**EPOV**

After polishing off a small herd of elk and later getting alerted that I was allowed to come home, Jasper and I returned to my Volvo.

I hadn't needed to bring the car, of course. Though on the rare occasion that I ran into a park ranger or someone of that ilk, it looked a little suspect for a 17-year-old kid to be in the middle of the wilderness without any means of leaving.

Jasper broke the comfortable silence on the drive back.

"Are you really not going to ask me anything in regards to your upcoming honeymoon, especially with the golden opportunity of Emmett not being around to talk shit? As your big brother, I gotta say I'm a little hurt," he razzed.

"I hadn't planned on it, but it sure sounds like you're dying to impart some wisdom," I replied dryly.

"So what's your plan?" Jasper turned his body in his seat to look at me more directly.

"Um, make love to my wife and try not to kill her. That's the plan," I tightened my grip on the steering wheel and kept my eyes on the road.

"You gotta have a plan, man! Make a plan, work the plan." He smacked the back of his hand into the palm of the other. "In that order." After I said nothing, he continued.

"It's going to need to be someplace warm if she's going to be in close contact with you. You're going to need something you can hold onto that can withstand some abuse. You might want to ply her with some wine to get her to relax-"

"I'm not going to take advantage of her in a chemically-altered state!" I spat, offended by the very idea.

"Calm down, I would never suggest that. But if she's nervous, and you know she's going to be nervous, it might be more painful for her if she's all tensed up. There's a reason why the humans call alcohol 'liquid courage.'"

As much as I loathed the idea of Bella being anything but completely clear-headed when we first made love, I conceded that Jasper might've had a point.

Though vampires could never become physically ill, the idea of causing Bella pain made me as close to it as I'd ever get.

"I can't hurt her, Jazz. And I have no idea how not to," I admitted with a groan.

"That's sort of inevitable, at least for the first time, but that would be true even if you were human. And of course, I'm sure you've taken into account that there could be blood," he pointed out the obvious. I gave him an irritated sideways glance.

"But ya know, at least she'll have the benefit of having a husband with an ice pack for a-"

I turned up the volume on my stereo before his crassness could upset me.

"Emmett wasn't here so you thought you'd supply the vulgarity?" I snorted derisively.

"Someone had to," he snickered.

~Later that evening~

"Did you have a nice evening with Charlie?" I asked, trying for the third time to make conversation with a very abstracted Bella.

She was in her nightclothes standing in front of her dresser brushing her hair. Her reflection in the mirror was facing me as I laid on her bed behind her. She had a blank expression on her face, and her eyes looked far away.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. It was nice," she replied absently.

"You're awfully quiet tonight," I noted, beating back the anxiety I was starting to feel that I had done something wrong.

She made eye contact with me in the mirror then.

"To be honest, I'm just kind of tired of talking," she said quietly, with a small smile.

I momentarily wondered what might have passed between Bella and my meddling sister to put her in such a melancholic mood.

In an instant, I was standing close behind her. I wrapped my arms tightly around her middle and rested my chin on her shoulder, unable to help myself from pressing a soft kiss to the smooth, fragrant column of her throat.

"If you don't want to talk, what do you want to do?" I murmured into the sensitive spot below her ear making her shiver and giggle.

As my breath swept across her warm, rosy skin, I was mesmerized by the goosebumps I could see rising to the surface. I looked up to watch our reflection in the mirror and her eyes were already there waiting for me.

"I love you," she sighed happily, snuggling deeper into my embrace. "I'm so tired of talking and feeling worried and afraid. I just want this, right here with you. I never get enough of it."

Her words soothed like a balm. "I'll never get enough of you, even if we live a thousand years," I uttered, effortlessly picking her up into my arms and carrying her to the bed. I gently laid her down, and then curled my body around hers, tucking her head under my chin.

We laid there like that for a long time not saying anything. All that could be heard in her cozy little room was the rhythmic sounds of our breathing, the slow and steady beat of her heart, and the sound of my hand lazily gliding up and down her arm, her back, and tracing patterns on the back of her hand.

I was usually so preoccupied with wondering about her silent thoughts that I rarely took advantage of the quiet moments that I could have with her and her alone. However, this time, with the warmth of her body pressed against mine, I sank into the silence letting it engulf me like quicksand.

**BPOV**

It would have been so easy to lose myself in my thoughts while Edward held me like that. It would have been easy to worry about the wedding or the honeymoon, or the million what-ifs that kept me awake in my bed most nights. But the tranquility of the moment pulled me under like anesthesia.

All I was able to think about was the feather-light feel of his hands on my skin, his stone solid form molded to the back of my body like granite memory foam, and the cool spot on my scalp where he breathed into my hair.

