Edward
I was on my way back to the house when I suddenly froze in place, keenly aware of the sound of approaching footsteps. They were much too fast to be human, though they were attached to a heartbeat…which was also beating too fast. Reasoning that it could only be Nahuel (his steps were heavier than Nessie's), I turned in the direction he was coming from, reaching out with my mind to see what his hurry was.
He was leaving, and he was furious by the sound of it. His thoughts were in Portuguese and the words were flying faster than I could translate them. I listened harder for some sort of explanation, though it wasn't hard to put together that my daughter was involved. And if Nahuel was leaving, that could really only mean one thing.
I spoke out first, making myself known. The last thing I needed was to startle the guy and end up rolling around in the dirt with him because his self-preservation instincts kicked in. "Did you come to say goodbye, Nahuel?" I asked in a calm voice as the sound of his footsteps were nearly upon me.
"Edward!" Nahuel exclaimed, a hand flying over his heart, which skipped a beat. "I didn't see you there. And..er…yes, I did come to say goodbye." A polite lie. "I wanted to thank you and your family for your hospitality, but it's time that I return to my home."
"I see. I'm sorry to hear that," a polite lie of my own. "Can I assume that means Renesmee has made her choice?" I asked warily.
The memory of Nahuel and Renesmee's final conversation–or rather, altercation– filled his thoughts without his permission. Nessie had shown him this morning's argument. I flinched hearing my own voice speaking to her so harshly, but that wasn't what Nahuel was hung up on. He felt Renesmee was rubbing her strange relationship with the o cachorro –the dog– in his face and his pride wouldn't stand for it.
"I made the choice for her." His answer was a growl, his onyx eyes were black fire. "Your daughter might be the only female of my kind who is not related to me, but I will not beg her or anyone to choose me over some dog. It's insulting," he sniffed and imperiously raised his chin up in the air.
I nodded at this in understanding rather than agreement. After all, a younger version of myself could certainly relate. I just shrugged once impassively and answered in a matter-of-fact tone, "Then you don't deserve her."
Nahuel puffed up his chest and narrowed his eyes, enraged, but he wasn't foolish enough to challenge a full vampire. A pity really.
As I stood regarding this man who had left my daughter in tears, an angelic version of Carlisle whispered in my ear to take the high road. Meanwhile, an imagined version of Charlie appeared on my other shoulder, wearing devil horns and a little pointed tail. He asked me if I was going to let the son of a bitch treat our girl that way.
Well? Was I?
Winding up, I landed a fist right in the middle of his gut, reasoning it would do the least amount of physical damage to the half-human. The blow knocked him off his feet and into the Hemlock tree that stood a good six feet behind him. The tree shuddered but held as Nahuel crumpled to the ground in a heap at its base, gasping for the breath I'd knocked out of him.
"That's for making my girl cry, asshole," I told him. Charlie the Devil went wild with cheering, spilling his foamy mug of beer in the process, while Carlisle the Angel shook his head with disappointment.
Nahuel could only groan unintelligibly. I rolled my eyes and mockingly told him, "Oh, get up! The dog takes harder hits than that when we play football in the yard on Thanksgiving."
And he did, too. And never once complained about the broken bones he got as a byproduct of tagging along as a reluctant part of our family. Probably because he healed so fast, but still… The speed of his healing couldn't have made the injuries any less painful. When I saw Nahuel rolling around on the ground like he was waiting for a referee to hold up a yellow card, it gave me a new measure of respect for the mutt.
"Safe travels, Nahuel," I muttered, turning my back on the man as I shook my head pitifully. I had a daughter with a wounded heart to get back to.
Bella
From my hands and knees in the garden, I smiled to myself, overhearing my husband and daughter make amends inside our cozy little home. He must've been on a mission because he usually sought me out first whenever he returned home after even a short separation. Today he marched right past me and into the house like a man with a plan.
"Sweetheart? Can I come in?" he asked after knocking on her bedroom door.
The door swung open and I heard what could only be the sound of two stone-like bodies crashing into each other in an emotional embrace. It was cute, they were practically tripping over themselves to be the first one to apologize."Dad, I'm sor–" Renesmee's words came out garbled by the fabric of his shirt that was now pressed up against her face.
