard him as he literally ran off with his tail between his legs.

Bella whirled around to find me standing shoulder to shoulder with her father, both of us in a fit of giggles.

"Well I'm glad you two are enjoying yourselves," she smirked and rolled her eyes as she swaggered back across the street. In her slim-fitting leather jacket, black skinny jeans, and black leather high-heeled boots she looked very much like a sexy cat burglar.

"Alright, you two. Safe travels," Charlie said as a final farewell. And then he looked around and realized that there weren't any extra cars parked out in front. "So, ah, did you need a ride to the airport, or…" he asked reluctantly, thinking about how SeaTac was a good four hours away and he was ready for bed.

"Nah, we're good. Hey Dad, wanna see something cool?" Bella asked with a mischievous grin.

On three, she thought, glancing at the woods that butted up to the Swan residence. One, two…

And on the count of three, both of us turned and sprinted full speed for trees, leaving Charlie to stare after us in wide-eyed wonder.

"Jesus H. Christ on a bike!" The echo of his astonished exclamation followed us into the woods making us laugh as we flew through trees in the pitch blackness.

We followed our feet instinctively to our meadow where we took shelter from the worst of the weather under the wide boughs of a Douglas fir. The air was positively electric with our jubilation at having successfully dealt with the Volturi and we didn't have to lie to her father anymore. Plus, he was reasonably safe.

Most impressive of all, Bella had done a marvelous job staying in control at her father's house, though I know she must've struggled. I could see the subtle movements of her throat muscles swallowing convulsively and the clenching of her jaw whenever she wasn't actively talking.

Bella must've inherited her bravery from Charlie because he seemed to accept the existence of the supernatural just as cooly as Bella had. What a different world it would be for monsters like us if all humans reacted to the terrifying as the Swans did.

I kissed Bella fiercely as we rolled around in the damp ferns.

"You were indescribable," I murmured into her skin, my voice gravelly with lust, as I peeled her jacket off of her shoulders and lavished her long, graceful neck with soft, sucking kisses.

"Mmm," she hummed as I fluttered my tongue over a sensitive spot behind her ear.

"And the way you stood up to Jacob like that!" I blew out a stunned breath. "You took my breath away."

"Are we really going to talk about Jake right now?" Bella smirked as she worked the zipper down on my khakis.

"God, no," I rasped as I raised my hips so she could remove my pants completely. And then I rolled on top of her as it was my turn to see to the removal of her clothes.

"Do you even know how sexy you are?" My hands took their time peeling the skin-tight stretch denim down her legs, my splayed hands sliding over every inch of the creamy skin of her thighs. "How badly I want you right now?" I growled.

With Bella being none-too-pleased with me after the mishaps in Volterra, we hadn't made love since before we arrived in Italy. I was aching for her, now more than ever after I just got done watching Bella kick the pup in the nose for the last time while her father admitted to me that he had been wrong about his beloved Jacob Black.

Only Bella could've tasted sweeter than that moment, and Christ did she ever.

I raised her arms above her head, slowly peeling her long-sleeved henley up over her body and kissing the exposed skin of her stomach, chest, shoulders, and finally her arms as they were revealed to me inch by smooth, flawless inch.

Gathering her wrists in one hand, I held them above her head, pinned to the earth, as my lips grazed across her neck, up her delicate jaw, and finally found the pink, parted perfection of her lips.

"Mine," I growled, kissing her harder now. She moaned in approval, returning the kiss just as passionately. And then I felt her powerful legs wrap around my waist and then the air was rushing past my face as Bella propelled herself on top of me in a surprisingly graceful reversal.

I looked up at her from the flat on my back; her eyes the same color as mine, black and blazing with need.

Pinned to the ground as I was under her unrelenting grip, I could barely move an inch, and it was an inch more than I needed.

"Mine," Bella growled above me as her hair fell down around us like a dark, silky curtain.

"Yours," I agreed, moaning into her kiss when she sucked lightly on my bottom lip. I reached around behind her, unclasping her bra with a snap of my fingers. She quickly slid the straps of the lacy garment down her arms and tossed it aside.

When her lips finally broke free from mine, her soft, pert, unbound breasts hung down in my face, entirely too tempting to deny. I nuzzled at the skin of her chest, reveling in the unmistakable scent of her before sucking a puckered pink nipple into my mouth making her gasp.

