Edward took my hand as we walked down a leafy sidewalk, surrounded by brick buildings coated with ivy on either side. It was completely dark now, and the only illumination on the quiet street was from old-fashioned street lamps. The mist was mostly gone, leaving only the spring air in the night.
"Here's our stop," Edward said, pausing in front of a green awning with signage indicating it was The Elliott Bay Book Company. "The best bookstore in Seattle."
"Cool," I said casually. I loved bookstores, and this was a welcome addition to the itinerary. I moved my hand to push on the brass door handle, but found it was locked. "Are they open?"
I turned to look at Edward, who was now on his cell phone. He smiled at me as he talked into it. "Lisa, it's Edward. We're outside." He clicked his phone shut and glanced at me, hope in his piercing eyes. "We have the store to ourselves tonight. I'm having them stay open late just for us."
"How did you manage that?" I asked, bewildered.
He knitted his eyebrows together playfully. "I… can be persuasive when I need to be."
I looked down, grinning to myself. This was another ridiculous gesture, but I honestly loved the idea of it. "Thank you."
"No comments about how excessive this is?"
My eyes held his. His speech earlier about marriage hummed in my mind, and I found myself viewing him different now. I saw myself different now, feeling more connected to him than I ever had before. The vulnerability of our conversation took me off guard, and instead of feeling ashamed or embarrassed, I felt his lightness tonight. "Not tonight," I said, my voice thicker than usual. "I think this is a wonderful gift."
"Amazing, I did something right," he said. A motion behind the glass doors caught my attention, and I saw a blonde-haired woman flip a lock on the door. She held it open for us.
"Come on in!" She beamed, her eyes lingering on me for just a moment longer than I felt comfortable with. I looked at my shoes. "My colleague Jason and I will be at the front desk, so take your time and come to us with any questions or requests."
"Thank you, Lisa," Edward said, holding my hand as he led me inside. The floor creaked beneath us as we entered the store, a brilliance in the light that shone overhead. Shelves upon shelves covered every available wall. Tables were propped in open spaces, covered with interesting titles and notes from the bookstore owners. I noticed a second story, a velvet runner leading up the stairs to even more books. Soothing acoustic guitar music played from speakers attached to the rustic red brick walls.
It was wonderful.
Edward pulled me along to the fiction section and dropped my hand. "So, here's how the remaining part of the evening is going to go: you are going to go off and explore. Find whatever books catch your interest, to read here for a while or to ship back to Forks since I have extremely limited cargo space —I've arranged for Lisa to take care of everything. I may interrupt you at some point, but I'll be doing my own browsing."
I threw my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could. "This is wonderful. Thank you."
He swallowed and caught my eye adoringly before as he looked away. There was something deeper there I didn't quite know how to place. "Go have fun. I'm curious about what you find."
I kissed him on the cheek and wandered down the first aisle I saw. I turned to look at him, and noticed that he was heading over to the non-fiction new release section. My eyes caught the spines of novels on the shelves nearly as tall as I was. All of the classics were here, plus several new releases that caught my eye. I pulled several and wandered over to a small armchair in the corner, curling up as I placed my stack of books on a side table topped with a brilliant gold lamp. I was absorbed in the story in just a couple moments, intrigued by the intensity of the dialogue.
More time must have passed than I realized, because in a moment Edward was standing near me.
"You look like a painting right now," he said, leaning against one of the shelves. His topaz eyes were captivating. "How far did you make it?"
I blushed. "I made it down one aisle."
He barked a laugh. "We'll come back again." He paused, taking a deeper breath than normal. "I apologize for interrupting, but I found a story you might be interested in."
I closed my book and made a note of the name. "Lead the way, I'm excited about what you've found."
He started to walk down the one aisle I'd managed to explore. He paused and began searching the shelves, biting his lip in mocking concentration. "Hmm… where is it?" He took my hand as the other hand extended over his head to touch the shelf. I noticed that his hand was trembling ever so slightly. "Here it is."