"Oh, my sweet Nessie," Edward crooned in his silkiest voice. "No, I'm sorry. Sorry that I lost my temper earlier. And sorry that Nahuel was unkind to you. You didn't deserve that." His own voice was muffled somewhat by Renesemee's curls as he kissed the top of her head.
Then, after a beat, he told her, "For what it's worth, I'm proud of you. You didn't just stand up for Jacob, you stood up for this family's way of life. And for humanity. That took guts, kiddo."
"You always taught me to root for the underdog," Renesmee sniffled.
As if on cue, Jacob came strolling up the well-worn path between our house and his cabin.
"Hey, Jake. Why don't you give them a minute and give me a hand picking these carrots?" I asked in a way that made clear I wasn't really asking.
"Uh, Bells, you know I'd be happy to help any other time but…" He then he gestured with a sweep of his hand to his unusually dapper clothing–a crisp white dress shirt in which he left the top few buttons undone and tucked into gray slacks. Jake's brown leather dress shoes (to match his brown belt) were so long to fit his massive feet that they looked like tiny canoes.
"Ya know," he began in a teasing voice, "If you gardened in vampire speed, you'd already be done by now."
Hopping to my feet so that Jake wasn't looming over me, I brushed the damp earth from my hands and huffed, "The point of gardening is not to be done by now, it's to enjoy the process. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a hobby, it would just be a chore. What are you so dressed up for anyway?" I asked curiously, unaware of any special plans.
"I'm taking Nessie out somewhere special to celebrate it being just the two of us again," he explained with an ear-to-ear smile.
With a playful snort, I tossed back, "And on a Saturday!" Because it was common knowledge that Saturdays were Nahuel's designated day to spend with Renesmee. (Not that he stayed long enough to actually spend a Saturday with her, the little twirp.)
"Exactly," Jake beamed.
I smiled back brightly. I didn't know how to say it to him without sounding condescending, but I was proud of Jake for how he handled himself since Nahuel showed up. Knowing how high the stakes had been for him…if I had been in his place, if another woman was positioning herself to steal Edward away from me, I'm not sure I would have behaved as graciously.
And I had to admit, I was relieved. It would have shattered my old friend if things had gotten more serious with the Amazonian. And I didn't even want to think about what that would have meant for our family, because it didn't take a mind reader to see that Nahuel had no plans to leave his home in the jungle anytime soon. If things had gone the other way, he might've swooped in like Tarzan and carried her away like Jane.
Just then Edward let himself out through the screen door, letting it slap shut behind him. Wearing a fresh set of clothes–a gray-blue sweater with a zip-up collar over dark blue relaxed-fit jeans– and the most authentic smile I'd seen on his face in weeks, he approached me and Jake in the garden, sliding his fingers easily through mine as he took his place by my side.
"She'll be right out, Jacob. Nessie just needs another minute to get ready." Then looking the taller man up and down as if he was noticing his dressy attire for the first time, Edward gave Jake a nod of approval and complimented, "Lookin' good, Jake."
"Thanks. Alice helped," Jake admitted a bit sheepishly.
"Where are you taking her? Don't say it out loud if it's a surprise," Edward asked with genuine curiosity.
And then a moment later, my husband's face lit up with recognition and a smile. "Oh, she'll love that. Well done," Edward praised, pinching his thumb and forefinger together with the remaining three fingers outstretched.
Jacob's smile was a little embarrassed now. "Thanks…. Alice helped," he chuckled once more.
Biting back a retort about how annoying it was when Edward had silent conversations when others were present, I turned to Jake and good-naturedly teased, "Planning an event she can't even 'see'? You must be growing on her."
"Like a fungus," Jake quipped back with a smirk.
And there we stood, the three of us together, a touch awkwardly, as I'm sure Edward had felt chatting with my father while he waited for me at the bottom of the stairs to take me to the prom. And it was as if Jacob had jumped generations–like he no longer belonged in mine.
(Maybe that was just the mental gymnastics I had to perform in order to not murder my once best friend for dating my daughter. As it so happens, my mother is–was–a gold medalist in mental gymnastics, so that's probably where I get it. )
But the past Jake and I shared together was as foggy and unfocused as all of my other insignificant human memories that I hadn't bothered to cement into my memory to be remembered forever. It was as if it had happened in another lifetime. So hazy and distant that it could've been a dream. My current reality, the one with the love and family that I fought, died, and came back to life for? That reality, however, was in crystal clear high definition.
