A/N: Thanks for still being here! Let's get to it.

There were campgrounds all along the river. Bella was wary about letting them get close until she saw the dirt road leading up to one was barely visible through the foliage that had grown over it. There was a lone RV on the main grounds. It had been so long since it had been touched, vines had curled up and wound around the door handle.

They lucked out again when the RV proved to be free of bodies, its former occupants being nice enough to die elsewhere, Bella thought darkly. They'd even left the windows cracked so the air inside was fresh and clean. The shelves were well stocked. All the fresh fruit had long ago rotted to a mummified mess, but there were plenty of cans. Even better, there were bags of dehydrated fruit and nuts.

After a feast of spam, green beans, and corn, Aaron tossed his little body down on the mat they'd set on the floor—a cushion from the small couch area—and went promptly to sleep.

It was a cool, peaceful night. She and Edward spoke softly as they worked together to set up a perimeter, rigging it so they would hear anyone approaching. Edward set a few snares and rolled his eyes with a smile when she made a show of examining each one.

"You're getting better," she said grudgingly and smiled back.

A soft wind riffled her hair as they walked back to the RV. She was still hyper-aware, ever-vigilant. Yet, as she tilted her head back, her eyes on the endless expanse of stars, the oppressive weight on her shoulders eased. The air was sweet and clean. The company…

She glanced to the side and tucked a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. The company was handsome; there was no denying that. Even with a few days growth of scruffy beard. Maybe especially with a few days growth of beard. But more than that, over the last few days, something easy and warm had settled over her.

Comfort. She was comfortable with him. Like it was finally sinking in that she might not be so alone in this cold, new world after all.

And hell if that wasn't a whole other type of dangerous.

Back in the RV, the two found themselves staring down their next problem. There were a lot worse problems to have, but still. At best, it was awkward. At worst…

Well, anyway. It was a small RV. There was only one bed.

Edward chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Don't worry about it. I can sleep in the front seat."

"No," Bella said, too quickly. Her cheeks heated and her skin crawled.

No. Not crawled. The sensation that rippled across her flesh wasn't the same as the filthy feeling that made her stomach roil. It wasn't disgust; it was electricity.

Bella cleared her throat. "No, it's…"

Was it okay? The bed wasn't even a queen. It was a full-sized mattress. "We've basically slept together," she muttered more to herself than him. "Just a few feet between us some nights. It shouldn't be so different."

But it was different. Parts of them would inevitably touch. They would shift in their sleep.

And so what if they did? She trusted him. If he'd wanted to attack her, he'd had ample opportunity.

Then again, she'd trusted Jacob more and known him a lot longer.

Bella squeezed her eyes shut, real fear sending ice shooting down her spine. She shook her head hard. She had to trust him. She had come too far down this road not to trust him with something as simple as keeping his hands to himself. "It's fine," she said to both of them, but she still didn't move.

After a few heavy beats, Edward cleared his throat. "You know, having sex while you're camping outside is fucking intense."

Bella blinked. Then, she laughed. So hard she had to clap a hand over her mouth. And all her nervous energy dissipated.

Right. Trust wasn't something she could halfass. She either did or she didn't, and, dammit, she'd already made this decision.

Edward climbed into bed first, as though he didn't have to be told she'd want to be able to get up without having to catapult over him. He quirked an eyebrow at her. "So. Do you want my ass?"

Her eyes went wide. "What?"

There was a hint of mischief in his easy smile. "Do you want me to face you or the window?"

Ah. There wouldn't be much if any space between them. So, assuming she was facing forward—which she would be—they would either be ass to ass or she was going to end up as the little spoon.

"Ass it is," she said.

The night was still. There wasn't so much as a hint of wind, and so Bella was hyper-aware of the tandem inhale-exhale of her breath with Edward's. And since she had silenced the paranoid voice in her head, she had room to acknowledge all the other reasons sharing a bed with this man made her nervous.