His fingers brushed the spine of a beautiful edition of Jane Eyre and he pulled it down from the shelf. "I've read that book, Edward. I told you that it's one of my favorites."
I noticed the atmosphere in the store changed slightly as the guitar music disappeared. He dropped my hand, and presented me with the edition with both of his hands outstretched. "I know, I have a good memory. I think this is a very unique edition, though." He turned on his feet quickly, his eyes fixed on adjacent shelves. I looked away from him to stare at the book in my hands.
It was a beautiful edition, a new leather bound. It was surprisingly heavy in my hands, and I remembered how many times I've read this book before, exploring the world of Thornfield Hall. I opened the book to the very first page across from the cover to be met with a printed inscription:
Let's have a significantly happier ending than these two.
Your Edward
PS: Will you marry me?
I felt my heart stop and restart. This was it. This is what he planned. This is why he wanted to take me away, why Charlie let me go, why we had the detailed conversation at dinner. He said I would know.
I knew.
I recognized the music playing overhead as his compositions. Music for me.
"Edward…" I said, turning around. I found him kneeling before me, a ring box on his knee. He gazed up at me through impossibly long lashes. I couldn't look away.
"Isabella Swan," he started as he opened the small black box, "You have surprised me and delighted me. You are my person, and every moment with you is the best moment of my life. I promise to cherish you everyday, forever. Will you marry me?"
I didn't need to think about my answer.
"Yes. A thousand times, yes."
He quickly placed the ring on a shelf, still nestled in velvet in the box. Before I could ask to see it, his cold lips were on mine. His hands were on my waist and I could feel myself being whisked around. Everything was a blur of color and my music, and the feeling of his cool, hard arms holding me, his own desire and mine intermingled in each touch.
Suddenly I was weightless, spinning as he picked me up off the ground. I heard him laughing into my neck. I didn't know how long it went on, but I didn't want it to stop.
Edward eventually put me down. He leaned close, his breath scrambling my thoughts. "Thank you." His voice dripped with adoration.
"You're…welcome?" I laughed. "Edward, I would like to see the ring. You sort of tossed it aside."
"Oh, right." He looked flustered. "I was excited."
"I could tell," I smiled. "You might have crushed me back then, you know."
He smirked, mostly to himself. His moon-white hand found the ring box, his fingers gingerly holding the sides. He looked at the ring briefly before looking at me. I stared at the ring. It was small and made of white gold. It had a beautiful modest diamond in its center, cut in a way I had never seen before. The side had an elegant floral pattern carved into it.
It was stunning.
We didn't say anything to one another. I felt my hand lift under his icy touch, his hand shaking as it supported mine. His other hand delicately held the ring. He looked me in the eye as he slid it over my finger, a perfect fit.
It was the most worshipful expression I'd ever seen cross his face.
"I love it," I said, holding my hand out in front of me. "Thank you."
"Good," he said quietly, his voice soft. "This was the ring my father gave my mother."
I thought of his story earlier and a fresh wave of tears found my eyes. I couldn't say anything, but instead just caressed his beautiful face.
"It's quite old," he murmured. "The diamond is cut for candlelight."
I was suddenly aware that someone was clapping. I was pulled out of the world of Edward and noticed that the two bookstore employees were watching us.
"I'm glad she said yes," Jason said. "Honestly, I was on the edge of my seat."
"Edward's a keeper, dear," Lisa said. "He's been working with us for weeks."
I beamed back at him, laughing. He met my gaze. "Mine," I said.
We practically danced back to the car, where we had a short drive to the hotel. Our drive was quiet, but the air in the car was knowing, intense with need. We stumbled out into the street after we parked, the moonlight mixing with city lights that fell around us. I beamed as Edward put his arm around my shoulder, picking up my hand to look at the ring that would presumably stay there forever.
