Title: Forbidden Attraction

Author: MarieCarro

Genre: Drama/Romance

Rating: NC-17

Summary: To Edward Masen, Bella Swan was nothing more than his daughter's best friend, but that all changed when they both applied for the same weekly writing course. Suddenly, she didn't appear to be the young girl that had played with his daughter since her family moved in next door. What will Edward do when he realizes that he's developing a very forbidden attraction for a woman twenty-five years his junior? AH

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter Word Count: 2, 046

CHAPTER 10

I was fully content as I lay on my back in the bed of the hotel suite, Bella practically draped over me and my hand running lightly up and down her spine.

Her skin was so soft and undamaged and I fleetingly wondered what she thought of my callused carpenter hands touching her silky smooth skin. Did she like it, or did it feel uncomfortable?

Her slow, deep breathing reassured me she wasn't too opposed.

It was the second day of Bella's Spring Break, and so far we hadn't even left the suite, hell, we'd barely left the general bed area. While I wasn't as energetic as a twenty-year-old, I was still impressed with myself and how well I'd been able to keep up with my incredibly horny girlfriend.

I hadn't had that much sex in one day since my honeymoon, and I had definitely not been as creative and adventurous as Bella was when it came to positions. My girl just continued to surprise me at every turn.

At least, now, I was almost 100% certain that Bella had not been a virgin before me. There was just no way. I had yet to ask her, though, and there was no time like the present.

"Bella?"

"Hmm?" she hummed. It sounded like she was very close to sleep.

"I didn't take your virginity, right?"

"What?" She turned her head and supported her chin on my chest to look at me. She was frowning, but her eyes were amused.

"That time on my desk, that wasn't your first time, right?" That she didn't answer me right away had me just a tiny bit worried.

"Why are you asking?" A smile stretched across her face and it was equally amused as her eyes.

I opened my mouth to answer her with some white lie version, but I stopped myself before I could do so. I had to start being completely truthful with her if we would ever work out. "You know my friend, Felix?"

"I think so, yeah. What about him?"

"I kind of told him about us," I admitted and her eyes widened.

"You did?"

"I didn't tell him your name," I hurried to reassure her. "But he knows that I am in love with a woman much younger than myself and that I am now in a relationship with her."

She smiled at my words but continued to push as well. "And what did he say to that? How did he react?"

"With shock and disgust, mostly," I told her honestly. "But I guess that was expected." I started to stroke her back again. "He didn't like that you were the same age as Alice, and he said that people will either see me as a creep or you as a gold-digger who only wants a sugar-daddy."

She laughed at that and then grabbed my hand to entwine our fingers. "Well, he's not completely wrong, I guess. You are spoiling me quite a lot this week, and I can only offer my body as repayment, and you are a bit of a pervert, to be frank," she said, but her tone was light and humorous.

"You're the one who brings that side out of me out in the open, baby. I wasn't the one who suggested—"

"True, but it was fun, wasn't it?" she asked, interrupting me in the process.

I chuckled. "You'll never hear me complain."

She stretched her neck and gave me a sweet kiss that had me wanting more, but before I could pull her tighter against me and demand it, she leaned away. "What does all of this have to do with my virginity, though?" she asked, and I realized we'd gotten off track.

"Right. Well, another thing Felix freaked about was whether I'd taken your virginity or not. I told him no because I doubt you were. You've demonstrated too much experience, but at the same time, I don't know for certain either."

I didn't mention that it had been a fear of mine that her feelings could possibly have stemmed from our first time together because I wouldn't question her feelings for me ever again unless she gave me a really good reason to do so.

"In which way did he freak out?" Bella asked and continued to dodge my true question.

"He said, and I quote, 'Please tell me she wasn't a virgin at least. I beg you to tell me that you haven't ruined this girl.'"

"Seriously? In what way could you possibly have ruined me?"

I groaned. "Bella, please, put me out of my misery and just tell me."

She rolled her eyes and rolled off me to lay on her back as well. "Relax. I wasn't a virgin. My first time came years before you."

"Really?" I was intrigued now. "How old were you?"

"Way too young." She turned her head to look at me, and I rolled over on my side so that I could look at her more properly. "I was fourteen, and I had this boyfriend who was in high school. I was nowhere near ready for it, but he pressured me, and said that I couldn't start my first year at high school and still be a virgin."

I frowned at that, instantly disliking the boy who had put her through such a thing. "And you listened to him?"

"As I said, I was fourteen, and I was a huge pushover. Of course I listened to him. He was in high school, and for a girl like I was back then, that was a big deal. It didn't exactly help that Alice claimed she had already done it and that it wasn't so bad."