Just then, Renesmee pushed open the screen door and stepped out into the twilit evening with her gleaming bronze hair pulled back from her lightly made-up face in one of those elaborate braids that Rosalie knew so well. She was wearing a short, off-white cable knit sweater with her blue & green plaid skater skirt. Covering up her long, slender legs was a pair of black tights and brown knee-high boots.
The look was so Renesmee. Covered up from head to toe while still looking trendy and age-appropriate. She'd cultivated the look with a very typical desire to dress like a young adult of the 21st century while her very opinionated father was born just one year into the 20th. Can I just say: Oh, the arguments I've refereed.
When Renesmee appeared at the top of the porch steps, out of habit, both Edward and Jacob stepped forward to escort her down the steps. When they both moved in her direction at the same time, Edward seemed to realize he had been made redundant and hung back in the garden with me, pouting just a little, though he'd never admit to it.
"You look amazing, Ness. Wow," Jacob fawned, his eyes sweeping over her just before he leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Not so shabby yourself there, handsome," she told him as they descended the steps.
"Eleven o'clock, young lady. You still have a curfew," Edward reminded her in his dad voice.
"But Dad, it's Saturday!" Renesmee protested. Jacob smiled a little wider at the reminder, no doubt thinking about Nahuel running off with his proverbial tail between his legs.
"Oh, right. Midnight then." Edward conceded and tossed Jake a set of keys to the Guardian, the missile-proof car with four thousand pounds of body armor that Edward broke down and purchased outright when Renesmee was learning to drive.
Moments later, the sleek black car built for drug lords and foreign dignitaries carried off "the kids" to…wherever it was that Edward thought was such a fabulous idea. And that's when Edward turned to me, glanced at his watch, and said, "We are kid-free for six-and-a-half glorious hours, Mrs. Cullen."
(Author Note: If you aren't about the smut, read no further. I hope you'll come back soon for Chapter 17!)
Then, without further ado, he tossed me over his shoulder and carried me back inside the house while I laughed the whole way. I couldn't help it. The caveman act did it for me.
Since I was still needing to wash up from working out in the garden, Edward carried me directly to the bathroom where he set me down just outside of the shower. He only let me go long enough to turn the water on and then he was back on me, kissing me deeply, feverishly. Then, moving down to the column of my throat, he began nibbling on my neck as his fingers nimbly worked the buttons of my blouse.
With his hand poised over the clasp of my bra, he murmured in my ear, "May I?"
I smiled widely to myself. He never could stay in character for long. Nodding my assent, I purred, "As if you even had to ask." But secretly, I loved it that even after all these years, Edward never took my consent for granted. Edward slid the straps down my arms, and once unclasped, my bra tumbled to the floor, forgotten.
Standing behind me now, Edward ducked his head to press his lips to a sensitive spot on the back of my shoulder. I moaned at the delicious feeling of him suckling me there, with so much pressure that that he would have left a mark if my skin could still bruise.
Edward's hands roamed sensuously over my curves, his fingers lingering occasionally to admire the soft side of my breast or the swell of my hip. Edward had a thing about curves. He wasn't all about any one part (ass, boobs, legs, etc) as some men seemed to be. He was a man who appreciated curves and proportionality. He'd once likened the female form to stringed instruments, all having their own unique shape, sound, and purpose.
"God, I've missed this," Edward moaned in a low voice, holding me tightly against his long, hard body.
A wave of guilt crashed over me, though I knew it was misplaced. Edward hadn't made a move on me since we'd gotten the news about Renee. He was wordlessly giving me space, not trying to pressure me into intimacy while I was grieving the very recent loss of my mother.
I was thankful for that because, honestly, for the first time since we'd been married, sex was the furthest thing from my mind. And though it had only been about a week, it was the longest we'd gone without making love since our very first time on Isle Esme when he'd accidentally been too rough with my fragile human body.
But as I felt his strong arms wrapped securely around me now, and the plains and contours of his chiseled, godlike body pressed up against mine, the guilt was drowned out by a much stronger wave of desire. Desire so potent that it seeped out of me, evidenced by the ever-dampening gusset of my panties. I needed this too, I realized, leaning into his embrace.
Edward
I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth. Because while I had missed this, more than she could possibly imagine, the last thing I wanted was for Bella to feel guilty in any way about the very understandable lack of physical intimacy between us as of late.