Bella's fingers tightened in my air as I suckled her, her breathy voice moaning my name. It sounded like heaven on her lips.

I could feel the wetness of her as she ground her hips into mine, sliding herself up and down my diamond-hard shaft, teasing me.

"Bella, please," I pleaded. "I need to feel you." Had needed to feel her for days, but as the old saying went, hell hath no fury...

But my Bella was in no hurry. She placed her hands on my chest and pushed herself into an upright position, straddling my hips as my erection strained against my taut stomach, desperate for friction and release.

She continued to grind her slick core up and down my shaft without actually penetrating.

The feeling of her softest skin gliding against my hardness was the most pleasurable form of torture.

And then Bella did something completely unexpected.

She reached down to swirl the fingertips of her right hand around the swollen bundle of nerves peeking out from within her soft folds. Meanwhile, her left hand clutched at her breast, pinching the stiffened tip between her fingers. She rode me like that, using my body for her own pleasure for an unfathomable amount of time.

I watched her, completely captivated, her head thrown back in pleasure, the tips of her rain-dampened hair brushing against the tops of my thighs. My hands rested on the gyrating swell of her hips, feeling her undulate against my painfully hard erection as I groaned at the exquisite torment.

I rocked my hips against hers, matching her rhythm stroke for stroke until she was at the highest point of the precipice that she was about to go tumbling over. Her body was as tight and tense as a piano string.

One sixty-fourth of a second later, I rolled us back over so that I was on top and thrust my throbbing manhood all the way home. Her scream as we climaxed together sliced through the enveloping peacefulness of the deep woods like a katana through silk.

Spent, Bella's body went limp and she crashed down into my open arms. We laid there tangled up in each other, reveling in the afterglow of our explosive union while still connected in the most intimate way.

"Jesus H. Christ on a bike," I panted, still coming down from the highest of highs.

"Somebody was a little pent up," she teased, absently running her fingernails through the sparse patch of chest hair that grew over my sternum.

"You have no idea," I admitted with a deeply satisfied grin.

As the drizzle let up into a fine mist and the night sky lightened shade by shade, we laid there on a blanket of ferns, unhurried by timelines or agendas, just enjoying one another in our sacred place, completely unaware of the outside world.

Sometimes we spoke aloud, other times we were quiet. And every so often I'd lean over and chase a rain droplet across her skin with my tongue, over the curve of her shoulder or the swell of her hip. And then she'd sigh softly or purr with pleasure. and that's all it would take for the both of us to be raring to go all over again.

Like the changing movements of a symphony building to a climax and resolution, hushed whispers and gentle touches deepened into kisses and caresses, which inevitably became strokes and thrusts.

Da Capo. Which in musical notation meant 'repeat from the beginning.'

After the final repeat, brilliant rays of sun were just beginning to pierce through the full branches of the fir tree we lay beneath as Bella tugged on her boots.

"Isn't it bizarre to think that it's only been two years since you were here, sparkling in the sun for me for the first time? It feels like a lifetime! I've had longer relationships with some of my shoes," she mused with a giggle.

I chuckled. "You really know how to make a guy feel his age. I bought my Ray Charles shirt the year before Charlie was born," I admitted.

"He called you Gramps," Bella snickered.

I groaned at the memory. "Don't remind me! He was actually more bothered by my age than anything else," I shook my head incredulously.

"I hope Charlie wasn't too ugly to you inside his head," she worried aloud. "I would've shielded him, but it took all my concentration to sit in that room with him and Sue and act like I didn't want to…" she cringed, unable to finish her sentence.

I affectionately ruffled the still-damp strands of her hair that cascaded down her back. "You did extraordinarily well, Bella. You could've even passed for a human. Before you know it, you'll be hating high school all over again with the rest of us," I chuckled.

*BPOV*

"And then I'll be the weird one that looks like I'm in pain all the time," I laughed, thinking of the tortured look on Jasper's face the very first time I saw him walk into the crowded school cafeteria.

Though, it didn't matter to me how much my throat hurt if it meant getting to spend every day of forever with Edward. That was a mere pitfall of the life I'd eagerly signed up for. I would suffer it without complaint like Edward always had when I knew at times he must've been hurting terribly.

