A/N: MariahajilE and Layathomemom are team me, and I love them dearly for all their help. LaMomo and Serenshadow are in on this one too, with a little JiffyKate sprinkles on top. Yup. It takes a village to keep me sane.

So let's do some talking. Some people (Shout out to Jan, heyy girl I see you) have expressed concern that this Edward is a sexual predator. Sigh. Let me make it clear that this is not the case and as you will read in this chapter, Bella is very much a willing "victim" of his advances.

So with that being said, let's turn up the heat a little bit, shall we?

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When it came to clubbing, I apparently hadn't been doing it right. Lauren took us all over downtown. We bounced around from one swanky club to the next, taking shots with strangers and having a ball. The whole thing felt so far removed from any semblance of a social life I'd experienced in California but in a good way. That remained the whole point in my resolve for a fresh start. Determined to make the most of my new life, I threw myself into the spirit of the night.

We ended up at a pop-techno club with a jam-packed dance floor. I'd squeezed my way up to the bar for some water and a moment to catch my breath, but I didn't get much of a chance to do so before Lauren popped up beside me.

"Whatcha' drinkin', babydoll?"

I downed the rest of the water in my little plastic cup before setting it down on the bar.

"Water."

"Water? Boring." I watched her flag down the bartender, who proved to be all too eager to give her his attention. "Two shots of that Goose!" she yelled to him.

I laughed. She had a few more drinks in her than I did, and it showed.

"More shots? Don't let me get sloppy, now," I teased.

I had a nice little buzz going, and I didn't want to take it much further than that.

"I won't. Don't worry," she answered, winking at me.

"Where's Angela?"

"She went to the bathroom."

In just moments, two shot glasses of clear liquid sat before us.

"Okay, this is my last shot," I vowed, picking mine up.

"Deal." Lauren picked up her glass and held it out to me, flashing me a bright smile through her hot pink lipstick. "Cheers!"

We clinked our glasses together before throwing them back; I grimaced as the vodka burned its way down my throat.

After that, everything happened so fast, I couldn't comprehend it. My attention trained on my shot glass, I reached out to place it on the bar, and before I could blink, Lauren's hands were on my face and her lips were on mine.

She kissed me, and before I could even register that fact, I had my hands on her shoulders to push her away.

"What's wrong?" she asked, her gaze full of confusion and disappointment that took me by complete surprise. "I thought… It seemed like you've been flirting me with all week."

Shit. Clearly, she'd misconstrued my efforts to be a good wingwoman for Angela.

"I–"

"Oh, wow."

I turned my head, horrified to find Angela standing next to us, watching with wide eyes. Panic welled inside of me. For days, I'd listened to her go on and on about her crush on this girl, and now she'd walked up to find us kissing. My luck couldn't get any worse.

"Angela," I began, hearing the desperation in my voice. "Please don't be mad at me. It's not what you think… She just kissed me. I didn't. I mean, I wasn't expect–"

"Bella, shut up," she interrupted, her stare fixed on Lauren.

"What's going on here?" I felt bad for Lauren, who seemed baffled. "Bella, why are you apologizing?"

"Angela, please don't be mad at me," I repeated.

Finally, she looked at me, but I didn't see in her eyes the anger I'd anticipated.

"I'm not mad at you."

"You're not?" I asked, relieved.

"I am so confused," Lauren interjected, looking back and forth between us as if she were watching a good tennis match.

"Bella, come on," Angela began loudly over the music. "I haven't known you very long, but I know you well enough to know you didn't intend for that to happen."

"Thank you," I breathed, relieved.

"Besides, it's my fault, anyway."

"How's it your fault?" I asked.

"Because," she turned back to face Lauren with a wide grin. "I should've done this a long time ago."

And then she stepped toward Lauren, taking her face between her hands, and attacked her in a searing kiss. Lauren pulled back a little at first, surprised, but it didn't take long before she got into it. And then they were chest to chest and hands in hair, full on making out, not a foot in front of me.

This caught the bartender's eye as he stopped to watch with a big, goofy grin on his face.

"Hey!" I yelled at him to get his attention. "I'm gonna need another one of those shots."

He nodded and hesitantly walked away, leaving me to stare at the lesbian pretzel forming before my very eyes.

They parted sooner than I thought they would, but neither seemed to even notice me. Angela dragged Lauren back out to the dance floor, where they began twisting themselves together again to the beat of a sultry Rihanna song with their hands all over each other.