I almost swallowed my tongue when she said that, and it felt as if my eyes would fall out of their sockets. "What now? A-Alice? My Alice?"

Bella burst out laughing. "Wow, your face right now … priceless." She reached up to put her hand on my neck and started playing with the hair at the nape of it. "Take it easy there, Daddy. Don't have a heart attack. She lied to me because when I told her what Peter wanted, she didn't want to feel un-cool because she had barely kissed a guy up until that point. Your little girl didn't go all the way until much later."

I exhaled with relief, and I was also glad that she didn't give me an exact age. I would not have been able to handle that. Thoughts of my daughter and sex were just not something I ever wanted to have. "Thank god for that." I grabbed the hand she had on my neck and brought it to my mouth so that I could kiss her palm. "And by the way, don't ever call me 'Daddy' again. That felt wrong."

She smiled widely. "Do you want me to call you something else?"

I traced my fingers down her body and in between her legs, which caused her to moan and breathe out my name. "I am happy with just my name falling from your lips, baby."

She giggled adorably before pushing on my shoulder to get me down on my back, straddling me in the same movement.

"You do know that my recovery time isn't like the average college guy," I reminded her.

She started to kiss down my chest. "Oh, I have to say that I am most impressed with your recovery time, Mr. Masen, so you don't have to worry about that."

I closed my eyes and relaxed into my pillows. Until this dream ended, I was going to enjoy every second of it.

"What would you like to drink?" I asked Bella while the both of us perused over the menu at the restaurant we'd chosen to eat dinner at.

"I'm just gonna go with a coke," she replied, and I looked up at her since her tone told me something different.

"You don't want a glass of wine or a beer?"

She sighed and smiled. "Oh I would love that, but my ID doesn't allow me any alcohol."

"Then let me order it for you. What do you want?"

She looked at me over the edge of her menu with a look I couldn't decipher. "Uhm, I'd like a glass of Cabernet, then."

"Then I suggest we get a bottle," I said and smiled at her before waving over the waiter, and I ordered our drinks. He glanced suspiciously at Bella for a second, but then shrugged and went to get our wine without asking for her ID.

Bella sighed and started to twist the end of her hair around her fingers in an annoyed fashion.

"You're eager to turn twenty-one, huh?"

"Totally," she agreed and nodded. "I will feel just a tiny bit more equal to you after that."

I leaned forward to take her hand in mine. "Bella, you are equal with me. I don't want you to ever think of our relationship as a war for power."

"No, I know that. But still, it will be nice when I can order my own drink without feeling like a kid stealing her mom's makeup without permission."

I chuckled at her analogy. "I guess that's understandable."

The waiter came back with the bottle and two glasses and while I went through the motions of tasting the wine to make sure it was good enough, Bella sat silently and sipped on the water we'd been provided with as well.

It was obvious she wasn't very comfortable with how public we were despite being in a town thousands of miles away from home and not a soul knew us here.

"Are you ready to order?"

"Bella?"

She looked up and when she met my eyes, she instantly straightened her back. "I couldn't really see on the menu which dishes are vegetarian. Do you have anything besides a salad?"

The waiter looked completely caught off guard by the question, but I believed it had more to do with the confident tone in Bella's voice, which was the complete opposite of what her body language had been just a second before. I took a sip of my wine to hide my smile.

"Uh, I'll have to check with the chef," the waiter said and was about to scramble away when I stopped him.

"Whatever you can fix for her, I'll have the same, thanks."

He nodded and left.

Bella blinked at me in surprise. "Really? You're not gonna order the steak or burger?" she asked.

I smiled and shook my head. "No. I noticed when we ordered room-service how uncomfortable you were sitting with me when I ate meat. I want us to enjoy this night, so vegetarian it is."

"You are so sweet. Like, seriously, I wasn't expecting you to do that for me." She stood up slightly from her chair and leaned over the table to give me a kiss.

It absolutely thrilled me that we could do it, and I might have gotten a bit carried away because I heard some mumbling next to us, and when we parted and I glanced that way, I saw a woman in my age who gave me a disgusted look.

I knew that it was only a taste of what we would eventually have to face back home when we decided to come out clean, but it still annoyed me to see that woman stare at me like I was a predator, judging what Bella and I had by her own dirty mind's standards.

I chuckled humorlessly. "I sure do wish there could be some miraculous way for us to make people see and understand that what you and I have is real," I mumbled, but Bella heard it.

"Yeah, wouldn't that have been nice, but since there isn't, I guess we'll just have to deal with everything coming our way together, right?"

"Agreed."

We clinked our glasses together in a toast and a promise. We weren't going to let anybody else bring us down.