Her body stiffened ever so slightly after my careless words and I was ready to back off completely but then…I smelled her arousal. A low groan tore out of my chest at the mouthwatering, musky scent. If I thought her blood was like a drug to me, it was nothing compared to the nectar that gathered between her legs.
As the steam billowed around us, intensifying her intoxicating scent, I spun Bella around in my arms so that I could see her face. The need to be inside of her raged hotter than I'd ever felt it, but I needed to be sure she wanted this too. My needs were secondary.
I hooked my thumbs inside her panties, pausing while I searched her shining topaz eyes for any sign of disapproval. I saw none, just the opposite.
I need you, she wordlessly confirmed, opening her mind to me.
I closed my eyes, concentrating on the erotic images that flooded her mind. I saw hands that looked like mine gliding over her smooth, pale skin. I saw, from her point of view, a fantasy, or perhaps a memory, of her bobbing over my straining erection while I mangled the sheets, struggling to hold off my release. Then the image changed to one of Bella holding on for dear life as I langoured between her thighs. Another image now. This one was of Bella, head tossed back, reveling in the fullness of being penetrated by me.
When my eyes opened, I could see their inky blackness reflected in the depths of her eyes. With a feral growl, I impatiently removed the last vestiges of our clothing and moved us both inside the shower stall under the warm spray of the rainfall showerhead. The shower stall itself was little more than a marble-tiled privacy wall that separated the drain in the floor from the rest of the bathroom. No doors, no curtains. There was less to break that way.
Breaking away from another passionate kiss with a gasp, I dropped to my knees. Hugging my arms around the feminine swell of her hips, I urged her closer to me so that I could take the rosy tip of one perfectly pert breast into my mouth and then the other. After lavishing her beautiful breasts with my admiration, I reluctantly tore myself away from them in pursuit of other, greater pleasures.
It was silly and a little immature, I know, but as I kissed and suckled my way down the silky, pale flesh of Bella's taut stomach, I was silently telling her exquisite form–with my hands, lips, and tongue– how much I'd missed it in the short dry spell that had taken place in the aftermath of her mother's death. Though, out of respect, I kept those thoughts to myself.
Oh, how I'd missed the tiny freckles on her chest and the way her nipples pebbled at the slightest touch. As hot water cascaded down her body and mine, I traced the faint lines of definition etched into the flat plane of her abdomen and just below that, the triangular patch of soft, dark curls that seemed to point to her heaven. I'd missed that, too.
And even though her flawless body was nearly as familiar to me as my own, I took my time reacquainting myself with it–every dimple, crease, and curve.
"My Bella," I moaned in a gravelly voice, rough with desire as I smelled a fresh wave of her arousal. The delicious heady scent of her was all around me, diffused by the steam. It was quite literally making my mouth water, I thought, swallowing the excess venom that had begun to pool in my mouth.
The need to taste her, no, devour her overwhelmed my every conscious thought. Bracing my hands lightly behind her soft thighs, I smoothly swept her left leg out from under her and bent her knee over my right shoulder. I repeated the action with her right leg, leaving her sitting on my shoulders. I remained kneeling because standing up would mean bumping her head on the ceiling. On my knees, I inched forward so that she could support her back on the shower wall, and not until she seemed reasonably comfortable did I bury my face between her thighs.
I moaned ecstatically as the salty-sweet taste of her danced on my tongue. I didn't know how it was even possible, but she tasted even better than I remembered. Since I didn't need my hands to support her from behind, I was able to snake one of them between her legs from beneath her. She let out a low groan as I slid first one then another long finger into her tight, wet entrance, all the while sucking gently and rhythmically on her swollen bundle of nerves.
From above me, I heard an audible crack as her head lolled backward and made contact with the tile wall behind her. If she'd still been human, I would have paused to let her nurse the bump on her head, but Bella was sturdier now and the knock didn't even seem to faze her, so I didn't let up. If anything, I doubled my efforts in sending her careening over the edge of her orgasm with the rhythmic strokes of my fingers and tongue.
"Oh, fuck," Bella cursed, her voice low and throaty as she ground her slick folds against my greedy mouth, desperate for release. Just as desperate for her orgasm, I ignored the instinct to suck harder or fuck her faster with my fingers. When Bella was this close to the edge, consistency was key. I changed absolutely nothing and let her rock her hips against me as she needed.