We were quiet as we walked into the hotel, its wooded interior shining around us and making the light bounce back gold. We were quiet as Edward checked in, and carried our light luggage into the brass trimmed elevator. We were quiet when the door chimed and let us out. We were quiet as he flashed the key card to open the room.
Edward's arm tightened around me as he led me inside, him dropping the luggage and shrugging off his jacket as the door closed. I didn't have time to spot the bed or see anything of the room at all before I found myself pressed against the wall, consumed by him. The force of him as his hands held mine above my head, his lips crushing into mine, caused a fire to course through me I didn't know was possible.
He pulled back to look at me as he dropped my hands, and I noticed he'd stopped breathing. Our eyes were locked and I could feel the heat radiating off of me. I took his hands and tugged gently, letting him know I wanted to guide him. He relaxed, and I moved his marble hands to my blouse, pushing his fingers so they curled under the hem.
"Touch me," I whispered, stroking his hands.
I'd expected him to pull back, to say we'd reached our limit for the evening, that we were crossing dangerous lines.
But the smoky look in his eyes said otherwise.
And I felt his fingers start to move, feeling beneath them the storm of emotion that resided in him. He trembled slightly as his fingers brushed the bottom of my bra, and his gaze held mine, ablaze with desire. I nodded, and in a second I found my hands raised above my head once again in an icy lock. My blouse was no longer on me, but instead floating to the floor beside us, and Edward's hands raced against me, on my back, on my arms. My body was crushing into him, feeling him hard against me for the first time.
His breath was on my neck as I felt his hands wrap around me, pausing on the clasps of my bra. "Is this okay?" he whispered in my ear, his voice husky and cool.
"Yes," I heard myself say. I heard the hooks come undone and I shimmied down the straps. Edward pulled away from me for a moment and I let the garment fall to the floor.
"Stunning," he said, taking me in. His eyes were black.
I swallowed and I felt his absence, wanting to feel him closer.
He approached me, standing before me. I looked up at him, my hands toying with the edges of his button down. I undid the bottom button and looked up at him again, wondering if he would stop me. I undid the next button without interruption. I kept going until it was completely undone. His eyes burned into mine. He shrugged the shirt to the floor.
I felt him take my hand, his cool and solid grip pulling me towards the bed. "Lie back," he murmured.
I wanted nothing more than to touch him, to have my skin on his. But I did as he said, lying against the fluffy white comforter as he moved on top of me. For a moment, he lingered around my neck, inhaling my scent. My heart was shaking in my chest and my hands began to explore his back. I found his eyes, and saw nothing but longing.
He moved a hand over me, making long, sweeping strokes from the nape of my neck, over the tips of my breasts, to the waistband of my jeans. His touch was too light, too calculated.
I pressed myself into him, hooking my leg around him and raising my hips to feel him. I stopped, gazing up at him. I understood this was a delicate dance we were doing.
He surprised me by moving his hand to my hip. Firmly, he pressed into me and I could feel his hardness there. I looked at him, shocked, my whole body flushing.
He pulled back slightly. "Too much? Talk to me." His voice was strained.
"No, not too much." I breathed. "Surprise. I'm surprised."
His eyes were devouring me. "We can't go much further tonight."
"I know," I said, even as I felt a huge wave of disappointment.
He shifted and I could feel him move against me, our denim clashing together as he pressed into me harder. He moved downward and I felt my hands comb through his hair. His firm lips touched my neck, and he worked his way down, stopping as pressed a gentle kiss on the top of my breast. His thumb brushed the underside, icy tremors coursing through me.
"Too cold?"
"No," I breathed. "It feels wonderful."
I felt his tongue make small circles on me and I lost all sense of awareness except the feeling of this, of this vampire caressing me and loving me. My fiancé.
He stopped, making his way up to kiss me sweetly before collapsing on his side next to me. "Progress."
It was the happiest evening of my life.