As I watched them, I felt proud of Angela. She'd finally gone after what she'd wanted, letting her inhibitions go. She didn't just give good advice; she lived it. And watching her with Lauren, I couldn't help but think of Bright Eyes.

"Here's your shot."

I turned back toward the bar as the bartender placed the glass in front of me. I took it as soon as I'd paid him, though the burn didn't feel so harsh after the one I'd just taken.

I was ready to go. I wanted to stay on the more responsible side of the line between tipsy and drunk, and besides, my mission had been accomplished. The whole point in organizing a night of clubbing had been to get Angela and Lauren together. We may have taken an unexpected path to get there, but as I watched them bumping and grinding together on the dance floor, I had the resounding feeling that my work was done.

They both saw me coming toward them, but they didn't stop dancing. They just looked over at me, both grinning.

"Sorry about the confusion," Lauren apologized with a giggle.

Angela laughed with her, and I found their flippant attitudes about the whole thing a little strange. Angela genuinely didn't care that Lauren had been kissing me minutes earlier, and Lauren seemed able to redirect her efforts in pursuit of someone else like flipping a switch. I wondered if lesbians handled these things differently, but either way, I remained grateful we hadn't ended up in some twisted love triangle. I felt like I'd dodged a bullet with both of their reactions, and that made me more eager to get out of there and leave them to it.

"No worries at all," I assured her with a smile. "I'm gonna jet out of here, though."

"Already?" Angela whined.

"'Already?'" I laughed. "We've been out for hours. My feet hurt. I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow."

We said our goodbyes, and I made my way to the back of the club to find the stairs we'd come up when we came in. I turned the corner and paused for a moment before descending, taken back at what awaited at the bottom. A herd of people was smashed together in the space between the last step and the small doorway. It didn't take me long to register the reason. Outside, sometime since we'd arrived at the club, a torrential downpour of rain had erupted. Apparently, most of these people wanted to stay dry more than they wanted to leave. I made my way down the stairs as several people pushed by me on their way back up. I wasn't fond of getting wet, but I wanted to get home.

"Where you goin', sugar?" some drunken guy slurred as I slipped by him. "A cute little thing like you can't go out in that rain alone."

"I'll survive," I mumbled, pushing through the last line of people in my way.

I popped out on the other side of the crowd, a gust of wind hitting me straight in the face. Water misted me the closer I got to the door, craning my neck to see outside, and I was relieved to find a handful of taxis sitting at the curb, waiting to scoop up customers as they spilled out of the club.

I locked eyes on the closest one and made a run for it, though I didn't cover much ground very fast in the stilettos Angela had put me in. I'd never been averse to heels, but I felt comfortable at about two inches. These were easily three, if not more, with a much tinier heel than I'd been accustomed. I considered taking them off, but God knows what I may have stepped on in the streets of downtown Houston.

"You all right?" the cab driver asked as soon as I slid into the back seat. "You look like a baby deer trying to run in those things."

"I'm fine," I answered, only realizing I was out of breath when I spoke. "I just didn't want to fall."

"So, where ya headed?" he asked, turning his head around to look at me over the seat.

I glanced up at him, opening my mouth to answer, but stopped when I noticed his eyes weren't on my face. They were on my chest.

I looked down, aghast to find that the rain had soaked through my dress, and cursed Angela for having put me in white. Crossing my arms over my chest as I grimaced at him, I spouted off my address.

"Looks like the power is out over here," the driver commented as we pulled into the neighborhood.

"Really?" I asked, sliding closer to the window to survey the darkened houses.

"Yeah. See? Even the streetlights are out."

The streets and homes were eerily dark.

Still, as the cab pulled up to the house, I felt a twinge of satisfaction to see Bright Eyes' BMW in the driveway and Emmett's truck nowhere in sight. The two of us would be alone in the house – in the middle of an apparent power outage, at that. The thought of it sent a thrill through me, and again, my mind wandered to the inspiration of Angela going for it with Lauren.

Maybe it should be my night to go for it, too.

I paid the driver and slipped out of the cab, but I didn't run to get inside this time. I'd already been soaked, and after drinking and dancing all night, the cool rain invigorated my flushed skin.

I walked into a house shrouded in total darkness. I pulled my phone out before tossing my clutch on the couch, using it as a source of light to guide my way as I meandered through the living room, following a shuffling sound that came from somewhere down the hall.

"Hello?" I called out as I turned into the hall. "Edward?"

"In here."

The voice came from his bedroom, just past mine. My heels clicked against the hardwood floor loud enough that I knew he'd hear me approaching.