What could have been hours or days later, I became vaguely aware of the fact that Edward was probably waiting for me to break the silence. Or maybe he thought I was asleep.

I started to stir a little and felt his arms loosen fractionally in their hold.

I rolled over and rested my head on his chest, draping my arm over his lean torso. He smoothed my hair in long, soothing strokes.

In this position, I could smell his woodsy, clean scent. He smelled like fresh rain, pine needles, and expensive soap. It was intoxicating.

'Everything about me invites you in. My voice, my face, even my smell.'

He called them his snares, and they were the very things I couldn't live without. Logic would follow that if they were indeed snares, he would be less alluring to me when I was no longer prey.

On the contrary, I had no doubt that he would only be more beautiful to me once I could see him properly through a newer, more powerful set of eyes.

As I laid there in Edward's arms, I became aware of the faint sensation of his fingers lightly drumming over my skin. I smiled in recognition; he did this sometimes when he was composing in his head. He was playing the piano on the back of my arm.

"What are you thinking?" I whispered in a voice gravelly from disuse.

"I am trying to figure out how to compose a piece that encompasses the beauty and the music that lives in your silence, Isabella Marie Swan."

"If I had a nickel for every time someone wrote me one of those," I teased, characteristically using humor to hide my discomfort in receiving such a compliment.

"What are you thinking?" he asked, giving me a light squeeze.

"Bet you've been waiting a while to ask that!" I ribbed.

"You have no idea," he tossed his head back in quiet laughter. "It was an exercise in self-control."

"Ha! That should be written on my tombstone: 'Bella Swan, a beloved exercise in self-control,' I snickered at my macabre joke.

He growled at that. "If you don't mind, I'd rather not ever have to think about what should be written on your tombstone," he glowered at me. "And you didn't answer my question."

"I was thinking about after, actually," I admitted. I could feel him stiffen slightly at the mention of my transformation.

"What about it?" He asked, trying too hard to sound casual.

"I was thinking about how breathtakingly gorgeous you'll look when I have better eyes," I smiled. His laughter was deep and sexy as it rumbled out his chest. The sound of it made my insides flutter.

Edward sighed; it was a happy sound. "I can't wait for you to see yourself," he beamed.

"That's so unfair that you've seen what I'll look like in Alice's mind!" I whined, giving him a playful shove that didn't budge him an inch, but the intent was clear. His smile widened and his arm around me tightened.

Tucking a loose tendril of hair behind my ear, he murmured in a hushed, reverent tone, "I didn't think it was possible for you to be even more beautiful than you already are."

Then he was laughing. "If you thought you were popular with the boys in high school, just wait until you see immortal Bella! You're going to give Rosalie a run for her money!" The side of my face that was pressed against his chest vibrated with his mirth.

"I'm sure that will help her warm up to me," I grumbled, knowing what I did about Rosalie's vanity.

"It'll be good for her. She needs to be taken down a peg. Or twelve," Edward mused.

"Edward?" I asked, staring up at the ceiling.

"Bella?" He replied evenly.

"Not tonight, but can we talk about it soon? My changing? It doesn't really feel real to me yet, because I don't know how it will go, or when it will be, or what to expect," I explained.

"I was actually going to ask you if we could go sit down and talk with Carlisle soon. He's been wanting to talk logistics, and I think it's only right that you should be there, too."

Surprised by this request, I propped myself up on an elbow and kissed him hard.

Unprepared for the suddenness of my attack, Edward froze for a brief second before his lips responded in kind.

In between kisses, he asked, "Not that I'm complaining, but, mmm what was that for?"

"Because it's incredibly sexy when you treat me like an equal partner and make plans with me instead of for me," I growled, kissing him again.

He moaned into my mouth, and any sense of control I had over my urges went right out the window like a sneaky vampire boyfriend in the night.

I pulled him tighter to me, holding onto him for dear life as unfathomable desire coursed through me like a drug. I explored the planes of his chest and lower, trailing my fingers over the defined ridges of his abdomen.

Daringly, I toyed with the cold steel of his belt buckle. In a blur of movement, he was hovering over me now holding my hands stretched out above my head.

"My my, aren't we getting adventurous?" Edward purred as he nipped at my neck making me gasp and squirm.

He put my hands together so that he could hold them with just one of his own. Then he blazed a trail of kisses from my neck all the way down my sternum where he gently rested his cheek so he could listen to my heart for a long moment.

"Ahhh," he exhaled as if hearing the answer to some long unanswered question.

Edward released his grip on my wrists and warned me with his eyes to be good.

He placed his hands just under the hemline of my nightshirt and paused. I recognized his hesitance for what it was—he was giving me the chance to stop him, not that I ever would.