Above me, Bella's breathy moans and signs tapered off into a tense silence as she waited with bated breath to be overcome with pleasure. I felt the telltale spasmodic tightening of her inner muscles around my digits and then a resounding, "Oooh!"
The sound of her rapture exploding out of her body was so sudden and so forceful that it sounded almost painful. Like a human Bella stubbing her toe, if doing so was somehow intensely pleasurable rather than excruciatingly painful. I smiled at the absurdity of it as I continued my ministrations, prolonging her pleasure for as long as I could. Greedily, I drank her to her last drop.
I didn't stop until her formerly arched back was leaning heavily against the tile wall, for the moment, completely spent. Once she'd recovered, instead of putting her feet back on the ground, I wrapped my arms around her legs, gently spreading them to accommodate the width of my shoulders, and slid her body down my wet torso until her slick folds were hovering just above the head of my rock-hard erection.
And now that we were roughly the same height, I could rise to my feet so that I could take her properly. With one arm supporting her back, I used the other to guide the head of my cock up and down the length of her, coating myself in her wetness.
"Edwarrrrd," Bella whined when I kept her from sinking down on my hard length; it was too much fun to tease her. "Haven't you waited long enough?"
Bella's question brought to mind the very long week of getting off by my own hand as I'd done so many times before we married. I tried abstaining at first, but my younger, virginal self had never had to maintain chasteness while also living as a married man. A married man with a smokin' hot wife.
Without another moment of hesitation, I drove my cock upward into her tight, wet warmth, making us both groan. I paused for a moment, letting her adjust. And then she opened her dark, lustful eyes to meet my gaze and wordlessly begged me to finish what I started. Those damned eyes got me every time.
I withdrew and drove into her again, reclaiming her as my own. Over and over again I rocked my hips into her, enjoying the erotic sounds she made when I drove into her a little more deeply with each thrust. I tried to hold out for as long as I could but after the weeklong cessation of our bedroom activities, I wasn't going to last. At least not the first round.
The now cool water trickled down my back as beads of water fell from the tips of my hair onto my face. One of my arms was wrapped around Bella, supporting her, while the other was thrust between our bodies, rubbing feverish circles around her excited nerve endings. So without any available hands, I tossed my head to one side, dislodging the excess water from my sodden hair.
"That's it. Right there," I murmured huskily as I pistoned into her. "I can feel how close you are." Then, in a rough voice, I insisted "Open your eyes. I want to see you. I want to watch you when you cum for me."
Bella's eyes shot open then. Her expression was fierce. Determined. Just as determined as I was to give her the release she so badly needed and deserved. With my eyes locked on hers, and my own orgasm rapidly approaching, I began thrusting into her at a blistering pace. I withdrew from her almost entirely before sheathing myself inside of her as deep as I could go. Once. Twice. And right before I drove into her a third and final time, I pinched her clit lightly between my fingers causing Bella to lose herself completely to the throes of a toe-curling orgasm. Bella's climax pitched me right over the edge after her.
A few moments later, I regained control of my limbs enough to set Bella back down on her feet and shut the water off.
"Already had your fill?" Bella teased. "That didn't take long."
Grabbing two fluffy towels from a nearby rack, I quickly returned to Bella's side and wrapped her in one of them. With the other, I ran it through my hair and briskly over my body before hanging it up to dry. Then standing before her just as hard and as eager as a 17-year-old boy, I grinned crookedly, "Do I look done? I just thought we could do this somewhere less wet."
Bella's expression remained neutral but there was a glint of wickedness in her warm topaz eyes.
"Kinky. I'll go get the lube," she replied offhandedly as she slipped by me and behind the privacy wall, leaving me standing there alone to ponder what she meant.
It took longer than it should have to realize what she was alluding to. With a scandalized expression on my face, I called out, "That is not what I meant!" Then after a beat, I wandered out of the shower after her, asking with unveiled surprise and intrigue, "But, uh, is that something you're into?"
Author's Note: I had hoped to check in with Jacob and Nessie on their date, but I cut it here because this chapter was just getting so long and I really wanted to get it posted on Valentine's Day. Whether you're single or partnered, I hope your Valentine's was everything you wanted it to be. Til next time lovelies!