I turned into his doorway and stopped. I no longer needed my phone to see. He had the curtains in his room pulled open, allowing the moonlight to shine straight in. I could see him well, standing at his desk and shuffling through papers with his back to me.

"How long has the power been out?" I asked.

"About twenty minutes," he answered as he turned around to face me. "I wa–" He stopped when he laid eyes on me. "Jesus Christ…"

Goosebumps broke out all over my skin at the tone of his voice, hoarse and helpless. His expression hardened as he pulled his bottom lip in between his teeth. My body buzzed under his watchful gaze.

I imagined how I looked to him; I was soaking wet, my dress was plastered to my skin, and my hardened nipples were poking through. His eyes were hungry as they raked over my body, drinking me in, but I didn't shy away. I owned it. His smoldering gaze spurred my confidence and made me want to listen to the voice in the back of my mind. The voice of New Bella yelled at me to give in and go after what I wanted the way Angela had gone after Lauren. That voice recited to me Angela's advice from the day before.

You have a fresh start.

Let go.

Live a little.

I took a step forward, reaching up to pull the strap of my dress down off my shoulder and pull my arm out.

Be crazy. Be wild.

I did the same thing with the other strap, and Bright Eyes took a deep breath.

Do something out of your comfort zone. I promise you won't believe how liberating it feels.

"If you don't want me to fuck you, now would be the time to walk away."

My stomach clenched at his words, and my heart thudded in my chest. The weight of his statement rested heavily on me, because the truth remained that I did want him to fuck me. I wanted him in ways I couldn't even imagine.

New Bella screamed at me to do something, anything, to tell him I wanted him. I wanted him to know that the fire and lust in his eyes burned inside of me, too. I wanted him to know about the ache I felt for him and the pull I felt to him.

So, with a deep breath, I cast my inhibitions aside.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Two steps forward, and he consumed me. I barely had a moment to gasp before one of his strong arms looped around my waist, pulling me against him at the same time his other hand took hold of the back of my head. He tilted his head one way, and he pulled mine the other, sealing his mouth over mine. He kissed me, and it turned my whole world upside down.

The softness of his lips proved a mesmerizing distraction from the aggression in his kiss, from the commanding way in which those lips moved against mine. Even the way he held me felt imposing but in such a natural way that it unnerved me. It remained clear who had the upper hand, and I surrendered that position willingly. I would follow wherever his body led me.

I sighed just as his tongue dipped inside, moving against mine to taste me. Everything about his kiss emanated confidence, experience, and a tantalizing twist of desperation. I loved that he kissed me like he had no other option, like he'd surrendered all power to resist. I felt sexy, powerful even, despite his obvious proclivity for control.

He groaned deeply, the single most sensuous sound I'd ever heard, and that was it.

I vaguely recognized the thud of my phone hitting the floor before flinging my arms around his neck and shoving my hands into his hair. My body vibrated with sensory overload. The only touch we'd shared before this had been the very tips of his fingers against my leg. Now, he was all over me.

I tugged hard on the strands of hair grasped between my fingers, and he growled into my mouth. It was a wild, erotic sound that made my breath hitch. The noises this man made spurred me into a desperate frenzy of lust, and my core ached to imagine what other sounds I may be capable of pulling from him.

His hand left the back of my head to move down my body, stopping along the way to appreciate every dip and curve, until it cupped my ass. The other hand joined a moment later, and he lifted me off my feet. He did so with little effort, making it a fluid motion for me to wrap my legs around his waist.

"You should've walked away when you had the chance, Bella."

I answered him by directing his mouth back to mine, his head turned up this time. I registered that we were moving ‒ distantly, that is ‒ until my back slammed into the wall behind me. A hanging picture frame several feet to my left fell from the wall and clashed to the floor with the sound of shattering glass, but even that didn't stop us. Nothing could stop us now.

He pulled his mouth from mine and loosened his grip on my ass, letting me slide down the wall. We both panted heavily, chest to chest, and I vaguely wondered if he could feel my heart pounding.

Sandwiched between his body and the wall, I felt every long, hard inch of him as I slid downward. I moaned, unwinding my legs from his waist to stand, though I had no confidence whatsoever that they would support me.

He slid his hands languidly from around my ass to grasp my hips, and I gasped in surprise when he forcefully turned me around to face the wall. A fleeting thought crossed my mind that I'd never been handled this way before. In that moment, any prior experience I'd had felt juvenile. I'd been with boys before, but Bright Eyes touched me like a man.