There was, she mused inwardly, something to be said about human beings and animal nature. Not as an excuse. She was a thinking creature, able to rationalize and tell right from wrong. But all the rationalization in the world didn't change the fact her body hummed at his nearness—a tuning fork being struck. She could feel the heat of him. She could taste the scent of him in the air. Socialization and society told her she should have been repulsed by the smell of an unwashed male, but wasn't her body programmed to respond?

He was, after all, the last man on earth as far as she was concerned. The only man on the planet she trusted at this moment in time. Her psyche knew it. And maybe that was why her biological instinct was shouting: him.

Now.

Or maybe it was just muscle memory. She hadn't been a virgin, after all. The fact she'd once been like any other college student, two or three lifetimes and a lost world ago, had left her with muscle memory. She'd never shared a bed with a man without having sex with him. And this man… There weren't many people who would kick him out of bed.

Stifling a groan at the sudden reemergence of the normal, twenty-something she should have been, Bella folded further in on herself. Moving as carefully as she could, she brought her legs up closer to her chest and closed her eyes.

~0~

She couldn't concentrate, and it was beginning to drive her crazy.

That morning, she'd awaken to Edward calling her name—his voice a low and rough rumble, closer than she'd expected since he was trapped in the bed behind her.

Since then, it was as though the air was alive, electricity crackling in her ear. Her memory kept replaying the gravelly sound of her name and the way his tone vibrated under her skin. He was standing in the RV's tiny bathroom, the door open. Bella kept getting distracted by the sweep of the razor along the strong line of his chin.

His hand paused and the reflection of his eyes caught her in a stare. Her cheeks flushed and she looked down quickly, trying to remember what she was doing. Breakfast. Slicing spam into strips. She needed to think about other things. More important things. Or hell—more mundane. Bacon and eggs? How long had it been since she'd had bacon and eggs for breakfast?

But the question didn't hold her interest; not when a glance told her he was done. He tilted his chin up, staring into the mirror to catch any patches he might have missed. She was mesmerized. She—

"Ow! Shit." The knife she'd been holding dropped to the counter with a clatter as Bella jumped backward. "Fuck!" Her back hit the table behind her. She growled, holding her now-wounded finger high and closing her eyes tightly. She could smell the blood oozing from the cut on her finger and it made her woozy.

In the next instant, another smell hit her like a brick wall. "Are you okay?" Edward asked.

Bella blinked, truly befuddled for a moment. "Are you…" She breathed in through her nose, almost unable to place the scent that surrounded them, driving away even the memory of the smell of blood. "Are you wearing aftershave?"

Heady stuff. Freshly shaven man with a hint of spice.

Her eyes still closed, she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist. He brought her hand down. "It's not bad," he said.

Carefully, she let one eye open, focused on her finger. Blood trickled down her arm, making her stomach churn, but he was right; it wasn't bad. "Are you really carrying aftershave around? Space counts, you know, and—"

"Relax." He held her wrist aloft and, even though she'd been doing the same just fine on her own, she didn't yank her hand away. "You were the one who packed my bag. You know I didn't have any aftershave. I found it here."

Bella huffed, flustered. She started, hitting her back against the table again when he stepped forward, brushing up against her. "What are you—"

"Sorry." Edward shifted again, though it didn't put that much more space between them. He gestured with his chin to the side. "I didn't want him to see. He doesn't like blood."

Peering over his shoulder, Bella saw Aaron was watching them, his eyes filled with trepidation. "It's okay, kiddo. Everyone's okay." She took a deep breath and stepped away, pulling her hand from Edward's light grasp. She examined the cut on her hand and grimaced.

"I can help." Edward took a small step toward her.

"No," Bella said too loudly. She closed her eyes briefly and gave her head a little shake. "No. I can do it." The wound wasn't bad. The blood had stopped flowing. Mostly she was just a mess. "I do miss running water."

