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Over frozen pizza and expensive wine, Edward begins to try to explain everything and I try not to stare at the way his lips redden with every sip.
"I don't know who exactly is following you," he admits. "It could be some asshole I helped put away out for revenge...or it could be the Faction."
"The Faction?"
"They're an international terrorist group. And they're trying to recruit Real Ones. The ones they can't recruit, they eliminate."
"Wait what? Slow down. This doesn't make any sense."
"It's a lot to explain," he sighs. "Essentially, if a Real One won't join them, they refuse to let them stand against them in the future. Better to destroy the threat."
"Holy shit. What do they want with me?"
He looks away, expression stormy. "Because I won't join them. And they're desperate. Because there aren't many like me left. They need me alive."
"And?"
"And, Bella, they want to use you as leverage."
"Why the fuck would they want to do that?" My mind is racing almost as fast as my heart. I feel like I can't catch my breath.
Then Edward's hand is on my knee, his wine glass abandoned on the coffee table, and I feel like I'm going to spontaneously combust.
"Because they know I would do anything to keep you safe."
"That's so stupid, Edward, why would you-"
I'm cut off by the soft press of his mouth on mine, hesitant as his lips begin to move with my own. There aren't words to describe that chaste kiss-none that would do it justice. That feeling of wholeness, of rightness, of comfort, of lust.
It's as if everything I've ever done in my life has been leading to this moment.
When he breaks the kiss, he rests his forehead on mine, and lets out a shaky breath.
"That is why. Do you...do you feel it, too?"
The word yes leaves me in a sigh and my lips find his once more, this time more insistent, the kiss deeper and more desperate. One of his hands tangles in the hair at the base of my neck while the other grips my hip, pulling me closer. I feel as if my skin is the only thing keeping me together and I'm twisting his shirt in my fists, wishing more than anything for there to be nothing at all as a barrier between us.
He's the one to pull away again, his eyes glowing intensely green and focused on the way my breaths come close to panting.
"Why'd you stop?" I gasp, which brings a smirk to his beautiful, swollen mouth.
"It's getting late," he says. "We both have to appear...normal. I have a secret identity to
uphold, you know. And what I want to do to you would take all. Night. Long. We'd never make it to the office."
My responding gulp is comical enough to make him laugh.
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