I wasn't exactly sure what he wanted me to do, but it didn't take him long to show me. His hands, hot and rough, took mine and pressed them hard against the wall in front of me. This forced me to bend over somewhat, and with my legs feeling like Jell-O after the way he'd just kissed me, I considered that maybe the stilettos were a disaster waiting to happen. I went to step out of them, but his hands grabbed at my hips, stopping me.

"Leave them on."

I blushed, too embarrassed to tell him I didn't know how long I'd be able to stand in them if he continued turning me to mush.

All worries over footwear disappeared the moment he began pushing the hem of my dress up and over the curve of my ass. I started panting harder then, my chest heaving. I knew where this was going, and my chest tightened at the thought of him seeing me naked for the first time this way. I was bent over, ready, and waiting for him.

Once he'd shoved my dress up around my waist, his hands moved right back down, this time pulling at my panties. He pulled them over the swell of my cheeks, down around the tops of my thighs, and I gasped when the air hit my exposed flesh, making me uncomfortably aware of how wet I'd become.

He dropped my panties so they fell around my ankles and held my hips to steady me as I stepped out of them. My gaze fixed downward, his foot caught my attention as he kicked them aside, casting aside my dignity with them. I stood before him now, bare and exposed.

He pulled his hands from my hips, and I became anxious when nothing happened for a few moments. I hated to think he may have just been standing there, staring at me. I felt at least marginally better when I heard something hit the floor and looked over to find his t-shirt discarded beside me. The thought that Bright Eyes stood just behind me, shirtless, had me biting my lip. I wanted to turn around and look at him, but I didn't have much chance to even think about it before his fingertips were at the backs of my thighs, dragging upward at a slow, languid pace I felt sure was meant to torture me.

I stood there, panting, biting at my lip hard to prevent myself from moaning. Once his fingertips had made it up my thighs, he planted one hand on my ass while the other dipped between my legs to explore my aching, hot center, feeling just how wet he'd made me.

"Jesus, Bella," he hissed as I whimpered. "So wet and soft…"

I stepped apart another inch or two, spreading for him without shame. My eyes screwed shut as his fingers caressed me. I was surprised by the gentleness with which he touched me, so different from the clueless probing of my friend with benefits back in California. Still, his stroke remained firm and confident as he slipped a single digit inside of me.

"You're tight," he commented frankly as he pulled out and in. "How long's it been for you?"

"Wh-what?" I panted, almost incoherent at this point.

"How long has it been since you were last fucked?"

I whimpered as he pulled his finger from me again.

"Um…"

"Well?" he prompted, an impatient edge to his tone. "You're not a virgin, are you?"

He pushed back in with two fingers this time, and I let a loud moan slip past my lips, unable to stop myself.

"No."

"Good. I don't have the patience for that."

He pulled his fingers from me altogether, and I clenched in protest. I'd never been so turned on and desperate in my life. All I could think of was feeling Edward inside of me, the need for release. I felt sure I would combust if he didn't put some part of his body back inside of me right away, and I considered telling him when the sound of a zipper cut through the silence. I looked down again just in time to see his jeans and boxers both drop down around his feet, and I whimpered with delight at the sight. He stepped out of them, toward me, and fire burned through me in anticipation.

I sighed with relief when he made contact again, and it morphed into a loud moan when I realized that it wasn't his fingers stroking through my folds but the head of his erection.

"Is this what you want, Bella?" he teased, though I noticed his breathlessness.

"Yes…" I panted. "Please…"

His hand flattened against my lower back, bending me over further, and that was the single warning I got before he began to penetrate me.

I gasped as he groaned. He'd pushed into me just a little, but his girth still stretched me. He had such a perfect angle, I wondered if our height difference might've been the reason he'd told me to keep the heels on.

"Fuck…" he moaned, the sound of it making me clench desperately around him as he gave me another inch.

"Please," I begged.

He obliged. With one smooth thrust, he filled me. He filled me and stretched me so full that I cried out hoarsely, my whole body jostling forward with the force of it. He was big… bigger than I'd expected.

I barely had time to steady myself before he began thrusting. Taking my hips in a firm, authoritative hold, he drove into me. Tears pricked at my eyes with the intensity of it. Balls deep and hard as steel, he filled me like I'd never been filled before. He moved with such confidence and skill, with such purpose, as if he were staking ownership on me.

I'd never imagined I'd get off on having sex in such a submissive position, but the way Bright Eyes took me made me feel possessed in a way that had me ready and willing to give myself over to him. My mind, my body, and my emotions were consumed with him alone.