Edward's chuckle made her glance up. The sight of his grin and the spark in his eyes did something to her heartbeat. "Running water?" he said, tilting his head, teasing. "You mean like the river twenty feet from where we're standing."

Her cheeks flushed hot. She opened her mouth but thoughts and words tangled again.

Irritated at herself, she rifled through her bag to find the simple medkit she kept accessible and headed out the door without saying another word.

~0~

Bella made a disgruntled noise as she smoothed out the map in her hands for the fifth time. It was almost noon—the time she'd said they had to leave—and the strange energy in the air hadn't dissipated. They were outside, for chrissakes. She shouldn't feel this twisted up and…

"Twitterpated," she muttered to herself and rolled her eyes.

She'd woken up in a mood this morning, and she still couldn't pinpoint why. But her hormones were out of control, and it was getting on her nerves.

Edward was shirtless. He'd been bathing in the river with Aaron while Bella sorted and organized their supplies. Some minutes before—right around the time she forgot how to read a map—he had reappeared on a rock outcropping on the shore wearing only his pants. He'd been helping the baby get dressed and…

He was shirtless. He wasn't ripped so much as he was defined. The sun kissed his skin and set off the golden sparks in his hair.

Golden sparks? "Get a grip," she commanded herself.

He stood on the rock and stretched and…

She really needed to concentrate. It was almost game time. Time to get back out on the road. Time to get on with the business of getting Edward and Aaron home so she could get back to her nomadic lifestyle without distractions.

Bella bit the inside of her cheek hard—an admonishment to the little voice inside her head that started to whisper. It could be her home too. She could stop. Stop running. Stop looking over her shoulder. She and Edward could…

Nothing, she told herself harshly. Whatever switch had been flipped inside her belonged to the woman she should have been. That woman, a young professional, a college grad, might have run into Edward at a coffee shop. A bookstore. Maybe a bar when she went out with her girlfriends. That woman would have had time and room in her life for the dance, the game. Numbers exchanged? A date? A kiss? A one night stand in the backseat of his car?

That woman didn't exist because the world she lived in didn't exist. This world was life and death; constant vigilance. This thing—whatever was going on with the buzz of energy in the air and the slow burn fire under her skin—was just the muscle memory of her confused psyche. Yes, she was attracted to him. He was attractive. And funny. And kind. She'd gotten comfortable with him—an inevitability given all the time they spent together. That was all that was going on. She was having a strong reaction, and it would pass.

Her traitorous brain refused to shake loose the strange fog that had settled over her ordered thoughts, slipping her into daydreams despite her best efforts. What would it have been like to see Edward in his element? To be seduced by him? What would—

A yelp followed by a splash broke through the haze of daydreams. Bella shot to her feet, twisting toward the rock where Edward had been just a moment before. Now, only Aaron stood there, fist in his mouth, staring down toward the water.

Bella ran. She clambered up the rock outcropping and looked over. Her heart nearly stopped at the sight. It wasn't a big fall from the rock—just a few feet—but the pool just there was deep. Edward's head was above the water, but he was clearly struggling. He kept dipping beneath the surface and reappearing gasping, his head tilted up.

"Stay here," she told the baby as though he could understand the command. But there was no time to worry about that. She jumped into the pool and was surprised when her feet hit the riverbed. She was short, so standing on the bottom her head was well below the waterline, but Edward should have been able to breathe easily if he stood on his tiptoes. She swam to him, getting her arm around him.

"Stuck," he said, the word coming out as a gasp. "I'm stuck."

Pulling in a deep breath, Bella dove beneath the surface. She used his body, grabbing the loop of his jeans to help pull her down, feeling her way along his leg. Sure enough, his foot was tangled amongst the hidden branches and rocks along the bottom. Taking a firm grip on his ankle, she moved the debris out of the way, helping pull him free.