"I bet 'weird,' doesn't even make the top twenty adjectives used to describe you by your future classmates," Edward disagreed with a shake of his head.

"Yes, well, you're a tad biased. Besides, the average teen doesn't go around dropping words like 'exquisite,' and 'ethereal," I teased with a smirk, slipping my arms into the leather jacket that Edward held open for me.

"Bad habit," he acknowledged with a lopsided grin. "I could definitely do a better job of using more colloquial language...Hot, hottie, and babe just lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. Especially when used to describe someone as heart-stoppingly beautiful as you," Edward purred and jumped to his feet. Then taking my hand, he pulled me to mine.

"Interesting choice of words. Let's just hope the only heart I end up stopping is my own, hmm?"

Taller in my thick heeled boots, I didn't need to stand on my tiptoes to kiss him then, merely tilt my chin back for a short, sweet smack on the lips.

"Speaking of feeble-minded teenagers, do I get to ask about Jacob, now? What brought that on? And by the way, it was utterly unfair that I didn't get to hear either of your minds for that glorious little exchange!" Edward smiled victoriously.

I shrugged a bit uncomfortably. "I guess it finally occurred to me that I don't owe him anything...If the situation had been reversed and he'd been the heartbroken one, I would've been there for him, without an agenda. And I would've been happy for him if his person came back to him."

"I know you would," Edward agreed in a soft, gentle voice.

"Sometimes I wonder if Jake had a way of knowing how things would turn out in the end, would he have even bothered to put me back together when I was broken?" Edward's face tightened with pain.

"It's a pretty gross thing to wonder about someone you called your best friend," I heaved a sigh.

"I'm so sorry, love. Sorry that neither of us could ever hope to deserve you," Edward kissed the back of my hand with a mournful expression.

"I didn't say that to make you feel bad," I frowned. "You are forgiven. You do deserve me. After I ended things with Jake after the battle, you let me cry my eyes out on your shoulder and never tried to make me feel bad about it.

"Jake could never be that selfless. Could never put my needs before his own the way you have every minute of every day since I sat next to you in biology class," I said in a huff. "Maybe when he imprints on someone, he'll figure that part out," I concluded with a shrug.

"He won't have a choice," Edward added.

"That's the great thing about you," I mused. "You don't have to love me the way you do, but you do anyway."

"Oh, I don't know if I agree with that, love. When it came to falling in love with you, I had very little choice in the matter," chuckled Edward. "Though, I wouldn't have it any other way. As it turns out, fate is a pretty good matchmaker," he remarked with a wink.

Then after a short beat of silence, as I took one last look around our meadow, Edward asked, "So, ready to head back?"

"Ugh. No," I muttered, knowing that Carlisle was going to have words for me and Alice would too if the voicemail she left me when we were crossing back over the Atlantic was any indication:

Hi Bella, It's Alice. Alice Cullen. Your sister. The one that can see the future. Remember me?! Get your asses back here so I can tell you both in person what COLOSSAL IDIOTS you are! Smooches!

I sighed. " I guess it's time to go face the music. Maybe Alice will be less mad if I follow up my apology with an official request to rejoin civilization."

Edward's thick eyebrows shot up to his hairline at the mention of moving.

"I hadn't realized you were ready to move on. But I don't think anyone will object. You've been doing so well...And it's not like we'd be enrolling in school this late in the school year. So that would give you until August to build up your endurance and perfect the human act," Edward worked through the logistics out loud, more for himself than for my benefit.

"Any idea where you'd want to go next?" Edward asked then.

"Oh, I have no idea. Wherever the family wants to go is fine with me," I shrugged, eager to start being a team player instead of the leading actress in 'The Edward & Bella Show.'

"Bears are nice and all, but I miss living somewhere with actual roads. And it would be nice to stop feeling like a visitor in Rosalie's house," I answered candidly.

Edward chuckled, nodding in agreement. Then his eyes sparkled with the excitement of a little boy. "You know what this means, don't you? You finally get to take your 'after car' for a spin!"

*A/N Sorry for the delay in getting this out, folks. Kiddo's summer camp schedule ate into my writing time haha. But yes, I'm turning the page for these two. And I haven't the faintest idea where they'll go next, so suggestions are very welcome lol. Thanks for reading and reviewing. I can't wait to hear what you think. Til next time!