I tried my best to convey with my eyes not only my consent but my unbridled enthusiasm.

And in case that wasn't obvious enough, "Yes, Edward, yes!" I whispered, thrusting my body up toward his touch.

When I moaned his name, something in his face changed. He looked down at me, dark eyes ablaze like he wanted to devour me.

His splayed hands roamed over the sensitive skin of my sides. At the broadest point of my bust, his hands curled around my rib cage, his thumbs softly stroking the undersides of my breasts.

When his wandering hands receded back down my writhing body, his long, pianist's fingers nearly encircled the narrowest part of my waist.

He lowered himself to press the gentlest of kisses on my belly button in the space between his thumbs.

Something broke free inside of me when I felt his breath so close to where I needed him most. He must have felt it, too.

A sharp gasp cut through the silence as I laced my fingers into his gorgeous mess of hair and threw my legs around his back.

Edward groaned, and with an honest-to-god whimper, he gently pulled himself free of me.

"Bella, please," his voice was gravelly with his own need. "It means a lot to me that we wait. Just a few more days. But you sure don't make it easy on a guy," he said with a hardened laugh.

I held a pillow over my face and let out a strangled howl at the sexual frustration that was near the point of pain.

"I don't make it easy, he says," I muttered under my breath, shaking my head.

I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stalked toward the door. He was right on my heels, tugging at my elbow until I stopped.

"Where are you going?" Edward demanded with alarm in his voice.

"To go cool off," I huffed, trying to yank my arm free. Edward let go instantly, but I would probably still get a bruise.

"Don't be upset," he pleaded in an anguished voice.

I sighed heavily, feeling my ire start to fade. "I'm not. Or at least I won't be. I'm going to go take another shower."

Edward nodded faintly. "Do you want me to leave?" he asked anxiously, pain evident in his voice.

I glared at him now. "Why would you even ask me that?" I snapped, arms flailing as my irritation returned.

He peaceably held his hands up in front of him like he was trying to calm a velociraptor.

"You're right. That was dumb, I'm sorry. I'm just going to go sit right over there. Take your time, love," he placated in his most soothing voice.

I gave him one last stony look and then turned on my heel to stomp out the door.

If I was being honest with myself, I knew I was being dramatic, but I didn't think I could take any more of the teasing and cold showers.

To hell with it, I thought. I'm going to go have a hot shower.

**EPOV**

Bravo, Cullen, Bravo. Now you've gone and done it. I thought despicably as I sat in the rocker in the far corner. I threw my head back against the wooden backrest and knocked it a few extra times for good measure.

I idly wondered what Charlie must think of the steady increase in his water bill over the last few months.

I truly had not set out to make Bella miserable on what started out to be a really special evening, but despite my best efforts, miserable she was.

Bella's movements were more abrupt than normal. The metal curtain rings scraped shrilly against the rod as she tore the shower curtain open. I felt the familiar jolt of the pipes in the walls as the hot water rushed toward the bathroom from the ancient water heater in the garage.

I heard a muted thud as she tossed her clothes on the floor and then stepped under the water with a sigh of relief. The curtain rings screeched once more as she closed the curtain behind her. I tried to distract myself, to give her the privacy she deserved from my prying ears, I really did.

But there was no distraction from the sounds of her soft moans and breathy sighs. I gripped the armrests of the chair so tightly I could feel the wood starting to splinter. I balled up my fists then, not wanting to add property damage to my list of offenses.

She wasn't being loud, certainly not loud enough to draw Charlie out of his slumber, but she certainly knew I'd be able to hear her. Then I heard what sounded like the trajectory of the water changing...like she had moved the showerhead, I thought with an audible groan.

I deserved this, I thought, gritting my teeth. No, more importantly, she deserved this. She deserved the release that her poor excuse of a fiancée was too much of a coward to give her.

Her heart rate was picking up, and her breath sounds became short, uneven, and sporadic.

More sighs. More moans, and now she wasn't trying as hard to be quiet.

What an exquisite form of punishment, I thought to myself while readjusting my uncomfortably tight jeans. My release would come later. I would wait, my own form of punishment for angering the goddess.

Finally, her stilted breathing halted altogether, and with a soft "Oh!" that was nearly drowned out by her thundering heartbeat, she climaxed, slumping against the tile wall to support herself.

"Good girl," I whispered aloud, proud of her for insisting on her pleasure and aching to be the one to give it to her. "Soon," I consoled myself, and thank heaven for that!

**A/N** Hello lovelies! Thank you, as always, for sticking with me on this fic, and for all your great feedback! I had a lot of fun with this chapter. I think it might be one of my favorites. Lol, hell hath no fury like a woman with blue balls! I hope you enjoyed it, and I would love to know what you think! 'Til next time!