His legs kicked and Bella pushed up, her lungs burning. She sucked in air as she breached the surface and turned to Edward again. "Come on." She pulled his arm around her shoulders and started to swim toward the shore.

"I'm okay," he said, breathless, but he didn't let her go. His arm slipped to her waist and, together, they stumbled toward the shore. Once out of the water, Edward went limp. His arm slipped from around her and he fell onto the riverbank facefirst, coughing and sputtering.

Falling to her knees beside him, Bella rolled him over. Her hand went to a thin, fresh cut on his temple. "Edward, can you open your eyes?" She put a frantic hand to his chest, feeling the sharp rise and fall.

"I'm okay," he mumbled. His eyelashes fluttered and finally, finally opened. He blinked and his eyes focused.

Bella's breath left her in a whoosh. It was pure instinct for her to lean down then and press her lips to his forehead, his eyes, in relief.

Just before she kissed his lips, she realized what she was doing and pulled back. She sat up, and would have stood, but his grip on her arms stopped her. Her eyes locked with his, and she couldn't seem to move.

He licked his lips, still panting. "I bumped my head when I fell."

Her eyes flitted to the cut on his head. She brushed it with her fingers. There was only the slightest bump.

"It's not a concussion," Edward said in a matter of fact tone.

"Okay," she said, dubious.

"I was stunned. Just a minute. In the water, I mean. I didn't… I can survive. I would have survived. This doesn't go against my record."

Her lip twitched. "Okay."

One more beat passed as they both caught their breath. Two beats. Then two too many. Bella wondered vaguely why she wasn't moving.

"You said my name."

Bella blinked at him. "What?"

"In your sleep. You said my name. A lot."

The missing puzzle piece clicked into place, and the memory of her dreams came back to her. They weren't images. Not really, though she could guess what they must have been as she slept—not so unlike the daydreams that had crept into her consciousness. Touch. Taste. Their mouths on each other and their hands… His hands…

That was why the air seemed alive. Desire. Want. The space between them was rife with it.

She tried to stand up, but he grabbed her hand. "Bella… I didn't mean… I shouldn't have said… I hit my head. I don't know what I was thinking."

His silence wouldn't have changed the fact it happened. She rubbed the back of her neck, head spinning, thoughts racing.

Edward sat up. "Bella—"

She kissed him. He made a surprised noise, hands in the air, but only for the space of a heartbeat. Then, his arms wrapped around her, and he tilted his head into her kiss.

For the first time in forever, years, every ounce of weight on her shoulders disappeared. She was so light, she would have sworn she was flying. Soaring. There was nothing but this. Him. The movement of their lips together sending thrills through her veins. His chest, slick and cold from the water, felt so good beneath her hands. Her kiss was hard. She was ravenous for him, starved.

How had she missed this insatiable hunger?

"Hey!"

They broke apart with a gasp. Bella looked up and saw Aaron, his brow furrowed in irritation, staring at her from the rock outcropping where he was stuck. "Hey. Hey." He waved his arms and gave an angry cry.

"I'll, uh…" Edward licked his lips, his eyes darting over her. "I'll get him."

"Yeah." Bella stayed seated for a moment, watching him as he went to the baby. There was too much in her head to organize her thoughts. Lust. His wet jeans clung to him and his body, all lean lines… She wanted to touch. Now that she'd had a taste, she wanted to know how all of him felt. Lust. Like. The thrill of something new.

Fear. Stark and cold and cloying in her gut.

The world was about to change. Again.

What the hell was she supposed to do with this?

A/N: Thanks so much to quantumfizzx for talking me out of the hole I was in.

So, guys. I really appreciate your patience with this sporadic updates.

I just released a book this week. It's called Never Enough by Kristina M. Sanchez. An age gap. A damaged bad boy and the good girl (who is actually more than a little bad herself). A bit of a forbidden romance. A dash of drama and angst.

And best of all, the whole story is there! No waiting for chapters.

You can find it on Amazon along with my other four books if you're interested.