I tightened around him at the thought, and he grunted in response. It was a low, primitive sound that drove me right to the edge of orgasm.

"Yeah?" he panted, and I knew he must've felt my core squeezing at him desperately.

His hand smoothed up my back to reach into my hair, fisting it in his grasp. He pulled, yanking my head back, and I lost it. I writhed as an orgasm ripped through me, my body tensing violently. A load groan emanated from him, but he continued to thrust into me with relentless abandon, spurring my climax to roll on as my sex convulsed around him.

"Do you always come that fast?" he asked, taunting me. "Or just for me?"

Aftershocks of ecstasy continued to roll through me. My limbs were pleasantly numb, and by this point, I felt unabashed. If he wanted to own me, so be it. I'd serve him up a deed to my body on a platter.

"You…" I whimpered. "Just you…"

"Good."

I hadn't realized he'd slowed his thrusts to ease me down from Nirvana until he picked them back up again. Tightening his hold, he gave it to me, nailing into me with each fierce drive of his hips. Euphoria ripped through me again, and I rippled around him once more, threatening to explode again too soon. I felt too sensitive, hyperaware of every inch of him that filled me. I could barely breathe, and with that thought, my body slumped forward. I would've fallen right on my face if Bright Eyes hadn't caught me by my hips and yanked me back up.

"Stand up," he ordered, his tone husky and harsh.

"Edward…" I whimpered, my fingers tensing against the wall in front of me.

"This is what you wanted, right? You wanted me to fuck you."

"Yes…" I cried out as he began to slam into me harder.

"So take it."

His words managed to turn me on even more, making deep muscles I'd never used before spasm at the onslaught of his body ravaging mine. Beads of sweat rolled down the backs of my legs, and I cursed the power outage for costing us the air conditioner.

He pushed me beyond the hurdle of sensitivity into a new level of ecstasy, and a new pleasure began to blossom in my core. With raw grunts and groans that made me tremble, Bright Eyes plunged into me hard and fast, with thrusts that began to grow erratic while his fingers dug into my hip. His firm hold on my hair made my scalp tingle in a way that wouldn't let me forget who remained in control here.

With a wild grunt, he slammed his hips into my ass one last time. His fingers dug painfully into my flesh as he came with a feral moan so erotic that it catapulted me into a second orgasm, rippling around him as I felt him spasm inside of me.

He didn't linger. I was still panting and tingling when he pulled out of me, and my legs ached when I moved to stand up straight, letting my hands fall away from the wall. I turned around to lean back against the wall for support, catching my breath.

Before me stood my first glimpse of Bright Eyes naked, and he was breathtaking. He'd turned away from me, showcasing his strong, sinuous back muscles and a firm, taut ass. The moonlight made him appear almost luminous. I felt I couldn't fully appreciate the view, however, because he appeared to be upset.

"Fuck…" he groaned, rubbing his hands over his face, which he'd turned up toward the ceiling.

At first, I almost felt offended. But then I recalled the craziness of the situation. We barely knew each other. Actually, we didn't know each other at all. As I replayed in my head everything that'd just happened, I came to realize there were multiple reasons he might be upset.

"I'm on birth control," I told him, blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"I know."

He looked down, his hands falling from his face, and I watched him snatch up his boxers and pull them back on in a hurry.

"How do you know that?" I asked, yanking the hem of my dress back down.

"We share a bathroom. I saw your prescription by the sink."

"Oh."

I felt a blush spread across my cheeks and over my chest. It may have been the alcohol I'd consumed or the sheer fact that I'd wanted him so badly, but for some reason, letting go of my inhibitions in the moment had been easy. What I hadn't considered was how uncomfortable things would get afterwards.

I watched him gather his discarded clothes, and I pushed my arms back through the straps of my dress. My feet and legs ached, and I stepped out of my heels as he turned back to me.

"Don't." I froze. "Don't take those off."

"Wh–"

"There's glass," he explained.

I'd almost forgotten about the picture frame that had fallen. I couldn't see the glass on the ground in the dark.

"Oh, right…" I shoved my foot back into the heel, pushing myself away from the wall while I picked up my panties. "I'll, um, go get a broom."

I clutched my panties in my hand, stumbling my way into the kitchen, where I fumbled around to get them back on. I wanted desperately to get into the shower to clean myself up, but I knew I needed to clean up the mess in the hall before Emmett got home.

I'd hoped Bright Eyes would help, but when I returned to the hall with the broom, he'd retreated into his room and closed the door.

He'd left me to clean up the mess by myself and wonder if I'd made a big mistake.